Chamber of Wonders
Chamber of Wonders Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Game Objective
The object of the game is to build the best Chamber of Wonders by collecting Wonder Cards through your Agents in the various areas of London, and placing them into your Display Cabinet.
Each player will score Fame Points by collecting Wonders and using their actions wisely. The winner will be the player who scores the highest number of Fame points.
Game Components and Setup
Agent Meeples (12)
These represent your Agents, engaged in the pursuit of wonders. They will help you in the development of your precious Chamber. Depending on the number of players, you will use 2 or 3 Agents during each game:
- 2 players ..... 2 Agent Meeples each
- 3 players ..... 3 Agent Meeples each
- 4 players ..... 2 Agent Meeples each
2 Player Game: When the 2 players have used all their agents, they must take them back to use them a second time, for a total of 4 activations per player (potentially 8 Wonder Card placements).
Display Cabinet (12)
Each player will use 3 Display Cabinets during a game. Each Display Cabinet is made up of 3 Showcases. Place a "Coming Soon" marker on one Showcase of each Display Cabinet.
To set up a Display Cabinet: unfold the roof-shaped cabinet piece, fold down its side flap, then press the three peaked dividers down into place to form the three Showcases.
Map (1)
During Setup, the London Map will help you to correctly place all game elements.
Areas (5)
Choose the Areas to visit to conduct your business. Choose any 4 Areas and sides you want to use during the game; each Area has two sides with different in-game effects (see Areas). Place the Areas keeping the space for Agents to the outside of the playing area (the space with the meeple icons), and the space with Initial Equipment towards the inside.
To assemble an Area tile, stand the building piece up in its slot on the base and slot the name plate into the playing surface in front of it.
Note: for the first game select 4 Areas indicated in the Areas section by the heart symbol.
Contact Cards (6)
These cards represent the Contacts available during a single game. Shuffle them, draw 4 cards and place them face up in the designated areas. Put the remaining Contact Cards back in the box.
Wonder Cards (92)
These cards represent the Wonders that you can recover during the game. They are of 6 different types (indicated by a symbol and the color of the curtains).
Shuffle the Wonder Cards deck and place it in the center of the map in the designated area.
At the beginning of the game each player draws 3 cards from this deck, without showing them to the other players.
Then reveal the top card of the deck and place it next to the deck to start a discard pile.
At the end of the game, the Wonder Cards will be the main source of Fame points.
Each Wonder Card shows: its Name, its Type, its Purchase Value, and its Fame Points.
Important: if, at any time during the game, the Wonder Card pile runs out, restore it by shuffling the discard pile and then reveal the top card to start a new discard pile.
Pound Coin Tokens (50)
Coins are of 2 different types, 1 or 3 pounds.
Each player receives many pounds as the areas show (see Initial Equipment below). Place the coins in an area of the table easily accessible to all players: they will form the Cash Reserve.
Grotesque Tokens (20)
Each token has a value from 2 to 5 skulls (see Wonders, Grotesques).
Place these tokens in an area of the table easily accessible to all players.
Fame Point Tokens (24)
These tokens are awarded based on the additional goals achieved by each player, having a value of 3 Fame points per token.
Place these tokens in an area of the table easily accessible to all players.
Initial Equipment
During setup, each player will receive (in turn order) an amount of Pounds and Wonder Cards equal to the sum of the values indicated in the Initial Equipment spaces of all 4 Areas in play.
Whoever has visited a museum most recently is declared First Player, otherwise you can randomly determine who will start the game.
You are now ready to start the game!
Game Flow
Starting with the first player, and continuing clockwise, each player takes her turn. Each turn consists of two phases, which must be carried out strictly in the following order:
1. Send an Agent
The player sends out one Agent by placing the Agent meeple on a London Area, placing it in the appropriate space. This will activate its effect.
During the game a player cannot place more than one of her Agents in the same Area.
This action produces two different effects:
- (mandatory) The Area effect is activated (see Areas)
- (optional) The player can use the special ability of one of the two Contact Cards adjacent to the activated Area. This can occur before or after the application of the Area effect, at the player's choice (see Contacts).
