Catacombs Cubes
Catacombs Cubes Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Game Overview
In Catacombs Cubes, players compete to earn the most Victory Points while building the Village of Stormtryne.
Players draft resources from the Quarry and use them to physically build various structures out of wooden cubes. Completed Structure Tiles are added to the Village Grid, forming the Village.
Once the Village is complete, the player with the most Victory Points wins.
Components
- Player Boards (4)
- Victory Trackers (4)
- Palace Trackers (4)
- Residence Ownership Trackers (4)
- Quarry Board (1)
- Planning Board (1)
- Town Hall Tile (1)
- Quarry Foreman Tracker (1)
- Quarry Dice (8)
- Coins (63): Red, Blue, and Silver
- Quarry Tokens (64)
- Village Structure Tiles (27): 9 Level 1, 9 Level 2, and 9 Level 3
- Residence Structure Tiles (9)
- Palace Structure Tiles (8)
- Quarry Resources: 35x "Obsidian" (1 Cube), 6x "Glass" (2 Cubes), 6x "Bamboo" (3 Cubes), 6x "Stone" (3 Cubes), 6x "Clay" (4 Cubes), 5x "Crystal" (4 Cubes)
Note: When adding new Palace, Village, or Residence Structure Tiles from any future expansions, these new tiles replace tiles in the base game on a 1:1 basis. The players choose which tiles are replaced. There should only ever be: 1 Town Hall Tile, 8 Palace Tiles, 9 Level 1 Village Tiles, 9 Level 2 Village Tiles, 9 Level 3 Village Tiles, and 9 Residence Tiles in a game of Catacombs Cubes.
Applying the Dice Stickers
Before playing, the eight Quarry Dice need to have stickers applied to them.
Each row of stickers on the sticker sheet is applied to one die. As these are six sided dice, there are six stickers per row.
Carefully apply the first row of stickers to one die. Repeat for the remaining seven dice.
Player Board Diagram
- Character Name
- Warehouse: Quarry Resources that are stored in a player's Warehouse are placed here.
- Construction Yard: Temporary storage for Quarry Resources. Resources in this section (except Obsidian) are returned to the Quarry Supply after building a Structure Tile.
- Coin Chest: The Coins earned by a player are placed here.
Planning Board Diagram
- Victory Track: Keeps track of each player's total score.
- Village Tile Preview: The next Village Tile to appear in the Village Plans.
- Palace Track: Keeps track of each player's contribution to the active Palace.
- Monument Plans: Used with the Catacombs Cubes: Monuments expansion.
- Village Plans: Village Tiles that the players may build are laid out here.
- Palace Plans: The Palace Tiles are placed here. The topmost Palace Tile is the active Palace.
- Palace Foundations: The Palace structures are constructed on these squares.
Important Note: If a player surpasses 55 Victory Points, they loop around the track again, starting at 1. Remember to add 55 points to the player's final score when the game ends.
Setup
- Sort the Quarry Resources by type (Obsidian, Glass, Bamboo, Stone, Clay, Crystal) and place them in separate piles in a common area. This is known as the Quarry Supply.
- Sort all the Coins by colour and place them in a common area. This is known as the Village Treasury.
- Each player chooses a player board. Each player is also randomly dealt a Residence Tile, which is placed beside their player board, blueprint side up.
- Place the Quarry Board in a common area.
- For each player, place a Victory Tracker on the first square of the Victory Track of the Planning Board. Then, for each player, place a Palace Tracker on the Palace Track.
- Shuffle the Village Tiles and randomly draw four of these tiles face up, displaying the blueprint side. These are the Village Plans.
- Draw one more Village Tile and place it next to the Village Plans. This will enable players to preview the next Village Tile.
- Place the remaining Village Tiles in a stack with the blueprint side facing up, somewhere off to the side.
- Shuffle the Palace Tiles and then draw two at random. Stack the two tiles on the indicated square on the Planning Board, blueprint side up.
- Place the Town Hall Tile in the center of the table. This will be the starting point for all completed structure tiles in the village, known as the Village Grid.
Determine if the players prefer to draft resources by either rolling the Quarry Dice or drawing the Quarry Tokens. The dice make for a quicker round, while the tokens provide more strategic opportunities.
