Stake your fortunes in the mysterious island world of Bora Bora. Journey across islands, building huts where the resilient men and women of your tribes can settle, discovering fishing grounds and collecting shells. Send priests to the temples, and gather offerings to curry favor with the Gods.

In Bora Bora, players use dice to perform a variety of actions using careful insight and tactical planning. The player who best watches how the game develops and uses the most effective strategy will prevail.

Object of the Game

Players build huts and populate them with men and women, who help them during the game. They also send priests to the temple to influence the Gods.

Play progresses by adding dice to perform actions. The player with the most victory points at the end of the game is the winner

Components

• 6 cardboard frames
• 18 offerings
• 36 shells
• 12 fish tiles
• 36 woman tiles
• 36 man tiles
• 60 task tiles (+ 2 replacements)
• 24 jewelry tiles
• 7 action tiles
• 10 God tiles
• 24 building tiles
• 4 turn order tiles
• 1 game board
• 30 building materials (10 each of sand, stone and wood)
• 60 God cards (12 per color)
• In each player color: 12 huts, 4 priests, 2 markers, 3 dice, 1 player board

If you are reading these rules for the first time, we recommend ignoring the bold text in the right-hand column of each page. These bolded texts summarize the rules to help players quickly recall details during subsequent games.

Setup

Place the game board in the middle of the table. It shows:

Place the building materials, shells, and offerings in a common supply next to the game board, easily accessible to all players.

Place action tiles - depending on player count - face up next to the game board:

• 2 players: 5 tiles ⇨ Helper, Temple, Build, Man / Woman (together), Land / Water Path (together)
• 3 players: 6 tiles ⇨ Helper, Temple, Build, Man, Woman, Land / Water Path (together)
• 4 players: 7 tiles ⇨ Helper, Temple, Build, Man, Woman, Land Path, Water Path

Set out all building materials, offerings, shells, and 5 - 7 action tiles

Randomly place the 12 fish tiles face up onto the spaces intended for them adjacent to the 12 regions, so that one tile is next to each region.

Add a fish tile face up to each island region.

Separately shuffle the man and woman tiles (36 of each), and place them face down in two separate supply piles next to the game board. Draw 6 from each pile and place them face up onto the orange and turquoise spaces in the bottom right hand corner of the game board.

Separate the 7 light green and the 53 dark green task tiles, and shuffle each pile. Give each player one randomly-drawn light green (crane) tile and two randomly-drawn dark green (parrot) tiles. Players will place these tiles later in any order they choose face up onto the three spaces intended for them in the lower right hand corner of their player boards.

Remove the remaining light green tiles from the game and place the remaining dark green tiles in a supply pile next to the game board. Draw additional dark green tiles equal to player count plus two (i.e. 4 to 6 tiles) and place them face up onto the corresponding spaces on the game board.

Shuffle the 24 jewelry tiles and then randomly place them face up onto the 6 x 4 jewelry tile display spaces intended for them on the game board.

Place 6 of the 10 God tiles in a pile on the corresponding temple space on the game board.

Shuffle the God cards and place them in a pile face down next to the game board. Draw and reveal the top five cards, placing them next to the pile.

Give each player:

• 1 player board in his color;
• 12 huts in the same color, placed on the 12 corresponding hut spaces on his player board;
• 6 building tiles in the same color, placed dice-side up on the 6 corres- ponding spaces on his player board;
• 1 God tile, placed on the corresponding space on his player board;
• 3 dice in the same color, placed next to his player board;
• 4 priests in the same color, placed next to his player board;
• 2 God cards drawn from the pile, and added to his hand (hidden from the other players);
• 2 offerings from the supply, placed next to his player board;
• 1 turn order tile (randomly drawn), placed next to his player board.

When playing with fewer than four players, return all unused game components (huts, priests, building tiles, dice, as well as unused turn order and God tiles) to the game box.

Now the player who drew the #1 turn order tile places one of his markers on the vic- tory point starting space on the scoring track (marked "0/100"), and the other marker on the status track below the 0 space.

The second player places his first marker on the 1 victory point space on the scoring track and his second marker underneath the start player's on the status track.

The remaining players follow in turn (first markers on the 2 / 3 victory point space, and second markers underneath the previous player's on the status track).

In reverse turn order, each player:

• places one of his huts on an empty building space on one of the four regions next to a 1-fish tile on the central game board;
• receives from the general supply the resource corresponding to the one indicated on his region, i.e. either a building material (sand, wood or stone), or an offering tile;
• immediately either places the building material on a free, matching ceremony space on his player board, or places the offering tile next to his board.

