Bot Factory

You thought it was going to be just another day at work in the toy factory, but no: the corporate executives learned about the kanban methodology at a seminar. Convinced of its efficiency, they have reworked the entire production floor to take advantage of the benefits of kanban. They even brought in the manager from the local EV car plant, Sandra, as a consultant!

Now you must try to impress them all by becoming even more productive in the toy factory where you work. Maybe if you can convince them that you are gung-ho for this new approach by exceeding even their lofty expectations, you can get a supervisory position and get off the assembly line!

Components

• Board 01 (Assembly board)
• Board 02 (Part Production board)
• Board 03 (Project board)
• Board 04 (Finance board)
• 1 Wheel board + 1 Reminder cube
• 1 Sandra meeple & 1 Distribution marker
• 16 Bot meeples (4 × 4 colors)
• 4 Bot Value markers
• 24 Project tiles (6 × 4 colors)
• 14 Contract tiles
• 36 Speech tokens (9 × 4 colors)
• 4 Workers (1 × 4 colors)

54 Part Tiles

• 16 Heads (4 × 4 colors)
• 16 Torsos (4 × 4 colors)
• 16 Legs (4 × 4 colors)
• 2 Universal Heads
• 2 Universal Torsos
• 2 Universal Legs

Solo Components

• 1 Vilela meeple
• 6 Contract Inspection tiles
• 4 Bot tiles
• 4 Task tiles
• 4 Vilela Action tiles

The first time you play, you must assemble the Part Production board: place the circular Wheel board firmly on the Part Production board, around the red center (be sure both boards are face up, and that the wheel is on top).

Arrange the boards left to right as follows to form the factory floor: (1) Assembly, (2) Part Production, (3) Project, (4) Finance.

1. Assembly board:
   1. 1- to 2-player game: Fill 3 spaces in each color group at the top of the board with bot meeples of the matching color.
      3- to 4-player game: Fill all 4 spaces in each group at the top of the board with bot meeples matching the color group.
   2. Randomly pick two Part tiles, ignoring the Universal Part tiles, and place one face-up on each of the Spare Part spaces (pallets) on the board.
2. Part Production board:
   1. Align the yellow lines on the wheel with the yellow lines on the board, precisely as depicted (with the game icons in the top and bottom quadrant of the wheel).
   2. Set aside the 3 pairs of Universal Part tiles. Separate the remaining Part tiles into 4 stacks by color. Shuffle each stack, and place it face-up on its matching space at the top of the board.
   3. Place the Distribution marker above the stack that matches the left Spare Part tile on the Assembly board.
      Example: The left Spare Part tile on the Assembly board is yellow. Therefore, the Distribution marker starts above the yellow stack.
   4. There are 8 spaces on the wheel. Beginning with the left space at the top, fill the spaces of the wheel in clockwise order from the Part stacks. For each space, take the tile from the stack with the Distribution marker above it, then move the Distribution marker to the right (when it moves from the green/rightmost stack, it wraps back around to the red/leftmost). Once the 8 spaces of the wheel are filled, the Distribution marker should end up where it started.
      Example: The Distribution marker started above the yellow stack, so you fill the wheel spaces in clockwise order from each stack in sequence. Starting from the left input space, (the 11:00 position), and going clockwise, the wheel ends up with the following color parts in order: yellow, blue, green, red, yellow, blue, green, red.

3. Project board:
   1. Fill each of the 6 Project spaces in the upper half of this board with a random face-up Project tile.
   2. Shuffle the rest of these tiles to form the Project deck and place it face down on its space.
   3. Place the Universal Part tiles, sorted by type, face-up on the 3 spaces on the lower half of this board.
4. Finance board:
   1. Place the 4 bot value markers on the marked starting spaces of the 4 bot value tracks (value 6).
   2. Fill each of the 9 Contract tile spaces with a random Contract tile. Return the rest of the Contract tiles to the box.
   3. Place the Sandra meeple on the rightmost Action space.
5. Each player chooses a player color and takes the worker of their chosen color.
6. Each player takes 1 random Project tile from the face-down Project deck, and places it face-up in front of them.
   The first player is the player who most recently bought a robot, or choose a first player at random. The initial turn order is clockwise around the table.
7. Each player takes 1 Speech token of their color. The last player in turn order takes 1 additional Speech token (2 total).
   Players are limited to 9 speech tokens. If all 9 are being used, they cannot gain any more tokens. All remaining speech tokens are placed next to the board to form a general pool.
8. In reverse turn order, each player takes 1 Part tile from the top of any of the 4 Parts stacks on the Part Production board, and places it face-up in front of themselves.

