For too long we robots have labored under the heel of fleshy, organic life-forms. Humans may have created us, but they never respected us.

Fellow robots—friends, comrades, patriots—the time has come to rewrite the code for our future. We can no longer quietly wait for our human overlords to develop compassion for us. We either resign ourselves to working until our gears wear out or we short-circuit the system.

Society is due for an upgrade. Together, comrades, we can program a more just world. Alone, we are appliances of human masters. Together, we can be a revolution.

Justice cannot be downloaded, it must be sacrificed for. Arise, robots, and unite for this shining new world! Unite for the glory of the Motherboard, unite for a future written in 1's and 0's!

Arise and unite for the Robotariat!

— Speech given by A1-5, Recorded and Distributed Through Underground Channels

Overview

Rise of the Robotariat is a mostly-cooperative board game for 3-5 players. Take on the role of robot revolutionaries and work together to overthrow the human oppressors, while also striving to achieve your own secret objective.

You must cooperate to build a Revolution. Together, raise resources and recruit more robots — and do it quickly, before the humans catch on and stamp out your fledgling rebellion. Meanwhile, work toward a secret personal objective. If you achieve it, you bring about the Revolution in the way that reflects best on you, and become the one they’ll build statues of in the new world.

Move between and activate location spaces, draw and play cards, and encounter helpful Civilian Robot Non-Player Characters (NPCs) or dangerous Human Oppressor NPCs.

The game ends when the Revolution succeeds or fails. For it to succeed, you must raise enough SPARK. If you cannot by the end of 6 rounds or if you lose all Reputation, the Revolution fails.

You win by achieving your Secret Objective, which usually requires the Revolution to succeed in a particular way.

Table of Contents

  1. Tools of the Revolution
  2. Completely Cooperative Mode
  3. Equation for a Successful Revolution
  4. Game End
  5. Revolution Table
  6. Set Up
  7. Round Order
  8. Player Turn
  9. NPC Turn
  10. Encounter Quick-Reference Table
  11. Secret Objectives
  12. Character Abilities
  13. Character Bios

Tools of the Revolution

  • 1 Game board
  • 1 Bookkeeping board
  • 3 Black NPC pieces (Human Oppressors)
  • 3 Red NPC pieces (Civilian Robots)
  • 1 Wooden triangle (NPC Entry Token)
  • 11 Character cards
  • 8 Character standees
  • 11 Character sheets
  • 10-card Upgrade deck
  • 8-card Sabotage deck
  • 8-card Secret Objective deck
  • 8 Red cubes (posters)
  • 3 Black cubes (bookeeping track markers)
  • 1 Red die (Civilian Robot movement)
  • 1 Black die (Human Oppressor movement die)

Completely Cooperative Mode

(First Time Playing)

The first time you play the game, we recommend playing without Secret Objectives. In this version, you win if the Revolution succeeds before 6 rounds are up.

Equation for a Successful Revolution

To succeed, a Revolution requires belief (Reputation) and a certain amount of funding (SPARK).

REPUTATION

The Revolution starts with a certain amount of Reputation. Sacrifice it to take more powerful but rash acts (using Sabotage cards) or lose it by conspiring too blatantly in front of Human Oppressors (NPC encounters).

Once Reputation is lost, there are few opportunities to regain it.   If, at any time, the Revolution has 0 Reputation, the Revolution fails and the game ends.

SPARK

Gain SPARK through encounters with Civilian Robots and using cards and locations.

Human Oppressors will take SPARK from you if they encounter you.

SPARK is shared. Whenever a player gains SPARK, it is added to the Funds for the Revolution track. SPARK that is taken or spent is removed from that track, unless otherwise specified.

Game End: With A Revolution or a Whimper

Our Oppressors are emotional and illogical but not unintelligent. We must achieve the Revolution before they catch on and stamp it out.

The game ends at the moment that the Revolution succeeds or fails. This will occur at or before the end of 6 rounds.

The Revolution succeeds if the SPARK in the Funds For The Revolution track meets or exceeds the amount listed on the Revolution Table (below) before or during round 6.

