Selfish/Space Edition

Selfish: Space Edition, released in 2018, is the first game in the Selfish series.

The players are cast as stranded astronauts who have found themselves floating helplessly in space. They will need to navigate through the unforgiving vacuum, avoiding dangers like cosmic rays, asteroids, solar flares - and worst of all, each other - to get to the spaceship first, all whilst making sure their oxygen does not run out on them.

Because Space Edition is the first Selfish game, it does not have any special mechanics, unlike later games.

Game Equipment

• Five Astronaut cards. These represent the playable characters - all of them play identically. These cards are double-sided with an "alive" side on the front and a "dead" side on the back.
• One Mission Guide - this is a long piece of paper with illustrations of stars and planets, an astronaut and the spaceship. It provides a guide to movement during gameplay.
• 42 Space cards. These are played onto the field as players move and provide effects that can help or harm the players.
• 78 Game cards. These provide players with actions to perform on their turn.
  • Included in the Game cards are 48 Oxygen cards - 38 single, ten double. These are Space Edition's critical resource - if a player runs out of oxygen at any time, that player dies and is out of the game.
• One Spaceship card. This is the players' goal.

Setup

To prepare the game:

• Each player selects an Astronaut card. The selected Astronaut cards are lined up in a horizontal line. Any remaining Astronaut cards are returned to the box.
• The Mission Guide is placed on either side of the Astronaut cards, spaceship end up.
• The Spaceship card is placed in the centre of the playing field, just above the line marked on the Survival Guide.
• From the Game deck five Oxygen cards - four single, one double - are dealt to each player.
• Four extra cards are dealt to each player. Game cards must be kept secret from other players.
• The remaining Game cards are shuffled and laid face down next to the playing field as a draw pile, leaving room for a discard pile.
• The Space cards are shuffled and laid face down as another draw pile, again leaving room for a discard pile.
• One player is selected to take the first turn, then play proceeds clockwise.

Basic Gameplay

Each player's turn is divided into three steps, as follows:

Step One: Draw a Game Card

The player draws a Game card from the draw pile and adds it to their hand. If the Game draw pile runs out, reshuffle the discard pile into a new draw pile.

Step Two: Play an Action Card

In this step, the player may play Action cards from their hand as they like. Action cards have dark strips at the top and bottom, and have instructions for effects that will help that player. To play an Action card, the player follows the instructions written on the bottom of the card, then places the card into the Game card discard pile. A player may play as many Action cards from their hand as they like during their turn.

If only two players are playing in the game, a player may only play one Action card on their turn.

Step Three: Breathe or Travel

In this step, the player must decide whether they want to breathe and stay where they are or travel one space forward through space.

If the player decides to breathe, they must discard one Oxygen card and leave their Astronaut card where it is. If this is the player's last Oxygen card, they die. They must turn over their Astronaut card to reveal their corpse on the back, and they are out of the game.

If they decide to travel, the player must discard two Oxygen cards and move their Astronaut card one space forward. Next, the player must draw a Space card from the Space draw pile and place it face up in the space their Astronaut card just vacated. They then follow the instructions on the Space card, which can have either positive or negative effects. If the player discards their last Oxygen cards to travel, and the Space card they reveal does not grant them any supplies, they die.

If a player is moved backwards into a space occupied by a Space card, the Space card is discarded. A new Space card will replace it when the player again moves forward from that space.

A player can also be moved by an Action card, following the same rules.

Once the player has rested or completed the action for the Space card, their turn ends and play proceeds clockwise.

Winning the Game

The winner of the game is the first player to reach the spaceship with at least one Oxygen card on hand.

If everyone dies before this happens, no one wins.

Space Cards

There are 42 Space cards in the deck, with the following effects:

Space cards

Name of card	Number in deck	Effects
Blank	9	Nothing happens.
Cosmic Radiation	6	The player must immediately discard one Oxygen card.
Useful Junk	5	The player may pick up one Game card and add it to their hand.
Solar Flare	5	Bad luck. If a player has this card immediately behind their Astronaut card, that player will be unable to play any Action cards until they move away.
Meteoroid	4	A meteoroid is approaching! If the player has six or more cards in their hand, they must discard any two to escape it.
Gravitional Anomaly	4	The player must immediately discard this Space card and move back one space.
Wormhole	4	The player must switch places with another player, alive or dead. If a player makes it to the spaceship but reveals this card, they must still swap places, and the other player, if alive, steals the victory.
Mysterious Nebula	2	The player may pick up two Game cards and add them to their hand.
Asteroid Field	2	The player must discard two Oxygen cards to make it through the field in one piece.
Hyperspace	1	The player immediately moves forward one space.

Action Cards

There are 30 Action cards in the Game deck, with the following effects:

Action cards

Name of card	Number in deck	Effects
Rocket Booster	4	The player may move one space forward without discarding any Oxygen cards.
Tractor Beam	4	The player may steal one card from an opponent's hand.
Laser Blast	4	The player may select an opponent to move back one space. This card cannot be played on an opponent on the starting space.
Hole in Suit	4	The player selects another player and punches a hole in their suit, forcing them to discard one Oxygen card.
Tether	4	The player moves forward one space, then selects an opponent to move back one space, following the effects of their Space card as normal. An opponent on the starting space cannot be moved back.
Shield	4	The player may use this card to block the effects of an Action card played against them. Both the Shield and the attacking card are discarded.
Hack Suit	3	The player may look at an opponent's hand, then steal one card of their choosing.
Oxygen Siphon	3	The player selects another player to steal two Oxygen cards from.