How to Play

SpaceCorp: 2025-2300AD

1-4 players 60-240 min 7.7 Board Game Geek Rating

In SpaceCorp: 2025-2300 AD, 1-4 players command space enterprises expanding humanity across three historical eras. Players explore and colonize locations from Mars to distant star systems, mining resources, building infrastructure, and conducting research missions. Victory comes through accumulating the most profit from successful space ventures, discoveries, and establishing colonies throughout the solar system and beyond.

Published 2018

Get Ready

Setup the game with these step-by-step instructions before diving into your turn.

Place the era board

Set up the Mariners, Planeteers, or Starfarers board matching the chosen era

Set up discovery tiles (Mariners/Planeteers)

Place 6/6 era 1, 3/14 era 2, and 0/8 era 3 discovery tiles randomized on matching board spaces

Place Beyond markers (Mariners/Planeteers)

Put 1st and 2nd Beyond markers on matching board spaces

Set up discovery stacks (Starfarers)

Shuffle 16 Primary into 2 stacks of 8, 12 Secondary into 2 stacks of 6, and 5 Alien tokens as 5 separate discovery stacks

Place Business Display

Position the Contract Fulfilled orange discs on their starting spaces

Place Sideboard Display (Mariners/Planeteers only)

Use the back of the Mariners map

Set up Adaptation and Breakthrough cards

Place 16 Adaptation (Genetics) and Breakthrough (Revelation) cards in stacks matching names with $ (VP) on top

Place Colony tiles (Starfarers)

Set out 12 (2-player), 17 (3-player), or 20 (4-player) Colony tiles on matching sideboard spaces

Take player HQ

Each player takes an HQ board matching the chosen era

Place Profit marker

Put matching Profit marker on Business Display space "0" (exception: last player starts at "1" in 3-4 player games)

Place Base markers

Put 9×3 matching Base round markers on HQ Board matching spaces

Place Team cubes

Put 2 (Starfarers: 3) matching Team cubes on the Base space on the game board

Set up 1st/2nd Beyond players (Planeteers)

1st Beyond sets up on Ceres and explores free; 2nd Beyond sets up on Vesta unexplored

Set up 1st/2nd Beyond players (Starfarers)

1st Beyond sets up on Alpha Centauri star; 2nd Beyond sets up on Luhman 16 leftmost box

Place Progress cubes

Put 1 Genetics tan cube and 1 Revelation black cube on top of HQ's Progress Wheel (later eras: leave in place)

Set aside Start cards

Remove 12 era "Start" cards from the deck

Prepare draw deck

Add 0/2/4 Time cards (for 2/3/4 players) plus current era deck and shuffle

Prepare starting hand (Mariners)

Take 1 Time card and 1 Chemical Drive "Mariners Start" card

Prepare starting hand (Planeteers/Starfarers)

Take 1 Time card and 2 random era-matching Start cards

Shuffle remaining Start cards

Place remaining Start cards on top of the draw deck

Determine Start Player (Mariners)

Player who last gazed at night sky goes first; in 2-player 2nd gets +1 card; in 3-player 2nd and 3rd get +1 card; in 4-player 3rd and 4th get +1 card; last player gets +1$ in 3-4 player games

Determine Start Player (Planeteers/Starfarers)

Previous 1st Beyond player, then least Profit, then random

Fill Card Offer

Place cards in the Card Offer spaces on the game board

On Your Turn

What you can do during your turn.

Advance Star Track (Starfarers only)

Move each own Team on the Star Track 1 box closer towards the Star

Conduct an Action

Select and perform any 1 action from the available options

Calculate action value

Add points from matching Infra, cards played from hand, base abilities, Adaptation/Breakthrough bonuses, and spent VP (max 3 VP spent, Planeteers/Starfarers only)

Use Time card (optional)

Play 1 Time card to double action value or use value with 2 Teams (MOVE/BUILD/EXPLORE only)

Handle Radiation (Planeteers/Starfarers)

Lose 2/3 VP if performing MOVE/BUILD in Radiation Zone while unshielded

RESEARCH action

Draw cards equal to RESEARCH Value (one at a time from deck or offer); only available if you have fewer than 7 cards

MOVE action

Travel between sites; must move to/from any player's Base (own only if End of Era triggered)

MOVE into Star System (Starfarers)

Place team on leftmost space on Star Track when entering a Star System

MOVE to Orion Spur (Starfarers)

From adjacent system with own Colony, lose team to gain 5$ (1st) or 2$ (2nd)

EXPLORE action

Use with own team on unexplored site; exploration value must equal or exceed site's "e" value

BUILD action

Build on site with own team, no existing Base, and explored terrain; Build value must equal or exceed "b" value

PRODUCE action

Gain VP equal to P# for each site with P# and own Base, up to PRODUCE Value number of sites

GENETICS action

Move Genetics tan cube clockwise on Progress Wheel equal to action value

REVELATION action (Planeteers/Starfarers)

Move Revelation black cube clockwise on Progress Wheel equal to action value

UPGRADE action

Play 1 card with "May Upgrade as Infra" from hand into HQ's non-Research box

SPECIAL action

Play 1 card with special effect from hand for its effect, then remove it from the game

COLONIZE action (Starfarers only)

Available only in System with no Colony and all Exploration Tiles having own Bases

Play Edge cards

Any player may interrupt with cards played for "Edge" effect during another player's turn

Claim Contract Awards

After your action, claim any unfulfilled contracts if meeting prerequisites; gain $ equal to current era's contract value plus any previous era bonuses; advance Contract marker

Opponent claims Rewards

For each instance of using another player's Infra or base, inactive players draw 1 card from deck in turn order

Perform free Team Transport

Move 1 Team that didn't perform the action between 2 own Bases (1 must be Spaceport) over any distance

Discard played cards

Place used cards in discard pile; replenish Card Offer if draw deck has cards

Draw 1 card

Draw from deck only if you have 4 or fewer cards in hand

Winning

How to claim victory.

Era ends by contracts

When 6 out of 7 contracts are fulfilled, each player takes 1 more turn, then the era ends

Era ends by passing (2-player)

Once 1 player passes, remaining player takes 1 turn (double Intercept edge allowed), then era ends

Era ends by passing (3-4 player)

Once 2 players pass, remaining players each take 1 turn (double Intercept edge allowed), then era ends

Legacy Production (Mariners/Planeteers)

May place 1 Discovery tile with P# and own Base onto HQ's Legacy Production; this contributes to future Production and removes any previously placed tile

Remove era cards (Mariners/Planeteers)

Remove all non-Infra era cards from the game

Return pieces (Mariners/Planeteers)

Return all players' Teams and Bases for the next era

Award Colony VP (Starfarers)

Gain or lose VP based on total colonies established: 0 colonies = -1$, 1 colony = +1$, 2 colonies = +4$, 3 colonies = +8$, 4+ colonies = +13$

Determine winner

Player with highest $ wins

Break ties

If tied on $, highest total Colony Value wins; then most Progress cards; then tie stands