Dragon Castle
Dragon Castle Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 2 Central Boards (double-sided)
- 4 Player Reference Cards
- 1 First Player Token
- 7 Countdown Tokens
- 40 Shrines
- 85 Victory Point (VP) Tokens
- 10 Spirit Cards
- 10 Dragon Cards
- 4 Realm Boards
- 116 Tiles (in 2 categories):
72 Faction Tiles (3 types): The Faction tiles are numbered from 1 to 6.
- 24 Merchants
- 24 Soldiers
- 24 Farmers
44 Special Tiles (3 types): The Special tiles have other symbols that do not count as numbers.
- 16 Seasons
- 16 Winds
- 12 Dragons
Setup
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Place the Central board corresponding to the number of players in the middle of the table, and use all 116 tiles to build the Dragon Castle. All players should do this together. Shuffle all the tiles and place them faceup on the Central board, using the castle layout you have chosen (see How to Build a Dragon Castle, page 4).
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Place all of the Shrines and all of the Victory Point tokens (VP) next to the Central board. This will be the general pool.
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Take all of the Countdown tokens and place them in a stack on the leftmost space of the Countdown track. Then, move 1 token from the top of the stack to each space on the right until you cover the one corresponding to the number of players.
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Shuffle the Spirit cards. Then, randomly draw 1 Spirit card and place it next to the Central board so that it is easily visible to all players. This will be the Spirit Power available for this game. You can put the rest of the Spirit cards back in the box.
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Shuffle the Dragon cards. Then, randomly draw 1 Dragon card and place it next to the Central board so that it is easily visible to all players. This will be the Bonus Objective for this game. You can put the rest of the Dragon cards back in the box.
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Each player takes a Realm board and places it in front of themselves. Each player also takes 1 Shrine from the general pool and places it on their Realm board, creating their Shrine Pool.
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The player who saw a Dragon most recently (the ones in this game do not count!) is the First Player and takes the First Player token. It will be used as a reminder during the final round, after the end of the game is triggered.
For your first few games, to get comfortable with the basic rules, we recommend that you play without Spirit and Dragon cards (steps 4 and 5 of the Setup).
How to Build a Dragon Castle
The first thing you will always have to do before playing a game of Dragon Castle is… well, build the Dragon Castle! To make sure you have a pleasant and balanced game experience, at least for your first few games, we strongly recommend that you play with one of our basic setups. Place the Central board corresponding to the number of players in the middle of the table, where it's easily visible to all players. Then, randomly shuffle all of the tiles and follow the instructions for how to build the Dragon Castle. The example below is for a game with 4 players, but the process is similar for every kind of castle (see Dragon Castle Examples, page 10).
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Based on the numbers of players, place the Central board in the middle of the table.
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Lay out stacks of 3 random faceup tiles on the spaces marked with a 3.
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Then, lay out stacks of 2 random faceup tiles on the spaces marked with a 2.
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Finally, lay out single random faceup tiles on the spaces marked with a 1.
This is how your castle should look!
Feel Free to Make Your Own!
Once you have some experience with the game, feel free to unleash your creativity and experiment with new castle builds! See Dragon Castle Examples, on page 10, for a list of alternative castles. You can greatly alter the pace and feeling of each game by changing the layout of the Dragon Castle!
A Game Turn
A game of Dragon Castle™ is played in turns. The players take their turns in clockwise order. During your turn, you MUST perform 1 of the available Actions. Then, you will place any tiles you have collected on your Realm board (see Placing Tiles, page 6).
In addition, at any point during your turn, you MAY discard faceup tiles from your Realm or Shrines from your Shrine Pool to activate the Spirit Power (see Favor of the Spirits, page 8).
Available Tiles
Whenever you pick a tile from the Dragon Castle, you MUST take an Available tile.
A tile is Available if at least 1 of its long sides is free, without having another tile adjacent to it on that side.
Taking an Action
During your turn, you must perform 1 Action, choosing 1 of the 4 options below:
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Pair of Tiles: Pick any Available tile (see Available Tiles, above) from the top floor of the Dragon Castle. Then, take a second Available tile from any floor of the Dragon Castle that has the exact same symbol as the first tile you picked (see Identical Tiles, below).
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Tile and Shrine: Pick any Available tile from the top floor of the Dragon Castle. Then, take 1 Shrine from the general pool and add it to your Shrine Pool.
