Boonlake: Artifacts Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Materials
• Set-Up of the Game
• Changes During Gameplay
  • Artifact Phase
  • 1. Harbors
  • 2. Interim Scoring Changes
• New Elements
  • The Lake Gameboard
  • Effects That Let You Advance Your Figure on the Lake Gameboard
  • Effects on the Lake Gameboard
    • Income side
    • Victory point side
    • Immediate effects (that you get only through your boat)
  • Lake Conditions
  • The Shipyard
• This Is How Artifacts Work
  • Overview of the Artifacts
• Mastering of Scoring Tiles
• Changes in the Solo Mode
• New Card Effects
  • One-Time Effects
  • Immediate Effects
  • Clarification: One-Time Effects and "Putting Cards on the Discard Pile"
• Permanent Effects
• Game-End Effects

Game Materials

• 4 shipyard extensions
• 55 project cards (all project cards of this expansion can be recognized by the Residence symbol)
• 5 double-sided artifacts
• 1 lake gameboard
• 4 shipyards (1 per player)
• 12 improved scoring markers (3 per player)
• 5 vases
• 8 lake conditions
• 1 interim-scoring indicator
• 1 special building tile
• 8 price tiles
• 1 inhabitant (purple)
• 4 harbor tiles

Set-Up of the Game

1. Shuffle the project cards from the expansion along with those of the basic game.
2. Carry out steps 1 to 15 of the game set-up in the same way as described in the instructions for the base game. After that, place 1 harbor tile on each harbor space that shows a vase and/or a production site as a reward. Lay the interim-scoring indicator to the left of the scoring overview at the top of the base gameboard.
3. Put the lake gameboard on the table.
4. Each player places one of their inhabitants from the supply (not from their ranch) on the starting space of the lake gameboard. These are your treasure hunters.
5. Mix the lake conditions. Put a random lake condition – which has arrows pointing downward – on the upper space in the center of the lake gameboard and another lake condition – which has arrows pointing upwards – on the bottom space in the center of the lake gameboard. Put the remaining lake conditions back into the box.
6. Each player takes one shipyard extension and aligns it – with the side facing up as shown below – to the top left of their player board. Put the remaining shipyard extensions back into the box.
7. Each player takes the 3 improved scoring markers and shipyard in their color and puts them next to their player board. Put the remaining shipyards and improved scoring markers back into the box (you still need the scoring markers from the base game).
8. Mix the double-sided artifacts and lay out (with a random side facing up) 1 more than there are players. If you reveal an artifact showing the purple inhabitant or the special building tile, put the respective game piece on top of that artifact; otherwise, put the purple inhabitant or the special building tile back into the box. Put the price tiles within reach.

Changes During Gameplay

Mostly, Boonlake is played as normal. However, there are a few more elements that will influence your decisions. In addition, there is now a new phase before the first turn in the game – the artifact phase.

Artifact Phase

In this phase, players determine the prices of the artifacts.

To do so, carry out the following steps:

1. Each player takes the 2 price tiles corresponding to their position in the order of play.
2. Beginning with the player to the right of the player with the starting player token and then counterclockwise, everybody puts 1 of their 2 price tiles next to one of the artifacts. You may put the price tile next to any artifact, regardless of how many price tiles are already there.
3. Now repeat step 2, with the difference that the player with the starting player token is the first to put their second price tile next to an artifact of their choice and the others follow clockwise.
4. Once all 4/6/8 price tiles have been put next to artifacts, this phase ends.

Price tiles determine how much you must pay to retrieve the artifact (see "The Shipyard" below).

Besides this, 2 more rules of the base game change in this expansion.

1. Harbors

Unlike in the base game, when moving your ship, you must skip over harbor spaces that already contain a ship. (In other words, your ship may only stop in a harbor if there is no other ship there.) Skipped over harbor spaces are not included in your moving count (just as with any other occupied spaces). If you skip a harbor space that contains another player's ship, you may take the bonus of the harbor space you just skipped; but if you do, you must forgo the bonus of the space where your ship lands.

Example: Playing as red, you move your red ship 2 spaces. You skip the harbor space, because it already contains a ship (blue), and land on the space showing 1 inhabitant. Since you skipped over a Harbor space, you may either: gain 1 inhabitant (from your landing space); or, 1 vase (from the skipped-over harbor space).

2. Interim Scoring Changes

Before each interim scoring, you now carry out an additional phase.

