Cleopatra and the Society of Architects
Cleopatra and the Society of Architects Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
Inside the box rests:
- This Rules booklet
- Five Punchboards:
- The Palace's Garden
- The Plaza of the Sphinx
- The Mosaics of the Gods (12 pentominos)
- The Amulets of Corruption (89 amulets) and the Nile Merchants (15, or 3 per player)
- The Treasure of the Pharaoh (108 talents - 32 x 1, 32 x 2, 24 x 5 and 20 x 10)
- A Quarry, containing the following building pieces: 9 Column walls, 6 Sphinxes, 2 Obelisks, 2 Door frames, 1 Throne & 1 Pedestal, and the Altar of the Great Priest
- In the Quarry's original package also lay:
- 10 Statues of Anubis (2 per player)
- 1 Cleopatra figure
- Below the Quarry, in a sand-colored tray, can be found:
- A Deck of 110 cards, including:
- 75 Standard Resource cards: 30 x Artisan, 18 x Stone Block, 11 x Marble Slab, 9 x Wooden Log, 7 x Lapis Lazuli
- 23 "Tainted" Resource cards: 3 of each of the standard resources doubled up, which represent corrupt Artisans and stolen goods, plus 8 x Trompe-l'oeil
- 11 Character cards, all "Tainted": 2 x Beggars, 2 x Courtesans, 2 x Envoys, 2 x Scribes, 2 x Smugglers, 1 x Vizier
- 5 Dice of the Great Priest
- 5 Pyramids of Corruption (one for each player; they hold each player's Corruption amulets throughout the game)
- 5 Summary Sheets
- A Deck of 110 cards, including:
- The Game box… Don't put it aside yet, as you will need it to set up the game!
Setting Up the Game
Remove the five Punch boards, the Quarry with its contents, the deck of cards, the dice, players' pyramids and Summary Sheets from the box.
Turn the now empty (except for the tray inside it) bottom of the box upside down and place it in the center of the table. Lay the Palace's Garden on top of it, and position the Plaza of the Sphinx adjacent to the corresponding illustration on one side of the box. Place the Dice of the Great Priest, blank side face-up, in a group next to the Plaza of the Sphinx, and place the empty Altar of the Great Priest in front of the Plaza. Whenever a die displays the Great Priest symbol face up, later in the game, it will be moved onto the Altar.
Place the Quarry and all its contents within easy reach of all of the players. Remove the figure of Cleopatra and place it on her illustration, before the numbered footsteps leading to the palace doors, at the start of the Plaza of the Sphinx. Leave all the other Quarry elements in place.
If you are playing for the first time, punch out the Mosaics of the Gods and place them in a pile in random order inside the Quarry, on the spot where the figure of Cleopatra and the Statues of Anubis were initially stored. Set the Statues aside. From now on, once the game is done, the Statues will be stored inside the box's plastic tray, rather than in the Quarry blister they first came in.
Punch out the Amulets of Corruption, and place them in a pile next to the game board. Now punch out the Nile Merchants, and the Talents that make up the Treasure of the Pharaoh. Place the Talents in sorted piles of increasing value, face up, next to the Plaza, within easy reach of all players. These Talents will be used throughout the game to pay off the player architects who build pieces of her Palace.
Hand a Summary Sheet, a Pyramid of Corruption, and two Statues of Anubis of matching color to each of the players. The players also receive 3 Merchants of the Nile and 5 Talents each. The Merchants are visible to all, while the Talents are kept in a pile, face down, in front of the player, their value hidden from all others.
Remove the promotional card from the deck of cards and shuffle the deck. Then deal 3 cards, face down, to each player.
Cut the deck in two equal halves, flip one half face-up, and shuffle the two half decks back together to generate a new deck with face-up and face-down cards intermixed. Draw the top three cards from this deck, and lay them side-by-side, without changing the orientation of the cards (face up cards comes into play face up, and face down cards come into play face down). These three cards (together with those that join them later) form the Market from which all resources will be obtained throughout the game.
You are now ready to start playing.
