Board Games
How to play Terraforming Mars
Run a corporation, raise global parameters and earn points through terraforming, projects, milestones, awards and tiles.
What you need
Base map, corporations/projects, player boards, cubes and tiles
Set up the game
- Start temperature minus thirty, oxygen zero, no oceans placed, rating twenty and Corporate Era production zero.
- Deal two corporations and ten projects. Choose a corporation and buy initial projects for three megacredits each from its funds; apply its effects.
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Playing Terraforming Mars
- Later generations pass first player and offer four projects to buy at three each. Take turns performing one or two actions, or pass for the generation.
- Play projects, use standard projects or blue actions, claim milestones, fund awards, or convert resources as permitted. Blue actions generally work once per generation.
- Steel/titanium pay appropriate tagged projects, not any expense. Eight plants normally place greenery and raise oxygen; eight heat normally raises temperature.
- After all pass, convert old energy to heat, then produce. Megacredit income includes production plus rating.
- End after a generation reaching fourteen oxygen, plus-eight temperature and nine oceans. Resolve final greenery. Score rating, cards, milestones, awards and tiles. Greenery is one; a city earns one per adjacent greenery of any owner. Highest wins, then megacredits.
An opponent’s greenery can help your city
Your city borders three greenery tiles, only one yours. The city earns three. Your own greenery earns you another one, but the other greenery points belong to their owners.
Milestones and awards differ
Milestones reward meeting a condition and paying to claim it; only three are available to claim. Awards are funded early but compared at the end, so their funder can lose. Look at public positions before committing money. A cheap award may benefit an opponent whose engine is already better suited to it.
Read card conditions first
Check global requirements, tags and resource placement rules before paying. Some projects can remain useful after their thematic parameter is finished, but their explicit requirements still matter. Keep resource cubes on the right card or board area so scoring and future actions do not confuse animals, microbes or standard resources.
Beginner decisions
- Compare production cost with remaining generations. A late income card may not return its purchase and play costs.
- Consider city adjacencies before placing greenery. Spending plants quickly may create more points for another player’s city.
Common rule mix-ups
- Spending production levels as if already-produced resources.
- Assuming the player funding an award owns its points.
Questions about this game
Must I do two actions?
No; one, two or pass. Passing ends your generation.
Does a maxed parameter give rating?
No additional increase means no rating from raising it. Other project effects may still apply.
Sources and edition notes
Base Terraforming Mars, original Tharsis map and Corporate Era. No expansions; beginner corporations follow printed start.
Sources and stated format checked October 14, 2026. This records a document check, not a claim of hands-on testing.
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