About the Game

•Requires 2 to 4 players
•Designed for ages 6 and over

It's the Annual Alien Conference and the aliens are stuck on the moon without transportation. This is your chance to take an alien home! Maybe not your home... but it's your job to get the aliens back to their home planets. In this trick-taking card game the highest card wins the round. Call out "Beam Me Up" when you have collected three aliens from the same home planet and a Space Racer will come to the rescue. The player who send the most aliens home by the end of the game wins the title of Star Space Traffic Controller!

Contents

• Instruction booklet - see instructions or download pdf
• 65 cards (9 Space Racer cards, 56 alien cards)
• 4 sets of colored card holders (12 in total)

Story:
Beam me up for galactic fun! It's the Annual Alien Conference and the aliens are stuck on the moon without transportation. As the space traffic controller, it is your job to organize the aliens into matching groups. When you have three aliens lined up call out "Beam Me Up" to launch a Space Racer and it will come to the rescue! Send the most aliens home and you'll be the star space traffic controller!

Goal:
To collect the most Space Racer cards.

Overview:
The game is played in rounds with each player trying to win tricks by playing the highest numbered card. For every trick won, the player who played the highest card gets to choose 1 card from the trick to keep and add to his Beam Me Up line. The object is to get 3 cards with matching elementals in your Beam Me Up line so a Space Racer can be launched to come and transport the aliens home.

Space Racer cards:
There are 9 Space Racer cards representing each planet in the solar system. At the top of the Space Racer card there is a symbol representing one elemental (Air, Fire, Water, Earth). There are 2 Space Racer cards for each elemental, with the exception of the Space Racer card for Earth, which has all 4 elementals.
To collect a Space Racer card, players must first collect a set of 3 Alien Cards with the same elemental symbol. For example, if a player collects 3 Alien Cards with the Fire elemental, he would call out "Beam Me Up" and then select either the Space Racer card for Earth, Mars, or Jupiter.
As mentioned, the Space Racer card for Earth has all 4 elementals. To collect this particular Space Racer card, a player must collect 3 Alien Cards with the same elemental symbol. However, it can be any of the 4 elementals.
Note: each Space Racer card is numbered from 1 through 9. The numbers have no significance for game play; however the Space Racers are numbered in accordance to their distance from the Sun. Earth is numbered 3 because it is the third planet from the Sun.

How To Play:
[1] The object of Beam Me Up is to collect the most Space Racer cards. This is done by collecting 3 Alien Cards with matching symbols (Fire, Water, Earth, Air).

[2] Choose a player to be the dealer.

[3] Line up the 9 Space Racer cards to the side so they are visible, but out of the way. Each player should take 3 of the card stands. These stands are to be used to hold the cards in each player's Beam Me Up line.

[4] Each player is dealt 4 Alien Cards to be held in the players' hands. Each card has one of the 4 elemental symbols, and one number from 1 to 14.

[5] Play begins with the player on the dealer's left, and moves clockwise around the table. Player 1 picks up 1 card from the draw pile, and then selects 1 card from his hand to play face up in front of him. Player 2 would do the same, followed by Player 3, until all the players have laid a card on the table.
Note: players do not have to play the same elemental symbol as the person who led. The trick is won by the highest numbered card, regardless of the symbol.

[6] The player who played the highest numbered card is the winner of the trick. The winner now has the option to select ONE of the cards in the trick he just won, and place it on one of the stands in front of him. This is his Beam Me Up line.
Note: each player gets 3 card stands to hold his winning cards, and NO MORE than THREE CARDS can be placed in a player's Beam Me Up line at any given time.
The remaining cards are placed into the discard pile. If the winner does not want to collect any of the cards from the winnings, then all of the cards played are swept into the discard pile.

[7] The player who won the trick must lead the next turn. Play continues, with the highest card winning the trick and the winner of that round leading the next turn. REMEMBER TO ALWAYS TAKE A CARD FROM THE DRAW PILE AT THE BEGINNING OF YOUR TURN.

[8] If there is a tie for the highest card played, then all the players lay down another card until there is a winner of the trick. The winner of the trick has the option to choose 1 card FOR EACH ROUND played to keep for his Beam Me Up line. For example, if each player plays 3 cards before the trick is won, the player who ultimately wins the trick can select any 3 cards for his Beam Me Up line.
Note: make sure when players go to take a card at the beginning of their next turn, they take 1 card for each card discarded. In the example above, each player would need to take 3 cards instead of the normal 1 card at the beginning of their turn.

[9] As previously mentioned, when a player wins a trick, he can choose
any 1 card in the trick to place in his Beam Me Up line. Because no more than 3 cards can be in a player's Beam Me Up line at any time, it may be necessary for players to swap a card out of their Beam Me Up line with a card they just won. This may happen if not all the symbols in a player's Beam Me Up line match.
Note: the card that gets swapped out must go into the discard pile with the other cards and not back into the player's hand.

[10] Once a player collects 3 Alien Cards with matching symbols in his Beam Me Up line, the player must yell "Beam Me Up" and choose a Space Racer card that matches the symbol he collected on his 3 cards. For example, if a player has 3 Alien Cards with the Fire symbol, then he can choose a Space Racer that has the same symbol, which in this case would be a Space Racer for Earth, Mars, or Jupiter.

[11] The game ends when all the Space Racers have been collected. The player who has collected the most Space Racers is the winner. If playing with three people, tie games are possible. If you do not want to have the possibility of a tie, remove the Space Racer for Earth before the game begins

Game playing tips:
* When a player wins a trick, others will be watching to see which card he chooses for his Beam Me Up line. So, even if the winnings do not contain a card you want to collect, it may still be a good idea to choose a card rather than discard all of the cards. This will help to keep players stumped as to which symbol you are trying to collect.

* Be careful which card you play when you know you are going to lose the trick. If you suspect a player is trying to collect a certain symbol, then try not to play the card with that symbol if you think he will win the trick.

* Move your card stands around occasionally in case players are memorizing the cards you are placing in your card stands.

* Pay attention near the end of the game as to which elementals are left on the Space Racer cards. If you and another player are both going for the last "Water" Space Racer, make sure you do everything possible to prevent the other player from getting Water elemental aliens.