Smash Up: Awesome Level 9000

SmashUp: Awesome Level 9000

A fight for 2–4 players

Objective
Your goal is nothing short of total global domination! Use your minions to crush enemy bases. The first player to score 15 victory points (VP) wins!

Game Contents
This set contains:
• 4 factions with 20 cards each
(80 cards total)
• 8 base cards
• 1 VP token sheet
• This rulebook
• Plus the 16 original bases
with improved graphics

Growing On You
Awesome Level 9000 is an expansion
to the Smash Up core set. It is still a
fully operational battle station for 2
players though!

These rules sometimes talk like
you’ve got more than just four
factions, or mention cards that aren’t
in this expansion. If you don’t already
have the core set, just think of it as
viral advertising.

If you have two copies of
Awesome Level 9000,
different players can use
the same faction pitting
steampunks against
steampunks, for instance.
But one player can’t play
with two copies of the
same faction. I mean,
come on.

Kickin’ It Queensberry
For formal play, put 8 factions in
the middle of the table. Randomly
determine who goes first. The
first player chooses one faction.
Choice continues clockwise. When
everyone has chosen one faction,
the last player chooses a second
faction. Choice continues in reverse order

Shuffle all the base cards together to make
a deck. Draw one base per player, plus
one (for example, use four bases for three
players). Place the bases face up in the
middle of the table.
Each player draws five cards. If you
have no minions in your opening
hand, show your hand, discard it, and
draw a new hand of five cards.
You must keep the second hand.
Whoever got up the earliest this
morning goes first. Play continues
clockwise.
You're ready to smash up some bases.


Cheater! Y U Action Twice?
Abilities only happen
when you play a card
from your hand, or any
time a card says “play.”
When minions just
move around, that’s
not playing them

ThisIsHow YouRoll
1. Crank It Up
Some abilities happen at the start
of your turn. This is when that
goes down. Yo.
2. Play Cards
On your turn play one minion,
play one action, or play one of
each… for free! You can play
your cards in any order. You
don’t have to play any cards.

Minions
To play a minion, choose a base
and put the minion card beside it,
facing toward you. Do what the
card says. (Cards that start with
Special are a special case. See later in the rules for an explaination.)

Actions
To play an action, show your card
and do what it says. Boom! Then
discard the action (unless it has an
Ongoing ability).

3. Check for Scoring
After you are done playing cards,
check to see whether any bases are
ready to score (explained later). If any
are ready, you must start scoring.
After scoring bases, check to see
if any players have 15 or more
victory points. If so, see Game
Over, Man! .
4. Draw 2 Cards
Just what it says. The maximum
number of cards you can have in
your hand at this time is 10. If you
have more than 10 after drawing,
discard down to 10.
If you need to draw or reveal a card
and your deck is empty, shuffle
your discard pile. Put it on the table
face down—that’s your new deck.
Start drawing from there.
5. Shut It Down
Anything that happens at the end
of the turn happens here. Play
passes to the player on the left.

The Big Score
Score a base if the total power of
all minions on that base equals
or exceeds the base’s breakpoint. If more than one
base is ready to score, the player
whose turn it is decides which one
to score first.

When a base has been chosen
to score, each player first gets
to use any Special abilities that
happen “before” the base scores.
If the total power on a base drops
below its breakpoint, you still
finish scoring the base.

For example, a pirate player sees
that she will be the runner up at
Jungle Oasis. Since that’s worth 0
VP, she plays Full Sail (it’s Special)
to move all her minions away to
another base. That drops the total
power on this base below 12, but
since it’s already started scoring, it
still finishes.

Me First!
If more than one player wants to
use a Special ability, start with
the current player and go around
the table clockwise until all
players pass in sequence (if you
pass and another player uses a
Special, you can then still choose
to use a Special of your own). If
your Special allows you to play
extra cards, you must play those
immediately or not at all.

Awarding VP
The player with the most power
on a base is the winner! That
player gains victory points equal
to the number on the left. The
second highest player is the
runner up, and receives the
middle number. The third highest
is just third place but does
receive the lovely consolation
prize of the number on the
right. Dispense VP tokens in the
appropriate amounts to everyone
who scored. You must have at
least one minion on a base to get
victory points.

