ALL-IN ASCENT

Alpine Indoors Rock Climbing Board Game

Official Rulebook — Engine v0.4.0

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Game Overview
2. Game Components
3. Setup
4. Objective
5. Characters
6. Understanding Your Character
7. How to Play
8. Actions You Can Take
9. Climbing Routes
10. Route Specialty Tags
11. The Dice System
12. Training
13. The Gear Shop
14. Resting
15. Leveling Up
16. Route Clearing System
17. Special Rules
18. Winning the Game
19. Strategy Tips
20. Quick Reference

GAME OVERVIEW

Welcome toAll-In Ascent, where you step into the climbing shoes of an aspiring rock climber at Alpine Indoors climbing gym! Over multiple rounds, you'll attempt challenging routes, train your body, purchase essential gear, and level up your character from beginner to elite climber.

Players:1–4 Win condition:First player to complete all 3 Milestone Routes Maximum game length:45 rounds (game ends with no winner if no one finishes by then) Complexity:Medium

GAME COMPONENTS

-5 unique characters, each with one special ability -72 route cardsacross three climbing areas: -Bouldering(26 routes, V0–V12) -Top Rope(23 routes, 5.6–5.13c) -Lead Climbing(23 routes, 5.8–5.14a)

• Each route may carry onespecialty tag: Pinch/Crimp, Toe/Heel Hook, Roof/Sloper, Dynamic, or untagged

-4 core stats: Strength, Technique, Focus, Flexibility -Endurance system— separate stamina pool that drains with effort -4 training equipment cards— one per stat -18 gear cardsin the shop (4 access cards + 14 permanent-passive cards) -2 six-sided dice(more on some climbs — see Dice System) -3 Milestone Route cardsdrawn at game start: one Beginner, one Intermediate, one Expert -Route Clearing Token(rotates 0 → 1 → 2 → 0) -Belayer counter(starts at 1, max 3) -XP and Level trackersper player

SETUP

1. Choose the number of players (1–4).
2. Each player picks a character (no duplicates allowed).

3.Three Milestone Routes are randomly drawnfrom the route deck, with two constraints:

• OneBeginnerroute (V0–V2 / 5.6–5.8 / Lead 5.8–5.9)
• OneIntermediateroute (V3–V7 / 5.9–5.11c / Lead 5.10a–5.11c)
• OneExpertroute (V8–V12 / 5.12a–5.13c / Lead 5.12a–5.14a)
• All three milestones must come from DIFFERENT climbing areas (one Bouldering, one Top Rope, one Lead — in any combination). Sort the route deck by tier, then draw cards in order: Beginner first, then Intermediate from a different area, then Expert from the third remaining area. If a drawn card matches an already-taken area, set it aside and draw again; reshuffle set-asides back at the end.

1. Deal5 random routesinto each climbing area (Bouldering, Top Rope, Lead).
2. Deal3 random non-access gear cardsinto the gear shop. The 4 access cards (Harness, Belay Device, Locking Carabiner, Lead Rope) are always available for purchase.
3. Place theRoute Clearing Tokenat Position 0.
4. Set theBelayer Counterto 1.
5. Each player begins with:

• Level 1
• 0 XP
• 10 Time Units
• Character-specific starting stats and endurance
• No equipment
• 0/3 Milestones complete

OBJECTIVE

Be the FIRST player to successfully complete all 3 Milestone Routes — and WIN.

If no player has all three by the end of round 45, the game ends with no winner. Pace your investments accordingly.

CHARACTERS

There are5 playable characters. Each has a unique stat profile, a unique passive ability, and a different optimal strategy.

The Technician (Precision Specialist)

A movement artist who reads sequences perfectly and wastes no energy on inefficient beta. -Starting stats:Str 12 / Tech 26 / Focus 18 / Flex 14 -Starting endurance:100 -Growth per level:+1.5 Str / +4.5 Tech / +2.5 Focus / +2 Flex / +5 endurance -Passive — Perfect Beta:All nerf dice on every climb are negated (treated as 0). All stat requirements are reduced by 5. Climbs cost +1 extra time.

The Sprinter (Speed Climber)

Climbs explosively with dynamic movements. Burns bright but fast. -Starting stats:Str 22 / Tech 14 / Focus 12 / Flex 16 -Starting endurance:85 -Growth per level:+4 Str / +2 Tech / +1.5 Focus / +2.5 Flex / +3 endurance -Passive — Flash Speed:Time cost of every climb is reduced by 2 (minimum 1), but successful climbs grant only 50% of normal XP. Rolls one extra d6 nerf die applied to Focus on every climb.

