CVlizations Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Goal
• Box Contents
• Setting Up the Game
• Sequence of Play
  • 1. Order Phase
  • 2. Action Phase
  • 3. Development Phase
  • 4. Cleanup Phase
• Sample Round
• Game End
• 2-Player Variant
• Advanced 2-Player Variant
• Appendix — Detailed Descriptions of Some Idea Cards

Game Goal

The winner is the player with the most Happiness Points at the end of the game.

Box Contents

The game box contains the following elements:

• Board
• Wooden tokens: food tokens (20), wood tokens (20), stone tokens (20), happiness point tokens (36), multiplier x3 (6)
• 5 sets of 8 order cards in colors (1 set = 8 order cards)
• 32 idea cards for ages I & II
• 16 idea cards for age III
• 2 player aid cards
• 1 leader helm
• 1 crown

Setting Up the Game

Players prepare the game as follows:

Note: Instructions for the 2-player variant appear at the end of the manual.

• Put the board in the middle of the table.
• Put the wood, food and stone tokens in piles onto their places on the board.
• Place the crown on the age track on the first age.
• Put the happiness tokens near the board.
• Sort the cards into 2 decks according to their backs, and shuffle each deck. Put the 2 idea decks onto their spaces on the board.
• Draw 4 cards from the deck for ages I & II and place them face up onto the idea track on the board.
• Each player receives:
  • a set of 8 order cards in a chosen color.
  • one each of wood, food, and stone.
• Whoever last held any kind of tool in their hand receives the leader helm and will be the starting player.

Sequence of Play

The game lasts for 3 ages. Each age has 3 rounds; each round has the following four phases in this order:

Order phase → Action phase → Development phase → Cleanup phase

1. Order Phase

The player with the leader helm starts the game. This player chooses 2 of their order cards to play from their hand, placing them onto the table. One card is played face up and one face down!

The other players in turn do the same, in clockwise order.

Once all players have played their pair of orders, the face-down cards are all revealed.

2. Action Phase

Players resolve the orders, starting with the lowest numbered order and ending with the highest numbered order. The order is as follows:

1. Thieving
2. Logging
3. Hunting
4. Quarrying
5. Cunning
6. Slacking
7. Trading

Doubling is not resolved individually like other orders. Rather, it makes the player's other order be executed twice.

When several people played the same order, they carry out their actions in clockwise order, starting with the player with the leader helm.

The effect of each order depends on how many players chose it.

Most orders work best when exactly 2 players have chosen it. If only 1 player chose an order, it is typically less effective (exception: Trading), and if 3 or more people chose an order, it is least effective (possibly even having no effect).

Description of card symbols:

• One player — a player uses this effect, if only that player chose the order this turn.
• Two players — a player uses this effect, if only that player and one other chose the order this turn.
• 3+ players — a player uses this effect, if that player plus at least 2 other players chose the order this turn.

Executing an order's effect is mandatory.

Some orders are unsuccessful and have no effect if they were chosen by 3 or more players.

Example: Bartek played 2 order cards: Thieving and Doubling. No one else played Thieving. Doubling was also played by Daria. Since only Bartek played Thieving, his Thieving order lets him steal one resource from one player. His Doubling is successful since only 2 players played Doubling. So he gets to do Thieving twice, and so in total he steals 2 resources.

Resources:

There are three types of resources: food, wood, stone.

Players gain resources by playing order cards. There is no limit to the number of resources that a player can have. Players are not limited by the physical tokens supplied; if necessary, the x3 multiplier tokens may be useful in unusual situations where a player has many resources. A resource token with a x3 multiplier counts as 3 resources.

At the end of the action phase, all players turn their played orders face down on the table. In subsequent rounds, those cards are unavailable to their owners. They return to players' hands only at the end of the age.

3. Development Phase

Starting with the player with the leader helm and continuing in clockwise order, each player can buy one idea card from those available on the idea track on the board.

Idea cards show:

• Type: building, tool, invention, or ideology.
• Name: the idea's name.
• Cost: how many resources a player must pay to buy it.
• Description: explains any special rule associated with a particular idea, or thematic text.
• Number of happiness points: how many points the card owner receives at the end of the game. (Note: not at the end of each age.) Some cards may give additional variable happiness points, indicated by +?

To purchase an idea, a player must spend the required cost in resources.

After purchasing a card, the player places it face up in front of him. For the rest of the game, certain cards give their owner some special abilities, or give happiness points at the end of the game. A purchased card takes effect starting in the round after its purchase.

Each time a card is purchased from the idea track, draw a new card from the deck to replace it, so that the idea track always has 4 cards.

Golden rule: If an idea card's effect contradicts a general game rule in this manual or on the order cards, then the idea card's text takes precedence.

4. Cleanup Phase

The player with the leader helm passes it clockwise to the player to the left.

Additionally, if the players each have only 2 order cards left in their hands, then it is the end of the age (i.e. after turns 3, 6, and 9). Players take back all their previously played face down order cards from the table. Move the crown ahead to the next space on the age track.

Note: After the end of the second age, remove all idea cards from the idea track. Deal out 4 cards from the second idea deck (for age III) onto the idea track.