Once decided, the entire game will be played in this way (ie. if the players decide to play with the Quarry Dice, the Quarry Tokens are never used during that game, and vice versa).
For their first game, it is recommended that players use the Quarry Dice. This manual assumes that players will be playing with the dice. Refer to the "Playing with Quarry Tokens" section for rules explaining how to play with the Quarry Tokens instead.
Starting Resources
There are two sides to each player board. On the front side there are three Coins. On the reverse side there are one or more Quarry Resources.
At the start of the game, the players decide which side of their player board they will use. All players must use the same side.
If they choose the front side, the player takes the indicated Coins from the Village Treasury and places them either face down or face up in their Coin Chest (see "Coins").
If they choose the reverse side, the player takes the indicated Quarry Resources from the Quarry Supply and places them in their Construction Yard.
Determining the Quarry Foreman
At the beginning of the game, each player rolls one orange Quarry Die. The player with the highest value face is assigned the role of the Quarry Foreman, and is given the Quarry Foreman Tracker.
The assigned value of each face is 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.
To break a tie, all tied players roll again.
Quarry Resource Rules
Quarry Resources are of limited supply. Choose which Resource Rule will apply for the duration of the game.
Using the Passive Resource Rule is recommended when playing the game for the first time.
Passive Resource Rule: When a player requires a Quarry Resource that is not available from the Quarry Supply, they take the next available resource in the following order (left to right): Obsidian, Glass, Bamboo, Stone, Clay, Crystal.
Competitive Resource Rule: When a player requires a Quarry Resource that is not available from the Quarry Supply, they take it from any other player's Construction Yard (never from their warehouse). If that resource is not available in any opponent's Construction Yard, the player receives nothing.
Player Actions
The turn order always moves clockwise around the table, with the Quarry Foreman taking their turn last.
After the Quarry Foreman has rolled and assembled all of the Quarry Offers, the player to the left of the Quarry Foreman begins their turn. The player chooses one of two main actions:
- Draft a Quarry Offer
- Build a Village or Residence Structure Tile
Before and/or after their main action, the player may spend one or more coins.
Coins spent during a player's turn allow the player to perform additional actions (see "Coins").
When all players have completed their turn, any remaining Quarry Offers are removed from the Quarry Board.
The Quarry Foreman passes the Foreman Tracker to the player to their left, and the next round starts.
Rolling the Quarry Offers
At the start of each round, the Quarry Foreman rolls the Quarry Dice. The Quarry Dice that are used are determined by how many players are in the game.
The Quarry Foreman then sorts the dice into pairs of two based on their colour, taking care not to change the results of the roll: Green, Blue, Orange, Purple (2-3 Players use fewer colours; 4 Players use all four).
Each matching pair of dice is placed in a column on the Quarry Board, in any order, on top of the brown squares as shown. Each column is called a Quarry Offer.
Optional: After the Quarry Offers have been arranged on the Quarry Board, the Quarry Foreman may modify any two of the offers by switching two of the Quarry Dice between different columns.
Option 1: Draft a Quarry Offer
The player chooses a Quarry Offer, and takes the pair of dice. The player then receives any Quarry Resources and then performs any action that is given on the dice faces that they drafted (see "Quarry Actions").
Their chosen Quarry Offer is discarded.
When playing with the Passive Resource Rule, the first available Quarry Offer (from left to right of the Quarry Board) is automatically discarded.
When playing with the Competitive Resource Rule, the Quarry Foreman chooses any one of the Quarry Offers and discards it.
Note: The Quarry Foreman cannot modify Quarry Offers in the same way they can with the Quarry Dice.
Option 2: Build a Village or Residence Structure Tile
The player builds one Village Tile from the Village Plans OR builds their Residence Tile, using the Quarry Resources they have in their Construction Yard and/or Warehouse (see "Building a Structure").
Playing with Quarry Tokens
Creating and drafting the Quarry Offers using Quarry Tokens follows the same rules as the Quarry Dice with the following exceptions. At the start of the game, all Quarry Tokens are randomly placed face down on the table to form the Draw Pile.
