The local arcade is having a tournament for your favorite video game: Retrograde!
Can you get the high score?
Evil Astro-Droids are invading! Everyone wants to blast the most Droids on their own Retrograde sheet. Each round, you and your opponents will roll your dice as fast as you can, grab Target Cards that show you which Droids you can blast, and spend the dice to cross off some of those Droids from your sheets. Clear columns to blast Bosses, and clear rows to unlock Power-Ups!
Meet The Astro-Droids
Flan Solo
Tu-Tu
Triangel
Foar
High Five
SsSsSsix
Components
26 Dice
45 Target Cards
100 Sheets
4 Markers
Game Setup
1. Give each player 1 sheet from the Pad
2. Give each player 6 Dice
3. Give each player a pen
4. Shuffle the Target Cards
5. Discard a number of Target Cards face down to the box according to the number of players (below)
2 Players
3 Players
4 Players
Discard 21 Cards
Discard 13 Cards
Discard 5 Cards
Goal and Game Over
The game is over at the end of the 8th round—the round where the card deck is empty.
You get points 
by blasting (crossing off) Astro-Droids from your sheet and earning trophies.
The player with the most points at the end of the game is the winner!
Round Summary
Each round is split into 4 parts:
1 – Start the Round
Flip Target Cards from the deck for the number of players. Think about which card you hope to claim:
2 Players
3 Players
4 Players
3 cards
4 cards
5 Cards
2 – Roll Dice
Roll and reroll your dice as fast as you can. When you’re happy with what you rolled, grab a card.
The last player without a card gets 2 more rerolls, then claims a card.
3 – Blast Droids
Spend your dice to blast Droids on your sheet.
Each Droid you want to blast costs a pair of matching dice, and its type must be on your Target Card.
All Droids you blast this round must be neighbors.
4 – End the Round
If your card has a Coin, mark a Coin on your sheet.
If your card has a Power-Up, add it to your hand for later.
If you cleared a row, unlock a Power-Up from your hand.
If you cleared a column, blast that column’s Boss.
Discard Target Cards (except those with Power-Ups).
Flip a number of Target Cards face up to the center of the table according to the number of players (below):
2 Players
3 Players
4 Players
3 cards per round
4 cards per round
5 cards per round
In a moment you’re going to move on to 2 – ROLL DICE. You’ll roll your dice multiple times, as fast as you can, and then claim a card.
The card you claim tells you the 2 types of Droid you’re allowed to blast this round.
Before you roll, you may wish to plan for which card you hope to claim. Then pick up all your dice and shake them to show you are ready.
Once everyone is shaking their dice, count “3-2-1” Everyone rolls all their dice. Reroll any of your dice you don’t want. There are no turns!
Continue rerolling any number of dice until you’re happy with your roll, then grab a Target Card and put it in front of you to claim it. That card is yours and you cannot roll your dice anymore.
You can grab any Target Card, but the more your dice match the card, the more Droids you can blast. You’ll be able to blast 1 Droid on your sheet per pair of matching dice you roll, so long as its type also shows on your card.
Be quick! If you’re the last player without a card, the other players must call “STOP!” and you have to stop rolling. Then:
1. You get 2 more chances to reroll any number of your dice
2. You must claim 1 of the two remaining Target Cards
Starting with the last player to claim a card, go around the table and announce which Droids you’re targeting on your sheet, then spend pairs of dice to blast them.
To blast more than 1 Droid this round, they have to be neighboring each other in a chain (diagonal counts).
Remember: it costs a pair of dice to blast a Droid. Each pair of dice you use must match one of the Droids on your Target Card, and the Droid you are blasting.
Trophies
After you blast Droids, you may spend a single leftover die to claim (circle) one of your trophies. The trophy must match the number of eyes of the Droid on the die.
Once all players have blasted Droids, the round is over.
Now is when you can get Coins, get and unlock Power-Ups, and blast Bosses. If this is your first game, consider playing without Coins, Power-Ups, Bosses, and Comets for the first round; just ignore third spot on each Target Card.
Discard the leftover Target Card from the center of the table, and then discard all claimed cards (unless they have Power-Ups). If the deck is empty, the game is over. Otherwise, the next round begins!
Gameplay Example
1 – Start the Round
Chloe and Josh flip 3 cards to the center of the table.
Chloe hopes to blast 2 
and 1 
Droid on her sheet.
In order to do so, she’ll need to claim the middle card after rolling 
2 – Roll Dice
Chloe and Josh count “3-2-1” then begin rolling their dice
After several rerolls, Chloe has rolled 
. She doesn’t want to risk Josh taking the card she wants, so she grabs it and stops rolling.
Since Josh is now the only player without a card, Chloe yells “Stop!” Josh rerolls his dice twice and claims one of the remaining cards.
3 – Blast Droids
Chloe announces, “I’m spending my 2 pairs of Blue dice to cross off these 2 Blue Droids. Then I’m spending 1 of my leftover Green dice to circle my 4-pip trophy.”
Chloe can’t blast any Pink, Orange, Yellow, or Red Droids because she didn’t roll those colors.
Chloe can’t blast Green Droids because she didn’t choose a Target Card that shows Green.
Chloe couldn’t blast these Droids because they are not neighbors. She could blast one or the other.
Game Over
The game ends at the end of the 8th round, the round when the card deck is empty
Fold down the top of your sheet to add up your score:
• 1 Point for each Droid 
you blasted
• 3 Points for each Boss 
you blasted
• 1 Point for each trophy you claimed, 3 extra points if you circled all of them
Whoever has the highest score, wins! In the case of a tie, the tied player with the most unspent Coins wins.
