Catalyst

About this board game

Catalyst is a 2018 engine-building board game for 2–4 players, with a playing time of about 40 minutes. Set in the Age of Rebirth, it challenges you to develop a city powered by catalytic energy and the rare individuals who can harness it.

This is a simple yet deep game of engine-building and powerful combinations. Recruit Catalysts from the board, place them in buildings you have built, and carefully assemble a chain of actions that can be unleashed together.

On each turn, choose one of three actions:

• Take coins equal to the highest visible cost among the Catalyst cards on the board.
• Pay the indicated cost to recruit an available Catalyst, with the card’s position affecting its price.
• Activate one of your recruited Catalyst cards to use its effect.

Activation effects can provide coins, build new buildings, recruit additional Catalysts, gain Military power tokens, or immediately activate other Catalyst cards. When a Catalyst is activated inside one of your buildings, that building adds an extra effect. Activated Catalysts move to your scoring pile, while buildings remain in play.

At the start of the game, a random Goal card establishes additional ways to score victory points at the end. Each bonus is linked to a specific building, so your scoring opportunities depend on which structures you manage to construct.

When the deck runs out, one final round is played before the game ends. Players then score from the Goal card, compare their Military power token majorities, and score their activated Catalyst cards. In Catalyst, timing your engine and making the most of every connection is the key to leading your city to victory.