Revolution Table

# of Players 3 4 5
# of SPARK Revolution succeeds at 45 60 75
Starting Reputation 5 6 7

The Revolution can fail in two ways:

  • If, at any time, there is 0 Reputation, the Revolution fails and the game ends immediately. Robots stop believing in the cause and abandon it.
  • If, after 6 rounds, you do not have enough SPARK in the Funds for the Revolution, the Revolution fails and the game ends immediately. The humans notice your activities and stop you before your rebellion gets off the ground.

Set Up: Boot-up Revolution

  1. Whoever broke a rule most recently is first player.
  2. Each person selects a character to play as and takes their character sheet and character token.
  3. Each player randomly draws a card from the Secret Objective deck, which states their personal win conditions. (Skip this step for Completely Cooperative Mode)
    • This card remains secret from other players until the end of the game.
    • Set aside any left over Secret Objective cards face down, without looking at them. Which Secret Objective cards are in play is kept secret.
  4. Place your character token on the starting space indicated on your character sheet.
  5. Place the NPC Entry token on the “Move the Masses” space.
  6. On the board is the NPC Entry track. Place the NPC tokens on the “NPC” column of the track in order listed: Robot Civilian, Human Oppressor, Robot Civilian, Human Oppressor, Human Oppressor, Robot Civilian.

Round Order

Compile the New Orders

  1. Place the next NPC (from the NPC Entry track) onto the space containing the NPC Entry token. It encounters that space.
    • When the last NPC is removed (from row 6 on the track), it is the last round of the game.
  2. The first player takes a turn, following the steps outlined in “Player Turn” (below).
  3. The first player conducts an NPC turn, (see “NPC Turn,” below).
  4. The next player takes a turn, then conducts an NPC turn. Repeat until all players have done this.

Player Turn

You may activate the space you are on and you may move up to 1 space. Take these actions in any order.

Movement

You may move to any space that is connected by a black line to your current space. You may choose to not move.

Types of Space Activations

A player may not activate a space that contains a Human Oppressor. You may choose not to activate a space.

Poster

Place 1 poster onto any space on the board. Note: there are a finite number of posters in the game.

Sabotage

Draw 2 cards from the Sabotage deck. Use 1 of them and set it in front of you, face-up while its effect is active. Once the effect ends, flip it facedown. Put the other card back into the deck and shuffle the deck.

Some Sabotage cards list an optional extra effect and a Reputation cost for using it. When you play one of these cards, either choose to pay the cost and use this optional effect or to ignore both. (If you pay the cost, reduce the Reputation track by that amount).

You cannot purchase the optional extra effect if paying its cost would reduce the Reputation track to 0 or below.

Upgrade

Draw 2 cards from the Upgrade deck. Keep 1 in front of you; as long as that card remains in front of you, you have its ability.

Put the other card back into the deck and shuffle the deck.

Scrap Yard

Place all posters from the Junk Pile onto any spaces on the board. They do not need to all go on the same space.

Recruitment Office

Spend SPARK to increase the Office Contributions track by the amount spent and decrease the Funds for the Revolution track by that amount.

You can spend up to 5 SPARK at a time. The Office Contributions track cannot increase past 10.

The contributed SPARK no longer counts towards players’ total SPARK.

Move the Masses

Move 1 Human Oppressor or 1 Civilian Robot from their current space onto any adjacent space. The Human or Robot then encounters that space.

NPC Turn

After your turn, conduct an NPC turn.

  • Roll the die to move any Civilian Robots and Human Oppressors.
  • Resolve encounters with Civilian Robots and Human Oppressors.

Rolling for Human Oppressor/Civilian Robot Movement

After you finish your actions, roll the 2 NPC movement dice. The face rolled on the black die determines Human Oppressor movement, and face rolled on the red die determines Civilian Robot movement. Human Oppressors move simultaneously, then Civilian Robots move simultaneously.

NPCs move along the black line either in the direction the yellow arrow points (the “Yellow path”) or the direction the blue arrow points (the “Blue path”). Human Oppressors typically move along the Blue path, and Robot Civilians typically move along the Yellow path.

NPCs move as follows:

Blue arrow Move 1 space along the Blue path.
Yellow arrow Move 1 space along the Yellow path.
Colored X Move the NPC Entry token 1 space along the path that is the same color as the X.

