- Hello and
welcome to "Overboard:
Polygon's Board and Card Game Show."
Today we're stepping
into the virtual realm
of Tabletop Simulator to play the classic
to play the classic game
of galactic Calvinball,
"Cosmic Encounter."
(light funky music)
In this game, players use a
combination of diplomacy, force,
and some special alien powers
to get their spaceships
onto their opponents' planets.
They'll need to establish
five of these foreign colonies
to win and if more than one
player hits that magic number
on the same turn, they can win together.
Throughout the game, players
take turns having encounters,
which are broken down into eight phases.
We'll explain each of
these as we go along,
but it's important to
know which phase you're in
while playing since some
actions can only be taken
in certain phases.
During an encounter, the
person whose turn it is draws
from a destiny deck to randomly determine
who they will attack
and then aim a warp-gate
at one of their planets.
The remaining players can choose to ally
with either the offense or defense
by sending some extra ships.
So, everyone can be
involved in the encounter
even if it's not their turn.
Naturally, this means there
will be a lot of haggling,
begging, and intimidating.
Cajoling someone to ally with
you or convincing them not
to ally with your enemy
can be the difference
between a successful
encounter or a failed one.
So, how do you ensure
a successful encounter?
Easy.
You just play an encounter
card with a big number on it.
It's similar to the
classic card game, War,
but with spaceships.
Add the number on your card
to the number of spaceships
on your side and the bigger number wins.
If you don't feel like going to war,
you can also try to negotiate.
I say, "try," because if your opponent
doesn't have a negotiate card
or lies about having one,
you automatically lose the encounter.
Seems simple enough, right?
(laughs)
No.
"Cosmic Encounter" is
similar to Calvinball
in that the rules are
constantly getting mucked up.
For starters, each player
is a different alien
and each alien has a different power
that allows them to break the rules.
For example, someone's power
might be getting to chose
who players have an encounter with
rather than having them
be randomly assigned.
Another person's power might
be that their ships never die.
One player might even
have an alternative way
to win the game.
There are 50 different aliens
in the game and it's important
to note that they are not balanced.
Some alien powers are
significantly better than others
and it's up to the
players to work together
to balance out an overpowered alien.
Remember, multiple players
can win the game together.
But powers aren't the only way
to mess with the game's rules.
In addition to having
encounter cards in their hands,
players also have reinforcements,
artifacts, and flare cards.
We'll explain these cards as they come up,
but each of them let's
the player bend the rules
in some way.
Protecting ships from destruction,
nullifying alien powers,
boosting your side in an encounter.
All things are possible
with the right card.
The end result is a stupidly chaotic game,
especially when multiple
alien powers, flare cards,
and artifacts are used on the same turn.
We'll do our best during the video
to explain what's happening
at any given moment,
but remember that just
like you we're also trying
to figure out what the hell is going on.
And with that, it's time
to get cosmic, baby.
All right, so, I've given
you all a hand of cards
and then I am also going to draw a card
from the destiny deck to
determine who goes first.
It is yellow.
- All right.
It's time for me to draw
myself a destiny card.
Red.
Oh, perfect.
- Oh, boy.
- I am the Masochist.
(laughter)
"You have the power to hurt yourself.
At the start of any
player's regroup phase,
before the offense retrieves
a ship from the warp,
use this power to win the game
if you have lost all of your ships."
(gasps)
- Oh, Jesus!
- "You do not lose this power
because of having too few home colonies
and you may still win the
game in the normal manner."
Hurt me!
- Oh, boy.
(laughter)
Okay, so, here's the thing.
Hm.
I guess if you lose all of
your ships, it wouldn't like.
It seems to me like you can't
win with anyone else, Clayton.
Unless you want to win the normal way.
So, allying with you right now seems
like we wouldn't be able
to win concurrently.
- You could win concurrently my way,
but we can certainly do it the normal way.
- Okay, okay.
- [Simone] I think I'd
help you out if you asked.
- Hm.
I still have to figure out how many
the ships I'm sending over right now.
- I think it should be pretty obvious
that I'm not gonna ask for help so.
(laughter)
- We should all help Clayton.
(laugher)
- No, you can't unless I ask you.
- Oh, that's true, shit.
- And masochists never ask for help.
(laughter)
- [Pat] Brian would you
like reinforcements?
- Yeah, why not?
I mean, if we're gonna.
Hey, here's the thing, Pat.
You and I are both in the
giving sort of space right now.
So, I feel like you and I
could work well together just
in general for this game.
So, yeah, come on through.
- Wait, but, Brian, what about me?
Okay, sure.
- I asked already.
- Yeah, why not?
- You want help?
Okay.
- Yeah, I want, yeah, I want help.
Come on through.
- Okie dokie.
- I'd like to get in on this.
Yeah.
- Well, go for it, Jenna.
We can all go here.
- I just like a free colony.
If that's the case.
- Right?
'Cause presumably he's
not gonna fight back.
It's free real estate.
- That's true.
- I love that we already
have the weirdest,
least normal move in the
first move of the game.
- How many do we have now?
Six?
- Including mine.
- Okay, yeah.
Maybe I'll just throw
another one out just in case.
(gasps)
- Another four?
- Not all of those!
(laughter)
- Not all of those.
Just a one.
Okay.
There, that makes me feel better.
- Okay, I'm gonna go ahead
and grab my encounter card.
- Anything else you would
need to do right now, Clayton?
- Do I?
No.
(laughter)
- Okay, great, well, let's go ahead
and flip these cards on three.
One.
- You count.
- Two.
Three.
Oh, good.
- All right.
- You annihilate me.
Fantastic.
(laughter)
- [Jenna] Yay.
- This was the easiest move
I've played in this game.
And we're doing really good.
- And we've all got a colony.
So, it's great, right?
- [Jenna] Now, yeah,
now everybody's winning.
- Though I just won that encounter.
Does that mean I get anything?
- Yes, you get to do a second encounter
because you won your first.
- That sounds great to me.
I'm interested in that, all right.