A player cannot place an Agent on an Area where there is already one of her Agents, but she can always send her Agent where other players' Agents are already present.
2. Place Wonders in Showcase
All players may fill one of the Showcase spaces in their Display Cabinets.
To do this, all players secretly choose a Wonder Card from their hand (or more than one if they form a Set, see Wonders). They reveal it to the others at the same time, and then they place it in a free Showcase of their Display Cabinet.
It is not normally possible to remove or move Wonder Cards from the Showcase or add Wonder Cards to an already built Showcase (for example, it's not possible to add another book to a set of books already placed in a Showcase). However, some cards do allow such changes to be made.
A single Showcase can contain one or more Wonder Cards, choosing from:
- A single Wonder of any type (even Books or Monsters, see below)
- A Set consisting of any number of different Books (max 4)
- A "Monster" Set, consisting of exactly three different Wonder Cards: a Head, a Body and Legs
A player may display multiple copies of the same Wonder Card in separate Showcases of their Display Cabinets.
Once phase 2 is over for a player, the turn passes to the next player (clockwise), who will play the 2 phases.
The game will proceed in this way until all players run out of their Agents.
Expand the Chamber of Wonders: A Showcase with the "Coming Soon" marker cannot be used to place Wonders! At any time, players can pay £5 to remove one of the "Coming Soon" markers from their Display Cabinets to expand their Chamber of Wonders.
Contacts
During her turn, a player can activate the special ability of one of the two Contacts present in the alleys adjacent to the Area visited by her Agent.
Contact abilities can be activated at any time during the first phase of a player's turn, before or after resolving the effects of the Area. A player may choose not to activate a Contact's ability, although this is generally not beneficial.
Mr. Dreyfuss (Banker): The player gets £3 from the Cash Reserve.
J.K. Fezzik (Informer): The player draws a Wonder Card from the deck.
Sir Pebbleton (Benefactor): The player draws 2 Wonder Cards from the deck. Moving clockwise, all the other players draw 1 Wonder Card from the deck.
Cpt. Rek (Fence): The player discards a Wonder Card from her hand and gains its value in Pounds.
Butch (Carpenter): The player unlocks a Showcase in her Display Cabinet for free by removing the "Coming Soon" marker.
Cloris (Seer): The player draws the top card of the Wonder deck and looks at it. Then she can choose to put it back on top of the deck or discard it.
Areas
Areas represent significant places in London. Each Area has an effect that is activated when a player sends one of their Agents there. Each Area consists of a board with a unique skyline and 2 different effects, but with similar mechanics.
Whitechapel
A — "Curiosity killed the cat..." (heart symbol: recommended for a first game)
All the other players draw 1 Wonder Card. The current player then reveals as many Wonder Cards (one at a time) from the deck as she wishes. However, once she reveals two cards of the same type, she must discard all those she revealed and her turn ends. But if she decides to stop before revealing any cards of the same type, she takes all the cards she revealed and puts them into her hand.
B — "I bet on the King ... winning!"
Each player, starting with the current player, announces a type of Wonder Card and then reveals the top two cards of the Wonder Cards deck: the player can add any revealed cards of the announced type to her hand; any that do not match are discarded.
Hyde Park
A — "I have 5 pounds for one, 5 pounds for two, 5 pounds for three ... sold!" (heart symbol: recommended for a first game)
The current player draws a number of Wonder Cards equal to the number of players, then places them face up for all to see. She chooses one card and announces a basic offer of at least £1 if that Wonder Card is of interest to her, otherwise she passes. Proceeding clockwise, each player can raise the offer, adding at least £1, or they can pass. A player who passes cannot make subsequent raises on the same card. The winner of the auction pays the Pounds of her bid and gets the Wonder Card. The current player repeats the action for each of the 2 remaining Wonder Cards. If a card does not receive offers, it is placed in the Discard pile.
B — "You bet!"
The current player draws a number of Wonder Cards equal to the number of players, then places them face up for all to see. She chooses one card, all players (including the current player) secretly take in their hand the amount of pounds they want to offer to buy the card (even zero). All bids are revealed; whoever has bid the most Pounds pays them to the Cash Reserve and adds the Wonder Card to their hand. In case of a tie, the current player chooses who buys the card from among those who are tied. The current player repeats the action for each of the remaining Wonder Cards. If a card does not receive offers, it is placed in the Discard pile.
