Learn Terraforming Mars
Learn the game in 5 short steps. Everything links to the full rules.
The goal
Read Teach the Game aloud. Three global parameters — temperature, oxygen and oceans — must reach their goals. Each step you raise yourself adds 1 to your terraform rating (TR), and TR is both your income and your starting score. The game ends after the generation in which the last parameter is done.
Set up with a Beginner Corporation
Follow Setup with first game ticked: everyone new takes a Beginner Corporation with 42 M€ and 10 free cards, and production starts at 1 on every track. Read your 10 cards and sort them into “play soon” and “later”.
Your turn: 1 or 2 actions
On your turn take 1 or 2 actions, then the next player goes. Play a card (meet its requirement, pay its cost), or buy a standard project. Keep going round until everyone passes. Steel pays for building cards, titanium for space cards.
Production and research
When everyone has passed, production happens: energy turns into heat, then you take M€ equal to TR plus M€ production and every other resource you produce. From generation 2 each generation starts with research: draw 4 cards and buy any at 3 M€ each.
Terraform and score
Turn 8 plants into a greenery and 8 heat into a temperature step: both are free TR. Race for the milestones, fund an award you can win, and put greeneries next to cities. At the end, score TR, awards, milestones, the board and your cards.