Cartouche Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Setup
• Gameplay
  • 1. Draft Phase
  • 2. Place Phase
  • Mural Icons: Collecting Story Tokens
  • Spending Story Tokens
  • Cartouche Tiles
  • 3. Score Phase
  • Completing Achievements
  • Gaining Ankh Bonuses
  • End of the Game
• Pyramid Expansion
• Solo Mode
  • Solo Setup
  • Solo Gameplay
• Achievement Card Guide

Components

• 68 Mural Tiles
• 1 Drawstring Bag
• 1 First Player Marker
• 100 Story Tokens
• 35 Black Tiles
• 60 Cartouche Tiles
• 25 Scarab Tokens
• 1 Achievement Board (double sided)
• 1 Solo Reference Card
• 50 Story Cards
• 12 Starting Story Cards
• 9 Achievement Cards
• 4 Reference Cards
• 24 Ankhs
• 4 Mural Boards (double sided)

Setup

1. Place the achievement board in the center of the table. Make sure to use the side of the board marked for your player count (either 1–2 players or 3–4 players).
2. Shuffle the achievement cards and deal 1 face-up to each of the 3 slots on the achievement board. Return the remainder to the box. If this is your group's first game, use the 3 cards with the first-game icon in the corner.
3. Place the cartouche tiles, black tiles, story tokens, and scarab tokens in the center of the table. These components make up the supply.
4. Shuffle the story cards together. Randomly remove cards from the deck until it is the appropriate size for your player count, as indicated by the table below. Return all removed cards to the box. This information is also shown on the achievement board.

# Players	Deck Size
1	20
2	30
3	40
4	50

5. Place all of the mural tiles into the drawstring bag.
6. Each player chooses a color and takes the following items:
   • 1 mural board. All players must use the same side of their mural board (A or B). If this is your group's first game, use side A.
   • 1 reference card of their color.
   • 6 ankhs of their color. All players place their ankhs on the marked spaces along the left side of their mural board.
7. Shuffle the starting story cards together. Deal 1 face-up to the first slot at the top of each player's mural board. Return the remainder to the box. Starting story cards have the starting-story icon in the corner.
8. Give the first player marker to whoever most recently walked like an ancient Egyptian.

Gameplay

Cartouche takes place over 10 rounds. Each round has 3 phases:

1. Draft: Deal out a number of mural tiles and story cards based on your player count. Players take turns drafting tiles and/or cards.
2. Place: Everyone simultaneously places the tiles they've drafted onto their murals and collects story tokens from matches they make.
3. Score: Everyone simultaneously completes any stories and achievements they have now met the requirements for.

After the third phase, the first player marker is passed clockwise and a new round begins.

1. Draft Phase

Deal out mural tiles from the bag and story cards from the deck, placing them in 2 face-up rows in the center of the table. The tiles can be placed with either side showing, as each tile is mirrored on the opposite side. The cards should be face-up.

The number of tiles and cards to deal out depends on your player count. This is shown in the table below and also on the achievement board.

# Players	Cards	Tiles
1	2	3
2	3	4
3	4	5
4	5	6

Starting with the player who has the first player marker and continuing clockwise, take turns drafting either 1 tile or 1 card from what is available.

Drafting a story card: When you draft a story card, place it in 1 of the 4 slots at the top of your mural board. This is called the active area. If all 4 slots are occupied, you must discard a different card immediately.

Drafting a mural tile: When you draft a mural tile, add it to the area along the left side of your mural board, but do not place it yet! This is called your reserve.

Once each player has drafted 2 items (either 2 tiles, 2 cards, or 1 of each), all undrafted items are discarded. Put any discarded tiles near the bag and any discarded cards in a face-up discard pile next to the deck.

2. Place Phase

After the Draft Phase has ended, all players may simultaneously place mural tiles from their reserve onto their mural.

Tiles placed on your mural must follow the placement rules below. You may place tiles from your reserve in any order, but you may not have more than 1 mural tile in your reserve at the end of this phase. (Cartouche tiles do not count against this limit.)

This phase ends once all players declare that they are done placing tiles.

Note: You may not discard mural tiles from your mural or reserve!

Tile placement rules

• You MUST place a tile so that at least 1 of its edges touches the reeds printed on the mural and/or another tile you have placed previously.
• You MAY freely flip and/or rotate a tile when you place it. All tiles are mirrored on the opposite side.
• You MAY cover printed icons on the mural.
• You MAY NOT place any part of a tile outside the mural.
• You MAY NOT move a tile you have placed previously.
• You MAY NOT overlap tiles.

Side A and side B

On side A of the mural boards, the reeds are printed along the bottom edge of the mural. On side B, they are printed in the center.

