Twilight Struggle Solitaire Variant

In this variant, you play both the Soviets and the U.S. and try to maximize play for both nations. The purpose of the variant is to avoid the diffi ulty of playing two hands simultaneously and attempting to ignore one!s "nowledge of what the other hand holds when playing ards.

Set#Up
The set-up of this variant is the same as the regular game.

$lay
All rules of the regular game apply, ex ept% 1. There are no hands in this game. Cards are drawn off the top of the deck one at a time and played immediately. 2. All Soviet Cards are played y the Soviets. All !S Cards are played y the !S. "henever a Soviet or !S a card is drawn, the player has the option to play it as an #vent or as $ps. %. All split &ed'"hite star cards are wild cards. They are played y the nation that is ehind on the () track. *f the () track is at +, the !S plays the card in the #arly "ar, and the Soviets play the card in the ,id or -ate "ar. Split cards may e played as events or $ps. .. )lease note that many #vent cards have diminished value as #vents in this variant. Any #vent that affects turn order or hand management, for e/ample, will have no value as #vent cards. All such cards should e played as $ps card. 0. "hen uni1ue event cards 2those that are removed if used as events3 are played as events, they are removed from the game. *f played as $ps, uni1ue event cards are recycled into the ne/t deck, unless the game is in the -ate "ar phase, in which case they are removed from the game. 4. 5on-uni1ue event cards 2those that are not removed if used as events3 are always recycled into the ne/t deck, unless the game is in the -ate "ar phase, in which case they are removed from the game. 6. S oring &ards are implemented immediately upon drawing them. *n the #arly and ,id "ar phases, after implementing scoring cards, place them on the ottom of the deck currently in play. At the end of the #arly and ,id "ar phases, the regions are scored a second time and then the scoring cards are shuffled into the ne/t deck. As a result, the #arly "ar Scoring cards are scored 0 times during the game 2during the #arly and ,id "ar and at the conclusion of the #arly, ,id and -ate "ar3, and the ,id "ar Scoring cards are scored % times during the game 2during the ,id "ar and at the conclusion of the ,id and -ate "ar3. 7. 'ilitary (perations S oring. "henever either nation achieves a 8% military operations advantage over the other nation, the nation with the advantage immediately scores 1 (). The military operations levels for oth nations are then reduced to +. *f oth nations achieve a military operations level of % or higher at the same time, their levels are reduced to +. 9. )ef on Status. The game ends and the player loses if the :efcon status ever reaches 1. The nation that is ahead on the () track can improve the :efcon level y choosing not to

play a card as either an event or $ps. *nstead, the player may use the card to improve the :efcon level y the $ps value of the card. 1+. The Spa e *a e Tra " is not used in this variant. 11. Vi tory &onditions. The player wins if he can push either nation to an automatic victory, while playing oth sides as effectively as possi le. *f the game deck is e/hausted and neither player has won an automatic victory, the player wins if the com ined est scores of the !SS& 2treat the score as a positive num er3 and the !SA are %+ or more ()s. ;eep track of the highest () level oth nations achieve during the game.

+ame ,low ,y hope is that these rules will make a Soviet automatic victory possi le, ut difficult in the #arly "ar, while making a !S automatic victory possi le ut difficult in the -ate "ar.