1500: The New World Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Setup
• Game Terminology
• Playing the Game
  • Preparation
  • Player Turn
  • Cards
    • Ways to Play a Card
    • Responding With Cards
    • Card Secrecy
  • End of Player Turn
  • End of Game Turn
• End of Game
• Sample Turn
• Card Descriptions
  • Advantageous Marriage
  • Disease
  • Blight
  • Embargo (Reaction)
  • Colonists
  • Explorer
  • Fate (Reaction)
  • Hoarding Supplies
  • Iron Grip
  • Isolation
  • Loyalty (Reaction)
  • Marauders (Reaction)
  • Mutual Support

Setup

Place the game board in the center of the table.

Shuffle the cards and place them in the draw pile area. Each player chooses one set of colored tokens to mark their colonies, Royal Support tokens and victory points.

Icons on the setup page: Colony (a ship icon), Royal Support (a crown icon), Victory Points (a star icon, abbreviated VP).

Randomly determine who will be the first player. Turns then pass clockwise, player by player, around the table.

The large number in each Royal Support space on the board (Royal Support track on the game board) shows how many cards you are dealt at the start of each turn, and the maximum number of cards you may hold in hand. The small numbers indicate turn order.

Place your Royal Support token on the Royal Support track. If you are 1st in turn order, place your token in the top space marked "(1)". If you are 2nd or 3rd in turn order, place your token in the space marked "(2-3)". If you are 4th or 5th, place your token in the space marked "(4-5)". If you are 6th, place your token in the space marked "(6)".

Place one of your victory point tokens on space "0" of the Point Track.

Place the turn token on space "1500" of the Turn Track.

The hourglass icon marks the turn token.

You are now ready to begin the game!

Game Terminology

Adjacent: Colonies that share a border or, in the case of the Caribbean, dotted lines connecting areas.

Build: Place one of your Colonies in an area where there are no Colonies, neither yours nor another player's, none at all! You only build in empty areas!

Export Monopoly: Having successful Colonies in all three regions with exports of the same goods. There are 5 types of such goods in the game:

• Wood
• Gold
• Fruit
• Jewels
• Spices

Regional Monopoly: Having successful Colonies in all three areas of a region. There are five regions. Each region contains three areas of one color: Cape Horn, Amazon, Caribbean Islands, Central America, North America.

Reduce: If a Colony is Successful, reducing it makes it Struggling. If a Colony is already Struggling, reducing it results in its removal.

Replace: Remove a Colony and build one of your own Colonies in this area.

Royal Support: The number of cards dealt to you at the start of each game turn, and the maximum number of cards you may hold after drawing cards.

(to) Struggle: Change a Colony from Successful to Struggling.

Site: Each of the 15 areas on the map where a Colony can be placed.

Struggling: A Colony that has been reduced from Successful. Turn its token face down. You lose one victory point for each of your Struggling Colonies at the start of your turn.

Successful: A Colony that thrives and has not been Reduced or Struggled. You get one VP for each of your Successful Colonies at the end of your turn.

Tallying: Counting victory points at the end of your turn.

Victory Points (VP): Points you gain or lose during the game.

Playing the Game

Preparation

Deal each player a number of action cards equal to the number shown on the Royal Support track.

If after receiving cards you have more cards in hand than your Royal Support value, you must discard cards of your choice until you are down to your Royal Support value.

Example: You kept 2 cards from the previous turn. Your Royal Support is 5, so you are dealt 5 cards. You now have 7 cards. You must discard 2.

When there are no more cards in the draw pile, shuffle the cards in the discard pile and place the shuffled cards back into the draw pile area.

Player Turn

Each player takes their turn and completes it before the next player's turn begins.

At the start of your turn, look at your Colonies to see whether you have any Struggling Colonies. If you do, lose 1 VP for each such Colony. Adjust your Victory Point tokens as needed to record the loss of points. Do not reduce your Victory Points below zero.

After losing points, you may remove any of your Colonies from the game board. As soon as you start playing cards, you can no longer remove your Colonies without using a card.

You may now begin playing cards from your hand. Keep playing cards until you run out of cards or do not want to play any more cards from your hand.

Immediately gain 1 victory point for each other player's Colony that you Struggle or destroy. That is, when you reduce a Successful Colony to Struggling, or when you reduce a Struggling Colony so that it is removed.

Cards

Unless the card says otherwise, when you play it, it has an immediate effect, and then you discard it. There are two types of cards: action cards and reaction cards.

Action cards are beige and may only be played during your turn.

Example: When you play the Disease card, you may Struggle up to 6 adjacent Colonies.

Reaction cards are red and are played in response to action cards played by another player. You may react to action cards or reaction cards.

Example: You may play a Fate card when another player plays any card. You cancel their card and treat it as if it had never been played.

