Ancient Knowledge Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Contents
  • Card anatomy
• Overview & Goal
• Game Elements & Setup
  • 1. Each player chooses a Builder board and places it in front of them.
  • 2. Prepare the rest of the elements as follows:
  • First game?
• Game Overview
  • Turn Overview
• A. Action Phase
  • Create
    • Create a monument (city, megalith, or pyramid)
    • Adjacent cards
    • Create an artifact
  • Learn
    • Available Technology cards
    • Middle of the game
  • Archive
  • Excavate
  • Search
    • Hand size limit
    • Empty Builder's deck
• B. Timeline Phase
• C. Decline Phase
  • Go into Decline
• End of the Game
  • Final Scoring
• Clarifications
  • Icons
  • Activation
  • Golden Rules
• Credits

Contents

• 144 Builder cards
  • 108 monument cards
    • 36 cities
    • 36 megaliths
    • 36 pyramids
  • 36 artifact cards
• 45 Technology cards
  • 27 Level I cards
  • 18 Level II cards
• 4 Builder boards (1 per player)
• 3 Technology tiles
• 1 Scorepad
• 4 Player aid cards
• 1 First player token
• 40 1-value knowledge/lost knowledge tokens (grey)
• 10 5-value knowledge/lost knowledge tokens (gold)

Card anatomy

A monument (Builder) card shows: its Type (city, megalith, or pyramid); the Starting space; the Additional cost; the Quantity of initial knowledge; the Victory points; the Activation; the Effect; and the Name + modern country.

A Technology card shows: its Name; its Type; any Requirement; its Effect; and its Activation.

Overview & Goal

Ancient Knowledge is a strategy game for 2 to 4 players where you must build a game engine that will evolve over the course of time. Each turn, all your monuments get closer to the inevitable: belonging to the past... It's up to you to find the best synergy so you can pass down your knowledge before the decline of the emblematic monuments you have constructed, and which we still find nowadays in the four corners of the globe. From Mexican pyramids to the Sphinx of Giza, passing through the famous cities of Tiwanaku and Babylon, only the cleverest builder will shine through the ages and seize victory.

In this game, your greatest enemy is time. Monuments you put into play are all accompanied by knowledge. At the end of each turn, all your monuments must slide to the left, declining little by little, until they reach the Past and make you regret all this lost knowledge. When a player has at least 14 monuments in their Past, the game ends. Will your monuments withstand the trial of time?

Game Elements & Setup

1. Each player chooses a Builder board and places it in front of them.

Each Builder board has 5 zones:

1. At the top is the "Timeline." During the game, you will place monument cards (city, megalith, pyramid) above this Timeline, and you will slide them to the left as the game goes on.
2. The Past is represented by the zone to the left of your board. You will place all your monument cards that have left your Timeline here. They are always visible to your opponents. The end of the game is triggered once one player has at least 14 monuments in their Past.
3. In the middle of your board, you have 5 spaces to place artifacts.
4. The zone to the right of your board lets you sort Technology cards by type (ancient, writing, secret). There is no limit to the number of Technology cards you can place in this zone.
5. The zone to the bottom left is reserved for lost knowledge. You will place any lost knowledge tokens you receive during the game here.

2. Prepare the rest of the elements as follows:

1. Randomly choose the first player. They place the First Player token in front of them and keep the scorepad handy.

2. Shuffle all the Builder cards, then continue as follows:

   • A. Randomly deal 10 cards face down to each player. After looking at your cards, discard 4 cards so you only keep 6.
   • B. The 3rd and 4th players each draw 1 extra card. (Ignore this rule in a 2-player game.)
   • C. Make a deck in the center of the table, within reach of all players. Leave space nearby for the discard pile.

   Builder cards represent the monuments that will last through time thanks to your expertise.

3. Place the 3 Technology tiles in the center of the table (Level I / Level II side visible) so there are 2 Level I and 1 Level II.

   • Shuffle the Level I Technology cards and randomly place 3 face up on each of the 2 Level I Technology tiles.
   • Shuffle the Level II Technology cards and randomly place 3 face up onto the Level II Technology tile.
   • Make 2 separate decks (I and II) with the remaining cards and place them in the center of the table, within reach of all players. Leave space nearby for discard piles.

   Technology cards represent famous figures and technologies that aid in the development of your civilization.

4. Place the knowledge tokens in the center of the table to make a reserve, within reach of all players. You can make change at any time, using tokens of different values.

   These tokens represent knowledge when they are on cards in a player's Timeline, or lost knowledge when they are in the corresponding zone on a player's board.

First game?

During your first game, we recommend using starting hands. Ancient Knowledge is a game with simple rules, but very varied card effects.

The game includes 4 starting hands, each with 6 cards. You can identify them by the starting-hand symbols in the bottom right of the cards. When you play with this option, before shuffling the Builder cards, ignore step A and separate all the starting cards by symbol. Each player takes a random deck. Then shuffle the rest of the cards (including any unused starting cards).

Game Overview

A game of Ancient Knowledge plays over an unlimited number of turns. As soon as a player has 14 or more cards in their Past, the end of the game is triggered. After final scoring, the player with the most victory points wins!

