A Place for All My Books
A Place for All My Books Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Contents
- 4 Apartment boards
- A Cloth Bag for Books
- 130 Book tiles (32 Green, 32 Blue, 32 Red, 32 Yellow, 2 Wild)
- 1 Sun token
- 1 two-sided Village board
- 4 Social Battery
- 4 Player meeples
- 12 Major Accomplishment tokens
- 4 Lucky Kitty tokens
- 1 Lamp token
- 1 Bookend token
- 4 Player cards
- 55 Little Project cards
- 1st Player / Penelope token
- 42 Other Neat Stuff cards
- 10 Major Accomplishment cards
- SOLO GAME: Penelope card & 14 Rival cards
Set Up
- Place the Village board in the center of the play area. Make sure it is the correct player count side of the board (noted on lower right). Then place the yellow Sun token on the Sun track, set to the correct number of players.
- Place all special tokens near the Village board, to include both Wild books, the Lamp, the Bookend, and 4 Lucky Kitties. These are not used during play until they are specifically called upon by a card effect. Then place all Book tiles (32 each of 4 colors) into the cloth bag and shuffle them together.
- Draw books randomly from the bag and add these books to the Bookstore Shelves along the top edge of the Village board: 3 books at random in the leftmost slot, 2 books in the center, and 1 book in the rightmost slot.
- Shuffle all the Little Project cards to form the Little Projects deck and place it beside the Village board. Deal out one Little Project card face-up to each Bookstore Shelf along the top edge of the Village board, above the Book tiles you placed.
- Shuffle all Other Neat Stuff cards together to form the Other Neat Stuff deck and place it to the right side of the Village. Place two of these cards face-up as the active Neat Stuff available in the Village Shoppes.
- Shuffle all Major Accomplishment cards together and deal out 3 of them face-up near the Village board. Place the others back in the box – they will not be used this game.
For Each Player
- Choose a player color and collect all that color's components in front of you: a. your Apartment board, b. Player card and c. Player meeple d. your 3 Major Accomplishment tokens. e. your Social Battery token
- Pull from the bag the Books shown in Your Starting Collection (shown here). On each space with gold dots in your apartment, place down one Book tile at random from your hand for each dot shown. (4, 3, 3, 2)
- Deal 5 Little Project cards to each player. These are kept in your hand and are not revealed to other players. Choose the 3 that look easiest to complete, then discard the rest face-up to form a discard pile beside the Little Project deck.
- The player who most recently acquired a new book will be the first player. Play will proceed clockwise around the table. The first player sets their Social Battery tracker to 3, the second player to 4, third player to 5, and fourth player to 6.
Object
Organize books in your home for personal satisfaction and to renew your energy, then head to the Village to gain more books. The goal being to earn the most Victory Points (VP) to win, with Book tiles being the best way to earn them, but not the only way.
Each time a player goes to the Village, the Sun tracker advances one space. When it reaches the last space, players will complete the round, assuring that all players have had the same number of turns; then each player will be able to take one last turn before the game ends. Whoever scored the most Victory Points Wins!
- Gain 1 VP for every Book tile in your collection.
- Gain 2 VP for each Little Project card completed.
- Gain the VP as listed on all the Other Neat Stuff you collected from the Village Shoppes.
- Gain the VP for each Major Accomplishment completed.
How to Play
Your Player meeple will begin the game in your Apartment. On your turn, move your Player meeple to any space on your Apartment board (or later, in the Village) and take the space's action as printed. Observe these rules regarding movement:
- You MUST move to a different action space each turn, meaning that you cannot take the same action again on the following turn. Note: the 4-player Village board has two spaces at the Bookstore, but you cannot move from one to the other, as it is the same action.
- Gain (green Social Battery icon) or pay (red Social Battery icon) the Social Battery of that action. Actions in your Apartment typically gain you Social Battery, whereas actions taken in the Village require you to pay Social Battery. Adjust your Social Battery token along the track accordingly. You must be able to pay the Social Battery cost indicated on the action you take. If you cannot, choose a different action.
- Going to the Village costs 5 Social Battery. Therefore the "Leave the House" action is one you will have to save up for, especially if you plan on spending more Battery to take actions there. This is the only way to access the Village board.
