Chachapoya
Chachapoya Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
The Aim of the Game
Players collect treasures and idols with the help of their adventurers by bidding. They have to bluff and combine wisely to get the most valuable art treasures by the end of the game.
You have to be cautious not to be either too greedy nor too coward because these can eliminate you from the game or leave empty handed. The aim is to balance your greed and modesty which will not be easy...
Content
95 cards (45 large treasure cards, 50 adventurer cards)
4 Hidden Treasure tokens · 1 rule booklet
Setup
Shuffle the large treasure cards (objective cards) and adventurer cards (bidding cards) separately to form a treasure deck and an adventurer deck respectively. Depending on the number of players discard random cards from the treasure deck according to the table below and put them back into the box without looking at them. These cards are not used in this game.
| Number of players | Number of treasure cards to discard |
|---|---|
| 2 players | -15 cards |
| 3 players | -10 cards |
| 4 players | -5 cards |
Deal each player eight cards from the adventurer deck face down and a Hidden Treasure token.
Players take these cards into their hands without showing them to their opponents.
Put the remaining adventurer cards in middle of the table within easy reach of everyone.
Whoever visited a museum most recently will be the starting player. If it cannot be clearly decided, the youngest player starts the game.
Gameplay
The starting player always starts a round by drawing three treasure cards, laying them on the table face up so that every player could clearly see them. After this the starting player takes all three cards, chooses one of them secretly and puts it back face down to the bottom of the deck of the treasure cards. The other two cards are offered for bidding, one of the cards put face down and the other one face up, so the rest of the players only know one of the three treasures for sure. Bids can be made for these two treasures.
Bidding
From the starting player and proceeding clockwise each player must choose adventurer cards from their hands which they wish to offer for bidding and they put them face down in front of themselves. Players can choose any number of cards between one and five.
After each player placed their bids, cards must be turned face up simultaneously and then the result of the bidding is determined. Values of the bidding cards of each player must be added up and the winner of the bidding is the one with the adventurer or adventurer team of the highest value or highest score (except for some special occasions, see their descriptions below). The value of a given adventurer card can be seen on both the top left and top right corner of the card, and under these you can also see the maximum number which can be played of the same card for a single bidding.
Each player can only offer one kind of adventurer for a bidding. For example, three number 9 cards (27 points) or two number 11 cards (22 points) can be legally played but playing these five cards at the same time is not possible. When choosing cards, you also have to take into account the maximum number that can be played of the same card simultaneously (marked on both sides of the adventurer cards): for example, only two can be played of a number 17 (34 points at most), playing three or more of it is not allowed.
In case two or more players could win a bidding (because they played cards of the same value), they knock out each other and the right of winning falls on the next player in line (so the player with the adventurer cards having second highest value in line). When two adventurer teams compete, they should not be surprised if the laughing third party gets away with the spoils...
Example (without illustration): John and Ann both played two number 9 adventurer cards for a bidding (both worth 18 points). These would be the winner cards of the round since their values are higher than the number 7 card played by Tim or the number 17 card played by Betty. However, since the winner cards of the same value played simultaneously knock each other out, the winner of the round is the next in line, so it is Betty who can collect both treasure cards of the round.
After the evaluation of the played adventurer cards the winner of bidding gets the two treasure cards: both the face down and the face up card (except some special situations, see their description later). Played adventurer cards must be discarded face down, forming a discard pile. Discarded adventurer cards must be put on this pile throughout the game.
The winner of the bidding lays the acquired treasure cards face up in front of themselves, slightly shifted on each other so that their amount could be seen. At the upper left corner of the treasure cards you can see the value of a single card while the scale at the bottom of the card from left to right shows the different points you can get based on the number of acquired cards of each type. X means that if you acquire that amount of a type of treasure, you immediately lose and get eliminated from the game. Any possible special feature of a card can be seen above this scale, just like the total amount of that specific card in the deck.
