GENERAL RULES
OF PLAY
version 1.0
In 20 Strong, you and 20 dice take on
different challenges represented by a deck
of cards. Different decks present diverse
situations and obstacles, providing a unique
gameplay experience that varies vastly from
deck to deck.
©2023 All Rights Reserved Chip Theory Games
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Winning & Losing 4
Components4—9
Rules4—5
Decks5—6
Unit Dice and Stat Dice 6–9
Chip9
Setup9
Game Flow 10–16
Activation10–11
Engagement11
Strategy Phase 12–14
Resolve Phase 15–16
Endgame16–17
Rewards18–19
Enemy Effects 19–20
Reward/Effect Clarifications 20–21
Key Terms 21–24
Universal Heroes 24–25
Icons28
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WINNING & LOSING
Winning. Generally, you win 20 Strong by
defeating a boss. Each deck has specific rules
for achieving victory.
Losing. If your Health is ever reduced
below 1, you lose the game.
COMPONENTS
This 20 Strong core box contains 20 dice, one
chip and chip holder, this rulebook, and a
deckbox containing the Solar Sentinels rules
and deck. In order to play 20 Strong, you will
need this core box and any 20 Strong deck.
RULES
This ruleset goes over the general rules that
apply to every game of 20 Strong. Each deck
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also has its own set of rules that supplement
these rules. If two rules ever contradict each
other, a deck’s specific rules take precedence
over these general rules. Card text takes
precedence over the rules in either rulebook,
and effect text takes precedence over reward
or hero ability text. The word “may” indicates
that the text is optional. If two things would
resolve at the same time, you choose the
order in which they resolve.
DECKS
Each game uses only the cards from a single
deck. Decks generally consist of three types
of cards:
• Heroes are the characters you play as.
They define your starting stats and grant a
unique ability.
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• Bosses are the final enemies you must
defeat in order to win.
• Conflict cards are the enemies or
obstacles you must face along the way.
UNIT DICE
17 of the dice in 20 Strong are unit dice.
Unit dice can be red, purple, blue, green, or
yellow. Each has miss sides that are blank
and hit sides showing one of two hit icons:
either a basic hit or a crit. All the dice of the
same color have the same sides.
Miss Basic Hit Crit
Generally, hits on unit dice are assigned to
enemies to deal damage to them. A basic hit
deals 1 damage, and a crit deals 2 damage.
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Note that while a crit deals 2 damage, it is still
considered to be one hit.
Units with fewer hit sides are weaker, and
dice with more hit sides are stronger.
Weaker «––––––––––––––» Stronger
color Yellow Green Blue Purple Red
qty 4 4 4 4 1
hits 2 3 4 5 6
crits 1 1 1 1 1
misses 4 3 2 1 0
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STAT DICE
Three of the dice in 20 Strong are stat dice.
Health Strategy Recovery
Each is a gray numbered die (d6) with a
distinct icon. Your hero card will indicate the
starting values for these stats.
• The Health stat die tracks how much
damage you can take before you lose the
game.
• The Strategy stat die indicates two
things:
» how many items you can hold.
» how many times you can go through
the Strategy phase each round.
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• The Recovery stat die tracks how
many exhausted dice you can get back
each round.
Stat dice are never rolled. They cannot be
reduced below 1 (except Health , which
results in game loss) or increased above 6,
and any effect or reward that would do so is
ignored.
CHIP
The included chip is used differently
depending on which deck you play.
SETUP
Choose a single deck from your collection to
play and follow the setup instructions in that
deck’s rulebook.
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GAME FLOW
20 Strong is played in rounds. Each round,
you identify one or more conflict cards to face,
roll dice, make a series of decisions, and deal
with the results. Rounds continue until you
win or lose.
Each round has two parts: Activation and
Engagement.
ACTIVATION
In this part, one or more conflict cards
become active.
Most decks will require you to assemble
stacks of conflict cards as part of setup.
Choose the top card from one of the stacks
and activate it by placing it in the active area.
Most enemies have effects on them, many
of which begin affecting gameplay during
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Activation. During and Special effects
apply as soon as the card is activated.
The additional enemies icon is also
on several enemies and applies during
Activation, though it is not an effect. After
activating an enemy with , activate
additional enemies equal to the number
indicated, one at a time. If any of those
enemies have , they must be resolved
as well.
ENGAGEMENT
Engagement consists of two phases: the
Strategy phase, where you commit, roll, and
apply dice to active conflict cards; and the
Resolve phase, where you suffer damage and
negative effects, exhaust and recover dice,
and gain items as rewards.
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STRATEGY PHASE
The Strategy phase has three steps. You may
be able to repeat the phase, carrying out its
steps again.
1. Commit Dice. The first step of the Strategy
phase is to Commit dice, which entails
selecting the dice from the dice pool that
you would like to use for this Strategy phase.
