Twilight Struggle

A standard game lasts at most ten turns. Improve DEFCON one level toward a maximum of 5, deal cards, reveal secretly selected Headlines, alternate Soviet then American Action Rounds, check Military Operations, flip the China Card face up and advance the turn. On turns 1–3, refill hands to eight and take six actions each; on turns 4–10, refill to nine and take seven. Add Mid War cards on turn 4 and Late War on turn 8. The China Card does not count toward these hand totals.

Headlines resolve events only: higher Operations value first, with the US first on a tie; scoring cards have Headline value zero. Normally choose an event or Operations. An opponent's event still resolves when used for Operations, with the phasing player choosing before or after the Operations. Follow exceptions for unmet prerequisites or events prohibited by another card. A legal Space Race attempt discards the card without triggering its event.

Control of a country requires your influence to meet its stability and exceed the opponent's influence by at least that stability. Placing influence normally costs one Op per point, or two in an enemy-controlled country. After breaking their control, later placements can cost one. Reach is based on countries with your influence at the start of that Action Round and their neighbors; newly placed influence cannot chain into unlimited new locations. In addition, countries directly adjacent to your superpower space are always eligible, even without existing friendly influence there.

Use all Operations from a card for just one purpose: influence, realignment, a coup or a Space Race attempt. Each realignment costs one Op and uses modified opposing die rolls only to remove enemy influence, never add yours. A coup requires enemy influence in its target. Roll plus Ops minus twice stability gives the successful amount: remove enemy influence first, then add yours with any remainder. Any Battleground coup attempt worsens DEFCON one level, whether it succeeds or fails.

At DEFCON 4, coups and realignments are forbidden in Europe; at 3, also Asia; at 2, also the Middle East. Other regions are not all prohibited. DEFCON 1 immediately causes nuclear war and defeats the phasing player, regardless of who rolls or implements the event. In Headlines, the player who played the card causing nuclear war bears responsibility. Check explicit card exceptions as well.

Normally, once per turn, discard a card meeting the minimum Ops requirement to attempt the next Space Race box, using its die target; special abilities can alter the limit. At turn end, required Military Operations equal current DEFCON, with one VP to the opponent per missing point. Coup attempts and War events count as specified; realignments do not. After play, pass the China Card face down to the opponent, who cannot use it that turn; flip it face up at turn end. It cannot be a Headline or an event-required discard.

A scoring card must be played in the turn drawn and cannot be held into the next. Presence requires control of at least one country. Domination requires more total countries and more Battlegrounds than the opponent, including at least one Battleground and one non-Battleground. Control requires more total countries and all Battlegrounds. Add the region's category points, Battlegrounds and adjacency to the opposing superpower, then apply the net difference.

After fully applying both sides' net VP from an ordinary event or scoring card, reaching 20 VP wins. A 20-point result from Military Operations penalties still requires the held-scoring-card check. Control of Europe wins only when Europe is scored. If nobody wins earlier, score every region after turn ten, with Southeast Asia included in Asia rather than scored separately. Reaching 20 during Final Scoring does not cut it short; European Control still wins automatically. Otherwise finish all regions and compare net VP, with zero a draw.