Example: A yellow idol (TEZCALOTE) is worth 5 points, while getting two of them brings you 10 points, however, if you accidentally get three of them, you get 0 points. In case you would acquire four or five of them (an unlucky bidding can bring you two of the same cards as well), then you automatically get eliminated from the game.
I. Checking
After acquiring treasures, you always have to check if the winner of the bidding is still in play. If the player got too many cards of a specific card (X), they immediately get eliminated from the game. They have to put the adventurer cards from their hands to the adventurer discard pile and every treasure card they have must be put into the box of the game, these will permanently be out of the game.
Note: Experience shows that players get eliminated from the game usually only in the last round of the game.
II. Three Cards Rule
If checking and evaluating the bidding is finished, each player that is still in play gets to draw one card from the adventurer deck.
The number of adventurer cards in hand is not limited, but at the end of every round each player must have at least three of them. In case a player still does not have at least three adventurer cards after drawing this one, they have to draw cards from the adventurer deck until they filled up the cards in their hands to three.
III. When There Is a Tie...
In that rare case when nobody wins a bidding, played adventurer cards must be put on the discard pile of the adventurer cards and the treasure cards must be put back to the bottom of the deck of the treasure cards face down.
Players would still get one adventurer card each at the end of the round, and they also have to fill their hands up to three cards.
IV. New Round Begins
After each player drew one card, the round ends and another one begins. The player to the left of the starting player starts the new round as the new starting player by drawing three treasure cards, choosing two treasures the same way, starting a new round of bidding.
Last Round and the End of the Game
If only two or three cards remained in the deck of the treasure cards, those cards must be offered for bidding without looking at them, face down. The starting player does not have to choose from them, and the winner of the bidding acquires all three of them at the same time. If not all of the cards would be acquired (thanks to some special cards), the game still ends and proceeds to scoring.
Scoring
At the end of the game both collected treasure cards in front of the players and adventurer cards in their hands must be checked. Scores are calculated according to the scoring scales on the acquired cards of each type. If a player did not use up their Hidden Treasure token until the end of the game, they must put it on one of their treasure sequences right before scoring, which will represent an additional card from the chosen treasure type.
Players get -1 penalty point for each Tracker card and -3 for each Leader card left in their hands.
After every player summarized their acquired points, the player who collected the most points with their spoils is the winner, getting the title of the most cunning adventurer archeologist.
Example for Scoring
At the end of the game the adventurer archeologist players get the following points for their treasure cards:
Betty gets 15 points for her blue idols, 3 points for her green idol, 1 point for one gold and -5 points for the two Grim Warriors. Betty scores a total of 14 points.
Lucy gets 10 points for her four red idols and 0 points for her four green idols but she gets -2 points for the two Trackers in her hand, which is a total of 8 points. However, she forgot about her Hidden Treasure token, which she must put to one of her spoils before scoring to represent an additional card of the chosen type. Lucy could put it either to her red idols or to her green idols, she would still get eliminated from the game, which means that she cannot win anyway.
Tim gets 15 points for his two blue idols, but he gets 0 points for his three yellow idols and 5 points for his two red idols. He also has to subtract 3 points for the Leader card remaining in his hand, so Tim gets a total of 17 points, which is enough to win the game.
Special Treasure Cards, Adventurer Cards and Exceptional Cases
Hidden Treasure Token
Every player has one Hidden Treasure token which can be used in two ways during the game:
A. If a player has the feeling that they do not have enough treasure cards in their hands, except the last round, they can discard their Hidden Treasure token at the end of any round when drawing cards allowing the player to fill their adventurer cards in hand up to eight cards. Then the Hidden Treasure token must be put back into the box of the game (so it gets out of the game).
B. If a player does not use up their Hidden Treasure token until the end of the game, they must put it to one of their acquired treasure sequences. In this case the token is treated as an additional card of the chosen treasure type. The Hidden Treasure token cannot be put to Curse cards!
Example: Amy did not use up her Hidden Treasure token until the end of the game, so she has to put it to her acquired three red idols (PATEKATI), and this way the sequence is worth 10 points, as if she would have acquired four idols.