- You cannot take an action on an opponent's Apartment board. Only the Village board is a common play area.
- When in the Village, you MAY assign your Player meeple to a space occupied by another player's meeple. However, doing so will move that player to the Park (where they will gain 2 Social Battery). Note: you cannot visit the Park unless forced by an opponent.
After your action is resolved, play passes clockwise to the next player and continues in clockwise order until the game ends.
Social Battery & Little Projects
Doing quiet activities in the apartment can be a great way to re-energize and increase your Social Battery. Most actions you take at home will gain a little energy, but the primary way of getting a decent boost is through the Admire action - by completing Little Project cards.
Completing these puzzle-like challenges will score you 2 Victory points each, but their primary benefit is the big energy boost gained from Admiring a number of actively achieved Little Projects at once. The more you can Admire at once, the more efficient your Admire action will be. Similarly, building up a lot of Social Battery before you Leave the House allows you to do much more in the Village, making each trip more efficient.
Certain cards marked with the Village Shoppes icon (bag) allow you to draw a face-down "Other Neat Stuff" card from the deck. These all have special game-changing and rule-breaking effects to help you gain an edge. All are worth varying amounts of Victory Points as well.
Major Accomplishments
Major Accomplishments are communal projects that ALL players can complete. Only three are available during any given game - and they take extra effort to achieve. The first player to do so, gains the best reward on the card and marks it with their Major Accomplishment token. All other players to complete the task gain the secondary reward, marking it with a token as well.
A Major Accomplishment may be claimed the instant it is achieved, as well as any Energy or Other Neat Stuff they may grant. It does not take a separate action.
Apartment Actions
Let's review each of the actions possible at your Apartment:
GATHER
Gain 1 Social Battery. This action, along with Sort, are the primary ways to move Book tiles around your Apartment to complete your Little Projects. You may pick up the top-most book from a number of stacks and then place them, as a stack, anywhere in your Apartment. Note: no stack may be higher than 6 books. So, you could gather up to 6 books and place them in an empty space - or place a number of gathered books on an existing stack, so long as the height of 6 is not exceeded.
Gain 1. Take the top book from up to 6 different stacks. Place these as a stack on any one space.
Note: even a single book alone (a lonesome book) is considered a stack.
SORT
Gain 1 Social Battery. Like Gather, this action moves Book tiles around your Apartment to complete your Little Projects, but now you get to distribute the contents of a stack around. Pick up an entire single stack in your Apartment and place each of the books, one by one, to the tops of any existing stacks or empty spaces. They can be distributed in any order, regardless of how they were initially stacked. However, no more than 2 Book tiles can be added to each stack or space.
Gain 1. Pick up a stack of books and distribute them to the top of any stacks or empty spaces. Max 2 per stack.
ADMIRE
Admire your Little Projects & gain their rewards!
Having made some adjustments to your Book tiles, you may have completed one or more Little Projects. On a following turn, take the Admire action to gain their rewards. Whenever you can, try to Admire multiple Little Projects at once to maximize efficiency.
- Each time you Admire, first check your Player card. Your Player card has an automatic 3 Battery boost, if your preferred color book is the most common in your home.
- Next, reveal each Little Project that has been achieved by the current arrangement of books in your Apartment. Verify each - and gain the reward. Most will give you 3 Social Battery, others will allow you to gain Other Neat Stuff cards from the top of the deck, without visiting the Village or paying their cost.
- After gaining your rewards, place the Little Project cards face-down in a pile to the side of your Apartment board. At the end of the game, each will also be worth 2 Victory Points.
REST
Gain 2 Little Project cards and 2 Social Battery. Then discard down to 5 Little Project cards in hand.
As you complete your Little Projects - or find yourself with cards that are difficult to accomplish, you will want to draw additional Little Project cards. That is a perfect time to Rest and dream up new goals! The action gains you 2 Social Battery and allows you to draw 2 new Little Project cards. After which, if you hold more than 5 cards, discard down to a hand of five.
READ A BOOK
Gain 2 Social Battery & move 1 book from anywhere in your home to the top of your Nightstand.
