Ben Cheung

OBJECTIVE & CONCEPT

OBJECTIVE: Players play card(s) into markets. When the active player has three cards in a market that player can trigger a market clash (poker hand competition). They compete against other players by making poker hands to score points. The winners of the market clash scores victory points based on the rank of the poker hand they formed. The first to get to 7 victory points wins the game. Ties are broken with the value of a player’s factory and market cards. THEME – The Theme of the game is an economic factory engine building game during the modern post-industrial era.

PERSONALIZED CARD GAME CONCEPT

Gears of Industry is a Personalized Card Game (PCG). A PCG is a game where players each create and use a customized play deck. All players build their personalized decks from the same fixed card pool of two Tech Decks (52-cards). Each player customizes their own 26-card play deck to create a unique play experience to reflect their personality and play-style. Players also bring a customized 15-card Market deck contribution. A PCG is NOT a collectible game, nor is it a "living card game".

GAMEPLAY OVERVIEW

PERSONALIZED PLAY & MARKET DECK - Before the game begins, all players build their personalized decks from the same fixed card pool of two Tech Decks (52-cards). Each player customizes their own 26-card play deck to create a unique play experience to reflect their personality and play-style. Players also bring a customized 15-card Market deck contribution. Players combine their personalized Market deck contributions into a single communal Market deck. GAME PLAY – Each player's personalized play deck will contain Technology cards (Gear cards) which represent factories. Factory cards allow other cards to be played into the two Markets. Horizontal (left or right-facing) Factory cards pay for playing Market cards. Upright and upside-down Factory cards can boost a market. Each market contains two neutral market cards. On their turn, the active player can use game effects on their Market cards or one of the neutral Market cards. The active player can trigger a Market Clash. During a Market Clash all the players compete in a Market by making the best poker hand they can using the player’s market cards, the two neutral market cards, and one factory card in the market boost orientation. The winners of the market clash scores victory points based on the rank of the poker hand they formed. Winning players score 1 victory point for a poker hand up to a three of a kind, or 2 points for higher ranked hands. Factory cards are rotated when Market cards are played and during the Market Clash step.

GAME SETUP

STEP 1: PERSONALIZE DECKS - Each player prepares a 26-card personalized deck using cards from a Tech Deck in the basic game and two Tech Decks in the advance game. Expel all Wild Cards. Each player selects 26 cards they would like to use for their personalized deck from their pool of Tech Deck cards. Card sleeves can be used to differentiate the cards owned by different players.
STEP 2: DETERMINE A FIRST PLAYER/TEAM - If playing with 4 players, form two teams of two players. Randomly determine a first player/first team.
STEP 3: MARKET DECK and DISCARD - Take the Tech Deck cards not being used by the players. Remove the Technology cards. In the basic game, randomly take 30-cards to form a communal Market deck. In the advanced game, each player contributes 15 cards towards a communal Market deck. Shuffle the Market deck.
STEP 4: SETUP TWO MARKETS - There are two Markets in the play area shared by all players, you can use a mat or piece of paper to show the two markets. The markets each start with two cards drawn from the communal Market deck.
STEP 5: START WITH THREE TECHNOLOGY CARDS - Each player may search their personalized deck for three Technology cards of value 5 or less and adds it to their hand. Technology cards in this game are called factory cards.Deal 3 cards to each player from the draw deck.
STEP 6: DECK and DISCARD - Each player shuffles the remaining cards of their personalized deck and places it their player area. Their personal discard pile is next to it. Game effects played from their deck that refer to deck and discard relate to their personalized deck and discard.
STEP 7: DEAL CARDS TO PLAYERSEach player draws four cards from their personalized deck.