(A) In this phase, some artifacts allow you to carry out an effect once you have activated its first level (see "This Is How Artifacts Work" below).

(B) Put 1 vase from the supply on each artifact in the display. The player who retrieves the artifact obtains the vase(s) on it as a bonus. Once all players have retrieved an artifact, this part of the phase is ignored.

New Elements

The Lake Gameboard

The new lake gameboard gives you additional possibilities to gain bonuses and points.

You begin the game with one inhabitant on the starting space of the lake gameboard – this is your treasure hunter. During the game, you can (through a "Develop" effect) build a shipyard (see "The Shipyard" below). As soon as you have built a shipyard, you replace your treasure hunter by one of the two boats from your player board and place it on the corresponding water space.

Whereas the treasure hunter always goes over land, your boat always moves on the lake.

For many rules regarding the lake gameboard, it is irrelevant whether you currently have a treasure hunter or a boat there; therefore, both are referred to as figures. Only if a certain rule applies to only one of them is this clearly denoted.

From the starting space, your figure can move in 2 directions – to the right or down. On the right, you might get bonuses that boost your production; but if you move it downward, you might get bonuses that give you victory points.

When you get your first step, you need to decide whether to move to the right or down. To this end, advance your figure 1 space: The treasure hunter is moved along the coast, the boat, on the water. There can be any number of treasure hunters or boats on each space.

Important: You do not get the bonus depicted on the coast space immediately!

At any time (even while another player is taking their turn or while you are carrying out another effect (e.g., during the final scoring)), you may put your figure back on the starting space in order to get the effect depicted on the coast next to this space. The longer you wait, the better the effect becomes. Instead of carrying out the effect of this space, you may also use the effect of a previous space (in both cases, however, you have to put your figure back on the starting space).

Some spaces show effects that you get only if you have a boat on the lake gameboard. All these are immediate effects that you may carry out when moving your boat onto the respective space. Your treasure hunter cannot give you these effects!

Your treasure hunter or your boat cannot go beyond the lock or the hill. Then – whenever you want – you must put them back on the starting space and choose an effect. Only after that can you move them ahead.

Effects That Let You Advance Your Figure on the Lake Gameboard

Every time you get this effect, you may advance your figure 1 space on the lake gameboard.

There are 3 possibilities that allow you to move your figure ahead on the lake gameboard:

A) If you advance your ship 3 or 4 spaces in phase C of your turn, you may advance your figure 1 space on the lake gameboard. Spaces you have skipped (because they are occupied by other ships) are not part of the move, as usual.

Reminder: If you play the game with the expansion, harbor spaces that already contain a ship are skipped!

B) At the beginning of the game, 2 conditions were placed on the lake gameboard.

• Whenever you fulfill the upper condition in the 1st round, you may advance your figure 1 space on the lake gameboard.
• Whenever you fulfill the bottom condition in the 2nd round, you may advance your figure 1 space on the lake gameboard.
• If you fulfill the upper condition in the 2nd round (or vice versa), you get no advance of your figure.

Reminder: The 1st round lasts until the end of the 2nd interim scoring; then, the 2nd round lasts until the end of the game.

C) Some cards show an immediate effect that lets you advance your figure 1 space on the lake gameboard.

Effects on the Lake Gameboard

Income side

• Gain 1 coin.
• Gain 1 inhabitant.
• You may either: build 1 production site on your player board; or, gain 1 vase.
• Advance your marker on the coin track 1 space.
• Gain 2 inhabitants and draw 2 cards.
• Advance your marker on the card track 2 spaces.
• Gain 2 vases and 7 coins.

Don't forget – you get the effect on the coast only if you put your figure back on the starting space!

Victory point side

• Earn 1 victory point.
• Pay 2 coins and discard 2 cards to immediately upgrade 1 house to 1 settlement. For this, you don't have to give up any inhabitants (not even if this is your third or fourth settlement), and you ignore the presence rule. But if you build the settlement in a region that already contains one of your settlements, you'll lose 5 victory points, as usual.
• Earn 5 victory points.
• Pay 8 coins and earn 10 victory points. Additionally, place 1 cattle from your player board onto the pasture at the bottom left of the lake gameboard. For this, you don't have to give up any inhabitants. This pasture may contain any number of cattle.
• Discard 8 cards to earn 14 victory points.
• Lose 2 inhabitants to earn 2 victory points for each card you have played next to your player board (limit: 20 victory points). These victory points are independent of those indicated at the bottom right of the cards.
• Earn 10 victory points.
• If you fulfill 1 or more of the following 3 conditions, earn 20 victory points:
  1. You have placed all 5 of your cattle.
  2. You have 7 or more lever tiles.
  3. You have played 12 or more cards next to your player board.

Immediate effects (that you get only through your boat)

• Gain 2 coins.
• Discard 1 card to gain 2 coins.

Lake Conditions

You may advance your figure 1 space on the lake gameboard whenever you…

Round 1

• …, during a "Develop" effect, place an inhabitant (or your shipyard) on a building site that shows either: a reward of 1 coin, 1 card, or no costs or bonuses at all.
• … play a card that requires 3 or more resources (in total).
• …, for the first time, develop in a region where you have no presence yet.
• … score a scoring tile successfully. Also, if you master it (page 9), you may advance your figure 1 additional space on the lake gameboard.

Round 2

• … get an (immediate) reward on the coin track or the card track.
• … build a level-2 production site.
• … put a lever tile in one of the 4 rows on your player board that doesn't yet contain any other lever tiles.
• … upgrade 1 inhabitant to 1 house. This does not apply to effects that allow you to place a house.

The Shipyard

Once in the game, during a "Develop" effect, you may build your shipyard instead of placing 1 inhabitant on a building site. The shipyard also counts as a presence. It is not possible to build the shipyard through an "Upgrade" effect!

In order to build the shipyard, you choose – as usual – any one vacant building site and build your shipyard there. For this, you also get the usual rewards on the building site, or you pay the costs. Here, the same rules apply as in the base game.

After that, you carry out the following 2 steps:

1. Replace your treasure hunter on the lake gameboard with one of your two boats from your player board. Place the boat on the space at the same level where your treasure hunter was – just into the water (and not onto the coast). If this space shows an immediate effect, you do not gain it. Put the treasure hunter back into the supply. From now on, you have 1 boat less on your player board at your disposal. But instead, you may immediately retrieve 1 artifact.
2. Choose one of the artifacts you want to retrieve from the display. Pay the costs shown on the price tiles. If you are not able to pay these costs, you need to choose a different artifact (or you may not carry out the effect). Then put the price tiles from the artifact you have chosen back into the box. Now turn over your shipyard extension and place the artifact below it appropriately.

This effect means that you have to move a lever tile down – without getting the effect.

This Is How Artifacts Work

Artifacts are special objects with outstanding attributes. In order for them to work, they need to be powered – luckily, you recently found out that vases store an enormous amount of energy and are perfectly suited for this purpose!

Each artifact shows 2 levels: the basic level and the advanced level. An artifact has an effect for you only after you have activated its basic level.

To activate the power supply, you may plug a vase from your supply into the artifact at any time. You must plug in vases from top to bottom. You can never remove or discard a plugged-in vase!

As soon as you have plugged in two vases at the basic level (the top 2 slots), you have the special ability depicted at the top of the artifact.

As soon as you have also plugged in the vase at the advanced level (the bottom slot), additionally get the ability printed at the bottom of the artifact. Sometimes, it is an immediate effect you must now resolve.

Overview of the Artifacts

The rulebook does not name the ten artifact sides; they are listed below in the order the rulebook shows them (numbered here for reference).

Artifact 1

• Basic level: Every time you put your boat back on the starting space of the lake gameboard (and gain the depicted effect for that), you additionally gain 1 coin per space you have reached.
• Advanced level: During final scoring: Get the effect showing on your boat's current space as normal; and in addition, get the effect on the space before that.

Artifact 2

• Basic level: At the beginning of each interim scoring, you may modernize once, paying 3 coins less for that.
• Advanced level: At the final scoring, you earn 1 victory point for each of your lever tiles.

Artifact 3

• Basic level: As soon as you activate the basic level of this artifact, immediately place 1 of your houses from your player board next to one of your production sites. Every time you use this production site (by playing a card/special building project that requires its resource), gain 1 coin. During interim scoring, you receive the income from this removed house as normal.
• Advanced level: As soon as you activate the advanced level, you may place 1 more house next to another one of your production sites. If you use 1 or 2 of your production sites next to which your houses are, you get 1 or 3 coins. In addition, you immediately earn 5 victory points.