The Iron Lung (Endurance Athlete)

Tackles challenges head-on with determination. -Starting stats:Str 16 / Tech 17 / Focus 19 / Flex 14 -Starting endurance:120 -Growth per level:+2.5 Str / +2.5 Tech / +3 Focus / +2 Flex / +8 endurance -Passive — Relentless:On a failed climb, earn 50% more XP than the base fail XP. Lose an extra 5 endurance on every failure.

The Free Solo (Risk Taker)

Dares the impossible — but only when the stats are bulletproof. -Starting stats:Str 11 / Tech 23 / Focus 20 / Flex 16 -Starting endurance:100 -Growth per level:+1.5 Str / +4 Tech / +3 Focus / +2.5 Flex / +6 endurance -Passive — Life or Die:Can attempt Top Rope and Lead routes WITHOUT owning the access cards (Harness, Belay Device, Locking Carabiner, Lead Rope). All dice roll effects are negated (no luck swing).Can ONLY attempt climbs where your effective stats — base + training + permanent gear bonuses — already meet every requirement.

The Route Reader (Problem Solver)

Studies routes meticulously before attempting. Knowledge is power. -Starting stats:Str 15 / Tech 19 / Focus 22 / Flex 14 -Starting endurance:110 -Growth per level:+2 Str / +3.5 Tech / +4 Focus / +1.5 Flex / +7 endurance -Passive — Versatility:When you Rest, you gain aBeta Boost(+3 to all stats on your next climb). On any climb,only 3 of your 4 stats need to meet the requirementto succeed. Once per round you mayredistribute up to 10 stat pointsbetween any two attributes (lasts until end of round).

UNDERSTANDING YOUR CHARACTER

The Four Core Stats

-Strength— Power moves, overhang routes, pulling -Technique— Footwork, body positioning, slab climbing, precision -Focus— Mental control, lead climbing, complex sequences -Flexibility— Reach, high steps, body positioning

Endurance

A separate pool from XP/level. Every climb, train, and rest action moves your endurance. -Current Endurance:how much you have right now -Max Endurance:the cap (grows when you level up; gear may also raise it)

Time Units

Each round, every player has10 Time Units(+1 if you own Approach Shoes). When you run out of time, your turn ends; the round continues with other players.

Note:there is no per-round purchase limit on gear. You can buy as many items as you can afford if you have time.

HOW TO PLAY

The game proceeds inrounds. Within a round:

1.Player turns advance by time-remaining priority.The player with the most time remaining acts next. Ties resolve by player order. When a player has 0 time left, they're skipped. 2.A round endswhen every player has 0 time remaining (or has explicitly chosen End Turn). 3.At round end:

• The Route Clearing Token rotates: 0 → 1 → 2 → 0
• All routes in the cleared area are replaced with new random routes
• Each player's time units reset to 10 (+1 if they own Approach Shoes)

-Endurance carries overbetween rounds (no automatic refill) -Training bonuses PERSIST across rounds(they accumulate over the whole game)

• Once-per-round abilities (e.g. Route Reader's stat redistribute) reset
• At round 5: the 2nd belayer unlocks. At round 12: the 3rd belayer unlocks.

The game ends as soon as any one player completes their 3rd milestone, OR at the end of round 45 with no winner.

ACTIONS YOU CAN TAKE

On your turn you may take any of these actions, repeatedly, in any order, as long as you have the resources:

-Climb a route— see Climbing Routes -Attempt a Milestone— same mechanic as climb, but on the milestone routes (no per-round attempt limit) -Train— see Training -Buy gear— see The Gear Shop -Rest— see Resting -End your turn— voluntarily forfeit any remaining time units this round

CLIMBING ROUTES

Bouldering (V0–V12)

Short, powerful problems without ropes. -No equipment requiredto attempt. Always accessible to all players.

• 5 routes available at any time, drawn from the bouldering deck (26 cards total)
• Time cost: 2–6. Endurance cost: 12–100. XP rewards: 25–100 success / 8–95 fail

Top Rope (5.6–5.13c)

Roped climbing with a belay from above. -Required equipment:Harness AND Belay Device -Belayer-gated:at most N players may have status "in topRope" at the same time, where N = belayer count (1 → 2 → 3)

• 5 routes available at a time (23 in deck)
• Time cost: 3–7. Endurance cost: 15–100. XP rewards: 30–100 success / 10–88 fail

Lead Climbing (5.8–5.14a)

The highest-stakes discipline — clip the rope as you ascend. -Required equipment:Harness + Belay Device + Locking Carabiner + Lead Rope -Belayer-gated(same counter as Top Rope)

• 5 routes available at a time (23 in deck)
• Time cost: 4–8. Endurance cost: 25–100. XP rewards: 40–100 success / 15–98 fail

Free Solo Exception

The Free Solo character bypasses ALL access-card requirements for Top Rope and Lead — they can attempt those routes from turn 1 without owning Harness, Belay Device, Locking Carabiner, or Lead Rope. The trade-off is severe: see the character description above.

