You are a covert alien operative on a secret mission to find the Ovoid and control it when the universe collapses. Your most potent weapon is your ability to bluff, misdirect, and deceive.
Chaosmos is a hidden information strategy game where you explore planets and gather weapons and equipment to find the Ovoid and hide it from your opponents.
Components
- 10 Planet Hexes
- 6 Wormhole Tiles
- 4 Asteroid Fields
- Chaos Clock and Cosmic Pool
- Void
- 10 Alien Sheets
- 10 Alien Miniatures
- Alien Screens
- 76 Equipment Cards
- 5 Tip Cards
- 10 Planet Envelopes
- Envelope Box
- 4 Combat Dice
- 18 Hypertokens
- 4 Base Tokens
- 80 Landing Flags
- 16 Planet Effect Tokens
- 10 Upgrade Tiles
- 3 wormhole tokens
- 48 chaos tokens
- Instructions
Object of the Game
You win the game if you have the Ovoid card in your hand when the Chaos Clock reaches zero.
Each turn, you take three actions in any way you choose. You can move around the board, take control of planets to find new equipment cards, attack other players to steal their cards, and play cards from your hand.
Each planet has a corresponding envelope containing equipment cards. While on a planet, you get to take any cards you want, leaving others behind (to stay within your 7 card hand limit). You can also activate Traps and Vaults to protect the planet from opponents.
When attacking an opponent, you each roll two combat dice and then play weapon and defense cards to increase your scores. The winner in combat gets to look at their opponent's hand and steal any card, or banish the opponent to any planet.
At the end of your turn, click the Chaos Clock down by one. When it reaches zero, the player with the Ovoid in their hand is the winner.
Equipment Cards
Equipment cards represent weapons, defenses, and tools that you can use in your quest to find the Ovoid and keep it hidden.
There's no draw deck in Chaosmos. Instead, you find equipment cards when you explore planets. You can hold up to 7 cards in your hand, while envelopes can hold any number of cards (though they must always have at least one face-down).
1 Cost: Cards with the A icon cost an action to play. Cards with the icon may only be played in combat. Cards with no icon may be played freely outside of combat.
2 Name: The name of the card. Some cards refer to others by name.
3 Single-Use: Yellow cards with the icon are Single-Use. After you play a Single-Use card, send it to the Void. Cards without the icon return to your hand after you resolve them.
4 Activation Bar: Flip cards have an activation bar to remind you of their effect when you open an envelope and find a face-up flip card.
5 Type: Some cards have a type, which is listed here. Some rules refer to specific types, and apply to all cards of that type.
6 Rules Text: An explanation of what the card does. When rules on a card directly contradict rules in this rulebook, the card takes priority.
7 Set Icon: During game setup, you add or remove cards with certain set icons depending on the game type.
8 Count: Shows the number of copies of this card in the deck.
Native Weapons: Ten weapons are marked with alien sigils in the lower right corner of the art. This shows which alien race created the weapon, and is used when playing with the Native Weapons advanced rule.
Setup
Your First Game Setup
Is My Home Planet Special?
You begin the game on your home planet, and you can only trade with the Cosmic Pool while at home. Other than that, your home planet is just like any other planet!
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Choose Aliens: Shuffle ONLY the alien sheets for Drusu, Gazmae, Haghouhen, and Vroon, and deal one to each player. Add three hypertokens to each alien sheet.
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Board Setup: Remove the hexes for Ob, Vorshei, Barren Planet, and Singularity Gate, and place the remaining hexes as shown below. Place the A wormhole tiles next to Guriwan and Jagladak.
Place two asteroid fields as shown. Place the Cosmic Pool and Void next to the board. Place each player's alien miniature on their home planet (
).
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Prepare Equipment Deck: Remove all 14 cards with Set Icons, shuffling all the cards without a Set Icon to form the equipment deck.
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Set Up Cosmic Pool: Draw and place 6 cards face-up above the Cosmic Pool. If you draw the Ovoid, draw a replacement and then reshuffle.
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Deal Home Envelopes: Deal cards face-down into each player's home planet envelope - 10 each for 4 players, 12 each for 3 players, or 10 each for 2 players. Each player begins in control of their home planet. (See CONTROL PLANET).
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Deal Other Envelopes: Put the Ob and Vorshei envelopes back in the game box. Deal 4 cards face-down into each other planet envelope (or 6 per envelope in a 2 player game). Then put those envelopes into the envelope box.
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Set Chaos Clock: Start the Chaos Clock at 36.
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Prepare Hands: Each player accesses their home envelope, selects up to 7 cards to put in their hand, and places the rest in the envelope.
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Select Start Player: Determine a start player using any method you choose (e.g. rolling dice or drawing a landing flag from a player's hand).
Game Setup (3-4 Players)
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Choose Aliens: Shuffle all the alien sheets and deal two to each player. Look at your aliens in secret, choosing one to play and putting the other one in the game box. Each player reveals which alien they're playing and places three hypertokens on their alien sheet.