NOW YOU’RE READY TO PLAY!
Coins
GETTING COINS
During 4 – END THE ROUND, if you claimed a card with a Coin on it this round, fill in a Coin on your sheet.
USING COINS
In future rounds during 3 – BLAST DROIDS, you can spend Coins by crossing them off. For each Coin you spend, pretend you have an extra die that is a copy of one of your other dice.
Comets
GETTING COMETS
If you claimed a card with a Comet, you can use that Comet during 3 – BLAST DROIDS, this round only.
USING COMETS
You may spend any 3 matching dice to blast any 1 type of Droid, even if it’s not on your card.
Bosses
If you clear a vertical column, during 4 – END THE ROUND, blast the Boss at the top of that column for free.
Bosses are worth 3 points at the end of the game.
Getting Power-Ups
During 4 – END THE ROUND, if you claimed a card with a Power-Up on it, keep that card beside your sheet until you unlock it. Before you can use your Power-Up, you must unlock it by blasting all the Droids in any of your horizontal rows.
Using Power-Ups
When you clear a row during 4 – END THE ROUND you can unlock a Power-Up. Tuck a card from your hand behind your sheet with the Power-Up peeking out and permanently get its bonus in future rounds. See below for a LIST OF POWER UPS.
– Power-Ups give you permanent special powers. But before you get the power, you must first UNLOCK THE POWER-UP!
– Unlocking Power-Ups happens during 4 – END THE ROUND, so you don’t get to use the bonus until the next round.
Super Coin
Whenever you spend a Coin, copy the die an additional time (so 1 Coin = 2 additional dice)
Rolypoly
Whenever you’re the last player to claim a card, you get 4 rerolls instead of 2.
Cube Friend
Take an extra die from the box when you unlock this Power-Up. You get to use it for the rest of the game.
Froggy
Each round when you’re blasting Droids, one of them doesn’t need to be next to the others. (e.g. if you’re blasting 3 Droids, 2 need to be next to each other and the 3rd can be anywhere on the sheet)
Snake Eye
Each round when you’re blasting Droids, you can count each 
you rolled as any type of Droid instead. You can still only blast Droids shown on your card.
2 Wild
Each round when you’re blasting Droids, you can count each 
you rolled as any type of Droid instead. You can still only blast Droids on your card.
Odd Eye
Each round when you’re blasting Droids choose , , or 
. Pretend you rolled an additional die showing that Droid type this round.
Even Steven
Each round when you’re blasting Droids choose , , or . Pretend you rolled an additional die showing that Droid type this round.
– When you complete a row, you may skip unlocking a Power-Up if you wish (or if you don’t have one in your hand)
– If you skip unlocking a Power-Up, you can unlock a Power-Up in a future round. You can even unlock multiple Power-Ups in the same round, so long as you never unlock more Power-Ups than the number of rows you’ve completed
Solo Mode
You can play by yourself if you don’t have friends over! Keep track of your scores and try to achieve the ultimate high score: 51 points.
Solo mode plays just like the normal game, with these exceptions:
• Discard 13 cards at the start of the game
• Flip 4 cards each round
• Before you roll your dice, start a 25 second timer on your phone and turn the phone so you can’t see the screen
• If the timer runs out before you claim a card, roll 2 dice from the box. Discard any cards that have either of the Droids shown on the dice (If all cards are eliminated, add 1 from the cards discarded at the start of the game). Reroll twice more. Finally claim a card.
Do Droids need to be touching on my sheet?
When you blast Droids, you blast them in a chain. The 1st Droid you blast each turn can be anywhere on your sheet. The 2nd must touch the 1st. The 3rd must touch the 2nd, etc. It doesn’t matter which Droids you blasted last turn, only this turn.
What happens if my dice fall off the table?
- If you bump or drop your dice, you have to reroll them
- If an opponent bumps or knocks your dice off the table, you can put the dice back the way they were
Can I use my power-ups immediately?
No. It takes some work to be able to use a power-up:
1. Claim a card with a power-up and add it to your hand
2. Cross off all the Droids in a horizontal row. At the end of the round, put the power-up card under your sheet, peeking out. It is now unlocked
3. You get the power-up’s bonus in every future round
Do I unlock 1 power-up per row I cross off?
Yes. Each horizontal row of Droids you cross off gives you the ability to unlock 1 power-up card that you have collected. You don’t need to unlock a power-up in the same round that you complete the row if you don’t want to; you can wait.
Can I unlock multiple of the same power-up?
Yes! Each power-up you unlock gives you a bonus, and if you unlock multiple of the same power-up you get that bonus multiple times!
Do power-ups let me blast any color droid?
No. No matter which power-ups you unlock, you can still only blast Droids that match the colors on your Target Card.
Can I use a comet to blast a Boss?
No, Comets can only be use to blast normal Droids.
Game Design: Mary Flanagan & Max Seidman • lllustration: Ann-Sophie De Steur & Spring Yu • Graphic Design: Spring Yu • Web Instructions: Kayleigh Jones • Community Management: Jazz Foster and Rachel Billings • Logistics: Max Seidman, Danielle Taylor, & Sukdith Punjasthitkul • Videography: Spring Yu • Playtesting: Momoka Schmidt, Joshua Po, & Riley Schofner • Spanish Translation: Lis Díez Bourgoin
Special Thanks: Game Makers Guild, Austin Cidercade, Resonym Discord