Cornwall Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Contents
• Game Setup
• How to Play
  • 1) Turn over a tile and lay it in the middle of the table
  • 2) Placing playing piece(s) (optional)
  • 3) Evaluate completed landscapes (if applicable)
• Evaluation
• Pub
• End of Game

Contents

• 28 playing pieces (7 of each color – in different sizes)
• 4 points markers (1 of each color)
• 1 starting tile (with 5 fields)
• 36 landscape tiles (with 3 fields each)
• 11 cottages (2 pieces)
• 40 coins
• 1 pub
• 4 game overview cards
• 1 scoring board

Game Setup

Each player chooses a color and places his points marker of the same color on the field "0/40" of the scoring board. Each player receives the 7 playing pieces of his own color, 1 coin, and 1 game overview. The coins must always lie visibly before the players. Put the remaining coins beside the scoring board. Have the pub nearby. The last person to visit England gets to go first. Shuffle the 36 landscape tiles (with 3 fields each) and put them into a draw pile. Assemble the cottages and put them to the side within reach.

Put the large starting tile (with 5 fields) in the middle of the table. It shows all 5 types of landscapes in the game: Swamp, forest, mountain, village and meadow.

How to Play

Each player takes turns in a clockwise direction. On your turn, carry out the following actions in exactly this order:

1. Turn over a tile and lay it in the middle of the table
2. Place playing pieces (optional)
3. Evaluate completed landscapes (if applicable)

1) Turn over a tile and lay it in the middle of the table

On your turn, turn over a tile from the draw pile and lay it adjacent to a tile already in the middle of the table (at the beginning of the game only the starting tile is in the middle of the table). You can rotate the tile in any direction. You must observe the following rules for laying tiles:

• No tile may cover another tile.
• At least one landscape type (= region) of the new tile must be laid adjacent to a matching landscape type of the tile already laid to extend the region.
• At least 2 edges of the new tile must be touching any of the edges of the tile(s) already lying in the middle of the table.

Examples:

• Wrong: Forest is not touching forest.

• Wrong: Forest is touching forest, but only one edge of the new tile is touching.

• Right: Mountain is touching mountain. 3 edges are touching in total.

• A region with a cottage depicted on it is considered completed and cannot be extended by a region of the same landscape type. To show that the region is complete, put a cottage on top of the field depicting the cottage.

Note: When you lay a tile depicting a cottage you have the option of placing your playing piece on top of the cottage-field.

Example: Wrong: Since the meadow region (outlined in blue) has been completed with the cottage, no further meadow field can be laid next to it.

After laying a tile, check to see how many regions that were already previously laid have been extended:

• If, by laying your tile, you manage to extend 2 different types of regions (see example A), you immediately receive 1 coin.
• If you extend only 1 existing region (see example B) or join 2 regions (see example C), you receive no coins.
• If you manage to extend 3 different regions (see example D) with a single tile, you immediately receive 2 coins.

Examples:

• A) Since 2 regions (mountain and meadow) were extended, the player receives 1 coin.
• B) 2 meadow fields are laid correctly adjacent to the existing meadow, but the player does not receive any coins because only 1 region has been extended.
• C) The new mountain field that has been laid joins 2 existing mountain regions. The player does not receive any coins.
• D) Since the new tile extends 3 different regions (village, meadow and mountain), the player receives 2 coins.

In extremely rare cases it is possible that you cannot lay your tile anywhere. If that is the case, move the tile to the bottom of the draw pile and pick up a new tile.

2) Placing playing piece(s) (optional)

On your turn you can place up to 3 of your playing pieces that are not already on another field on the tile that you just finished laying. The size of the playing piece you choose doesn't matter. Only one playing piece can occupy a field.

If you place only one single playing piece on a tile, it doesn't cost you any coins, as long as no other playing piece (of any color) is in the same region. For every playing piece that is already in the same region, you have to pay 1 coin. The same applies for your own playing pieces.

If you want to place more than one playing piece, you can only place them on the remaining fields of the tile you just finished laying. But, for each additional field that you want to occupy with your playing piece you have to pay 1 coin. If there are already other playing pieces placed in this region, you have to pay additional coins according to how many playing pieces there are.

If you place your playing piece on a field with a chapel on it, immediately move your points marker forward by 3 points on the scoring board. The playing piece stays on the field with the chapel.

