Isle of Skye Game Rules

Five clans are fighting for dominance over the island. Only the chieftain who best develops their clan territory and trades most cleverly will become king of the Isle of Skye. Next time everything will be different though, so play again and have revenge!

Components

1 double-side gameboard
16 scoring tiles
73 landscape tiles (green backs)
73 gold coins
1 starting player marker
5 landscape tiles with a castle
1 round token
6 player screens
5 scoring tokens (1 in each player color)
1 cloth bag
6 discard markers (1 spare)
1 rule book

Object of the Game

Over 6 rounds (5 in a 5-player game), collect the most victory points and become the king of the Isle of Skye.

Setup

1 Place the game board in the middle of the table. Use the front side in a 2 to 4-player game (as indicated) and the back side in a 5-player game.

2 Shuffle the scoring tiles and place a random scoring tile face up on each of the spaces marked "A" to "D". Put the remaining scoring tiles back into the game box - you will not need them.

3 Place the round marker on the first space of the round track.

4 Place the coins in a supply next to the game board, easily accessible to all players.

5 Each player chooses a color and screen, a landscape tile with a castle, a score token, and a discard marker in the chosen color. (Put the components in the colors that are not in play back into the game box).

Place your score token on space "0" of the scoring track on the game board.

Place your landscape tile with your castle face up in front of you. This is the first tile in your clan's territory. If you are the youngest player, take the starting player marker and place it in front of yourself. You get to go first.

6 Put the landscape tiles into the bag and shuffle them thoroughly.

Game Play

The game is played over 6 rounds (5 rounds in a 5-player game). Each round goes through the following six phases:

Income
Draw Tiles and Set Prices
Discard a Tile
Buy a Tile
Build
End of Round and Scoring

After the final round, there is a final scoring.

1. Income

Each player receives income: You receive 5 gold for your castle. You receive 1 additional gold for each tile with barrels of whisky connected to your castle via roads.

Beginning in round 3, you receive additional gold for each player whose token is ahead of yours on the scoring track (i.e. who has more victory points than you). The amount of gold you receive per player increases from round to round and is displayed next to the round track.

You can make change from gold at any time, if need be.

2. Draw Tiles And Set Prices

Each player draws 3 landscape tiles from the bag and places them face up in front of their player screen.

Behind your screens, simultaneously assign your discard marker to one of the tiles you drew (which will go back into the bag later), and assign at least 1 coin from your supply to each of the other two tiles. If you have gold left, you should keep it in your hand to hide the amount from the other players.

Once all of you have finished assigning gold and marker to the tiles, remove your player screens and place them aside.

3. Discard A Tile

Each player puts the tile marked with their discard marker back into the bag. Then shuffle the contents of the bag thoroughly.

4. Buy A Tile

Beginning with the Starting Player, each player in clockwise order can buy exactly one tile from another player. To do so, pay an amount of gold from your remaining supply equal to the assigned amount at the tile you want to buy.

As the selling player, you not only receive the proceeds from the sale, but you also immediately take back the gold you assigned to that tile. As the buying player, place the tile you purchased beside your screen - in phase 5, you will add it to your clan territory.

If you cannot or do not want to buy a tile, you must pass. After all players have either bought a tile or passed, you receive the remaining tiles in front of you, but you lose all of the gold you assigned to those tiles. Put the lost gold into the general supply.

5. Build

All players must add all of the tiles they received during this round to their clan territory, according to the following place- ment rules: Each tile you add must share an edge with another tile in your display (this can be a tile you just placed, too). If two tiles share an edge, the terrain on that edge must be the same (pasture, mountain, water).

Important: Roads DO NOT need to be continued.

Some scoring tiles award victory points for completed areas. An area is considered completed if it is fully enclosed by areas of a different terrain type. Again, roads do not count.

If you cannot place a tile according to the placement rules the tile goes back into the bag (you do not get back any money).

6. End Of Round And Scoring

All players receive victory points according to the scoring tiles of the current round. Which of the four scoring tiles apply in which round is indicated on the scoring track by letters A to D. For each victory point you receive, advance your token on the scoring track by one space.

Each scoring tile will only be used three times per game. See the last page of this rule book for an explanation of what each of them does.

After scoring, pass the Starting Player tile to the next player in clockwise order. The new starting player moves the round token one space forward. After the final round, there is a final scoring.

End of the Game

After the final round, you receive victory points (VPs) for tiles with a scroll you placed in your clan territory. There are the following tiles with a scroll: