When do I run my factory?
Each player runs her factory at the start of workday (right before the first player takes her turn). Once everyone has run their factory, each player takes her turn in order. When you get back around to the first player, factories run again!
How does my factory work?
All the bots in your factory move at the same time. To help you remember which bots you’ve already moved, we recommend you move the bots on the right side of your factory first, top to bottom. Once all the bots have moved, then your improvements activate and do cool things to the bots that are waiting in them. To get a good sense of how a factory runs, read the “Factory Running Example” in the instructions.
How do bots go from one conveyor belt to another?
Downgraders, Duplicators, and Forks can all send bots from a conveyor belt to the one above or below it. Even though the picture doesn’t show the belt connecting, the bots will still transfer to the new belt (you don’t need an extra fork). Also, when you install improvements they do not have to be connected to other pieces. They can be placed in your Factory Floor without connecting to the Start Zone or the Loading Dock.
How do I get money into my Vault?
Money goes into your Vault from completing Blueprints and from Gift Wrapper improvements. The money in it adds towards your final score, but you cannot spend it. Think of your Vault as a savings account! You can always peek at the money in your own vault, and you can make change from it if you’re running out of one-money coins.
Where do I put bots that I get from recycling improvements? From Overactive Fabricators?
When you get extra bots from other players’ Overactive Fabricators or from recycling improvements, you place them in the empty holes in your Start Zone (purple area), like the empty top row or bottom row hole. Just because there’s no Fabricator in that spot doesn’t mean you can’t just place a bot on the conveyor belt. The second hole in the Advanced Fabricator is also a great place to put bots—that’s what it’s for!
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No, but you may demolish (discard) any improvements in your factory to free up space. If you demolish an improvement, put it in the Recycler but do not take its recycling value. Any bots on it are destroyed.
What happens if a bot goes off side of board?
It has been lost to the rejected TIDYBOT prototypes, and will be consumed in one of their various self-modification rituals. Oops!
How do bots move through my improvements?
Bots move along the conveyor belts in your factory. They stop in improvement holes that have a pink outline around them as well as the holes in your trucks. If multiple bots end up in the same hole, you choose which to keep and the others are destroyed. Then once all your bots have moved, improvements with bots in their pink-outlined holes transform the bots!
Bots can only enter improvements through the “innie” parts of the puzzle piece, and always exit from the “outies”. (Except for Forks, where you choose which of the two “outies” each bot exits from.)
How does the Static Charger work?
Whenever a bot passes through the Static Charger, put a Basic Bot in 1 of its 2 output holes, but the original bot continues moving through your factory. If you can send a second both through the Static Charger on the same turn, it makes another Basic bot! It doesn’t matter what kind of bot goes through the Static Charger, it always makes Basic bots. The Basic bots in its output holes leave the Static Charger at the start of the next workday. In short, the Static Charger makes 0, 1 or 2 additional Basic Bots per turn depending on how many other bots you sent through it on the previous turn.
These robots look like mints! What do I do with them?
Please do not eat the robots. As your factory makes various types of bots, they will rest in the holes in the factory board or on your improvements. Place bots into the holes with their rounded side down, and their face looking up at you. Do not put Deluxe bots into holes upside down (the pointier part is their head)… it devalues them and damages their self-esteem.
Who gets the recycling bonus when an improvement falls off the shop into the Recycler?
If an improvement falls into the Recycler when the Shop is rotated, the player who rotated the Shop (the player who just is just finishing their turn) obtains the bots equivalent to that improvments’ recycling value to place in their Start Zone.
Can other players complete the blueprint I already completed?
Yes—after you complete a blueprint, turn both of the available blueprints sideways. This is to indicate that both will be replaced at the end of the workday. The remaining players may still complete the blueprints this workday even if they are sideways.
Do I get to sell bots in my factory when the game ends?
When you go to run your factories, if there are no more improvements in the shop and improvements stack, the game will end. Players probably won’t have any bots left in their trucks (because you finish the round before the game ends). Bots left on your Factory Floor or Start Zone, however, are worthless. Return them to the box.
What happens if I run out of bots, Forks, or Trucks?
You can buy as many Forks and Trucks as you want—you’re not limited by the number in the box! We recommend using little pieces of paper to stand in. You’re also not limited to the number of bots in the box. If all of a particular kind of bot is in use, we recommend using 1 money coins to stand in for the missing bots.
What happens if I demolish an improvement with bots in it?
If the improvement you are demolishing is a fabricator or a truck, you can transfer the bots to the new fabricator or truck. If you demolish an improvement on the Factory Floor, any bots in it are lost.
I think I can make an infinite loop with my improvements…
It’s possible, but you don’t want to do it! Each bot can only pass through each Gift Wrapper, Flight Tester, or Static Charger once per turn. If a bot would pass through the same improvement a 2nd time on the same turn, that bot is destroyed because it is going too fast.
Do Improvements Need To Face Forward?
No! Improvements don’t need to face forward. They can be installed rotated in any direction. It will often be useful to install improvements like the Gift Wrapper facing up or down. You can even install improvements backward, but be careful—bots follow the arrows on the conveyor belts, and when a bot is carried into an improvement “outie” or the flat side of an improvement, the bot is destroyed. You’ll want lots of Forks to direct bots properly into and out of backwards improvements.