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Discard Tile: Pick any Available tile from the top floor of the Dragon Castle. Then, discard this tile, take 1 VP from the general pool, and add it to your Realm board. This will be your VP Pool.
Note: Keep all the tiles you discard facedown, next to your Realm board.
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Summon the Dragon: See page 9 for this action that can only be taken at the end of the game.
Identical Tiles
When you perform a Pair of Tiles action, the symbols on the 2 tiles must be exactly the same. Being the same color/type is not enough!
You don't need to commit to any one of the actions right away. The first thing you do is always to take an Available tile from the top floor of the Dragon Castle. Once you've done that, you can see what happens and choose how to complete your action.
Placing Tiles
After you have completed your Action for the turn, you must place any tiles you have collected this turn wherever you want on your Realm board, faceup. You can only place tiles on empty spaces and/or on top of facedown tiles (see Consolidating a Set of Tiles, below).
You can only place tiles on empty spaces and/or on top of facedown tiles. You can never place tiles on top of faceup tiles, or on facedown tiles where you have a Shrine (See Building Shrines, page 7).
Note: You are not required to place your tiles adjacent to one-another.
Types of Tiles
There are 6 types of tiles:
Faction Tiles — Merchants, Farmers, Soldiers.
Unless otherwise specified by a Spirit or Dragon card, the numbers of the Faction tiles are only used to differentiate them.
Special Tiles — Seasons, Winds, Dragons.
The Special tiles have other symbols that do not count as numbers.
Consolidating a Set of Tiles
There are 6 types of tiles (see Types of Tiles, above). If, after placing all of the tiles you collected on your turn, you created a set of at least 4 adjacent tiles of the same type, you MUST Consolidate them. When you Consolidate tiles, you must flip all of the Consolidated tiles facedown.
Note: The tiles must be of the same type, but they can have different numbers or symbols. To be considered part of a set, the tiles must be orthogonally adjacent (not diagonally), but they can be on different floors.
When you Consolidate a set of tiles, you gain VPs depending on the number of tiles included in the set (see below). Take the earned VPs from the general pool and add them to your VP Pool.
- 4 tiles: 2 VPs
- 5 tiles: 3 VPs
- 6 tiles: 5 VPs
- 7 tiles: 6 VPs
- 8 tiles: 8 VPs
- … and more: +1 VP
Note: For each additional tile in excess of 8, you gain 1 additional VP.
Example (part 1)
Janet performs a Pair of Tiles Action. She must take her first tile from the top floor of the Dragon Castle. Then, she chooses to take a second identical Available Dragon tile from the second floor. (If there had been an identical Dragon tile on the top floor, she could have taken that one instead, if she wanted.)
Janet could place the tiles in her Realm to complete a Set, but she decides not to. She only has 1 Shrine in her Shrine Pool, and consolidating a set of Dragon tiles would allow her to place 2 Shrines (see next page), so she wants to wait until she has 1 more Shrine. Plus, if she can Consolidate more Dragon tiles, she'll earn more VPs.
Building Shrines
When you Consolidate a set of tiles, if you have any Shrines in your Shrine Pool, you may build Shrines on top of 1 or more of the tiles you just Consolidated.
The number of Shrines you are allowed to build depends on the type of tiles that you are Consolidating. Consolidating a set of Faction tiles allows you to build 1 Shrine. Consolidating a set of Special tiles allows you to build 2 Shrines, instead. Consolidating a set of Dragons also allows you to take 1 VP from the general pool and add it to your VP Pool in addition to the normal VPs you get for Consolidating a set of tiles.
At the end of the game, each Shrine in your Realm will be worth a certain number of points, depending on the floor it is placed on! Remember that once you have placed a Shrine on a facedown tile, you will not be able to place any more tiles on top of it.
Shrine Scoring
At the end of the game, Shrines on the first floor are worth 1 VP. Shrines on the second floor are worth 2 VPs. Finally, Shrines on the third floor (or higher) are worth 3 VPs.
There can never be more than 1 Shrine on each tile. Also, you cannot place Shrines on top of any facedown tiles you Consolidated during one of your previous turns. You must build the Shrine immediately after you Consolidate the tile it's going on top of.
Example (part 2)
On her next turn, Janet performs a Tile and Shrine Action. She takes an Available Dragon tile from the top floor of the Dragon Castle (1). Then, she takes a Shrine from the general pool and adds it to her Shrine Pool (2).