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Board Setup: Place the 10 planet hexes as shown to the right. Place the A and B wormhole tiles in the corners. Place three asteroid fields as shown. Place the Cosmic Pool, Void, and Chaos Clock at the top. Place each player's alien miniature on their home planet (
). -
Prepare Equipment Deck: Shuffle together all cards with no Set Icon, as well as the 8 cards with the icon to form the equipment deck.
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Set Up Cosmic Pool: Draw and place 6 cards face-up above the Cosmic Pool. If you draw the Ovoid, draw a replacement and then reshuffle.
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Deal Home Envelopes: Deal cards face-down into each player's home planet envelope -10 each for 4 players or 12 each for 3 players. Each player begins in control of their home planet. (See CONTROL PLANET).
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Deal Other Envelopes: Deal 4 cards face-down into each other envelope, then put those envelopes into the envelope box.
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Set Chaos Clock: Start the Chaos Clock at 48 (36 for a short game).
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Prepare Hands: Each player accesses their home envelope, selects up to 7 cards to put in their hand, and places the rest in the envelope.
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Select Start Player: Determine a start player using any method you choose (e.g. rolling dice or drawing a landing flag from a player's hand).
Custom Board Layouts
Create any board setup you can imagine, or use one of these recommendations:
Randomized Board: Use the same configuration as the 3-4 player game setup, but randomize all the planet locations. Keep asteroid fields and wormhole tiles in the same location as normal.
Build Your Own Board: Give each player their alien's home planet and randomly deal out the other planets, wormhole tiles, and asteroid fields. Players take turns placing one piece of the board at a time until the board is complete.
Place all the planets first, then the asteroid fields (you may not place an asteroid field in a location that would block off a planet completely), and lastly the wormhole tiles.
Game Setup (2 Players)
The game setup for a 2 player game is the same as a 3-4 player game, with the following exceptions:
Remove Two Aliens: Randomly select an alien, and then find the other alien who uses the same Enviro Gear. For both aliens, put their alien sheet, miniature, and home planet back into the game box. You will not be able to play as those aliens or use their planets this game.
Board Setup: Place the 8 planet hexes (excluding the two you just put back in the box) randomly around the Chaos Clock, in a similar fashion to YOUR FIRST GAME SETUP. Also place the asteroid fields and A wormhole tiles in the same fashion.
Deal Home Envelopes: Deal 11 cards into each player's home envelope.
Deal Other Envelopes: Deal 7 cards into each other planet envelope. Do NOT deal cards into the envelopes for the two unused planets.
Bonus Cards
When preparing the equipment deck, search for all Enviro Gear cards that can't be used by any aliens playing this game. Take each one out of the deck and replace it with a bonus card, as indicated:
1st Card -> Dark Resonator
2nd Card -> Replicator Seed
3rd Card -> Escape Pod
Landing Flags
After selecting aliens, each player takes the landing flag tokens of their alien's color. Place a flag on your home planet, since you begin the game
already controlling it. Any time you successfully take control of a new planet, place a flag and remove any opponent's flag.
These flags don't alter the game rules, but they help you remember which planets your opponents controlled recently.
By checking landing flags, you can track movement like a trail of bread crumbs to deduce your opponents' plans.
Game Play
Starting with the first player and continuing to the left, players take turns one at a time. You have three actions to spend on your turn. (An action is represented by A). Certain cards or abilities may allow you to perform free actions, which do not use up one of your three actions.
Spending Actions: You may spend your actions in any combination and order you choose, including moving, controlling planets, attacking opponents, and playing cards. You must finish each action before starting the next one, but you may repeat actions unless otherwise indicated.
Move 
Move one space. Planets, stars, and wormholes are each a space. You may not cross asteroid fields. Players may peacefully coexist on the same space.
Planets and Stars: You may move from a planet to any adjacent star, or from a star to any adjacent planet. You may not move between two stars, and you may not move onto half-stars on the edge of the board.
Wormholes: You may move between a planet and an adjacent wormhole. Treat the wormhole and all stars it touches as one space. Treat wormholes of the same letter as the same space (you may freely move between them).
Crossing the Chaos Clock: If the Chaos Clock hex is part of the board, treat the stars on opposing sides of the clock as the same star. You may freely move across the clock, but may not change directions or stop on the clock.
What is a Toxic Planet
Each alien has a toxic planet (
) listed on their alien sheet. You can land on your toxic planet, but you can't attack there or control the planet envelope without finding and playing your appropriate Enviro Gear card.
Hyperspace + 
Spend a hypertoken to travel to any space on the board.
Control Planet
If you're on a planet and that planet's envelope is in the envelope box, take control of that planet. (See ATTACK for stealing control of a planet).
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Reveal Enviro Gear: If the planet is toxic (
) to you, you must reveal an appropriate Enviro Gear card or you can't control the planet. -
Take and Open Envelope: Take the planet envelope from the envelope box and open it so all players can see if there's a face-up card on top.
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Check For Flip Card: If the top card inside the envelope is a face-up flip card, announce it and resolve its effects. (See FLIP CARDS).
Accessing Cards: Once you control a planet, put its envelope in front of you. You may look at the cards inside any time. As a free action (or in between two players' turns), you may move cards freely between your hand and the envelope. You maintain control until you leave the planet.