Your Nightstand is one of the spaces in your Bedroom. The Read a Book action gains you 2 Social Battery and allows you to select a book from anywhere in your apartment and place it on the top of your Nightstand stack or start one with it. This book may be taken from anywhere in a stack, not just the top book. More importantly, when you go to the Village, you will be able to Exchange any or all books on your Nightstand (from anywhere in that stack) for any color books you want. This may help keep your preferred color the most common in your Apartment.
LEAVE THE HOUSE
Pay 5 Social Battery & advance the Sun tracker. Immediately take a turn in the Village.
When you finally feel you have enough Social Battery, you can take the Leave the House action. This costs 5 Social Battery. You will want enough Battery left over to do multiple things in the Village, so many players wait until they have 13 to 20 Battery stored up. This action also advances the Sun token one space on the tracker, bringing the end game one step closer. A player might only have 2 or 3 opportunities to visit to the Village before the end game is triggered, so plan accordingly.
When you take the Leave the House action, you immediately move your Player meeple to any action space of the Village board and resolve the action on the same turn.
Village Actions
BOOKSTORE
Take all Little Project cards & Book tiles from one shelf.
- Smallest: 1
- Medium: 3
- Largest: 6
The Bookstore is a great place to get Books. During setup, the three Shelves of the Bookstore (along the top edge of the Village board) were stocked with a Little Project card and a number of Book tiles drawn at random from the bag. The amount of Books offered on the shelves - and which shelf has the most Books - will change throughout the game, but there will always be a shelf with the Smallest, Medium, and Largest number of Books.
When you visit the Bookstore, you will choose one of the three Shelves and pay the listed Social Battery (1, 3 or 6 - for the Largest pile of Books). After paying, take the Little Project card and all the Book tiles from this Shelf. Add the card to your hand and the Books to your backpack (see Backpack Rules, p. 8).
Then immediately restock the Shelves by replacing the Little Project card with a new draw, AND add 1 random Book tile from the bag to each shelf. This assures that there's always a Smallest, Medium, and Largest Shelf.
4 PLAYERS - When playing with 4 players, note the following changes:
The Bookstore has two spaces instead of just one. The left space can only access the Bookstore Shelves on the left and middle, and the right space can only access the Bookstore Shelves on the right and middle.
If your meeple is on one Bookstore space, you cannot assign it to the other space on your next turn. You must take a different action.
Each space is considered separate. You are only "nudged out" of a space to the Park (see Park Rules, p 7) if an opponent assigns their meeple to your specific space.
LIBRARY
Pay 1 Social Battery. Draw 4 Book tiles from the bag. Keep 1, then deal 1 to each shelf in the Bookstore.
The Library is a good way to get Books of a desired color. Pay 1 Social Battery and draw 4 Book tiles at random from the bag. Keep your favorite and place it in your Backpack. Then, shake the remainder up in your hand and place one at random onto each Shelf in the Bookstore.
4 PLAYERS - When playing with 4 players, note the following changes:
Pay 2 Social Battery and draw 5 Book tiles from the bag. Keep 2, then shake the remainder up in your hand and place one at random onto each Shelf in the Bookstore.
VILLAGE SHOPPES
Bring home Other Neat Stuff, then reset the Shoppes. One: 4 Social Battery. Both: 9 Social Battery. Blind: 3 Social Battery.
The Village Shoppes are where you can go to find Other Neat Stuff. There are always 2 face-up items on display and a deck of face-down stuff. When you visit, you can pay 4 Social Battery to take any one of the items on display - or 9 Social Battery to take both of the face-up cards. You may also choose a 'blind' draw of a face-down card from the deck for just 3 Social Battery.
Your Other Neat Stuff is immediately placed next to your Character card. Resolve any immediate effects. The cards are all worth Victory Points and provide different one-time use abilities, on-going abilities, or end game bonus scoring. Many bend the rules and where that happens, follow the rules on the card. If a card tells you to gain a token, take it from the supply. There is no limit to how many you may have.
If you took one or more face-up cards, reset the Shoppes display by discarding any remaining face-up items in a discard pile to the side and draw two new items to replace them. A blind draw does not require a reset.
TOWN PARK
When nudged from a space, move here and gain 2 Social Battery.