ROUTE SPECIALTY TAGS

Every route iseither tagged or untagged. The four specialty tags are:

Tags do nothing on their own. They're a hook forgear cards— four specialty gear cards each target one tag and grant a specific advantage on tagged routes only. See The Gear Shop for details.

Strategic note:when the milestone routes are revealed at game start, check their tags. If two milestones share a tag, the matching specialty card becomes especially valuable.

THE DICE SYSTEM

How a climb works

1.Pay costs first— the time and endurance cost are deducted whether you succeed or fail. 2.Look up the route's rollEffect— a list of dice modifiers, e.g. [{stat: 'technique', modifier: -1}, {stat: 'strength', modifier: +1}]. 3.Roll dice— number of dice = max(2, number of effects in rollEffect). The Sprinter rolls one ADDITIONAL die targeting Focus with a +1 (nerf) modifier on every climb. 4.Apply each die to its stat:

• Modifier−1(buff, green):subtractthe die value from the stat requirement (easier!)
• Modifier+1(nerf, red):addthe die value to the stat requirement (harder!)
• Modifier0: no change

5.Compute your effective stats: effective = base stat + training bonus + permanent gear bonus + per-route gear bonus 6.Apply character-ability adjustments(Route Reader's Beta Boost, Technician's −5 blanket, etc.). 7.Compare:does each effective stat meet or exceed each modified requirement? -Successif all 4 stats pass (3 of 4 for Route Reader) -Failureotherwise 8.Earn XP— success XP if you cleared, fail XP if you didn't. Iron Lung adds +50% to fail XP. Sprinter halves success XP.

Character-specific dice rules

-Technician:Every nerf die (+1 modifier) is treated as a 0. Every requirement is reduced by 5 (floored at 0). -Sprinter:Adds an extra Focus-nerf die. -Free Solo:Every dice modifier is treated as 0. Effectively no luck swing — but Free Solo can only attempt climbs where they already pass on stats alone. -Route Reader:Only 3 of 4 stats need to pass.

One-attempt-per-round rule (regular routes only)

You can only attempt each specific regular route once per round. After a success or failure, that route is "marked attempted" and you must wait until next round to retry — or the route may be cleared by then.Milestone routes are NOT subject to this rule— you may retry them as many times as you like.

TRAINING

The training area has 4 stations. Training grantspermanent bonusesto a stat thataccumulate over the entire game(not just one round).

-Capacity:one player per station per round. If another player took a station this round, you can't use it until next round. -Stacking:training bonuses accumulate game-wide. Train Strength three times → +15 permanent strength training bonus. -Per-round persistence:unlike older versions of this game, training bonuses doNOTreset at round end. They stay until game end. -Affected by gear:Old Climbing Journal upgrades every training session from +5 to +6.

THE GEAR SHOP

The shop contains18 cards total: 4 access cards (always available) and 14 permanent-passive cards (3 visible at any time, refreshed when bought).

You spend XP from yourcurrent levelto buy gear. This is the XP you've earned since your last level-up — it does NOT carry over when you level up.

Access cards (always visible, gate climbing areas)

Free Soloignores all four — they can attempt Top Rope and Lead from turn 1 without buying any of these.

Specialty cards (target tagged routes)

Boost & Fix cards (permanent passive abilities)

Permanent means permanent.Every card here applies for the rest of the game once bought. There are no consumables, no charges, no reset markers.

Stacking:rest-bonus cards stack — owning both Beta Reading Book (+10) and Pre-Climb Stretching (+12) gives +22 rest endurance.

RESTING

When endurance is low, visit the rest area.

1. Spend1 time unit.
2. Restore endurance up to yourMax Endurance + Rest Bonus from gear, where the heal amount equals your full Max Endurance.
3. The Route Reader gains aBeta Boost(+3 to all stats on the next climb) immediately upon resting.

Worked example— Iron Lung at Max 120, current 30:

• No gear: heal up to min(120 + 0, 30 + 120) =120(full restore)
• With Beta Reading Book (+10 rest): heal up to min(120 + 10, 30 + 120) =130(above max!)
• With Pre-Climb Stretching (+12 rest) AND Beta Reading Book (+10): heal up to min(120 + 22, 30 + 120) =142

LEVELING UP

Earning XP raises your level, which automatically raises your stats and max endurance.

When you level up:

• All four stats increase by your character's growth rate (e.g. Technician +4.5 Tech)
• Max endurance increases by your character's endurance growth rate

-Spendable XP for gear continues to accumulate from total XP— it does NOT reset to 0 at level-up. Whatever you had before the level-up, you keep.