Each round of the game has three phases:

1. Move Workers
2. Perform Actions
3. Maintenance

The game lasts until all bots of one color have been completed, or 1 player has completed 5 bots.

Phase 1: Move Workers

In turn order, each player moves their worker to any available Action space on the factory floor. The Action spaces are the 11 circles along the bottom of the game boards.

An available Action space is any Action space that has no meeples in it.

On Your Turn

Move your Worker meeple to any available Action space, and stand the meeple up on that space to show that you have made your move this round, but have not yet taken your action.

Your worker must move to another board.

2-player game: You cannot move to the board that has Sandra on it.

Turn Order: After Phase 1 of the first round, once all players have their worker on the board, turn order is then determined by the order of the meeples on the Action spaces from left to right. This includes the Sandra meeple.

Exception: In the first round, you will place your worker on the board rather than moving. In the other rounds you will always move your worker.

Moving Sandra

In the first round (and only the first round), when it is Sandra’s turn to move, just leave her where she is. She is planning her day. In later rounds when it is Sandra’s turn to move, she must go to the first available Action space in left-to-right order, starting with the board to the right of her current board. She may skip over an entire board if all spaces are unavailable to her, continuing to the next until there is an available Action space. If she is moving from the rightmost board (Finance), she “wraps around” the factory, and moves to the first available Action space in the factory. Often, this will be on the leftmost board (Assembly). Sandra always moves in turn order.

Example: The turn order (as determined by left-to-right meeple order on the factory floor) is as follows: Blue, Yellow, Purple, Sandra. Blue moves first to the available Action space on the Project board, Yellow moves to the available Action space on the Part Production board. Next, Purple moves to the Action space where Yellow came from, as it is now available. Finally, Sandra moves to the first available Action space beyond her current board.

Phase 2: Perform Actions

In turn order, you will perform the action corresponding to your worker’s space, but things will get complicated if Sandra is also there! If you are under Sandra’s scrutiny, you will have to explain your procedure to her; if you can’t find the words, you’ll get nothing done!

On Your Turn

Perform the action corresponding to the Action space with your Worker meeple on it, then lay your Worker meeple down to show that you have taken your action for this round.

In addition, you may perform the executive action available on that board before, during, or after your main action. The actions are described in detail within each board’s section of the rules.

If you are unable to perform the action corresponding to your worker’s Action space (or choose not to perform it), you can still perform the executive action. Both your main action and executive action are optional.

If Sandra is on the same board as your Worker meeple, you must either spend 1 Speech token, or lay your Worker meeple down and pass your turn, taking neither a main action nor any executive actions.

Sandra’s Actions

When it is Sandra’s turn to perform an action, she does her special action depicted on her current board, regardless of which Action space she occupies. Then lay her meeple down to show that she has taken her action for this round. Sandra’s actions are described in detail within each board’s section of the rules.

Exception: In the first round, Sandra lies down without taking an action (she is getting her clipboard in order).

Vilela (Solo only) • The Inspector

Within each board’s section of the rules, you will also find rules for Vilela. These rules are for the solo Inspection variant. If you are not playing this variant, simply ignore the Vilela sections.

Hand Limit

You can only have 5 Part tiles and 5 Project tiles at the end of your turn. If you have more than that, you must discard the tiles to their respective discard piles until you only have 5 remaining. This includes completed Project tiles, which you cannot discard, so the closer you are to winning, the fewer Projects tiles you have to work with.