Now that she finally has 2 Shrines in her Pool, she decides it's time to Consolidate. She places the tile she just took to complete her set of Dragons (3). She scores 3 VPs for the Set of 5 tiles, +1 VP because they are Dragon tiles, for a total of 4 VPs. She also builds 2 Shrines, one on the second floor and one on the third floor (4). They will grant her 5 VPs at the end of the game. Nice move!
Spirits and Dragons
After your first few games, when you feel comfortable with the basic rules of the game, you can start playing with the Spirit and Dragon cards. However, we still recommend that you start with the beginner cards. They are marked with a lantern symbol.
Favor of the Spirits
The Spirit card offers all players a special ability to use during the game. At any time during your turn, you may ask for the favor of the Spirits—i.e., activate the Spirit card to trigger its Spirit Power. To activate the Spirit, you must discard 1 faceup tile from your Realm board or 1 Shrine from your Shrine Pool. A Spirit can only be activated once per player turn.
Note: You are not allowed to pay the activation cost of a Spirit Power to get rid of a tile from your Realm without applying the effects of that Spirit Power.
Note: Thanks to the activation of certain Spirit Powers, you may be able to create more than 1 set of at least 4 tiles during a single turn. These sets should be Consolidated when they are created. This means that you may be able to trigger additional Consolidations!
You can find a description of all the Spirit Powers in the game on page 12.
Activating a Spirit Power: To activate a Spirit Power, you may either discard a faceup tile from your Realm... or discard a Shrine from your Shrine Pool.
Pleasing the Dragons
The Dragon card shows you another way to gain points by building your castle in a way that is pleasing to the dragons. For example, by building a symmetrical castle, or leaving certain tiles faceup at the end of the game.
These bonus points are awarded, where applicable, at the end of the game. They can really help you get an edge over your opponents, so always keep them in mind when you build your castle!
You can find a description of all the Dragon cards in the game on page 14.
When you feel really comfortable with the game, you can even try to play with more than 1 Spirit and/or Dragon card in play. More Spirits will give you more strategic options, while more Dragons, if you try to please them all, will offer you a more challenging game experience! Give it a try... if you dare.
The End of the Game
If, at the beginning of any player's turn, the Dragon Castle only has tiles on the ground floor left, the end of the game is near. A new option is now available to all players: as an Action, any player may perform a Summon the Dragon Action.
- Summon the Dragon: Take 1 token from the rightmost space of the Countdown track. Each token is worth 2 VPs at the end of the game.
You may still choose to perform any one of the regular Actions instead, of course. If there are no more tiles in the Dragon Castle, though, you MUST Summon the Dragon.
When the exclamation mark symbol is revealed on the Countdown track, the Elder Dragon has been summoned, and the game will end soon (see Triggering the Final Round, below). The game still continues with players taking turns until the player to the right of the First Player completes their next turn (so that all players will have played the same number of turns during the game). Players may still perform the Summon the Dragon Action if they wish, drawing tokens from the stack remaining on the final space of the track.
After all players have completed their final turn, each player adds up the points they have earned from the VP tokens they have collected, the Shrines they have built, the Countdown tokens they have collected (if any), and the Dragon card objective.
The player with the most points is the winner!
In case of a tie, the winner is the tied player who has the most stacks of tiles with a facedown tile on top. If there is still a tie, the winner is the tied player who has the most Shrines in their Realm. If, against all odds, there is still a tie, the victory is shared.
Triggering the Final Round: When the exclamation mark is revealed, the final round is triggered.
If there are no tiles you're interested in, but you don't want to make the end of the game nearer, you can still perform a Discard Tile Action. That way, you're still gaining points, but you're not pushing the game to its end! You may also use this action to remove a tile one of the other players needs!
Dragon Castle Examples
Here are a few examples of Dragon Castle layouts. To build these, you can use the blank Central board. We also encourage you to be creative and make your own! As a general guideline, castles for 2 players work better if they have between 65 and 80 tiles on the ground floor. Castles for 3 players work better if 50-70 tiles on the ground floor. Finally, castles for 4 players should have around 40-55 tiles on the ground floor. On top of that, regarding the two upper floors, we strongly recommend that you avoid having too many rows of tiles with a lot of adjacent tiles (6 tiles or more). With too many such rows, there's a risk you won't have enough Available tiles on the upper floors during the game.
