Rules — finding spatial alter egos

A BALANCING ACT

the rules

1. Choose Your Character

Each player selects one of the twelve characters.
Every character’s defined personality and traits influence how they negotiate, build, and make decisions throughout the game.
Breaking character is not allowed — all decisions must reflect your character’s motivations and worldview.

2. Form the Coalitions

Divide players into Coalition A and Coalition B.
Ensure each coalition has a healthy mix of characters with differing opinions and agendas.
Throughout the game, there will be moments when a player’s unique personality is required to make critical decisions, even if it conflicts with the coalition’s overall objectives.

3. Project Cards

Each coalition draws one Project Card.
Project Cards outline the goals and specific tasks each coalition must complete.
Completing all tasks on a Project Card allows the coalition to call the Pineapple Express.

4. Imposition Cards

Draw three Imposition Cards and place them face-up.
These cards dictate the policies that govern construction and determine how camps can be built.
Impositions remain active until all directions on the cards have been implemented at least once.
Once completed, reshuffle the deck and draw three new cards.
There must always be one active card from each deck:
- Delta Policy
- Non-Human Policy
- Better Human Policy

Imposition cards may also be reshuffled if a player rolls Shuffle on the die.

5. The Diagonal

The board is divided by the Diagonal, which separates the two coalitions.
This diagonal represents no-man’s land.
In the winning sequence, the majority of sites along the Diagonal must be occupied by the victorious coalition.

Substitution Rule:

If an imposition requires a two-cluster camp and a player is adjacent to an occupied Diagonal site, the active player may replace the opponent’s camp without taxation.
The substituted camp is returned to its owner.

Substitutions at the diagonal

6. Starting the Game

7. The Die
Each face of the die dictates a different action:

Roll	Action
1, 2, 3	Build the corresponding number of camps according to the active Impositions.
Shuffle	Draw three new Imposition Cards.
Boost	Move two spaces in any direction.
Amber Alert	Draw a card from the Amber Alert deck — these introduce emergencies that affect both teams. All lost camps are returned to the Bank.

view amber alert cards

8. Camps and the Delta

Camps correspond to various infrastructures and ecosystems.
At the start of the game, each coalition receives 50 Camps at random from the Bank.
Legend:
- Lighter-tone camps: non-invasive, native, renewable, or indigenous.
- Darker-tone camps: invasive, non-native, non-renewable, or unsustainable.
The board indicates the distribution of resources across the Bay–Delta region.

Building Rules:

When a camp is placed, the related resource is either harvested or compensated.
All non-native camps are mutually compatible, and all native camps are mutually compatible.
When a non-compatible camp is built on a new site, the builder must surrender one unsustainable camp token to the Bank.
Four-quarters make up one complete camp.
Each camp must be adjacent to at least one-quarter of the same camp type.
If a camp becomes completely surrounded by incompatible camps, it expires and is removed from the board and returned to the Bank.

9. Bridges

Bridges allow coalitions to cross the diagonal and enter the opponent’s territory.
To build a bridge, the team must place two bridge tokens — one on each side of the diagonal.
All players must cross through bridges to move into opponent territory. No direct diagonal crossings are allowed.
Withdrawing a bridge token from the Bank is permitted at any time, but it comes at the cost of one skipped turn for the next player in the same coalition.
When crossing into opponent territory, any substitution made to replace an opponent’s camp must follow the tax rule — the invader pays 2 camps to the owning team to build 1 camp.
To reclaim their site, the owning team pays 1 camp of the invader’s choice.
Bridges act not only as gateways but also as pathways for disruption — allowing coalitions to derail the opponent’s objectives by occupying key sites and diminishing the owner’s capacity to build camps.
Though they do not consume camp tokens, bridges demand strategic timing — each bridge built or withdrawn creates a pause in progress that can shift the balance between coalitions.

10. The Council

In moments of impasse, each coalition selects one representative to form the Council.
The Council debates, negotiates, and votes on unresolved issues and presents directives to the rest of the players.
A two-thirds majority is required for any motion to pass using the vote cards.
Certain Imposition Cards may trigger mandatory Council sessions.
If two players are assigned to the Council due to active impositions, any veto decisions they make are independent and not subject to a general vote.

11. The Bank

The Bank is a neutral body that distributes camps randomly at the start of the game.
To request a specific camp, a coalition must trade two camps of the opponent’s choice for every one camp requested.
When a compatible camp is built on a new site, the Bank rewards the team with a camp that matches the resource on site.
- Example: If a Flora Camp is built on a Native Fauna Camp, the Bank grants the team a Native Fauna Camp token.
When a non-compatible camp is built on a new site, the builder must surrender one unsustainable camp token to the Bank.
In case of a resource gridlock, both coalitions may convene the Council to negotiate fair extraction terms (e.g., two infrastructure camps each or three native flora + one invasive infrastructure camp).

12. The Pineapple Express

Once all tasks on a coalition’s Project Card are completed, all players must move toward the Pineapple Express site.
The coalition that reaches the site and calls the Pineapple Express first triggers the rains and wins the game.
However, the Delta is unpredictable — and survival depends on how your coalition has shaped its ecotones.

Alternate Victories – The Delta may intervene in unexpected ways:
Ecological Equilibrium: Both coalitions win if the board reflects a 3:1 ratio of sustainable (indigenous, native, renewable) to unsustainable (invasive, non-native, non-renewable) camps.
Capital Dominance: A coalition wins if it controls 60% of diagonal-adjacent sites with invasive or non-renewable camps.
Adaptive Resilience: A coalition wins if it maintains 3 bridges and 2 substitutions that remain active for 3 turns.
Delta’s Rebellion: If too many incompatible substitutions occur, the Delta floods, washing away all unsustainable camps. The coalition with the most native or renewable camps remaining automatically calls the Pineapple Express.