From the publisher: Android is a board game of murder and conspiracy set in a dystopian future. Detectives travel between the city of New Angeles and moon colony Heinlein chasing down leads, calling in favors, and uncovering the sinister conspiracy beneath it all. The detectives must balance their pursuit of the murderer against their personal lives and their inner demons. Android’s innovative mechanics ensure that no two detectives play alike. Will you play as Louis Blaine, the crooked cop tormented by guilt and loss? Or will you take the role of Caprice Nisei, the psychic clone who struggles to retain her sanity while proving that she’s as human as anyone else? Whoever you choose to play, you’ve got just two weeks to solve the murder, uncover the conspiracy, and face your personal demons.
During a round, the players get action points to spend on various actions, like moving their detectives, following leads that appear on locations, solving their personal demons, or doing a location-specific action. In this way, the detectives try to advance on three different sectors: solving the murder, uncovering the conspiracy behind the murder, and finding their inner peace. To solve the murder, the detectives follow leads that appear on New Angeles and Heinlein, and find evidence that they plant on the suspect of their choice. The conspiracy puzzle is also solved by following leads, and may alter the way victory points are distributed at the end of the game. Finally, each detective has his/her own personal plots that are resolved gradually throughout the game. If the detective invests enough time in the plot, he/she will be awarded victory points; otherwise, he will suffer penalties.
The game ends when two in-game weeks (12 rounds) have passed. At that point, victory points are awarded based on the aforementioned sectors. The player with the most victory points is the winner.
This is a simple solo variant that let 1 player play Android using 1 character with only 6 minor rules changes.
The goal is to score 40 points, by playing the game using the standard rules of Android. You manage your own twilight cards (light and dark), but, to nightshift to use light cards, you must use dark twilight cards, balancing your behavior.
I have used with a few characters, and it works really well, telling a GREAT story, just like the multiplayer game would do.
Playing the game with this variant, takes about 60-75 minutes, depending how much time you take reading all the fluff text in the cards.
Experienced players will take less time.
As opposed to a 'how to play' guide, this pdf briefly summarises the four ways in which a player can score points (which they need to score to, you know, win) then explains in some more detail how each of these works/how to go about it. I intended the document to help give new players some direction as well as to help formulating strategies in-game. Idea to put this together came out of playing with a new player and thinking 'what do they need to know to be able to make decisions about what to do next'. I think it satisfies that criterion at least. :)
Note: Would really appreciate any feedback on this, paticularly if I've got anything wrong, which is a distinct possibility.
Game board setup with pictures of pieces in order of setup. End of document has a general list of all the pieces in the game.
Text is taken from the Universal Head ANDROID Rules Summary & Reference.
Updated in April: One of the biggest complaints about this game is that it feels more like you are framing a murder suspect rather than trying to track them down. The only problem is, it is pretty freaking complicated already and adding a bunch of rules to make the investigation completely deductive would only be more of a turn off for many players.
I went for something in between the two with the rule sets. No longer do you have any control over who the guilty and innocent parties are. You can learn enough to put you on the right track to find the true killer, who isn’t revealed until the end of the game.
Android: Hunters, a solitaire variant for Android designed by Byron Campbell, version 2.0. Android: Hunters is a complete rules overhaul for the Android board game by Fantasy Flight Games, intended to make the game playable by a solo player. Some aspects of the game have been changed significantly--most notably, your interactions with the other "player"--while others have simply been tweaked to make the flow of play better for a solo game.
After you have learned the rules, a game of Android: Hunters takes roughly 2-3 hours, including setup, consistent with the length of a 2-player game. It is designed specifically for players who love the Android board game as it is, but have trouble getting it to the table as often as they would like; it allows you to practice your gameplay with...