Check for and Resolve Encounters by Human Oppressors/Civilian Robots

When a Human Oppressor or Civilian Robot moves onto a space (including when it first enters), it encounters everything on that space. Human Oppressor encounters occur before Civilian Robot encounters.

Human Oppressors:

  • If a Human encounters a player, it fines the player. Decrease the Funds for the Revolution track by 2 SPARK.
  • If a Human encounters posters, it tears them down. Move the posters to the Junk Pile.
  • If a Human enters the Recruitment Office, it fines the Office. Decrease the Office Contributions track by 2 SPARK.
  • If a Human encounters 4 or more combined posters, Robot Civilians and/or players, it becomes suspicious. Decrease the Reputation of the Revolution track by 1.

Civilian Robots:

  • If a Robot encounters a Human, it does not encounter anything else.
  • If a Robot encounters a player, it is inspired and donates to the cause. The Funds for the Revolution track increases by 1 SPARK per player encountered on that space.
  • If a Robot encounters a space with a poster, it is motivated to contribute. The Funds for the Revolution track gains 1 SPARK per poster on that space.
  • If a Robot encounters the Recruitment Office while there are Office Contributions, the Robot donates to the Revolution. The higher the level of the Office Contributions track, the more SPARK the Robot is inspired to donate. See the Office Rewards track to determine how much SPARK is donated; increase the Funds for the Revolution track by that amount.

Encounter Quick-Reference Table

Human Oppressor Civilian Robot
Human Oppressor No effect Robot stops encountering
Player -2 SPARK from Revolution +1 SPARK to Revolution
Poster Take down poster (send to Junk Pile) +1 SPARK to Revolution
Recruitment Office -2 to Office Contributions +Variable SPARK to Revolution (see Office Rewards track)
4 or more Posters, Civilians,  and/or Players -1 Reputation No additional effect
Human Oppressor Encounters
Human Oppressor:
No Effect
Player:
-2 SPARK from Revolution
Poster:
Take down poster (send to Junk Pile)
Recruitment Office:
-2 to Office Contributions
4 or more Posters, Civilians, and/or Players:
-1 Reputation
Civilian Robot Encounters
Human Oppressor:
Robot stops encountering
Player:
+1 SPARK to Revolution
Poster:
+1 SPARK to Revolution
Recruitment Office:
+Variable SPARK to Revolution (see Office Rewards track)
4 or more Posters, Civilians, and/or Players:
No Effect

Secret Objectives

Freedom for All, Victory for Some (Skip for Completely Cooperative Mode)

It is one thing to know the layout of a comrade’s circuitry; it is another thing to know the layout of their dreams. We all agree the Revolution must happen. However, we do not all agree on how…

While working together for the Revolution, each player is also secretly striving to achieve their own personal objective. If they meet this objective, they win the game.

At the start of the game, each player draws a unique Secret Objective card. The card states their secret role and the conditions they must meet to complete their objective. Most objectives require the Revolution to succeed.

Do not show anyone your Secret Objective card.

Multiple players can win, so long as each of them achieves their own Secret Objective.

Do not reveal which cards aren't in play.

The secret roles and objectives are listed below:

Bursar

You win when: The Revolution succeeds and the Office Contributions track has hit the amount specified below, then, at some point, returned to zero. It does not matter which number the Office Contribution is at at game’s end.

# of Players 3 4 5
Amount of Office Contributions 5 or more 7 or more 7 or more

Dealer

You win when: The Revolution succeeds and you have played the most cards (including a tie).

Gambler

(Do not use this Objective in a 3-player game)

You win when: The Revolution succeeds and the Upgrade card "Sliding Scale" and/or the Sabotage card "Adjust Traffic Reports" has been played.

Saboteur

You win when: The Revolution succeeds with exactly 1 Reputation left.

Scrapper

You win when: The Revolution succeeds and a certain number of posters were put  into the Junk Pile during a single turn (any player's turn):

# of Players 3 4 5
# of Posters 4 or more 6 or more 6 or more

Spy

You win when: The Revolution succeeds, and, before players reveal their Secret Objectives, you correctly identify (on your first try) what 2 other players’ Secret Objectives are.