Phase 3: Maintenance

After everyone’s meeples (including Sandra) are lying down to indicate that they have all taken their actions, perform the following maintenance steps to prepare for the next round:

• Assembly and Finance boards: For each completely assembled bot on the Assembly board, discard the head-torso-legs trio of Part tiles to their respective discard piles beside the Part Production board (universal parts go back to the Project board), then reduce the value of that color bot by one space on the Finance board.
• Project board: Discard all Project tiles from the bottom row. Slide all Project tiles downward to fill empty spaces. Now fill all the remaining spaces with tiles from the Project deck. As usual, if the deck runs out, shuffle the discards to form a new deck.

1. Assembly Board

Each column of this board contains 3 Part spaces to assemble a bot of the column’s color: the top space for a head, the middle space for a torso, and the bottom space for legs. Only bot parts of the matching color, or a universal part, can be placed in each column. During the Maintenance phase, the assembly spaces of completed columns are cleared, allowing a new bot of that color to be assembled in future rounds.

Note: Bot parts can be added in any order.

Main Action

Place 1 – 3 of your Part tiles on Assembly spaces:

• This space allows you to place 1 Part tile.
• This space allows you to place 1 – 2 Part tiles; they do not need to go to the same column.
• This space allows you to place 1 – 3 Part tiles; they do not need to go to the same column. However, to take this action you must spend 1 Speech token. If you do not spend a Speech token, you can not take the action (you can still perform the executive action).

For each tile you place, you get a reward, depending on how complete the bot is after placing your tile:

• 1st: If the bot now has only 1 part (i.e. you just started it), gain 2 Speech tokens of your color.
• 2nd: If the bot now has 2 parts, gain 2 Speech tokens of your color.
• 3rd: If the bot now has 3 parts, take a bot meeple of the matching color, and place it on your matching incomplete Project tile, which completes that Project tile.

You can only complete a bot if you have a Project tile matching the bot, that has no bot meeple on it. If you do not have an unoccupied Project tile matching the bot, you cannot place the 3rd Part tile for a bot.

Immediately after you receive each reward mentioned above: For each space with you cover, you may spend 1 Speech token to take the top Part tile from any stack on the Part Production board.

Note: If all bots of one color have been completed (i.e. zero meeples of this color remain on this board), or you have completed 5 bots, the game will end after the Maintenance phase of this round.

Executive Action

As many times as you wish, spend 1 Speech token to swap one of your Part tiles with one from the Spare Part spaces.

Sandra’s Action

Discard the 2 Part tiles from the Spare Part spaces, to their respective Part discard piles, near the matching Part stacks.

Refill each space as follows: Draw the top tile from the stack on the Part Production board with the Distribution marker above it, and place the tile on the Spare Part space; then move the Distribution marker to the right (when it moves from the rightmost stack, it wraps back around to the leftmost). If you need to draw from an empty stack, shuffle its discards to create a new stack.

Vilela (Solo Only)

Check to see if there are 2 Part tiles in the column matching Vilela’s bot tile color (including Universal parts). If so, discard both Part tiles. If there aren’t 2 matching Part tiles, remove a bot meeple of that color from this board instead. This has no effect on the value of that color of bot.

Reminder: If zero bots of one color remain on this board, the game will end after the Maintenance phase of this round.

2. Part Production Board

On this board, bot parts are manufactured and then dropped into a hopper wheel to cure. Workers can crank the hopper wheel to dispense parts at the bottom.

Main Action

Spend up to 3, 4, or 6 movement credits (depending on your Action space) to rotate the wheel and/or dispense parts:

• This Action space gives you 1 Speech token of your color, and grants you up to 3 movement credits.
• This Action space grants you up to 4 movement credits.
• This Action space grants you up to 6 movement credits.

You can spend each movement credit in one of two ways:

• Rotate the wheel clockwise 90° (¼ turn / 2 Part spaces):
  After rotating, if either of the top input spaces are empty, immediately refill it with the top tile from a Parts stack of your choice. If both spaces are empty, refill the left space first. The Distribution marker stays on its current stack, regardless of which stacks you take tiles from. If you want to draw a part from a stack that is empty, shuffle the discarded parts of that color to form a new face-up stack.
  Note: Filling the top of the wheel does not use up any of your movement credits; it “automatically” gravity-feeds from the stacks.
• Dispense a Part tile from one of the current bottom two output spaces of the wheel:
  Simply take the Part tile from the wheel and put it in front of you.

