Aladdin's Dragons (2009) Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Set Up
• Playing the Game
  • Phase One - New Treasure and Artifact Cards
  • Phase Two - Players Play Their Hero Cards Into the Locations
  • Phase Three - Resolve the Locations
    • The Locations in Detail
• Winning the Game
• Artifact and Spell Cards
• Two Player Variant

Components

Cards - There are 112 cards:

• 1 caravanserai (start-player) card
• 1 palace guard card
• 4 dragon's cave cards
• 15 artifact cards
• 16 spell cards
• 25 hero cards
• 50 treasure cards

Set Up

• Each player receives five hero cards numbered one to five in their own colour.
• Place the dragon's cave cards face up in numerical order, the highest numbered to the left, in the centre of the playing surface. Use the number four card only if there are four or five players.
• Next to the number one dragon's cave card, place the deck of shuffled spell cards face down.
• Place the palace guard card above and to the left of the highest numbered dragon's cave card.
• To determine the start player, each player draws a treasure card. The player drawing the highest numbered treasure chooses the start player. In the event of a tie, the tied players redraw.
• Place the caravanserai card (start player card) to the left of the palace guard card and so that it is pointing toward the start player.
• Return the treasure cards to the deck.
• Shuffle the treasure card and artifact card decks.
• You are now ready to begin the game.

Playing the Game

The game is played over a number of rounds, usually four or five in total. Each round has three phases. In phase one, new artifact and treasure cards are laid out. In phase two, players play their hero cards into the various locations. In phase three, the locations are resolved.

Phase One - New Treasure and Artifact Cards

Take the deck of treasure cards. Place treasure cards face up on each dragon's cave card equal to the number shown on that dragon's cave card. Place the cards on top of the dragon's cave card, but so that the dragon's cave card and the value of each treasure card can still be seen.

Place one treasure card, unseen, face down on top of the palace guard card.

Next, turn over treasure cards one at a time until in a 3 player game, a number 3 or 4 treasure card is revealed, or in a 4 or 5 player game, a number 4 or 5 treasure card is revealed. (Place the revealed treasure cards on the treasure card discard pile.) The treasure card indicates how many artifact cards will be available this round. Add a number of artifact cards, face up in a row above the dragons' caves, to any artifact cards remaining from the previous round (if any) so that the total number of artifact cards is equal to the number on the treasure card. If only one artifact card remains in the unplayed deck, add this card to the row of artifact cards as an additional artifact. Otherwise place any remaining unused artifact cards face down in a pile next to the side of the playing area. These artifact cards will be used in a later round.

Place the remaining unplayed treasure cards as a face down deck just below the palace guard card. Shuffle the discard pile to create a new deck as needed, but always leave the top discarded card behind so that at least one card remains in the discard pile.

Phase Two - Players Play Their Hero Cards Into the Locations

Starting with the start player, each player in turn plays one of their hero cards face down on a location until all players have played all five of their hero cards. Players may not pass or play out of turn.

The hero cards may be played on the following location cards: dragons' caves, Aladdin's tent, caravanserai and the palace rooms. More than one hero card may be placed in a location by a player, in which case the values of that player's heroes are aggregated. The locations are explained in more detail in phase three.

Phase Three - Resolve the Locations

The locations are resolved one at a time in the following order:

1. The dragons' caves, from left (largest number) to right (smallest number),
2. Aladdin's tent,
3. caravanserai,
4. the palace guard (note that no hero cards are placed in this location) and
5. the palace rooms, from left to right.

When a location is resolved, any hero cards that were played into that location in phase two are turned over to reveal the card's value, one to five. The value of all of a player's cards is added together. The player with the highest total wins that location. Ties are broken in favour of the start player, or the next player in clockwise order who is involved in the tie.

The Locations in Detail

The dragons' caves: The winner takes a treasure card of their choice from that cave. If the cave has more than one treasure card, then the player with the next highest hero total chooses a card and so on. Each player may take only one card. If there are unclaimed treasure cards, place them on the treasure discard pile.

Aladdin's tent: The winner takes the top two spell cards, keeps one of them and gives the other spell card to the second highest bidder. If there was no second bidder, place the second spell card face up on the spell discard pile. If the deck of spell cards is used up, shuffle the discard pile and create a new deck.

The caravanserai: The winner chooses a new start player (which can be him-/herself). The chosen player immediately becomes the new start player (i.e., before the resolution of the palace locations). If no one bids in this location, the player to the left of the current start player becomes the new start player. Rotate the caravanserai card to point to the new start player.

The palace guard: The treasure card in the palace guard location is turned over. If a player's hero(es) in a palace room add up to less than the number of the palace guard plus one, then the player must pay a bribe when that palace room is resolved. (See Palace rooms below.)

Palace rooms: Each artifact card represents the artifact available in that palace room. The winner of a palace room location may choose to buy the artifact in that room (if they get past the palace guard) for a number of treasures equal to or greater than the value of the hero card(s) played. No change is given if the value of the treasure cards used to buy the artifact is greater than the value of the hero card(s).