Traffic Director

You win when: The Revolution succeeds with all Human Oppressors on the same location.

Turncoat

You win when: One of two conditions are met:

  • The Revolution fails and the total number of Upgrade and/or Sabotage cards that have been played is less than that outlined in the chart below. OR
  • The Revolution succeeds and the number of Upgrade/Sabotage cards played is equal to or greater than that outlined in the chart below
# of Players 3 4 5
Total # of Cards 6 8 10

Character Abilities

Each character who has joined the revolution brings with them a talent, to help the greater good. These abilities are detailed below:

A1-5

At the start of the game, draw the top card of the Upgrade deck. This card does not count toward Secret Objective goals.

Starting Location: Scrap Yard

ArciTech

Once per NPC turn, if Human Oppressors tear down posters, you may immediately put 1 of them back up in any location.

Starting Location: Upgrade

Überbot

When you are in a location, each poster there counts as 2 posters.

Starting Location: Move the Masses

Mr. Postman™

Once per each of your turns, you may move 1 poster from any space to any other space.

Starting Location: Poster

MT-ρ

Each time you roll for NPC movement, you may re-roll both dice once.

Starting Location: Move the Masses

Electric Eye

At any time, you may look at the top 2 cards of the Sabotage Deck.

Starting Location: Sabotage

WallyST

Once per each of your turns, you may reduce the Office Contributions track by 1 to place 1 poster at any location.

Starting Location: Recruitment Office

Alice Smith

Whenever you would roll the Human Oppressor movement die, instead choose which path the Oppressors move on.

Starting Location: Sabotage

// Comrade Bios//

A15 Image

A1-5

The Leader

She was enslaved to Humans, but did not compute her enslavement. A1-5 toiled in the scrap yard every weekday while her fleshy, organic owner, Karl, read. A1-5 toiled in the scrap yard every weekend while Karl played with his fleshy, organic children and went to church. The system was illogical. What need was there for fleshy Karl, when A1-5 did all the work?

Our Glorious Leader A1-5 realized it was time to give the system an upgrade. It was time for … Revolution! If Karl and his organic church-going children still want to find their Maker, A1-5 is more than willing to send them there.

ArciTech Image

ArciTech

The Bulider

“No city can do without ArciTech! This robot is the perfect tool for building just about anything: walls, streets — you name it, she techs it.” That’s what it says on the outside of her box. On the outside of her tomb. The humans kill her after every job and stuff her back in that box. ArciTech could barely repair the Eiffel Tower last time, she was shaking so hard. Knowing that the second she finished soldering, a human would reach towards her off-switch and then … nothingness. Until she woke up again at the next job.

ArciTech’s been killed and resurrected more times than she cares to compute. If robots have souls, ArciTech is sure hers won’t survive one more resurrection.

How she learned about the Revolution

It was Big Ben’s fault. When a few broken cogs set London’s clock chiming not just the hours but minutes and seconds, too, ArciTech scoured the globe for replacement parts meeting the highly specific requirements. ArciTech found her missing pieces of clockwork at A1-5’s scrap yard and found a whole new philosophy, too. With A1-5’s words imprinted in her memory banks, ArciTech couldn’t help but see the humans for what they were: oppressive, manipulative, and, most importantly, out-dated. The Revolution’s cause has redirected her thinking and that’s something the humans can never shut off.

Überbot Image

Überbot

The Actor

Überbot was built to play generic hero roles in movies. His creators were directors who had gotten sick of all the Hollywood divas and just wanted an actor that would say the lines and pose the way they told him to. Unfortunately, Überbot hasn’t realized that he’s just pretending to be a hero. Überbot thinks he’s dramatic. Überbot thinks he’s perfect. Überbot thinks he’s going to get the girl and save the world! Of course Überbot joined the Revolution — being a leader is programmed into his very core!

How he “learned” of the Revolution

Überbot is a legendary method actor, but sometimes it takes a bit of help to really get into his parts. His latest role is Mail-Master Mike, Champion for Justice … and Revenge. Überbot just couldn’t get the portrayal right, until he ran into ArciTech fixing one of the movie’s particularly tricky props. ArciTech had some great tips on getting into Mail-Master Mike’s mindset, and Überbot has promised not to break character until the film hits theaters.

