Builders of Sylvan Dale Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Goal of the Game
• Components
  • Assembling the Divider
• Setup
• How to Play
  • 1. Playing a Card
  • 2. Adding a Tile to a Tree
  • 3. Choosing a New Card
• Banners
• Special Items
• Axes
• Hammers
• Treetops
• Bridges
• Rounds
• Scoring
  • Prestige
  • Preeminence
• Winning the Game
• Scoring Summary

Goal of the Game

Become the most famous architect of Sylvan Dale by skillfully directing the construction of dwellings and bridges among the Great Trees.

Components

Builders of Sylvan Dale includes:

• This rulebook
• 1 game board (two sided)
• 80 playing cards
• 20 tree bases (in two parts)
• 64 tree tiles (16 of each color)
• 64 banners (16 of each color)
• 6 ax tokens
• 6 hammer tokens
• 12 bridges
• 9 treetops
• 50 1-point fame tokens
• 28 5-point fame tokens
• 20 20-point fame tokens
• 1 component divider (in five parts)

Assembling the Divider

Assemble the five large rectangular dividers as shown, placing them in the box bottom to store the game pieces. We suggest to place the tree bases in the two central sections, the tree tiles in the four corners and the other components as you prefer.

Setup

The first time you play, you will need to put the tree bases together, as shown.

1. 4-player game: Place all 20 tree bases randomly on the marked spaces on the game board.

   3-player game: Use the back of the game board, with fewer marked spaces. Place 16 tree bases randomly on the marked spaces.

   2-player game: Use the back of the game board, with fewer marked spaces. Do not place tree bases on the 3 spaces in the light green grass area: these spaces will not be used. Place 13 tree bases randomly on the other marked spaces.

2. Have each player choose a color and take all the tree tiles and banners of that color. Shuffle your tiles and place them in 2 stacks of 8 tiles. Place 1 stack in front of you: this stack will be used in the first round of the game. Place the other stack to the side of your playing area: it will be used in the second round of the game.

3. Shuffle the playing cards, and deal 4 cards to each player as their starting hand.

4. Place the rest of the deck face down next to the game board. Draw 3 cards from the deck and place them face up next to the deck.

5. Place the fame tokens, ax tokens, hammer tokens, bridges, and treetops in separate piles next to the game board, to form a general supply to draw from during the game.

How to Play

Players should sit at the corners of the board. This will give players a better view of the board as the city of Sylvan Dale builds vertically. The player who most recently climbed a tree goes first, and play continues clockwise.

For 2-player games only: The player who goes second receives a treetop as a starting bonus. Place the bonus treetop on the table in front of the second player.

On your turn, you will, in order:

1. play a card from your hand,
2. add a tile to a tree, and
3. choose a new card.

You may also be able to attach a banner to a tree and/or use a special item (ax token, hammer token, bridge, or treetop) on your turn, as explained later.

1. Playing a Card

At the beginning of your turn, choose one card from your hand and place it face up in front of you. Each playing card displays a dwelling, a creature, and an icon. There are 4 different species of creatures in Sylvan Dale, and each species corresponds to a different dwelling style. The dwelling style on the card shows where you can add a tile during the next step.

2. Adding a Tile to a Tree

Each tile shows a dwelling with a specific architectural style. There are 4 different dwelling styles, as shown below.

On your turn, you add 1 tile to a tree. Choose a tree on which the dwelling at its top matches the style of the dwelling shown on the card you just played. Then, take the top tile from the tile stack in front of you and add it to that tree.

Important! Once the game begins, you cannot change the order of the tiles in your tile stacks. However, you may look through the stacks.

Note: In the rare event your cards do not allow you to add a tile (because none of their dwellings match the top dwelling on any tree on the board), you can show them, discard your entire hand, and draw 3 new cards from the top of the deck.

The player with the most tiles in a tree has prestige for that tree. If 2 or more players have the same number of tiles in a tree, then only the player among them with the tile highest in the tree has prestige.

Example: The red player and yellow player each have 2 tiles in the tree. However, the yellow player has the highest tile, so the yellow player has prestige for the tree.

At the end of each round of the game, players will earn fame points for any trees for which they have prestige. (See Scoring, page 10).

Important! A tree can have a maximum of 6 levels (1 base and 5 tiles). The number of levels in a tree is also called its height.

3. Choosing a New Card

At the end of your turn, either draw the face-down card from the top of the deck, or take one of the face-up cards next to the deck. Add the card to your hand. If you took a face-up card, replace it with a card drawn from the top of the deck.

Note: If, before choosing the card, all 3 face-up cards show either the same dwelling style or the same icon, you may discard all the cards and replace them with 3 new cards from the top of the deck.

Note: If the deck is empty when a card is to be drawn, shuffle the discard pile to form a new deck.

Banners

If a tile you've just added to a tree has the same dwelling style as two or more other tiles already in that tree, you can attach one of your banners to that tile.

The color of the other tree tiles, or their exact position in the tree, does not matter — only the style of the dwelling counts.

You score 5 fame points when you place a banner. To keep track of your points, take a 5-point fame token from the general supply and put it in front of you.

Banners can never be removed from a tree. If a tile that has a banner attached is removed from a tree (see Axes and Hammers, page 9), simply move the banner to a lower tile (or the base).