If the value of the winner's hero card(s) is less than the value of the treasure card placed on the palace guard plus one, then the winner must first pay a bribe to the palace guard equal to or greater than the difference between the number on the treasure card that was placed on the palace guard plus one and the value of the hero card(s). If more than one treasure card is used to pay the bribe, these must be of the same type.

For example, the palace guard is value 4. A 4 (treasure card) plus 1 = 5. The value of the hero placed in the palace room is 3. The difference is 5 - 3 = 2. The player must pay a bribe of at least 2 treasures to the palace guard, or remove their hero card(s) from that palace room. The treasures paid to the guard may be two number 1 treasure cards of the same type or a single treasure card with a value of 2 or higher.

If a bribe must be paid and the player chooses not to pay or cannot pay the bribe, then the player must remove their heroes from that room. The test is applied to each palace room independently. If a player pays more than the required amount to the palace guard, then they do not receive any change.

If the value of the winner's hero card(s) is greater than or equal to the value of the treasure card placed on the palace guard plus one, or the winner has paid the bribe, then the winner may pay treasure cards equal to or greater than the value of their hero cards in order to buy the artifact. All of the treasure cards must be of the same type. The treasure cards do not need to be of the same type that was used to pay any bribe, if applicable.

If the winner is unable to or chooses not to buy the artifact, then the next highest bidder, if any, may attempt to buy the artifact, and so on. A hero card cannot be removed in order to reduce a player's bid.

Note: if the +1 or x2 artifacts (see artifacts section) are used to increase the value of a hero card and win a bid in a palace room, then the increased value of the hero card must be paid for in the same treasure type as the payment for the rest of the bid. (Note that a '+1 artifact' (flying carpet) can be played on an opponent's card, whilst a 'x2 artifact' card cannot.)

If all 15 artifact cards have been bought, the game is over. If there are still artifact cards waiting to be acquired, then start the next round.

Winning the Game

Once all 15 artifacts have been bought and the game is over, the player with the most artifact cards is the winner. Both unplayed artifact cards in a player's hand and used artifact cards count toward a player's score. In the event of a tie, the player with the most Aladdin's lamp artifact cards is the winner. If there is still a tie, the player with the highest total value of unplayed treasure cards is the winner. If there is still a tie, then the game should be replayed to determine a winner.

Artifact and Spell Cards

Players must allow time for artifacts to be used and spells cast and for other players to respond with other artifacts or spells. A used artifact card is placed face up in front of the player and counts towards the player's score at the end of the game. A used spell card is placed on the spell card discard pile. There is no limit to the number of unused spell or artifact cards that a player may hold. Spells and artifacts can be cast at any time. They are resolved before the next player takes a turn. Once played, artifacts and spells cannot be retracted.

There are fifteen artifact cards, three cards each of Aladdin's lamp, counterspell, double (x2), flying carpet (+1) and scroll. The counterspell is an artifact, not a spell, and does not work against other artifacts. Note the double (x2) and flying carpet (+1) artifact cards give rise to a different result depending on the order played. For example, a 3 hero x 2 (double) + 1 (flying carpet) = 7, whereas 3 hero + 1 (flying carpet) x 2 (double) = 8. There are sixteen different spell cards.

Two Player Variant

A third 'Dummy' player joins in! The other players are referred to as the 'start player' and the 'second player'.

The Dummy player starts with three treasure cards drawn at random. These are placed face up next to Dummy's face-down hero cards.

In phase two, a player also plays a hero card (if available) face down and unseen from the Dummy player's hero cards. As Dummy has five hero cards, the start player will therefore play two cards (one of their own and one of Dummy's) three times and the second player will play two cards twice.

Only one hero from the Dummy hand can be played into any one location. For example, only one of Dummy's hero cards can be played onto each of the dragons' caves, onto each artifact card in the palace rooms or on Aladdin's tent.

In phase three, Dummy is played by the second player unless the location is being contested between Dummy and the second player only, in which case Dummy is played by the start player.

If there is a tie between Dummy and one or more of the other players then the Dummy player always loses.

In a dragons' cave, Dummy, if present, will always take (one of) the highest treasure cards available.

In Aladdin's tent, if Dummy wins, then the second player chooses which spell Dummy will take, unless the second player is the second highest bidder, in which case the start player chooses which spell Dummy will take.

Dummy cannot place a hero on the caravanserai location.

Dummy's spells and artifacts are laid face up. A player may at any time declare that they wish to use one of these cards on behalf of the Dummy player. The spell or artifact must be used immediately. To do this the player must pay Dummy a treasure card. The treasure card is added to Dummy's face-up treasure cards. Dummy's used spell cards are discarded. Dummy's used artifacts are placed face down and still count toward Dummy's final score.

When a player declares they wish to use one of Dummy's spells or artifacts, they must allow the other player time to decide if they also want to do this. If so, then the player offering Dummy the highest value of treasures can cast the spell or use the artifact. Players choose secretly, then reveal simultaneously. In the event of a tied bid, then the start player wins.

Dummy will pay the palace guard if they are able and they have a hero in a palace room.

In a palace room, if Dummy is able to buy an artifact then Dummy will do so.