Instead of rolling the Quarry Dice, the Quarry Foreman randomly draws two Quarry Tokens from the Draw Pile. The tokens are placed face up in the brown squares in column 1 on the Quarry Board. Repeat this process for each column until there is one Quarry Offer per player (or in a two player game, create three Quarry Offers).
The Quarry Foreman then draws one Quarry Token and secretly looks at it before placing it face down in one of the white squares above a Quarry Offer of their choosing. They repeat this process for each Quarry Offer, one at a time.
When a player drafts a Quarry Offer, they take any two of the three Quarry Tokens in the column. If drafted, the face down Quarry Token is revealed to all players. The remaining unclaimed Quarry Tile in the column is immediately discarded from the Quarry Board.
When a Quarry Offer is drafted or discarded, the Quarry Tokens are not returned immediately to the Draw Pile. Instead, they are placed in a separate Discard Pile.
Note: When a complete set of Quarry Offers cannot be drawn, then all of the Quarry Tiles in the Discard Pile are shuffled back into the Draw Pile, face down. Then, the Quarry Offers are created as normal.
Drafting from the Quarry
When drafting Quarry Offers, each Quarry Die face or Quarry Token represents either a Quarry Resource the player receives, or a Quarry Action the player performs.
Quarry Resources
When drafting, the player receives one of the indicated resources from the Quarry Supply and places it on the Construction Yard section of their player board.
The Quarry Resources are: Obsidian (1 Cube), Glass (2 Cubes), Stone (3 Cubes), Bamboo (3 Cubes), Clay (4 Cubes), Crystal (4 Cubes).
Choose Any Quarry Resource: The player chooses one Quarry Resource from the Quarry Supply and places it on the Construction Yard section of their player board.
Quarry Actions
Build Palace Action: When a player drafts this action, the player contributes an Obsidian resource directly from the Quarry Supply toward the construction of the active Palace. The player is rewarded for their contribution as normal. See "Palace Structure Tiles" and "Palace Rewards" for more details.
Change Quarry Resource Action: The Change Quarry Resource action optionally allows the player to chisel off (destroy) part of a Quarry Resource, effectively changing it to a smaller piece. The original resource is placed back in the Quarry Supply and the player receives the new Quarry Resource.
The conversions are as follows: Obsidian (1 Cube) = Glass (2 Cubes); Stone (3 Cubes) = Bamboo (3 Cubes); Clay (4 Cubes) = Crystal (4 Cubes).
The Quarry Resource is placed in either the Warehouse or the Construction Yard depending on where the original Quarry Resource was located.
Note: This action cannot be performed on an Obsidian resource.
Note: If both the Build Palace Action and the Change Quarry Resource Action are drafted, the Build Palace Action is always performed first.
Structure Tile Overview
Village Structure Tiles
There are 27 Village Structure Tiles, divided into three levels. Level 1 Village Tiles are the easiest to complete, while Level 3 Village Tiles are the most difficult.
Blueprint Side shows:
- Structure Name
- Structure View: Shows the number of cubes in each column that make up the structure's shape.
- Blueprint View: The defined shape of the structure that is to be built by the player.
- Structure Class: This icon indicates the class of the tile (Village, Residence, or Palace).
- Victory Point Reward: The number of Victory Points the player receives upon completing the Structure Tile.
- Bonus Reward Icon: Indicates an additional reward that the player receives upon completing the Structure Tile.
- Cube Count: The exact number of Cubes present in the structure.
Completed Side shows:
- Completed Structure Artwork
- Connectors: The four connectors are mirrored on both sides of the Structure Tile. Connectors are lined up with Connectors on other structure tiles in the Village Grid.
Residence Structure Tiles
At the start of the game, each player receives a random Residence Structure Tile.
A player may complete their tile as their main action on their turn, instead of building a Village Structure Tile.
Unlike Village Structure Tiles, a Residence Tile is owned by one player as indicated by the Ownership Tracker placed on the completed tile (see "Residence Ownership Rewards").
Palace Structure Tiles
Unlike a Village or Residence Structure, a Palace Structure is built over multiple turns. All players can contribute to the palace over the course of its construction.
