Welcome to Jupiter…
In The Shadow of Jupiter is a 2-4 player strategic co-op game where you and your fellow Power Dynamics Corporation (PDC) colleagues will strive to build mining stations on the different moons of Jupiter and survive against the dangers of space long enough to complete construction on the orbital mining platform. You are up against the clock you can only last so long before running out of supplies!
Players: 2 or 4
Timeframe: 60-120 minutes
Level of Difficulty: Medium Strategy
Can You Survive?
In the Shadow of Jupiter is a 1-4 player cooperative resource management game and can be
played multi-player or solo mode. The game is set in future when resources on Earth are running out. The solution can only be found in space: on the four moons and atmosphere of Jupiter. The game is turn based and lasts until turn 15. Each turn a player may build, move, draw an environment card, and trade resources. Players must be able to manage their starting set of resources, build facilities to become self-sufficient, manage production of resources, and aid other players. The players win or lose as a team.
The gameboard is 19”h x 27”w. It depicts Jupiter of 4 of its moons: Callisto, Europa, Io, and
Ganymede. Four primary resources are necessary for players to progress through the game objectives. Since each moon only contains one of the four resources, players will need to become self-sufficient at producing it and then sharing with other players. The specific resources are color coded on each moon. Hexes define locations for building and moving.
Paths for sharing resources are laid out and must be built by the players in order to share
resources.
There is a set of 40 Environmental Effect cards (poker size) in the game. There are three types of cards that are randomly drawn by the player each turn. The first (e.g. Coronal Mass Emission) negatively impacts the efforts of the player to build up his base. The second (All Clear) has no impact. The third (Supply Ship Drop) has a positive impact since it provides much needed raw materials to the player.
In The Shadow of Jupiter has 3 guides to assist the player during the game. One depicts each of the tokens available to the player for use during the game. This particular guide is also specific to an individual moon. The second is the Resource Guide that helps each player keep track of the resources produced by the production plants or received from other sources. It also helps keep track of resources put in storage. The third is a general guid for game play and also shows the specific costs for building facilities.
There are 119 tokens in the game comprised of 16 different items. These are .75″ punchboard square tokens. These are broken up into 5 types of items: Production Facilities, Support Facilities, Vehicles and Railgun Nodes.
Production Tokens
Support Facilities
Special Facilites
Vehicles
Railgun Nodes
Base Camp
There are 4 Production Plants, specific to each moon, available to be built. There are 7 Support Facilities which can be built as needed or desired. Each support facility has a unique capability that can be used by the player. Special Facilities are one time use facilities that either enhance production or mitigate specific environmental effects. There are 3 different vehicles in the game. The first to be used is the Drop Ship which is used on the first turn to land on the moon. This Drop Ship will transition to the Base Camp. The second vehicle is a ground vehicle is a ground vehicle that the Player can use to explore the surface of the moon and locate sites for facilities to be built. The third is the Supply Ship which becomes available when an EEC is drawn. The Railgun Node is the mechanism by which the player establishes a supply path to the other moons and the Orbital Platform. The Nodes are built as desired by the player. And the First and primary facility is the Base Camp, which must be built first and survive the entire game.