Der Goldene Kompass Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Box Contents
• Set Up
• The Journey Begins
  • 1. Choose a Character
  • 2. Individual Game Turns
    • Optional Action
    • Lyra's Movement
  • Playing Lyra Cards
    • Item Tiles
  • 3. Draw the Truth Tokens
  • Svalbard and the Northern Lights
  • The Bridge to the Stars
• Glossary

Box Contents

• 1 game board
• 1 plastic arrow
• 1 Lyra marker
• 30 Character cards
• 2 decks of 38 Lyra cards
• 24 square Item tiles
• 4 sets of 14 Symbol tokens (in 4 colours)
• 36 Truth tokens
• 8 Dust tokens
• 3 Bridge to the Stars tokens
• 1 Sky Ferry token with stand-up base
• 1 cotton bag
• 4 two-sided Player Reference cards
• Rules

Set Up

• Insert the turning Alethiometer spindle in the middle of the game board.
• Place the marker representing Lyra on the Start (top left of the board).
• Fit the Magisterial Sky Ferry on the stand-up base and place it near the board.
• Shuffle separately the three Character decks (green, blue and red backs), and then place them near the board.
• Place all 24 Item tiles face up, and sort them by colour - you will end with 4 sets of 6 tiles. Place each set on the board, on the corresponding location, then turn each tile face down and shuffle each group.
• Shuffle the Lyra deck and deal four cards to each player. Use one deck of cards (either one) if you are playing with two players, or shuffle both decks if playing with three or four players.
• Take all Truth tokens and place them in the bag.
• The 3 Bridge to the Stars tokens are kept aside until needed.
• Set aside all 8 Dust tokens.
• Players each choose a colour and take one corresponding set of Symbol tokens.

The board: the game board features a journey track divided in three parts (green, blue and red). Each part contains two locations. The end of each part is marked by a Destination box.

Component labels on the set-up illustration: Character cards (decks); Symbol tokens (blue, yellow, green and red players); Start box and Lyra marker; Item tiles; Dust tokens; Journey track; Lyra cards deck; Discard pile; Locations; Destination boxes; Magisterial Sky Ferry; Alethiometer spindle; Bridge to the Stars tokens; Put the Truth tokens into the cloth bag.

The Journey Begins

The game is played over three parts. Each part follows the same structure:

1. Choose a character
2. Individual game turns
3. Draw the Truth tokens (for scoring)

Captions on the illustration: The green deck is used during the first part of the game, the blue one for the second, and the red for the third and last. Two Character cards are dealt to each player at the beginning of each part.

1. Choose a Character

The dealer deals two Character cards to each player, taking them from the deck corresponding to the upcoming section (green for the first part, blue for the second, red for the third).

Each player chooses one character card to play as his ally (and keeps it in his hand), and gives the other, face down, to the player to his left, as an opposition.

Caption on the illustration: Each player will give one card to the player to his left, and receive one from the player to his right.

When all players have made their choice, each player places in front of him, face up, the card chosen as an ally, and turns the opposition card (just given to him) face up, and places it under the ally, so that the bottom part of the card remains visible (see below).

Caption on the illustration (partly cropped at the top edge of the scan, not fully legible): the Sky Ferry ... of your own.

The sum of Magisterium icons now visible on the two cards constitutes the Magisterium score of a player.

Players now read aloud their chosen character's special ability, so that everybody knows what to expect from the other players.

2. Individual Game Turns

Play proceeds with individual game turns. The first player to go is the dealer.

The Dealer At the start of the first part, the dealer is chosen by lot. In the following parts, the dealer is the player to the left of the player that took the last individual turn.

Swing the Alethiometer needle!

Note where it points - as well as where the opposite end of the needle is pointing. The spindle always points to a red circled icon on one end, and a light blue circled icon on the other end.

Choose one of the icons at either end to determine your move.

Diagram labels: Red icon on one end; Light blue icon on other end.

(A) Red icon. If you have chosen a red icon, draw a number of Lyra cards as shown on the icon itself. (The icons show "Draw two Lyra cards" and "Draw three Lyra cards".)