- You must keep your hand separate from the envelope.
- You can never have more than 7 cards in your hand.
- The planet must always have at least one face-down card and never more than one face-up card. (See FLIP CARDS).
Losing Control: If you leave the planet, return the envelope to the box. You may also return the envelope as a free action, or in between two turns.
How do I get the Ovoid?
Explore Planets: Every time you take control of a planet, you gain access to new cards. The Ovoid may be on an unexplored planet, or an opponent may have hidden it on a planet you've already explored.
Watch Your Opponents: Pay attention to what your opponents do and where they go. If two players keep fighting each other or return to the same planet repeatedly, you may be witnessing a covert struggle for the Ovoid. Or, maybe the quiet player has been hiding it the whole time!
Fight Strategically: While it's possible to win the game without being strong in combat, most likely you will need to win one or two critical battles in order to steal necessary cards. If the Ovoid is in an opponent's hand, you may need to take it by force.
Attack
Attack an opponent on the same space as you. You may only attack the same opponent once per turn.
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Reveal Enviro Gear: If you and the player you're attacking are on a planet toxic (
) to you, you must reveal an appropriate Enviro Gear card or you can't attack. -
Roll Combat Dice: Each player rolls two combat dice.
The totals form your initial combat scores. A mirror (
) copies the number on your other die. If you roll infinity 
skip playing combat cards and you automatically win. If both players roll infinity, cancel the combat and banish both players home, ending the turn. -
Play Combat Cards: The player with the lower score plays combat (
) cards from their hand to improve their score.(When the score is tied, the attacker plays). Once their score becomes higher than their opponent's, the opponent plays combat cards the same way. Repeat this process as many times as needed, trying to beat each other's scores.
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Players Pass: If a player chooses not to play any more cards, they pass. When both players pass in a row, determine the winner. (Otherwise, resume playing combat cards).
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Determine Winner: Calculate final combat scores, send Single-Use (
) cards to the Void, and return all other cards to players' hands. The player with the higher total is the winner. If there's a tie, end combat immediately as a draw. -
Combat Resolution: The winner chooses to either take spoils or banish the loser.
Spoils: Look at the loser's hand and take one card. If this puts you over your hand limit (usually 7 cards), you must immediately give the loser a card of your choice.
Banish: Send the loser to a planet of your choice, and they also lose the rest of their turn (if it is their turn).
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Winner Takes Envelope: If the loser controlled a planet, they lose control of it and the winner may immediately control it as a free action, even if it isn't their turn.
Native Weapons
Playing with native weapons gives your opponent -1 in combat if they play your alien's native weapon against you.
Look for an alien sigil in the lower right corner of the weapon art. The sigil marks which alien is resistant to that weapon.
Native weapon resistance is always -1 to your opponent's side, no matter how many copies of the weapon they played or how strong it is.
Play a Card
Reveal a card from your hand and pay its action cost, if any. (Cards with no 
icon are free to play). Immediately resolve the card's effects. Return the card to your hand, or send it to the Void if it is Single-Use ().
There is no limit to the number of cards you may play, or the number of times you may play each card, as long as you pay each card's cost.
Trade with Cosmic Pool (Free)
As a free action once per turn, you may trade with the Cosmic Pool if you're on your home planet. Exchange one card in your hand with one card in the Cosmic Pool. (You can't trade during combat).
Click to End your Turn
When you are finished taking actions, end your turn by clicking the Chaos Clock down by one. Play passes to the player on your left.
End of the Game
When the Chaos Clock reaches zero, the game is over and the player with the Ovoid in their hand is the winner.
If no player has the Ovoid, the universe is destroyed and everyone loses!
Watch Out!
The Temporal Displacer lets you reduce the clock by up to 8 turns, which can end the game early!
Combat Strategy
Pick Your Battles: You will not be able to stay powerful for the entire game.
It might be better to concede an early combat and let your opponent take one card, rather than spend all of your Single-Use weapons early in the game to win a single battle.
Pay Attention to Weapons: Ask your opponents to say the name of each weapon they play. It will help you remember which cards they have, and encourage you to go look for defenses to counter their weapons.
Adapt: If you gather a strong set of weapons, your opponents will eventually find defenses to counter you.
It's often better to trade out your weapons than to keep the same strategy for the entire game. The element of surprise can easily turn the tide of any battle.
I found the Ovoid. Now What
Act natural. If the other players suspect you, the first thing they will do is scry your hand or fight you to see if you have it.
Early Game Strategy: It's dangerous to keep the Ovoid in your hand early on, so consider leaving it on an inconspicuous planet. It's a great idea to use a Vault or Trap to protect it, if you can find one.
Create an Information Fog: As the game goes on, the other players will figure out more and more about where the Ovoid isn't, which will eventually lead them to where it is.
Consider moving the Ovoid between planets and your hand, or using a Hypertube to send it somewhere. The more locations you visit, the more hiding places your opponents will need to check.
Plan Your End Game: As the Chaos Clock approaches zero, find a way to get the Ovoid back into your hand without attracting attention to yourself.
Plan out your movement so you stay far enough away from your enemies, but close enough to your hiding place to snatch it at the exact right moment.
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