Components
- 1 game board
- 60 farmers
- 50 landscape cards
- 21 building cards
- 28 building tiles
- 7 start tiles
- 4 extra turn tokens
- 4 joker tokens
- 21 coal tiles
- 21 gold tiles
Setup
Place the game board in the middle of the table. Sort the building tiles by type and place them face up in 7 stacks next to the board. Shuffle the landscape cards, deal 3 to each player as his starting hand, and place the remaining face down next to the board as a supply.
Shuffle the building cards, deal 1 to each player to add to his starting hand, and place the remaining face down next to the board as a supply. Shuffle the coal tiles face down and place next to the board.
Shuffle the gold tiles face down and place next to the board. Each player takes 15 farmers of one color, places 1 on space 0 of the scoring track, and places the other 14 in his play area (the space in front of him).
Each player takes an extra turn token and a joker token and places them with the active side up in his play area. Shuffle the 7 start tiles face down. Each player draws one tile and places it face up in his play area.
Place the undrawn tiles back in the box - they will not be used in the game.
The First Game Round
Choose a starting player. He begins and places his start tile on any space on the game board that matches the background color of the tile.
His fellow players continue in clockwise order, each placing his start tile on any empty space on the board with matching background color. After the first round, play continues in clockwise order.
Game Play
On a player's turn, he does the following in the order shown:
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Play cards: the player plays 2 cards from his hand and either places one of his farmers or a building on an empty space on the game board.
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Score: next, there is usually a scoring opportunity.
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Use extra turn: if a player's extra turn token is lying active side up in his play area, he executes "play cards" and "score" a second time this turn.
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Draw cards: finally, the player draws cards to return his hand size to 4.
Details on the above player turn actions:
1. Play Cards
On a player's turn, he must play 2 cards. After playing 2 cards, the player then either places one of his farmers on an empty space on the game board or takes one building tile from one of the 7 building tile stacks and places it on an empty space with the appropriate background color on the game board.
Place one of his farmers
When the player plays 2 of his landscape cards, he must place one of his farmers. The symbols on the landscape cards correspond to the symbols along the top and left sides of the game board.
Thus, the 2 cards played represent a row and a column on the game board, with the player choosing which card represents the column and which the row. The area on the game board represented by the crossing of the row and column is where the player may place his farmer.
Each such area has 6 spaces and the player may place his farmer in any empty space of the 6. Thus, if a space already has a farmer (his or another player's) or a building, he may not place his farmer there.
The player may place his farmer on any empty space in the selected area except water spaces. The player then places the used landscape cards face up on a discard pile next to the landscape card supply.
The red player plays these 2 cards:
The red player must place one of his farmers on one the the 11 spaces outlined in red. He may not place the farmer on a space occupied by a building, another farmer, or on a water space.
Place a Building
When the player plays 1 landscape card and 1 building card, he must place a building tile on the game board. The landscape card determines which row or column the building must be placed (the picture on the row or column must match that on the card played).
Thus, the player may place the building tile on any space in the row or any space in the column that has the same picture as shown on the landscape card he played with the building card. The building card played indicates which building he plays.
He takes the corresponding building tile and places it on any empty space with a suitable background color in the indicated row or column. The player places the used landscape card face up on a discard pile next to the landscape card supply and the used building card face up on a discard pile next to the building card supply.
These rules must be followed:
- The player may only choose a building, which is still available.
- The player must always place the building tile on an empty space with the suitable background color.
- The player may only place a harbor adjacent (diagonally or orthogonally) to a water space.
The red player plays these 2 cards:
The red player must place a gold mine on one of the mountain spaces in the campfire row or column. The possible spaces are outlined in red.
The joken token: if the player's joker token is active (active side up), the player may use the joker instead of playing 1 landscape card, whether he plans to place a farmer or a building.
Thus, he plays 1 landscape card to place a farmer or 1 building card to place a building, using the joker to represent the landscape card of his choice in either case. Once used, he turns his joker token over to its inactive side.
2. Score
Depending on whether the player placed a farmer or a building, he scores as follows:
Farmer Scoring
If the player placed a farmer, the player earns points, coal tiles, or gold tiles for all the buildings adjacent to the farmer (orthogonal or diagonal). In addition, the player may be allowed to activate his joker or extra turn tokens.
Definition adjacent: the spaces adjacent to the farmer are the 8 spaces touching the space the farmer is in, horizontally, vertically, and diagonally.
For placing the farmer adjacent to a building, the player earns:
- Post office: the player earns 3 points.
- Harbor: the player earns 4 points.
- Church: the player earns 1 point for each farmer (all colors) adjacent (orthogonal or diagonal) to the Church (maximum 8 points; minimum 1 point).
- Coal mine: the player earns 1 coal tile.
- Gold mine: the player earns 1 gold tile.
- Warehouse: the player earns 1 point and may activate his joker token.