Continue in reverse turn order to the next player, and so on. Ignore the fish tiles of those regions for now.

Game Rules

The game lasts six rounds, with each round consisting of three consecutive phases - A, B and C (see summary on the bottom left corner of the game board).

Phase A: Roll and place dice, carry out actions

Players simultaneously roll all three of their dice. The first player chooses one of his dice and places it on the action tile of his choice and immediately carries out the corresponding action. The next player then does the same, placing one die and carrying out the corresponding action. Play continues, in turn order, until all players have placed their three dice.

Important: When placing a die on an action tile, you can only place a die showing a value that is lower than the lowest value currently on that action tile (regardless of color).

Example: A 5 and a 3 are currently on an action tile. You could place a 1 or 2 there but not a 3, 4, 5 or 6.

The Individual Action Tiles

"Expand" action (via land path or water path)

Expanding means settling a region adjacent to one in which you already have a hut. You can expand via an adjacent land path (brown arrow) or water path (blue arrow). The number showing on your die indicates the highest-value land or water path along which you can expand (lower numbers are always allowed). You are not allowed to expand diagonally.

For example, you could use a 5 or 6 to expand via water path from the central island's mountain region to the south island's plains. You could also use a 4, 5 or 6 to expand to the east island's beach.

Via a land path, you could use a 4, 5 or 6 to expand to the plains to the north, or a 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6 to expand to the beach to the west. You could not expand to the forest regions of either island, as these are only diagonally adjacent to your region!

To expand, take a new hut from your player board (you may choose any hut, but it is better to save the 12th space until the end of the game) and place it on the building space of the new region. You now have a free space on your player board that you can later fill with a man or woman tile.

Additionally, from the new region you may take either the building material (adding it to your ceremony space) or the offering tile (placing it next to your player board).

Finally, you must decide now and only now whether or not you want to score victory points for the fish tile adjacent to the new region. More details on this can be found on page 10 under "Red God". Fish tiles can only be scored once per player per region, and only during expansion.

If there is already a hut on your new region's building space, move it off to the side, but make sure it stays in the same region.

Important: Each player can have no more than one hut per region!

"Woman" action

Each woman tile on the game board is placed upon one of six numbered positions. Take one woman tile from any position that is less than or equal to the value of the die that you had placed upon the woman action tile.

So if, for example, you had placed a 4-die on the woman action tile, you can take one woman tile from the board in any of the places numbered 1-4, but not in places 5 or 6.

Place the tile onto a free space on your player board (i.e. one of the 12 spaces along the right hand side of your player board not currently covered with a hut or a tile), such that the tile covers the green checkmark at the top of the space but leaves the status / shell at the bottom of the space visible.

If you don't have a free space, then you cannot choose this action.

Note: Placing the new tile doesn't do anything further - that is, you can't carry out the action shown on the right or left hand side of the tile yet!

"Man" action

Carry this action out in the same manner as the woman tile (see above).

"Helper" action

Trade for various items. The die result indicates how many items you can trade for. The trade value is shown in the upper left hand corner of each player board. Tattooing, shell collecting, or scoring 1 victory point each costs 1 die point.

An offering, God card, or building material of your choice each costs 2 die points, as does moving a hut onto your 12th space.

The Individual "helper" Trading Options:

Tattooing (man tiles): For each die point used, shift one not yet tattooed man on your player board down, i.e. so that the green checkmark on that space becomes visible while the status / shell area is covered. The man is now tattooed and may not be tattooed again for the rest of the game. Move your status marker one space to the right along the status track for each status symbol ( ) displayed on the left side of the man tile.

If you land on an occupied space on the status track, place your marker on top of the pile. You may spend additional die points to tattoo additional men but are not obligated to do so.

Collecting Shells (woman tiles): Carry this out in the same manner as tattooing: For each die point used, shift one woman tile down and take the number of shells from the general supply that corresponds to the number of shells displayed on the left side of the woman tile. Place the shells next to your player board so that all players can see them.

Example: Anna uses two of the five die points she has available for the tattooing "Helper" action, and shifts two of her man tiles down. A total of 5 status symbols are on those two man tiles, so she moves her status marker from 0 to the first space below the 4 on the status track. She uses an additional die point to shift one of her woman tiles down in exchange for 3 shells from the general supply. She plans on using the final two points for an offering (see below).

Victory points: Move one space forward along the victory point track for each die point you are trading in for victory points.

Offerings: Take one offering from the supply for every two die points you are trading in for offerings. Place the offerings next to your player board so that all players can see them.