Examples:

• E) Carsten expands the regions mountain and village with his tile. That earns him 1 coin. He then places a small playing piece on the meadow and another small playing piece on the village with the flag. For the second playing piece he has to pay 1 coin.
• F) Ronald extends the meadow and receives no coins, since only one region was extended. He places a tall, slender playing piece on the meadow. Normally this would not have cost him anything, but since there is already a playing piece (blue) on the meadow he has to pay 1 coin. For the second playing piece (small) that he places in the forest he has to pay yet another coin.
• G) Nina extends the regions forest and meadow with her tile, which earns her 1 coin. Then she places one small playing piece on the mountain field with the chapel, which doesn't cost her any coins. She immediately receives 3 points on the scoring board. Additionally she places a tall, slender playing piece on the forest field, which costs her 2 coins (1 coin for an additional field and 1 coin on account of the yellow playing piece that is already in the forest region).
• H) Marie extends the mountain and meadow regions. She earns 1 coin. Because the flag (more on that later) increases the value of the large meadow region, she places her big, fat playing piece on the meadow. Since 2 playing pieces are already on the meadow (yellow and blue), she has to pay 2 coins.

3) Evaluate completed landscapes (if applicable)

At the end of a player's turn, regions are evaluated if:

• a cottage was placed in a region;
• a region cannot be extended any further because it is surrounded by other tiles.
• After the evaluation all playing pieces are removed from the evaluated tiles and placed in the pub.

Note: Swamps are always evaluated at the end of the game only, even when they have been surrounded by other regions. That means that playing pieces that have been placed on swamps cannot be re-used throughout the course of the game!

Evaluation

When evaluating a region, first determine which player has the majority in the region. The playing pieces are evaluated differently:

If a player has multiple playing pieces in a region, add up the value of these playing pieces.

In all regions without the flag of Cornwall, only the player who has the majority in this region gets 1 point per field (exception: swamp). If there is at least 1 flag in the region, then the player with the second most playing pieces in the region also gets points.

Swamp regions are evaluated only at the end of the game. There are never flags in the swamp regions. The player with the majority receives 2 points per field. The player with the second highest score receives 1 point for each field.

Evaluation	Region	Points for a majority	Points for the second highest score
Throughout the game (phase 3 "evaluate regions") and at the end of the game	Village	1 point per field	0 points
Throughout the game (phase 3 "evaluate regions") and at the end of the game	Mount, Meadow, Forest — with a flag	2 points per field	1 point per field
Throughout the game (phase 3 "evaluate regions") and at the end of the game	Village — with a flag	3 points per field	1 point per field
Only at the end of the game	Swamp	2 points per field	1 point per field

If there is a tie for first place, the points for the first and second place are added, and the total sum of all fields is split up between them (round up if necessary). No points are awarded to any other players.

If exactly one player has the majority (for a region with a flag), and there is a tie for second place among multiple players, these players divide up the points for this region among them (1 point per field, rounding up if necessary). If no player places second in a region with a flag, the points for second place are not awarded.

The players move their respective points marker forward on the scoring board accordingly.

Pub

Playing pieces that have already been evaluated are removed from the tiles and the players do not take them back. Instead the playing pieces are placed in the pub. Immediately after laying a tile (and possibly receiving coins) any player can pay 1 coin and pick up all his playing pieces that are currently in the pub.

Note: During the tile-laying phase of the game it can be a smart move to lay your tile in such a way as to force a premature evaluation of another player's region before his point total gets to high.

It may also make sense to force a premature evaluation of one of your own regions by laying a tile, when, for example, you desperately need more playing pieces, or when you suspect that another player (by spending coins) may overtake your lead in the region and gain the majority.

Examples:

• I) Carsten lays mountain next to mountain. He places 1 playing piece on the mountain for free. However, since there is already a green playing piece in the region, he has to pay 1 coin. The region is completed by the cottage. Since the tall blue playing piece is worth more than the small green playing piece, Carsten receives 3 points for the 3 mountain fields. He then places a cottage on the mountain field. Now, no further mountain tiles can be placed next to this mountain field. Then his tall blue playing piece and the small green playing piece are put into the pub.
• J) Ronald lays the perfect tile. Meadow to meadow, village to village and forest to forest. He receives 2 coins. Since he no longer has a big fat playing piece, he places a small one on the meadow, which costs him 3 coins (there are already 3 playing pieces in the region). The tall slender playing piece costs him another 2 coins (1 coin for the additional field and 1 coin because there is already 1 playing piece in the village). Since the meadow that was just laid has a cottage on it, this region is immediately evaluated. The yellow and the red playing pieces share a majority (3 points each), so the points for first and second place are added up. That means that each of the 6 meadow fields is worth 2+1=3 points, and the entire meadow region is then worth 6x3=18 points. Player red and yellow divide these points among them (9 points each). Blue doesn't receive any points for the meadow region. The village, which was also extended, cannot be extended any further. That means this region is also complete and therefore must be evaluated. Yellow receives 3x3=9 points and blue 3x1=3 points. After the evaluation, both blue playing pieces, the big red and the three yellow playing pieces that were evaluated are all removed from the tiles and placed in the pub.

End of Game

The game is over once all the tiles have been laid. All regions that have yet to be evaluated (the swamp regions) are now evaluated. For every coin that a player has by the end of the game, the points marker is moved forward by 1 point on the scoring board. The player with the most points wins. If multiple players tie for first place, the one with the most coins wins.