Earth player: Your aim is to give the Mars player aid
when they need it, but also make sure that the rescue
Brett J. Gilbert & Matthew Dunstan
1 or 2 players | 30 min | Ages 12+
Good Little Martian is made possible by the
generous support of our patrons. If you enjoy
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COMPONENTS
The game contains 27 cards:
• Earth deck: 12 cards — Mission Control 01–12
• Mars deck: 12 cards — Equipment 01–12
• 3 tracking cards — Target, Trajectory, Resources
You will need the following additional components:
• 1 regular six-sided dice
• 5 tracking tokens — ideally small wooden cubes
SETUP
The game can be played solo, or cooperatively by
2 players. Sort the cards and decide who will player
which role: Mars player and Earth player.
Follow the setup instructions opposite.
AIM OF THE GAME
The players must work together to keep the Martian
alive while the rescue ship travels from Earth to Mars.
If any one of the Martian resources drops to zero before
the ship arrives, the rescue mission is a failure and both
players lose.
Mars player: Your aim is to use your functioning or
repaired equipment to maintain your Food, Energy and
Shelter. Each round, new equipment will malfunction,
giving you new problems to solve!
SETUP: EARTH PLAYER
ship gets to Mars quickly and on target. • Lay the Target and Trajectory cards in your play area and place 1 tracking token on each light-blue space.
• Shuffle the 12 cards of the Earth deck and lay it face-down.
• Take the top card from the deck and slide it face-down underneath Trajectory card without looking at it. This card
HOW TO PLAY is your first ‘Thrust’ card.
• Draw a hand of 3 cards from the deck.
The game is played over a number of rounds. A round
has 3 phases: Peril, Action and Upkeep.
1. PERIL
First, the Martian player draws the top card of their
deck and lays it face-up in their play area beside the
Mars Resources card. This card represents a new
equipment malfunction. The strip of icons on the left-
hand side are the possible effects of each face-up
malfunction. Unless malfunctions are repaired or
discarded, their effects will build up. Be careful!
Second, the Mars player rolls the dice once. Both
players may take one or more of the ‘Reaction’ actions
available to them (if any) before resolving the dice.
‘Reaction’ actions are marked with a purple banner.
• Mars player: If you have Equipment 08, 11 or 12 in
your hand, you may play these to take their ‘Use’
SETUP: MARS PLAYER
action. If Equipment 07 has been ‘repaired’ (see
below) you may use its ‘Repair’ function. • Lay the Mars Resources card in your play area and place 1 tracking token on each light-blue space.
• Earth player: If you have Mission Control 09 in • Shuffle the 12 cards in the Mars deck and lay it face-down.
your hand, you may play it to take its ‘Use’ action. If • Draw a hand of 3 cards from your deck.
Mission Control 02 or 03 has been ‘prepared’ (see • Take the dice.
below) you may use its ‘Prepare’ action.
Alert! The action or function on all other cards
cannot be used before the dice is resolved.
Now resolve the dice to discover what new misfortunes
have befallen the mission. The dice triggers all face-up
malfunctions and can affect the ship’s targeting.
Malfunctions
Compare the dice result to the strip of icons on the left-
hand edge of each face-up malfunction.
The dice triggers all effects that have the same result as
the dice roll. The effects are always cumulative.
[Continued on next page.]
Dust cloud: No effect.
Solar storm: For each solar storm, one player must
discard 1 card from their hand. You may freely discuss
who will discard and choose which card to discard. If
multiple solar storm effects are triggered on multiple
malfunctions, 1 card must be discarded for each.
New malfunction: The Mars player must draw the top
card from their deck and lay it face-up as a new
malfunction. The new malfunction is not triggered in
the current round by the current dice roll.
Lose resources: The Mars player must lose the number
of resources shown. Move the corresponding tracking
token on the Mars Resources card down a number of
spaces equal to the number of resources lost. If the
resource symbol is the ‘wild’ symbol (showing all three
colours and resource icons), the Mars player can freely
choose which resources to lose, in any combination.
Alert! If the loss of resources triggered by the dice
means that amount of any of the three resources
has now dropped to zero, the mission immediately
fails — and both players lose the game!
Targeting
Also compare the dice result to the dice symbols on the
Earth-Mars Target card.
• On a roll of 2, 3, 4 or 5, move the ship’s target token
one space in the direction shown by the matching
dice symbol in the middle of the card.
• On a roll of 1 or 6, do not move the token.
Alert! If the movement triggered by the dice
moves the target token across the solid boundary
line (and off of the grid of spaces), the ship must
slow down to correct course. Put the most recently
added Thurst card on your discard pile and put the
target token back on the central light-blue space.
2. ACTION
The players may take any combination of the following
actions, in any order:
• Play a card — both players
• Prepare a card — Earth player only
• Repair a malfunction — Mars player only
• Add Thrust — Earth player only
The players should discuss their choices — you will
need to work together!
PLAY A CARD
Both players may play any number of cards from their
hands. Each card will generate a number of resources or
perform another action explained on the card. Play
cards one at a time, resolving each card’s action before
playing another.
