Athens Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Preparation
• Playing the Game
  • 1. People Management Phase
  • 2. Base Phase
  • 3. Action Phase
  • 4. Event Phase
• Action Cards
  • Barracks
  • Stable
  • Piraeus Port
  • Atelier
  • Trader
  • Laurion Silver Mine
• Action Cards (cont.)
  • Delphi
  • Village
  • Ecclesia
  • Agora
  • Workshop
• Action Cards: Wonders Deck
• Game End
  • Breaking a Tie

Components

• 71 action cards
• 6 event cards
• 8 round summary cards (4 English, 4 German)
• 42 people tiles (7 upper class, 14 middle class, 21 lower class)
• 1 Pericles tile
• 1 people bag
• 56 base cards
• 24 oracle cards
• 56 victory point cards
• 4 workers
• 4 people dice (2 white, 2 grey)
• 1 turn order die
• 14 wooden cylinders (8 white, 6 black)
• 73 wooden cubes (9 orange, 9 green, 9 blue, 6 brown, 10 red, 10 yellow, 10 silver, 10 violet)

Preparation

Put all the people tiles into the people bag. Prepare as many workers as the number of players (i.e. put away any workers in excess of that). Place victory point cards, wooden cylinders, and wooden cubes on the table. Shuffle the oracle cards and place the deck face down on the table. Place event cards, base cards, and action cards as below.

1. Event cards. WAR, MIGRATION, FESTIVAL, OLYMPICS, DRAMA, CONTEST

Place 6 event cards as shown on the left—beware that the two sides of an event card are different. Then put a black wooden cylinder on the circle at the lower left corner of each card.

2. Base cards. BARLEY FIELD, SMITHY, SHIPYARD, KILN, VINEYARD, OLIVE GROVE, QUARRY

There are 7 different decks of base cards and each deck consists of 8 identical cards. Use all cards in a 4-player game, 6 cards per deck for 3 players, and 4 cards per deck for 2 players.

Place the cards with the "no victory points"-side face up—there is only one such side on each card. The other side shows 5 victory points. Splay out each deck showing the number of cards as shown on the left.

3. Action cards. A deck each for: BARRACKS, STABLE, PIRAEUS PORT, ATELIER, TRADER, LAURION SILVER MINE, DELPHI, VILLAGE, ECCLESIA, AGORA, WORKSHOP. A single deck with: PARTHENON, ERECHTHEION, PANATHENAIC STADIUM, THEATER OF DIONYSUS, TEMPLE OF ATHENA NIKE, PROPYLAIA, STOA, and TEMPLE OF HEPHAESTUS

There is one card for each of the decks BARRACKS to DELPHI, but there are 14 identical cards for each of VILLAGE to WORKSHOP. Place each of these decks face up as shown above. The last deck consists of 8 different cards: PARTHENON to TEMPLE OF HEPHAESTUS. Shuffle them and place the deck face down. Then flip over the top card and put a white wooden cylinder on the circle where 1 victory point is marked on it.

Each player gets a round summary card. The players choose a starting player. He or she gets the Pericles tile, 2 white people dice and the turn order die. The turn order die is not needed in a 2-player game though.

Playing the Game

The game is played over a maximum of 14 rounds. There are 4 phases to complete each round.

1. People Management Phase

The starting player (i.e. with the Pericles tile) rolls the 2 white people dice and the turn order die, which do the following:

• The 2 white people dice indicate the people tiles which the players can save from spending in the Action Phase of this round.
• The turn order die indicates the turn order for each phase of this round—either clockwise or counter-clockwise.

On the first round each player gets 3 people tiles from the people bag. On later rounds each player gets 1 people tile instead. Next, each player discards people tiles above the limit of 3 in turn order starting from the starting player. Discarded tiles should be kept separately—refill the people bag with them again when the bag is empty.

2. Base Phase

The starting player takes any one base card which is still available and places it in front of himself or herself (i.e. players add one base card to their accumulation of base cards in every round). Then he or she takes any worker from anywhere on the table and keeps it in his or her hand—this worker will be used by that player in the next Action Phase. The other players do so likewise in turn order. At the end of this phase, all workers have been taken by the players.

3. Action Phase

The starting player chooses to do one of the following two options:

• Flip over one of his or her base cards and put the worker he or she got in the previous Base Phase on it.
• Choose an action card, pay the required people tiles, execute that action and then put the worker he or she got in the previous Base Phase on it.

Flipping over a base card doubles it and gives you 5 victory points. For example, if you have only 1 QUARRY and flip it, then you have 2 QUARRIES and 5 victory points. The number of base icons has changed, as shown on the left.

For most action cards, there are some conditions such as holding a specific set of base icons that need be satisfied and some people tiles that need be paid. The number of people tiles to pay is reduced by the 2 people dice result though.