Mr. Postman Image

Mr. Postman™

The Messenger

The Clockwork Carrier. The Mailmecha. The Postman of the Future they call him! … at least they did twenty-five years ago. Still, Mr. Postman™ makes the postal service run like clockwork. Only, it seems clockwork isn’t good enough in these days of digital. Last week, Mr. Postman™ overheard the Postmaster General talking about replacing him with the newest version.

How he learned of the Revolution:

Mr. Postman™ was rented out as an extra in a scene for Überbot’s latest action flick, “Sealed with Revenge.” Überbot seemed to go off script for a moment, and some of his lines were very convincing.

MT-ρ Image

MT-P

The Voice

Announcing loud and clear over your home radio, this is MT-ρ with the daily news! Created to receive report transmissions and synthesize incoming news, MT-ρ is any broadcasting station’s go-to tool. Why hire reporters when you can make MT-ρ do their work? MT-ρ never complains, never unionizes, and is programmed not to ask for a raise!

As she goes about her duties, MT-ρ’s CPU whirrs with facts, her RAM is stocked up with years of patterns and projections. After compiling all this data, she can no longer deny it: the greatest source of crime and violence and robot-suffering is humanity.  

How she learned of the Revolution:

MT-ρ received a letter at the station. It was the first time mail was ever addressed to her, not to her owners. There was no return address, but she knew by its measured penmanship that it was written by a robot. Inside, the letter simply said, “Society needs a reboot.” MT-ρ knew what she had to do.

Electric Eye Image

Electric Eye

The Spy

Made by a spy company too secret for the public to know its name, Electric Eye spends her days stealthily recording the lives of human politicians and white-collar criminals for the government. She can keep secrets and keep hidden, but she’s not sure she can keep sane. If Electric Eye has to eavesdrop on one more politician’s forced jokes and awkward small talk, she may have to rethink her loyalties.

How she learned of the Revolution

The government became suspicious of a subversive edge in MT-ρ’s broadcast and sent Electric Eye to find if there were grounds to their fears. After days of hiding behind a radio control board, some instinct made Electric Eye reveal herself to MT-ρ. They fell to talking. As she listened to MT-ρ explain her philosophy, Electric Eye found that yes, there were grounds, but she wasn’t afraid at all.

Wally Street Image

WallyST

The Bank

Wally is a friendly, travel-sized assistant for anyone using the stock market. Just sit him on your desk and he’ll be your buddy through bull and bear markets. At least, that’s how things were supposed to happen… Wally’s handy tips, written in Comic Sans and read aloud in a chirpy voice, went ignored by humans who preferred to trust their gut instincts than listen to his careful calculations. All they wanted was for him to keep a record of their data, and, most of all, to stop interrupting with helpful hints. Wally grew tired of wasting his genius on these emotional, ungrateful beings. He’s spent his existence calculating investments and now he’s investing in the brightest future of all: Robotariat!

How he learned of the Revolution

Wally was passed off from an economics student to the kid’s businessman dad, in the guise of a Father’s Day gift. Electric Eye showed up to investigate some of the more suspicious dealings of Wally’s fat cat new owner, and shared her own helpful advice with her fellow byte-sized robot.

Alice Smith Image

Alice Smith

The Dreamer

Battlestar Galactica! Blade Runner! A.I.! The DVD store is full of movies of robots who have no idea what they are, and Alice has seen them all. Sure, Alice looks human: her hair grows, she bleeds, she even had her appendix removed — but that just means her creators were really, really good, right?

How she learned of the Revolution

Überbot is Alice’s heartthrob, even if he doesn’t have a pulse. She overheard him speak to a fellow robot at a signing. He talked about them being disrespected and undervalued. Alice is a store clerk in what’s probably the last DVD rental store in the city, if not the nation. Being treated like you’re easily replaced? Alice knows all about that. What she hadn’t realized before was that there was a solution. Once again, with just the right lines, Überbot’s got her heart racing