Actions

Algae, Inc. actions: recruit staff, activate operators (take algae or export), engineers (engineering tiles), scientists (science tiles), and machines A, B and C.

The three action types

Every action spot on the action board shows one of these. The first and last strips offer the “any” versions.

Action	Sub-actions
Recruit a staff member	—
Activate one team	operators · engineers · scientists · any team
Activate one machine	A · B · C · any machine

Recruit a staff member

Each team starts with one member printed on your facility; setup gave you one more. To recruit, take a staff tile of any team from the supply, place it on the leftmost empty space of that team’s row, pay the cost printed above that column, then take the bonus and any VP printed on the space.

More staff means more Monday income and stronger activations of that team.

Activate one team

You activate the whole team for one task — unless that team has its team upgrade, which lets it do both tasks, in order.

Activate operators

Choose one:

• Take algae — up to 1 cube per operator, of species you have storage for (empty tank: €1 per cube from the supply). The Monday income upgrade does not apply here.
• Export — to up to as many cities as you have operators.

Activate engineers

Do both:

1. Generate engineering points: 1 per engineer, +1 per freelance engineer token you spend.
2. Take tiles from your science grid — up to one per engineer, paying the 0–3 points shown on the left of the grid’s zone:
   • an engineering tile goes face up on its matching field of your department board (several fields of the same shape: you choose);
   • a combo tile is flipped to its science side and kept beside your board, to be placed later as a science tile.

Unspent points are lost. Stacked engineering tiles: place the first-level one first; the second replaces it later, even in the same action if you have the engineers and points.

Activate scientists

Choose one:

• Gain science — 1 point per scientist, up to 10 (the income upgrade does not apply).
• Place science tiles — up to one per scientist: remove a science tile from your department board (or take a flipped combo tile from beside your board) and place it face down anywhere free in your science grid, paying the 2–5 science shown for that zone. A tile across two zones costs the higher one. Then take any bonuses the tile covers.

Removing a science tile unlocks what was under it: storage, income, market value, cheaper transport, new belts. Removing an algae storage tile also raises that species’ tank capacity on the map by 1 (max 6).

Science grid bonuses you can cover:

Bonus	You get
	1 or 2 energy
	1 choice action token
	1 wild action token
+	1–2 cubes from the supply into a byproduct tank of your choice, with the euros shown (not burnable; both tanks full: €1 each instead)
	Your VP income now
	Your operator income now (+2 if upgraded)
	Your engineer income now (+2 if upgraded)
	Your scientist income now (+2 if upgraded)

Export

Exporting is an operator activation. Your cubes in the dispatch area are finished goods with a market value printed beside their storage.

For each city (up to one per operator, each a city you have not exported to yet):

1. Transport — free to a city that already holds any export disk, and free for the very first export of the game. Otherwise pay by distance from the nearest export disk of any player:

   Distance	1	2	3	more
   Standard	€1	€3	€6	not allowed
   After the transport science tile	€0	€1	€3	not allowed

2. Demand — deliver one or more finished goods whose total market value is at least the city’s demand. Each token adds +1, even to a 0-value cube. Excess value is lost; cubes go back to the supply.

3. Disk — place your top export disk from your side board on the city (stack on others). First disk there: take the city bonus token and use it at once — even for the next export of this action.

4. Milestones — check every milestone you now meet: place your top milestone marker beside it and score its VP. See the milestone list.

Removing disks and markers may unlock export/2x tiles, which you can use this same turn if you have not used one yet.

Department rules: Cosmetics may not mix product types in one city’s delivery; Bioplastics gains value by pairing a cup with a bag; Food loses value for degraded food. The four departments

Contract export

Once per game, as one of the exports of an operator activation, you may export to your contract card instead of a city: no transport, the card’s own condition instead of a demand, your disk beside the card, and its immediate reward. It never counts towards milestones.

More than 10 exports

You can export to each city only once. If you have reached 10 different cities, you may re-export to cities you already hold, still meeting demand, for VP equal to half the city’s demand, rounded up.

Activate one machine

A machine moves cubes along its main belts up to its capacity (2 at the start, shown under the machine) — and switches on every secondary belt in its zone.

• You can activate a machine only if at least one cube can move along one of its main belts; as the designers put it, the cleanest reading is that the station on its left must not be empty. Ruling
• Capacity counts moves: 2 cubes one step, or one cube two steps.
• Secondary belts work once per activation unless marked ∞. Losses they cause are mandatory; gains (byproduct, energy) are optional.

Activate Machine A

Moves cubes from algae storage to Station 1. Your byproduct converter then turns some of the moving cubes into byproduct — without upgrades usually 1 cube for 2–3 moved and 2 for 4 or more. For each byproduct cube choose:

• Burn it — +1 energy, cube back to the supply; or
• Store it — into the matching byproduct tank on the map (filled bottom up) for the euros printed on that space; full tank: sell it for €1 instead.

The converter’s science tile upgrade lets each byproduct give the energy and be stored.

Activate Machine B

Moves cubes from Station 1 to Station 2. Secondary belts here often add byproduct from the other type into your line.

Activate Machine C

Moves cubes from Station 2 into the dispatch area, where they become finished goods.

Adding byproduct

Byproduct tank empty when you want a cube: buy one from the supply for €1.

Machine upgrades

Upgrade	Effect
Capacity tile (any machine)	Capacity 3 (Cosmetics 4). The engineer team upgrade flips all three: 4 (Cosmetics 5), even those still in your grid.
Conveyor belt tile (A or B)	After activating that machine, 2 free moves in the next machine — main belts only, no secondary belts, not an activation.