I'm gonna go ahead.
I'm gonna pull another card.
It's blue time.
Hello.
- Uh-oh.
- Hello, welcome.
Come to my colonies.
Yeah.
- I'm very cute.
Look at my cute little war paint.
- Hello, I'm the Loser.
- Oh.
- Oh.
- And I have the power of upset.
- Oh, I love this one.
(laughter)
I couldn't resist.
- Oh, boy.
This is such a wild card.
"As a main player, before
encountering cards are selected
you may use this power
to declare an upset.
Once an upset has been declared,
both main players must play
attack cards, if possible.
Then, after the cards are
revealed, the winning side loses
and the losing side wins.
- This is just the most
passive aggressive move set possible.
(laughter)
- I love it.
"This occurs after all other
game effects are resolved."
(laughs)
- Okay, so, when do you get to decide
if this is an upset, Jenna?
(laughter)
- "As a main player, before
encounter cards are selected."
So, people have to ally first.
Yeah.
- Oh, boy.
- Yeah, and then after alliance
during the planning period
then I decide whether or not to use this.
So, everybody go ahead and
decide who, Brian or I,
you want to.
Okay.
- I hate this.
(laughter)
- Yeah.
- [Clayton] Brian's gotta
commit his UFOs first.
- Yeah, that's the problem.
- [Pat] Okay, yeah, hang on.
I'm trying to get my head around this.
- [Simone] What the fuck?
- It's a real reverse
psychology kind of thing.
- Oh, Jesus, how do we do this?
- I'm not gonna touch this
with a ten-foot pole, no.
(laughter)
I'm gonna watch what you guys do.
- I'm gonna touch it.
- Brian, I will definitely help
'cause I don't really care what happens.
Touch it, touch it.
- No.
I don't want your help, Clayton.
- Hey, if I can win the other
way, you don't have to worry.
- Okay, okay, so, here's my thought.
Is that.
I'm only putting one thing here.
I will open it up if
anyone wants to help me,
you are allowed to.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but, Clayton,
that's the maximum number
of ships you can help someone with.
(laughter)
- Yeah, I wanna.
- Oh, fuck off, no!
- Die hard and leave my
colonies more exposed.
- [Simone] Oh, my god.
Great.
- What I like
about the loser card is that
it's really making everything.
It's making just playing this game
that most of us have never
played before so much harder.
(laughter)
- I am interested in this.
- And the fact that
Clayton is against Jenna
and Clayton will win by losing.
(giggles)
And Jenna, if losing,
can make herself win, no.
This is stupid, I hate this.
- Okay, all right, now, Jenna.
- Yeah.
- If you let Clayton and I win,
then Clayton and I will
technically actually be losing
because Clayton will have kept his ships
and it'll make it harder
for him to lose them later.
- What?
- Does that make sense?
No.
- No.
(laughter)
- If he puts his ships on your colony,
then technically they
aren't dead, and so he has.
He's still in the game
with all four of his ships.
- He's arguing, Jenna, to let
him, us, take your colony.
- Yeah, that's just not gonna
happen is the thing though.
That is really the thing
though is that just, no.
I am at this time, I think,
not accepting allies.
(laughter)
- Oh, interesting.
- Great.
- Yeah, and now it's the planning phase.
I think I am gonna call for an upset.
- Okay.
I think that's.
- All right, so.
- Yeah.
- So, we both are trying to
lose right now, is that correct?
- Yeah, whoever loses wins.
(laughter)
Okay, so, put out your encounter card.
(sighs)
- Oh, Clayton.
- Put out your encounter card, Brian.
- Ah, you've really
done it to me, Clayton.
(giggling)
Okay, I will.
- I can't believe how well
this synergizes, Clayton.
I'm really happy with this.
- It's so dumb.
(laughter)
- Okay, count of three.
- All right, sounds good, count it.
- One,
two,
three.
(clicks)
- Fuck me!
(laughter)
- They had a zero, you had a zero.
(giggling)
- Oh, boy.
- [Simone] No.
- All right, Brian, we got destroyed.
Sorry.
- Yeah, unless somebody has
some card that they can play.
I can't.
- To make us lose?
- I almost was able to
make you win this one,
but you had a zero as
opposed to any other number.
(giggles)
Oh, well.
- I don't understand
what just happened like.
- So, Brian won that battle heartily,
but because of my upset power,
he lost because he won so good.
- But why did Brian play an Attack 20,
which is like the highest attack?
- Because I don't have
any other attacks, Simone.
- Oh, no!
- [Clayton] I assumed
that was the issue, yup.
- Okay.
- I already wasted my eight
when I was trying to attack Clayton.
- Well, you made some choices.
So.
- Oh, boy.
- As a successful defender,
do I get anything cool
or just the knowledge
that I screwed over Brian?
- Yeah, that's basically all, sorry.
- That's enough, don't get me wrong.
- You really got boned
by destiny there, Brian.
(laughter)
- It sucked.
I got the two worst people to play with.
- All right, Pat, it is your turn.
- [Pat] Okie dokie.
- Oh, somebody's written a message for me.
- [Simone] Oh!
- Yup.
(laughs)
- I'm just leaving my notes on the table
to remember for later.
- I would argue that I'm a very good ally
because I will always go hard.
(laughter)
- All righty, so, I draw a destiny card?
- [Clayton] Yup.
- Okay, destiny card drawn.
Now, who's got the fewest
ships in the warp right now?
- [Clayton] So, that is.
- Me or Jenna.
- [Clayton] Technically, no,
technically it's you and Jenna.
And a tie breaks to your
left so it'd be Simone.
- Okay, Simone, prepare for war.
- No, no.
(laughs)
- [Clayton] The pacifists.
- This is not what I wanted
the result of that to be!
- Simone, prepare for peace.
I am Pacifist.
"You have the power of Peace.
As main player, if you
reveal a negotiate card
and your opponent reveals an attack card,
use this power to win the encounter.
If you both reveal negotiate cards,
you may attempt to make a deal as usual."