For example, if the result of the people dice are as shown on the left, you can choose the DELPHI action by just paying either 1 upper class tile or 1 middle class tile.

Players also cannot choose an action card on which there currently is a worker or that belongs to another player.

The other players then also do their turn in turn order.

The details for the action cards are on pages 4-6.

4. Event Phase

The starting player may place his or her wooden cubes—they are taken in the Action Phase—on one event card which is still face up. He or she puts cubes on empty squares matching with the colors on the card. Any cube may be placed on a white square though. He or she puts as many cubes as he or she wants on the card. Any cubes the player has left over may be kept for future rounds. Then for every cube just placed, he or she gets victory points equal to the points indicated inside the square. Take these points using the victory point cards. There is a 1 point and a 5 point side for each victory point card—only the side that is face up counts. The other players then also do their turn in turn order.

Next, if there is a row of squares filled with cubes, remove these cubes and fill that row with the cubes from the lower row as shown on the left. Then move the black cylinder up one space on the same card. If the black cylinder arrives at the uppermost circle, remove all components and flip the card over.

The next round begins with the player to the left taking the Pericles tile.

Action Cards

Barracks

1. You need to pay 1 middle class and 1 lower class.
2. You do one of the following actions:
   • If you have 2 BARLEY FIELDS and 2 SMITHIES, you get 2 orange cubes (infantry).
   • If the orange square is empty and you put an orange cube (infantry) on it, you get 8 victory points.
   • If the brown square is empty and you put a brown cube (wheat) on it, you get 17 victory points.

Stable

1. You need to pay 1 upper class and 1 lower class, or 2 middle class and 1 lower class.
2. You do one of the following actions:
   • If you have 2 BARLEY FIELDS and 2 SMITHIES, you get 2 green cubes (cavalry).
   • If the green square is empty and you put a green cube (cavalry) on it, you get 9 victory points.
   • If the brown square is empty and you put a brown cube (wheat) on it, you get 17 victory points.

Piraeus Port

1. You need to pay 1 upper class and 1 lower class, or 2 middle class and 1 lower class.
2. You do one of the following actions:
   • If you have 2 BARLEY FIELDS and 2 SHIPYARDS, you get 2 blue cubes (galley).
   • You get 1 silver cube (coin) and 1 violet cube (cloth) by paying any 2 cubes consisting of orange cubes (infantry) and green cubes (cavalry).
   • You get 1 brown cube (wheat) and 1 violet cube (cloth) by paying any 4 cubes consisting of orange cubes (infantry), green cubes (cavalry), and blue cubes (galley).
   • If the blue square is empty and you put a blue cube (galley) on it, you get 9 victory points.
   • If the violet square is empty and you put a violet cube (cloth) on it, you get 12 victory points.

Atelier

1. You need to pay 1 middle class and 1 lower class.
2. You do one of the following actions:
   • If you have 2 KILNS and 2 VINEYARDS, you get 2 red cubes (wine).
   • If you have 2 KILNS and 2 OLIVE GROVES, you get 2 yellow cubes (olive oil).
   • If the red square is empty and you put a red cube (wine) on it, you get 8 victory points.
   • If the yellow square is empty and you put an yellow cube (olive oil) on it, you get 8 victory points.

Trader

1. You need to pay 1 upper class and 1 lower class, or 2 middle class and 1 lower class.
2. You do one of the following actions:
   • You get 2 violet cubes (cloth) by paying any 2 cubes consisting of red cubes (wine) and yellow cubes (olive oil).
   • You get 3 silver cubes (coin) by paying any 3 cubes consisting of red cubes (wine) and yellow cubes (olive oil).
   • You get 3 violet cubes (cloth) by paying any 4 cubes consisting of red cubes (wine) and yellow cubes (olive oil).
   • If the silver square is empty and you put a silver cube (coin) on it, you get 11 victory points.
   • If the violet square is empty and you put a violet cube (cloth) on it, you get 12 victory points.

Laurion Silver Mine

1. You need to pay either 1 upper class, 2 middle class, or 3 lower class.
2. You do one of the following actions:
   • You get 1 silver cube (coin).
   • If the silver square is empty and you put a silver cube (coin) on it, you get 11 victory points.

Action Cards (cont.)

Delphi

1. You need to pay 1 upper class and 1 lower class, or 2 middle class and 1 lower class.
2. You do one of the following actions:
   • You get 1 oracle card by paying any one cube.
   • You take 3 oracle cards and return 1 of these to the oracle card deck by paying a brown cube (wheat).