The Town Park is not an action you can take. When a player moves their Player meeple to a space you occupy, it nudges you from that space and places you in the Park. But that's not a bad thing at all! Have a seat on one of the benches and gain 2 Social Battery as you refresh yourself by the pond. In the end, it will allow you to stay in the Village a bit longer and get more done. Other players will have to consider how much they really want to take the action that nudges you.
EXCHANGE
Return any number of Book tiles from your Nightstand to the bag. Then, take that amount plus 1 of any color(s) from the bag.
The Exchange is a "leave a book, take a book" space. It costs 1 Social Battery to use its action. Here, you can return to the bag any number of Book tiles from your Nightstand. Then, take that amount of Books, plus one, of any color or colors you choose (i.e. if you returned 3 Books, you can draw 4 Book tiles of any color or combination of colors you wish). Place this newly acquired set of Books into your Backpack.
Backpack Rules
As you acquire Books from the Village, add them to the top of either stack in the Backpack spaces of your Apartment board. The books you collect during a single action can be allocated in any order to these spaces as you like. However, once you place them, you cannot rearrange them again.
Any future books you gain must be placed on top of the existing stacks.
The stacks in your Backpack cannot exceed 6 books in height.
Any additional you collect must be discarded back to the bag.
Leaving Town / Coming Home
Place the stacks from your backpack & then take a turn at home!
If you start your turn with your Player meeple on the Village board and wish to return home, place your meeple on the "Welcome Home" space of your Apartment.
- First, unload your Backpack. Without changing their order, or dividing the stacks, place each stack from the Backpack onto a space in your Apartment, following all the "maximum height of 6" rules.
- Then, take a turn immediately at home, placing your meeple on any of the action spaces and resolving the action.
End Game and Final Scoring
When the Sun tracker reaches the last space, finish the current round so that all players have taken an equal number of turns. Then each player takes one additional turn beyond that, to finish up all they can before proceeding to final scoring.
To determine your final score:
- Gain 1 VP for each Book tile in your Apartment (including your Backpack).
- Gain 2 VP for each Accomplished Little Project card in your scoring pile.
- Gain the VP as listed on all your "Other Neat Stuff" cards.
- Add the VP gained from any completed Major Accomplishments.
- Gain 1 VP for every 4 remaining Social Battery you have.
In case of a tie, the tied player with the most Books wins. For further ties, the victory is shared!
Solo Game
Add these components to the game: 1 Penelope reference card 14 Rival cards, lettered A - N
Set Up
- Place the Penelope reference card to one side of your play space.
- Assemble the 10-card Rival deck based on your preferred challenge level & shuffle them. a) Level 1 (easiest) A through J b) Level 2 - B through K c) Level 3 - C through L d) Level 4 - D through M e) Level 5 (hardest) E through N
- Take the 1st Player token and flip it to the Penelope side. Then place beside the Penelope reference card. This is Penelope's player token.
- Set the sun tracker at its two-player starting position.
- You are the first player (and start with 3 Social Battery).
Objective / Overview
Who is Penelope Eveready? And why is her name now popping up consistently on all the books you had wanted to check out? How is she getting the new releases that you reserved at the bookstore? Without ever directly interacting with Penelope, you have found yourself with a rival! You can't help but feel the need to push yourself a little harder to get the jump on her.
When playing the solo mode, Penelope is represented by her meeple in town... but with her extrovert 'superpowers', Penelope never needs to go home and recharge her social battery. Instead, she hangs out in town all she wants, laughing and having a good time without a care in the world. (It's the worst.)
Penelope's actions are determined by the action lines on Rival cards, and her score is determined by her total collection at the end of the game. If you finish with more points than Penelope, you win!
However, you can lose the game immediately if the Rival deck is empty and Penelope is unable to draw a card!
How to Play Solo
Your turn is played exactly as in the standard game. After your turn, it is Penelope's turn - which is resolved through Rival cards.
- Draw a Rival card and place it in the Rival queue. The Rival queue is a line of Rival cards built beside the Rival deck. Overlap them in such a way that you can see all the "Removal" icons; which are one or two books in the top left of each Rival card.
- Count how many Rival cards are in the queue, including the one you just placed. Then, looking only at the card you just placed, find the action line that corresponds to the number of cards in the queue. This is the action Penelope will take this turn. NOTE: the more cards in the queue, the more powerful the action line effect will be!
