Der Prestel Schlossgarten Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Setup
• Object of the Game
• Turn
• Constellation Cards
• Moving Pawns
• Excavating a Landscape Tile and Placing Garden Elements
• Building on a Garden Element
• Discard Pile
• End of the Game
• Figures

Components

• 49 landscape tiles
• 4 frame pieces
• 24 garden elements
• 12 pawns (4 kings, 4 gardeners, 4 architects)
• 32 constellation cards
• 1 rulebook

Setup

• Assemble the frame.
• Shuffle the landscape tiles and place them in the frame with the point value visible. The playing field is now ready (see Figure 1).
• Each player takes the 6 garden elements and the pawns of their colour.
• Place the pawns on their starting positions (see Figure 1).
• Shuffle the constellation cards and place them in a pile near the board.
• Each player takes one constellation card.
• Choose a first player, then play proceeds clockwise.

Object of the Game

The goal of the game is to collect as many landscape tiles as possible. Collected landscape tiles and played garden elements score points. The first player to collect 21 points wins the game.

Turn

1. Take a constellation card (so that you have 2 in hand).
2. Place a constellation card in front of you.
3. Move your pawns up to 5 tiles.
4. If the figure on the constellation card you played has not been made, go to step 6.
5. If the figure on the constellation card you played has been made, one landscape tile may be excavated and one garden element may be established.
6. The constellation card you played is placed on the discard pile.

Constellation Cards

• The constellation card shows an extract of the playing field.
• The card may be turned in any direction.
• The symbols on the constellation card correspond to the pawns (king, gardener, architect).
• A player may move their own pawns up to 5 tiles so that the figure on the card can be made.
• The figure on the card must be made with their king pawn, together with a gardener pawn and an architect pawn in the positions shown (see Figure 2).
• The gardener pawn and the architect pawn may be the player's own pawns or those of another player. However, the pawns of other players can never be moved (see Figures 5b and 5d).

Moving Pawns

• A pawn may move horizontally, vertically, and diagonally across landscape tiles (see Figure 3).
• 5 movements may be made by a player's pawns.
• Only landscape tiles with their points visible, and the player's own garden elements, may be crossed (see Figure 3). Excavations and the garden elements of another player may not be crossed.
• Gardeners and architects may be jumped (horizontally, vertically, or diagonally). The jumped pawn is not removed. A jump counts as one movement.
• Gardeners and architects of other players may be struck by passing over the space they occupy. The struck pawn must be placed on a garden element belonging to the pawn's owner. If a player has not played any garden element, their pawns cannot be struck.
• Kings cannot be jumped or struck.
• A player's own garden elements count as one movement (see Figure 4). If a player wishes to leave a pawn on a garden element, the pawn must be placed on one of the squares that make up the garden element. This is important for making the figures on the constellation cards.

Excavating a Landscape Tile and Placing Garden Elements

Gardeners and architects can only do their work when they are part of the figure shown on the constellation card. Naturally, only a player's own pawns can work. The gardener or architect standing on the figure may work on any adjacent square (horizontally, vertically, or diagonally):

• Turn a landscape tile over to excavate it (see Figure 5a), and/or place an appropriate garden element.
• The gardener may build a 1-square hedge, a 2-square hedge, or a 3-square maze.
• The architect may build a 1-square column, a 2-square pool, or a 3-square terrace.
• See the diagram below Figure 5a. (The diagram is an image and is not reproduced here.)
• To establish a multi-square garden element, all the spaces it will cover must be excavated or must already have a smaller garden element established on them (see Figure 5b).
• If garden elements are established on more [source text incomplete here: "si les éléments de jardin sont établis plus de"], they are removed and returned to the owner(s).

Building on a Garden Element

• If an excavation borders a garden element vertically or horizontally, it forms a potential building site (see Figure 5d).
• A player may only build on top of a garden element if it can be completely covered (see Figure 5d).
• A player may build on their own garden elements and on those of other players.

Discard Pile

All played cards are placed on the discard pile. If the draw pile is exhausted, the cards in the discard pile are shuffled to form a new pile.

End of the Game

Each player counts their points continuously. The game ends immediately when a player reaches 21 points. Points are scored for collected landscape tiles (1 to 3 points each) and for played garden elements (1 point per square of the playing field covered by the garden element). A player who takes back a garden element when another has been built on top of it loses the points for that garden element. They regain those points when the tile is returned to the playing field.

Figures

• Figure 1: Starting setup of the playing field and pawns (image only).
• Figure 2: The figure can be made by making the 5 movements shown. Remember that the constellation card can be oriented in any direction. [source text reads "dans le n'importe quelle" with the direction word missing; "in any direction" is the sense]
• Figure 3: Pawn movement across landscape tiles and garden elements (image only).
• Figure 4: To move onto any of the squares marked "X", the blue player need only make two movements, since its garden element counts as one movement.
• Figure 5a: The red player has made the figure. They changed a landscape tile into an excavation with their gardener. If they wish, they could build a 1-square hedge.
• Figure 5b: The blue player has their king and architect in the correct positions and completes the figure with the white gardener. They turned a landscape tile into an excavation with their architect (an excavation was already present, see Figure 5a), then built their pool with the architect. They take the two landscape tiles and so score their first victory points.
• Figure 5c: It is red's turn, and they have played the constellation card shown.
• Figure 5d: The red player has their king and architect in the correct positions and completes the figure with the yellow gardener. They excavate a landscape tile with their architect. The pool is now bordered by an excavation, so they can build on it. The red player can thus build a 3-square terrace. They take the landscape tile and remove the blue player's pool.