• Side A: New tiles must touch the reeds or another tile you have placed previously.
• Side B: New tiles do not need to be "supported" by tiles placed below them on the mural.

Touching objects

Objects on the mural (i.e., tiles, icons, and the reeds) are only considered to be touching if they meet at an edge. If they only meet at a corner, they are not considered to be touching.

Mural Icons: Collecting Story Tokens

There are 4 unique glyphs — cat, snake, human, and crocodile — which match the 4 unique icons that appear on the mural boards.

Each mural tile has either 1 or 2 glyphs, represented by colored segments with illustrations. When you place a mural tile, check to see if any of the glyphs on the tile are touching any matching icons printed on your mural board. For each match created, collect 1 story token of that type from the supply and add it to your reserve.

• Example: Tina places a tile whose glyph touches 2 matching icons, so she collects 2 cat tokens.
• Example: Jenna places a tile with 2 glyphs. Each glyph touches 1 matching icon, so she collects 1 cat token and 1 human token.

If a glyph touches the same icon along more than 1 edge, that still only counts as a single match.

Spending Story Tokens

Story tokens are spent to complete stories (see Score Phase), however you can also spend them at any time for the bonuses described below. When you spend story tokens, return them from your reserve to the supply.

1x1 cartouche tile: You may spend any 2 story tokens to take a 1x1 cartouche tile from the supply and add it to your reserve. If you do this during the Place Phase, you may immediately place it on your mural.

Scarab token: You may spend any 2 story tokens to take 1 scarab token from the supply and add it to your reserve. If you do this during the Score Phase, you may immediately spend it while completing a story.

Important: You may have any number of cartouche tiles in your reserve. These do not count toward the limit of 1 mural tile.

Important: The 2 story tokens you spend for a bonus can be the same or different.

Cartouche Tiles

Cartouche tiles are special tiles that you can gain by spending story tokens and completing achievements (see Completing Achievements).

When you gain a cartouche tile of any size, add it to your reserve. You can place cartouche tiles from your reserve onto your mural during the Place Phase, just like mural tiles, following all of the same placement rules.

Cartouche tiles cannot create matches with the printed icons on your mural, so you do not collect story tokens when placing them. However, during the Score Phase, cartouche tiles on your mural count as every type of glyph, which can help you complete river stories and certain achievement cards.

Cartouche tiles in your reserve do not count toward the limit of 1 mural tile at the end of the Place Phase. You may keep any number of cartouche tiles in your reserve for the next round, as well as 1 mural tile.

Cartouche tiles come in 1x1, 2x2 and 4x1 sizes.

3. Score Phase

After the Place Phase has ended, all players may simultaneously complete any stories and achievements that they meet the requirements for.

Completing stories

Stories can only be completed during the Score Phase. You may complete any number of your active stories that you meet the requirements for.

Each story card has a type, which indicates the requirements for completing it and which achievements it counts toward upon completion. There are 3 types of stories: token stories, chamber stories, and river stories.

When you complete a story, move it to the completed area along the right side of your mural board, placing it in the slot for its story type. Keep completed stories face-up and fanned slightly so that their point values are visible.

If you complete multiple stories in the same round, you may complete them in any order.

Example: After completing a river story, Tycho moves it to the completed area, placing it in the river slot. He will score 5 points for this story at the end of the game.

Important: If a story has any icons with a small black circle in the corner, you must cover those icons with black tiles when you complete the story (see Black Tiles).

Important: Once you have completed a story, it remains completed even if your mural changes later and you no longer meet its requirements.

Token stories

To complete a token story, you must spend story tokens of the exact number and type shown on the card. You may spend scarab tokens in place of any of the required story tokens. Tokens are spent from your reserve and returned to the supply.

• Example: Jenna completes a token story by spending 1 cat token and 1 crocodile token.
• Example: Tycho completes a token story by spending 1 scarab token and 1 snake token.

Chamber stories

To complete a chamber story, you must enclose a chamber on your mural that contains the icons shown on the card.

A chamber is an area of any size and shape that is enclosed on all sides by tiles and/or the edges of the mural. The tiles used to enclose a chamber can be any combination of mural tiles, cartouche tiles, and black tiles. Spaces that only meet the chamber at its corners do not need to be filled with tiles for the chamber to be enclosed.

The edges of the mural can be used to enclose a chamber.

You do not have to fill the spaces at the corners of a chamber to enclose it.

The enclosed chamber must contain the exact number and type of icons shown on the card. You cannot complete a story with a chamber that contains any extra icons (but you can "remove" extra icons by placing tiles to cover them).

