Learn Drillers
Learn the game in 5 short steps. Everything links to the full rules.
Prepare the Mine
Set out the main board, mineral supply, mine tiles, barriers, floor cards, milestone tokens, shops and credits. Each player chooses a mech, takes a dashboard, shop-refresh tile, card stand, Damage card and eight starting cards. Set the fuel and storage caps, activate one drone, and keep TORSO face up on top of the starting deck. Starting credits and cards depend on player count and turn order; use the setup table.
For solo play, choose a bot difficulty and build its face-down deck from its eight starting cards plus one Damage card. The bot does not take TORSO, a card stand, starting credits or a hand.
Take Operations
During Operations, play cards, move, drill, exhaust mine tiles and activate drones in any order. You can also pay fuel for the mech’s default movement or drilling functions. A card’s main effect resolves fully before you take another action; default functions cannot interrupt it.
Move one floor per movement point. Spend drills to collect a mineral, excavate a corridor or remove the barrier directly below you. Plan a route back to the surface before spending your last movement and fuel.
Open the Mine
Corridors add the pictured minerals to their floor and advance your progress track. Removing a barrier reveals the floor card underneath; resolve its mandatory reveal effect, then move down for free. Floor cards can also trigger when you excavate there, collect a mineral there, or end Operations there.
When a player opens floor 4, add the two cards reserved beneath that floor’s card to the Advanced shop. Those cards are part of the base game’s setup and progression.
Surface and Reset
If Operations ends with your mech on the surface, take Surfacing actions: sell stored minerals, buy cards, upgrade fuel or storage, repair once, discard cards, refresh one shop once, and refuel. If you finish underground, skip Surfacing.
Then resolve Upkeep every turn. Keep one unplayed card for free and pay one fuel for each extra card kept; discard played cards, reset movement and drills, draw three cards, and refill empty shop spaces. If your deck empties, immediately shuffle the discard pile into a new face-up deck.
End the Game
When a player completes their progress track, they take the 18-point final milestone and finish their turn. Every other player takes one last turn; the player who triggered the end does not take another. Score mine tiles, minerals, milestones, the unused shop-refresh tile and every five remaining credits. Subtract the penalty for your final floor and negative-value cards.
In solo, the bot can also complete its progress track; the game also ends when it draws its last card. The bot scores minerals, mine tiles and milestones but ignores underground and negative-card penalties. Read Game End and Scoring and Solo: Corporate Bot for the details.