When the COVID-19 epidemic broke out in the world and we were all quarantined, I seriously considered the future of my projects. And I got the idea, if we’re all sitting at home, a board game can diversify these gloomy everyday life.

Taking the idea from my sci-fi novel “Stones”, the mechanics from the computer game “Ursta Effect”, a little reworking and I came up with an incredibly interesting board game version. It then became clear that other scenarios could be made based on the new board game. This is how a whole line of “Seraphim” board games appeared. You can read about other games of the “Seraphim” line on the website a little later

It may seem that this is another board game that is no different from others, but it is not. Electronic components are integrated into the key components of the board game This game will be the first board game of its kind that will raise the level of quality for all other board games. Modern technology and communications are used to develop this game. If you are fond of information technology (IT), you are interested by this board game like a desinger. You can upgrade the game as an engineer. You will explore the universe and improve your IT engineering experience through play. This is a technological product, it is not just a board game.

Supporting the project, will allow me to focus on the game and present the project soon. Follow my site and be one of the first explorers of the Ursta universe. This is just the beginning!

Here is a description of the key moments of the board game. This description is not instructions or rules.

The game begins with building the playing field and distributing terminals (tablets) to the players. The playing field is assembled in any shape. All players collect and close sectors, then shuffle and add it to the playing field. The game consists of levels. The game begins with the assembly of the ship and the necessary resources by the players. At the beginning of the game, all ships are full of fuel and provisions. You must make sure that your ship always has fuel and provisions for the crew in the future. Your movement across the playing field is marked with the token called “Signature”.

Players explore the sectors and thus reveal the map. As you explore the playing field, you find resources and interesting places. You need to find a transition to move to a new level.

The player who found the transition can complete the level immediately or he can skip his turn and wait for other players. Players who can advance to the next level move with their ship and googs. You must have a work ship, a minimum supply of fuel and provisions in order to move to the next level. Three units of fuel and three units of provisions are taken away from all players after the transition. Therefore, you need to think about supplies to move to the next level, because you have a long journey.

If you cannot go on your own, another player can take you aboard. For this you can transfer your ship modules and resources to the player with whom you agreed. You can transfer the amount of goods, that fit in your partner’s ship. After moving to a new level, you will need to collect a new ship in order to move around the playing field on your own.

You have to pay for the transportation. You can pay by anything and as much as you agree: resources, money, modules, artifacts. Payment is required! If you have nothing to pay by, you negotiate again. If you do not agree, you go to the nearest open station or you are thrown into the airlock. You lose everything and return to the game via the clone at the nearest station. If a station is not open on the playing field, you skip a turn until the station is opened. While you do not have your ship, you are at the station and receive a salary in the amount of one unit of credits and one unit of resource. It depends on the station. Each station has its own conditions, but the salary is paid the same everywhere.

The ships, modules and resources left by the player are returned to the game at a new level. Destroyed ships and modules are removed from the game and do not move to a new level.

The game ends when players can no longer assemble a ship for themselves or all players are in a difficult situation and the game has become very difficult ⁸.

The playing field consists of hexagons divided into six areas in a circle and a seventh area in the center. Each such hexagon is a sector of the playing field, into which seven areas are inserted, and the sector is closed. Sector closure mimics the “Fog of War.” As you move through the areas, you unlock sectors. The center area opens as soon as you enter any area of the sector. If you have a scanner module installed on your ship, you can open all areas of the sector using an extra turn.

Sectors are physically separate elements with seven areas covered from above by a “fog of war”. This allows you to create a playing field of completely different shapes and configurations, and the configuration of each sector is never repeated. The playing field can be completely randomly assembled, or it can be assembled at will. It all depends on how you want to play. Each sector must border another sector and cannot be placed separately. The map remains unchanged until the end of the level.

Areas within a sector may be removed or replaced depending on the game. There are areas that cannot be touched. At the end of the level, all open sectors must again be stacked with areas in random order, closed and placed on the playing field in random order, starting with the sector where the transition was found. In this way, the illusion of moving in the space of space is created. The areas in the sectors and the composed playing field, will always be random. It is almost impossible to anticipate the positions of objects on the playing field.

Your movement on the playing field is marked with a “Signature” chip. But if you decide to go to another dimension, your token is taken away from the playing field. If you decide to leave the other dimension, you place a chip on any sector according to the game rules.