Object of the Game
The object of the game is to become the wealthiest of Cleopatra's architects, by constructing the most magnificent and valuable parts of her Palace.
Given the intense competition that reigns among the members of the Society of Architects, you will often be tempted to deal with shady characters and trade in materials of dubious origins.
While these corrupt practices may indeed allow you to stay a step ahead of the pack, they come at a heavy price: Cursed corruption amulets honoring Sobek, the Crocodile-god, which are stored inside your Pyramid of Corruption, hidden from the preying eyes of your competitors.
When Cleopatra finally strolls into her new Palace, at the end of the game, the most corrupt architect (the one with the most amulets) will be seized and offered to her sacred crocodile as a tasty morsel! Only then will the wealthiest architect, from among those still alive, be selected and declared winner of the game.
The Game Turn
The player with the best Egyptian credentials (a nose as famous as Cleopatra's, a mummified Crocodile pet, or an extensive hieroglyphic library) starts the game. Otherwise, the youngest player goes first.
Play then proceeds clockwise around the table, with each player taking one turn at a time until the game ends.
On his turn, a player MUST perform one (and ONLY ONE) of the following two actions:
Visit the Market
-
The player who chooses to visit the Market picks all the card(s) from the column of cards (called a "Market stall") of his choice and takes them in hand.
If the player's turn ends with more than 10 cards in his hand, he must immediately:
- a. Discard the cards of his choice into the discard pile next to the Market's draw pile (so as to keep only 10 cards in hand), and take 1 Corruption Amulet which he places under his Pyramid of Corruption; or
- b. Keep ALL of the cards in excess of 10 in his hand, and place 1 Corruption amulet under his Pyramid of Corruption, for EACH card in excess.
-
The player then replenishes each Market stall by drawing the top three cards from the draw pile, and placing them, one at a time, but maintaining the orientation of their faces, in the order of his choice.
-
A card must be placed in each stall, slightly offset from the previous cards already laying there, if any, so that cards that are face up always remain at least partially visible to the players. The mix and amount of face-up/face-down cards will thus vary from stall to stall as the game progresses.
-
When the draw pile dries up, a new one is formed from the cards in the discard pile, using the same shuffle mechanism as during the game's initial set-up.
OR
Visit the Quarry
The player may opt to visit the Quarry instead, to acquire the pieces of the Palace he wishes to build this turn.
To build a piece of the Palace, the player must:
- Play from his hand any combination of Resource cards and/or Nile Merchants that matches or exceeds the construction requirements of the piece being built, and discard them onto the Market's discard pile. Nile Merchants played are removed from the game.
- Take the corresponding piece from the Quarry and place it on the spot reserved for it on the Palace grounds. If multiple spots are available, the player chooses where to erect his piece. If he wishes (and can afford it), the player may opt to build multiple pieces, or multiple copies of the same piece, during the same turn.
- Collect the Talents earned as a result, as indicated on the Summary Sheet. If two pieces were built this turn, add 2 more Talents to the total collected by the player; if three or more pieces are built, add 5 more Talents instead. The Talents are placed face down in the player's pile, their value now hidden from the others.
- If the piece(s) built this turn result in one entire category of pieces (the Sphinxes, Obelisks, Throne and Pedestal, Door frames, Column walls, or Mosaics of the Gods) being completed, move Cleopatra one space forward toward the Palace's door.
- Roll all of the dice of the Great Priest whose face up is still blank. Move any dice that land face up onto the Altar of the Great Priest, and put the other dice back in their place, blank face up. If all 5 dice now fill the Altar, displaying the Great Priest symbol, proceed to an Offering to the Great Priest (see Offerings to the Great Priest).
The Character cards described in detail in the Worshippers of Sobek section can be used at ANY time during a player's turn, regardless of whether he opted to visit the Market or the Quarry, and even if he just received the card during this same turn.
Important Notes Regarding Game Turn
- Any "tainted" Resource or Character card used (identified by the corruption symbol) adds the number of Corruption Amulets indicated on the card to the player's Pyramid of Corruption the moment it is played.
