Dragon's Interest Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components and Setup
• Gameplay Overview
• Gameplay in Detail
  • Phase 1: Borrowing Gold
  • Phase 2: Activating Buildings
    • Castle
    • Harbor
    • Temple
    • City Hall
    • Arena
    • Adventurer's Guild
  • Phase 3: Refreshing Available Buildings
  • Phase 4: Moving the Dragon and Paying Interest
• Final Scoring

Components and Setup

A. 2 Dragon's Mountain tiles – If you are playing with only 3 players, place the 5-sided Mountain tile in the center of the table. If you are playing with 4 or 5 players, place the 6-sided Mountain tile in the center of the table. Return the tile you did not place in the center of the table to the box; it will not be used this game.

B. 60 Building tiles – Sort these into 6 stacks based on the Building type pictured on the back (Castle, Harbor, Temple, City Hall, Arena, Adventurer's Guild). If you are playing with only 3 players, return the stack of red Adventurer's Guild Buildings to the box.

In each of the stacks for the first 4 building types (Castle, Harbor, Temple, City Hall) find the starting tile with a white border around the flag in the corner.

Set those 4 tiles aside and shuffle each colored stack separately, face down, with the Building side showing. Place the shuffled stacks next to the matching colored sides of the Dragon's Mountain tile. Then place the 4 starting tiles face-up next to their appropriate stacks. Turn the top tile of the orange Arena stack face-up and place it next to the stack of tiles it just came from. If you are playing with 4 or more players, then do the same with the top tile from the red Adventurer's Guild stack.

The tiles which are face-up next to their stacks are the tiles which are available during the game. These will get refreshed every round. Most of the tiles show a Gold value, which means they represent a Building which you can build onto your Kingdom board. Tiles that do not depict a Gold value are Event tiles, which cannot be built and instead have different effects on the game depending on what is shown.

C. 1 Dragon marker – Place this between the stack of grey Castle Building tiles and the stack of orange Arena Building tiles.

D. 5 Kingdom boards – Assemble these and place 1 in front of each player. Return any that are left over to the box.

E. 5 Player screens – Stand 1 up in front of each player, behind their Kingdom board. They may use these to keep their cards, Gold, and Knights secret. Return any that are left over to the box.

F. 60 Contract cards – Give each player the set of cards with the image on the back that matches their player screen. Return any that are left over to the box.

1 Start Player marker – Give this to the player who most recently made a bad deal. Whoever has this marker each round is the Start Player for that round.

G. Lots of Gold tokens in 3 denominations, and lots of Knight tokens in 2 denominations (5 Knights, 1 Knight) – give each player an amount of these based on the chart below, then place the remainder near the Dragon's Mountain to form a general supply.

Players	Gold	Knights
3	0	6
4	0	3
5	6	3

During the game you should make change with the general supply as needed. There is not intended to be a limit on these tokens; if you run out you should use a suitable substitute.

H. 1 Treasure Chest – Set this in the middle of the table.

Gameplay Overview

Each round you will use Contract cards to simultaneously bid on pick order for taking the available buildings. Then take turns activating buildings to initiate exchanges. Next, refresh the available buildings and move the Dragon around the mountain, causing players to pay interest for the Building types it moves past. If anyone can't pay, or if anyone has 10 Buildings at the end of the round, the game ends and players score points based on their newly rebuilt Kingdom.

Gameplay in Detail

The game is played over the course of several rounds, and each round has 4 phases. Each player must complete their part of the phase before anyone moves on to the next one.

Phase 1: Borrowing Gold

Secretly select a Contract card from your hand and hold it in front of you, face-down. Once all players have made their selection, reveal these cards simultaneously.

If you revealed the card with the highest value, you must choose one of the available face-up tiles from the center of the table that has a Gold value shown on it. If there is a tie, the tied player who is the closest to being the Start Player in clockwise order around the table wins the tie. Collect the amount of Gold shown on the tile, then take the tile and place it face-down on your Kingdom board in the space matching the type of building. You have now built that Building. Tuck the Contract card that you revealed under your player board in front of your newly built Building so that you can see the value of the card.