Grim Warriors
The card depicting native warriors is worth 0 points (in the beginning), but getting five of them can eliminate its careless owner from the game. The exceptional advantage of this card is that as soon as a player acquires one of it via bidding, they get immediately three adventurer cards from the draw deck and put it into their hand. If a player acquires the card of the Grim Warriors in the last round of the game, they still have to draw three adventurer cards.
Curse (Azetachily) – When fate catches up...
If a player acquires the Curse card via bidding, they immediately have to discard their most valuable treasure cards acquired in the previous rounds (according to the value shown on the upper left corner of the card). This treasure card must be put back into the box of the game, it permanently gets out of the game, while the Curse card must be put in front of the player who acquired it, because this is a cursed treasure card. If the bidding player gets the third one of this card, they immediately get eliminated from the game.
Tracker – The wild calls!
Tracker cards marked with the mask sign cannot be played alone! They are treated basically as a type of joker card and can be used in only two ways:
1. Exactly one Tracker can be played with one or more adventurer cards of the same type. In this situation the Tracker is treated as one more card of that type of adventurer card.
Example: If you play the Tracker card with two number 11 cards, you must treat it as if you played three number 11 cards (22 + 11 = 33 points).
Note: You cannot exceed the number that can be played simultaneously of a certain adventurer card, even together with Tracker cards!
PLEASE NOTE! If a player wins a bidding with a combination that contains a Tracker card, they can only acquire one of the treasure cards and put it in front of themselves! The bidding winner player decides which card they would like to put into their collection. If they choose the card turned face up, the other card, turned face down must be put back to the bottom of the deck of the treasure cards without looking at it.
Exceptional case: If using a Tracker card would cause a tie between the two players playing the highest value cards, the winner cards would still eliminate each other and the next player in line to play the most valuable cards would win the bidding.
2. You can only play exactly two Tracker cards on their own simultaneously (without any adventurer card). When this happens, the player removes both treasure cards from bidding (nobody wins), and no effect of any other cards is resolved (Leader cards). These treasure cards must be put back to the bottom of the deck of the treasure cards (without looking at the face down card).
Every adventurer card that was played this round must be put on the discard pile, and the player playing the Tracker card can immediately draw three adventurer cards. Of course, according to the usual course of a round, after this drawing every player gets one adventurer card each, including the player who played the two Trackers, so they get four adventurer cards in this round.
Please note! In that rare case when two or more players play such a pair of Trackers at the same time, all of them knock each other out and the next player in line with the highest played cards is the winner of the bidding. In this case players who played the Tracker cards cannot draw the three extra cards.
Leader Cards
There are three Leader cards in the game: the Chinese mafia, the South American dictator and the Russian spy. These cards are stronger than almost every adventurer card combination. If two or more Leader cards are played in the same round, only that one is resolved which was played later according to turn order, every other Leader card that was played earlier loses its special feature and must be put on the discard pile.
Attention! In case a pair of Trackers is also played in the same round when Leader cards are played, the Leader cards lose their special feature and the effect of the native Trackers will be resolved immediately (so the treasures offered for bidding must be put back to the bottom of the deck).
Note: If a Leader card is played in the last round and it cannot be resolved (because another card neutralizes it), the player who played it gets -5 points penalty!
Tricky Play of Leader Cards
Example: Lucy played two number 7 adventurers this round, Betty played the lady spy and John played a number 31. Since in this case the effect of the Russian spy is resolved first, to John's surprise, Lucy wins the bidding round, who offered the lowest bid of the round and acquired both of the treasure cards.
Chinese Mafia – The dangerous triad
The Chinese mafia can quickly and effectively act thanks to its extensive relationships, and gets away with both treasure cards.
If it is the only Leader card played in a round, or played last during the round so it can be resolved, the player who played the Chinese mafia acquires both treasure cards.
