The game manual covers 99% of gameplay conditions. For the other 1% of cases, read on.
General Rule Clarifications
Simultaneous Actions
Cards like the VP of Infosec (Pack F, Value 6) and the VP of R&D (Pack W, Value 8) target all players at the same time. This can result in complex interactions with other cards like the Threat Ops Engineer (Pack F, Value 3) and the CTSO (Pack L, Value 7). Strictly speaking, these actions are executed in player order. For example, imagine a three person game where your two opponents have a Threat Ops Engineer in each of their hands. When you play the VP of Infosec which lets you look at everyone's hand, this is evaluated in turn order. You look at the next player's hand in clockwise order and they can choose to use the Threat Ops Engineer's ability to negate this and draw a new card. After they make their decision, the next player gets to do the same, and so on.
No One Left in the Round
While rare, it is possible to end the round by knocking out everyone. One such method is playing the VP of R&D (Pack W, Value 8) when only two players remain and guessing the value they both have. Since the VP of R&D eliminates all players with that value, all remaining players are eliminated. In situations like this, no one wins the round. To determine who starts the next round, randomly pick a player as if it was a new game.
Sudden Death and Project Token Achievement Order
In general, the order in which tokens are achieved is obvious. For example, if someone plays the VP of People (Pack F, Value 7) and correctly guesses a player’s card while multiple cards still remain in the deck, they gain a project token and play continues. Since they're the only person who gains a project token on that turn, they would win in a sudden death situation (where the game ends as soon as someone gains a project token). The main ambiguity comes when a player earns a project token on the last turn. For example, if a player has the R&D Co-Founder (Pack O, Value 7) in their discard pile and then plays the CEO & Co-Founder (Pack O, Value 9) to end the round, they trigger the Co-Founder Brainwave ability. This gives them a bonus project token during that turn. Since they receive this token on the last turn, they win the game before we evaluate the end of round state (and given out a project token for whoever has the highest value card in their hand).
Another situation involves the Requirements File (Pack F, Value 0). If the round ends and multiple players remain, we evaluate the end of round state and give a project token to whoever has the highest value card in their hand. In this example, the person who won the round had a dependency token, triggering the Hidden Dependency ability on the Requirements File. This occurs after the first project token is awarded, meaning that the winner of the round wins in a sudden death situation before the Hidden Dependency ability is triggered.
Targeting Discard Piles
Cards like the Random Module (Pack L, Value 0) and the VP of Marketing (Pack O, Value 6) target a player's discard pile. Playing an Architect (Pack O, Value 4) protects a player's hand, not their discard pile. When a player is eliminated, their discard pile can still be targeted. If a player has no cards in their discard pile, it is still a valid target. Finally, in a two-person game the four card non-player discard pile created at the start of the round is a valid discard pile to target.
Partial Negation of Effects
When targeting a player with a Developer (All Packs, Value 1), the effect can be negated with a Threat Ops Engineer (Pack F, Value 3). This is easy to resolve as the effect is cancelled entirely. However, cards like the VP of Infosec (Pack F, Value 6) which target multiple players are harder to resolve. When one or more players negates an effect, that effect is only negated for those players. Thus if two players are targeted by the VP of Infosec (Pack F, Value 6) and one of them negates it with a Threat Ops Engineer (Pack F, Value 3), the effect still applies to the second player. This is important with the Facilities Manager (Pack L, Value 2). If two players are targeted and one player negates the effect, the three-way hand trade then becomes a two-way hand trade.
Lack of Valid Targets
If a card is played where there is no valid target, it has no effect. For example, playing the Imposter (Pack F, Value 1) when there are no other cards in any discard piles means the card does nothing.
Drawing Cards with No Cards Left in the Deck
When there are no cards left in the deck, a player may be asked to draw a card. For example, if S2 Leadership (Pack L, Value 5) is played on a player, they have to discard their hand and draw a new card. If the deck is empty, they draw the facedown card. However, there are cases where both the deck is empty and the facedown card has already been drawn. In these cases, the player trying to draw a card is eliminated.
One such case is with the R&D Team Lead (Pack W, Value 3). On the last turn of the game, you play a R&D Team Lead. This makes the targeted player discard their card and draw a new one, which they draw the facedown card to fulfill. It then lets you use their discarded card as if you played in. In this case, they discarded the other R&D Team Lead. You are thus able to repeat this action, choosing a player and making them discard their card. Because they cannot draw a new card, they're eliminated from the round.
Visually Showing Deactivation
Some abilities are only active in certain circumstances. Most of these are determined by where a card is such as in a player's hand, in a discard pile, or at the bottom of a discard pile. For example, the Architect (Pack O, Value 4) is only active when it's the last card in a discard pile. These location based effects are tracked by the game state and don't need to be remembered by players. However, there are other cards that are more complicated. For example, the CTSO (Pack L, Value 7) has the Death Pool ability. This ability is only active until the next player is eliminated, at which point a bonus project token may be given out. To show that the card's ability is no longer active, turn it sideways in your discard pile.
Specific Card Rulings
Pack F
Requirements File (Pack F, Value 0)
If a player has multiple dependency tokens and wins the round, the player that has the Requirements File in their discard pile only gains one project token.
Imposter (Pack F, Value 1)
As it has a value of 1, the Imposter cannot be targeted by a Developer (All Packs, Value 1).
When the Imposter is played, it enters the player's discard pile before its ability takes effect. In order to prevent infinite loops, it cannot target itself.
Threat Ops Engineer (Pack F, Value 3)
If a card that targets multiple players is played, each player can react using the Threat Ops Engineer in turn order. In the case where there are no cards left in the deck, revealing the Threat Ops Engineer allows the player to draw the facedown card. If there is a second player with a Threat Ops Engineer that also reveals it, the second player is eliminated since they cannot draw a card.
Pack H
No clarifications.
Pack L
Random Module (Pack L, Value 0)
In a two-person game, the four card non-player discard pile created at the start of the game is a valid target. However, because no player owns that discard pile, the Shuffle Function ability has no effect.
CTSO (Pack L, Value 7)
When the CTSO is played, you give another player a death token. If the next player eliminated is not the player with the death token, the Death Pool ability triggers to disable itself. To show that the card is no longer active, you can turn it sideways in your discard pile.
Pack O
Hybrid AI (Pack O, Value 0)
If Hybrid AI is in a player's discard pile who is still in the round and it is not the last card in their discard pile, determine who won the round as normal. If that player wins the round, they are still considered the winner but do not receive a project token for doing so. They start the next round as usual.
CSA (Pack O, Value 3)
Two players are adjacent if they're next to each other in turn order. This means that if there are four players in a round and Player 3 is eliminated, Players 2 and 4 become adjacent (as Player 3 is no longer in the turn order).
CEO & Co-Founder (Pack O, Value 9)
The R&D Co-Founder must be in your discard pile when playing the CEO & Co-Founder to trigger the Co-Founder Brainwave ability. If the CEO & Co-Founder is in your discard when the R&D Co-Founder is played into your discard pile, the Co-Founder Brainwave ability does not trigger.
Pack W
Product Manager (Pack W, Value 5)
2023.10 Rule Change: If there are only two players left in the round, playing the Product Manager skips the other players turn.
VP of R&D (Pack W, Value 8)
2023.10 Rule Change: If more than one person is eliminated by the Emergency Meeting ability, you gain a bonus project token.
Miscellaneous
Puzzles, tutorial video, online version, and more coming soon.