Countryside Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• General Setup
• Player Setup
• Overview and Goal of the Game
• Round Structure
• Place a Worker
• End the Day
• End of the Turn
• Areas
• Playing a Card by Spending Hours of Sunlight
• Coins/Baskets
  • Spending coins to gain hours of sunlight
• Fulfilling a Goal
• Unlocking Action Spaces on Your Player Board
• End of the Game
• Example of a Complete Turn
• Solo Game
• Symbols & Card Effects
• Goals in Detail

Components

• 1 Victory point track (two pieces)
• 6 Goal tiles (double sided)
• 126 Project cards — short "cards"
• 50 Area cards — short "areas"
• 5 Overview cards
• 60 Coins/Baskets — Front: Coin, Back: Basket
• 4 Player boards
• 16 Workers
• 52 Markers

General Setup

1. Assemble the victory point track and place it at the center of the table. Choose the "blue" or "red" side freely.

2. Place three goal tiles below the victory point track. For your first time playing Countryside, we recommend to select the goal tiles as depicted above. Each goal tile is marked with a letter (A or B) and a position (*, ** or ***).

   Once you are familiar with the game, choose the goal tiles randomly. When doing so, make sure to select at least one A tile and one B tile. For each tile, choose a side randomly and place it in the corresponding space below the victory point track.

3. Shuffle the project cards (with the gray back) to create a draw pile.

   From now on, "project cards" will be simply referred to as "cards" for brevity.

4. Form five separate decks of area cards, each containing ten cards with the same symbol on the back. Shuffle each pile separately. Place these decks above the victory point track.

   From now on, "area cards" will be referred to simply as "areas" for brevity.

5. Each player chooses a color and places one marker on the victory point track, depending on the number of players on the following space:

   • Solo game: Place the marker on space 0
   • 2 player game: Place the marker on space 0
   • 3 player game: Place the marker on space 2
   • 4 player game: Place the marker on space 3

Player Setup

A. Place a player board in front of you.

B. Place 4 workers in your home.

C. Place 12 markers in the matching spaces of your player board. Spaces with a circle must be covered with one marker. Spaces with two circles must be covered by two markers.

D. Place 1 coin and 14 baskets in the corresponding section of your player board.

E. Draw a card from each of the five area decks and place them face up next to your player board.

F. The last player to harvest a fruit from a tree becomes the starting player. This player draws 5 project cards. Each following player in clockwise order draws one card more than the previous player (except in a two-player game).

Players should therefore draw as follows:

1. The first player draws 5 cards
2. The second player draws 6 cards (7 cards in a two-player game)
3. The third player draws 7 cards
4. The fourth player draws 8 cards

G. Choose three areas to keep. Place the remaining two areas at the bottom of the corresponding decks.

H. Discard a card from your hand to the discard pile.

I. Draw seven cards from the deck and place them face up to form a display.

Overview and Goal of the Game

In Countryside, you will expand your farm and fulfill goals through careful planning. As you fulfill your goals, you will be able to free up new action spaces.

The end of the game is triggered as soon as one victory point marker moves past the last space of the victory point track. At this point, each player will have two final turns following the normal rules. Then, the player with the most victory points will win the game. In case of a tie, the player with the most coins wins. If there is still a tie, the tied players share the victory.

Round Structure

The starting player starts by taking the first turn. Then, players will keep taking turns in clockwise order until the end of the game is triggered. On your turn you can either place a worker or end the day.

Place a Worker

Take an available worker from your home and place it on a free action space with the matching symbol. Then, apply the effect of that action space.

At the beginning of the game, six action spaces are available to you:

• Draw four cards from the display to your hand. The cards must be adjacent to each other. The first and last card of the display are also considered adjacent.
• You have two hours of sunlight to play a card on an area. Then, draw two adjacent cards from the display to your hand.
• You have five hours of sunlight to play a card on an area.
• You have three hours of sunlight to play a card on an area. Additionally, you may discard cards from your hand to gain one extra hour of sunlight for each card discarded this way.
• Draw two areas. You may draw both areas from a single deck or one area from two different decks. Place one in front of you and the other at the bottom of the corresponding deck.
• Fulfill up to two goals. When fulfilling a goal, take one marker from your player board and place it on that goal. Then, advance your marker on the victory point track by the corresponding number of steps.

End the Day

Take all spent workers from the action spaces of your player board and place them back home. Depending on how many workers you sent home this way, you gain the following action:

• If you sent two workers home, gain a market action of your choice.
• If you send three workers home, gain a market action and draw a card from the display.
• If you sent home all four workers, gain two different market actions.

Additional rules:

• If you send home four workers, you may also choose to gain the actions as if you sent home three workers.
• If you sent home only one worker, you do not gain any action.

At the beginning of the game, the following market actions are available to you:

• Draw a card: Draw a card from the display to your hand.
• Sell cards: Discard three cards to the discard pile. Gain three coins.
• Sell goods: Take any number of baskets from your cards and flip them to the coin side. Place the coins in the corresponding section of your player board.
• Refresh display: Discard a card from your hand and all cards from the display to the discard pile. Then, refill the display by drawing new cards from the deck. Finally, draw one card from the display to your hand.