Starting with the first player, then taking turns clockwise, take your turns as described below.

Turn Overview

On your turn, complete the following 3 phases in order:

• A. Action Phase — Create / Learn / Excavate / Archive / Search.
• B. Timeline Phase — Activate all your monuments and artifacts with the Timeline symbol.
• C. Decline Phase — Slide all monuments in your Timeline to the left.

A. Action Phase

During the Action Phase, you will take 2 actions chosen from the 5 available options. You can take the same action twice on your turn.

Create

The Create action lets you play a monument or artifact card.

Create a monument (city, megalith, or pyramid)

Choose a monument card in your hand. Add it to your Timeline (in the zone above your board), following these steps:

1. If the Cost (discard cards) symbol is shown on the top left of this card, discard as many cards from your hand as indicated in the symbol. If you cannot discard enough cards, you cannot Create this monument.
2. Place the chosen card on its starting space (shown by the Starting space symbol).
3. Add as many knowledge tokens to this card as the number shown in the colored band (next to the knowledge icon).
4. If the Immediate (lightning) symbol is shown in the colored band, immediately apply the effect. If you cannot apply the full effect, apply as much as possible.

Only while creating a monument, you can play your monument on a different space than the one shown. To do so, discard cards equal to the difference between the 2 spaces.

Choose carefully though, since once a card is played, you cannot move it (by discarding cards again) for the rest of the game. You cannot play a monument directly to your Past in this way.

If the lock (Required Space) symbol is shown in the top left of the played card, you cannot discard cards in this way. Therefore, you can only play the card in the indicated space.

You can play a monument in an unoccupied space by placing one card above the other, respecting the following conditions:

• If there are already 2 cards on a space, it is impossible to place a third card.
• When a space is empty, always place the first monument just above your Timeline. Therefore any second monument must be played above the first card.
• If the monument on top ends up being the only card in the space, always slide it down so it is just above your Timeline.

Adjacent cards

Certain card effects refer to adjacent monuments. Monuments are considered to be adjacent if they are placed in the same space (one above the other) or in the same row in 2 side-by-side spaces. 2 diagonal monuments are not adjacent.

You cannot voluntarily reverse the position of 2 monuments in the same space.

Create an artifact

Choose an artifact card in your hand, then place it on one of the available spaces on your board (5 in the beginning). An artifact card can never be covered by another artifact card. If all 5 of your spaces are occupied, you can no longer play cards of this type. Only certain card effects will let you discard artifacts you have played.

Learn

The Learn action lets you take a Technology card from the center of the table. Proceed as follows:

Choose an available Level I or II Technology card and check its requirements, if it has any, in the box to the right of the title.

If there are no requirements or if you fulfill those on the card, take the card and place it to the right of your Builder board. It is now part of your collection. There are three types of Technology cards: ancient, writing, and secret. Place it in the corresponding row to the right of your board.

If the card has the Immediate (lightning) symbol, immediately apply its effect. If you cannot apply the full effect, apply as much as possible.

If the card has the Final Scoring symbol, it will provide victory points at the end of the game.

Available Technology cards

Do not refill the Technology tiles when you take a card. Wait until it contains only a single card, then discard this card to the pile next to the deck. Draw 3 new Technology cards from the corresponding deck (Level I or Level II). Refill this tile with these 3 face-up cards, on the tile without any cards.

When a deck of Technology cards is empty, shuffle the discard pile to make a new deck. If there are not enough cards left to refill a tile, put the cards and tile back in the box instead.

Middle of the game

As soon as a player has at least 7 monuments in their Past, flip over one of the Level I Technology tiles to its Level II side. (The player chooses which tile.) Immediately discard the cards on the corresponding tile and refill it with Level II cards. From now on, this tile must contain only Level II cards. This only happens once per game.

Archive

The Archive action lets you discard knowledge tokens from monument cards in your Timeline.

Discard as many cards from your hand as you want. For each card discarded this way, remove 1 knowledge token from a monument in your Timeline. Return removed tokens to the reserve.

You cannot discard cards if you have no knowledge tokens in your Timeline.

Advice: Try to discard knowledge tokens from your Timeline regularly, so they don't become lost knowledge during the Decline Phase, which provide negative points at the end of the game. But be careful, since certain cards have lost knowledge as a requirement. History is made of tough choices...

Excavate

The Excavate action lets you draw cards using monuments in your Past.

Rotate by 90° as many monument cards in your Past as you would like. For each card rotated this way, draw 2 Builder cards and add them to your hand.

Rotated monuments in your Past must be straightened by card effects before you can rotate them again.

Search

The Search action lets you draw cards little by little.

Draw 1 card from the Builder deck and add it to your hand.

Advice: Expert players will almost never use this action, since it only lets you draw 1 card at a time. It's better to make quick use of monuments in your Past so you can draw more cards with the Excavate action.

Hand size limit

You can never have more than 10 cards in your hand. If you should draw cards above this limit, do not draw additional cards above 10.

Empty Builder's deck

If the Builder deck is empty, shuffle the discard pile and create a new deck.

After you have taken 2 actions, continue to the Timeline Phase.