- The Four Seasons - Best For 2 Players
- A Thousand Towers - Best For 2 Players
- The Barracks - Best For 2 Players
- The Pillars of Creation - Best For 2/3 Players
- The Fortress - Best For 3 Players
- The Blockhouse - Best For 3 Players
- Parade Ground - Best For 3 Players
- The Keep - Best For 3/4 Players
- The Dragon's Head - Best For 4 Players
- Monastery of the Abyss - Best For 4 Players
- The Gates of Destiny - Best For 4 Players
- The Forbidden City - Best For 4 Players
Spirit Card Powers
Spirit of Beauty
Consolidate a set of 4 or more Faction tiles with the same number (instead of 4 or more tiles of the same type, as usual). You can build up to 2 Shrines on top of them and you gain +1 VP (as if they were a set of Dragons).
Spirit of Elegance
For the remainder of your turn, whenever you Pick a tile from the Dragon Castle, you may take tiles that have 1 of their short sides free (even if they are not Available). You must do this at least once.
Frequently Asked Questions:
- Can I take a first tile taking advantage of this Spirit's power, and then take as my second tile a tile I just freed which still only has 1 short side free? Yes, you can. Once activated, the power of this Spirit remains active for your whole turn.
Spirit of Wind
You may flip 1 faceup tile facedown (it doesn't count as Consolidated). Then, move 1 Shrine you already built to any other facedown tile in your Realm (you still need to follow Shrine building rules).
Frequently Asked Questions:
- Can I build a Shrine on the tile I flipped facedown? No, you can't.
- Can I move a Shrine on the tile I flipped facedown? Yes, you can.
Spirit of Deception
When you perform a Pair of Tiles Action, as your second tile, take 1 of the tiles adjacent to the first tile you picked (even if it is not identical and/or Available).
Spirit of Strength
Move up to 2 tiles in your castle (either faceup or facedown) to any other space in your Realm (you still need to follow tile placement rules). Only check for sets to Consolidate after you are done using this power.
Frequently Asked Questions:
- Can I move a tile onto an empty space of my Realm? Yes, you can.
- Can I move a tile onto a faceup tile? No, as you still need to follow the regular tile placement rules.
- Can I move the second tile I'm allowed to move on top of the first one I already moved? If the first tile you moved was facedown, then yes, you can. If it was faceup, of course, the answer is no.
- Can I move a tile with a Shrine on top? No, you can't.
Spirit of Change
Treat 1 Special tile (Winds, Seasons, or Dragons) as if it was of any type to Consolidate a set.
Frequently Asked Questions:
- Can I treat a Special tile as something else in order to prevent a set of tiles from Consolidating? No, you can only use this power if, by doing so, you are able to Consolidate a set.
- What if I still Consolidate a set, I just want to prevent 1 specific tile from taking part in that set? The answer is the same as the above: no, you can't. The tile you "transform" with this Spirit must be part of the Consolidating set.
Spirit of Faith
Build 1 additional Shrine when you Consolidate a set of tiles (you still need to follow Shrine building rules).
Frequently Asked Questions:
- Can I build this additional Shrine on facedown tiles I Consolidated in a previous turn? No, the Shrine needs to be built on the set you are Consolidating when you activate this power.
- What if I'm Consolidating more than 1 set this turn? In that case, you can choose any 1 tile taking part in 1 of those sets.
- If I'm Consolidating a set of Special tiles, can I build a third Shrine, in addition to the extra 1 I'm regularly allowed to build? Yes, you can. This Spirit allows you to build 1 Shrine more, in addition to any Shrine(s) you would normally be allowed to build.
Spirit of Destruction
Discard 1 Available tile from the Dragon Castle.
Frequently Asked Questions:
- Can I discard a tile from the Dragon Castle to gain access to a previously unavailable tile? Yes, you can! It's one of the main uses of this power.
- Can I discard the last tile from a floor of the Dragon Castle to access the lower one? Yes, you can.
- If the Dragon Castle is reduced to only 1 floor after I use this power, can I perform a Summon the Dragon Action that turn? Yes, you can.
Spirit of the Deep
When you perform a Pair of Tiles Action, take as your second a tile that is the same type as the first tile you picked (even if it is not identical).
Frequently Asked Questions:
- Can I activate this power to take a second tile that is identical to the first, just to get rid of a tile from my realm? Yes, you can. But it is a very specific case!
