Terraforming Mars Endgame and Scoring Math

A Terraforming Mars game can feel like it ends without warning. One player maxes the last track, and suddenly everyone is scrambling to spend money that has nowhere to go. It does not have to feel that way. The end is visible from several generations out, and the last generation has its own math.

Where the points come from

TR is usually the biggest number, but the rest is where close games are decided.

Spotting the last generation

The game ends at the end of the generation in which all three parameters reach their goals. Two details from the rulebook shape the final round:

• Production still happens. After the last action phase, everyone produces as normal. Then everyone may turn plants into greenery one last time, in player order.
• Only plants get that last chance. Heat from the final production cannot raise the temperature, and there is nothing left to spend M€ on. Leftover M€ only breaks ties.

The last step often comes in the middle of an action phase. When it does, everyone still in that round knows it is the final one. Spend everything you can before you pass.

What a standard project buys at the end

In the last generation, think of each standard project as a price for points:

Two warnings. Once a parameter is maxed, its project gives no TR: an Asteroid after +8 °C is worth nothing, and a Greenery after 14% oxygen is worth only its tile and any city it touches. And a greenery next to a rival’s city gives them a point too.

Then compare with the other ways to score:

• An open milestone you qualify for: 8 M€ for 5 VP. Nothing beats it.
• An award you are sure to win: 5 VP for 8, 14, or 20 M€, depending on how many are funded.
• Cards with VPs in your hand: cost divided by points.

A worked example

It is the final generation: temperature is maxed, oxygen is at 13%, one ocean is left, and the table has the plants and money to finish both. You have 41 M€ and a city with one open space next to it.

• Greenery next to your city, 23 M€: raises oxygen for 1 TR, the tile is 1 VP, and your city gains 1. That is 3 VP.
• Aquifer, 18 M€: 1 TR for the last ocean. That is 1 VP, plus any placement bonus.
• Asteroid, 14 M€: temperature is maxed, so 0 VP.

Greenery plus Aquifer costs exactly 41 M€ for 4 VP. Two Asteroids would cost 28 M€ for nothing. Order matters too: if someone else places the last ocean before your turn, the Aquifer is gone.

The final greenery

Your plants after the last production are worth counting early. Every 8 plants make one more greenery: 1 VP for the tile, plus 1 for each of your cities it touches. Oxygen is already maxed by then, so these greeneries give no TR.

Those greeneries are placed in player order, so the first players pick their spots first. Know where yours will go.

Counting the score

The rulebook suggests one player does the scoring while everyone else checks. Go in this order:

1. TR. Your final TR is your starting score. Move your marker up from there as you add the rest.
2. Awards. 5 to first, 2 to second, ties all score.
3. Milestones. 5 each.
4. The map, in player order: each greenery, then each city’s adjacent greeneries.
5. Cards. Count cards that collect resources first, then everything else, including your face-down events. Some cards are worth negative points.

The most points wins. A tie goes to the player with the most M€.

A last-generation checklist

1. Which parameters are still open, and which projects still give TR?
2. Is any milestone or award still within reach?
3. Where will my final greeneries go?
4. Have I spent every M€ I can turn into a point?

Counting this way takes a minute. It is often worth more points than any single card.