Advanced Rules: About Cheapass Games:

Stop reading here if you are new to Starbase Jeff. We here at Cheapass Games are aware of two

JEFF
We have included a set of advanced game rules basic facts about games: they cost too much, and
they are, at some level, all the same.
Starbase
which you only need to learn if you’re looking for If you ignore the clever shapes they come in, the
more complexity in the game. cheap little plastic pawns are an interchangeable part
of most of the board games in your house. So are the
dice, the money, the counters, and just about every
The “Capsules”: clever spare part. These parts can account for as
much as 75% of a game’s production cost, and that
Around the edges of the cards, you’ll see a few cost gets handed to you. A Cheapass Card Game for 2-4 Players
halves of symbols. These symbols are called “cap- If you had your choice, you’d probably invest a
little money in one good set of gaming parapherna-
sules,” and completing them can give you special lia instead of twenty crappy ones, and then just buy What You Get:
bonuses in the advanced game. If you aren’t play- the new part of every “new” game. Yet most game You can learn a lot about a guy
ing the advanced rules, just ignore the capsules. companies insist on selling you the whole package when you shoot him into space.
every time; it’s a little like bundling a can opener with Starbase Jeff comes with four colored decks of 20
A guy like Starbase Jeff.
every can of beans. cards. You also get this rulebook, and a handy and
How to Play: Cheapass Games come packaged with the bare versatile white paper carrying pouch.
essentials: boards, cards, and rulebooks. If you need Back home Jeff Tuttle was a
Everything in the basic game also applies here, so anything else, we’ll tell you. And it’s probably some- humble shareware programmer,
thing that you can scrounge from a game you already What Else You Need:
you should be sure everyone is aware that they are have, or buy at a hobby store for less than we’d have content to while away the hours
playing by the advanced rules. to charge you for it. writing code and drawing cute
You will need some kind of money. Use money
And, once you’ve got a collection of pawns, little goblins.
dice, counters, and money, you can use the same from your favorite board game, poker chips, or
When you complete a capsule, as shown in the pocket change. We strongly recommend that you
ones for every Cheapass game. We’ve standardized
example below, you gain a special power, which our designs so your gaming toolbox will last. But put him in charge of a deep
don’t play for real money. Furthermore, we strong-
goes into effect right away. Both cards must be This free PDF of Starbase Jeff is a duplicate of space construction firm, and
ly don’t suggest a ratio of a nickel for every credit.
your own color; it doesn’t help to finish a capsule the original 1998 edition, with the exception of this look out.
on another player’s card. paragraph. Any errors, poor choices, or lapses in
judgement are the fault of our 1998 counterparts. The Object:
Jeff took to his new job like a
Torus (Cash): When you play End Caps, take lungfish to mud, and pretty
To make the most money. Each round takes about
two Credits instead of one. Strategy: soon he was raking in the cash,
twenty minutes, and you can play as many rounds
Cube (Labor): You may play two pieces each making shady back-door deals,
as you like.
turn, but you still draw only one card. This It’s highly likely that your opponents will be afraid and swearing like the crew of
means that your hand will shrink by one card of your capsules, and try to destroy them. In turn, the Bounty. All in the name of
Before the Game:
each time you use this power. If either of you should probably save your Sabotages to money, sweet money.
your pieces is deferred, they both are. destroy the capsules your opponents make. You Each player takes a deck. The cards in each deck
Sphere (Graft): When players connect will learn, however, that neither of these strategies What drives a decent human
are the same, and include:
through you, they pay the building cost of each is infallible. being to such desperate acts of
card, not just 1 credit, in connection fees. greed? What transforms him from
End Caps: 3x Rec., 2x Doc., 3x Comm.
Diamond (Muscle): You may choose to win Notes: With the Cube, you can force yourself to a sweet-natured pussycat into
Extensions: 3x Factory, 4x Laboratory.
or lose deferral ties, with anyone who does defer by playing two matching cards at once. the larcenous, whining,
Junctions: 2x Habitat
not also have this Capsule. In other words, if squinting, bewhiskered old coot
Hubs: 1x Power Station
you play a piece which is deferred, you may Having more than one of the same capsule does we knew as Starbase Jeff?
Bombs: 2x Sabotage
choose to let it be deferred, or play it either not give you extra powers. (Nice try.)
before or after the other matching piece. The world may never know.
Players start with money, as much as they like.
Starbase Jeff was designed by Jim Geldmacher, with There is also a “Pot,” a central pool of money
help from James Ernest. Starbase Graphics by Jim which starts empty. If you aren’t playing for real
Geldmacher, rulebook text and layouts by James Cheapass Fun Fact™: money, start everyone with 50 credits.
Ernest. Additional design by E. Jordan Bojar. Special
thanks to the game’s namesake, avid playtester and Starbase Jeff was designed If a player runs out of money, the game ends
shareware mogul Jeff Vogel. Printed in Seattle by All by Jim Geldmacher and immediately and the player with the most money
Color Printing. Assembled by a rice-eating white guy James Ernest. It’s the first wins. Otherwise, play for as long as you like.
A finished Diamond capsule. named Toivo. Thanks also to a slowly drifting escape
time we’ve ever taken Finishing the game with more money than you
Both cards must be your color. pod of weightless and bewhiskered Guinea Pigs.
help from the outside! started with is an honorable goal.
To Start the Round: Building Fees: The Sabotage Card: Strategy:

Each player takes his own deck (all the cards in When you build a card, you must pay a building When you play a Sabotage, you must destroy one There are three distinct ways to make money in
one color) and shuffles it thoroughly. Then each fee to the Pot. The fee for each card is printed in piece of the station, with one exception: you can’t this game: Capping, Piping, and Finishing. If you
player draws a hand of five cards from his deck. the upper left hand corner. For example, when you remove a card which would break the station into concentrate on building end caps (“Capping”),
build a Habitat card, you must pay 2 to the Pot. two unconnected pieces. The card you destroy you will constantly be collecting small amounts of
On Each Turn: with your Sabotage goes out of play, as does the money instead of paying them to the pot. This
End caps are an exception, and actually allow you Sabotage card. technique won’t work all by itself, however, since
To begin the turn, each player puts one card from to collect money from the pot. When you build an you’re likely to be connecting through other play-
his hand face down on the table, and then draws End Cap (Recreation, Docking, Communication), Sabotage has a rank, like any other card. If your ers whenever you do it, and thereby paying them
another card to replace it. you withdraw one credit from the pot, if there is Sabotage is deferred, because someone else also connection fees. However, it dovetails nicely into
any money to be had. It the pot is empty, you’re out played a Sabotage, put the card aside like any the strategy of “Finishing,” in which you try to cap
After everyone has laid down a card, they are of luck; you won’t be able to collect it later. other deferred piece, and play it when you are off the entire station and collect the pot.
revealed together. The cards will now be built allowed to build again.
(“played”) into the Space Station in order of rank. Connection Fees: “Finishing” is best accomplished by making sure
“Rank” is the white number in the black circle; Unplayable Cards: that you will play the last end cap. This isn’t always
build the higher numbers first. You may also be forced to pay a connection fee easy, since many other players will probably also
when you build a new piece. Unless you build next If you play a Sabotage card when there is no legal try to play end caps at the right time. The rank of
If two or more cards of the same rank are revealed to a piece of your own color, you will pay one target (i.e., the board is clear), the Sabotage card the cards you play will make a difference, as will
on one round, those cards are deferred, and will credit to every player who stands between your is simply discarded with no effect. the number of end caps you manage to defer, and
be held back until a later round. (See below.) new piece and your nearest existing piece, for play at once.
every card along the way. You never pay a connec- If any other card is unbuildable at the time when
Building the Station: tion fee when you play your first piece, because you are required to build it (i.e., there is no open One of the most powerful ways to finish the board
you have nothing on the board to connect to. end of the station where the piece will legally fit) is to get a whole string of endcaps deferred, and
Cards are built into a grid pattern, in any orienta- then the card is set aside as if it were deferred. then get back into the game using a high-ranked
tion, with open ends attaching to other open ends Example: Green builds a Factory. He does not card like a Power Station or a Sabotage. You don’t
just like you would expect. build next to another Green piece, but instead Winning: need to actually play these higher ranked cards,
connects to his existing pieces via a trail of Yellow you just need to use them to jump yourself back
The first card of the station must be played in the and Blue pieces. There are two Yellow cards and The game ends as soon as someone closes off the into the game, and play out your end caps.
middle of the table. After the first piece is built, one Blue card along the route, so Green pays a Station. This can happen as early as the first
new cards must be attached to open ends of the Building Fee of 1 credit to the Pot (for the Factory round. The player who closes the Station will take “Piping” means trying to build an extended star-
station; they cannot be played in empty space. card), plus a connection fee of 2 credits to Yellow, the Pot, after the cleanup, described below. base of your own color, and then forcing each
and 1 to Blue. other player to connect through you. In this case,
Furthermore, you may not play a card which does Rarely, the Station will never close. The game con- you can actually make money off your building
not link properly to all the cards it touches. Multiple Paths: You may choose any connection tinues until every player draws the last card from efforts alone, and not even worry about the Pot,
route between your new piece and your existing their deck. If the station is not closed at the end of but you have to be pretty good at it.
The building area is theoretically infinite, but you pieces, even a longer one then necessary, if you that turn, the game ends and the remainder of the
should probably restrict it to the tabletop just to would rather pay your fee to a particular opponent. pot is divided evenly among all players, after any To pipe well, try building away from the rest of the
keep your life easy. necessary cleanup. If the pot doesn’t divide evenly, station with a few straight lines, then split the path
Deferred Parts: leave the remainder for the next game. up to make everyone build through your whole
chain. You’ll also have to make sure people have
Frequently, more than one player will play cards of Cleanup: to build out there, or they never will.
the same rank. These cards will not be built right
away, but instead get “deferred.” Put these cards Before the winner takes the pot, each player must One more thing: If you think that you can’t win the
aside, leaving them face up in front of you, until pay one credit to the pot for each unbuilt card he Pot, it may help you to keep the station open for as
you play an unmatched card on a subsequent has on the table. Deferred cards, other tabled long as you can. If the station doesn’t close, you
round. You will then play all of your tabled cards cards, and new cards not yet built on this round, will at least get a slice of the Pot.
at the same time, determined by the rank of the count as unbuilt. Cards which are still in your
new card. hand and deck do not.
Your game might look like this.
Ignore the little capsules unless you are When you come back in, you can play your After everyone has paid for his unbuilt cards, the
playing by the advanced rules. deferred cards and your new card in any order. pot can be collected, and the game is over.