Only two Palaces may be completed in a game. Construction on the second Palace can only begin once the first Palace is complete.
Spending a Build Palace Coin or drafting a Build Palace Quarry Action allows a player to contribute to the construction of the active Palace. The active Palace is the visible Palace Tile on the Planning Board.
The Palaces are built in the designated spots on the Planning Board, known as the Palace Foundations. The first Palace is built in the left most spot, and the second on the right.
Each Quarry Resource added to the Palace must bring it a step closer to mimicking the blueprint found on the Palace Tile.
Quarry Resources must be placed in extension and adjacent to other resources that are already in the Palace. They cannot be placed on their own (with the exception of the first Quarry Resource that is placed) and cannot be moved once placed.
When placing a Quarry Resource, a player cannot block future contributions to the active Palace.
All players must agree that a contribution is in accordance with the rules.
Players are awarded for their individual contributions to the active Palace, but only the player that places the last Cube in the structure claims the Palace Tile.
Palace Rewards
Each Quarry Resource is made up of one or more equally sized cubes, arranged in various shapes.
Whenever a player contributes a resource to the Palace, each cube they add advances their Palace Tracker up the Palace Track.
Found on the Palace Track are reward icons. When a player's Palace Tracker passes one of these icons, they immediately earn a reward:
- This icon rewards the player with a single Obsidian resource from the Quarry Supply, added to their Warehouse.
- This icon rewards the player with one additional Victory Point.
For example, a player contributes a Crystal Quarry Resource (made of four cubes) to the active Palace. Doing so advances their Palace Tracker four spaces on the Palace Track. They pass two Obsidian resource icons and two Victory Point icons on the Palace Track. They are awarded two Obsidian resources and two Victory Points.
Completing a Palace
The player that places the last cube of the Palace, completing the structure, gets to place the Palace Tile in the Village Grid. This player receives the Palace Tile's rewards (see "Structure Tile Rewards") just like they would when placing a Village Tile.
Once a Palace is completed, the Palace Track is reset and all Palace Trackers return to the first position. The Quarry Resources used for the Palace structure remain on the Palace Foundation.
The players may now start contributing to the second Palace.
Once the two Palaces are fully built, contributions that would have gone to the active Palace are returned to the Quarry Supply instead.
Players still advance up the Palace Track as normal, however, they no longer receive Obsidian cube rewards when they pass those icons on the track.
When a player reaches the end of the Palace Track, they can no longer perform any Palace related actions or receive any Palace related rewards.
Building a Structure
A player can build a structure as their main action on their turn: either a Village Tile from the Village Plans (on the Planning Board) or their Residence Tile.
The player must have adequate resources available in their Warehouse and/or Construction Yard to mirror the Structure on the blueprint side of the tile they want to build.
The structure must be free standing, meaning the player cannot use anything but the table and gravity to support it. For example, the player cannot hold resources in place with their hand. Resources must be placed orthogonally and adjacent to other resources.
All players must agree that the structure was built correctly.
Important Note: When building a Structure Tile or contributing to a Palace, any resources may be used so long as the final shape of the structure matches the one shown in the blueprint.
All Quarry Resources used to build the structure are immediately returned to the Quarry Supply.
The Resources in the player's Construction Yard, with the exception of any Obsidian resources, are also returned to the Quarry Supply.
The Quarry Resources remaining in the player's Warehouse are retained.
Adding a Tile to the Village Grid
Upon building a Village or Residence Structure Tile, or completing the Palace Structure Tile, the player immediately flips the Structure Tile over to the completed side and places it in the Village Grid.
A completed Structure Tile must be placed in the same orientation as the rest of the tiles in the Village Grid. They must also be placed adjacent to at least one tile in the Village Grid, with their connector icons lined up.
Note: The tile placement cannot violate the maximum size of the Village Grid (see "End Game Scoring"). Structure Tiles cannot be moved once added to the Village Grid.
When a Village Tile is completed, the Village Tile Preview replaces the completed Village Tile in the Village Plans. A new Village Tile is drawn and placed in the Village Tile Preview square on the Planning Board.