Back to Your Corners
After scoring, players can use
Special abilities that happen
“after” a base scores. Then all
cards still on that base go to their
owners’ discard piles. This does
not destroy them, but might
trigger abilities that happen when
they go to the discard pile.
Put the scored base into the base
discard pile. Replace it with the top
card of the base deck, if any.
Check to see if another base is
ready to be scored. Score it too,
the same way.

Tie Fighter
If players are tied on a base, all
involved players get points for
the best position they tied for. So,
if three players had 10, 10, and 5
power on a base when it scores, the
winners with 10 power each get
first place points! The player with
5 power then gets third place, not
second. If two players tie for runner
up, no one gets third place. Harsh.
If players tie for a base’s ability (such
as the one on Inventor’s Salon), they
each get to use it. See Me First!
on the previous page to settle
conflicts.

Game Over, Man!
At the end of any turn that
someone reaches 15 VP, the
player with the most victory
points wins. If there is a tie
for the most, keep playing
turns until there isn’t. No
sharing! Except for your two
factions. You guys are BFFs

Terms and Restrictions
Some restrictions apply.
See rules for details.
Supplies limited.
Affect: A card is
affected if it is
moved, returned,
destroyed, or
has an action
attached.

Destroy: When a card says to
destroy another card, put the
destroyed card
in its owner’s
discard pile.

Discard: When a card gets
discarded, it goes to the discard
pile of the player whose deck it
came from, no matter who played
or controlled it.

Extra: Normally,
you can play one
minion and one
action each turn.
A card that lets
you play an extra
minion or action
lets you play an additional card
of that type during that turn. You
don’t have to play the extra card
right away, unless the extra card
was gained by a Special ability.

Move: This lets you move a card
from one location
to another. Moving
a card does not
count as playing it.
Minion abilities do
not happen when
you move a card.
Ongoing: Most
abilities happen
and then they're
over, or else they
end at the end of
the turn. Ongoing
abilities are active
for as long as
they're around.

Play: You play a
card when it’s
one of the free
cards you get in
step 2, or any
time an ability
specifically
says that you’re
playing it. A card’s ability happens
when you play it. When cards
are moved, placed, or returned,
they’re not being played, and
their abilities don’t happen.

Return: This means
that a card goes
back where it
came from.
When a card
returns from a
base, discard
attachments on
that card.

Special:
Most abilities
happen when
you play a
card. Special
abilities happen
at unusual times
or in unusual
ways. Special abilities might be
on a card already in play or held
in your hand. A card’s ability will
describe how it can be used.

Talent: This is
an ability that
the minion
may use once
during each of
your turns, sort
of like an extra
action. You don’t
have to use it if
you don’t want to.

Void Where Prohibited
Often, card text and rules text will
conflict. When there's a fight, card
text always wins. It has a black
belt in rule-fu.
If cards conflict, the one that says
you can't do something beats the
one that says you can.
If multiple effects would happen
at the same time, the player whose
turn it is chooses the order.
You can play a card even if its
ability can’t happen. For example,
you can play an action that
destroys a minion even if no
minions are in play. This helps you
get unneeded cards out of your
hand.
You must follow a card’s ability,
even if it’s bad for you. However,
if a card says you may do
something, you have a choice
whether to do it.
If an ability says “any number” you
may choose zero. You may play
a card that says “all” even if there
are no targets.

If you get to play extra minions
or actions while a base is being
scored, you must play those extra
cards immediately or not at all.
When a card gets discarded,
it goes to the discard pile of
the player whose deck it came
from, no matter who played or
controlled it.
Specials may be played at any
time they are applicable, even on
other players’ turns.
Anyone may look through any
discard pile at any time.

The Factions
This set of Smash Up features four
factions, which combine to make
6 possible decks. As more factions
join and try to take over the world in
future expansions, the full number of
possibilities will grow. Mix and match
factions to suit your play style.