Generally, you may commit any number and
combination of dice from your dice pool, up
to and including all of them. Place committed
dice in your active area.
2. Roll Dice. Roll all of the dice in your
active area at once. Items cannot be used
during this step.
3. Apply Dice. You may apply hits to active
cards – most commonly enemies – to deal
damage to them. Hits are applied one at a
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time, in any order, and you are not required to
apply all rolled hits.
Each time you apply a die, check to see if
the state of play has changed. This most
commonly happens when the amount of
damage on a conflict card equals or exceeds
its Health, at which point it is defeated. Any
During effects on active cards cease as soon
as their conflict card is defeated. You may
continue to apply hits to cards even after they
have been defeated if you wish.
When a card is defeated, rotate it sideways
to track its state. If that card has an instant
reward , gain the reward immediately
upon defeat. Gaining the reward is optional.
Item rewards (those labeled or ) are
not gained at this time.
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Dice that are applied to cards are still
considered to be committed and in the
active area.
REPEATING THE STRATEGY PHASE
After the Apply Dice step, if your Strategy
stat is higher than 1, you may repeat the
Strategy phase again. The total number of
times you may go through the Strategy phase
(including the first) cannot exceed your .
Each repeat is considered a new Strategy
phase within the same engagement.
When you repeat the Commit Dice step in a
subsequent Strategy phase, you may commit
additional dice from the dice pool, adding
them to any unapplied dice still in your active
area. You then roll all unapplied dice and
apply the dice you wish to apply.
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RESOLVE PHASE
The Resolve phase is where the consequences
of your rolls are realized. It has six steps.
1. Suffer Damage. Add together the
Damage stats of all undefeated conflict cards
in your active area, and reduce your Health
stat die by the total.
2. After Effects. All after effects in
the active area (including those on defeated
enemies) are resolved, one at a time.
3. Exhaust Dice. Move all committed dice,
whether applied or not, to your exhausted
area, a section of the table where you can
keep them separate from other dice.
4. Recover Dice. Choose a number of
exhausted dice up to the number showing on
your Recovery stat die. Move them from
your exhausted area to your dice pool.
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5. Gain Item Rewards. If any of the conflict
cards you defeated this round has an item
reward, either Single-use or Ongoing ,
you may gain the item by placing its card in
your inventory.
6. Cleanup. Place all conflict cards that
remain in your active area — both defeated
AND undefeated — in the discard.
Now you’re ready for the next round.
ENDGAME
The trigger for beginning the endgame differs
by deck. In general, the endgame consists
of facing a boss, and defeating this enemy
results in game victory.
In the endgame, you continue to face the
boss (and any other enemies that come with
it) each round until you defeat the boss and
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win or until your is depleted and you lose.
Unless stated otherwise, only the boss must
be defeated, even if there are other active
enemies. Endgame rounds are played like
normal rounds, with the following exceptions:
• Skip Activation. For the first Activation
of endgame, the deck will contain
instructions regarding selecting a boss
to activate and what other conflict cards
to activate, if any. Skip Activation in all
subsequent rounds.
• Undefeated Cards Remain. In the
Cleanup step during the endgame, do not
discard conflict cards that have not yet been
defeated. They remain active and must be
faced again in the next round. Dice applied
to these undefeated cards are exhausted in
the Exhaust Dice step as normal.
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REWARDS
There are two types of rewards in
20 Strong.
• Instant rewards take effect
immediately when the conflict card they
are printed on is defeated.
• Item rewards are gained during the
Gain Item Rewards step and are held in
your inventory. Single-use items may be
used once for the benefit printed on them
and are then discarded. Ongoing items
have a persistent effect until the end of
the game or until discarded. Unless they
specify timing, items can be used at any
time except during the Roll Dice step. You
may discard items at any time.
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The number showing on your Strategy stat
die limits the number of item rewards you
can hold in your inventory at any given time.
Rewards are gained one at a time. You cannot
gain a reward if you do not have room for it in
your inventory. However, you may use items
you already hold at this time, or discard them,
to make room in your inventory. You cannot
use items you have yet to gain.
ENEMY EFFECTS
There are three types of enemy effects in
20 Strong:
• During effects have an ongoing
impact that applies from the time the
conflict card becomes active until the time
it is defeated.
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• After effects trigger during the
Resolve phase. All active conflict cards
trigger their after effects if they have them,
even if those cards are defeated.
• Special effects define their own
timing and length of impact. Similar to
After effects, Special effects trigger even if
the card they are on is defeated.
REWARD/EFFECT
CLARIFICATIONS
• When a card is discarded, banished, or
otherwise removed from the active area, all
dice applied to that card are exhausted.
• Effects and rewards that change the
damage a die deals also impact dice
already applied. However, once an enemy
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is defeated, it remains defeated even if the
damage on it changes.