(laughs)
- I wanna negotiate!
- Yes, I'm sending a small.
- I wanna negotiate too!
- Sending a negotiation force to you.
Yes!
- So, first.
Pat, are you gonna ask for any allies?
- I don't need backup on a negotiation.
- That's a fair point.
- Wait, can everyone see my cards?
- [Brian] No.
- [Jenna] No.
- Sick!
- So, Simone, you are still
allowed to ask for allies
in case Pat's being a.
- Nefarious.
- Well, would they, what
would they get from that?
- [Clayton] If they helped
you defend successfully,
they would get to draw cards
or take ships back from the warp.
- Oh.
- [Clayton] One for each
UFO they sent to help you.
- Clayton, do you wanna help me?
- I mean, I don't really care what happens
to my ships so sure.
- Gosh, I guess the question is:
do I believe in Pat's promise of peace?
I believe in Pat's promise
- I think he's probably.
- of peace.
- Telling the truth, but just in case.
Any opportunity to die is good for me.
- Yeah, Pat, if you, please be peaceful.
- And, Pat, I hope you are negotiating
because I don't want Clayton's
ships to be destroyed.
(chuckles)
What was that shifty little laugh?
(laughter)
- [Jenna] That was no more or less shifty
than Pat's normal laugh.
- Are you ready for peace, Pat?
- Yes.
Three,
two,
one,
flip.
- [Clayton] Oh, my god.
(groans)
- We'll have peace when
your people are dead!
(laughter)
- Oh, my god, I hate you so much!
- I love to die!
- Pat, you just played
right into Clayton's hand!
- [Jenna] I love it.
- Listen, I forgot
Clayton was gonna do that
and also I didn't have any negotiate.
- I warned you!
- I didn't have any negotiate
cards, and I'm sorry.
(laughter)
- Oh, Pat.
- [Jenna] I love it.
- Fuck.
- [Clayton] Simone.
- I'm looking, I'm just
looking through my cards
to see if there's anything I can do.
- [Clayton] Incredible.
- All right, I'm gonna play Spiff then,
which lets me leave a ship on the planet.
- [Clayton] Oh, that's nice.
- Okay, that's an encounter card.
- [Clayton] Yeah, remember, all of you.
This actually doesn't apply to me,
but all of you need to keep at least three
of your home colonies in order
to keep your alien power.
- Patrick's fucking skill.
Patrick.
- [Jenna] Well, played.
- Do you remember our allegiances?
Do you remember our friendship?
- That was different games.
- You're my work wife!
(laughs)
- Aw.
- Bitch!
(laughter)
- [Clayton] Simone, you
can save your negotiate
for later if you'd like.
- I will!
'Cause I still have faith in humanity!
(laughter)
I am the Clone.
I have the power to replicate.
"As a main player, after
the encounter is resolved
(and after any compensation is claimed),"
I may use this power to return
my encounter card to my hand
instead of discarding it.
- [Clayton] Pat, you had
a successful encounter.
You may take another.
- All right.
Blue.
- Blue.
Uh-oh, that's me.
- Oh, no.
Come party.
- Enjoy that, Patrick.
- Hey, come party.
- Oh, I accidentally revealed the fact
that I don't have any negotiate cards.
(laughter)
My goof.
- Hey, that's fine.
- [Clayton] I'll still
help you out though.
- That's so kind.
- Somebody stop Clayton from helping.
(laughter)
- [Brian] You can just say,
"I don't want your help, Clayton."
- Oh, I guess that's true.
I can do that.
A lot of people accepted
Clayton's help knowing full well
what the consequences could be.
- [Brian] Yup.
- I accepted Clayton's
help thinking that he was
going to have to take a
ship back from the warp so.
- Oh, that's true.
- Let that consequence rest
on your head, Patrick Gill.
(laughter)
- So.
When you say my last
name, it hurts extra bad.
(laughs)
- [Clayton] Wait, why did you aim it
for one of the stronger ones?
- [Brian] 'Cause she
can technically flip it.
- [Clayton] Oh, you're right.
(laughter)
- You do have to put
something on this gate.
I'm pretty certain.
- Yeah, I'm thinking, sorry.
- [Clayton] Do you want
to send a lot or not?
- [Brian] Hey, Pat, if
you let me help you,
I think we can get through this together.
- Interesting, what weird coded language.
- Do we want to get through it?
(laughs)
Yeah, I'll take help, Brian.
- [Brian] Cool.
- [Clayton] I can't be your ally, really?
(laughs)
- Fuck off, Clayton.
(laughter)
- All right, are you done
asking for allies, Pat?
- I am done, yeah.
Does anybody else wanna ally with me?
- [Brian] Except for Clayton.
- [Simone] No.
- Okay.
- I think I'm also not
gonna ask for allies.
I appreciate everybody's support,
but I'm not gonna do allies
and I am gonna use my
power of upset for sure.
I'm curious to see what happens here.
And on a count of three we'll reveal.
- One,
two,
three.
- Three.
(sucks teeth)
Oh.
- Ah.
- [Brian] Oh, boy.
- So, what does this mean?
- [Clayton] You win.
- You win, you win.
Unless you can do something, you win.
By which I mean, you lose.
- Let me see.
- [Simone] He ya.
- Yeah, this, you need
like a super specific card
in order to make this work
so I think we're screwed.
- Yeah, we're fucked, okay.
- [Brian] Oh, boy.
- Cool.
- Shit, you know what I could've done?
- [Brian] Well, it's been real.
- [Clayton] Coulda, shoulda, woulda.
- I have a strategy for the next time.
- We all have strategies for Jenna
and none of them have worked.
(laughter)
- [Clayton] Simone, it is your turn.
- Yes!
I am drawing a destiny card.
Just one.
And I'm, nope.
Hang on.
Yes, yes, and I'm flipping that, baby.
Wild!
- It looks like it is wild!
"Have an encounter with any other player
of your choice in their home system."
I think I will carry on with
my plan to attack Patrick Gill.
(laughs)
- How do I rotate this baby?