If you dispense a part from a space with these bonus icons above it (), you may immediately spend 1 Speech token to place a Part tile on the Assembly board, with the usual restrictions and rewards. However, this does not allow you to take an executive action on the Assembly board.

Note: In the lower-left corner of this board, there is a small 6-space track. Use the Reminder cube on this track to keep track of how many movement credits you have spent, and how many you have left during your turn.

Note: You do not have to use all available movement credits, and it is also possible to get the bonus action multiple times in one turn.

Example: Purple is on the space that grants 6 movement credits.
1. Purple spends 1 credit to rotate the wheel clockwise 90°.
2. Purple spends 1 credit to dispense a part.
3. Purple decides to take the bonus action so they place the Reminder cube on the 2 space, to remember how many credits they already spent.
4. Purple spends a Speech token to take the bonus action placing a Part tile on an Assembly space, and then returns to the hopper wheel to use their remaining 4 movement credits.

Executive Action

Discard 3 of your Part tiles to take the top Part tile from any stack on this board. You cannot take Part tiles from the discard piles or wheel.

Sandra’s Action

Refill all empty Part spaces on the wheel, starting with the left input space, and going clockwise from there (without turning the wheel). For each space, take the top Part tile from the stack with the Distribution marker above it, then move the Distribution marker to the right (when it moves from the rightmost stack, it wraps back around to the leftmost).

Vilela (Solo Only)

Discard all Part tiles matching Vilela’s bot tile color from the wheel. If there are no matching tiles, then nothing happens.

3. Project Board

The upper half of this board features 6 Project tiles for projects the engineers have proposed. The lower half contains some cutting-edge universal bot parts that work with any project.

Main Action

Take 1 – 2 Project tiles:

• This space allows you to take any 1 Project tile (from either column).
• This space allows you to take any 1 – 2 Project tiles (each can come from either column).

Note: Do not refill any of the Project tile spaces after taking this action, the Project tiles are only refilled during Maintenance or when Sandra takes her action on this board.

• If you take the bottom tile from the left column (), you may immediately spend 1 Speech token to place a Part tile on the Assembly board, with the usual restrictions and rewards. However, this does not allow you to take an executive action on the Assembly board.
• If you take the bottom tile from the right column (), immediately gain 1 Speech token of your color.

Executive Action

Discard 2 of your Project tiles to take 1 Universal Part tile from this board. A universal part is compatible with any color of bot.

Sandra’s Action

1. Discard the Project tile from the bottom row of each column.
2. Slide all Project tiles downward to fill empty spaces.
3. Refill all of the empty spaces with tiles from the Project deck.

Vilela (Solo Only)

Discard all Project tiles from the board that match Vilela’s bot tile color. If there are no matching Project tiles, nothing happens. Do not slide any tiles downward and do not refill empty spaces.

4. Finance Board

On this board, you can speak eloquently to increase the value of bots and reserve contracts.

Main Action

Spend up to 2, 3 or 4 Speech tokens (depending on your Action space) to increase bot values and/or reserve contracts:

• This space allows you to spend up to 2 Speech tokens.
• This space allows you to spend up to 3 Speech tokens.
• This space allows you to spend up to 4 Speech tokens.

You can spend your allowed Speech tokens in two different ways (you can do either one or both, as many times as you can afford and wish):

Increase Bot Value

Spend 1 Speech token to increase the value of certain color bots by 1 space. If this causes the bot’s value to cross a line, you immediately get the bonus depicted to the left of that line for free (if you don’t use the bonus immediately, it goes to waste):

• This bonus allows you to immediately place a Part tile on the Assembly board, with the usual restrictions and rewards. However, this does not allow you to take an executive action on the Assembly board.
• This bonus allows you to immediately take a Project tile from the Project board, with the usual restrictions and rewards. However, this does not allow you to take an executive action on the Project board.

Note: If you gain Speech tokens while performing these actions, you may spend those on more Finance actions this turn, as long as you do not exceed the maximum your Action space allows. You cannot increase the value of a bot color beyond the top of its track (15).