- A Nile Merchant can be played in lieu of any single missing resource required (including in lieu of an Artisan), during a visit to the Quarry. Once used, a Nile Merchant is removed from the game.
- While the resource count paid during a visit to the Quarry never has to be exact (e.g. a "tainted" 2-Marble Slabs resource may be used where a single Marble Slab would suffice), and can be split over several pieces being built at the same time (e.g. a 2-Wooden Logs resource may be used to account for the Wooden Log portion of a Column wall and of a Door frame), change is never given back. Any unused portion of a Resource card played during the turn is lost.
- If the player chooses to build a Mosaic of the Gods, he must take the one on top of the pile in the Quarry (unless he opts to play a Scribe Character card — see The Scribes).
Offerings to the Great Priest
Following a visit to the Quarry and the ensuing dice roll that may occur, or following the play of a Scribe card, all five dice may now display the Great Priest symbol face up. An offering to the Great Priest must then be made.
Each player puts in hand a secret amount of Talents he wishes to offer up. Once ready, all players now reveal their offering:
- The most generous player (highest bidder) discards 3 Corruption Amulets from his Pyramid of Corruption back into the pile next to the game board. If he has less than 3 Corruption Amulets, he only discards as many as he has.
- The second highest bidder adds 1 Corruption Amulet under his Pyramid of Corruption; the third player receives 2 amulets, the fourth 3, and the fifth 4.
Ties between players are broken based on the players' actual rank in the offering, e.g. two players tied for first place will each receive the right to get rid of 3 of their own Corruption amulets; the next player will then automatically be considered to be in 3rd place, and forced to take 2 Corruption amulets under his Pyramid of Corruption, etc.
Once the offering has been completed, the 5 dice are removed from the Altar and turned back to a blank face up position. As such, during the course of a game, several offerings may be triggered (or even possibly none!).
Important Note: All Talents bid by the players during an offering to the Great Priest are lost, regardless of the players' rank in the auction, and placed back into the Pharaoh's Treasure stacks, next to the game board.
Game End
The Game ends when Cleopatra finishes her inspection of the Palace, i.e. reaches the last, numbered 5, step in front of the Palace doors. This occurs the moment 5 out of the 6 categories of construction pieces in the Quarry have been fully built.
At that point, the players discard any cards still in hand, collecting 1 Corruption Amulet for each "tainted" Resource or Character card they are forced to discard.
The Players now lift their Pyramid of Corruption, to reveal the Corruption Amulets they have accumulated during the game.
The Players place 1 Corruption Amulet on each space of the Palace's Garden that they have claimed as a Sanctuary when they placed one of their Statues of Anubis (including the space where the Statue is).
The players now count how many Corruption Amulets they still have in their possession. The player or players with the most Amulets are fed to Cleopatra's favorite Crocodile and cannot win. In the rare event where no player had any Corruption left, the Crocodile would remain unfed!
The surviving players then count their Talents, adding 3 Talents for each Merchant of the Nile still in their possession.
The wealthiest surviving Architect is declared the winner!
Should more than 1 player tie for first place, the Architect with the smallest number of Corruption Amulets left is declared the winner of the game.
Inside the Quarry
The Quarry board is laid out with the Sphinx spots and the Mosaics/Sanctuary garden on one side, the Throne and Pedestal spot at the top, the Obelisks spots, and the Column walls and Door frames spots along the border, with Cleopatra's start and Cleopatra's walk marked leading to the Palace doors. The Quarry itself holds the physical building pieces: 2 Throne + Pedestal, 6 Sphinxes, 12 Mosaics of the Gods, 2 Door frames, 9 Column walls, and 2 Obelisks.
The Quarry contains all the pieces that might get built during the Palace's construction. An entry for each of the construction types is shown on each player's Summary Sheet. It lists the required resource materials for each piece and the gold Talents that will be received once it is added to the Palace.
These various pieces are:
Column Walls (9x)
Required resources: 1 Artisan, 1 Wood, 1 Stone.
Worth: 3 Talents + 1 Talent for each segment of the Mosaic of the Gods adjacent to the column wall being built.