• Example: Tina completes a chamber story by enclosing a chamber that contains exactly 1 cat icon, 1 snake icon, and 1 human icon. There are no extra icons in the chamber.

Multi-chamber stories

Some chamber stories require multiple chambers with their own required icons. In these cases, each of the required chambers must be enclosed separately. Chambers that share a corner are still considered to be separate.

• Example: Jenna completes a multi-chamber story by enclosing 2 separate chambers. The first chamber contains 1 crocodile icon, and the second chamber contains 1 human icon. There are no extra icons in either chamber.

River stories

To complete a river story, you must create a river of matching glyphs that touches the icons shown on the card.

A river is a continuous path of any size and shape that is made of tile segments with the same type of glyph. Each glyph in the river must touch at least 1 other glyph in the river (i.e., they must meet at an edge).

The river must also touch each of the icons shown on the card. Unlike chambers, however, rivers can touch extra icons that are not shown on the card. The presence of extra icons touching the river does not invalidate it.

The type of glyph used to create a river does not matter, as long as all of the glyphs in the river are the same type.

• Example: Tycho completes a river story by creating a river of crocodile glyphs. The river touches all 3 of the required icons: 1 crocodile icon, 1 human icon, and 1 snake icon. The extra cat icon is allowed!

Cartouche tiles in rivers

For the purposes of river stories, cartouche tiles count as every type of glyph. In other words, every cartouche tile on your mural can always be part of any river that it touches. You may even create a river that has only cartouche tiles.

Black tiles

Some chamber and river stories show a small black circle on 1 or more of their icon requirements. When you complete a story that has black circles, you must immediately place a black tile from the supply on each marked icon that you used to complete your story. If a river touches multiple icons of a type that must be covered, you may choose which icon to cover.

Once an icon has been covered by a black tile, it no longer provides story tokens, and it cannot be used to meet icon requirements of other stories or achievements. Black tiles cannot be part of rivers, but they do count as filled space for enclosing chambers or filling rows and columns.

Because black tiles cover icons, the order in which you complete stories during the Score Phase is important! Completing a story and covering an icon can prevent you from completing another story which needs that icon ... or it can help you complete a story which needs that icon to be covered.

• Example: When Tycho completes a river story, he must place a black tile on the crocodile icon that touches the eligible river.
• Example: When Tina completes a 5-point chamber story, she must place a black tile on the snake icon inside it. Covering the snake icon leaves only the cat icon, so she can now complete a 3-point chamber story, too!

Completing Achievements

The achievement board shows 7 achievements that every player can complete over the course of the game.

If you meet an achievement's requirements, you may complete it during the Score Phase to gain an ankh bonus immediately (see Gaining Ankh Bonuses) and score points at the end of the game. You may complete any number of achievements during the Score Phase, in any order, but you may only complete each achievement once per game.

When you complete an achievement, move an ankh of your choice from your mural board to the achievement board. Where you place it — and how much you will score — is based on how quickly you completed the achievement:

• If you are the first player to complete the achievement, place your ankh in the first space below that achievement.
• If you complete the achievement after someone else has already done so, place your ankh in the next available space instead.
• If you complete the achievement in the same round as 1 or more opponents, place your ankhs sharing the next available space.
• If you complete the achievement when all spaces below it are occupied already, place your ankh sharing the last space.

The 7 achievements are divided into 4 story achievements, which are the same in every game, and 3 achievement cards, which are dealt randomly from the achievement deck at the start of every game. Like stories, once you have completed an achievement, you no longer need to meet the requirements for it.

Story achievements

• 3 Token Stories: Have 3 or more completed token stories.
• 3 Chamber Stories: Have 3 or more completed chamber stories.
• 3 River Stories: Have 3 or more completed river stories.
• 5 Matching Stories: Have 5 or more completed stories of the same type.

Achievement cards

Achievement cards have similar requirements to story cards, but they are more difficult. See the Achievement Card Guide at the end of this rulebook for a complete guide to the achievement cards.

Gaining Ankh Bonuses

When you complete an achievement, move an ankh of your choice from your mural board to the achievement board and gain the corresponding ankh bonus.

Each ankh bonus gains you extra tiles and/or tokens. Tiles and tokens gained from ankh bonuses are added to your reserve and cannot be used until the next round. This includes scarab tokens gained from ankh bonuses, which cannot be spent to complete token stories in the same round they are gained — unlike scarab tokens gained from spending story tokens, which can be spent immediately (see Spending Story Tokens).

Important: Once you have placed all of your ankhs, you cannot complete any more achievements and therefore cannot gain more ankh bonuses.