Spirit of Cunning
You can Consolidate a set of only 3 tiles of the same type, instead of 4. You get 2 VPs. The number of Shrines you can build depends on the type of the Consolidated tiles, as usual.
Dragon Card Descriptions
Dragon of Humility
You get 1 VP for each Shrine built on a stack of tiles that is adjacent to at least 1 higher stack of tiles (not counting diagonally).
Frequently Asked Questions:
- If a Shrine is built on a stack with more than one higher stack next to it, do I gain more points? No, each Shrine can only be worth 1 additional VP for the purpose of this objective.
- Can a higher stack trigger more than 1 Shrine for the purpose of this objective? Yes, each Shrine built on a stack with at least 1 higher stack next to it is worth 1 extra VP. It does not matter if the higher stack is "shared" with other Shrines.
- Even if the adjacent stack is higher than the stack on which the Shrine is built, the tip of its roof is even higher: does this Shrine count? Yes, it's only the height of the stacks of tiles that matters.
Dragon of Tranquility
You get 1 VP for each separate group of adjacent facedown tiles (made of at least 1 tile) in your Realm.
Frequently Asked Questions:
- Are 2 diagonally adjacent tiles part of the same group? No, diagonal does not count.
- If they are adjacent, but on different floors, do they still count as adjacent for the purpose of this objective? Yes, they do.
- Can faceup tiles separate groups of facedown tiles? Yes. You can even place a tile on top of other tiles to separate a single group into two.
Dragon of Righteousness
Choose a row and a column in your Realm. You get 1 VP for each Shrine in those lines. For each of those lines that is completely filled with Shrines, you also get 2 extra VPs.
Frequently Asked Questions:
- Do the Shrines need to be adjacent to each other to count for the purpose of this objective? No, you simply count how many are in the same row/column.
- Can a Shrine be "shared" between the row and the column, and still count for both? Yes, it doesn't matter if a Shrine is present in both the row and the column you chose. It counts for both.
Dragon of Bravery
You get 1 VP for each stack of tiles in your Realm that is not adjacent to any other stacks of the same height or higher.
Frequently Asked Questions:
- Can there be a Shrine on a stack of tiles being counted for this objective? Yes, as long as the stack of tiles is higher than all adjacent stacks.
- Does the Shrine count towards the height of a stack of tiles? No, it doesn't. Only tiles count.
Dragon of Majesty
For each Faction (Soldiers, Merchants, and Farmers), choose 1 faceup tile placed on the third floor or higher. You get VPs equal to the sum of the numbers on those tiles.
Dragon of Power
For each Faction (Merchant, Soldiers, and Farmers), choose 1 group of adjacent faceup Faction tiles of that type in your Realm, and add the numbers on those tiles.
Compare your totals with the totals for the players to your left and to your right. You get 2 VPs for each Faction for which you have a higher total than your neighbor, or 1 VP for each tied Faction.
For example, if you have a total of 10 value in Merchants, and the player to your left has a total of 9 in Merchants, you get 2 VPs. If the player to your right also has 10 value in Merchants, you would get 1 more VP, for a total of 3 VPs.
Frequently Asked Questions:
- If there are only 2 players, do I take points for a majority twice? No, in that case you only check your values against the other player once.
- Do I need to add all of the faceup tiles of each Faction and compare that value with the players to my left and right? No, only 1 group of adjacent faceup tiles of your choice for each Faction counts.
- If I don't have any tile of a certain Faction, can I still compete for a tie with other players without tiles of that Faction? No, you need to have at least 1 faceup tile of a Faction to compete for a majority.
- If I have a higher value than the player to my right, but I lose against the player to my left (or vice versa), do I still get points? Yes, 2 points.
Dragon of Harmony
You get 4 VPs for each direction that your tile layout is symmetrical on both sides of the thick black lines in the middle of your Realm, +2 VPs for each direction of symmetry of your Shrine layout.
Frequently Asked Questions:
- Is it important whether my tiles are faceup or facedown? No, it's not. What matters is the position of the tiles in your Realm, regardless of whether they are faceup or facedown.
- What about the Shrines? Do they need to be at the same height to be symmetrical, or can they just be placed in a symmetrical pattern when seen from above? They need to be at the same height.