The walls are placed along the box, adjacent to the garden's border. The wall's corners must align with the blue jewels on the garden's border, so that 3 walls may fit on each side of the box. Each Mosaic square adjacent to the wall is worth 1 additional Talent.
Wall scoring example: the player earns 3 Talents for building this wall, and 2 additional Talents for the two Mosaic squares adjacent to it, for a total of 5 Talents (3 + 2 = 5 Talents).
Sphinxes (6x)
Required resources: 1 Artisan, 1 Stone, 1 Marble.
Worth: 2 Talents for the first Sphinx of each pair, 5 Talents for the second Sphinx built immediately across from any Sphinx that faced it on the Plaza of the Sphinx.
The Sphinx must always be laid down in order (i.e., the first one on spot number 1, then 2, then 3...). The spot numbers are shown next to each Sphinx's placement.
Sphinx placement: the Sphinx are placed following the progression of the blue arrow on this example. Each odd-numbered Sphinx will earn 2 Talents, and the following even-numbered one, 5 Talents.
Pedestal + Throne (2x)
Required resources: 3 Artisans, 2 Marbles, 2 Lapis Lazuli.
Worth: 12 Talents each.
Build the Pedestal first.
Obelisks (2x)
Required resources: 3 Artisans, 2 Woods, 2 Stones.
Worth: 12 Talents each.
Door Frames (2x)
Required resources: 2 Artisans, 1 Wood, 1 Marble, 1 Lapis Lazuli.
Worth: 4 Talents + 1 Talent for each Column wall linked to that Door frame's corner.
Door scoring example: when a player builds a Door, he earns 4 Talents, plus 1 additional Talent for each wall directly connected to that door (4 + 4 = 8 Talents). A wall only counts toward this bonus if it is actually connected to the Door frame's corner ("Wall +1"); a wall that isn't connected doesn't count ("No Walls").
Mosaics of the Gods (12x)
Required resources: 2 Artisans, 1 Stone, 1 Marble, 1 Lapis Lazuli.
Worth: 4 Talents + 1 Talent for each palm square covered + right to erect a Statue of Anubis if a Sanctuary is formed.
The player builds a Mosaic piece by taking the first one from the pile, and placing it on the grid.
Mosaic scoring example: the player earns 4 Talents for the Mosaic, plus 1 additional Talent for each Palm tree covered (4 + 3 = 7 Talents).
Building a Sanctuary
If a player builds a Mosaic of the Gods inside the Palace's Gardens in such a way that a new, closed garden area is formed, in which no further Mosaic can be built (either due to lack of space, or to the fact that all Mosaics that might have fit have already been built somewhere else), a Sanctuary is formed.
Often a Sanctuary will be 4 or less spaces large, but some larger ones can be built, as long as it can be proved that no remaining Mosaic could be placed inside the newly formed Sanctuary. An open space may be turned into a Sanctuary only if no other remaining Mosaic can be placed in that space.
Whenever a Sanctuary is formed, the player who created it may decide, at his option, to place one of his Statues of Anubis inside the Sanctuary to claim ownership. If a newly formed Sanctuary is not immediately claimed by its rightful owner, no other player will be able to claim this particular sanctuary later in the game.
At the end of the game, any player who owns a Sanctuary (or two) can get rid of 1 Corruption Amulet for each grid square of Sanctuary space under his control, including the space on which his Statue lays!
Each time one (or more) Mosaic piece(s) are built, you must verify whether the next Mosaic piece now on top of the pile in the Quarry can still be built in the spaces now left in the Palace's Garden. If not, the piece must immediately be removed from the pile, and set aside for the rest of the game. The next piece newly revealed must then be checked (and removed if it cannot be built), etc... If the pile of Mosaic pieces is thus emptied, move Cleopatra one space forward as indicated in step 4 of the "Visit the Quarry" section (see The Game Turn).
The Worshippers of Sobek
Eleven corrupt characters (2 Beggars, 2 Courtesans, 2 Envoys, 2 Scribes, 2 Smugglers, and 1 Vizier) may offer their services to you throughout the game. These characters are usually picked along with the more frequent Resource cards, from one of the stalls during visits to the Market.
