Above
Above Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Assembly
Detach the rings from punchboards A and B and assemble them in alignment with the numbers.
1 – Stick the double-sided tape on the dotted areas on ring 1.
2 – Position ring 2 without touching the tape, to align it with the numbers first and then the perpendicular axis (don't hesitate to practice!).
Mount Olympus seen from above: once the rings are assembled, the numbers must be aligned.
3 – Once correctly aligned, lower the ring onto the tape and press.
4 – Do the same with the other rings.
You're all set!
Goal of the Game
The goal of the game is to be the first player to take a Deity all the way to the top of Mount Olympus, depicted by the central space on the game board. The game is designed for 2 players, or 4 players playing in teams of 2.
- For two players: Players play against each other.
- For four players: Players sitting diagonally from each other play as a team, so that one of them can take one of the Deities all the way to the top to win the game.
Components
- 1 game board, assembly required
- 1 rulebook
- 8 Deity miniatures
- 16 double-sided Deity cards (Powered side and Spent side)
- Tokens, including:
- 6 Thunder tokens
- 6 Fertility tokens
- 6 Gate tokens
- 6 Barrier tokens
Setup
- Place the game board in the center of the play area, between the players.
- Randomly place a Deity on every other space on the outer ring of the game board (Ring 1).
- Place 8 tokens on the board, in this order: 2 Thunder, 2 Barrier, 2 Gate, 2 Fertility, using the following method:
- Shuffle all 16 cards and place them face up in a pile.
- Reveal the first two cards in the pile. The first card indicates the letter of the column and the second card gives the number of the ring, which yields the position of the first Thunder token (2 in the example below).
- Continue until all 16 cards have been revealed, allowing placement of all 8 starter tokens.
- The remaining tokens are kept near the board, within easy reach of all players.
- Separate the 16 cards in two decks of 8 different Deities and give one deck to each player.
- Each player places his 8 cards, Powered face up, in front of himself, in view of the other player.
- The player with the Zeus card marked with the letter Alpha (a) starts the game.
Playing a Turn
Players take turns and cards must always be visible to all players. During his turn, a player MUST exhaust one of his Deity cards. When a card is exhausted, it must be flipped to its Spent side (or discarded in a 4-player game).
Important: As soon as a player no longer has any Powered cards, he must recover all his Spent cards by flipping them back to their Powered side (or by drawing 4 new cards in a 4-player game; see below).
- Phase 1 – Deity activation: The current player must choose one of his Powered Deity cards and flip it to its Spent side.
- Phase 2 – Movement: The current player then moves the matching Deity miniature one space to the side or forward towards the center space. The miniature may not move back or move to a space containing another miniature or a Barrier token. If the move triggers one or more tokens, the player resolves the effects of all triggered tokens and removes them from the board. If the Deity cannot move, it stays on the same space.
- Phase 3 – Power: At the end of the Movement Phase, the player must resolve the Power of the chosen Deity.
This ends the current player's turn and the next player's turn begins. Once a player moves a Deity on the center space of the board, he or his team wins the game.
4-Player Game
Four players must play in teams of 2. Select the teams and sit so that players on the same team play in alternating sequence, not one after the other.
Randomly deal a set of 8 different Deity cards between 2 players on opposing teams. Then do the same for the other 8 Deity cards and the remaining two players. It is therefore possible for a team to have two copies of the same card or no copies of some cards at all.
The player with the Zeus Alpha (a) card begins, and play continues clockwise.
Please note: Players don't exhaust or recover their cards the same way as in the 2-player game. When a player exhausts a card, he discards it to a pile common to all players. Any time a player no longer has any Powered cards in front of him, he chooses 4 different cards from the discard pile and places them in front of himself, Powered face up. He must pick different cards as long as that is possible.
Important: In a 4-player game, the Powers of Hera and Athena are modified. See the list of Powers (pages 13–14 of the rulebook).
Deities
ZEUS
The leading contender in the race for Olympus is Zeus, Master of the sky, who uses his thunderbolts to strike at his enemies.
- Power – Thunder: Place a Thunder token on an empty space on the game board.
HERA
Wife and sister of Zeus, Hera rules the hearth of the gods with an iron fist. Beware, those who anger her!
- Power – Disgrace: Pick a Powered card controlled by your opponent. The opposing player must exhaust the card.
- 4 players: Pick a Powered card belonging to an opponent. All your opponents must discard all the cards matching the Deity you picked.