STEPS IN A PLAYER TURN

Each Round is composed of the following phases performed by the active player on their turn:
DRAW A CARD - Draw a card from the player’s personalized deck. Skip this step on the first turn of the game.
PLAY FACTORY CARDS - Play one Technology domain card from hand into their factory area in any orientation. These are called factory cards.
FACTORY CARDS - Vertically oriented factory cards (upright or upside-down) can boost a market (poker hand) during a market clash. Horizonal facing factory cards (right-facing or left facing cards) each produce 3-factory output, or they can be used to play a market card of that factory card’s value. A factory card may not be used both as a market boost and to pay for a market card during the same turn. However, it may still be rotated more than once in a turn.
ENTER THE MARKET - Play up to two cards into one or both of the two markets. Only non-technology cards can enter a market. Play market cards that sum equal to or less than the active player’s factory output. Factory points cannot be saved. Instead of producing factory points, a factory card can be used to play a market card matching the value of the factory card. For example, a 12-technology can be used to play any 12-value card. Any factory cards used to pay for market cards must be rotated clockwise 90o. Other horizontal factory cards of the active player maybe rotated clockwise 90o. You can replace a market card if you have three cards in the market already.
USE A CARD EFFECT - Use a game effect on a Market card owned by the active player, or a neutral Market card. Effects such as Draw, Discard, Replace, or Search from a player’s market card refers to the active player’s personalized deck and discard. Likewise, game effects from a neutral Market card refer to the Market deck and Market discard.
MARKET CLASH - Wherever the active player has three cards in a market, that player may trigger a market clash:
(a) POKER HANDS - All players compete with the best poker hand using the cards they have in that market, the two neutral market cards, and one upright or upside-down factory card (market boost). Two different factory cards can participate in two different market clashes in a turn. The same factory card may not be used in two different clashes.
(b) SCORING - After evaluating poker hands, the winner scores 1 point for a hand of three-of-a-kind or less or 2 points for hands better than a three-of-a-kind.
(c) UPDATE MARKET - The player to the left of the winner chooses to discard one of the winner’s market cards and may discard a neutral market card in that market.
(d) ROTATE CARDS - All players may rotate any of their upright or upside-down factory cards clockwise 90o even if a market clash was not triggered by the active player that turn.
DISCARD DOWN TO SEVEN - The active player discards down to 7 cards in hand. Then play passes to the next player.
CLEAN UP PHASE and END OF GAME - If any player has reached 7 points, they win the game. If there is a tie, use the sum of value of their market and factory cards as a tie-breaker. If they are still tied, they share the victory.

CONCEPT: FACTORY CARDS

FACTORY CARDS - The following diagram illustrates how factory cards work Vertically oriented factory cards (upright or upside-down) can boost a market (poker hand) during a market clash. Horizonal facing factory cards (right-facing or left facing cards) each produce 3-factory output, or they can be used to play a market card of that factory card's value. A factory card may not be used both as a market boost and to pay for a market card during the same turn. However, it may still be rotated more than once in a turn.

EXAMPLE OF ENTERING THE MARKET

ENTERING THE MARKETThe following diagram illustrates an example of playing cards into the market (showing only Player 1)

EXAMPLE OF RESOLVING A MARKET CLASH - An example of resolving the Market Clash in a two-player game.

USING CARD EFFECTS

USING CARD EFFECTS - Use the card effect of your Market card or a neutral Market card.

DECK RUNNING OUT OF CARDS - If the deck runs out of cards, or a player needs to reveal more cards than are in the deck, resolve as much as possible. Then, shuffle the discard into the deck and perform the rest of the effect. If there are still not enough cards in the deck to reveal the requested number of cards reveal as much as possible.

CORNER CASES - If a game effect has multiple effects, but any of them are unresolvable, do as much as possible. Each market has two neutral cards. Player market cards and factory cards are all controlled and in play. Game effects last until the end of the turn if not specified on the card. It is possible that a game card effect will be used again because of a copy effect. Whenever an effect causes “all players” to do something, the active player starts first. Then, the effect passes to the next player on the left.

ORDER RANK OF HANDS (POKER HANDS)

GEARS OF INDUSTRY HAND RANKS - The following diagram shows the Rank of hands in Gears of Industry which uses Poker hands. Hands of three of a kind or less score one victory point (VP), hands of rank better than three of kind score 2 victory points (VP).

WINNING THE GAME

WINNING THE GAME - The first player to reach 7 victory points wins the game. If there is a tie, use the sum of the values of their market and factory cards as a tie-breaker. If they are still tied, they share the victory.

DOWNLOAD THE RULES

Gears of Industry Full Rules: Gears of Industry Rules
Gears of Industry 1-page Rules Summary: Gears of Industry One Page Rules Summary

INTRODUCTION VIDEO

Watch a video on the introduction of Gears of Industry:

PLAY GUIDE VIDEO

Watch a play guide video for Gears of Industry:

ENTRY ON BOARD GAME GEEK

You can read and explore the BoardGameGeek entry for Gears of Industry.

PUBLICATION INFORMATION
· Published: March 29, 2022
· Format: Card Game
· Elements: 54 Cards
· Size: 3.75" x 2.8751" x .875"

ORDERING GEARS OF INDUSTRY
· To purchase the Tech Deck: Contact Me