Wow, wow, wow!
- Great.
- Where is it gonna go?
- [Jenna] You looking for allies, Simone?
- Yes, I am; would you like to help me?
- [Clayton] How many are
you committing first?
That's a good point.
- Yeah.
- Let me tell you.
It's gonna be three!
(laughter)
- Quick question.
What happens if I don't have
any attack or negotiate cards?
- [Clayton] So, we'll actually get
through the alliance phase first
and then it'll be planning phase
and that's when you need to draw one.
So, you'll discard your entire hand.
- Gotcha.
- [Clayton] And draw a new eight cards.
Okay.
- I want my ally.
- From anyone?
(laughter)
- Not you, Clayton.
- [Brian] No!
- No, thank you, it's okay.
Unless we can win
and then Clayton could take
a ship back from the warp.
Hm.
But, no, no, it's too.
- [Clayton] I'll say this.
If you ask me, I'll just send one.
- [Jenna] I feel like
if Clayton's offering
it's because he doesn't
believe you can win.
- Huh, but he doesn't.
Huh, that's true, okay.
- That's true, he doesn't know.
No, you're right, he doesn't know.
- Yeah, I think because
Clayton can be just risky
and every outcome will be okay for him.
- Yeah.
What I like about the situation is
that we know Pat doesn't
have anymore encounter cards,
which mean we can't read
him in any sense of the word
because he doesn't know?
- [Clayton] Exactly.
- That's true.
- I do like that wild card approach.
That's tempting.
I have so many more
ships than anybody else,
which makes me feel like
I should get in on this.
Yeah, yeah, you know what?
The only way to win is to play the game.
Did I accidentally?
- Oops.
- I have done the wrong thing.
(laughter)
- One second, all.
I have submitted my ships
to Simone's war efforts.
Okay.
Let's just see how this goes.
- So, Brian, you are not.
Not helping Simone?
- Okay, hey, Pat?
- Yeah, what's up?
- You want some help?
No.
- Do you want help on.
- Yeah, go.
He said, "No."
- Go ahead, yeah.
I'll accept some help.
Thank you.
- Hm.
Interesting.
- Pat, how's your.
How are your encounter cards looking?
- Not great, but there's
a chance I might be able
to do something in just a second.
- Okay, well, you let me know
because I can give you one.
Hello, I am the Philanthropist.
I have the power of giving.
"As a main player or ally,
after alliances are formed,
you may use this power to give one card
from your hand to either main player.
Your opponent immediately adds
this card to his or her hand
and may play it normally.
If, after using this power,
you do not have any
encounter cards in your hand
and you are the main player,
you draw a new hand."
- How gentle.
- [Clayton] Interesting.
- How atypical for you.
Well, so.
- Oh, yeah.
- Brian can only give it to
you during the alliance phase,
so you either have to accept it now
and then not draw your cards
or draw your cards and not accept it.
I'll accept it now.
- You should accept it.
- Yeah.
- Uh-oh.
(laughter)
Okay.
- Okay.
- There you go.
Enjoy that card, Pat.
- Okay, great.
And one last thing.
So, are we out of alliance phase now?
Okay, cool, so that means we
are now out of alliance phase.
It does.
- Yes.
- [Brian] Yeah.
- And into planning, in that
case, I'm going to play Fido.
- [Brian] All right.
- Which means that Simone
must force your opponent
to take the top card off the discard pile
and add it to their hand
and then I get to draw two.
- Okay.
This is the discard pile?
- [Clayton] Yup.
You've taken the whole thing.
- Did I just take the whole thing?
- [Clayton] Yeah.
- Yeah, you just gotta swipe one.
- All right, just gonna
take one of those babies.
That's in my hand.
- Swipe that, right, love that.
- And I am playing.
- Hold on, sorry.
Pat?
- Yes?
- You draw, so, this card says
your opponent takes a card
from the discard pile, which she did.
- Yes.
- And then you draw a card from the deck,
not the discard pile.
- From the deck.
Not the discard pile.
Thank you for that clarification.
- I'm just making sure
'cause there is a card
that let's you cheat.
- [Clayton] Too easy.
- By taking cards whenever you want
as long as nobody calls you on it.
- That's true.
- [Clayton] Yeah.
(laughs)
Thank you.
- Oh, my god.
That's nuts.
- [Jenna] Yeah.
- This is why I'm so glad we
have you on that union board.
(laughter)
- She out here watching when
the company taking cards.
- And why I'm infuriated
that you're my opponent.
- And I am playing Amoeba.
- [Clayton] Oh.
- If I'm not the amoeba, as a main player,
you may increase or decrease
the number of your ships
in an encounter by up to four
before encounter cards are selected.
This may result in you having more
than four ships in the hyperspace gate.
- [Clayton] Fun.
- So, does that mean I can
just say I've got four more?
- [Jenna] Or do you actually have more?
- [Clayton] No, you actually have to move.
- [Brian] Gotta put 'em.
- Oh, no!
That's gross!
No!
- [Brian] You gotta commit.
(giggles)
- Maybe I'll just take that.
No, no, I am gonna.
Mm.
Yes.
(chuckles)
Just one more.
Just one more.
- Okay, now I'm gonna play Hate.
(laughter)
- Cool.
- Which means you need to randomly.
I need to force you
to randomly discard one
card from your hand.
- [Clayton] So, you could
just grab one out of her hand.
- I'm just gonna yoink one of these.
- [Jenna] And then if you don't have any
encounter cards left,
- Discard.
- [Jenna] you win the
encounter, that's great.
- Was that really random, Pat,
or did you take the one
- Yes, of course.
- you saw me put in my
hand from the discard pile?
- I didn't know, no, I did
not see where you put that.
- [Jenna] That would be clever strategy.
- But that would've been a clever strat.
(giggles)
But it is not what I did.
- Are you sure?
I am absolutely positive.
- Okay.
- Was that your only encounter card?
- No, it was not.
Okay.
- Okay, good.
All right, cool.
(laughs)
- Okay.
