Official Rules

Summary

• There are 3 play modes in Bo Jackson Battle Arena™: Rookie, Substitution, and Playmaker

• In all 3 modes, you compete head-to-head in a series of 7 Battles. Win the most Battles to win the game. Once a Battle has concluded, its result cannot be changed.

Rookie Mode

This mode only requires a Hero Deck for each player (no Hot Dogs or Plays). See Deckbuilding in the Setup section for specifics.

Players flip a coin to choose Home or Away team. The Home team will Battle from left-to-right (meaning Battle #1 is the far left Battle Zone and Battle #7 is the far right Battle Zone). The Away team will Battle from right-to-left.

Each Player shuffles their Hero Deck, draws 7 cards, looks at them, and decides where to place them face-down into the 7 Battle Zones. Players then go 1-by-1, flipping over their Heroes starting with Battle #1 and ending with Battle #7. The Hero with the higher power total in each Battle is the winner. The Player with the most wins after 7 Battles (or the first to win 4 Battles) wins the game. Because some Battles result in a tie, games can also end in a tie unless the Players declare "tiebreakers active" prior to starting the game. The default tiebreaker method is a "sudden death" draw of the top hero from each Player's Hero Deck, played head-to-head until there is a winner.

Substitution Mode

Players begin with a Hero Deck as well as a Hot Dog Deck. See Deckbuilding in the Setup section for specifics.

Players place their 7 Hero lineup face-down the same as Rookie Mode. Remember them, because once they're placed, Players can not peek at their cards again!

Both Players then draw a hand consisting of 4 Hero cards from their Hero Deck. At the beginning of each turn — prior to revealing heroes — each Player has the option to make a Substitution. By paying 2 Hot Dogs as energy cost, a Hero in the current Battle can be swapped with a new Hero from their hand. A Player can only substitute once per Battle! If a Player chooses to substitute, they must show the originally-played Hero to their opponent, place it (along with the 2 required Hot Dogs) into their Discard Pile, and place their new Hero face-down into the Battle. If a Player has less than 2 Hot Dogs they can no longer substitute.

The Player who won the coin flip at the start of the game decides who has "Honors" and makes their subtitution decision first in the opening Battle. The Player who most recently won a Battle has "Honors." If no Battles have been won yet, the Player who started with "Honors" continues to go first. If the Player with "Honors" passes and does NOT substitute for this Battle, they do not get a second chance to substitute after their opponent's decision. The Battle doesn't begin until both Players have made their substitution decision; head-to-head Battle rules from Rookie Mode (including tiebreaker options) are the same in Substitution Mode.

Playmaker Mode

In addition to a Hero Deck and a Hot Dog Deck, both Players now begin the game with a Playbook Deck. See Deckbuilding in the Setup section for specifics.

The rules of Playmaker Mode are the same as Substitution Mode, with the addition of running Plays. Plays can do many things that impact the game, including giving Heroes power upgrades or targeting opponent Heroes in an effort to decrease their power. Players have the option to run Plays in during each individual Battle. As with substitution decisions, the Player with "Honors" runs their Play(s) first.

To run a Play, a Player must pay the Hot Dog cost (if applicable; some Plays cost zero) by moving the required number of Hot Dogs to the Discard pile, then follow the instructions on the Play card. Each Player may take turns running as many Plays as they'd like (and can afford) within each Battle. If a Player is unable to pay the required Hot Dog cost they cannot run the play. Each Player draws 1 additional Play card at the conclusion of each Battle. The number of Plays you hold will differ from Battle to Battle as the Game progresses.

After both Players have completed their turns and run any desired Play(s), the Battle/game winner is determined the same as in Rookie and Substitution Modes.

Setup

Deckbuilding

• Hero Decks consist of 60 cards. Only 1 copy of each Hero variation can appear in a Hero Deck. Most Heroes have multiple variations specific artwork, type, and power) which allows a particular hero to show up more than once in a Hero Deck. For example a "BoJax Ice" variation is different than a "BoJax Fire" variation. A specific Hero may only appear in your Hero Deck 6 times in total (across all variations).

• Hot Dog Decks consist of 10 Hot Dog Cards. There are no requirements on the number of unique Hot Dog cards in your Deck.

• Playbook Decks consist of 30 Play cards. All 30 Plays must be unique cards. No duplicates.

Some advanced and competitive rule sets may impose different/additional restrictions on your Decks.

Board Setup

• All Games are played on a board with 7 Battle Zones.

• Each Player's cards will go head-to-head with their Opponent's cards in the corresponding Battle Zone.

• Below the 7 Battle Zones, you also have spaces for the following:

  • Hero Deck

  • Playbook Deck

  • Hot Dog Deck

  • Discard Pile

The best way to learn is to play a few games at each level starting with Rookie Mode and working your way up. Have fun and good luck!