Then, continuing in order from highest revealed Contract value to lowest, the other players each select a tile from the center with a Gold value, collect the Gold, build the Building, and tuck their Contract under the front of their board. This continues until all players have collected a tile, or there are no more tiles that have a Gold value on them. If you were unable to collect a tile because there were only Event tiles left (tiles with no Gold value are Event tiles), then you must return the contract you revealed to your hand.

The value of a Jester Contract card varies depending on the other Contracts played. If any player revealed a Contract of value 13 or 14, the Jester is considered to be value 17. If no player revealed a Contract of value 13 or 14 this round, the Jester has no value, is returned to your hand, and you will not have the opportunity to select a tile this round.

If there is a Generous Dragon event tile face-up, everyone now collects the same amount of Gold shown on their new Building tile a second time, then skip Phase 2 for this turn. If there is no Generous Dragon event showing, proceed to Phase 2 as normal. (This event occurs during the first round of every game.)

Phase 2: Activating Buildings

Beginning with the Start Player and proceeding clockwise around the table, you will take turns activating a building. Select one type of Building for which you have at least one tile and perform the associated action. If you do not want to activate a Building this round, you may simply pass instead.

When you choose to activate a Building, you must perform the steps shown on your Kingdom board above the spot for that type of building. You must perform all of the associated steps; you may not do some of it and not the rest.

Please note: when using the Treasure Chest, you are not required to say how many Gold or Knight tokens you are putting in or taking out.

Castle

In which you train warriors and send them out to... annex lands.

• Take 1 Knight from the general supply for each Castle tile on your Kingdom board.
• Put any number of Knights into the Treasure Chest, then give the Treasure Chest to another player and indicate which of their Building tiles you would like to take from them.
• That opponent looks inside the Treasure Chest, and must choose to either:

  • Take the Knights and give you the Building tile you indicated.

    OR

  • Put a matching number of Knights into the Treasure Chest and take one of your Building tiles of their choice. You take the Knights for yourself (thus you are taking back what you initially put in the chest, plus what the opponent added to the Chest).

Harbor

In which you promote trade and use the profits to buy up property.

• Take 1 Gold from the general supply for each Harbor tile on your Kingdom board.
• Put any number of Gold into the Treasure Chest, then give the Treasure Chest to another player and indicate which of their Building tiles you would like to take from them.
• That opponent looks inside the Treasure Chest, and must choose to either:

  • Take the Gold and give you the Building tile you indicated.

    OR

  • Put a matching amount of Gold into the Treasure Chest and take one of your Building tiles of their choice. You take the Gold for yourself (thus you are taking back what you initially put in the chest, plus what the opponent added to the Chest).

Temple

In which you accept tithes and send out missionaries to convert other lands to your cause.

• Take 1 Gold from the general supply for each Temple on your Kingdom board.
• Put any number of Knights into the Treasure Chest, then give the Treasure Chest to another player and indicate which of their Building tiles you would like to take from them.
• That opponent looks inside the Treasure Chest, and must choose to either:

  • Take the Knights and give you the Building tile you indicated.

    OR

  • Put a matching number of Knights into the Treasure Chest and take one of your Building tiles of their choice. You take the Knights for yourself (thus you are taking back what you initially put in the chest, plus what the opponent added to the Chest).

City Hall

In which you recruit guards and use taxes to expand your holdings.

• Take 1 Knight from the general supply for each City Hall tile on your Kingdom board.
• Put any number of Gold into the Treasure Chest, then give the Treasure Chest to another player and indicate which of their Building tiles you would like to take from them.
• That opponent looks inside the Treasure Chest, and must choose to either:

  • Take the Gold and give you the Building tile you indicated.

    OR

  • Put a matching amount of Gold into the Treasure Chest and take one of your Building tiles of their choice. You take the Gold for yourself (thus you are taking back what you initially put in the chest, plus what the opponent added to the Chest).

Arena

In which everyone receives money from ticket sales, and knights compete to see who wins the prize.