Westminster
A — "Inviting meal, I will dive in!" (heart symbol: recommended for a first game)
All players, starting with the current player, draw 3 Wonder Cards. Each player chooses one card and adds it to her hand, then gives the 2 remaining cards, one to the player on her right and one to the player on her left. (Note: with 2 players, you choose one card and give the other player one of the other cards, discarding the third card.)
B — "Take your turn and you won't get burned."
All players, starting with the current player, draw 3 Wonder Cards. All players choose one card, add it to their hand and pass the remaining 2 cards to the player on their right. All players now choose a card from the 2 received, add it to their hand and pass the remaining card to the player on her right, who adds it to her hand.
Bank of England
A — "Banks do a business of gold in these times." (heart symbol: recommended for a first game)
All players, starting with the current player, can sell one Wonder Card from their hand, obtaining its purchase value plus £3 from the Cash Reserve. Cards sold in this way are placed in the discard pile.
B — "Promotion sale!"
All players, starting with the current player, can sell up to 3 Wonder Cards from their hand, obtaining their purchase value in Pounds from the Cash Reserve. Cards sold in this way are placed in the discard pile.
Abbey
A — "Play your game."
The current player draws as many Wonder cards from the deck as the number of players, and without looking at them, she places them in front of her, forming a pile. Then she takes the first one, looks at it and decides who to give it to, including herself. The current player repeats this action for each of the remaining Wonder Cards. It is not possible to give more than one card to the same player. Each player will receive only one Wonder Card.
B — "It seems like a fair trade to me..."
All players must discard a Wonder Card from their hand and draw another one from the Wonder deck. If a player has no Wonder cards in their hand, they will still draw one from the deck.
Wonders
Wonder Cards represent all the items that players can collect and show in their Display Cabinets. There are 6 different types of Wonder Cards, recognizable by the color of the curtains and the symbol, each one with its own rules:
Monsters (18)
Wonders available in the form of Heads, Bodies and Feet. They can be displayed as a single Wonder or as a Monster Set (made up of 3 different parts), placing the card or the Set in a single Showcase (it is not possible to put only 2 parts in the Showcase). If the player places the 3 cards of a complete Monster Set, she gets one Fame Point Token and places it on top of the Monster Set. Monster parts cannot be added to one Showcase already built (see Game Flow).
Grotesques (12)
Each time a Wonder of this type is exhibited, the player draws one Grotesque Token and places it face down on the Grotesque card just placed on the Showcase. Only the owner can see the tokens drawn and placed on their cards.
At the end of the game the players will reveal all the Grotesque Tokens accumulated in their Display Cabinets and will count the total number of skulls shown on them and whoever has the most skulls will get one additional Fame Point Token. If multiple players have the same number of skulls, they will continue to draw Grotesque Tokens until the tie is broken and there is a winner.
Legendaries (18)
These are worth the Fame Point values indicated on the card.
Each time one of these Wonders is exhibited, the player places one Fame Point Token on it. If another copy of the same Legendary Wonder Card appears in any of the players' Display Cabinets, the Fame Point Token must be discarded from the Legendary Wonder Card previously placed and including the card just placed (no one receives a Fame Points Token for this Legendary copy).
Precious (12)
Whenever a player exhibits a Precious card, she immediately gets £3 from the Cash Reserve.
Arcane (12)
Your personal Fame point value for each Arcane card you have at the end of the game is equal to the number of different types of Wonders exhibited by you (including Arcane ones).
Books (20)
There are 4 different types of Books. Up to 4 Books can be displayed in a single Showcase, but they must all be different from each other, to form a Set. It is not possible to add Books to a Showcase already built (see Game Flow).