These Character cards usually carry a price, reflected in the number of Corruption Amulets the player receives when playing the card. These cards can be played at any time during a Player's turn, even if he just received them during his current turn. To play a Character card, simply discard it onto the Market discard pile, apply the Character's effect, and add the card's corresponding cost in Corruption Amulets under your own Pyramid of Corruption.
The Beggars
Cost: 2 Corruption Amulets (x2 in the deck)
Power: Each of your opponents must give you his choice of either 2 Talents, or a Standard Resource card (Artisan, Stone, Wood, Marble or Lapis Lazuli). The resource card given cannot be any of the "tainted" (worth double) resource cards. In some instances, the player's choice will thus be limited. In the unlikely event a player cannot offer either of the choices, he must then show to the Beggar's player all his cards in hand, to prove his good faith.
The Courtesans
Cost: 1 Corruption Amulet (x2 in the deck)
Power: Play this card to pick up a single card of your choice from those currently in the discard pile next to the Market draw pile. You do not need to disclose which card you picked to your opponents.
The Envoys
Cost: Variable cost (see below) (x2 in the deck)
Power: You may ask for the Standard Resource cards of your choice from any and/or all of your opponents. For each card you accept, you must also take a Corruption Amulet from the card's owner. Note that the players are never obliged to offer you any of their resource cards, nor are you obliged to accept any of those they offer.
The Scribes
Cost: 2 Corruption Amulets (or zero) (x2 in the deck)
Power: For 2 Corruption Amulets: You may pick the Mosaic of your choice in the Quarry, rather than just the one on top of the pile. You must still pay the Mosaic's required resources.
For 0 Corruption Amulet: Alternatively, if the pile of Mosaic pieces is empty, or if you so choose, you may discard the Scribe at no corruption cost, for the right to change the face of one of the Great Priest's dice. You may either turn a blank die face up, bringing it onto the Altar of the Great Priest, to increase the odds (or even trigger, if this was the last missing dice) an offering to the Great Priest; or instead use the Scribe to turn one of the dice already on the Altar back off it, and onto one of its blank faces, to delay the occurrence of an offering.
Note that the Scribe, like all characters, can only be played during your own turn, and thus cannot be used to counter the dice rolls of another player visiting the Quarry to prevent an offering from immediately occurring. Also, like all other "tainted" Resource cards, if a Scribe is still in a player's hand when the game ends, its cost to the player holding it will be 1 Corruption amulet.
The Smugglers
Cost: 1 Corruption Amulet (x2 in the deck)
Power: Play this card whenever you have more than 10 cards in hand, to keep ALL your cards in hand. You receive a single Corruption Amulet.
The Vizier
Cost: Variable cost (see below) (x1 in the deck)
Power: Play this card to draw the top 5 cards from the Market draw pile. Keep the ones you wish, at a cost of 1 Corruption Amulet for each card kept, and discard the others. You are not required to show your opponents which cards you picked or discarded.
Online Play
We invite you to join our online community of players and test your skills against fellow players from around the world at Days of Wonder Online, where we host a number of online versions of our games. Here is your Days of Wonder Online Web Card Access number:
To use it, simply visit: www.cleopatragame.com and click on the New Player Signup button on the home page. Then just follow the instructions.
You can also learn about other Days of Wonder games or visit us at: www.daysofwonder.com
Credits
Game design: Bruno Cathala and Ludovic Maublanc
Illustrations: Julien Delval
Playtesters: Special thanks to Serge Laget, Sébastien Pauchon, Mr & Mrs. Nim, Alain Payet-Taille and the jolly team from around Vevey, Angèle, Dominique, Sophie, Pepsi and the Burgundy International Team.
Copyright 2006 Days of Wonder, Inc. www.daysofwonder.com
"Days of Wonder" and "Cleopatra & the Society of Architects" are trademarks or registered trademarks of Days of Wonder, Inc. All Rights Reserved.