HYPERSCALE

The idea

You and the computer each run a datacenter company from a corner HQ. Over 24 days you claim ground, wire datacenters to shared power stations, staff and equip them, and sell their output as AI tokens. Power is scarce and fixed to the map, so most of the game is a fight over the same few stations. Whoever has produced the most AI tokens after day 24 wins.

The board

A 9×9 hex grid with your HQ in one corner and the AI's in the opposite one. Five power stations are fixed on the map; the number on each is how many servers it can power.

A day = 3 actions

You and the AI alternate days. Each day your powered servers first produce tokens and pay costs automatically; then you take up to 3 actions and end the day. An action is one of:

• Build a piece — road, power line, or datacenter on an empty hex.
• Add a server — equip one of your datacenters (buys parts from the market).
• Prestock a part — buy GPU / HBM / CPU to hold for later.
• Sabotage — demolish an adjacent enemy road or power line (once per day).

What you build

Power & servers

A datacenter draws power if it's next to a station or wired to one by a chain of power lines; it pulls from every station its network touches, so wiring to several is resilient. Output comes from servers: one server = 2 GPU + 1 HBM + 1 CPU from a single shared, finite market whose prices rise as the reserve drains (GPU is scarcest and can run out). A datacenter holds at most 4 servers, so you must spread across the contested stations rather than pile onto one site.

Running costs & the centre

Each powered server earns a token per day but also costs power (a flat fee) plus staffing, which grows with the road distance back to HQ — a far-flung site costs more to keep running. Both players draw from the same central stations, so their 16 power is shared and contested: when servers compete, the bigger datacenters get powered first and the rest sit dark (built, producing nothing). Installing more servers than you can power is wasted money.

Sabotage

Once per day you may spend an action and $3 to demolish an enemy road or power line that sits next to a piece of yours (you can't destroy a datacenter itself — only its connective tissue). Cutting a choke point several sites depend on hurts most; it's a tempo weapon, not a knockout, since the victim rebuilds for a dollar or two.

Winning

Score is cumulative: every day each powered server adds one AI token to your total, and the higher total after day 24 wins. Timing is everything — a server switched on early earns for ~20 days; the same server built on the last day earns once.

Strategy tips

• Get online fast and stay full — fill a datacenter to 4 powered servers before starting another; early tokens compound.
• Contest the centre — race a road to the central corridor; turtling on your 2-power home caps your score.
• Don't build dark servers — if a station is full, wire to another open one instead.
• Buy parts just-in-time — prices climb as the market drains and leftover stock is dead money; prestock only to hedge a spike or starve the AI of GPU.
• Mind the manning bill — a distant site earns the same but costs more; wall the enemy's roads into detours to raise theirs.
• Sabotage choke points, not leaves, and keep your own critical links backed up with a spare route.

Quick reference