The player must choose a vocation² Wanderer⁴, General, Miner, Merchant, Explorer. Any player is at liberty to keep his vocation secret and play secretly. The summons can be given out randomly or distributed on purpose, whoever wants to play how. A vocation, it’s your role profile in the game that gives you certain bonuses or disadvantages. Your vocation determined at the beginning of the game can be changed when you advance to a new level.

• Wanderer.
  A wanderer, a free character. He has no commanders, he answers to no one. There are no laws for him. He can steal, he can bail out for a good price, or he can be a loyal ally. This character has a bonus to stealing, and you can steal from anyone.
• General.
  Aim for fire! It is the most frequent cry on the bridge of the ship. The General doesn’t understand negotiation, it’s easier for him to blow everything to smithereens, get his way, and then think about it.
• Miner.
  Tu comments are redundant. To extract and sell profitably. Has a bonus to mining and resource gathering.
• Dealer.
  A businessman is always in business! Need to buy, need to bring – no problem! Do you have enough money? Has a bonus on the volume of cargo carried.
• Researcher.
  They are always eager to discover the furthest corners. Before they move into a sector, they scan it and open it up. Have a bonus to scanning radius.

Your main helper in the game will be your terminal. On it, you’ll see your ship’s configuration, your profile settings, your supplies and cargo. Terminal, this is your bridge captain. Every player has such a terminal. Some terminal information, will be displayed on the backside for other players to see.

Several models of terminals have been developed: “Analog”, “Electronic”, “Digital”.

The game comes with analog terminals, but if you wish, you can upgrade the terminals in our online store. When upgrading to a digital terminal, you will need to update the cards that are used with the digital terminal.

Terminals use locking to prevent modules from being swapped surreptitiously from other players. This is to prevent players from “flying” ships without engines.

Any tablet or mobile device with a special application installed can be used as a terminal¹. The app requires an account and a connection to the internet. When using mobile devices, some elements of the board game are not utilized.

Before you go into deep space, you need: a ship, fuel, and provisions. At the beginning of the game, each player chooses a basic ship structure based on their vocation.

There are three basic structures of a ship³: Small, Medium, Large.

Each ship structure has bonuses and restrictions that add up to your profile bonuses. In short, each player, according to his calling, must assemble his own ship on the chosen structure. The more efficiently the ship configuration is thought out, the more advantages the player will gain. You’ll have to think hard!

Components can only be installed on the base structure for which they were designed. Therefore, you should plan the purpose of your ship in advance to make the game interesting. The ship, it’s not just your transportation, it’s your headquarters and you’re the commander of it. The decisions you make will determine your success.

Basic structures and components to them can be found or purchased. You can find it in ship graveyards or on the battlefield. You can buy it at stations or from players. If any module of the ship has been damaged, you can replace it. For that, you’ll have to buy or find a new module and replace the damaged one. Damaged modules and ship structures are removed from the game.

To move around the playing field, the ship at the terminal must be fully equipped with the necessary components and resources. You can’t repair or reconfigure your ship at any time in the game.

There are legends that there is a ship of an unknown alien race. This ship is very hard to assemble. His modules are very rare and very difficult and dangerous to get. But if you put together a ship like this, you are king and lord of space. Well, almost…

Mining resources will allow you to replenish your supplies and earn money. There are several ways to get resources: buy, find or mine. Fuel and Provisions are considered to be the main resources and there is a special place for these resources in your terminal. Basic resources are resources that are always needed for your ship and crew. Without fuel, you can’t move around the playing field, and without provisions, you’ll end up losing the game, even if you have enough fuel. To get to the next level, you need to have enough fuel and provisions.

Extractable resources (can be mined on asteroids, bought or found in debris):

• Ice
• Graphite
• Lithium

Purchasable resources (can be bought or found in debris):

• Food
• Medicine
• Polymer

Created resources (can be bought/exchanged/borrowed from players):

• Water
  1un. Water = 1un. Ice
  (can be created on any player ship or peace station).
• Energy Cell
  1item. Energy cells (fuel)⁵ = 1 item. Graphite + 1ed. Lithium + 1ed. Polymer
  (can be created on a large ship or peace station).
• Provisions
  1item. Provisions (for crew)⁵ = 1 item. Water + 1 unit. Food + 1 unit. Medicine
  (can be created on any ship).