Structure Tile Rewards
When a player adds a Structure Tile to the Village Grid, they are rewarded in the following order:
- Victory Point Reward
- Bonus Tile Reward (if applicable)
- Connector Rewards
All Structure Tiles have a Victory Point Reward. The player's Victory Tracker is advanced on the Victory Track by the number shown on the Tile.
When a tile has a Bonus Reward icon in the top right corner, the player receives one of the following possible rewards:
- The player takes an Obsidian resource which is placed in their Warehouse.
- The player contributes an Obsidian resource directly from the Quarry Supply toward the construction of the active Palace. The player is rewarded for their contribution as normal.
- The player takes any one Quarry Resource of their choice from the Quarry Supply which is placed in their Construction Yard.
Residence Ownership Rewards
Once added to the Village Grid, the player places their Ownership Tracker in the ownership square on their completed Residence Tile.
When a completed Structure Tile is placed beside a Residence Tile during another player's turn, the Residence's owner receives one Quarry Resource of their choice from the Quarry Supply, added to their Construction Yard.
Note: Players do not receive the Quarry Resource bonus by placing a tile beside their own Residence.
Structure Tile Connectors
Found along each side of a Structure Tile is one of five connector icons. Each represent a reward that the player receives for adding a completed Structure Tile to the Village Grid.
| Connector | Reward |
|---|---|
| Red Connector | Red Coin |
| Blue Connector | Blue Coin |
| Silver Connector | Silver Coin |
| Black Connector | Obsidian Resource |
| Yellow Connector | 1 Victory Point |
When two adjacent connectors are the same colour, the player receives two of the reward that is associated with that colour. For example, if the player would receive two Blue Coins (added to their Coin Chest), or two Obsidian resources (added to their Warehouse).
When two connectors are not the same colour, the player chooses to receive one of the rewards from either of the connectors. For example, the player chooses to receive a Red Coin or a Silver Coin (added to their Coin Chest).
When adding a completed tile to the Village Grid, there could be up to four connector pairs which will generate rewards with adjacent tiles. When collecting connector rewards, a player always starts from the top connector and proceeds clockwise around the completed tile.
No reward is earned for a connector when a tile is not adjacent during placement.
Coins
When players receive Coins, they are kept in the Coin Chest on their player board. Players may spend one or more Coins before or after they perform their main action.
At the start of the game, players decide whether they want to play with all Coins either face down or face up in their Coin Chests. When playing with Coins face down, each player's Coins are kept secret until the end of the game is triggered. This is recommended for new players. On the other hand, when Coins are face up, competitive players know what Coins are in their opponent's Coin Chests during the course of the game.
Coin Actions
When performing any of the following actions, Coins are always returned to the Village Treasury after the action is completed.
Blue Coin (Action: Change Quarry Resource): Spending a Blue Coin allows the player to convert a resource in their Warehouse or Construction Yard following the same rules as the Change Quarry Resource Action (see "Quarry Actions").
However, the player keeps the "chiselled off" cube, and as such, receives one Obsidian resource from the Quarry Supply in addition to the new Quarry Resource.
The Obsidian resource is added to either the player's Warehouse or Construction Yard depending on where the original Quarry Resource was located.
Red Coin (Action: Build Palace): Spending a Red Coin allows the player to contribute any one resource to the Palace from their Construction Yard or Warehouse.
Silver Coin (Action: Store Quarry Resource): Spending a Silver Coin allows the player to transfer one resource from their Construction Yard into their Warehouse.
Hint: When playing with the Competitive Resource Rule, transferring a resource to the Warehouse will prevent another player from taking it.
Hint: After completing a Structure Tile, any unused resources in the player's Construction Yard are returned to the Quarry. A player can spend a Silver Coin at the beginning of their turn in order to retain an unused resource. Coins cannot be spent during the Build a Structure Tile action, and as such, it is important to remember to use the Silver Coin(s) first.
Advanced Coin Actions (Optional)
Bribe Action: A player spends any Coin of their choice. The Coin is immediately paid to the Quarry Foreman. The Quarry Foreman cannot refuse this Coin, and adds it to their Coin Chest.
The player may then swap any two Quarry Dice (or face up Quarry Tokens) between two available Quarry Offers on the Quarry Board. There must be at least two Quarry Offers on the Quarry Board, otherwise this action cannot be performed.