Important: The limit of 1 mural tile in your reserve only applies at the end of the Place Phase.

The ankh bonuses are:

• 3 Cartouche Tiles (1x1): Take three 1x1 cartouche tiles from the supply and add them to your reserve.
• 1 Cartouche Tile (4x1): Take a 4x1 cartouche tile from the supply and add it to your reserve.
• 1 Cartouche Tile (2x2) and 1 Scarab Token: Take a 2x2 cartouche tile and 1 scarab token from the supply and add them to your reserve.
• 2 Scarab Tokens: Take 2 scarab tokens from the supply and add them to your reserve.
• 1 Mural Tile: Draw 3 mural tiles from the bag. Choose 1 to add to your reserve. Put the other 2 in the discard pile.
• Repeat Bonus: Choose an ankh bonus that you have already gained. Gain that ankh bonus again.

End of the Game

The game ends after the 10th round, when there are no story cards left in the deck.

Final placement

Once all players have completed the Score Phase of the 10th round, each player may place any remaining tiles from their reserve on their mural and immediately complete any stories and achievements that they meet the requirements for.

If you complete an achievement during final placement, you must place your ankh on the last space below the achievement, even if other spaces are available.

Important: If you complete an achievement during final placement, your ankh always goes on the last space.

You still gain ankh bonuses from achievements completed during final placement. Unlike during the rest of the game, you may immediately use any tiles and tokens you gain — and complete additional stories and achievements by doing so.

Final scoring

Once all players are done with final placement, each player tallies their final score:

• Completed Stories: Score the points printed on all completed stories next to your mural board. Uncompleted stories are worth no points.
• Completed Achievements: Score the points printed below each space of the achievement board with 1 of your ankhs.
• Scarab Tokens: Exchange your remaining story tokens for scarab tokens at the normal 2:1 exchange rate, then score 1 point for each scarab token you have.
• Leftover Items: Any mural tiles, cartouche tiles, black tiles, and story tokens left in your reserve are worth no points.

Whoever has the most points is the winner! In the case of a tie, the tied player who completed the most stories wins. If still tied, the tied player with the prettiest mural wins!

Example scoring sheet (Purple): Stories 51, Achievements 30, Scarabs + 2, Total 83.

Trophy card

This game includes a trophy card! After each game, the winner can claim 1 of the listed trophies if they met its requirements during the game. Write their initials next to it.

• The winner can only claim 1 trophy per game.
• Once a trophy has been claimed, nobody else can claim that same trophy later.
• When all trophies have been claimed, the player with the most trophies is the overall champion!

Pyramid Expansion

Components: 20 Pyramid Story Cards, 3 Pyramid Achievement Cards.

To use this expansion, shuffle the pyramid story cards and pyramid achievement cards into their respective decks during setup, before removing any cards from either deck. Note that, in a 4-player game, you will now have to remove cards from the story deck to reach the required deck size of 50 cards.

During the game, you may draft pyramid stories during the Draft Phase and complete pyramid stories and achievements during the Score Phase. To complete a pyramid story or achievement, you must create a pyramid of filled space on your mural that is bordered on the marked edges by empty space.

Each pyramid card shows a shaded area A that must be completely filled with tiles and a thick border B where the shaded area must touch empty space. Any edges of the shaded area with no thick border can be touching filled space or empty space.

• A pyramid can appear in any position on your mural and in any orientation.
• It can be filled with any combination of mural tiles, cartouche tiles, and black tiles.
• The empty space around it must be squares without tiles and/or the edges of the mural. Squares with printed icons but no tiles are still considered empty space.
• A pyramid must touch empty space along each edge marked with a thick border.
• A pyramid can touch anything along an edge with no thick border.
• The edges of the mural count as empty space.
• The shaded area of a pyramid must be completely filled with tiles.
• Squares that are adjacent to the thick border only at a corner are not touching the pyramid, so they can be filled or empty.

Important: Squares with printed icons but no tiles count as empty space for pyramid stories and achievements.

Pyramid windows

Some pyramid cards show a thick border within a shaded area. In these cases, the area outside the border must be filled space and the area inside the border must be empty space. Where there is no thick border, the pyramid may touch either filled space or empty space.

Completing pyramid stories

When you complete a pyramid story, you choose whether to place it in the token, chamber, or river slot in the completed area along the right side of your mural board. Once placed there, it counts as that type of story for completing achievements.

• Example: Henry just completed a pyramid story. Based on where he chooses to place the card, he could then complete the achievement for 3 token stories or for any 5 matching stories.

Important: The sun icon at the top of each pyramid card is used only in the solo mode (see Solo Mode).