God cards: Take one God card and add it to your hand for every two die points you are trading in. You can take either the top card of the draw pile or one of the five face up cards. If you take one of the face up cards, immediately replace it with the top card from the draw pile.

You can use God cards during the course of the game to making offerings.

Building materials: Take one building material of your choice from the supply and place it on a matching ceremony space for every two die points you are trading in. Should you not have an open matching space, then place it next to your player board instead.

Should the supply run out of the necessary building material, use something else as a temporary replacement. The supply of building materials, offerings, and shells is unlimited.

Move hut: Move one of the huts on your player board to the last, 12th, space (bottom right, with a slightly lighter border) of your player board for every two die points you are trading in. You can have as many huts as you want on the 12th space.

Each movement allows you to make space for additional man and woman tiles without having to use the "Expand" action first. Note: you cannot move huts that have already been placed onto the game board.

"Temple" action

Take a priest from your supply and add him to the temple on the game board. The die result indicates the highest-value space you can place your priest onto (lower values are always allowed). Should a priest already be loca- ted on this space, shift him one space in the direction of the arrows.

This can in turn shift additional priests, until either an empty space is filled or the last priest in the row drops off the end and is returned to the supply of his owner.

Each newly-placed priest immediately awards a one-time Fire Bonus (see next page). Additionally, all priests in the temple are worth victory points at the end of a round. More details under "Phase C".

"Build" action

Build one of your as-yet unbuilt building tiles. The die result indicates the highest-value tile you can build (lower values are always allowed).

Remove building materials from two horizontally or vertically adjacent ceremony spaces on your player board, returning them to the general supply. Then place the chosen building tile (die side down) onto the two spaces.

Depending on the current round, you score either 10, 7 or 4 points for this. The points are shown above the jewelry tile spaces on the game board. You also receive the one-time Fire Bonus.

If you don't have two adjacent building materials in your ceremony space, then you cannot choose this action. Building materials or building tiles, once placed onto a ceremony space, cannot be moved again.

Should you build so that you have individual spaces left at the end of the game, then you will not be able to fully complete the ceremony spaces.

Fire Bonus:

When you receive this bonus (either by adding a priest to the temple or by placing building tiles on ceremony spaces), you immediately choose either a God card or an offering and either move ahead one space on the status track or take one shell. For details, see "Helper" action.

Example: Cleo places a priest. For her Fire Bonus, she immediately takes a God card (instead of an offering) and a shell (instead of a status step). She is not allowed to take two offerings, nor is she allowed to take an offering and a God card.

"Fishing" action

Score 2 victory points for any die (regardless of its number) placed in the "fishing" action space in the upper left hand corner of the game board.

Important: When using the "fishing" action, the rule that new dice must be of lower value than those already placed is not in effect. In other words, you can place any die here and score 2 victory points.

Phase B: Use man and woman actions

In turn order, players may use one of their man and one of their woman tiles; the order of usage is up to each player individually.

The available actions depend on the symbols indicated on the right hand sides of the tiles. If you have multiple identical women, then you can use these tiles together for a more powerful single action (but you may not use them to carry out multiple separate actions). The same goes for the men - but never for men and women together!

The individual locations of your man and woman tiles on your player board does n' t matter, nor does whether or not they have been shifted down. Using them does n' t change them; they are neither shifted nor discarded.

Example: Don adds the values of his two male Pathfinders (one is tattooed, one is not) together to use them to expand across one land path of value 4 or less; he could not use them to expand across two paths of value 2 or less. Should he also have a female Pathfinder, he could then use her to expand again - independently from the men - but is not obligated to do so.

The individual woman (and man) actions

Land Path: Expand just as if you had placed a die of value 2 onto the "land path" action tile.

(If you have two such women (or men), then you can use a land path of value 4 or less; if you have all three such women (or men), then you can use any land path).

Use one land path of max. value 2 (4/6).

Water Path: Expand in the same way as described above, only via a water path.

Use one water path of max. value 2 (4/6).

Woman: Take a woman tile from the game board as if you had placed a die of value 3 onto the "woman" action tile. (Or, if you have two such women (or men), as if you had placed a die of value 6. Note: the third matching woman (or man) tile has no effect!)

Take one 1-3 (1-6) value woman tile.

Man: Take a man tile in the same way as described above.

Take one 1-3 (1-6) value man tile.

Build: Build one of your building tiles as if you had placed a die of value 3 on the "build" action tile.

(Or, if you have two such women (or men), as if you had placed a die of value 6. Note: the third tile has no effect!)