Hint: Coins may be spent before a player's main action. As such, they could create a desired Quarry Offer for themselves with this action and then choose the offer as their main action.
Exchange Action: A player can trade any two Coins with the Village Treasury. In exchange, they receive a single Coin of their choice, or an Obsidian resource (added directly to their Warehouse).
Buy Quarry Resource Action: A player can spend any three Coins, in exchange for any one resource of their choice from the Quarry Supply, if available (added directly to their Warehouse). The spent coins are returned to the Village Treasury.
End Game Scoring
The end of the game is triggered when the Village Grid has been completely filled.
The maximum size of the Village Grid is dependant on the number of players participating in the game. The Village Grid cannot exceed the dimensions shown below.
- 2-3 Players: 4 x 4 Grid
- 4 Players: 4 x 5 Grid
The game also ends in the unlikely scenario that all Quarry Resources in the Quarry Supply have been exhausted.
Players who have yet to take their turn during the round may still complete their turn as normal. However, if they build a Structure Tile, it cannot be placed in the Village Grid, and they only receive the Victory Point reward from the blueprint side.
Coin Scoring
At the end of the game, players count how many Coins they have of each colour (blue, red, and silver).
The player with the highest number of Blue Coins receives 5 Victory Points (if two or more players are tied, they each receive 5 Victory Points).
The player with the second highest number of Blue Coins receives 3 Victory Points (if two or more players are tied, they each receive 3 Victory Points).
The player with the third highest number of Blue Coins receives 1 Victory Point (if two or more players are tied, they each receive 1 Victory Point).
Repeat this process for the Red and then the Silver Coins.
Note: A player can earn a maximum of 15 additional Victory Points if they have the highest number of each Coin colour (or are tied for the highest number).
Note: A player who does not have any coins of a given colour is disqualified when scoring that colour.
The player who has the most Victory Points as shown on the Victory Track is the winner!
Tiebreaker Rules
In the event of a tied game, the tied players add up the total number of Coins (of all colours) and the player with the most Coins wins.
If there is still a tie, the player that has advanced the furthest on the Palace Track wins.
If there is still a tie, it is a tie game.
Solo Rules
Overview
In the Solo Mode of Catacombs Cubes, the Solo Player competes against the Simulated Builder in constructing their own Village Grid and scoring as many Victory Points as possible.
The Solo Player uses the Victory Track to track their Victory Points as normal. However for the Simulated Builder, the Victory Track determines when they complete a Village Structure Tile. As the Simulated Builder's score is calculated at the end of the game, their Structure Tiles are always placed blueprint side up.
The Quarry Token that is not drafted by the Solo Player advances the Simulated Builder's Victory Tracker on the Victory Track. The Simulated Builder is rewarded Structure Tiles when their tracker passes a Coin on the Victory Track.
Points are scored for the Solo Player by building Village Tiles and contributing to the Palace, however at the end of the game, the Structure Tiles completed by the Simulated Builder count against the Solo Player's final score.
Note: The Passive Resource Rule is used in Solo Mode. Residence Structure Tiles are not used.
Note: If the Palace is completed, the Solo Player cannot receive any further Palace related structure tile rewards and cannot use the "Build Palace Action" of the Red Coin.
Setup
- The Solo Player chooses a Player Board (the Simulated Builder does not need one). The Solo Player does not receive the starting bonuses from their player board.
- Randomly draw three Village Tiles and place them into the Village Plans section of the Planning Board.
- Randomly draw one Palace Structure Tile and place it into the Palace Plans section of the Planning Board.
- A Victory Tracker is placed on the Victory Track for both the Solo Player and the Simulated Builder.
- A Palace Tracker is placed on the Palace Track for the Solo Player (the Simulated Builder does not need one).
- The Solo Player and the Simulated Builder each have their own Village Grids. Instead of a Town Hall Tile, both Village Grids start with a randomly drawn level 1 Village Tile.
- Randomly place the Quarry Tokens face down on the table to create the Draw Pile. Action Quarry Tokens and Choose Any Resource Tokens are not used in Solo Mode.