Pyramid stories in solo mode

When your opponent drafts a pyramid story card, they place it based on its point value:

• 3 points: token slot
• 5 points: chamber slot
• 7 points: river slot

Solo Mode

The museum you work for is testing new mural reconstruction software. It uses advanced algorithms to deduce the original intent of the ancient artist. It's up to you to prove your skills against the AI so that you can keep your job. Otherwise, the software will replace you, and you will join the cartouche as another relic of the past!

Solo Setup

Follow the setup instructions for a 2-player game, with the following exceptions:

• Remove story cards from the deck until there are only 20 cards left.
• Set up 2 mural boards: 1 for yourself and 1 for your opponent. Do not deal a starting story card to your opponent.
• Return the first player marker to the box.
• Place the solo reference card nearby.

Solo Gameplay

Draft phase

Deal out 3 mural tiles and 2 story cards. You may draft any 2 tiles, any 2 cards, or any 1 tile and 1 card, in any order you like. Do not discard the remaining 3 items. Instead, give them to your opponent as described below.

Place all remaining cards in the completed area along the right side of your opponent's mural board. If there are multiple cards of the same type, place them in the same order that they were dealt to the draft row.

Place all remaining tiles above the achievement board. Divide the tiles by glyph type:

• Place tiles with only a cat or only a snake above the first achievement card.
• Place tiles with only a human or only a crocodile above the second achievement card.
• Place tiles with 2 different glyphs above the third achievement card.

Place phase

Place tiles from your reserve onto your mural, just like in the multiplayer game. Do not place any tiles onto your opponent's mural.

Score phase

Before completing your own stories and achievements, determine whether your opponent has completed any achievements:

• 3 Token/Chamber/River Stories: If your opponent has 3+ stories of the required type, they have completed this achievement. Place any 1 of their ankhs in the next unoccupied space and discard their 3 leftmost stories of that type. Your opponent can only complete each of these achievements once per game.
• 5 Matching Stories: If your opponent has 5+ stories of a type they have already completed the achievement for, they have completed this achievement. Place any 1 of their ankhs in the next available space and discard their 5 leftmost stories of that type. Your opponent can only complete this achievement once per game.
• Achievement Cards: If your opponent has 5+ tiles above any achievement card, they have completed that achievement. Place any 1 of their ankhs in the next available space and discard any 5 of their tiles above that card. Your opponent can complete each achievement card twice per game — but the second time only if you have not yet completed it.

Your opponent does not gain ankh bonuses for completing achievements.

After your opponent has completed any achievements that they are eligible for, you may complete your own stories and achievements. Observe these restrictions:

• Your ankhs and your opponent's ankhs cannot ever share the same space. If you complete an achievement in the same round as your opponent does, your ankh goes in the space with the lower point value (i.e., your opponent is considered to have completed it first).
• If your opponent has completed an achievement card twice, you can no longer complete that achievement (i.e., no ankh bonus or points).

End of the game

Calculating your score works the same as in a multiplayer game. Your opponent scores for each of their ankhs on the achievement board and for each of their stories that has not been discarded. If you have more points than your opponent, you win! In the case of a tie, play again — but better.

Achievement Card Guide

• River connecting opposite edges: Connect any 2 opposite edges of your mural with a river of tiles made of 1 type of glyph. Cartouche tiles count as every type of glyph.
• Path connecting opposite corners: Connect any 2 opposite corners of your mural with an unbroken path of tiles. You may use any combination of mural tiles, cartouche tiles, and black tiles.
• 2 filled rows or 2 filled columns: Fill any 2 rows or any 2 columns of your mural with tiles. These rows or columns do not have to be adjacent. You may use any combination of mural tiles, cartouche tiles, and black tiles.
• 1 filled row and 1 filled column: Fill any 1 row and any 1 column of your mural with tiles. You may use any combination of mural tiles, cartouche tiles, and black tiles.
• 4 chambers with the same 1 icon: Enclose 4 chambers that each contain exactly 1 icon, all of the same type. These chambers cannot contain any extra icons.
• Chamber with the same 2 icons: Enclose a chamber that contains exactly 2 icons of the same type. This chamber cannot contain any extra icons.
• 6 tokens of the same type: Spend 6 story tokens of the same type. You may spend scarab tokens in place of any of these required story tokens.
• 2 tokens of each type: Spend 2 story tokens of each type. You may spend scarab tokens in place of any of these required story tokens.
• Chamber with any 8 icons: Enclose a chamber that contains exactly 8 icons of any types. These icons do not have to be of the same type. This chamber cannot contain any extra icons.

Important: Squares with printed icons but no tiles count as empty space for pyramid stories and achievements.