Mars player
When you play a card from your hand, immediately
take its ‘Use’ action, then put it on your discard pile.
You cannot play a card from your hand to use its
‘Repair’ function.
Most ‘Use’ actions generate resources, which you
should immediately record by moving the
corresponding tracking token on your Resources card.
If an action shows the ‘wild’ symbol (showing all three
colours and resource icons), you may freely choose
which resources to gain, in any combination.
Earth player
When may play a card from your hand, immediately
take either its ‘Use’ or ‘Target’ action, then put it on
your discard pile.
When you generate resources, you must either give
them to the Mars player (who must then record them by
moving the tokens on the Resources card) or
immediately use them yourself to allow you to ‘Add
Thrust’ (see below). You cannot store resources from
round to round, although you may ‘prepare’ a card and
use its ‘Prepare’ action in a later round (see below).
The ‘Target’ action allows you to move the target token
on the Target card exactly 1 space in one of the
possible directions shown by the arrows on the card.
When you play a card and take its ‘Target’ action,
you must orient the card so that the text on it is
aligned with the text on the Target card.
PREPARE A CARD
Earth player only — You can ‘prepare’ one card from
your hand for use in a later round. Lay the card face-up
in your play area beside your deck. Make sure it is
separate from your discard pile.
In the a later round you may take the card’s ‘Prepare’
action, but once it is prepared you can no longer take its
‘Use’ or ‘Target’ action. When you use a prepared card,
put it on your discard pile.
You may only have one prepared card face-up in your
play area at any time. If you prepare another, you must
discard the previously prepared card without effect.
REPAIR A MALFUNCTION
Mars player only — You can ‘repair’ a face-up
malfunction by using the combination of resources
contained in the grey bar in the card’s ‘Repair’ section.
You must have enough resources currently available on
your Resources card and must adjust the positjon of the
tracking tokens to indicate that your have used them.
You cannot choose to play a card from your hand as a
malfunction. You cannot repair a card in your hand.
If the Earth player has prepared Mission Control 01,
they may use it allow you to repair any one
malfunction for 1 Food, 1 Energy and 1 Shelter
instead of the combination shown on the card.
When you repair a malfunction, move the card from the
line of malfunctions beside the Resources card and
place it in a separate line of repaired cards. As you
repair other malfunctions, lay them in a line and keep
them in the order in which you repaired them.
Repaired malfunctions are no longer triggered by the
dice, and you can now use its special function (shown
its the ‘Repair’ section) in this and later rounds.
Equipment 10, 11 and 12 have no special function.
ADD THRUST
Earth player only — You start the game with 1 Thrust
card under the Trajectory card. You will need to add
additional Thrust to accelerate the ship and get to Mars
fast enough to save the Martian.
To add a Thrust card, you must be able to surrender a
card from your hand to lay as a Thrust card, while also
generating enough resources from a combination of
‘Use’ actions on other cards in your hand and the
‘Prepare’ action on any prepared card.
A second Thurut card requires 2 resources of any type;
a third Thrust card requires 3 resources; and so on. You
cannot use resources that the Mars player has already
received. As you add Thrust cards, keep them in order.
3. UPKEEP
At the end of each round, you must take the following
actions and draw cards to refill your hands.
Eat Food
Mars player only — The Mars player loses 1 Food.
Alert! If this loss means that the amount of Food
has dropped to zero, the mission immediately fails!
Move ship
Earth player only — Move the ship (the tracking token
on the Earth-Mars Trajectory represents the rescue
ship) closer to Mars by a number of spaces equal to the
number of face-down Thrust cards currently underneath
the Trajectory card.
Alert! If the ship has reached Mars (the orange
space at the end of the track) the mission succeeds
— and both players win the game!
Draw cards
Both players — You must draw enough cards from
your own deck to refill your hands to 3 cards. You
cannot choose not to draw cards.
If the Mars player has repaired Equipment 09, they
must draw cards to refill their hand to 4 cards.
Shuffling a discard pile
If you ever need to draw a card but your deck is empty,
you must shuffle your discard pile to make a new deck.
Beware! Each time you shuffle, there is a penalty:
• Mars player: Before you shuffle, you must discard 1
repaired Equipment card. If you have 2 or more,
always discard the oldest repaired Equipment card.
• Earth player: Before you shuffle, you must discard
1 Thrust card. Always discard the oldest Thrust card.
VARIANT: DUST CLOUD
To increase the challenge, this variant adds additional
peril. Before you play, choose which of these four
levels of difficulty you will attempt. Now, when
resolving the dice, if at least two dust clouds are
triggered, you must deal with a single additional effect:
• Level 1: Lose 1 resource of your choice.
• Level 2: Lose 2 resources of one type of your choice.
• Level 3: Lose 1 resource of each type.
• Level 4: Reveal a new malfunction.
Special thanks to our Developer patrons!
Tony Carr, Alvin Chen, Mark Delgarno,
Chris Dunstan, Andrea Gilbert, LudiCreations,
Norman Ma, Brian Richards, David Studley
www.goodlittlegames.co.uk
© 2017 Brett J. Gilbert & Matthew Dunstan | v1.0.1