At the end of the game, each Book Set displayed provides a number of Fame Points according to the following scheme:
- 1 Book = 1 Fame Point
- 2 different Books = 4 Fame Points
- 3 different Books = 9 Fame Points
- 4 different Books = 16 Fame Points
End of the Game
The game ends at the end of the turn in which the last player placed their last Agent, and all the related phases have been resolved. At this point, each player calculates the total value of their Chamber of Wonders, adding:
- Fame point values of all the Wonder Cards in their Display Cabinets, as per the card types;
- All Fame Points Tokens obtained during the game (3 Fame Points each);
- One Fame Point for every £3 left in their reserve;
Then each player must subtract 1 Fame Point for each Wonder Card left in their hand.
The player who has the most Fame Points is declared the winner.
Tie: if 2 or more players have the same number of Fame Points, the winner will be the one who exhibited more Wonders (every single card is counted, even those that make up the Sets). In the event of a further tie, the player with the most Pounds in their reserve will win. In case of a further tie, the tied players share the victory.
Example
In a 3 player game with Paolo, Diana and Diego, Paolo places his last Agent, ensuring that all players complete this last turn. It's time to calculate Fame Points.
Diana has placed a total of 10 Wonder Cards in 7 different Showcases, totaling 36 Fame Points. She adds to them 2 Fame Point Tokens (6 Fame Points), one obtained with a complete Monster Set and one because she displayed the only "Puzzle box" on the table (see Wonders, Legendaries). Finally, she adds 2 points thanks to the 7 Pounds she still has. Having only one Wonder card in hand, she deducts 1 point and concludes with a total of 43 Fame points.
Paolo has focused on his Book collection, having placed a total of 11 Wonders in 8 Showcases he gets 39 Fame points. He now adds 1 Fame Point Token (worth 3 Fame Points), obtained thanks to "Lance" (Legendaries). He still has 12 Pounds, so he adds 4 Fame points. He doesn't have any Wonder Cards still in hand, so he doesn't deduct Fame points for that. Paolo ends the game with a total of 46 Fame Points.
Diego instead focused on money. He placed a total of 10 Wonders in 8 Showcases, getting 38 Fame Points. He can add to these Fame Points from 2 Fame Tokens (providing 6 Fame Points), obtained from the complete set of Monsters and from the only "Tablet" (Legendaries) exhibited among all players. He also adds 4 Fame points thanks to his 14 Pounds, but he has to deduct 3 points because he still has 3 Wonder Cards in his hand. Diego ends with a total of 45 Fame Points.
Now Diana and Diego reveal their Grotesque tokens (Paolo has none), Diana has 2 tokens for a total of 4 skulls while Diego has one 3-skull token. Diana gets one additional Fame Token worth 3 Fame Points (see Wonders, Grotesques), so her Fame points total is now 46.
There is a tie for first place between Diana and Paolo, but Paolo, having displayed 11 Wonder Cards versus Diana's 10 Cards, wins the tiebreaker and the game.
Clubs
These cards will provide an additional skill to each player, increasing the way you get points at the end of the game or giving help during the game session. If Club Cards are used, each player draws 1 Club Card during initial setup to use its effects throughout the game. Once obtained, a player may not exchange one Club card for another.
Detectives Club: At the beginning of her turn, the player can look at the top 3 cards of the Wonder Cards deck.
Bankers Club: At the end of the game, you get 1 Fame point for every £2 (instead of £3).
Gravediggers Club: When the player needs to draw a Grotesque token, she draws two and chooses which one to keep.
Goldsmiths Club: Take £1 from the Cash Reserve every time someone exhibits a Precious.
Carpenters Club: Once per turn, the player can decide to empty one of her Showcases of included Wonder Cards to allow a new Card (or set) to be added to that Showcase on the same turn. The removed Wonder Card is returned to your hand.
Cat-lovers Club: The player earns £1 each time another player exhibits a Monster, either for a Complete Set or for a single part.
Solo Mode
This version of the game allows you to play Chamber of Wonders in solo mode.
During setup draw or choose 4 contacts among the 6 contacts marked with the solo-mode symbol (see Contacts - Solo Mode), and place the 4 tokens with the effects of the Areas for the solo game (see Areas - Solo Mode) on the 4 game Areas. The chosen Areas are not important as their effects will be replaced by those indicated on the new effects token.