KEY TERMS
Active Area, Activate, Active: The active
area is where cards and dice are placed so you
can interact with them. Cards are activated
by moving them from the stacks to the active
area. This occurs during Activation, which is
the first part of each round. Dice are moved
into the active area during the Commit Dice
step, which is the first step of the Strategy
phase. Cards and dice in the active area are
considered to be active.
Apply, Applied, Unapplied: You apply dice
when you place them on cards that are in the
active area. Only dice that are in the active
area and have not already been applied to
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cards can be applied. Dice are applied during
the Apply Dice step, which is the third step of
the Strategy phase. Dice that are within the
active area that are on cards are applied. Dice
that are within the active area but are not on
cards are unapplied.
Banished: When a component is banished,
it is removed from the game and can no
longer be used. Unless specified, a die being
banished can be taken from any area.
Commit, Committed: You commit dice
when you move them from the dice pool
into the active area. This happens during the
Commit Dice step, which is the first step of
the Strategy phase. Any dice residing in your
active area are committed. This includes dice
that are applied to active cards and those that
are unapplied.
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Conflict: A conflict occurs anytime enemies
are activated. In most cases, a conflict lasts
one Engagement. However, in endgame,
or in decks where you face the same set of
enemies over multiple Engagements or
rounds, all Engagements/rounds against the
same set of enemies are considered to be a
single conflict. A conflict ends when the active
area contains no enemies.
Dice Pool: The dice pool is the general
supply of dice. It contains all dice that have
not been committed, exhausted, or banished.
Dice in the dice pool are available to be
committed.
Returned: When a die is returned, it is
moved from the active area back to the dice
pool. This differs from recovered dice, which
must come from the exhausted area.
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Roll Dice: Dice are rolled during the Roll
Dice step, which is the second step of the
Strategy phase. You roll all dice in your active
area that are not already applied to cards.
This includes dice still in your active area
from previous Strategy phases that were not
applied to cards, as well as all dice committed
in the Commit Dice step, which happens just
previous to the Roll Dice step.
UNIVERSAL HEROES
Some heroes are designated as universal
heroes, marked with the icon. These
heroes can be used in any other 20 Strong
deck for a fun new gameplay experience.
Universal heroes maintain their specific
properties and abilities even when ported
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into a different deck, so familiarity with its
native deck’s rules is required.
The gameplay of 20 Strong varies significantly
from deck to deck. Because of these
differences, universal heroes may not always
be as finely tuned to a deck’s play style as the
heroes designed for that deck. We encourage
players to have fun with the universal heroes
and discover the toughest or most rewarding
pairings across the line!
CREDITS
PUBLISHERS
Adam Carlson & Josh Carlson
GAME DESIGN
Josh Carlson
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GRAPHIC DESIGN
Chris Beck, Melonie Lavely, Bree Lindsoe,
& Toujer Moua
RULEBOOK
Jeff Tidball & Shannon Wedge
PLAYTESTING & PROOFING
Michael Anderson, Trent Arney, Brian Baker,
David Bernstein, Fix Bornes, Jade Bouldin,
Jim Boyer, Felipe Bueno, Derrick Camardo,
Jenelle Chu, Jeffrey Delbert,
Jason W. Dragonfox, Andreas Giemza,
Andrew S. Hall, Christoph Hoelzl,
Jessica Jones, Derick Larson, Chris Latta,
Guillaume Malenfant-Robichaud,
David Moody, Greg Mullins, Pete Palena,
Herbert Quain, Matías Ramírez Ramírez,
José Ángel Fdez. Ramos, Colin Renkert,
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Loïc Rüegg, Jonathan Sadler, Lars Sarbæk,
Luke Seigars, Ryan Selvaggio, Daniel Shanks,
Greg Spacek, Lindy Stewart, James Taylor,
The Unbeatable, Harm Wieringa,
Gregory Zilinskas
SPECIAL THANKS
Andrew Chesney, Andrew Dyrud,
Amanda K. Gehrke, Logan Giannini,
Angela Grandell, Jillian Green, Ryan Howard,
Jessicca Johnson, Heather Kilber,
Anthony LeTourneau, Stacey Poirier,
Federico Pompili, Andrew Santoro,
Salem Scott, Heather Swartz, Dustin
Thornborrow, Brandon Wandersee,
Josh Wielgus
3500 Holly Lane N, Suite 65, Plymouth, MN 55447
chiptheorygames.com
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ICONS
Health Strategy Recovery
Miss Basic Hit Crit
Yellow Green Blue Purple Red
Enemy Health Enemy Damage
Universal Hero Activate an
Additional Enemy
Instant Ongoing Single-use
After During Special
Each deck has its own additional icons, and may stylize the
above icons to match the style of the deck.