End of the Turn

At the end of your turn, follow the steps below:

• Check "End of the game": If your victory point marker passed the last step of the victory point track, returning to the beginning of the track, the end of the game is triggered.
• Display: Refill the display by drawing new cards from the deck.
• Hand size limit: If you have more than 12 cards in your hand, discard down to 12 cards.

Areas

You start the game with three areas. Each time you gain an area, place it immediately in front of you. You may never draw areas to your hand.

There are five different types of areas: Meadow, House, Barn, Field, Garden.

Each type of area is marked with a corresponding symbol. On a gray card, you can find a number next to the symbol. This number shows how many cards may be played on this area. For example, on this meadow you may play a maximum of three cards.

Each area gives you a goal that only you may fulfill. In this example, you must spend two baskets filled with cherries and two baskets filled with grapes to fulfill this goal and gain 4 victory points. See "Fulfilling goals" for more details.

Playing a Card by Spending Hours of Sunlight

Check the following steps in order to play a card from your hand on an area:

• You need sufficient hours of sunlight to play the card. You may get additional hours of sunlight by spending coins. Per coin you spend, you get one additional hour of sunlight.
• You need to play the card on an appropiate area.
• The area must not be full.

In order to play this card, you need five hours of sunlight. Furthermore, you must play this card on a meadow.

Each card has a symbol. The frame of the symbol shows the set the card belongs to. The cherry tree in this example belongs to a set with the apple tree and the oak tree.

Here you can see the name of the card and how many copies are in the deck.

With this immediate effect you gain one basket filled with cherries for each cherry tree you have in play. The card you just played also counts for this effect. Take the corresponding number of baskets from your player board and place them on this card. These baskets are now filled with cherries. See "Coins/Baskets" for more details.

Coins/Baskets

In the game, you have 15 coin/basket tokens at your disposal. Each token shows a coin on one side and a basket on the other.

You may never have more than 15 coins or more than 15 baskets.

Your coins/baskets can be found in one of the following three places:

• Coins are placed in the corresponding section of your player board.
• Empty baskets are placed in the corresponding section of your player board.
• Baskets filled with goods are placed on cards. In this example, you have two baskets filled with cherries.

Each time you gain a coin, flip an empty basket to the coin side. Place the coin in the corresponding section of your player board.

Each time you spend a coin, flip it to its basket side and place it in the section for "empty baskets" of your player board.

If you were to gain a coin but you do not have any empty baskets left, you may take a filled basket from a card and flip it to the coin side.

Each time you spend a basket filled with goods, take it from the card and place it in the section for "empty baskets" of your player board.

Spending coins to gain hours of sunlight

Each time you gain hours of sunlight, you may spend coins to increase their amount. For each coin you spend, you gain one extra hour of sunlight. Flip these coins to their basket side and place them in the "empty baskets" section of your player board.

It is not possible to split hours of sunlight. So you are not allowed to split 5-hours of sunlight in order to play a 3-hours of sunlight and a 2-hours of sunlight card.

Fulfilling a Goal

You may fulfill a goal from one of your area cards or from the goal tiles at the center of the table. You may fulfill each goal only once. To fulfill a goal, follow the steps below:

• Check if you meet the condition for the goal or if you have sufficient coins or baskets to fulfill the goal.
• If you do, take a marker from your player board and place it on a free octagon space next to the goal.
• Gain the corresponding reward.
• Finally, advance your victory point marker by the corresponding number of spaces, as indicated by the covered octagon space.

Note: You may fulfill each goal only once!

Example: Catalina fulfilled a goal from a goal tile. She pays the required two coins (1), flipping the coins to the basket side and moving them to the corresponding space marked with "empty baskets". She takes a marker from her player board and places it on a free octagon space below the goal (2). She now gains the reward, immediately drawing a card from the display (3). Finally, she advances her marker on the victory point track by two spaces (4).

"A" and "B" goal tiles have different concepts. The "A" goal tiles have a condition shown to be met or fulfilled. How often you need to meet or fulfill this condition in order to fulfill this goal, is shown by a number with an "x". This number is usually different for the four spaces. In the case of "B" goal tiles, all spaces below a goal have the same condition.

A*: In order to gain 5 victory points from this goal, you must spend a total of 8 cherries, grapes or apples. It is possible to spend a mix of goods.

B*: In order to gain 5 victory points and a card from this goal, you need to own a cherry, a grape and an apple.

See "Goals in detail" for an overview of the symbology of every goal.

Unlocking Action Spaces on Your Player Board

Each time you fulfill a goal, choose a marker from your player board and place it on the corresponding space of said goal. By doing so, you unlock new action spaces. Action spaces are available if they are not occupied by any marker.