Sample Round

Ania, Bartek, Czarek and Daria start a 4-player game. Ania begins. In her turn, she plays the Logging order face up, and a face down order. Bartek does the same. Czarek plays Trading and a face down order, and Daria plays Quarrying and a face down order. Now all face down cards are revealed:

• Ania: Logging (2) and Hunting (3)
• Bartek: Logging (2) and Doubling (*)
• Czarek: Trading (7) and Hunting (3)
• Daria: Quarrying (4) and Hunting (3)

The players start with the lowest numbered order (which is Logging (2) in this example).

Ania takes 3 wood tokens, because the Logging order was played by 2 people. Bartek also played Logging, and he played Doubling, so he executes Logging twice: he takes 6 wood tokens.

The next order in sequence is Hunting. Daria, Czarek and Ania all played Hunting, so they each take only 1 food token. Next is Quarrying, which only Daria played, so she takes 2 stones. Finally Trading is resolved, which only Czarek played, so he trades 1 food for 3 wood.

Now the players proceed to the Development phase.

Game End

The game ends after the third age.

Players calculate their scores by adding happiness points from their idea cards and any points received during the game. The winner is the player with the most happiness points. In case of a tie, the tying player with more resources wins the tie. If there is still a tie, then it remains a tie.

2-Player Variant

In a 2-player game, there is also a third neutral tribe, the Cave Geeks. The rules are altered as follows:

1. During preparation, one unused set of orders is assigned to the Cave Geeks.
2. The Cave Geeks receive the leader helm and start the game.
3. The Cave Geeks play order cards the same way as a human player (one face up, one face down), but the 2 cards are chosen randomly.
4. The Cave Geeks do not perform their actions: they do not take or steal resources, nor buy ideas, and their orders are only used to determine how many players chose a given order and thus what effect the order has.
5. When 2 Thieving orders are played, a thieving player must steal from 2 different players, but in a 2-player there is only 1 possible victim, so the 2nd resource is stolen from the resource pool.
6. The leader helm is passed clockwise to the next player as usual, i.e. the Cave Geeks will pass it to the left, and later receive it from the right.

Advanced 2-Player Variant

This variant is for experienced players, and people who have already played the basic version. The rules are altered as follows:

1. Each player takes 2 sets of order cards. One is for the player's own CVlization, and the other is for a neutral CVlization which the player will control. Only a player's own CVlization is scored in the end.

2. In the Order phase, players play cards in this order: a) Player 1's neutral CVlization b) Player 2's neutral CVlization c) Player 1's own CVlization d) Player 2's own CVlization

3. The neutral CVlizations do not perform their actions: they do not take or steal resources, nor buy ideas, and their orders are only used to determine how many players chose a given order and thus what effect the order has.

4. When 2 Thieving orders are played, a thieving player must steal from 2 different players, but in a 2-player there is only 1 possible victim, so the 2nd resource is stolen from the resource pool.

5. The leader helm is passed back and forth between the 2 human players. The neutral CVlizations do not influence the player order, but in the Order phase their orders are always played before the orders of the humans' own CVlizations.

Appendix — Detailed Descriptions of Some Idea Cards

1. Optimism: If the owner plays 2 "3+ players" actions or successfully doubles a "3+ players" action, then Optimism can give 2 resources in a single turn.

5. Humanism: The owner receives points only from cards which give points thanks to their effect during turns, e.g. Solitude, Dagger, etc.

8. Consumerism: The owner receives 2 additional points at the end of the game if the owner has no resources at all.

11. Dagger: The owner does not gain a point if "3+ players" chose Thieving.

13. Fortune Telling: When buying an idea, the owner secretly looks at the top card from the idea deck and may then choose whether to buy it or one of the 4 visible cards on the idea track (or not to buy any idea card this turn). If the card from the top of the deck is not bought, then it returns to the top of the deck.

25. Holidays: Only 1 point is gained, even if Doubling was played.

26. Law: Once the owner has been stolen from once in a turn, no player may steal anything more from the owner this turn. The owner is also immune to the Sword's effect.

28. Feline Domestication: The owner can receive points for Thieving, Cunning, Slacking, and Doubling. Doubling gives a point only if "3+ players" chose it. A successful Doubling of an unsuccessful other order does not give a point: only the unsuccessful order itself gives a point.

29. Wheel: The extra resource gained must be of the same type as the others received during the exchange.

30. Common Language: Both ideas must be paid for at normal cost; the additional idea is not free.

35. Rationalism: At the end of the game, the owner receives as many points as the number of types of idea cards the owner has (i.e. from 1 to 4 points). Rationalism itself counts, so its owner automatically has ideology.

40. Cinematography: The owner gets 1 additional point for every pair of idea cards owned, including this card itself.

42. Stock Exchange: Each triple of food, stone, wood gives 2 additional happiness points, up to a maximum of 6 points.

19. Tower, 21. Castle, 23. Larder: These cards let the owner change up to 3 of the indicated resources into additional points. Example: The owner of the Larder may trade up to 3 food tokens into 3 happiness points.

9. Fishing Rod, 14. Gunpowder, 15. Pickaxe, 16. Axe, 29. Wheel: Doubling an order which gives the specified resource also doubles the idea's action. Example: The owner of the Pickaxe plays Quarrying and Doubling. In addition to the stones gained by those actions, the Pickaxe gives its owner 2 additional stones (1 more for Quarrying and 1 more for Doubling).

43. Highway, 44. Research Institute, 47. Tourism: Each of these cards gives its owner 2 additional points at the end of the game for having the most ideas of the specified type. In case of a tie with another player, the owner does not receive points for that idea type.