- Train station: the player earns 1 point and may activate his extra turn token.
The player immediately records any points earned by moving his scoring marker along the scoring track. The player takes earned Gold tiles and Coal tiles, from their corresponding stacks, examines them secretly, and places them face down in his play area.
The points for the gold and coal tiles are recorded at game end. If the player is allowed to activate his Extra turn token or Joker tokn, he turns it immediately to its active side, if it was inactive. If the token was already active, it remains so.
The red player places a farmer adjacent to a Gold mine, a Post office, and a Church. He earns 3 points for the Post office and 1 Gold tile for the Gold mine.
As there are 3 farmers (including the one he just placed) adjacent to the Church, he also earns 3 points for the Church. Thus, in total, he earns 6 points and 1 Gold tile.
The red player places a farmer adjacent to a Harbor, a Train station. and a Warehouse. At the moment, his Extra turn token is active and his Joker is inactive.
He earns 4 points for the Harbor and 1 point each for the Warehouse and the Train station. For the Warehouse, he is also allowed to turn his Joker token to its active side.
As his Extra turn token was already active, the Train station has no effect on it and it remains on its active side. Thus, in total, he earns 6 points and activates his Joker token.
Group Scoring
A player earns 5 points whenever he creates a new group of 3 or more farmers. They must be connected either horizontally or vertically (diagonally does not count). If the player later expands a group that was already scored, he earns no extra points.
If a player places a farmer which connects one or more groups, one or more of which had already scored, he earns no extra points.
The yellow player places the farmer shown.
She immediate earns 5 points because she created a group of 3 farmers.
The yellow player places the farmer shown.
As the two size 2 groups could not have been scored, she earns 5 points for the group of 5 farmers (3 or more).
The yellow player places the farmer shown.
She earns no points as she had already scored 5 points for the size 3 group.
Building Scoring - All Players may Score
If the player placed a building, all players with farmers adjacent (orthogonally or diagonally) to the building earn points, coal tiles, or gold tiles, depending on the building placed, as described below. In addition, they may also be allowed to activate their extra turn tokens or joker tokens.
Post office: the player earns 3 points for each of his farmers next to the building.
Harbor: the player earns 4 points for each of his farmers next to the building.
Church: the player earns 1 point for each farmer (all colors) adjacent (orthogonal or diagonal) to the Church (maximum 8 points; minimum 1 point) for each of his farmers next to the building.
Coal mine: the player earns 1 coal tile for each of his farmers next to the building.
Gold mine: the player earns 1 gold tile for each of his farmers next to the building.
Warehouse: the player earns 1 point for each of his farmers next to the building and may activate his joker token.
Train station: the player earns 1 point for each of his farmers next to the building and may activate his extra turn token.
The blue player places the church shown. The red, and green players each earn 4 points for the 4 farmers adjacent to the Church.
The blue player earns 8 points, 4 points for each of his farmers adjacent to the Church.
The blue player places the Train station shown.
Blue's Extra turn token is now inactive. Blue earns 1 point and may turn his Extra turn token to its active side.
Green's Extra turn token is now inactive. Green earns 2 points and may turn his Extra turn token to its active side, as he has 2 farmers next to the Train station.
3. Use Extra Turn
If the player's extra turn token is lying active side up in his play area, he may now execute steps 1. Play cards and 2. Score again. He immediately turns his extra turn token over to the inactive side and plays 2 cards.
After placing a farmer or building based on the cards played, the player scores for the placed farmer or building, earning points coal tiles, gold tiles, and possibly activating extra turn or joker tokens for himself or his opponents.
Then he goes to step 4. Draw cards. The player may not use two Extra turns during one turn.
4. Draw Cards
At the end of his turn, the player restores his hand to 4 cards as follows:
- The player may choose freely to draw from the landscape or building card decks.
- However, he must always choose such that he has after drawing at least 1 building card and at least 1 landscape card.
If a player draws a building card, or if a player has a building card in his hand for which all building tiles have been used, he may discard the useless building card and draw another.
If either of the supply stacks is exhausted, shuffle the discards for the exhausted stack and replace as the new supply stack.
Once the player has returned his hand to 4 cards, his turn ends and play passes to the player on his left.
End of the Game
The game ends when either of the following occur:
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When a player places his last farmer on the board.
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Depending on the number of players:
- with 2 players: as soon as any 2 kinds of building tiles are exhausted,
- with 3 players: as soon as any 3 kinds of building tiles are exhausted, or
- with 4 players: as soon as any 4 kinds of building tiles are exhausted.
The round is played to the end, such that each player has played the same number of turns. Thus, the player to the right of the starting player always has the last turn.
Now, the players turn over their coal and gold tiles. Each adds his together and moves his scoring marker accordingly on the scoring track. The player with the most points is the winner!
If there is a tie for most points, the player among them who has the most farmers on the board is the winner. If there is still a tie for most, those tied rejoice in their shared victory!
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