
- BGG rating
- 7.6
Pacific Rim: Extinction – Gipsy Danger
- 2–6 players
- 30–60 min
- 2020

2018
Rules assistance for Pacific Rim: Extinction
Plain-language explanations of turns, card effects and disputed situations, with official source references and saved question history.
For 2 players

What would you like to know?
Answers come from the official rulebook, with the page to check.
Pacific Rim: Extinction is a board game released in 2018 for 2–6 players, 30–90 minutes per game, and ages 14 and up. It was designed by Alessio Cavatore, Rob Stoddard, and Tamsin Caesar and its main mechanics are Variable Player Powers, Dice Rolling, and Simultaneous Action Selection.
Pacific Rim: Extinction is a scenario driven, tabletop miniatures strategy game of city-wide destruction and chaos of epic proportions. With fantastically detailed and painted 75mm scale miniatures of the iconic Jaegers – mechanical guardians of humanity – and Kaiju – monsters the size of mountains sent from beyond our world – it captures the spectacular conflict of the Pacific Rim universe and places it in the palm of your hands. Players will be able to jump right into the action as either the PPDC Jaegers or the Kaiju, either in a quick play match of intense combat, or a more constructed battle with both Jaegers and Kaiju using all their skills and abilities to achieve an objective. The goal of the game is different depending on which side you choose to fight with. As a Kaiju player, you’ll uncover a secret objective at the start of the game. To win, you’ll need to meet this objective, ideally without revealing what it is to the Jaeger player too early. As a Jaeger player, your goal is to fulfill the PPDC’s task: the protection of humanity. You’ll need to defend cities as Kaiju trample them, and take down the immense invaders The Jaegers and Kaiju each have their own abilities and customisation options. Using the 'Jaeger Conn-Pod’, ‘Upgrades’ can be applied to improve the machine’s weapons or other capabilities, while each 'Kaiju Signature’ can be altered with ‘Mutations’, making the monsters even more dangerous and unpredictable. During a game round, players control either Jaegers or Kaiju on their turn by playing ‘Action Cards’. These represent all-out attacks, cunning tricks, solid defences, secret weapons, and everything else the machines and monsters can do! When Jaegers or Kaiju take damage, the player who dealt the damage takes an action card at random from their opponent and reads the Damage section of the card to find out what happens. There's a chance that a critical part of Jaeger machinery, or Kaiju biology, will be struck with massive consequences. The Action Card that was drawn as Damage is then discarded, and cannot be used for the rest of the game. In this way, dealing damage to an enemy not only brings them closer to destruction but can also render weapons or abilities useless. When a Jaeger or Kaiju has taken Damage equal to their Structure Points total, they are destroyed! If either the Jaegers or Kaiju are all destroyed, the surviving side will have claimed victory, but winning isn't always that simple. If the Kaiju meet their objective before they are all killed, they win the battle and the PPDC will be forced to retreat. Every Scenario and Objective Card will change the way the battle must be fought and won, often drastically. Using these tools, the Jaeger and Kaiju must outwit, outmatch, and overcome their opponent.
Pacific Rim: Extinction supports 2–6 players according to the catalogue. This range comes from the publisher’s listed player count, so the game can be set up for any group size within it. Some setups, rules and scoring details may still vary by player count, so check your edition’s rulebook for the exact configuration.
The listed playing time for Pacific Rim: Extinction is 30–90 minutes. This is the publisher’s estimate for a full game. The actual duration depends on the group, the player count and familiarity with the rules: first sessions usually run longer, while experienced groups often finish faster. Setup and teaching time are not included in this estimate.
The catalogue lists Pacific Rim: Extinction for ages 14 and up. This is the publisher’s recommendation and reflects reading demands, rule complexity and small components rather than theme alone. Younger players can often join with help from an adult, so check the age guidance on your edition and consider your group’s experience with board games.
Pacific Rim: Extinction has a complexity rating of 1.8 out of 5 from BoardGameGeek players, which makes it a light game. The rating reflects how much rules knowledge, planning and decision-making a typical game demands. Expect a longer first teach for heavier games, and use a preparation guide before game night.
Pacific Rim: Extinction belongs to these categories: Wargame, Movies / TV / Radio theme, and Miniatures. Its main mechanics are Variable Player Powers, Dice Rolling, and Simultaneous Action Selection. Categories describe the theme and setting of a game, while mechanics describe what players actually do on their turns. Each mechanic links to a catalogue hub with similar games, which helps when you want something comparable.
The credited designers of Pacific Rim: Extinction are: Alessio Cavatore, Rob Stoddard, and Tamsin Caesar. These credits come from the published game data and name the people responsible for the game’s design, not its illustrators or publishers. Designer pages on MeepleRules collect other titles by the same designers, which helps when you enjoy a game and want to find similar ones.
The catalogue lists Pacific Rim: Extinction as a base game. It can be played on its own with the components in the box and does not require any other title. Expansions, if any exist, add new content or rules on top of it and are listed separately in the catalogue with a link back to this base game.