It's a Wonderful World

The base game supports 1–5 players; the main procedure is for 3–5. Everyone uses the same side, A or B, of their Empire card. Play four rounds, each comprising Draft, Planning, and Production phases, with players acting simultaneously.

Normally deal seven cards per player. Choose one, reveal simultaneously, and pass the remainder left in rounds one and three or right in rounds two and four, until everyone has seven picks. With two players, deal ten, draft seven, and discard the final three without recycling rewards.

During Planning, put each drafted card under construction or recycle it for its printed reward. A recycling resource can go directly to a construction or to your Empire card. If it completes a construction, immediately take its completion reward and add the card to your Empire, eligible for later production this round.

Resolve production in order: Materials, Energy, Science, Gold, Exploration. At each step count the matching output of your Empire card and completed developments, ignoring unfinished cards. Production that depends on a card type counts matching cards already in your Empire.

At each multiplayer production step, the single player producing the most receives that resource’s supremacy character reward. Tied leaders receive none. Science supremacy allows a choice of General or Financier. Characters can be saved and have base endgame value.

Immediately allocate each step’s resources to matching construction spaces or your Empire card; placed cubes cannot later move between cards. Filling every cost space completes the development: return its payments to the supply, take its completion reward, and add it to your Empire. It can contribute to subsequent production steps this round.

Ordinary cubes on your Empire card cannot return to construction. Every five immediately convert into one Krystallium; fewer than five persist between rounds. Krystallium can be saved and replace any resource cube or fill a Krystallium space, but cannot replace a character token.

Unfinished developments and their payments remain between rounds. You may discard a card under construction at any time, losing all payments. Its recycling reward must go onto your Empire card, unlike recycling directly during Planning.

After the fourth round’s production, total completed developments’ direct and combination points plus character points. Generals and Financiers are normally one point each before applicable bonuses. Krystallium and unfinished developments score nothing. Ties favor more constructed developments, then more characters, then share victory.

Official solo setup creates eight five-card pools. Skip drafting and resolve two pools in sequence during each round’s Planning. You may discard two hand cards to reveal five, keep one, and discard the rest; use remaining cards for construction or recycling. Supremacy requires producing at least five of that resource. After four rounds, consult the score table, subtracting fifteen first with side A. The base manual also supplies solo scenarios with required constructions.