Game rules

Terraforming Mars rules: how to play and how to score

Reviewed on 10 October 2026 against the publisher’s rulebook. How we check

Terraforming Mars plays 1 to 5 players: each corporation makes Mars habitable by raising temperature, oxygen and oceans. Here are the essential rules, setup and final scoring, based on the official rulebook.

Players: 1 to 5
Play time: About 2 hours
Winner: Most points; on a tie, the most MegaCredits

Terraforming Mars quick rules

The goal: Each player runs a corporation making Mars habitable. Together, you raise three global parameters: temperature, oxygen and oceans. The game ends when all three are at their maximum. Everyone then scores their Terraform Rating (TR), their tiles on Mars, their Milestones, their Awards and their cards.
Terraforming: Each step of temperature or oxygen, and each Ocean tile placed, raises your TR by one point. Everyone starts at 20. TR gives you income every generation and counts as your base points at the end. Temperature goes from −30 to +8 °C, oxygen from 0 to 14%, and there are 9 oceans; once maxed out, a parameter earns nothing more.
A generation: Four phases: the first player marker passes left; research (everyone draws 4 cards and buys the ones they want, 3 MegaCredits each); actions, in turn, one or two actions or pass; production (your energy becomes heat, then you receive your TR plus production in MegaCredits, and your other resources).
The actions: On your turn, one or two actions out of seven: play a card from your hand, use a standard project (for example 25 MegaCredits for a city), claim a Milestone, fund an Award, use a blue card’s action (once per generation), convert 8 plants into a Greenery, or convert 8 heat to raise the temperature.
The cards: To play a card, meet its requirement, pay its cost, then apply its effects. Steel pays for building cards (2 MegaCredits per steel), titanium for space cards (3 MegaCredits per titanium). An icon with a red border can target any player, you included. Blue cards stay active, green cards stay in play, red cards (events) are turned facedown after use.
Tiles on Mars: Oceans only go on blue spaces. A Greenery goes next to one of your tiles if possible, and raises oxygen. A City never touches another city. Each Ocean already placed gives 2 MegaCredits to whoever places a tile next to it, and the symbols on a space give a bonus to whoever settles there.
The end and the final count: When all three parameters are maxed out, finish the generation, production included, then everyone can still convert plants into Greeneries. Then count: your TR, 5 points per Milestone, 5 for first and 2 for second in each Award, 1 point per Greenery, 1 point per Greenery next to each of your cities, and your card points. On a tie, the most MegaCredits wins.
Beginner traps: Buying too many cards early, when money is short; building your production too slowly, especially MegaCredits; forgetting that an Award can be won by someone other than the funder; forgetting that your Greeneries also score for neighboring cities, even other players’.

How to score Terraforming Mars

Terraform Rating: Your final position on the TR track.
Milestones: 5 points per Milestone claimed.
Awards: 5 points for first and 2 for second in each funded Award (no second place with 2 players). Ties: same points.
Greeneries: 1 point per Greenery tile you own.
Cities: For each of your cities, 1 point per adjacent Greenery, whoever owns it.
Cards: Points from all your cards, events included, and from cards holding resources. They can be negative.
Chairman and party leaders (Turmoil): 1 point for the Chairman and 1 per party leader of your color.
MegaCredits: Tiebreaker only: the most MegaCredits wins.

Worked example

Emma ends at 42 TR. She claimed 2 Milestones (10), won one Award and came second in another (5 + 2 = 7), placed 6 Greeneries (6), her cities touch 5 Greeneries (5), and her cards are worth 18 points: 42 + 10 + 7 + 6 + 5 + 18 = 88 points.

Common mistakes

Counting only your own Greeneries around your cities: other players’ Greeneries count too.
Giving Award points only to the funder: they go to first and second place, whoever they are.
Forgetting the negative points on some cards.
Giving 2 points for second place in an Award with 2 players: there’s no second place.
Forgetting the final plant-to-Greenery conversion after the last generation.

How to set up Terraforming Mars

With several players, follow every part except “Solo”; solo, the Corporate Era cards stay in the deck and TR starts at 14.

The board

Place the board in the center and stack the 9 Ocean tiles on their space.
Place the white temperature and oxygen markers at the start of their tracks.Temperature starts at −30 °C, oxygen at 0%.
Place the third white marker on space 1 of the TR track: it counts the generations.TR stands for Terraform Rating.
Put the resource cubes and the Greenery, City and special tiles within everyone’s reach.

The cards

With several players, remove the “Corporate Era” cards from the Project cards and the Corporations.They carry a small red and white symbol at the bottom left. Keep them for the Corporate Era variant, or for solo, which uses them.
Shuffle the Project cards and place the deck near the board, with room for the discard pile.

Each player

Everyone chooses a color, takes their player cubes and a player board.
With several players, place a cube on space 1 of each of your six production tracks, and a cube on space 20 of the TR track.With the Corporate Era, you start with no production.
Solo, place your cube on space 14 of the TR track, marked “solo”: you start with no production.

Corporations and hand

Beginners: each take a Beginner Corporation (42 MC) and draw 10 free Project cards.Beginner Corporations have a colorless back. MC means MegaCredits, the game’s currency.
Everyone else gets 2 Corporations and 10 Project cards each.Shuffle the 10 standard Corporations for the deal.
Everyone chooses their Corporation and the cards they keep, at 3 MC per card.Cards you don’t keep go to the discard pile; the unchosen Corporation goes back in the box.
In turn order, reveal your Corporations, take your starting resources and production, then pay for your cards.The first player is the last person to have won a game of Terraforming Mars.
The first generation goes straight into the action phase.Setup replaces the player order and research phases.

Solo

Place 2 neutral cities, each with an adjacent greenery, before choosing your cards.Reveal and discard the top 4 cards of the deck: their costs give the positions. These tiles aren’t yours and don’t raise oxygen.
No Milestones or Awards in solo.You have a neutral opponent from whom you can remove any resource or production.

Frequently asked questions

How many cards do you start with in Terraforming Mars?

10 Project cards and 2 Corporations per player; you keep the cards you want, at 3 MC each. Beginners take a Beginner Corporation and 10 free cards.

When does a game of Terraforming Mars end?

When temperature, oxygen and oceans are all at their maximum. Finish the current generation, production included, and everyone can still convert plants into Greeneries.

How much is an Award worth in Terraforming Mars?

5 points for first place and 2 for second, whether they funded it or not. With 2 players, there’s no second place.

Ludingo’s Terraforming Mars sheet was last reviewed on 10 October 2026, based on: fryxgames.se, rulebook (PDF), BoardGameGeek.