- Can I build a symmetric structure on one side of my Realm? No, when you consider symmetrical, you need to look at the cross of thicker lines in the middle of your Realm.
Dragon of Knowledge
You get 2 VPs for each different faceup Special tile in your Realm.
Frequently Asked Questions:
- If I have 2 faceup Special tiles of the same type (e.g. Winds), but different symbols (e.g. Rainy and Stormy), how many VPs are they worth? 4 VPs, since they are 2 different symbols, even if the tiles are of the same type.
- What is the maximum amount of VPs I can gain with this objective? There are 3 types of Special tiles, with 11 different symbols in total (4 Winds, 4 Seasons, 3 Dragons). So, you can gain up to 22 VPs.
Dragon of Devotion
You get 1 VP for each Shrine in your Realm with at least 1 adjacent faceup Dragon tile.
Frequently Asked Questions:
- If a Shrine has more than 1 Dragon tile next to it, do I gain more points? No, each Shrine can only be worth 1 VP for the purpose of this objective.
- Can a Dragon tile trigger more than 1 Shrine for the purpose of this objective? Yes, each Shrine with at least 1 Dragon tile next to it is worth 1 extra VP. It does not matter if the Dragon tile is "shared" with other Shrines.
Dragon of Fortitude
You get 1 VP for each Shrine placed on the edge of your Realm.
Frequently Asked Questions:
- Do the Shrines need to be built on a tile on the first floor, as shown on the card? No, it just needs to be built on the edge of your Realm.
Single Player Mode
The omniscient Dragon of Ingenuity has challenged you to a duel of wits! You'll have to try building the most magnificent Realm you can, while they will do their best to hamper your efforts and steal the tiles you need from the Dragon Castle. The Dragon will abide to very strict rules though: if you're smart enough, you'll be able to bend those rules in your favor. Do you have what it takes to prove your worth and become a Grand Master? Or are your skills so good that they could rival even the Dragons themselves? Good luck!
Placing Tiles
The solitaire mode of Dragon Castle™ allows you to play the game in a slightly different way. You'll be trying to score as many points as possible at the end of the game while playing against an A.I. player that is not building their own Realm, but only removing tiles from the Dragon Castle depending on your actions. You will have to pick your actions carefully and force the Dragon to take the tiles you need the least. The core rules of the game basically remain the same, with a few exceptions (as described below).
Setup
- Place the Central board for 3 players and build the Dragon Castle accordingly.
- Also place the stack of Countdown tokens on the leftmost space of the Countdown track, then cover 3 of the spaces to the right (like in a game with 3 players).
- Place 1 Realm board in front of yourself, and put 1 Shrine in your pool.
- You will play without any Spirit or Dragon card in play.
Variants
Different Castles: In this rulebook we describe the "official" way to play Dragon Castle in single player mode, but feel free to experiment with other castle layouts. Always setup the Countdown tokens like in a game with 3 players, though.
Spirits & Dragons: If you want to play with Spirits and Dragons, randomly draw 1 of each at the beginning of the game. Before comparing your score to the scoring table (see next page), subtract 15 points from your total.
A.I. Actions
During their round, the Dragon of Ingenuity will always perform the topmost possible action from the following priority list:
- Summon the Dragon
- Pick a tile of the same kind as the tile(s) you took during your last turn
- Pick a Dragon tile
- Pick a Special tile
- Pick a Faction tile
When the Dragon picks a tile, place it faceup next to the Central board, so that you can keep track of what was taken from you by the Dragon.
There are additional rules the Dragon of Ingenuity will abide by when performing their actions:
- They can only make legal moves (so the first tile they pick each turn must always come from the topmost floor; also, they cannot Summon the Dragon until only the last floor of the Dragon Castle is remaining, but when this happens, they will always do this).
- If there is more than 1 tile they could take that round, they will always take the northernmost tile and, in case of more than 1 tile on that same row, they will take the westernmost one among those.
- If, after the tile is chosen, the Dragon's action can be completed as a Pair of Tiles action, the Dragon will do so and take a second available tile identical to the first one, following the same rules described in point number 2 (the floor of the second tile is irrelevant).
- When taking a single tile, they will not take a Shrine from the pool, and they won't score any VPs for discarding the tile.
Example: Jebediah takes a pair of Season tiles and places them on his Realm board. It's now the Dragon of Ingenuity's turn. They will perform the first possible Action, checking from the top of the priority list.