Ways to Play a Card

Cards in your hand can be used in several ways:

• By text: Discard a card to use the text on the card.
• Build: Discard a card to build one Colony in any Region where there is no Colony yet. Place one of your Colony tokens in an empty area.
• Struggle: Discard a card to reduce any Colony from Successful to Struggling. Turn the Successful Colony token over to its Struggling side. Or reduce the number of Struggling Colonies by removing one from the board with the card.
• Repair: Discard a card to return any Struggling Colony to Successful.
• Royal Support: Discard a card for its Royal Support value. The Royal Support value is in the upper right corner of each card. If the card has a positive value, move your Royal Support token forward that number of spaces on the Royal Support track. If the card has a negative value, move any opponent's Royal Support token back that number of spaces on the Royal Support track.

You can affect only one player with each card used to adjust Royal Support. You can never reduce Royal Support below zero.

Cards may only be used for one declared purpose. Place each card in the discard pile after you finish resolving its effect. You may play as many cards as you want.

When you play a card, state which card you are playing and for what purpose you are playing it.

Example: I play the Colonists card for its text "Build 3 Colonies," and then I play the Rescue Voyage card for its Royal Support value of +1.

Responding With Cards

Other players may play Reaction cards in player order, as you play cards.

Only one Reaction card may be played in response to a card. If the first player has already decided to play a reaction, the second and all following players may not do so.

Card Secrecy

Players are not required to show their cards to other players. However, doing so is permitted on a voluntary basis.

End of Player Turn

Once you have finished playing cards, end your turn by tallying victory points for successful Colonies and monopolies. To count your points:

• Gain 1 victory point for each Successful Colony under your control.
• Gain 2 victory points for each Regional or Export Monopoly.

Example: At the end of my turn I have Successful Colonies in each of the three Forest areas, which gives me an Export Monopoly. I also have three Successful Colonies in the Amazon Region, which is a Regional Monopoly, and 4 more Successful Colonies spread across the map. I score 10 points from Successful Colonies, plus 2 points for the Export Monopoly, plus another 2 points for the Regional Monopoly, for a total of 14 points. I adjust my points tokens on the Point Track.

Each time you earn 10 victory points, add another victory point token to space "0" of the Point Track and leave the one you moved at space "10". Keep adding a victory point token each time you earn 10 points.

Example: Earlier I had earned 16 victory points, so I have a token on space "10" and a token on space "6". I have just earned 8 points, so I move the token from "6" to "10" to record 4 points. Then I add another token to space "0", and then move it to space "4" to record the remaining 4 earned points.

Repeat the player turn sequence for each player until all players have taken their turn.

End of Game Turn

When all players have finished their turn, move the turn token on the Turn Track one space. Begin the next game turn with the preparation steps for a game turn.

End of Game

The game ends when you move the turn token to space "Game Over".

Carry out a final Struggle check, in which each player loses 1 victory point for each of their Struggling Colonies on the game board.

The player with the most victory points wins!

Sample Turn

Three players are playing. I choose to be the blue player. We lay out the game board and deal each player four cards.

Player 1 begins by playing the Spread Out card, building one Colony in each of the 5 regions.

He places a token on Gold in Cape Horn, the Amazon and North America, earning the Gold Monopoly. He also places tokens on Jewels in the Central America and Caribbean regions. Then he plays the Colonists card, which allows him to build three Colonies anywhere.

He places a token on Jewels in the Cape Horn region, completing the Jewels Monopoly, and Spices in the Cape Horn region, completing the Regional Monopoly of Cape Horn, and Spices in the Amazon, which does not complete a monopoly but gives him an additional VP.

Finally, he plays the Fate card for its Royal Support bonus of +3. He moves his red Royal Support token three spaces down the track.

He tallies his points. He gains 8 victory points for the Successful Colonies he has on the map. He gains another two points for each of his monopolies: gold, jewels and Cape Horn. His total VP is 14. He moves his points token to 10, then adds a new token to the track, placing it on 4.

He decides to keep his last card. His turn ends there.

I am Player 2. I play my Advantageous Marriage card to replace any two of Player 1's tokens with my own. I replace the Spices in Cape Horn and the Gold in North America.

Then I play Blight, which Struggles all Colonies adjacent to mine. I Struggle the jewels and gold in Cape Horn and the gold in the Amazon. I immediately gain 3 VP.

(The next line continues the previous column of the source layout.)

...and gold again in the Amazon. He scores 5 VP.

Then he plays the Hoarding Supplies card, removing all Struggling Colonies from other players.

Then he plays Mutual Support, building Colonies in all three regions of the Amazon and the forest in the Caribbean.

Finally, he places Isolation in the Amazon region, making it untouchable until the start of his next turn.

When tallying, I score 5 victory points for my Colonies, plus the Gold Monopoly and the Cape Horn Monopoly. I play the Iron Grip card, which lets me gain 4 victory points instead of two for each of my Monopolies. I have 16 victory points.