That's a great run.
- Creative run.
- All right, let's do this!
- All right.
- [Brian] Let's pick
some encounters, baby!
- Mine's on the table.
- Mine is also on the table.
- All right, ready?
Yeah.
- Three,
two,
one, flip.
- [Clayton] Oh, boy!
- [Jenna] Oh!
- [Brian] Hey, hey!
- Fuck me.
- Oh!
(laughs)
Looks like.
- Can I?
If I added three more to
this, would that do anything?
- Simone, no, crunch some numbers, baby.
- [Clayton] No, it would not.
- There's no coming back from this.
- Fuck.
- Cool, well, I'm gonna go
ahead and play one of my flares
which is the the zombie flare.
Each time you lose a ship to
the warp, you may prevent one
of your ships from going to the warp.
So, let me just grab one of my guys back.
- Nice.
- I am going to use my power
to return my encounter card to my hand.
And then I'm gonna just put.
Do you.
- Shake these off.
(laughter)
- [Brian] Something that works.
- [Clayton] That almost did.
- [Brian] Oh, interesting.
- [Clayton] Just toss it over there.
- You're making a mess, Simone.
(giggles)
- Just double-checking.
- There we go.
- Since I helped defend and we won,
I get two of my things back from the warp
and then an extra card,
which I just pulled.
Yup.
- Is that right?
- [Clayton] Yup, exactly.
All right, so, that was
an unsuccessful encounter.
So, Simone's turn has come
to an end and it is my turn.
Once again, Jenna.
- Hello.
- We are fighting.
This is gonna get weird.
- Okay.
- This is gonna be so weird.
- How do we?
How?
- So.
(laughter)
Currently it seems like
Jenna wants to lose,
potentially by winning against Clayton
so that way Clayton doesn't win by losing.
- Which one of you only tells truth
and which one of you only tells lies?
(laughter)
- God, I wish I had some scratch paper
that I could diagram this out on.
- Yeah.
- Okay.
- It's the "Always Sunny" conspiracy meme
in my head right now.
- Okay, so, I am out of encounter cards
so I have to wait until
after alliances to draw?
Is that right?
- Yes, that is correct.
You know what?
I'm just gonna commit one.
But I am gonna ask for all
allies, anyone who wants to join.
We're gonna win this!
And by win, I mean lose?
- Okay.
- I don't know.
I don't know either.
- Okay.
- I don't know how to play this.
- I think we're all too
dumb to get into this one.
- Clayton?
I'm gonna help you.
I'm gonna throw one in with you, Clayton,
if only to make sure that you win?
Lose?
That you don't lose your ship.
If one person puts in one more,
then it'll be Even-Stevens,
which makes it harder to decide
if it's gonna be an upset or not.
Oh.
- Yeah.
That's interesting.
- This is already difficult.
- All right, so, Pat, Simone?
(sighs)
- No takers?
- I'll throw one down with Clayton.
- No, I can't, my brain will
explode if I touch this.
- Yeah, so, I'm currently winning.
Is that right?
Well.
- Is that possible?
- Yes, as defense you would win this tie
if both of our encounter cards were zero.
So, now it's your turn to ask for allies.
- Does anybody wanna ally?
(laughs)
I don't know what!
- I don't know!
- I don't know how to crunch the numbers
on what's happening, so,
Simone, just stay out of it.
That's a safer option.
- Thank you.
(laughter)
- Yeah, for everyone involved.
- Okay, so, I'm just
gonna discard my hand now
'cause that's what has to happen.
Goodbye, beautiful cards
that I was gonna use
to wreck somebody's shop.
(laughs)
You're too beautiful for this world.
- I think the real problem is figuring out
whether or not Clayton wants
to actually put some people
onto this planet because I
could technically help you
and give you a card, Clayton,
depending on if she wants to upset or not?
- Right.
- But then you might not use
it anyway just so we lose.
- I'm planning to win
this, I'll say that much.
- Okay, I am not going to call an upset.
- Interesting, okay, okay.
So, you've selected your card.
I'm going to play Kamikaze.
"As a main player, after
encounter cards are selected
but before they are revealed,
you may send up to four
of your ships that are not
in the encounter to the warp
to add three to your side's
total for each ship sacrificed."
- Oh, my god.
- Oh, no!
- [Brian] No!
- One, two, three, four.
- Are you fucking kidding me?
- That's twelve.
- So funny.
- Twelve points total.
- I hate this.
- [Simone] Oh, my god.
- You have the perfect move.
- That's fucking hilarious.
- So, that means you're three ships
away from winning, right?
- Technically, yes.
- Yeah, he is.
- But the only way I die or if
I have encounters, you guys.
Oh, you know what?
I did forget, I should've gotten one
at the beginning of the turn.
- [Pat] Yeah.
- I cannot choose not to.
- Nobody has anything that can stop this?
(laughter)
Nobody has a flare cancel?
- [Brian] No.
- Hold on, wait, I might have a thing.
Wait, I think I have a thing
that can stop what just happened.
Interesting.
- Yes.
I have the Filch flare.
"You may discard a negotiate
card from your hand
to steal any one artifact or
flare as it is being played.
The stolen card has no effect
on its intended victim,"
- Oh, amazing!
- "going into your hand instead."
Thank you, thank you, I will take that.
Hell yeah.
- Brilliant.
- And absolutely not use it!
- And its effect doesn't happen?
So, I.
- Yes.
- Is that what it says?
- Yes, sorry.
- I guess I take my ships back.
Dang it.
- [Simone] Good, good thinking, Jenna.
- Yeah, I was gonna.
- Absolutely funniest card
you could have, Clayton.
- I was gonna wreck myself
with that card, it was perfect.
- Yeah.
(laughs)
- Maybe I'll still die, let's see.
You ready?
- Crossing my fingers, yeah, all right.
Three,
- Three,
two,
- two,
one.
- one.
(clicks)
- Oh, morph.
- Yes, I have whatever card you have.
(laughs)
- Oh, my Jesus.
(claps)
- God!