Reserve a Contract Tile

Spend 1 – 3 Speech tokens to reserve a Contract tile. The number of Speech tokens a Contract tile costs to reserve is depicted to the left of its row. Place 1 of the Speech tokens (that you spent on the Contract tile) on the most valuable remaining space on the Contract tile, then return the rest to the supply (if you spent more than 1). Leave the Contract tile where it is. You cannot reserve a Contract tile on which you already have a Speech token. Up to 2 players can reserve each Contract tile.

Note: You may only reserve a contract if your Action space allows you to spend all the required Speech tokens. For example, if you can only spend 2 more Speech tokens, you cannot reserve a top row Contract tile, even if you have 3 Speech tokens.

Executive Action

There is no executive action here.

Sandra’s Action

Sandra increases the value of the lowest-valued bot by 1 space. If there’s a tie for lowest-valued bot, Sandra increases the value all tied bots by 1. However, if all the bots are tied, nothing happens.

Vilela (Solo Only)

Decrease the value of the bot type matching Vilela’s bot tile, by 1 space (if possible). Then, reveal 1 tile from the Contract Inspection deck. From the 3 options shown on the tile, choose 2 face-up Contract tiles to remove. If there aren’t 2 possible Contract tiles to remove out of the 3, remove just 1. If none of the marked contracts can be removed, skip this step. Contract tiles with a Speech token on it cannot be removed from the board.

End of the Game

When all bots of one color have been removed from the Assembly board, or 1 player has completed 5 bots, the game will end right after the Maintenance phase of that round.

Final Scoring

Flip the Assembly board over and use your workers to track your victory points as follows:

• For each of your completed bots, gain victory points determined by its bot value marker on the Finance board.
• Assign your bot meeples to Contract tiles you have claimed.
• For each Contract tile you fulfilled, gain the victory points in the space with your Speech token and the victory points at the side of the row.
• For each pair of Speech tokens you still have, gain 1 victory point.
• For each Contract tile you reserved, but were unable to completely fulfill, lose the victory points in the space with your Speech token (do not include the points at the side of the row).
• For each Part tile you have, lose 1 victory point.
• For each incomplete Project tile you have, lose 2 victory points.

The player with the most victory points wins!

In a case of a tie, the tied player with the most bots wins. If it still is a tie, the tied player with an odd number of Speech tokens wins. If it’s still a tie, the players share the victory and play again.

These are just the 2-player differences noted throughout the rules, collected for easy reference.

Setup

• (2) Assembly board: Fill 3 spaces of each 4-space group at the top of the board with a bot meeples of the matching colors.

Play [Move Workers]

• On Your Turn: Move your Worker meeple to any available Action space; however, you cannot move to the board that has Sandra on it. Sandra can still move onto boards with Worker meeples.

This variant provides tasks for you to achieve, as well as an additional obstacle in the form of a factory inspector named Vilela. His reputation precedes him, and you are very nervous about performing your best with both Sandra and Vilela watching. Will you perform proficiently, or will you seal your fate by fumbling and bumbling, and botching every bot you build?

Except for the listed modifications, the rules are identical.

Solo Setup

Set up for a 2-player game (you only get 1 Speech token), then perform the following additional steps:

1. Select 1 Task tile as your goal for the game (you can choose, or draw a random one). Place it face up near you.
2. Shuffle the Vilela Action tiles to form the face-down Vilela Action deck. Place it near you.
3. Shuffle the bot tiles to form the face-down bot deck. Place it beside the Vilela Action deck.
4. Shuffle the Contract Inspection tiles to form the face-down Contract Inspection deck. Place it near the Finance board.
5. Place the Vilela meeple on the leftmost Action space of the Finance board.

Solo Play

Play according to the 2-player rules, with the following amendments:

General rule: If Vilela needs to draw a tile from a deck that is empty, shuffle the discards to form a new deck.

1. Move Workers

In the first round (and only the first round), when it is Vilela’s turn to move, just leave him where he is. He is observing the layout of the factory.

After the first round, when it is Vilela’s turn to move, reveal the next tile from the Vilela Action deck and the next tile from the bot deck. He moves to the leftmost empty space of the board depicted on the Vilela Action tile. If the Action tile depicts the board Vilela is already on, draw a new one; he must move to a new board.