Bear Cavalry
The Tsar wasn’t
satisfied with mere
horses. So you’re
pretty much
screwed. You can run away
from them. Or you can get killed.
Sometimes you get both. Just count
yourself lucky that the bears aren’t also
riding sharks.

Ghosts
In that darkest night
at the old mansion
an eerie light shone
through the attic
windows... even though
no one was home.
Ethereal ghosts gain
power by having less of
the tangible world. The
faster you empty your
hand, the stronger these
spooks become!

Killer Plants
Feed them, Seymour!
(Don’t do it Seymour!)
Because these guys
grow all on their own.
They become stronger
the longer they remain in play, so
plants can be a major problem for
anyone who came to the table without
garden shears.

Steampunks
Jules Verne once said,
“Hey, Steampunks.
Nice threads.” Ever
since that fateful day,
these retronauts have
been classing up the joint everywhere
they go. Any base in the game will look
smarter and be just a bit friendlier for
full-on Steampunk domination.

Moar Factions!
Does more than one person want to play
Bear Cavalry? Great! Combine two sets
of Smash Up so people can draft and play
the same factions against one another.
Remember, you can’t put two of the same
faction together though! Just use one set
of bases when combining

Roll Credits
Game Design: Paul Peterson
Additional Design: Edward Bolme, Murray
Chu, Todd Rowland, Mark Wootton
Development: Mark Wootton
Art Direction: Todd Rowland
Cover Art: Conceptopolis, Gong Studios,
Yating Sun, Dinobot Illustrations
Graphic Design: Kalissa Fitzgerald
Writing: Jeff Quick
Editing: Edward Bolme
Proofreading: Murray Chu, John-Paul Cheyne,
Jeremy Holcomb, Bryan Reese
Layout and Typesetting: Kalissa Fitzgerald
Production: Dave Lepore
Brand Management: Todd Rowland
Art: Conceptopolis, Gong Studios, Yating Sun,
Dinobot Illustrations
Playtesting: Ken Andrews, Jon Angus,
Isaac Barry, Dorothea Bauer, Joachim Bauer,
Janet Bozarth, Amberle Browne,
Samantha Browne, Matthew Brubaker,
Paul Butler, Gary Campbell, Matt Clark,
William Collie, Jeff Combos, Adam Conus

Mike Cook, Jason Crognale, Drew Dallas,
Arnold Daly, Richard Darmohray,
Colin DeBernardo, Carin Doerre,
Jochen Doerre, Ben Ebell-Solomon,
Mark Fortin, Allen Garrett, Jim Getz,
Eric Goodheart, Earl Grant, Ken Grazier,
Nate Hedrick, Brian Hutcheson, Chris Hyun,
Chris Keener, Sean Kelly, Wendy Kelly,
Chris Krueger, Greg Krywusha, Hannah Lodge,
Eric Meli, Braden Moulton, Sean Orms,
Noel Paterson, Joshua Pavlisko, Leon Phillips,
Kyle Pinion, Meredith Quick, Tiffany Rau,
Aaron Richardson, Shawn Riley-Rau,
Ruben Riordan, Jamie Ross, David Sansfacon,
Andreas Scheytt, Lee Shelton,
Michael Shimek, Thomas Staudt, Birgit Uhl,
Juergen Uhl, Matthew Ussary, Eli Vlaisavich,
Brad Wells, Chris Wilson, Alyssa Yeager
Special Thanks: AEG would like to thank the
many Smash Up fans who have deluged us
with faction ideas. Look forward to seeing
many in the future! AEG would also like to
thank the many people who have promoted
and supported Smash Up, we hope we
continue to give you hours and hours of fun.

Legal Mumbo-Jumbo
Copyright © 2013 Alderac Entertainment Group, Inc. Smash Up, Shufflebuilding , Alderac
Entertainment Group, and all related marks and images are TM and © Alderac Entertainment
Group, Inc. All rights reserved. Blah blah blah.
Printed in China. Warning: Choking hazard! Keep away from small children!
Smash Up mechanic designed by Paul Peterson, used under license by Alderac Entertainment Group.
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