BITS & BYTES

A Game Of Hackers & Computers

CONTENTS:
● 25 Anti-Malware Cards
● 25 Malware Cards
● 1 Unfoldable ‘Computer’’ Board
● 1 Black ‘Hacker’ Meeple

In Bits & Bytes, you play as a computer program defending

itself from hackers, scams and other forms of computer
viruses.
Play Anti-Malware Cards to protect yourself from various
Malware Cards,aiming to destroy you. Will you be able to
save yourself?

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SETUP:

To set up Bits & Bytes, shuffle the Malware Cards (marked with a red dot in
the corner) and the Anti-Malware Cards (marked with a red dot crossed out
in the corner) separately. Then, choose one of the difficulties below and place
the black meeple on the according spaces on the Unfoldable ‘Computer’
Board.

Difficulties:
Prank Virus: Place the Hacker Meeple on the ‘4’ space
Standard Virus: Place the Hacker Meeple on the ‘5’ space
Extreme Virus: Place the Hacker Meeple on the ‘7’ space
Uncomputable Virus: Place the Hacker Meeple on the ‘8’ space
Quantum Virus: Place the Hacker Meeple on the ‘9’ space
Draw 3 cards from the Anti-Malware deck. These cards will be your hand.
Then, draw another 3 cards from the Malware deck, place them face down in
front of the deck and flip one of them face up.

Once you’ve done this, you’re ready to play!

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HOW TO PLAY:

Resolve the effect of the Malware card you flipped over in the Setup. For
example, if the card you drew was a ‘Virus’, raise the counter on the
‘Computer’ board by 1. If you started on easy difficulty, for example, the
counter goes from 4 to 5.
Once you’ve resolved the Malware card, place it in the Reshuffle Pile.

Now that you’ve resolved the Malware card, it’s time for action! Choose one of
the cards in your hand, place it down and resolve the effect.
For example, if you had an ‘Antivirus’ card, you could cancel out the effect of
the ‘Virus’ card you drew earlier.

To end your turn, draw a new Anti-Malware card for your hand and draw a
new card from the Malware deck and place it in the ‘Active Zone’, flipping
another one over to resolve its effect next turn.

If the Malware deck runs out of cards, reshuffle the cards from the Reshuffle
Pile, not from the Discard Pile. The same goes to the Anti-Malware deck.

Keep playing, aiming to discard all the cards from the Malware deck and
keeping your counter below the 10 mark. If you reach the 10 mark, you
lose!

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CARD RULES:
In Bits & Bytes, every card has its own rule (what you need to do when you
draw it/ when you put it down) some cards have additional rules or other rules.
These cards are explained here:

Virus, Computer Worm, e.t.c: These cards increase the Malware Counter by
one or more. When a card like this appears, move the black meeple one
space up. Anti-Malware cards telling you to ‘lower the Malware Counter’ do
the exact opposite.

Loss Of Power: This card makes you discard all Anti-Malware cards. If all the
Anti-Malware cards have been discarded, permanently remove 3 random
Anti-Malware cards from the game by placing them in the box then reshuffle
the Discard Pile into a new Anti-Malware deck.

New PC: This card makes you reset the Malware Counter. This means you’ll
change it to the original amount, be it more than or less than your current
Malware Point amount.
Then, it tells you to reshuffle both decks, which involves reshuffling the
Anti-Malware deck and the Malware deck separately.
Fake Tech Support: Some cards involve discarding other cards. Instead of
putting them in the Reshuffle Pile, place them in their respective Discard Pile,
where they will stay, unusable, for the rest of the game. (see Setup image)
There is a card, however, that can restore another card from the Discard Pile
(Hard Drive).

NOTE: When a card tells you to discard another card/cards, discard them
from the top of the respective deck and not from your hand.

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ENDING THE GAME:

There are various ways to end the game:

1: Good Ending - Discarding all Malware Cards. Using cards such as ‘New
PC’ and ‘Anti Virus’ helps you discard cards.
2: Corrupted Ending - If you reach the ‘10’ mark on the ‘Computer’ board,
your computer gets hacked and you lose the game!
3: Confusion Ending - If both of the above happen during the same turn, set
the Malware counter to 5 and take 15 random Malware cards from the
reshuffle pile and shuffle them to create a new deck.
4: Abandoned Ending - If the last card in the Anti-Malware deck at any time
is a New PC card, your owner gave up on you and bought a new computer!
You have been abandoned.

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Congratulations! You’ve finished your first game of Bits & Bytes!

If you have any doubts about the game, need replacement pieces or have any
problem with the game, email us at pocketboardgames@gmail.com or visit
our website at www.pocketboardgames.store. We’ll be happy to help!

CREDITS:
Idea - Tristan Santos
Art - Arthur David
Design - Lucia Huffman, Evan Santos

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THE PAPER SAVING INITIATIVE
This game does not have physical instructions. This PDF version of the instructions
is our alternative, because it lets us save paper and cut costs, allowing us to sell the
game cheaper and with less waste produced!