Important: players can have a maximum of 7 Lyra cards in their hand at any time. Discard immediately all cards in excess.

Then, if the icon is accompanied by a smaller circle with a number in it, advance Lyra along the journey track a number of times as indicated. (The icon shows "Advance Lyra one step.")

Your turn is now over.

(B) Light blue icon. If you have chosen a light blue icon, take an Optional Action corresponding to the chosen icon, and then play Lyra cards from your hand.

Optional Action

• Alethiometer: Place 1 Symbol token on the Destination corresponding to the part played.
• Magisterium: One player of your choice must take the Magisterial Sky Ferry token. A player possessing the Sky Ferry at the end of a game part suffers a disadvantage, based mainly on his current Magisterium score (see page 3).
• Ally: You can use the special ability of the Character card that you played as an ally.
• Dust Knowledge: Take a Dust token from those available. If all eight Dust tokens have been taken by players, take one token from a player of your choice!
• Choose Your Action: Take an optional action of your choice, among the four explained above.

It is permissible to take the optional action, and then choose not to play cards from your hand. Alternatively, you can miss out the optional action and just play cards.

Lyra's Movement

Lyra is moved along the journey track. At any time she is considered to be staying in the location shown on the background of the step she currently occupies. She thus advances on her journey moving from one location to the following one.

As soon as Lyra advances into a Destination box, one part of the game is complete.

Playing Lyra Cards

When the optional action has been taken (or ignored), you can play any number of Lyra cards from your hand, according to the choices illustrated in the following diagram:

• Daemons: For each set of 2 matching Daemons take an Item tile from Lyra's current locale (see Item Tiles below).
• Alethiometer Symbols: For each set of 3 matching Alethiometer symbols put 2 Symbol tokens on the next Destination box.
• Spyfly Cards: Play a set of 2 matching Spyfly cards to steal one Item tile from another player! Attention: you can only steal tiles that have not been scored yet (see below).
• Wild Card: You can use this card to create sets with any other Daemon icon or Alethiometer symbol.

Players are free to play multiple sets of matching icons in any way they like: for example it is possible to play a set of 2 matching Daemons and a set of 3 Alethiometer symbols at the same time.

Caption on the illustration: Item tile tokens.

Item Tiles

Players can collect item tiles exclusively from the location where Lyra is currently staying. If Lyra is inside the Start box, or in any following Destination box, she is considered to be in the location she is about to enter. If Lyra's figure just moved into a Destination box, she is considered to be in the location she just left.

Players collect item tiles to play them later during the last part of the game. Until that moment, taken tiles are kept face down, to hide their type.

3. Draw the Truth Tokens

When Lyra enters a Destination box and the player in turn has finished his actions, one part of the game is over.

Caption on the illustration: The three Destination boxes, marking the end of the three parts of the game.

The player possessing the Magisterial Sky Ferry must now take one of the following actions:

• a) discard a number of Lyra cards from his hand equal to his Magisterium score plus one.
• OR
• b) discard one of the two Truth tokens he is going to draw.

When the choice is done, place the Sky Ferry back near the board.

Then, the following steps must be taken:

The dealer draws from the bag a total of 8 Truth tokens (regardless of the number of players) and places them all face up on the table.

Caption on the illustration: Truth tokens.

The player with the most Symbol tokens on the Destination that has been just reached, gets first choice of 2 tokens (and naturally will take the most valuable ones). The next best player follows and so on (in case of a tie then the player with the most cards in his hand starts; further ties are broken in a random fashion).

Caption on the illustration: In this example, the green player will get first choice in choosing 2 Truth tokens, among those just drawn. The yellow player will choose second, and will be finally followed by the red player.

At the end of the draw discard all drawn Truth tokens not chosen by players (when playing with less than 4 players), then discard all current Character cards and re-shuffle the Lyra deck (players keep their hand of cards).

Next comes the final part of the game.

Svalbard and the Northern Lights

The first two parts of the game follow the rules as explained so far, while the third part, composed of Svalbard and the Northern Lights locations, has some differences.