You can buy resources at stations or from other players. You can only buy at the station with credits, and there is an exchange available between players, depends on how you negotiate. Find resources in shipwrecks or abandoned stations. The type and amount of the resource is determined by the dice rolled. One dice indicate the type of resource, the other dice indicate the quantity. If you find ship wreckage in an open area, roll dice. If the resources found do not fit in the hold, you take as much as you can fit, and the wreckage remains on the field. If you take all resources, the area with the ship wreckage is taken from the playing field. The area with the abandoned station is not taken from the playing field and always brings resources⁶.

Some resources are mined in areas with asteroids or on planets. The area with the scooped asteroid is taken from the game board and this area is not returned to the game board until the end of the game. Asteroids come in two classes: class I, class II.

For example: a class “II” asteroid can be dug twice. Once per turn. With each dig, the asteroid is reduced by one class. The scooped asteroid is removed from the field and returned to play at the start of the next level.

Resource extraction on asteroids is only possible by ship, and drilling equipment must be installed. To transfer resources to a player or for sale, you have to be in the same area with the object.

If you have enough resources or extra ship modules, you can sell what you don’t need. There are two ways to sell:

1. Go to the nearest sector, to the area with the station and place the necessary chips on the exchange. The exchange is the same for all players and stations. This is a substrate with three compartments for multiplying the base price by: x1, x2, x3. You decide for yourself how much to increase or decrease the resource’s or module’s price. The exchange is available at any station, the main requirement is to be in the same area as the station. Arrival, unloading for sale and loading of purchased items takes one turn.
2. You can sell/buy resources or ship modules from any player on any terms. But you can only transfer goods within one area of the sector. If you have a lot of goods, you can negotiate delivery logistics for money, on terms favorable to you.

Exploring the corners of deep space, you will find resources, battlefields, wrecks, stations, etc. But besides all this, you will find rare artifacts that you do not know the purpose of. But besides all this, you will find rare artifacts, the purpose of which you do not know. The properties and origin of the artifacts have not been studied, but everyone understands their artificial origin. Whether you need the artifact or not is up to you. By collecting artifacts, you accumulate yourself a bonus at the end of the game. Artifacts can be sold to other players for money, traded for equipment, or for a favor. Just be careful! The artifact could be stolen from you at any moment.

An open area with an artifact is taken by the player and that area is not returned to the playing field until the end of the entire game. Artifacts are always with you and go with you to the next level. If you don’t lose it…

You keep the artifacts even if you lose your ship with all the cargo and you recover in a clone at the nearest station. The money and the Artifact are always with you, but they can be stolen.

⁷ “Ursta” stones are stones that contain a mineral or matter unknown to mankind. It is an unknown substance in the stone, still unexplored. With a certain number of these stones in one pile, under certain circumstances, a unique phenomenon not known to man occurs. This phenomenon has been called the Ursta Effect. The stone was found a relatively short time ago, but its history is a great one.

At this point, there are studies being conducted by various major companies. There is very little information, but we are on the verge of a great discovery.

⁹A 5 volt power supply can be connected to the playing field. Any mobile device’s charger can be a power source. Electronics is integrated into all the playing field’s sectors, it reacts to certain actions of the players. So you immerse yourself in the game as much as possible and get a unique feeling.

You can play the board game with a power source or without it. Power source is optional. It is possible to charge the game from rechargeable batteries, it will allow you to enjoy the game in any conditions.

The player’s terminal can also be charged from the playing field or from rechargeable batteries.

At the moment I am developing electronics for the game and doing a lot of tests. I plan to create several versions of the board game with different amounts of electronics. In the beginning, the basic version of the board game will be available with minimal integration. I will immediately create the upgraded version after implementing the basic version. The upgraded version of the game will contain more electronic components, will be more interesting and exciting. If you have the basic version of the game, then you can update some of the components through our online store without buying a new version of the board game.

1. The application will be released after the release of the board game.
2. A vocation is a profession. The full list has not yet been approved.
3. At the moment, there is information about only three options for basic structures.
4. “Wanderer” vocation has not been approved and it can be changed.
5. The ratio will be adjusted.
6. Open abandoned stations don’t carry over to the next batch.
7. More details about the stones “Ursta” will be written in the project of the computer game “The Ursta Effect”.
8. The rules of the game are being adjusted and they can be changed.
9. Components and equipment of the board game can be changed in the process of finalization.