This game will be a challenge between you and a special fearsome opponent: the Collector.
At the beginning of the game, the Collector receives 3 Display Cases, 3 "Coming Soon" tokens to be placed as usual, £15 and 5 Wonder Cards.
Ignore the Initial Equipment normally indicated by the Areas. Instead, take £8 and 2 Wonder Cards.
The game plays normally: the player places her 3 Agents and activates the effects of the new Areas and new Contacts (see Contacts - Solo Mode).
When the player has used all their agents, she recovers all three Agents from the Areas.
Then the player reveals all the Wonder Cards of her opponent (the Collector) and places them in the available Showcases.
The Collector must pay £5 (to the Cash Reserve) for each "Coming Soon" token that has to be removed, respecting the following preferences, if possible:
- A complete three-part Monster Set (Head-Body-Feet).
- A set of at least 3 different Books, more if in his possession.
- Legendaries.
- Grotesques.
- Precious.
- Arcane.
The Collector will prefer to display complete Sets and cards with a higher purchase value.
After revealing and placing all permissible Wonder Cards for the opponent, the turn ends.
At the beginning of the new turn the player:
- discards any remaining Collector's cards not able to be placed
- draws 5 new Wonder Cards for the Collector.
After 9 turns the game ends, and you proceed with the normal scoring.
You can increase the challenge level by using the following extra rules (either one or both):
Lord Level: Before Revealing, the Collector draws a Wonder Card from the deck and adds it to his hand.
Royal Level: During the final scoring, the Collector ignores the penalty for the remaining cards in hand.
Areas - Solo Mode
Business House
A: Reveal 4 Wonder Cards from the deck, you can buy up to 2 cards paying the indicated cost. For each card purchased the Collector will buy the one with the highest cost (or the highest cost possible based on the Pounds he owns), which will be assigned to him.
B: Reveal 4 Wonder Cards from the deck, you can buy any number. You pay to the Collector the cost of cards you decided to buy, discard the remaining cards.
Scotland Yard's Backyard
A: Draw 4 Wonder Cards and reveal 2. Choose one revealed card and one face down and add them to your hand, then add the other 2 cards to the Collector's hand.
B: Draw 3 Wonder Cards face down from the deck, reveal one at a time and decide whether to keep it, assign it to the Collector or discard it. You must take one, add one to the Collector's hand and discard another.
The Daily Telegraph
A: Draw 3 Wonder Cards face down and add them to the Collector's hand, together with £3. Then reveal from the deck, one at a time, how many cards you want. If you reveal two cards of the same type, discard all revealed cards and gain £3, otherwise add all revealed cards to your hand.
B: Reveal 3 Wonder Cards from the deck, then draw up to 3 cards, any card drawn that is of the same type as one of those revealed will go to the Collector's hand, otherwise you can add it to your hand. Discard the 3 revealed cards.
Central Market
A: Sell up to two Wonder Cards at £3 more than their total value, the Collector earns £3 for each card you sell.
B: Sell as many Wonder Cards as you want, the Collector earns £3 for each card you sold.
Contacts - Solo Mode
These Contacts are only used in Solo mode. When the Solo player activates the chosen ability, she will also affect the Collector with an effect. (The Collector never moves meeples of his own onto the board.) If the effect is different than the effect the Solo player uses, the darker, right-hand side of the shield is what affects the Collector while the lighter, left-hand side of the shield affects the Solo player.
Clark (Chronicler): Take 1 Grotesque Token, the Collector takes 1 Grotesque Token as well.
Olivander (Tallyman): Discard a Wonder Card, the Collector discards a random Wonder Card from his hand.
The Boss (Usurer): Sell a Wonder Card, the Collector earns £3.
Cara (Accountant): You pay £3 to the Collector, look at 3 cards from the Collector, take one, return the other 2 cards.
Parker (Photographer): Draw 2 Wonder Cards, discard one of them. Draw a face down Wonder Card and add it to the Collector's hand.
Catherine (Heiress): Empty a Showcase and immediately display a new Wonder (or set of Wonders), the Collector gains a Fame Point Token. The removed Wonder Card is returned to your hand.