The Mars Guide

For Rita. Matthew won the last one. This guide exists so that stops happening.

There is no single “correct” way to play Terraforming Mars — but there is a shared body of things strong players understand: how the economy works, which cards are quietly great and which are traps, and how a two-player game differs from the box’s own advice. That’s what this is.

How it’s organized

• Start Here — the ten-minute version. If you read nothing else before tonight, read this and the cheat sheet.
• Core Concepts — the economy, how to judge any card in about five seconds, why terraforming rating is sneaky-good, and the game’s clock.
• Strategies — the three broad ways to win, what changes with exactly two players (a lot), and how to fight over milestones and awards.
• Openings — picking your corporation, keeping the right starting cards, and what the first three generations should look like.
• Rankings — tier lists: corporations, the premium cards worth almost any price, and the traps that look shiny and lose you the game.
• Tonight — one page. The cheat sheet you can keep open on your phone.

How to read the rankings

Tiers run SABCD — S means take it almost every time you see it, D means there is almost always something better to do with the money. A tier is a prior, not a law: board state overrules everything, and the “why” next to each ranking matters more than the letter.

The one-sentence version of the whole guide: build income before points, buy fewer cards than feels right, and never let Matthew have a milestone cheap.

Use the search box (top of the sidebar) for any card or corporation by name.