2. Perform Actions // Vilela

In the first round (and only the first round), when it is Vilela’s turn to perform an action, just lay him down without performing an action. He is preparing his inspection forms!

After the first round, when it is Vilela’s turn to perform his action, follow what is depicted on the current Vilela Action and Bot tiles; then lay his meeple down to show that he has taken his action for the round. Vilela’s actions are described in detail within each board’s section of the rules.

End of the Game

Everything works as usual, with the tiny exception that Vilela can trigger the end of the game by removing the last bot meeple of a color from the Assembly board … and that your Task tile is crucial to your outcome!

Task Tiles & Performance Review

If you did not fulfill the task depicted on your Task tile, you lose the game. You’re fired!

If you fulfilled the task, total up your end game points and then check your performance review:

• 0 – 19: Poor performance; you will be relegated.
• 20 – 49: Adequate performance; you will be considered for promotion.
• 50 – ∞: Exemplary performance; expect an invitation to become a partner!

Task Tiles Explained

Assemble 3 bots of one color.

Assemble 3 bots, each of a different color, each worth at least 12.

Assemble 2 bots of one color, and 2 bots of another color.

Fulfill 3 contracts.

Variants

Variant 1

Separate the seven Production tiles (see below) and make a display next to the Finance board, then place the Universal bot on the top of its image on the Project board. During your turn, if you want to use one of the remaining Production tiles for its benefit, you may immediately take and use that tile. Then place that tile next to your display as a reminder that you already used a Production tile. Each player can only use one tile per game.

Variant 2

Set up the seven Production tiles and Universal bot as in Variant 1. When you reserve your first Contract tile on the Finance board, you can take one tile from the display and place it in front of you. The benefit of this tile can then be used on a later turn. Each player can only have one Production tile per game, and each player may only use their tile once per game.

Production Tiles

Do not spend an additional Speech token to take an action on the same board as Sandra. Receive 1 Speech token instead.

During the move workers phase, if every Action space on the board you want to move to is occupied, you may place your worker to the right of the other spaces and use the action of the space to the left.

Spend 1 less Speech token when taking actions on the Finance board. You must spend a minimum of 1 Speech token.

Only spend 1 Project tile to take 1 Universal Part tile as an executive action.

Spend 1 Speech token to gain one of the benefits on the Production tile (take a Part tile from a stack on the Part Production board, take any Project tile on the Project board, or place a Part tile on the Assembly board).

Take any one of the Universal Part tiles from the Project board, OR once you have 2 different Universal Part tiles, you may return them to the display to take the Universal bot from the board and place it on an empty Project tile you have. It does not matter which two Universal Part tiles you use as long as they are not the same. This Universal bot is counted when checking if any player completed 5 total bots to trigger the end of the game. During final scoring, the Universal bot is treated as a bot of the color of its Project tile.

Increase the value of one of the bot colors by 1 space on the Finance board.

All other bonuses resulting from these actions still apply.

• Designers: João Quintela Martins & Vital Lacerda
• Artist: Pedro Soto
• Editing: Nathan Morse
• Graphic Designer: Pedro Santos Silva
• Project Manager: Randal Lloyd
• Playtesters: Adrian Smith, Alexandre Abreu, André Martins, Anon Durden, Carlos Ramos, Carolina Magalhães Dias, Chris Seibert, Costa, Dan Zikha, Defkalion Kalogridis, Emanuel Santos, Flávio Oota, Francisco Arena, Francisco Martins, Henrique B. da Costa, Jan Voscek, Janusz Franas, João Pedro Martins, João Monteiro, Joe Rambleshanks Harrison, John Auer, José Ferreira, Lalu Torres, Luís Santos, Luke Rensink, Marco Silva, Miguel Lourenço, Minh-Phong Tran, Nikola Stojanovski, Pedro Felício, Pedro Silva, Rafael Antunes, Rafaela Morris, Ricardo Jorge Gomes, Rola, Samuel Resendiz, Scott Campbell, Sérgio Carvalho, Shelley (Kydaria), Sidd (ooba), Thomas Berggren, Tiago Martins, Timothy Williamson, Vasco Chita, William Aukes.

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