Dictator – Under the spell of power
The dictator with his almost unlimited power and influence simply has higher value than the rest of the adventurer cards. It can be defeated, but if it wins a bidding, it can only take one of the treasure cards which can be chosen by the player who played the South American dictator. If the player chooses the card turned face up, the other, face down card must be put back to the bottom of the treasure cards without looking at it.
Russian Spy – Female ingenuity
The tricky Russian lady spy turns the order, and supporting the weak, she will make a winner of the player who offered the lowest bid. (The Russian spy can never win a bidding, only influence the result of the bidding).
If two or more players tie with the lowest bid, the player with the second lowest bid is the winner of the bidding.
Example for a Round
Ann is the starting player. She turns up three cards from the deck of the treasure cards, showing them to every player. The three cards are a blue idol (CHICHEN ITZA), a green idol (MANAGUA) and a Grim Warrior. Then she chooses one of them under the table secretly and puts it back to the bottom of the treasure cards. From the remaining two cards she turns the green idol face up and lays the other card next to it face down. From this point on she is the only one to know which particular cards the bidding is for.
Next, every player lays in front of themselves the adventurer cards offered for bidding, face down. Once every player put the chosen cards in front of themselves, everybody turns them face up simultaneously.
Ann played the lady spy, Amy played two number 11 adventurers, John two number 9 adventurers and Tim a number 7 with a Tracker. According to the total value of their played cards Amy would be the winner (with 22 points), but Ann reversed the order with the lady spy, so the player with the lowest bid, Tim wins the round of bidding (with 14 points).
Since the bidding was won by using a Tracker, the winner can choose to take only one of the two treasure cards. He decided to take a risk since he already has a blue idol and if he would get the second one, he would score a lot of points. He puts back the face up green idol card to the bottom of the deck of the treasure cards and turns up the face down card: unfortunately, it is the Grim Warrior. Ann cleverly tricked Tim, who would not get neither bonus nor penalty points this way for now, however, he immediately gets three adventurer cards from the draw deck.
After this, starting from the starting player every player, including Tim, draws one adventurer card. After drawing cards Amy still has only two adventurer cards so she can draw one more. Ann thinks that her four cards are not enough so she discards her Hidden Treasure token and fills her hand to eight adventurer cards. After this the round ends, and the player on the left of the starting player becomes the new starting player, who starts the new round by turning three treasure cards face up.
Example for Scoring
By the end of the game players collected the following scores with their acquired treasure cards:
Ann gets 15 points for her two blue idols, 3 points for her green idol, 3 points for her two golds and -10 points for her three Grim Warriors. She puts her Hidden Treasure token to her green idol, so she gets 6 points for that instead of 3, and gets -2 points for the two Trackers, which means that she collected 12 points total.
Lucy would get 10 points for her four red idols, 10 points for her four golds and 0 points for the Curse card, which would mean 20 points. This would make her a probable winner, but she forgot about her Hidden Treasure token which she has to put to one of her spoils before scoring. Either she puts her Hidden Treasure token to her red idols or her golds, she falls out of the game anyway so she cannot be a winner.
John gets 0 points for his three yellow idols, 10 points for his two + one green idols and -5 points for his two Warriors, so John collected 5 points overall.
Tim gets 5 points for his two red idols, 0 points for his three yellow idols, 7 points for his blue idol and -3 points for the Leader card that was left in his hand. This would mean a total of 9 points, which could only be enough for the second place, but Tim saved his Hidden Treasure token tactically to the end of the game, and he puts it to his blue idol. Since two blue idols score 15 points, Tim gained 17 points instead of 9, making him the winner of the game.
2 Player Variant
In case of 2 players use the rules described above with the following exception: in a round when both players play Leader cards, none of them wins. Since these Leader cards neutralize each other, they must be put on the discard pile, however, the treasure cards stay on the table and the players start another round of bidding for the same two cards.
Of course, before starting a new round, just like at the end of any valid bidding round, they get to draw adventurer cards at the end of this round as well.