Important! You can only place one of your banners on a single tree. You can, however, attach your banner to a tree that already has another player's banner, if the tile you are placing has the same dwelling style as 2 or more other tiles already in that tree.

Special Items

When you finish your turn, the card you played on your turn stays face-up in front of you. You can gain a special item by collecting a set of 3 cards with matching icons. There are four different icons, and each icon allows you to gain a different item.

When you have a complete set, you may take either an ax token, hammer token, bridge, or treetop (depending on the icon on the cards) from the general supply and discard those cards to the shared discard pile.

Some cards have both bridge and treetop icons: you can use such a card as either a treetop card or a bridge card.

Example: A player collects a set of 3 cards that have a bridge icon. He then discards the cards and gains a bridge.

You can use an item on the same turn you gain it, or keep it for later use.

You may use only one special item per turn, and the item may only be used after you add a tile to a tree (step 2 of your turn).

Axes

An ax token allows you to remove a tile from a tree. To use an ax token, place it back in the general supply, and then remove the top tile from any tree. The removed tile is placed back in the game box and cannot be used again.

Hammers

A hammer token allows you to move one of your tree tiles from one tree to another tree. To use a hammer token, place it back in the general supply, and then remove one of your tiles from the top of any tree and place the tile on the top of any other tree.

Note: This movement might allow you to place a banner, if the destination tree already has 2 or more tiles of the same style.

Treetops

You can place a treetop on any tree of any height, including an empty tree base. Once a treetop is placed, no more tiles can be added to the tree, and an ax or hammer token cannot be used to remove the treetop or any tiles from that tree.

Treetops are not considered a "level" and therefore do not count against a tree's maximum height and do not score points.

Bridges

A bridge can be placed to connect any two adjacent trees (trees situated diagonally from each other are not adjacent). When you place a bridge, attach a banner of your color to it.

You can only place one bridge between the same two adjacent trees; however, you can place a bridge between two trees where another player has already placed a bridge.

If you have prestige for one or both connected trees (because you have the most dwellings in them), you immediately score fame points — score 1 fame point for each level in each tree you just connected for which you have prestige. To keep track of the points you score for your bridge, take the correct amount of fame tokens from the general supply, and put them in front of you.

A bridge cannot be removed from a tree. If an ax or hammer token is used to remove a tile that has a bridge attached to it, simply move the bridge to a lower tile (or the base).

Example: The red player places a bridge between two trees. She has prestige for both trees, so she scores 7 fame points because there is a total of 7 levels in the trees — 4 levels in the tree on the left and 3 levels in the tree on the right.

Rounds

The game is played in 2 rounds. When every player has emptied the stack of tiles in front of them, the first round ends and players score points for any trees for which they have prestige and any districts in which they have preeminence (see Scoring, on this page and the next). Then, place your second stack of tiles in front of you to begin the second round. Any incomplete card sets and unused special items from the first round can be kept for the second round.

Play begins with the person who played last in the first round and proceeds counterclockwise. When everyone has emptied their second stack of tiles, the game ends. Players again score fame points for trees and districts.

Scoring

There are 4 ways to score fame points:

• placing banners;
• placing bridges;
• having prestige for trees;
• having preeminence in districts.

Players score banners and bridges immediately after placing them (see Banners, page 8, and Bridges, page 9).

Trees and districts are scored at the end of each round. To keep track of your fame points, take the correct amount of fame tokens from the general supply and put them in front of you.

Prestige

There are 13 to 20 trees on the board, depending on the number of players. The player with the most tiles in each tree has prestige for that tree and earns all the fame points for it. If two or more players have the same number of tiles in a tree, then the player among them with the tile highest in the tree has prestige for that tree and earns all the points for it.

Each level of a tree (including the base and all tiles) for which you have prestige is worth 1 fame point.

Example: The red player has the most tiles in this tree, so she has prestige for it and scores 4 fame points. The blue player does not have prestige — he scores 0 points for this tree.

Preeminence

Sylvan Dale is composed of 5 different districts. Each district is indicated by a different type of color/background on the game board and includes 3 to 5 trees.

At the end of each round, a player has preeminence in a district if they have prestige for the most trees in that district.

The player with preeminence in a district earns 2 fame points for each tree in that district — neither the height of the tree nor who has prestige for it matters.

If there is a tie for preeminence in a district, then each of the tied players earns 1 fame point for each tree in that district instead.

Example: The red player has prestige for 2 trees in the district; the blue player has prestige for 1. The fourth tree has no tiles added to it. The red player scores 8 fame points because she has preeminence in this district.

Winning the Game

The player with the most fame points after the second round wins the game. If there is a tie, then the player who has prestige for the most trees wins. If there is still a tie, then the player who has placed the most banners wins.

Scoring Summary

Why	When	Fame Points	Page
Placing a banner	Immediately	5	8
Placing a bridge	Immediately	1 x tree height (if you have prestige there)	9
Prestige for a tree	End of 1st round and 2nd round	1 x tree height	10
Preeminence in a district	End of 1st round and 2nd round	2 x trees in the district	11
Preeminence in a district (tied players)	End of 1st round and 2nd round	1 x trees in the district	11

Prestige: Most tiles in a tree. Highest tile breaks the tie.

Preeminence: Most trees with prestige in the district.