ROUTE CLEARING SYSTEM

The gym is dynamic. Routes get cleared and reset throughout the game.

TheRoute Clearing Tokensits at one of three positions: -Position 0→ next round-end clears Lead Climbing (then advances to position 1) -Position 1→ next round-end clears Top Rope (then advances to position 2) -Position 2→ next round-end clears Bouldering (then advances back to position 0)

When an area is cleared, its 5 visible routes are discarded and 5 new routes are drawn at random from that area's deck.

Belayer unlocksare tied to round number, not the token:

• Round 5: belayers go from 1 → 2
• Round 12: belayers go from 2 → 3

SPECIAL RULES

Section capacity

• Bouldering: unlimited
• Top Rope: limited by belayer count (1–3)
• Lead Climbing: limited by belayer count (1–3, same pool as Top Rope)
• Training equipment: 1 player per station per round (exclusive)
• Gear Shop: unlimited
• Rest area: unlimited

One-attempt-per-round (regular routes)

You may attempt each specific regular route only once per round. Milestone routes have no such limit — attempt them as often as you like.

Special abilities are PASSIVE

Every character's special ability in this version is apassivethat fires automatically. There are no "activate once per round" buttons. The only "active" character power is Route Reader's once-per-round stat redistribution (and the Beta Boost is also automatic when they rest).

Free Solo's strict guarantee

Free Solo's "Life or Die" passive lets it bypass equipmentbutrestricts it to climbs where itseffective stats — base plus training plus permanent gear bonuses — meet every requirement.Per-route gear bonuses (e.g. Crimp Sequence Decoder's re-roll) do NOT count toward the guarantee. You can NEVER attempt a route where any stat is short, no matter how favorable the dice.

WINNING THE GAME

The first player to complete all 3 Milestone Routes wins immediately.

Milestone routes:

• Are randomly drawn at game start: one per difficulty tier AND one per climbing area (Beginner / Intermediate / Expert, and Bouldering / Top Rope / Lead — every game guarantees mastery of all three areas)
• Are visible to all players from turn 1
• Use the same climb mechanics as regular routes

-Have no per-round attempt limit— retry as often as you can afford

• Are tracked individually per player — your milestones complete for YOU only
• Can be attempted in any order

If round 45 ends with no player having all three milestones, the game ends with no winner.

Climbing area requirements still apply

A milestone in the Top Rope deck still requires the Harness + Belay Device (or the Free Solo passive). A milestone in the Lead deck still requires the full Lead system.

STRATEGY TIPS

General

1.Read the milestone tags FIRST.If two milestones share a tag, the matching specialty gear card is your highest-value purchase. 2.Buy access cards EARLY.Every game guarantees one milestone in Top Rope and one in Lead Climbing (or vice versa), so the Harness + Belay Device + Locking Carabiner + Lead Rope path is structurally mandatory (Free Solo excepted). 3.Train the stat with the LARGEST gapto your milestone requirements — not the lowest absolute stat. The lowest stat may not be the bottleneck. 4.Level up matters more than spendable XP.Level-ups grant permanent stat increases that compound. 5.Watch the Route Clearing Token.A route you've been planning to attempt may disappear next round.

Per character

QUICK REFERENCE

Turn priority

• Player with most time remaining acts next.
• A round ends when every player is at 0 time.

Round-end events (in order)

1. Token rotates; one area's routes are cleared and refreshed.
2. Time units reset (+1 if Approach Shoes owned).
3. Once-per-round flags reset.
4. Belayer unlock check (+1 belayer at round 5 and again at round 12).
5. Endurance carries over.
6. Training bonuses persist.

Climbing area access

Costs at a glance

Game ends when

• A player completes 3 milestones, OR
• Round 45 ends with no winner.

DESIGNER'S NOTES

All-In Ascent captures the progression, strategy, and risk-reward of real rock climbing. The dice introduce uncertainty (just like real climbing!), while character abilities and gear give you ways to manage that uncertainty. The route-tagging system rewards specialization — gear that helps on Crimp routes is genuinely strong on Crimp routes, and weakness on Dynamic routes — so the strategic question becomes "what's the GYM going to throw at me, and what can I prepare for?"

The game celebrates progression. From V0 to V12, every successful send feels rewarding.

Climb on!

Game design: Alpine Indoors Development Team Engine version: 0.3.1 (route-tagged routes; Mixture-3 gear deck; Free Solo training fix) This rulebook reflects the rules as encoded in engine/data.js and engine/engine.js. If a mechanic appears here that disagrees with the engine, the engine is authoritative — please file a rulebook update.