• EACH PLAYER takes 1 Gold from the general supply for each Arena tile on their Kingdom board.
• Place 6 of your own Gold in front of your player screen. (If you would not have at least 6 Gold after collecting Gold at the beginning of this action, you may not select this action.)
• All players (including you) secretly select a number of their Knights and hold them out in their closed fist.
• Once all players have done so, everyone reveals how many Knights they selected, and the player with the highest amount takes your 6 Gold and gives you the Knights they revealed. All other players put their Knights back behind their Player screens. If there is a tie, you choose who gets the Gold. If you revealed the most Knights (or tied for most and selected yourself), you discard those Knights to the general supply and take your Gold back, then take an additional 6 Gold from the general supply. If all players revealed zero Knights, you take back your Gold but do not receive any extra from the general supply.

Adventurer's Guild

In which adventurers gather and sell their services to the highest bidder.

• EACH PLAYER takes 1 Knight from the general supply for each Adventurer's Guild tile on their Kingdom board.
• Place 3 of your own Knights in front of your player screen. (If you would not have at least 3 Knights after collecting Knights at the beginning of this action, you may not select this action.)
• All players (including you) secretly select an amount of their Gold and hold it out in their closed fist.
• Once all players have done so, everyone reveals how much Gold they selected, and the player with the highest amount takes your 3 Knights and gives you the Gold they revealed. All other players put their Gold back behind their Player screens. If there is a tie, you choose who gets the Knights. If you revealed the most Gold (or tied for most and selected yourself), you discard that Gold to the general supply and take your Knights back, then take an additional 3 Knights from the general supply. If all players revealed zero Gold, you take back your Knights but do not receive any extra from the general supply.

Phase 3: Refreshing Available Buildings

Discard all the remaining face-up tiles from around the Dragon's Mountain tile back to the box. If you discarded the Generous Dragon tile in this way, don't pay interest in Phase 4 of this round (this always happens in the first round of the game).

Next, replenish them by flipping the top tiles face-up next to each of their respective stacks.

Then, if you just flipped over an Invasion of the Devil's Army Event tile, each player must immediately choose one of the following:

• Discard 2 of their Knights to the general supply.

  OR

• Discard 1 of their Building tiles back to the box.

Phase 4: Moving the Dragon and Paying Interest

Reminder: this phase will be skipped on the first round due to the Generous Dragon event.

Move the Dragon marker clockwise around the mountain so that it passes exactly one stack of Building tiles.

For each stack the Dragon passes, you must pay Gold to the general supply equal to the value of all the contracts tucked under your Kingdom board in front of the space for that Building type.

Then repeat this for each "Calendar" Event tile that is currently face-up around the Dragon's Mountain.

Example: if there was one "Calendar" Event tile showing, the Dragon would move 2 steps. If it passed the stack of grey Castle buildings and the stack of blue Harbor buildings this way, you would add up the value of all your Contracts you tucked under your Kingdom board in front of the space for the Castle tiles and Harbor tiles (10 + 7 = PAY 17 GOLD). (You would do this whether you still had any Castle/Harbor tiles left or not; the debt stands even if the Buildings are lost.) Then you would pay the sum of the value of those contracts in Gold to the general supply.

If any player cannot pay the Gold required of them during this phase, OR any player has 10 Building tiles on their Kingdom board at the end of this phase, OR the stacks of Building tiles are all empty, the game now ends – proceed to Final Scoring. Otherwise, begin a new round.

Final Scoring

If the game ended because you didn't have enough Gold and were unable to pay all of your interest owed in Phase 4, the Dragon exacts his revenge by destroying your Kingdom. Discard all of your Buildings back to the box and score zero points for the game.

If you were able to pay your interest during the final round, score points as follows:

• 1 point for each different TYPE of Building you have on your Kingdom board (so if you had at least one Castle, Harbor, and Arena, but no Adventurer's Guilds, Temples, or City Halls, you would score 3 points).
• 1 point for each type of Building for which you have the single most on your Kingdom board. (So if you had 4 Arenas and every other player had 3 or fewer, you would receive 1 point. If the most Harbors anyone had was 2, and both you and another player each had 2 Harbors, nobody would score a point for having the most Harbors.)

If you are the player with the single most points, YOU WIN!

If there is a tie for having the most points, the tied player with the most Knights wins. If there is still a tie, the tied player with the most Gold wins. If there is still a tie, the player who gets all of their Buildings back into the box first wins (or everyone).