Penelope's Actions:
The first part of every action line tells you where Penelope will move this turn. Move Penelope's token to the space indicated. In this example, Penelope moves to the Library space.
- If Penelope's token is ever moved to a space in town and you are at that location, you are nudged from that space and moved to the Park as normal. You still gain the 2 Social Battery.
- Likewise, if you want to move to her space, Penelope is nudged to the Park. However, her Park action is very different, as indicated on her reference card (see below). The effect can add to the difficulty of your challenge, so be careful.
- The "Cafe" is a space on Penelope's player card and counts as a space in the Village that only she can access.
Now, resolve the location's action as shown on Penelope's player card. Many are similar to when you activate the location, but some are quite different.
In addition, many action lines on the Rival cards have additional text. These effects modify or add to the default effect of the location. A "Sun" icon will advance the Sun token one space along the tracker.
Example: We flip a Rival card and add it as the 4th card to the queue. The 4-5 line tells us that she moves to the Park. Penelope's player card says that when SHE visits the Park, another Rival card is added to the queue but does not activate. In addition, the 4-5 line of Rival H card says she also gains a free Book tile from the bag, on top of the base effect of visiting the Park.
- Once you resolve the action line, Penelope's turn is over and you begin your next turn.
- If the Rival deck is empty and you cannot draw another card to resolve, you lose the game immediately! Managing the queue and resetting the Rival deck is important (see below).
Managing the Rival Queue / Rival Deck
Every Rival card has a "Removal" set of icons. Sometimes this is a pair of book colors, and sometimes it is a colorless book.
For each Little Project card you complete on your turn (but not your Player card personal goal), check its book colors. If it specifically mentions one or more colors, remove all cards that share that color from the Rival queue and shuffle them back into Penelope's deck. This makes future Rival cards less powerful, AND keeps you from running out of Rival cards. Projects focused on colorless books remove colorless Rival cards.
For each Major Accomplishment you achieve, you may choose a color or colorless and remove all Rival cards matching your choice from the queue. Then, shuffle the removed cards back into the Rival deck.
Penelope's Scoring Pile
Many of Penelope's action lines will gain her Books, Little Project cards, and Other Neat Stuff cards, many times in addition to things she gains by visiting a location. Place all these things next to her card in a scoring pile. The contents of Penelope's scoring pile determine her score at the end of the game, and you can only win the game if you have more Victory Points than Penelope after final scoring!
For the most part, her scoring works the same as yours: 1 VP per book, 2 VP per Little Project card collected, and the VP as listed on her Other Neat Stuff cards.
However, the following exceptions apply:
- Penelope ignores the text of all Other Neat Stuff cards in her scoring pile.
- Other Neat Stuff cards with "?" scoring values score a flat 3 VP for Penelope.
- During play, Penelope does not gain extra rewards (like Social Battery or Other Neat Stuff cards) when she adds Little Projects to her scoring pile.
Ending the Game
The game ends as normal when the Sun tracker reaches the end of its track. You and Penelope each get one more turn. Or it can end immediately in a loss if the Rival deck runs out of cards. If the game reaches final scoring, you win if you have more Victory Points than Penelope! You also win in case of a tie, but you have to live with the fact that Penelope also thinks she won.
FAQ
- A player cannot hold more than 20 Social Battery. There is one Major Accomplishment that rewards you for exceeding the 20 battery by 4, but you can't hold or spend it.
- Bookends and Desk Lamp tokens are not books, but are placed on top of stacks in your apartment. They do not count towards the book stack limit. They can be moved like a book, but do not count against the two book limit for Sort. They sit on top of the stack, but do not prevent you from Gathering the book underneath it.
Credits
Game Design: Alex Cutler & Michael Mihealsick Illustration: Naomi Lord Development: Curt Covert, Gaeton Dragone Graphic Art: Curt Covert Editing: Linda Baldwin
Special thanks to: Nicole Amato, the Game Designers of North Carolina group, Nicole Cutler, Jenn Mihealsick, whose belongings were the inspiration for almost every card in the "Other Neat Stuff" deck, Sam Bryant, Gwen Ruelle, Steph Hodge, & Joe DiOrio.
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