There are smiling and crying icons on the oracle cards. There are 4 types of these: 3 cards with 2 smiling icons, 3 cards with 2 crying icons, 9 cards with 1 smiling icon, 9 cards with 1 crying icon. At the end of the game, you add up the number of smiling icons and crying icons on your oracle cards, and then add or subtract victory points to the default points. You add 2 points for 2+ smiling icons and subtract 2 points for 2+ crying icons.

For example, if your all oracle cards are as shown on the left, you get 36 victory points for them (i.e. 9 + 9 + 9 + 9 + 2 - 2 = 36).

Village

When you choose VILLAGE, you take that card and place it in front of yourself.

1. You need to pay either 1 upper class, 2 middle class, or 3 lower class.
2. You put any 2 base cards of yours underneath the VILLAGE you just received. It is not recommended to use a flipped over base card for this because you would lose the 5 victory points for such a card.
3. A VILLAGE functions like a base card with any one base icon of your choice (i.e. a "joker") in the Action Phase. For example, if you have 1 base card on which there are 2 KILNS and you have 2 VILLAGES, you can get 2 red cubes (wine) or 2 yellow cubes (olive oil) by choosing ATELIER.
4. At game end your VILLAGES are worth 6 victory points each.

Ecclesia

When you choose ECCLESIA, you take that card and place it in front of yourself.

1. You need to pay either 1 upper class, 2 middle class, or 3 lower class.
2. At game end, your all ECCLESIA are worth some victory points: 5 points for 1 card, 11 points for 2 cards, 17 points for 3 cards, 24 points for 4+ cards.
3. If you have ECCLESIA, you may roll 2 grey people dice before choosing an action. You may roll them multiple times up to the number of your ECCLESIA cards. Then you reduce the required people tiles for choosing an action by the last of those results instead of the 2 white dice.

Agora

When you choose AGORA, you take that card and place it in front of yourself.

1. You need to pay either 1 upper class, 2 middle class, or 3 lower class.
2. You get 3 people tiles from the people bag.
3. If you have an AGORA, you may discard one of your people tiles and get a new one from the people bag before choosing an action. You may exchange your people tile multiple times up to the number of your AGORA cards.
4. Refer to the last section on the next page.
5. At game end your AGORAS are worth 5 victory points each.

Workshop

When you choose WORKSHOP, you take that card and place it in front of yourself.

1. You need to pay 1 upper class and 1 lower class, or 2 middle class and 1 lower class.
2. To choose WORKSHOP you need to have 1 QUARRY.
3. Refer to the last section on the next page.
4. At game end your WORKSHOPS are worth 5 victory points each.

Action Cards: Wonders Deck

The deck of 8 different cards: PARTHENON, ERECHTHEION, PANATHENAIC STADIUM, THEATER OF DIONYSUS, TEMPLE OF ATHENA NIKE, PROPYLAIA, STOA, and TEMPLE OF HEPHAESTUS.

When you choose a card from this deck, you take it together with the white wooden cylinder already placed on it. Place these in front of yourself—keeping the white cylinder on the circle marked with 1 victory point. Then flip over the top card of the deck and put another white cylinder on the circle marked with 1 victory point.

1. You need to pay 1 upper class, 1 middle class, and 2 lower class for PARTHENON, 1 upper class and 2 lower class each for ERECHTHEION-STOA, 1 middle class and 2 lower class for TEMPLE OF HEPHAESTUS.
2. You need to have 1 QUARRY for some cards and 2 QUARRIES for others.
3. If you have PARTHENON, ERECHTHEION, TEMPLE OF ATHENA NIKE, or TEMPLE OF HEPHAESTUS, you can choose it as an action—you need to pay 1 upper class or 2 middle class, and any one cube to get 1 oracle card.
4. When you take a card from this deck a white cylinder comes with it which hides 1 victory point. If you have an AGORA or WORKSHOP, you can move this white cylinder onto an empty circle on the left side of the AGORA or WORKSHOP: 1 circle on AGORA, 3 circles on WORKSHOP. This means you get additional victory points any time you move the white cylinders.
5. At game end this card is worth 5-8 victory points.

Game End

When a round is done and all event cards are face down, the game ends. Otherwise the game ends after 14 rounds—all base cards have been taken by the players then. Every player adds up their victory points as marked on their victory point cards, action cards, base cards, and oracle cards. The player with the most victory points is the winner.

Breaking a Tie

In the case of a tie, the tied players compare their base cards—they count the number of icons for every base icon type on their base cards. The player with the highest number wins. If that number is a tie too, then the tied compare their second-highest numbers and so on. For example, if player A and B are tied and their base cards are as shown in the example (player A's top 3 decks sorted by the number of icons: BARLEY FIELD, SMITHY, SHIPYARD; player B's top 3 decks sorted by the number of icons: KILN, VINEYARD, OLIVE GROVE), then player A wins.