Enter the futuristic universe of Red Rising, based on the book series by Pierce Brown, which depicts a dystopian society divided into 14 castes. The color-based social structure of the Red Rising world is an allegory for the racial struggles of the past and present in the real world. It serves as a warning of what can happen when people are judged by the color of their skin instead of the content of their character.
The Red Rising board game casts you in the role of a house representative attempting to rise to power as you assemble an assortment of followers. Will you break the chains of society and hierarchy, or embrace the dominance of the Golds at the top? You begin each game with a hand of random character cards from the Red Rising universe. In this game, you will manipulate your hand by deploying characters, activating abilities, and adding new characters to your hand. Whenever you gain a new character, you receive a special bonus based on the location from which you acquired them.
Therefore, to secure victory for your house, you must deploy the characters you already have to attract new followers and acquire resources. The problem is that you may never get back a character you have deployed. Even worse, a rival house might snatch them up for their own plans. This means that in Red Rising, to take is to give (if you want any hope of climbing to the top of the pyramid).
To win, you must forge a strong combination of house members in your hand and synergize them with your accumulated helium, the size of your fleet, and your influence in the Institute. There is also a bonus if you end the game in possession of the Sovereign Token. The game ends when three conditions are met—specifically, when players collectively possess more than 7 helium, more than 7 influence, and have reached 7 or more on the fleet track. Alternatively, if a single player meets two of these three conditions, the game also ends. Calculate your final score from the combination of character cards in your hand plus points for helium, sovereignty, the fleet track, and influence. If you have collected the highest number of points, you have won the game!
Every card is unique; even those with similar abilities have different values and conditions. This means there are nearly infinite ways to score. Even if you develop a different strategy in every game, the chances of seeing the same combination play out the same way are minimal!

Awards and Honors:
2021 International Gamers Award Solo Recommended