Divide the cards into 5 piles:
Hop, Crew, Souvenir, Encounter, and Monkey Wrench. Shuffle each stack separately and place the card piles face down in the middle of the play area.

Deal 4 Crew Cards to each player, face-up. Each player arranges their Crew Cards in a row in front of them.

Put the remaining Crew Cards back in the play area. This is now the spaceport pile, where extra crew lives.

Deal 2 Monkey Wrench Cards face down to each player. Each player reads their cards but doesn’t tell anyone else what they say. Monkey Wrenches put you in control!

Rule Update!!

While we love the chaos of the published rules, a Monkey Wrench can be played by any player in any order. We’ve found that some players appreciate a bit more structure.  So the newest guidance is:

The player with an active encounter can’t play a Monkey Wrench unless it is specified on the Monkey Wrench or the Encounter. After the current Encounter is played, up to two players can play their Monkey Wrenches in the order of play. If the play direction changes, so does the order of the Monkey Wrench play.

After playing a Monkey Wrench, discard it to the bottom of the pile and pick a new card. You should always have 2 Monkey Wrench Cards in your hand.

On a player’s turn, before they pick an Encounter Card, they can exchange 1 (only 1!) of their Monkey Wrench Cards and can play it right away.

Deal 1 Souvenir Card face up to each player and return the rest of the pile face down in the play area.

You’re now on your way to filling that souvenir shelf!  As you collect Souvenir Cards during play, these should be arranged in a line in front of you, so all the other players can see them clearly.

You need 5 souvenirs to win the game or 4 if you are playing with 6 players.

Now you’re ready!

A player’s starting hand will now look like this:

To start the game, the first player clockwise from the dealer picks an Encounter Card, reads it out loud, and follows its instructions. If any players want to play a Monkey Wrench during this Encounter, now is the time to do it. If not, this Encounter ends, the player discards their Encounter Card, and the turn moves to the next player.

Monkey Wrenches take precedence over Encounters. But if Monkey Wrenches don’t change the Encounter Card drawn by the player, the Encounter must still be followed.

The last Monkey Wrench played takes precedence over the others. If no other players choose to play a Monkey Wrench Card, that turn ends and moves on to the next player, who picks from the Encounter pile.

If a player has picked up a Souvenir Card during play, they place it face up in front of them so all the players can see it.

If the action description on an Encounter Card doesn’t apply to you or your crew, your turn is simply over – unless you can play a Monkey Wrench!

At the end of the turn, any Encounter Card or Monkey Wrench cards that were played are discarded to the bottom of their respective pile. Any player who used a Monkey Wrench card picks a new card from the top of the pile, beginning clockwise from the dealer. All players must have 2 Monkey Wrench cards in their hand during the game.

If any player loses all of their Crew cards, they are out of the game. But if a player is down to 1 crew card only, no other players can steal that crew member. However, they can swap if an Encounter or Monkey Wrench calls for it.

A player wins the game when they have collected 5 Souvenir Cards (or 4 if you’re playing with 6 players) and no other player has a Monkey Wrench Card to play that would allow them to take away 1 of those Souvenirs.

If you have a Souvenir Card that is worth double, that counts toward your total souvenir count. Example: if you have 4 Souvenir Cards, and one has been doubled, you now win with 5 Souvenirs. If one of your Souvenir Cards is worth half, and you have 5 cards showing, you still need one more.

Straight Win

Doubled Win

Halved Win

If an Encounter or Monkey Wrench card says “swap crew” or “swap souvenir,” the player with the current Encounter or the player who plays the Monkey Wrench leads this swap by picking from another player.

When an Encounter says you HAVE to play your monkey wrench, you have to. The only reason you wouldn’t be able to play is if the Monkey Wrench Card describes a situation or specific cards that are not currently in play, so it doesn’t apply to ANY of the players or crews on the table.

If your Encounter or Monkey Wrench calls for picking a new Crew Card and there are no more left, that’s too bad; you won’t be able to.

New Monkey Wrench Rules: Only two players following the person whose turn it is can play Monkey Wrenches in order of play, but each player can only play 1 monkey wrench per turn.