Terraforming Mars

What is Terraforming Mars?

Terraforming Mars puts each player in charge of a corporation developing the red planet. Project cards build an economic engine, while cities, greenery and oceans alter the shared map. Players contribute to a common terraforming objective, but compete for the highest final score.

That combination creates two connected clocks. Your own production determines what you can afford over successive generations; the global parameters determine how long the multiplayer game lasts. A promising engine needs enough time to pay back, and another player may accelerate the ending before you are ready.

Who is it for?

Our editorial assessment places the original game at medium-to-heavy rules demand. It suits players willing to read varied project cards, manage several resources and compare long-term investments with immediate points. FryxGames advertises 90–120 minutes; an introductory session with explanations may take longer.

If you want a shorter introduction to economic growth, Splendor offers a more compact system. Terraforming Mars is a better fit when your group specifically wants a longer session with different corporate abilities, card synergies and competition on a shared map.

How generations and turns work

A normal generation contains turn-order, research, action and production phases. Setup replaces the first generation’s turn-order and research phases. During research, examine four project cards and pay three megacredits for each card you keep.

In the action phase, players take turns performing one or two actions, or pass for the remainder of the generation. Actions include playing a project, using a blue-card action, buying a standard project, claiming a milestone, funding an award or converting the required plants or heat. When everyone has passed, production occurs.

A project’s purchase cost is separate from its printed play cost. Keeping a card does not put its effect into play. Check its requirements, then pay and resolve it when you choose the play-card action. Optional drafting and expansion changes should be agreed before setup.

Resources, production and terraform rating

Resource cubes are what you currently own. Production tracks show what you receive during the production phase. An increase in production is therefore different from an immediate gain of cubes. Keep those two quantities distinct when reading card icons.

Megacredit income combines your megacredit production with your terraform rating, or TR. Raising an unfinished global parameter normally increases TR, which contributes both income and final points. Steel and titanium help pay for eligible building-tag and space-tag cards; they are not universal substitutes for every expense.

When does the game end?

In multiplayer, terraforming is complete when all three targets are reached: temperature at +8°C, oxygen at 14% and nine ocean tiles placed. Finish that generation, including production. Players then have the final plant-to-greenery opportunity described in the rules before scoring.

The third completed parameter does not end the game in the middle of an action. Equally, repeatedly trying to increase a parameter already at its maximum does not keep awarding the corresponding TR. Read the full card when one part of its effect is no longer possible.

Where final points come from

• Terraform rating: your final TR forms the starting score.
• Cards: add printed or conditional victory points from played projects.
• Milestones and awards: resolve the ones claimed or funded during play.
• Greenery: owned greenery tiles score one point each.
• Cities: an owned city scores one point per adjacent greenery tile, regardless of the greenery’s owner.

A city is not automatically worth a fixed number of points. Its surroundings matter. Likewise, a collection of resource-producing cards does not necessarily convert into a strong score unless you use the income effectively before the game ends.

Beginner decisions that matter

• Buy a plan rather than a collection. Every research card you keep consumes money before you can play it. Keep projects you expect to afford and use, rather than every interesting possibility.
• Match investments to time remaining. Early production can fund several generations of plays. Late production may have little time to return its cost, so compare it with direct points or TR.
• Track requirements and global progress. Some cards need particular parameter levels; others must be played before a threshold is passed. Your opponents help determine those windows.
• Read the map before placing. Placement bonuses and future greenery adjacency can change the value of a tile. Think about who may benefit from the position.
• Watch public scoring opportunities. Milestones can be claimed before you finish preparing for them. Funded awards reward the eventual result, so look beyond the current leader.

These are editorial starting principles rather than a guaranteed opening. Your corporation, initial cards, board and agreed variants change which decisions are available.

Solo play and Corporate Era

The base rulebook presents standard multiplayer and the extended Corporate Era variant separately. Their starting production differs. Use the setup matching your chosen variant rather than combining the more generous standard production with Corporate Era by accident.

The original solo challenge uses Corporate Era rules with exceptions: start at TR 14, omit milestones and awards, place the prescribed neutral map tiles and complete all three global targets by the end of generation 14. Final greenery conversion cannot rescue an oxygen target missed at that deadline.

Prelude and the later Automa product can change solo procedures. Their deadlines and opponent systems should not be substituted into this base-rulebook challenge.

Expansions and standalone spinoffs

The original game has expansions that alter setup, maps, cards and additional systems. Prelude and Hellas & Elysium are examples, rather than a complete expansion list. Confirm which board and modules everyone is using because a different map can change milestones and awards.

Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition and Terraforming Mars: The Dice Game are standalone designs. Their phases, player counts and ending rules are different. This guide covers the original board game, not those products.

Continue exploring

Featured in: Best Strategy Board Games · Best Tile-Placement Board Games.

• SETI for a heavier science euro built around probes, telescopes, data and a rotating Solar System.
• Brass: Birmingham for a heavier shared economy built around industries, transport links and other players using your resources.
• Ark Nova for another large card-driven engine with conservation goals and a long planning horizon.
• Wingspan for habitat-based card combinations in a shorter engine-builder.
• Scythe for economic development tied to shared-map positioning.
• Splendor for a compact introduction to resource discounts and planning.
• Browse the game archive by time, players and game style.

Terraforming Mars expansions

Compare Terraforming Mars expansions · Browse all expansion guides

Focused Terraforming Mars rules

Production phase · Standard Projects · Tile placement · Scoring

Compare Terraforming Mars

Terraforming Mars vs Ark Nova · Terraforming Mars vs Brass: Birmingham

Sources, scope and corrections

• Official Terraforming Mars game page — original-game specifications and publisher context.
• Publisher rules — gameplay and edition guidance.

Edition scope: Original Terraforming Mars, English FryxGames / Stronghold base rules and original Tharsis board. Covers standard multiplayer and distinguishes Corporate Era and its 14-generation solo variant. Prelude, Automa and other expansion changes are excluded. Ares Expedition and The Dice Game are separate games. Sources checked September 15, 2026. Check your own box’s rulebook if its components or edition differ. Read our corrections process.