During the final section there are no Item tiles to collect, so players try to score the Item tiles that they accumulated during the previous parts instead (while still competing to place Symbol tokens in the last Destination box).

To score an Item tile, the players must play Lyra cards with matching Daemons. For each pair of matching Daemons place one Item tile in either Svalbard or Northern Lights depending on Lyra's position.

Caption on the illustration: The green player has scored 2 Item tiles, and has placed 2 Symbol tokens on them to mark ownership.

Place one of your Symbol tokens on top of the tile to mark ownership. Each Location in the third part can only support a maximum of six tiles: if all boxes are already used up, it is not possible to score any additional tiles in that Location.

Caption on the illustration: The blue circles inside each Location mark the available spots used to score Item tiles. When all spots are occupied by a scored Item tile, it is not possible to score tiles any more.

Captions on the illustration: When Lyra's marker enters the Destination box depicted above and starts Svalbard, the third part of the game begins. During the last part of the game, players play Lyra cards with pairs of matching Daemons to score the Item tiles they have collected so far.

The Bridge to the Stars

When Lyra enters the final Destination box, the current player completes his turn, and then the individual turns for the last part are over.

The last Draw now begins. The draw process is performed as in the previous ones, with the following exception:

Add the Bridge to the Stars tokens. The 3 tokens are put in the bag together with the last remaining Truth tokens. Proceed with the draw. If any of the special tokens have been drawn, set them apart and draw additional tokens until you reach the total of 8 Truth tokens.

Captions on the illustration: The last Destination box. The three Bridge to the Stars tokens are added to the remaining Truth tokens for the last draw. Dust tokens are worth points to the player who collected them, only if at least one Bridge to the Stars token is finally drawn. Alethiometer tiles.

Now, scores are calculated.

Each player adds up the number of points on all the Truth tokens in his possession, plus the number of points on the Item tiles he was able to score on the board.

Special Item Tiles (Alethiometer): Alethiometer tiles are scored normally on the table during the third part as with the other tiles, but their value in points is equal to the total number of Alethiometer tiles in the possession of the scoring player (either scored on the table or not).

So, if for example a player has collected 3 Alethiometer tiles, he will score 3 points for every such tile he has scored on the table.

Bridge to the Stars tokens: For each such token drawn, players add a number of points equal to the number of Dust tokens they possess.

If for example a player has collected 2 Dust tokens, he will score 2 points for every Bridge to the Stars token drawn.

When all calculations are done, the game ends. The player with the highest score of points is declared the winner!

Glossary

• Game board - features a journey track composed by movie stills. The track is divided in three segments, each one in a different colour, corresponding to a part of the game (green for part I, blue for part II and red for part III). Each part contains two locations (Jordan College and London for part I, Trollesund and Bolvangar for part II, Svalbard and Northern Lights for part III). The Start box and three Destination boxes mark the beginning of the game, the end of one part and the beginning of another. When the last Destination box is reached, the game enters its conclusion.
• Alethiometer - In the centre of the board lies the Alethiometer, the truth-measuring instrument trusted to Lyra at the beginning of the story. Its moving pointer will be spun by the players during the game.
• Lyra marker - it represents the heroine of the story, and is used by all players to mark the advancement of Lyra along her journey.
• Character cards - Character cards portray the heroes and villains of the story. Their special abilities are used by the players to progress in the game, or to hinder their opponents.
• Lyra cards - the cards represent the actions of Lyra and her Daemon, Pantalaimon, and her interpretation of the Alethiometer. One deck of cards is used in the two-player game, while both decks are shuffled together when 3 or 4 players are participating.
• Item tiles - all show important objects and clues that can be collected by Lyra along her voyage. There are 4 sets of 6 tiles: each set belongs to one of the first four locations in the game (Jordan College, London, Trollesund, Bolvangar). Players collect tiles by playing sets of Daemon images.
• Symbol tokens - during her expedition to the North Lyra consults her Alethiometer to reveal hidden truths. Each player has a set of Symbol tokens in one colour. Placing more Symbol tokens leads to drawing more valuable Truth tokens.