- Okay, well, I'm gonna help
you out right now, Clayton.
- You're adding.
- Oh, interesting.
Thank you, Brian.
Mm.
- So, now we.
Now we still win this.
- God, do I wanna save this card?
I shouldn't save any card.
I just had to discard my whole hand
and that could happen again at any moment.
But I don't wanna lose so fuck it.
(laughter)
Emotion control.
"Play after encounter cards are revealed
to treat all attack cards
played this encounter
as negotiate cards."
- Oh, my gosh, but you
realize I can just try
to fail this negotiation
and I lose three ships.
Are you sure you wanna do that?
- Oh, how do you, how do we.
How do you lose a negotiation?
- If we don't, if we fail
to agree in a minute.
- Oh, so, we have to actually agree?
Okay.
(laughs)
- Yeah.
- I could just.
- Is there any leverage you can use?
- You might have to take
this one for the team.
- That's so funny!
- Can you get me back
the Kamikaze card maybe?
- Oh, interesting.
That's a lateral move.
So, no.
(laughter)
No, I'll just take this loss.
Good game.
Good round, everybody.
- [Brian] Okay.
(laughs)
- The only real winner
here was Clayton, so.
And I think that means it's.
You're the attacker so
you get another turn.
And I did succeed.
- Oh, no!
I forgot!
- Oh, god!
- I shouldn't have let him win!
- So, I have to take a ship back.
(laughter)
Great, okay.
Although, beginning of my turn,
I have no encounter cards,
which I wish I did 'cause
I wanna keep some of these.
And it is special.
Encounter with the player
with the most cards in their hands.
I think that's Simone.
- No!
- We're going to have an encounter.
So, Pat, your ship that's
there is not a part of this.
It is not defending.
- [Pat] Okay.
- You can join me if I asked
you, but I'm not going to.
You could also join Simone
if she asks you to defend.
It'll just be separate
- Okay.
- from what you already have on there.
- Clayton, do you wanna negotiate?
- Simone, I'm sorry, I
cannot negotiate with you.
Hands are tied.
- Okay.
- I am going to send four ships at ya.
- [Jenna] Are you gonna ask
for alliances or like nah?
- Yeah, I'm gonna take
alliances from not Pat.
- [Jenna] Yeah.
- [Brian] Yeah, why not?
- Oh.
Nobody wants to help ya gal, Simone?
(laughter)
- [Jenna] Pat might.
- [Pat] Oh, yeah, sure.
- Well, really, I'm basically
just trying to make sure
that Clayton doesn't lose
all four of these ships.
- Oh, that's a really good point.
Oof.
- Oh, that's actually, yeah.
- I am going to put a single
insurance token over here
just in case I play alien card.
Okay.
- Okay.
- If you're okay with that, Simone.
- Yeah, that's fine.
- All right, so, I've got my card.
- I've got my card.
- All right.
Are you ready?
- Now what do we do?
I'm ready.
- Yeah, three,
two,
one.
Reveal.
Okay.
- There's that five again.
Oh, great.
- So, we win.
Okay.
- Okay.
- And I'm going to play Spiff flare,
so that I can leave my ship on the planet.
- Duh.
Nice.
- Nice.
- And I'm gonna play Vacuum
for each main player other
than you that reveals an attack card,
you may retrieve one ship from the warp.
So, that's two ships for Jenna.
That's cool.
- Oh, neat.
- Everyone wins.
- Yay!
- It's a party on this planet.
Everyone's here, everyone's invited.
- Oh, and then Patrick gets a treat?
- Pat, your ship was destroyed.
- I hope.
- 'Cause Simone lost technically.
Her Spiff power did not protect you.
- Everyone wins except Patrick.
- Sorry.
- [Pat] Gotcha.
- Clayton is triaging his way to victory.
Yeah, this is, hm.
- Yeah.
- Now, hold on, hold on, hold on.
- Oh, yeah?
- I'm sorry.
(gasps)
- What are you doing?
- [Brian] Oh?
- No, never mind.
(laughter)
- For a second, I guess
with how weird this game is
I thought there was a
card that meant you had
to apologize in order to play it
and so I was waiting
for something to happen.
(laughter)
- That does seem like it
would be a card in this game.
- [Clayton] Okay.
Jenna, it is your turn.
- It my turn!
I play now.
Against yeller.
Hey, that's me.
- Cool.
Ole yeller.
How exciting.
I've defended so much I haven't gotten
in a chance to attack yet.
- Are you, no, sorry,
wait, you're blue, right?
- Yup.
I blue.
Let's see.
(sings)
(giggles)
- Do you wanna negotiate, Jenna?
- I would, I'd be up
for negotiating, yeah.
- 'Cause I feel like you and I.
'Cause you've got two things.
I've got three right now.
But I'm all for winning as a team.
- Okay, okay, now, let
me think for a moment
about whether I believe this or not.
- [Simone] Oh, no.
- If I call an upset, we both have
to play attack cards if possible.
- Yes.
- There's something about
that that is amusing to me.
I think I'm just gonna
play this earnestly.
I'm gonna assume that you're
being chill with negotiations.
- I am.
- Oh, boy, now I don't, wow.
(laughter)
The way you said that
made me so suspicious.
- I am gonna negotiate.
- Let's do it
Brian, let's do it, all right.
No alliances.
I'm not asking for any alliances.
- Same here, no alliances here.
- Mkay.
- All right, let's go for it.
- Three,
You count it.
- two,
one.
(clicks)
- Yeah, baby!
- Oh!
- Okay.
- That's a negotiation.
I'm gonna start a timer.
- Okay.
- For one minute starting now.
- So, do you just wanna like?
I'll put one of mine on one of yours
and you put one of yours on one of mine?
Does that seem fair?
- Yeah.
That seems totally fair.
- Great, awesome, then let's do it.
- Okay.
- Negotiation complete.
- [Simone] What's the win condition again?
- We just have to agree, right?
- [Clayton] For a negotiation,
yeah, it's a handshake.
