v2.1 / 2026-05-28
Varmint Vacuum is a game in which players represent populations of vermin (represented by their particular color), moving through underground tunnels and warrens. The game board starts out as a small cluster of hex tiles, but expands as the game progresses. Players try to establish colonies in these warrens before too many of them get pulled away by the dreaded Varmint Vacuum.
| Hexes | These tiles form the board, which grows from a simple seven-hex cluster outwards as the game proceeds. Each hex is comprised of Chambers, large ringed circles with size numbers in them, and Hollows, small plain circles, connected by dashed lines representing passageways between them. Chambers and Hollows are collectively referred to as Locations. Varmints are located on these locations, and travel along passages but don't remain on those passages. Some hexes have Vacuum Indicators, which are letters inside squares, indicating possible future locations of vacuum effects. The starting, Central hex has a Vacuum Indicator of A. The chamber on the starting hex is never considered Overcrowded, nor can any colonies be established here (both explained later). |
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| Progress Track | This is the scoring track of the game. The first time a player places their scoring chip on the last entry on the Progress Track, the rest of the players play their last turns, and the game ends. |
| Varmints and Varmint Bag | These are individual Varmints belonging to each player, and are represented by colored wooden cubes. They are kept in each players' supply until deployed to the board, where they occupy locations and move around the map. Any Chamber with more Varmints in it than its size is Overcrowded. Any hollow with more than one Varmint in it is similarly considered Overcrowded. The Varmint Bag is used during Vacuum Events, and is explaned later.
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| Colony Chips | These represent varmint colonies. Once placed on the map, they remain until the end of the game. One of each players' colony chips is placed on the Progress Track to be used as a scoring chip. |
| Vacuum Token | This is a token representing the effects of the Vacuum. |
| Indicator Tokens and Indicator Bag | These are round tokens which correspond to hex Vacuum Indicators, and the bag used to randomly select them. Some tokens are kept in the Indicator Bag, while some are kept next to the Indicator Bag awaiting addition. This will be explained in a later section. Tokens neither in nor next to the Indicator Bag are kept in the supply, awaiting use. |
| Noise Tokens | These indicate that a hex is temporarily vulnerable to the Vacuum. This will be explained later. |
Players take turns in player order, starting from the first player. Each player has a certain number of Action Points (AP) each turn, to be spent on the following actions. Once a player has expended their AP for their turn, turn passes to the next player. For the first turn of the game, the starting player has 3AP, the next player has 4AP, then 5AP, then 6AP, and afterwards, all players then have 7AP per turn for the rest of the game.
Once any player's scoring token reaches the last box on the Progress Track, then the game will end after the remaining players in turn order take their turns. This ensures that all players have the same overall number of turns in the game.
The first thing that a player does each turn is to remove all noise tokens on any of their colony chips.
In the descriptions below, the acting player is the player whose turn it is, and other players are everyone else.
| Move | 1AP | Moving a varmint along a passageway from one location to another costs 1MP. This can be done for any number of varmints. Varmints may not be moved along passageways which lead off the map. |
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| Reproduce | 2AP | The acting player chooses a location. If the location contains a single varmint, they add one to it. If the location contains two or more varmints, they add two to it. If the location is one of their established colonies, then they add two to it. |
| New Blood | 2AP | The acting player places two varmints on a location in the center hex. |
| Push | 2AP | The acting player chooses a hollow. If the acting player has two or more varmints there, and another player has only one varmint present, the acting player may move that varmint along a passageway to an adjacent existing location (ie, not off the map). |
| Consolidate | 3AP | The player chooses a chamber where they have more varmints than any other single player (ie, the acting player has a plurality in the chamber). All other players (in player order) move one varmint to an adjacent location. |
| Feeding Time | 4AP | The active player chooses an overcrowded chamber in which no other player has more varmints than they have (ie, the the acting player has a plurality in the chamber). All other players remove one varmint back to their supply. |
| Trigger Vacuum | 5AP | The active player draws two Vacuum Indicator tokens from the Indicator Bag, and chooses one. A Vacuum Event then takes place on the hex indicated by the Vacuum Indicator, as explained in the Vacuum Event section. Blank tokens may be used to target hexes containing chambers with noise tokens on them. |
| Establish Colony | 5AP | The active player chooses chamber which has (1) at least as many of their varmints as the chamber's size, and (2) as many varmints belonging to the active player as those from all others combined (ie, a majority of varmints). The active player establishes a colony, placing a colony token with a noise token on top of it in that chamber. They then move their scoring chip up on the Progress Track, and if this moves them into the last box, this triggers the end game condition. Every other player in turn order finishes out their round of turns. If this is the last player to move off of a box on the scoring track - that is, if the minimum score of all players has now increased, then all the Vacuum Indicator tokens next to the Indicator Bag are placed into the Indicator Bag. |
When there is a Vacuum Event, it affects a single hex matching one of the chosen Indicator Tokens selected from the bag, referred to as the Vacuum hex, and all Adjacent hexes. It follows the following procedure.
First, all varmints are removed from the Vacuum hex and returned to their respective owners' supplies.
Then, all Overcrowded locations on all adjacent hexes are Reduced. To Reduce a location, place all varmints at that location into the empty Varmint Bag, and draw out a number of Varmints at random equal to the chamber's size, or one single varmint for a hollow, and place these at the location. All remaining Varmints from the Reduced location are returned to their respective players' supplies.
Colony indicators are unaffected by the Vacuum.
The central chamber in the central hex is never consisered Overcrowded.
Once a player has reached the last box of the Progress track, all remaining players in the turn order take their last turns, and the game ends. Whoever has the most colonies wins, and if there is a tie, then the player with the most varmints on the board wins. If there is still a tie, then the player with the most varmints belonging to any player in their colonies. If there is still a tie, the leaders share the victory.