Steel Colosseum is a competitive team combat arena game for 2-4 players, featuring a series of scraps between two teams of two customisable fighting robots. Gameplay is card-driven. Each robot has its own unique Control Deck; each round, players simultaneously select a single Control Card for each robot, all of which are revealed simultaneously. Each card has a unique Speed rating, and the cards are resolved in order from highest to lowest. Once a robot has used a card, it is locked into their Command Chain and can't be used again until the robot powers down for a round, meaning that options become increasingly limited as the game continues. When robots take damage, they shed Armour tokens, which are dropped into the arena as Scrap. If a robot takes damage to a facing with no armour remaining, it takes Serious Damage instead; enough serious damage, and the robot is deactivated, ending the Bout and scoring a point for the opposing team. A game of Steel Colosseum is played to the best of three Bouts. Before each one, players have a chance to repair their robots and spend scrap on new Upgrade Systems. The available Upgrades are randomised each time you play.