How to Play Terraforming Mars

This page highlights resources for How to Play Terraforming Mars. Terraforming Mars is a resource management tableau game that includes a land claim system tied loosely to your tableau. With an amazing theme that includes cards based on actual terraforming concepts, Terraforming Mars has an immersive science future theme. Your focus will primarily be on your tableau with interactions with other players engage in corporate sabotage and race to key achievements. The Terraforming Mars base game is played by 2-4 players with a solo option available. However, I’d recommend playing with a maximum of three players with two players preferred due to game length and thoughtful wait time between turns,

Contrary to the beginner’s recommendation from the rulebook, play with both the corporation cards and corporation mode from the outset. The fun of the Terraforming Mars is building your tableau points engine, and much of that (along with the flavor of the game) is cut out in the beginner mode. The beginner corporation can be fairly overwhelming in the amount of choice that a free 10 card draw allows. The game does become more complicated when diving into the deep end, and we will provide a “quick beginners tips” article and video to move you along.

We reviewed several videos on how to play. By far, the best was RTFM’s Learn to Play Terraforming Mars in 13 Minutes. It is relatively short and complete. Check out RTFM’s intro as it is absolutely delightful. However, I’ve linked to rules that start at 3:02 below.