beta

Applyterra is in public betaRules still move and games may break. You are playing v107.

The office manual

How to play

An agile card game: pull a ticket, weigh your velocity against the bug's story points. Your friends are there to stop you.

Play the tutorial

The rules, in order

  1. 01
    Winning

    The goal

    First player to level 10 wins. Everyone starts at level 1.

    You climb by closing bugs, or by selling cards. But the final level only ever comes off a bug — never off a sale.

    1. 1
    2. 2
    3. 3
    4. 4
    5. 5
    6. 6
    7. 7
    8. 8
    9. 9
    10. 10

    You are level 9. No bought level will ever take you to 10: you need one last bug closed.

  2. 02
    Four steps

    Your turn

    1. Pull a ticket: the top card of the Tickets pile, face up.
    2. If it's a bug, the debug starts. If it's an incident, the effect lands on you. Anything else goes to your hand.
    3. If no bug came up, you must do one of two things: self-assign a ticket (one card off the Tickets pile, face down) or play a bug from your hand and take it on.
    4. Gear up, sell, keep five cards at most — the WIP limit — then pass. A turn is capped at five minutes.
    1. Drawtop card of the Tickets pile, face up
    2. It's a bug — the debug starts right away
    3. No bug?self-assign a ticket, or play a bug from your hand
    4. End of turngear up, sell, buy a level, five cards max in hand
  3. 03
    Two numbers

    The debug

    A debug is a comparison: two numbers, once.

    Your velocity = your level plus your gear, plus any one-shots and a pair. The bug's story points = the number printed on its card, plus any boosts played on it and its bonuses against your role or profile.

    Your velocity has to land strictly above. On a tie, the bug holds.

    If you come up short you can reassign the ticket: roll a die and hit five or more, modified by your gear, your role and your profile. Refused, the ticket comes back to you and you take its side effect.

    Your level+4
    Screen+0
    Keyboard+0
    Your velocity4vel
    Your velocity4>Story points0

    Won 4 against 0. You close the ticket, take 1 goodies and one level.

  4. 04
    One pair only

    Pair programming

    You can ask one player to pair with you. If they accept, their velocity adds to yours for this debug.

    In return they take one goodie. You keep the rest, and the levels. Everything else gets negotiated out loud.

    You+7
    Your pair+5
    Together12vel
    Your velocity12>Story points0

    Won Alone at 7, you were losing. Your pair walks away with one goodie, you with the rest and the level.

    One pair per debug. At 0 against 0 the bug would hold: you have to land strictly above.

  5. 05
    When you lose

    The side effect

    Every bug has a side effect, printed at the bottom of its card. It only fires if nobody picks the ticket up — the one you didn't close comes back for you.

    Lost levels, lost gear, lost cards in hand, sometimes your role. Worst case: you lose your hand and your gear, but you keep your level, your role and your profile. Nobody is ever eliminated.

    1. 1
    2. 2
    3. 3
    4. 4
    5. 5
    6. 6

    You roll 3. You needed five or more. Nobody picks the ticket up.

    Your gear, your role and your profile all modify this roll. And whatever happens, nobody is eliminated.

  6. 06
    1000 credits

    Selling

    On your turn, outside a debug, you can sell cards. The credits land in your wallet and stay there — nothing is wasted, not even a 300-credit sale.

    Whenever you like, still on your turn and outside a debug, trade 1000 credits for one level. The change stays in your pocket.

    The Goblin profile sells higher. And a bought level never takes you to level 10.

    Total sold0credits

    0 credits in the wallet → enough for 0 level at 1000 credits each. The 0 credits of change stay in your pocket. The Goblin profile adds 200 credits per card.

  7. 07
    Live table

    The other players

    One table, one code, two to three players. Someone sits down and everyone sees it.

    Three kinds of card can be played at any moment, even outside your turn:

    • Boost: played onto a bug mid-debug, it makes the bug harder.
    • One-shot: plus or minus velocity for whoever is debugging, for that debug only.
    • Incident: an immediate effect on the player of your choice.

    The real boss is your friends.

    The bug+0
    Boost: +0
    Story points0sp
    Your velocity12>Story points0

    Won You were at 12 against 0, comfortably ahead. Someone plays the boost outside their turn: 0. Reassignment is all you have left.

  8. 08
    Slots

    Gear

    You have 5 equipment slots in total. A normal item takes 1 slot; a large item or keyboard (`twoHand`) takes 2 slots. That means 5 normal items, or 4 items when one of them takes two slots.

    Slot already taken? Double-click the card on the table: it goes back to your hand and you put whatever you like in its place. On your turn, outside a debug — once a bug is open, your setup is frozen.

    Some cards are locked to a role or a profile. Gather the right ones and you fire a combo: Design Studio, QA in Prod, RGB Battlestation. They stack.

    The full list is on the Cards page.

    • SCREENfree
    • KEYBOARDfree
    • PERIPHERALfree
    • PERIPHERALfree
    • MACHINEfree
    • HEADSETfree
    • CHAIRfree
    • UNDER THE DESKfree
    • GADGETfree
    • GADGETfree

    Three pieces on the desk: +0 velocity. The keyboard takes both peripheral slots. Gather the right pieces and a combo fires on top.

Level 10, off a bug. You win.