Artifact 4

• Basic level: At the beginning of each interim scoring, you may place 1 house from your player board on a vacant building site (and, as usual, get the bonus for that or pay the costs). For this, you don't have to spend any inhabitants.
• Advanced level: At the end of the game, you earn 1 victory point for every house removed from your player board.

Artifact 5 (purple inhabitant)

• Basic level: You gain the purple inhabitant and place it on your ranch. You may only place it during a "Develop" effect, and only to put it on a building site. During the phase "Play a card and/or upgrade twice" at interim scoring, you also have the option to allow one of these two effects to lapse, in order to develop with your purple inhabitant (provided you have it in your ranch). If you upgrade your purple inhabitant to a house, place it back in your ranch.
• Advanced level: At the end of the game, you earn 1 victory point for each presence you have on the gameboard.

Artifact 6 (purple inhabitant)

• Basic level: As soon as you activate the basic level of this artifact, you immediately gain the purple inhabitant and place it on your ranch. After phase C of this turn, you have to develop with it. After that, the rule is: Every time that at least 1 building tile is put on the gameboard during an action (by any players), you may, after phase C of this turn, move your purple inhabitant to any other building site (and get the corresponding effect). However, this move doesn't count as "Develop" (which might be important for some other effects). The purple inhabitant is never removed from the gameboard and can't be upgraded to a house either.
• Advanced level: The purple inhabitant counts like 3 presences (instead of 1) for you.

Artifact 7 (special building tile)

• Basic level: As soon as you activate the basic level of this artifact, you may take the special building tile. Every time you are the active player, you may – in addition to the action you have chosen – put this building on the gameboard as if you would explore (and also get the bonus you are covering). The building tile consists of 2 halves on which only you may develop or place cattle. This building tile may not contain any presences of other players. If you develop here, you may advance your boat 2 spaces on the lake gameboard. The pasture may contain several of your cattle (but don't forget that the 1st/2nd/3rd cattle "costs" 1/2/3 inhabitants here as well.)
• Advanced level: As soon as you activate the advanced level, immediately earn 1 victory point and 2 coins for each presence (belonging to any players) adjacent to the special building tile, as well as for each presence on the building tile itself.

Artifact 8 (card costs and victory points)

• Basic level: Anytime you are eligible to play a card (or pay for a special project on a scoring tile), you may pay 1 or 3 coins to reduce the required resources you must pay by 1 or 2.
• Advanced level: Additionally, when resolving the effect above, gain 1 or 2 victory points when paying 1 or 3 coins.

Artifact 9 (cards kept face down)

• Basic level: Immediately put (up to) 4 cards from your hand, face down, on the artifact. At the beginning of each interim scoring, you may play 1 of these cards for free.
• Advanced level: Earn 1 victory point for each card you play from now on.

Artifact 10 (cost reduction)

• Basic level: All cards (and special building projects) cost you 1 coin less to pay for. Multiple of these effects are cumulative.
• Advanced level: Immediately earn 5 victory points once. Also, instead of the basic level's ability, all costs are reduced by 1 coin for you (playing cards, paying for special building projects, inhabitants, lever tiles, scoring tiles, building site costs, card effects…), but never less than 0 coins.

Mastering of Scoring Tiles

During the evaluation of the scoring tiles, you can now master scoring tiles at the first 3 interim scorings – which means that you fulfill not only the condition on the scoring tile for the current interim scoring but also the condition for the next interim scoring (i.e., the value to the right of the current scoring value).

If you manage to master a scoring tile, you may exchange the scoring marker for the next interim scoring with the corresponding improved scoring marker.

(The rulebook shows the scoring marker and improved marker values for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd interim scorings only as icons in its illustration; they are not transcribed here.)

The improved scoring markers work the same way as the scoring markers in the base game, with the difference that they give you more victory points if you fulfill the condition (or make you lose more victory points if you don't!).

Example: During the first interim scoring, Mario advanced his marker on the coin track 3 spaces. With this, he has fulfilled not only the current scoring condition of 1 space, but also the next one which requires 2 spaces. Mario is able to master this scoring tile, so he puts his scoring marker showing 1 victory point next to this scoring tile, as usual, and exchanges his 2nd scoring marker (showing 3) with the improved version (showing 5).

To clarify: When you master a scoring condition, you do not gain additional points now, you only gain an improved scoring marker for the next interim scoring.