It does put Brian up
closer to winning, but.
- Yeah, me too.
- But, also, Clayton is
very close to winning
and I feel like there's a
chance giving cards to people.
Again, I'm willing to win
as a team in this game.
- Yeah, yeah, me too.
I mean, I'm not.
At this rate, I'm not going to.
Brian will win as a team of one, but, yes.
And that's my turn.
I did it successfully.
- [Clayton] You won an encounter.
Yay.
- Do another encounter.
- I think that's the best,
most successful turn we've had.
(chuckles)
- You're right, I can do
another encounter, huh?
They're pretty stressful.
The problem.
I wouldn't say "problem."
The thing about being a loser
is it's better to defend.
Yeah.
- Than attack.
- Okay, well, so, now that we're actually
in the regroup phase again.
Yes.
- Yes.
- Going to send one ship into the void.
- [Clayton] Uh-huh.
- And I'm going to give,
I'm gonna play my philanthropist card,
which means for the remainder of her turn,
Jenna has my power instead of hers.
- Okay.
- And you do not have
a choice in the matter.
- [Clayton] Interesting.
- So, you are a pacifist for this round.
- Mkay.
So, regroup, I grab a ship, is that right?
- Pretty sure I have never
had to take a ship back
from the warp, have I?
(laughter)
- When will my ship return from the warp?
(laughter)
- Flipping (murmurs).
Oh, good.
- Oh, my gosh.
- Okay.
- Oh, me again?
- Oh, hey, Brian.
Yeah.
- Well, I'm gonna guess
you're not gonna negotiate
about giving me another one
of your territories right now.
- Oh.
I guess not.
Actually, let me put some people on here.
I'm not going to request for any allies
'cause I'm gonna hope for peace.
- I.
(stutters)
(laughter)
- I'm confused.
This one's a hard one because, okay, so.
Pacifist.
I don't have any encounters
so I can't even plan anything right now.
- Right.
(laughs)
- [Simone] God.
- Anyone other than Clayton wanna help me
for no apparent reason?
- I mean, yeah, you guys
can ally with Brian,
but keep in mind neither of
us know what this is gonna be.
Like he doesn't have a plan
and I don't have a plan.
Well, I have a plan.
- It's kinda tempting to me.
- Yeah?
- I shouldn't, but on the other
hand what do I have to lose?
I'm already losing and not even
in as dramatic a fashion as Clayton.
Jenna, would you let me help you?
- No, sorry, no allies on here.
- Okay.
- Brian's offering.
(laughter)
- For allies.
If you wanna help him.
- Brian, may I help you?
- Yeah, why not?
- I see.
Would you like two?
- Go for it, I guess.
(laughter)
- Okay, wait, are you
trying to win theoretically?
- Yeah.
Well, I can't possibly
win because I need to get
another territory in order to do it,
so, this is just damage control for me.
- No, I mean are you
trying to win this battle?
He doesn't know.
- Oh, well, shit, sure.
- Because he doesn't know
if he has a negotiate or attack card.
- Well, but when he gets
the cards will he be trying.
- But he doesn't know.
- Well, I'm gonna try to win.
- I think it's still a valid question.
Okay, thank you.
- In general.
- That's what I wanted to know.
Are you going to try to win if you can?
'Cause if you're not going to try to win,
then I'm not going to try to help you.
(laughter)
- Okay, cool.
- Okay.
Is everybody?
Have you gotten the allies
that you were hoping for?
- Yeah, that sounds good.
Okay.
- May I help?
(laughs)
Right.
- Wow!
- Yeah, okay, sure, Pat!
(laughs)
Why not I guess!
(laughter)
Feel free!
- I'll give you two.
- Okay, good!
All right, now are we ready?
- Yes.
- Does anybody have cards they wanna play?
(clicks)
- No.
- All right, so, I'm gonna discard my hand
and pull out a encounter, right?
Yup.
- Yeah, go for it.
- Okay.
Do you wanna negotiate?
- Yeah, let's do it.
- Okay.
- [Clayton] Jenna, you cannot give him
another colony though.
- I will not.
- That's fair, all right, let's do it.
Okay.
- Ready?
- Three,
two,
one.
(clicks)
- Oh.
Oh, dang it.
- Hold on!
I don't, actually, am I winning?
- [Clayton] Yeah, you're gonna
have to give a compensation.
Yeah.
- Fuck!
Oh.
- But you've won.
- Cool!
- Yeah, that's it for me I guess.
- Oh, cool!
- Brian, you managed to betray me even
when you're not trying.
(laughter)
- Yeah, sorry about that.
- I'm so jealous you guys
saw your ships dying.
(laughter)
- It seems nice.
- Fuck off!
- Do I need to compensate Brian?
- Oh, yeah, you totally do.
Brian, because Jenna sent
three ships to attack you,
you need to draw three cards
from her hand randomly.
And you can just.
- Okay!
- Literally grab them.
- Oh.
- Enjoy.
- Oh, god.
That's so many cards.
- I didn't have great
cards so sorry about that.
- It's all good.
- But enjoy that emotional
control that I was prepared
to drop on this battle before
I realized I was winning.
- Okay, so, regrouping.
I'm gonna take one of the
things back from the warp.
Bingo, great, okay.
Now, let's draw a destiny card
and see who is gonna be cool with me.
- [Jenna] Uh-oh.
(clicks)
(laughter)
- Oh, my favorite person.
(claps)
(giggles)
- Oh, no.
- I know I said I was
willing to win with people,
and I am still willing to win with people
if you were to throw in with me, Jenna.
- Oh, dang, I do actually
need to stop Brian
because I won't die this turn.
- [Simone] Oh, but he will win.
- He will win if he takes this.
- So, I'm gonna put a lot of
things onto this hyperspace,
and if anyone wants to join
me just for one last hurrah.
Jenna, you can win with me
if you were to ally with me.
- Oh, I'd love that!
Yeah!
Don't help him.
- Oh, man.
- I'm gonna need both
your help, Pat, Simone.
- Yeah.