ARES
Son of Zeus and Hera, Ares is a stern and relentless warrior who can block his opponents' path to Olympus with an impenetrable barrier of swords and shields.
- Power – Barrier: Pick two empty spaces on the game board and place a Barrier token on each of them.
ATHENA
Athena is the daughter of Zeus and a great strategist. Wisest of the Olympians, her subtle ways let her build useful alliances and ignore the other gods.
- Power – Strategy: You may exhaust up to two of your Powered cards.
- 4 players: You may exhaust one of your cards, and/or one card of their teammate's hand. You may for example exhaust one of your teammate's cards and none of your own.
Athena's Power allows you to recover your cards much faster. If you (and/or your teammate) no longer have any Powered cards after using this power, you (and/or your teammate) recover all your cards. If Athena was the last Powered card, you recover all your cards before resolving the card's power. This means you can always exhaust up to two cards, including the Athena card you just recovered.
HADES
Brother of Zeus and Master of the Underworld, cunning Hades uses the many secret gates into his realm to seem like he is everywhere at once.
- Power – Gate: Place a Gate token on an open space on the game board.
DEMETER
Sister of Zeus and presiding over the fertility of the earth, Demeter is a gentle goddess, who prefers helping other deities in the race.
- Power – Fertility: Place a Fertility token on an open space on the game board.
POSEIDON
Brother of Zeus, Master of the Seas, Shaker of the Earth, Poseidon pours his floods onto Olympus to lay waste to the tricks and traps of the other deities.
- Power – Flood: Choose one of the following two options: remove any token from the board, or move one Deity backwards one space. If one option is not available, you must do the other. The Deity chosen to move back must be able to do so: a Deity may not move back onto a space occupied by a Barrier token or another Deity. Tokens are activated during this move, just like during normal movement. If a Thunder token is triggered this way, simply remove it from the board. The token has no effect.
Example of Poseidon play: Yves decides to activate Poseidon. He flips the card to the Spent side and chooses to move forward one space. He then resolves Poseidon's Power, making Hera move back one space. While moving, Hera activates the Fertility token, so Yves decides to move Hera one space to the right, then his turn ends.
APHRODITE
The most seductive goddess, Aphrodite would love to rule Olympus… All she needs to do is seduce the winner of the race!
- Power – Seduction: Move another Deity, without moving it onto Olympus. The chosen Deity must be able to move. This additional move is done like normal movement: one space forward or to either side and triggering any tokens encountered. The triggered effects cannot move a Deity onto the Olympus space.
Tokens
- A token can only be placed on an open space, meaning one without a Deity or another token.
- A token may never be placed on the top space of Olympus.
- As soon as a token is triggered, and regardless of whether its effect applies, this token is removed from the board and returned to the Reserve.
- If a player must place a token but there are no more tokens of that type available in the Reserve, then they must move one of the tokens of that type already on the board. This token must be moved to a different space.
Barrier: The space containing the token is impassable. Deities cannot enter this space in any way.
Gate: A Deity moving onto a space with a Gate token must move to another space containing a Gate token. Then the Gate tokens used are both removed from the board. If there is no other Gate token on the board, the Deity moves to a space on the starting ring chosen by the player. Reminder: This move can trigger Thunder tokens.
Fertility: A Deity moving onto a space with a Fertility token must make another move. The Fertility token is then removed from the board. This additional move is also done forward or to the side but doesn't have to be in the same direction as the previous move. If new tokens are triggered during this movement, the player resolves their effects. If the Deity is blocked after triggering a Fertility token, it must end its movement. Reminder: This move can trigger Thunder tokens.
Thunder: When a Deity triggers a Thunder token, it cannot activate its Power this turn (Phase 3 is skipped). The token is then removed from the board.
A Deity triggers a Thunder token when moving onto a space containing the token or any adjacent space. A Thunder token therefore affects 9 spaces. Thunder tokens triggered by Deities that were not the ones activated this turn are removed from the board and have no effect.
Warning: The space a Deity moves from does not trigger the Thunder token. A Thunder token does not stop other tokens in adjacent spaces from triggering. If a Deity triggers a Thunder token at the same time as a Gate token, the Thunder token's effect is always applied.
Area of effect of a Thunder token: In the example at right, Demeter has two move options that will not trigger the Thunder token, and Hades has none. All these spaces, however, can be moved to.