- Randomly place a different Coin (Red, Silver, and Blue) on top of each Village Tile in the Village Plans.
- Place a Blue Coin on the 5, 20, and 35 Victory Track spaces.
- Place a Red Coin on the 10, 25, and 40 Victory Track spaces.
- Place a Silver Coin on the 15, 30, and 45 Victory Track spaces.
All Coins on the Victory Track and the Village Plans are permanent markers. They remain in the same positions for the entirety of the game.
Drawing the Quarry Offer
The Solo Player draws three Quarry Tokens from the Draw Pile, and flips two of them face up to create a Quarry Offer.
Note: When there are not enough Quarry Tokens in the Draw Pile to draw three, all of the Quarry Tiles in the Discard Pile are shuffled back into the Draw Pile, face down. Then, the Quarry Offer is created as normal.
Solo Actions
The Solo Player performs the following actions during a round:
Step 1: Draft an Offer - The Solo Player must choose whether they are going to take both the face up Quarry Tokens or whether they are going to push their luck and flip over the face down token. If the face down token is flipped up, the Solo Player must take it with only one of the original two face up tokens. The Solo Player retrieves the associated Quarry Resources from the Quarry Supply for both Quarry Tokens and places them on their Construction Yard.
Step 2: Build a Tile - If they are able, the Solo Player may construct a single Village Tile. Once complete, it is added to their own Village Grid. The Coin on top of the Village Tile remains in place on the Planning Board. The player receives the structure tile rewards as normal (see "Structure Tile Rewards").
Step 3: Advance Tracker - The remaining Quarry Token (flip it over if necessary) advances the Simulated Builder's tracker on the Victory Track by the number of cubes that comprise the specified Quarry Resource (Obsidian: 1 Space, Glass: 2 Spaces, Stone: 3 Spaces, Bamboo: 3 Spaces, Clay: 4 Spaces, Crystal: 4 Spaces). All three of the Quarry Tokens are discarded to a separate Discard Pile.
When the Simulated Builder's Tracker passes a Coin on the Victory Track and that Coin matches the Village Tile in the Village Plans, that tile is then added to the Simulated Builder's Village Grid. Tiles are added to the grid from left to right, top to bottom, blueprint side up. The Simulated Builder does not receive any of the rewards for completing the tile (eg. structure tile rewards, connector rewards).
Note: If there is no Village Tile under the specified Coin (the Solo Player already built it this round), the Simulated Builder is deprived of the opportunity to build that tile.
Note: Additionally, Coins can be spent any time during the Solo Player's turn. Advanced coin actions are not permitted.
End of the Round
Ensure each Coin in the Village Plans has a Village Tile underneath it. For each empty square in the Village Plans, draw a new Village Tile starting from left to right.
Begin the next round by drawing the new Quarry Offer.
End of the Game
The game immediately ends when one of the following three conditions are met:
- The Solo Player completes a 3 x 3 Village Grid.
- The Simulated Builder completes a 3 x 3 Village Grid.
- The Simulated Builder's Victory Tracker lands on or passes 50.
End Game Scoring
Total the Victory Points of each of the Structure Tiles in the Simulated Builder's Village Grid. Add one point for each pair of adjacent connectors that are the same colour. Then subtract this value from the Solo Player's Victory Points.
The Solo Player's rank is determined by their final score:
| Score | Rank |
|---|---|
| < 31 | Apprentice |
| 31-35 | Fellowcraft |
| 36-40 | Mason |
| 41-45 | Quarry Master |
| 46-50 | Architect |
| 51+ | Grandmaster |
Solo Scoring Example
In this example, the Solo Player has completed a 3 x 3 Village Grid, triggering the end of the game.
The Solo Player has earned the Victory Point rewards from each tile, totalling 43 points, and 14 Victory Points by advancing up the Palace Track. They have also earned 4 Victory Points from their yellow connectors. In total, the Solo Player has 61 Victory Points.
The Simulated Builder completed three Village Tiles, totalling 9 points. They also had one pair of connectors with the same colour (worth 1 point).
As a result, 10 points are deducted from the Solo Player's Victory Points, resulting in a final score of 51.
The Solo Player has achieved the rank of Grandmaster!