He tallies his points, earning 6 victory points. He ends his turn with 11 victory points.

Player 3 begins his turn by playing Disease. He Struggles adjacent Colonies with spices in the Amazon, as well as the jewels, gold and spices colony in Cape Horn,

(The translation's sample text ends here, mid-sentence, in the source.)

At the end of the turn I move the turn token down the track to the 1550 year.

Card Descriptions

Card titles follow the English names printed on the card art. Reaction cards are marked as such; all other cards are action cards.

Advantageous Marriage

Remove any two Colonies of the player with the most Colonies on the map. Replace the 2 removed Colonies with 2 Successful Colonies from your own supply. You may remove either Struggling or Successful Colonies.

Disease

Struggle up to 6 adjacent Colonies. These Colonies may be either your own or other players' Colonies.

Blight

Struggle all Colonies belonging to other players that are adjacent to your Colonies.

Embargo (Reaction)

Play this card when another player tries to move another player's Royal Support token along the corresponding track. Cancel that action, then draw one card from the deck. An extra card that you draw may remain in your hand until the next discard phase.

Colonists

Build or Reduce 3 different Colonies in any combination.

Example: I build one Successful Colony in an open area, then reduce an opponent's Colony to Struggling, and then I can either build another Colony or reduce another opponent's Colony, or remove a Colony that is already Struggling. However, I may not Repair one of my Struggling Colonies.

Explorer

Discard an Isolation card that you did not play, cancelling the Isolation on the game board.

Example: Thomas played Isolation on the Central America region. I play the Explorer card from my hand and cancel the Isolation. The region is now unprotected and I can freely act on it.

Fate (Reaction)

A universal defensive anti-card. Fate cancels the effect of any card just played, including Isolation. However, Isolation cannot be cancelled by Fate if the first Isolation has already been played earlier.

Hoarding Supplies

Change all of your Struggling Colonies to Successful. Then remove all other players' Struggling Colonies from the map.

Iron Grip

Play this card during the scoring phase of your turn. You gain 4 VP for each of your Monopolies instead of the standard 2.

Isolation

Place this card in any region. Until the start of your next turn, this region cannot be affected in any way. Colonies here cannot be built, Struggled or removed.

Loyalty (Reaction)

Play this card when an opponent tries to Struggle, remove or reduce your Colony. By playing Loyalty at that moment, you protect your Colonies from these effects.

Marauders (Reaction)

Play this card when another player gains VP at the end of their turn. By playing Marauders, that player skips this phase and does not gain VP for their monopolies.

Mutual Support

Build up to four Colonies, each of which must be built adjacent to another one.

Overconfident

Choose any player. They lose VP equal to the number of their Colonies present on the game board, including Struggling and isolated Colonies.

Plague Ship

Each player, clockwise, must Reduce any Colony on the game board that is not isolated. Players may continue to reduce Colonies for as long as they wish, until they collectively give up 5 VP to stop the plague. The plague cannot be cancelled by any Reaction cards. Also, under the Plague Ship's effect, players do not gain VP for reducing other players' Colonies.

Example: I play the Plague Ship card. I reduce one Colony; the next player also reduces one Colony. The other players decide they do not want this to continue, so one player gives up two victory points and another player gives up three victory points to cancel the Plague Ship. Then the Plague Ship card is discarded.

Regional Disaster

Remove all Colonies in one region.

Example: Holly and Kevin have Colonies in the Central America region. I play Regional Disaster and remove all of their Colonies, leaving the Central America region open for building Colonies.

Rescue Voyage

Replace up to five Struggling Colonies that do not belong to you with five of your own Successful Colonies.

Raiders

In a region where you have a Successful Colony, replace one or two Colonies with your own Successful Colonies.

Example: I have a Successful Colony in the jewels area at Cape Horn. Dan has a Colony in the spices area at Cape Horn, and Kevin has a Struggling Colony in the gold area... (the source example ends here, mid-sentence)

Revolt (Reaction)

Immediately after a player who has more VP than you reduces or removes a Colony, draw two cards. Cards that you draw may exceed your hand size.

Spread Out

Build 1 Colony in each of the five regions.

Example: I can place one Colony in each of the Regions that has an open area.

Uprising

Remove exactly one Colony from each of the five regions. This may also include Colonies that belong to you. This card cannot be played unless each of the five regions has at least one Colony.

Example: If I play Uprising and I have the only Colony in the Central America region, I must remove that Colony from the region.

Example: If there are no Colonies in the Amazon region, I cannot play this card.

War

For each of your Struggling Colonies, you Struggle one Colony belonging to each other player.

Example: I have one Struggling Colony, which allows me to Struggle one Colony of each player who also has a Successful Colony on the map. If I have 2 Struggling Colonies, I can Struggle 2 Successful Colonies of each player who has them. I also gain 1 VP for each Colony I Struggle.