- Oh, god.
I'm gonna have to die to help you!
- Yeah.
Funny how this turned out.
I will say this, I'm pretty
confident we can stop them
so Jenna, or Simone and Pat,
you can both join my side.
- I think he's just baiting you
into destroying more of his ships.
- But it won't matter if you guys win.
Yeah, that's true.
- I need to destroy my ships
on my time.
- [Jenna] That's true.
- He's not involving us in his kink.
- This is gonna be fun.
This is gonna be very fun.
(laughter)
So, the first one I'm gonna
play is the Calculator.
- Oh.
- "As a main player, once
encounter cards are selected,
but before they are revealed,
you may call 'odd' or 'even.'
When the cards are revealed,
if both are attacks
and their total is odd
or even as you predicted,
your opponent's card value is reduced
by the value of your card."
If they're wrong, your card is reduced
by the value of your opponent's.
(clapping)
- Oh, my god.
I love this.
- Wild.
- Okay.
- This makes it a little bit
more of a gamble right here.
I'm gonna say.
I'm gonna say, odd.
And then I'm also gonna do another one
and it's the Kamikaze.
(clapping)
- Yeah!
- So, I can take four
of my ships that are not
in the encounter and then I
can add three to your side
for each ship sacrificed.
I'm gonna go ahead and
sacrifice four of my ships.
- Can I zap that?
- Is that for my power or is it for?
- It's for any flare or artifact card.
- Okay, so Kamikaze has been negated.
- Fuck, okay, and then I
can't do anything else.
- So, we're ready to flip.
Anybody else?
- Yeah, you call it.
- Three,
two,
one.
- That's odd, baby.
(laughs)
(claps)
- Wait, we'd that come from?
The reinforcement.
- Me.
- Somebody is being preemptive.
- Someone is preempting it.
Here's the thing though.
I am subtracting your
count by 23 right now.
- Okay, yeah, I'm trying
to figure this out.
(laughter)
- The calculator card subtracts
23 from my encounter card?
- Yes.
So, are you at -13 or just 10?
(laughs)
- Or zero?
- I think it just turns into zero.
I don't think there's negatives.
- Okay, all right, so, that's zero.
- Zero plus the amount
of ships, which is six.
I am gonna see what
happens if I play this.
It is the human flare card.
As a main player, if your
opponent is not the human,
you may use this flare card
after encounter cards are revealed
to change your encounter
card into an attack 42.
(gasps)
And then I must discard this card.
- Hm.
- So, now I am technically
at 42 plus three, so 45.
Plus six.
51.
- Does that, I guess it
still counts because it's.
Even though I've subtracted
23 from it, it doesn't.
- You'll subtract 23 from 42.
(laughs)
- So, okay, yeah.
So, 42 minus 23.
- Plus 30.
- No.
(laughs)
- So much math!
The ultimate enemy.
(laughs)
- Oh, boy.
Okay, well, here's one
last thing I'm gonna do.
Is this okay?
- We are in the reveal phase for anybody.
- I'm gonna play this card.
- I'm also putting this down.
- Okay!
Uh-oh.
- It's called the Tripler.
As a main player, after your
opponent reveals an attack card
of 15 or higher, you may divide
that attack card by three,
rounding up, before any
other effects are applied.
- Stop it!
- Fuck you.
(laughter)
- Spectacular.
I can't believe this.
- So, I believe that
that brings you down to.
- Does anybody have a calculator app up
that they are currently
crunching numbers in?
(groans)
- So, it really comes down
to order of operations
of cards right now.
(laughter)
I think.
- Yeah.
And I did check that.
That is supposed to be the
offense then the defense
and then players who
are not the main players
in clockwise order.
- The calculator first.
- The calculator happening
first 'cause it happened
in an earlier turn, an earlier phase.
- Okay, so then that one
is now off the table.
So, then it brings you down to zero.
And then you play a card and
that brings you up to 42.
- [Jenna] 42.
- And then my card
divides yours down to 14.
And so then you're down
at 14 and then you add.
- Plus six.
- Plus six.
Plus six.
- Which gets you to 20.
And then our ships.
- Plus.
Me and my allies.
- So, 26.
- Is 26.
Well, you guys are at 30.
- I still have 23 plus eight.
- Eight.
So.
- So, again.
Unless my allies have
something they can do.
(giggles)
I can play another one of these.
I may as well, but it's still not enough.
- [Pat] Oh, god.
- Does anybody have nothing left?
(laughter)
- Usually I have nothing left.
- What a perfect confusing
ending to a very confusing round
that we played.
- That's great.
Did I win?
With the Loser?
Yeah!
- I think you did!
- [Jenna] Riding Brian's coattails?
I think I was unable to
destroy myself in time.
Wow.
- You two have one.
- Yeah, we did it.
- I would like to draw everyone's
attention to my graffiti.
- I've seen it, it's been great.
- I wanna say that I think this
is a perfectly mind-bending
end to a stupid sci-fi game.
Like this is like the end
of fucking "Space Odyssey."
Like I didn't walk away from
this like, "Oh, gee whiz!"
Now, I'm like, I need to
sorta reconsider my place
in the universe.
(laughter)
- Well, at least the masochist
enjoyed it the entire time.
(laughter)
- Oh, yeah, it was great.
This has been "Cosmic Encounter,"
played inside of Tabletop
Simulator in an episode
of Polygon's Board and Card
Game Show, "Overboard."
Thanks for joining us.
- Yeah.
- Thank you.
- See you all around real soon.
- Bye!
- Bye!
Goodbye.
- Goodbye.
- Bye!
(funky music)
- [Pat] All right, who
wants to do the honors?
Oh, I guess the winners get to.
- [Jenna] Yeah, we
bequeath this to you, Pat.
- [Brian] Yeah.
- [Clayton] Oh, no!
- [Jenna] If you don't hear from us again,
this is where we live now.
- [Clayton] This is the end
of "2001: A Space Odyssey."
- [Simone] We went through all the layers.
(laughter)
And now we're just here.