Build one 1-3 (1-6) value building tile.

Building materials: Take one building material of your choice from the supply and place it onto a matching ceremony space on your player board. (Or take 2 or even 3 building materials. Note: they can be different types). Move hut: Move one of your huts onto the 12th space of your player board. (Or move 2 or even 3 of your huts).

Take 1 (2/3) building materials of your choice

Move hut: Move one of your huts onto the 12th space of your player board. (Or move 2 or even 3 of your huts).

Move 1 (2/3) huts onto the 12th space

Victory points: Move your scoring marker two spaces forward on the scoring track. (Or 4 or even 6 spaces forward).

Score 2 (4/6) victory points

God card: Take a God card into your hand. (Or take 2 or even 3 God cards).

Take 1 (2/3) God cards

Offering: Take an offering from the supply. (Or take 2 or even 3 offerings).

Take 1 (2/3) offerings

Status: Move your status marker one step forward on the status track. (Or move forward 2 or even 3 spaces).

Move forward 1 (2/3) status steps

Shell: Take a shell from the supply. (Or take 2 or even 3 shells).

Take 1 (2/3) shells

Phase C: Assess the right half of the game board

Always deal with the status track first, followed by the temple, then the jewelry tiles, and finally the task tiles.

1. Status Track

   Each player scores the number of victory points that corresponds to the space his status marker is below, in other words, between 0 and 15 points. Then, return all players' status markers to the 0 space, making sure that the player who was the furthest back is on the bottom and the player who was the furthest ahead is on top. Finally, reassign the turn order tiles: the player on top of the pile is the start player and gets the "#1" tile, etc.

2. Temple

   Players score victory points for the priests they have in the temple. In the first two rounds each priest is worth 1 victory point; in the next two rounds each priest is worth 2 victory points and in the final two rounds each priest is worth 3 victory points (as also indicated along the bottom of the temple).

   Then, the player with the most priests in the temple receives the top God tile, adding it to his player board. In the case of a tie, the God tile goes to the player among those who tied whose priest is furthest to the left.

   Each priest is worth:

   • 1 victory point (round 1 & 2)
   • 2 victory points (round 3 & 4)
   • 3 victory points (round 5 & 6)

   Should there not be any priest in the temple, then the corresponding God tile is removed from the game.

3. Jewelry Tiles

   In the new turn order, players may choose to buy one jewelry tile from the current round's column, paying for it by returning as many shells to the supply as indicated on the chosen tile. Place jewelry tiles face down on the appropriate spot on your player board; you will score the victory points for them at the end of the game.

   If you can't or don't want to buy a jewelry tile, then your turn is skipped. Any leftover jewelry tiles from the current round are discarded.

   The six columns illustrate what round the game is currently in, and how many victory points building tiles or priests are worth.

4. Task Tiles

   In the new turn order, players one at a time complete one of their three task tiles. If the player can complete the task without help, he scores 6 VPs. If the player requires the help of the Yellow God to complete it (see page 11), he scores 4 victory points. After the task is completed, the player places the tile face down on the space with the checkmark on his player board, where it remains until the end of the game.

   If the player can't complete any of his three tasks, he must choose one task tile to surrender, and return it to the game box. No points are scored.

   Finally, in turn order, each player chooses a new task tile from the game board and adds it to the newly freed space on his player board (note: this is also required during round 6).

The round is now over. Prepare for the next round by returning to the game box the two task tiles that were not chosen, and any remaining man or woman tiles. Then, add six new man and six new woman tiles to the board, along with new task tiles (player count plus 2). Do this at the beginning of round 6 as well.

Each player takes their three dice back from the action tiles. The next round can now begin ...

End of the Game

The game ends after round 6. Each player now completes his three task tiles (each one is completed as at the end of the individual rounds).

Final scoring: (see also the summary in the bottom left corner of the player boards); players receive:

• 2 victory points for every own unused God tile;
• 1-6 victory points for each fish tile adjacent to a building space containing a hut of their color;
• 1-9 victory points for each of their jewelry tiles.

Additionally, each player scores 6 victory points for each of the following:

• 9 completed task tiles;
• 6 claimed jewelry tiles;
• all 12 ceremony spaces full (regardless of whether it is full with building materials and/or building tiles);
• all 6 building tiles built;
• huts added to all 12 regions;
• all 12 man / woman spaces filled with man or woman tiles.

Remaining building materials, shells, offerings or God cards are not worth anything.

The player with the most victory points is the winner. In the event of a tie, the winner is the player among those who tied who went earlier in turn order during the last phase C.

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