SMARTSLAPSGUARDIANS UNIVERSE
Guardians Universe • Players for a purpose

HOW TO PLAY GU

Complete Missions together with your family or friends. Nevie and the Guardians will guide you through your first game. Follow their bubbles and try each highlighted card.

LEARN WITH NEVIE

Two guided Family lessons: your first Mission and the Big Mission. Practice saves separately from your adventure. The full rules are below.

The 4 + 1 Adventure

Every adventure contains four different regular Missions followed by one Big Mission. Each deal has a winning path for your chosen Guardians and difficulty. Work together to find it.

The regular Mission loop

  1. Meet the Mission Leader. In multiplayer, the Universe marker shows the named player leading this Mission. The leader guides discussion, makes the response decision and confirms the final plan. Leadership rotates after every regular Mission win. In solo, you lead the full adventure.
  2. Reveal the Mission. Read the THINK, ACT and CARE targets. The Challenge stays face-down while the team builds its opening plan.
  3. Choose Ready Guardians. Each multiplayer player contributes one Guardian from a five-card bank. Solo contributes two different Guardians from one five-card bank. Resting Guardians cannot be selected.
  4. Draw a small Power supply. Solo draws exactly four Powers. In multiplayer, the Mission Leader receives three Power choices and every teammate receives one. A Power reward replaces a normal slot; it never makes the hand larger.
  5. Build the two-Power team plan. The whole team shares two base Power plays. In multiplayer, the Mission Leader must place one and exactly one teammate supplies the other. Meet all three visible Mission targets and fill both base Power slots before the Challenge can be flipped. If the targets are already met, the base-card counter shows what remains. Revise My Powers returns those cards to the same hands so you can adjust the plan without picking the Guardians again.
  6. Reveal the Challenge. Family raises one target by 2. Teamwork usually raises it by 3, though some deals use +2. At +3, a matching +2 response needs help from an extra point in your opening plan. Expert can raise a target by 4 in later regular Missions and may also require a discard.
  7. Make the leader response. If all three targets are already met, choose Our plan held and keep your remaining Powers. Otherwise, the Mission Leader uses one saved response Power; in solo it is the third and final team play. It must match the Challenge category: THINK answers THINK, ACT answers ACT and CARE answers CARE. No other Power can be added.
  8. Check the Mission. THINK, ACT and CARE are checked separately. Surplus in one category cannot replace a shortage in another.
  9. Learn from a miss. A miss returns the team to the same Mission with the same Challenges, Power hands, leader and starting Guardian rest state. Revealed Challenges stay known and the solution becomes available. The team must solve that Mission before moving forward.
  10. Rest and rotate. After a win, the Guardians used in that Mission rest through the next completed Mission. Guardians that were already resting become Ready. Move the Universe marker to the next leader.

Why the response matters

A response Power adds 2 to one trait. If a Challenge raises its target by 3, your opening plan needs at least one extra point in that trait. A Challenge that adds 4 needs two extra points. Guardian strengths and earned boosts can help you prepare. If your team still meets all three targets after a Challenge, you can keep your remaining Powers and choose Our plan held.

Camp

At the start of a Mission, Camp makes every Guardian Ready without changing the Mission or fixed Power deal. It provides a recovery path when the road needs a rested Guardian. Finishing the full adventure without Camp earns the optional No-Camp Adventure badge.

Guardians United

After four regular wins, move the Universe marker to the center. The Big Mission has no individual leader and uses one scarce supply across two escalating twists.

  1. Reveal the Big Mission and choose one Guardian per multiplayer player, or two different Guardians in solo. Keep that Guardian team through both waves.
  2. Draw six total Power choices across the team. These are the only Powers available for the entire finale.
  3. Place exactly three base Powers and meet the original Big Mission targets.
  4. Reveal Challenge 1. If a target is short, everyone decides who spends one matching response. If all targets are met, hold the plan or spend that matching response now to prepare for Challenge 2. Meet the new target before continuing.
  5. Reveal Challenge 2. If needed, everyone decides who spends the second matching response. No redraw occurs between Challenges.
  6. Every player confirms Ready. Meet all three final targets to win the adventure.

Difficulty

Family is a good place to learn, with Challenges that add 2 to a target. Teamwork is the default. Its Challenges usually add 3, so plan for more than the starting targets. Expert can add 4 in later regular Missions and may require a Power discard. The game adjusts Mission targets and Challenge increases to suit your Guardians and player count while keeping a winning path available. Some deals and finales use smaller increases. Inspect the active Challenge to see its exact value. The Power limits stay the same in every difficulty.

Phone, tablet, and TV guide

The board works in portrait and landscape. Choose TV / big screen in Settings for larger controls. Use arrow keys or the D-pad to move, OK or A to choose, Back or B to return, and X to inspect a focused hand card. PLAY shows your next move and current score. SCORE shows the targets and adventure progress. HELP lets you reset the Mission, review revealed cards or see a solution. MENU opens save, collection, rules and settings. Each new turn returns to PLAY. On short phones, scroll your hand to reach every Power card.

Rewards, cards and breaks

The celebration begins when the leader confirms a completed Mission. In the Big Mission, every player confirms Ready first. The digital reward is revealed inside that celebration. A Power reward reserves one known card inside the next fixed-size hand instead of adding another card, so rewards improve information without creating an endless supply. A next-Mission Guardian boost can be assigned only to a Guardian who will be Ready. A Challenge protection reward saves one point of its named trait until a matching Challenge appears. Tap a nameplate or magnifying glass to enlarge cards. Use the arrows, keyboard arrows or a horizontal tablet swipe to browse. Save & exit preserves the adventure when browser storage is available. If a temporary-adventure message appears, keep that tab open to retain your progress.

Each Power adds 2 to its printed trait. Check the active Mission and Challenge cards for your current targets.
Guardians Universe Action Zone playmat