- Summon the Dragon: The central castle still has tiles on the second floor, so they can't Summon the Dragon.
- Pick a tile of the same kind of the tile(s) you took during your last turn: There's no Available Season tile on the topmost floor, so they can't pick a tile of the same kind Jebediah took.
- Pick a Dragon tile: Since there's no Available Dragon tile on the topmost floor, the Dragon can't pick a tile of that kind, either.
- Pick a Special tile: The topmost floor of the castle has no Available Special tile either, so this action is also not possible for the Dragon.
- Pick a Faction tile: The only option left to the Dragon of Ingenuity this turn is to pick a Faction tile. They must pick the northernmost Available tile. Since there's two of them on the second row from north, they will take the westernmost one. After this, since there are also two Available tiles that are identical to the picked tile, the Dragon of Ingenuity must complete their action as a Pair of Tiles action. Again, they must take the northernmost Available tile (as marked in the image above).
End Game Scoring
When the game ends, add up the points you have earned from the VP tokens you have collected, the Shrines you have built, and the Countdown tokens you have collected (if any). Then, compare your score with the following table to verify your rank:
| Final Score | Rank |
|---|---|
| 0-39 | Student |
| 40-45 | Devotee |
| 46-49 | Master |
| 50-52 | Grand Master |
| 53-54 | Dragon |
| 55-56 | Silver Dragon |
| 57-58 | Gold Dragon |
| 59 | Jade Dragon |
| 60+ | Diamond Dragon |
Game Reference
Turn Reference
- During your turn you MUST:
- Take 1 action
- Pair of Tiles
- Tile and Shrine
- Discard Tile
- Summon the Dragon (only available when 1 floor left)
- Place the Tiles you collected in your Realm
- Take 1 action
- If you created a set of at least 4 tiles:
- You MUST Consolidate those tiles, then
- You MAY Build Shrines
Whenever you want, during your turn, you MAY:
- Activate the power of a Spirit card
Action Reference
- Pair of Tiles
- Tile and Shrine
- Discard Tile
- Summon the Dragon (only available when 1 floor left)
Set Scoring
- 4 tiles: 2 VPs
- 5 tiles: 3 VPs
- 6 tiles: 5 VPs
- 7 tiles: 6 VPs
- 8 tiles: 8 VPs
- … and more: +1 VP each
Build Shrines (depending on the type of tiles)
- Faction tiles (Merchants, Farmers, Soldiers): build 1 Shrine
- Seasons and Winds: build 2 Shrines
- Dragons: build 2 Shrines and gain +1 VP
End of Game Scoring
- Shrines on the first floor: 1 VP
- Shrines on the second floor: 2 VPs
- Shrines on the third floor (or higher): 3 VPs
- Plus Countdown tokens (2 VPs each), the Dragon card objective, and your VP tokens.
Credits
Design: Lorenzo Silva, Hjalmar Hach, and Luca Ricci Artwork: Cinyee Chiu Graphic Design: Heiko Günther and Noa Vassalli Shrine 3D Model: Paolo Lamanna Project Manager: Lorenzo Silva Production Manager: Alessandro Pra' and Flavio Mortarino Rulebook: Alessandro Pra' English Revision: William Niebling
CMON EDITION Production: Thiago Aranha, Patrícia Gil, Thiago Gonçalves, Guilherme Goulart, Isadora Leite, and Renato Sasdelli Proofreading: Colin Young and Jason Koepp Publisher: David Preti
Special Thanks: Heiko Eller, Valentina Adduci, Armin Silva, Martina Marinoni, Giulio Panfilo Vassalli, Francesca Cerutti, David Preti, Renato Sasdelli, Pietro Righi Riva, Carlo Burelli, Andrea Marinetti, Federico Corbetta, Paolo Tajé, Lucaricci, Alexandra Zanasi, Rita Ottolini, Fabio Leva, Alessio Vallese, Michele Marotta, Franchino Barone, Andrea Genchi, Alessandro Bressanelli, Osiride Cascioli, Giuliano Acquati, Mauro Marinetti, Marco Brera, Alessandro Adduci, Anna Chiara Ogliari, Giovanni Bernardis, Lorenzo Cudicio, Mattia Pellegrini Miani, Marta Ballestrero, Edoardo Chiesa, Flavio Franzone, Matteo Barbano, and many more!
If you have any issues, please contact us at: [email protected]