These are the action spaces that you may unlock on your player board:

• Activate this space with a worker. Gain 3 hours of sunlight to play a card from your hand. Then, gain 2 hours of sunlight to play a second card. You may not combine both actions, for example, to play a card that costs 5 hours of sunlight.
• Activate this space with a worker. Gain 3 hours of sunlight to play a card. Then, gain 3 coins.
• As soon as this space has been unlocked, you gain an ongoing effect. Each time you spend fewer hours of sunlight than you have, gain a coin.
• When unlocking this action space, gain the following immediate effect (once): Gain a victory point and two areas. Put one of them in play and the other at the bottom of its deck.
• When unlocking this action space, gain the following immediate effect (once): Gain a victory point and choose two cards from the discard pile.
• When unlocking this action space, gain the following immediate effect (once): Gain a victory point and draw four adjacent cards from the display.
• You can activate the immediate effect of any card in your countryside again.
• With this market action, you may fulfill a goal following the standard rules.

End of the Game

The end of the game is triggered as soon as one player advances his marker past the end of the victory point track, placing it back at the beginning of the track. Each player, including the player who triggered the end, has now precisely two turns left.

Then, the game will be over. The player with the most victory points wins the game. If there is a tie, the player with the most coins wins the game. If there is still a tie, all tied players share the victory.

Example of a Complete Turn

Catalina places a worker on an action space (1). She gains two hours of sunlight. Additionally, she spends a coin (2) so that she can play the dog from her hand (3), which costs three hours of sunlight. The effect of the dog says that Catalina may fulfill a goal. She spends three baskets filled with grapes (4) and places a marker (5) on the corresponding space below the goal. She then moves her victory point marker two spaces forward on the victory point track (7). She draws two adjacent cards from the display (not in this picture), then refills it by drawing new cards from the deck.

Solo Game

You may also play Countryside as a solo game. Set up the game according to the instructions in "General setup" and "Player setup" with the following changes:

• F. Draw 7 cards.
• G. Keep 3 areas.
• H. Discard 3 cards from your hand to the discard pile.
• I. Form 5 face down piles of 7 cards each and place them slightly offset on top of each other. Then, form a display of 7 cards.

Perform your turns following the normal rules. Each time you "End the day", at the end of your turn, replace all cards in the display with one of the five piles you prepared during setup. A solo game is over as soon as you "end the day" and all 5 piles have been used.

Compare your final score with the following table:

Victory points	Result
20	You need more practice!
25	On the right track!
30	Can be seen!
32	Very well done!
34	Clean but not perfect!
36	You've got the hang of it!
37	Well done!
38+	Prinz level!

Symbols & Card Effects

• Effects with the single arrow are activated only once. The arrow shows either a movement or a conversion.
• The double arrow indicates a conversion that you might do any number of times. For each conversion, you must first fulfill the condition to the left. Most of the time, you must spend a specific basket filled with goods. Then, gain the effect to the right of the double arrow.
• "In this area" or "from this area". This symbol is always used in combination with another symbol.
• "In other areas" or "from other areas". This symbol indicates all areas other than the area where this symbol is placed.
• Send a spent worker back home. This worker is available to you again.
• At the end of your turn, draw any card from the discard pile to your hand.

Card effect examples:

• Each apple tree in your countryside gains a basket filled with apples. For each apple tree, take an empty basket and place it on that apple tree.
• Count the number of different symbols from this set you have in play. Gain the corresponding number of coins.
• Discard one basket of grapes to gain three baskets filled with wine barrels. You may repeat this effect any number of times.
• These effects show how many times you gain a specific good. The first effect asks you to count how many grapevines you have in this area. Gain the corresponding number of grapes. The grapevine you just played counts for this effect as well.
• Gain one or two baskets of bread for each wheat or rye symbol in your countryside. To do so, take empty baskets and place them on this card.
• Choose an area in your countryside. Each cherry tree, apple tree and grapevine in this area gains a basket filled with the corresponding good.
• Count the number of rye symbols in your countryside. Gain the corresponding number of coins or cards from the display.
• This objective is achieved immediately. Take a marker from your player board and place it on this hexagon. Gain one victory point for each field in your countryside.

Goals in Detail

Goal	Condition
Four full areas at your countryside.	You must have four full areas.
Three different persons in this area.	The area must contain three different persons.
No person in this area.	This area is full.
Two copies of the same card from this set in this area.	The area must contain two copies of the same card from this set.
Four cards from this set in this area.	The area must contain four cards from this set.
Two cards from this set in this area.	The area must contain two cards from this set.
Three copies of the same card in this area.	The area must contain three copies of the same card.
Two cards with seven or more hours of sunlight in this area.	The area must contain two cards with seven or more hours of sunlight.
Discard six cards from your hand to the discard pile.	Discard six cards from your hand to the discard pile.
Discard two baskets of eggs and one basket of apples.	Discard two baskets of eggs and one basket of apples.
Discard a total of nine baskets filled with the depicted goods from this area.	Discard the goods in any combination.
Discard three baskets of different goods.	Discard three baskets of different goods.
Four areas with at least one animal each.	Four areas with at least one animal each.
Four different animals in this area.	The area must contain four different animals.
Have more corn than cows. At least one cow in this area.	You must have more corn than cows and at least one cow in this area.
Have 14 coins.	You must have 14 coins.
One donkey in this area. One dog or cat in this area.	The area must contain one donkey and one dog or cat.
Three chickens or roosters in any combination in this area.	The area must contain three chickens or roosters in any combination.