Changes in the Solo Mode

The rules for the solo mode remain the same as in the base game, with the following exceptions:

• Before the game begins, choose 1 artifact and put it next to the gameboard. As soon as you are allowed to retrieve an artifact, take this artifact for free (without paying any costs). (If you prefer to choose from several artifacts, you can lay out 2 or 3 artifacts instead, face up, and choose one of them only when you may retrieve an artifact.)
• The Wise Eminence gets no artifact and is not represented on the lake gameboard either.
• At the end of the game, the Wise Eminence earns 3 victory points for each A-tile that has not been revealed yet.

Can you manage to win with all artifacts against the Wise Eminence?

New Card Effects

One-Time Effects

You may carry out effects with this symbol at any time once in the game, after you have played the card. After that, you must put the card on the discard pile (and, accordingly, you will not earn any victory points for it at the end of the game!). Therefore, you need to weigh whether you would prefer the effect or the victory points.

During an interim scoring, you may put this card from your display onto the discard pile to make it easier for you to score during this interim scoring as follows: you may use the value of the space to the left of the current required scoring value. Several such effects are cumulative and facilitate the condition even more. The first of the four values may never be facilitated. After that, put the card on the discard pile.

This one-time effect is also compatible with mastering a scoring tile – in order to master it with the help of this effect, you would just have to reach the normal value (and not the higher one).

Example: If you activate this effect, you would only need to advance 2 spaces (instead of 4) on the card track to fulfill the condition of this scoring tile during the 3rd interim scoring. If you activated 2 such effects, the cumulative effect would require you only to advance 1 space (instead of 4) on the card track.

• Put this card from your display onto the discard pile and gain 1 inhabitant.
• Put this card from your display onto the discard pile and gain the number of coins shown.
• Anytime you are eligible to play a card (or pay for a special project on a scoring tile), you may put this card from your display onto the discard pile to reduce the required resources you must pay by up to 2.

Immediate Effects

• Advance your treasure hunter or boat 1 space on the lake gameboard.
• You may immediately discard 1 card to advance your treasure hunter or boat 2 spaces on the lake gameboard.
• Replace one of your houses on the gameboard with a settlement from your player board. Place the house back into the last unoccupied recess. If you have built the settlement in a region that already contains one of your settlements, you do not have to lose 5 victory points.
• Move your marker on the card track 1 space backward to gain 1 vase. You do not gain any reward you move backward across; however, if you move forward again on this track, you do gain the reward again (for a second time).
• You may immediately modernize once by paying the usual coin cost.

Clarification: One-Time Effects and "Putting Cards on the Discard Pile"

As part of "one-time effects", when you put cards on the discard pile, it is not considered a discarded card for permanent or other triggered effects.

For example: One permanent effect on page 11 states: "Each time you discard the indicated card, gain 1 inhabitant;" however, putting a card in the discard pile as part of a one-time effect does not allow you to gain an inhabitant.

Permanent Effects

• Each time any player chooses the "Builder" action, you may draw 1 card.
• Each time any player chooses "Region scoring", you score for all regions, regardless of the region where the region marker was placed.
• Each time you develop, gain 2 coins. This includes building your shipyard.
• Gain 1 coin for each inhabitant you gain through any effects. (Including the purple inhabitant.)
• Each time you discard the indicated card, gain 1 inhabitant. This effect applies every time you discard such a card – for instance, also if you choose not to place cattle and, instead, discard a card.
• Every time a presence (of any player) is established on the building tile with your shipyard or on a tile adjacent to this, you may draw 2 cards.
• Some building tiles show 2 building sites. Every time you develop and place your inhabitant (or the shipyard) on the bottom one of these two building sites, earn 3 victory points (or gain the depicted number of coins).
• Every time you place cattle from your player board onto the gameboard (or the lake gameboard), you may advance your treasure hunter or boat 1 space on the lake gameboard.

Game-End Effects

• Earn 3 or 5 victory points at the end of the game if you have at least 5 or 8 presences on the gameboard. Your shipyard also counts as a presence. This does not include the lake gameboard.
• For 1 or 2 complete rows with 3 levers on your player board, you earn 4 or 6 victory points. A row is considered complete if it contains 3 levers.
• Earn 2 victory points for each region that contains 1 or more of your cattle (i.e., up to 8 victory points). The lake gameboard does not count as a region.
• Earn 2 or 5 victory points if you have at least 2 or 5 cards in your display with permanent effects.