B. Timeline Phase

During this phase, certain monument and artifact effects are triggered.

In any order you choose, apply the effects of each of your city, megalith, pyramid, and artifact cards in your playing area that have the Timeline symbol.

Careful: The effects of monument cards in your Past are never active during the game.

Then continue to the Decline Phase.

C. Decline Phase

During this phase, time takes its toll. If accumulated knowledge was not passed on, it is lost.

Immediately Decline monument cards in the 1 space of your Timeline by following the steps below.

Go into Decline

When a card goes into Decline, follow these steps in order:

1. If it has the Decline symbol, apply its effect. Otherwise, nothing happens in this step.
2. If it still has knowledge on it, immediately move these tokens to the lost knowledge zone on your board. They are now lost knowledge.
3. Move the card to your Past, to the left of your board. It is no longer in play, and its effects are not available for the rest of the game.

If you must Decline 2 cards, choose either card and follow all the steps above, then follow them for the second card.

After Declining all the cards in the 1 space, check your Past:

• If there are at least 7 cards, flip over 1 of the Level I Technology tiles face up (see Middle of the game).
• If there are at least 14 cards, the end of the game is triggered (see End of the Game).

Then slide all monuments still in your Timeline, as well as any knowledge tokens on them, 1 space to the left (cards on space 2 move to 1, those on space 3 move to 2, etc). Cards that move to 1 will go into Decline on your next turn. Do not slide artifacts.

Advice: In the beginning, players tend to avoid moving monuments to their Past so they don't gain lost knowledge. However, monuments in the Past provide victory points at the end of the game. This is usually worth it, since the difference between victory points and lost knowledge is sometimes zero.

It's sometimes worthwhile to play cards that provide lost knowledge to have even more benefits later on. It's just as possible to win the game with more than 20 lost knowledge as with a limited amount. Find the best strategy and adapt to it.

Once your Decline Phase is over, the player to your left begins their turn with the Action Phase.

End of the Game

As soon as a player has at least 14 cards in their Past, the end of the game is triggered. Continue playing until each player has played the same number of turns (use the First Player token), then proceed to final scoring.

The end of the game is often triggered by a player having 15 cards in their Past. All they need is to have 13 cards in their Past and 2 cards on space 1 in the previous turn.

Final Scoring

Each player adds up their total victory points in the following way:

• Count the victory points visible in the colored band for each monument card in your Past (rotated or not).
• Add victory points from certain monument card effects in your Past.
• Add victory points for each of your Level II Technology cards.
• Add 1 victory point for each monument left in your Timeline (victory points and knowledge on these cards do not count).
• Remove 1 victory point for each lost knowledge in the dedicated zone on your board.

The player with the highest victory point total is the winner.

In case of a tie for the first place, the player with fewer lost knowledge between the tied players wins. If there is a tie after that, the most ancient player between the tied players wins.

Clarifications

Icons

Actions: Create, Learn, Archive, Excavate, Search.

Knowledge: Knowledge, Lost Knowledge, Victory Points.

Builder cards: City, Megalith, Pyramid (these three are Monuments), Artifact, Cost (discard cards), Required Space, Starting Hands.

Technology cards: Ancient, Writing, Secret.

Timeline: Spaces 1 through 6, showing how many monuments a space holds and the space number.

Activation:

• Immediate (lightning) — Apply the card effect as soon as you play it, during the Create or Learn action.
• Ongoing (with conditions) — Apply the card effect at any moment when the conditions are met.
• Timeline Phase — Apply the card effect during each of your Timeline Phases if it is in your Timeline or among the Artifacts you've created (but not in your hand or Past).
• Decline Phase — Apply the card effect only when it goes into Decline.
• Final Scoring — Apply the card effect during Final Scoring (only if it is in your Past). The victory point effects of cards in your Timeline do not count.

Activation

Builder cards each have one or more active effects when they are in your playing area (in your Timeline — city, megalith, pyramid — or on your board — artifact). Certain effects are only activated at specific moments during your turn. When this happens, you must apply these effects, if possible. If multiple effects are activated at the same time, choose the order of resolution.

Golden Rules

1. The text on certain cards may contradict the game rules. The card text always takes precedence.
2. Card effects are only active when they're played in your Timeline or on your board (except cards with a Final Scoring activation).
3. During the game, cards in your Past are only used to fulfill requirements of Technology cards, satisfy conditions of other monument effects, or be rotated during an Excavate action. Once in your Past, card effects are not active for the rest of the game.
4. You must always apply all card effects when possible. If you cannot apply the full card effect, apply as much as possible and ignore the rest.
5. Do not slide artifacts during the Decline Phase. It is impossible to have more than 5 on your board.
6. Card effects only affect elements in your own playing area, unless the card specifically mentions something to the contrary. Unless stated otherwise, cards whose type is not specified always are Builder cards.
7. You can never have more than 10 cards in your hand. If you must draw cards above this limit, do not draw additional cards.

Credits

Designer: Rémi Mathieu. Illustrators: Emilien Rotival, Adrien Rives, Ples. Agency: L'Équipe Ludique. Publisher: IELLO.