Druids (2004)
Druids (2004) Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
24 servant cards (4 numbered series of 1 to 6, with red, blue, black or green backs) 4 pawns (red, blue, black or green) 6 score cards 12 mystic place cards (2 series of 6 cards) 54 gem cards (6 numbered series of gems, 1 to 9) The rulebook.
Setup
Give each player a series of servant cards and the pawn of the same colour.
Place the score cards in a column (one above the other, vertically), then place the players' pawns at the bottom of the column.
Shuffle the remaining cards separately (servants, mystic places and gems).
Lay out a row of 6 mystic place cards face up.
Deal 4 gem cards to each player and form a draw pile with the remaining gem cards (face down). Each player draws 3 servant cards at random from their own series.
The oldest player (the wisest of the druids) starts the game, and play then continues clockwise.
How to Play
On your turn, play two cards from your hand face down. Place the servant cards in a row beneath the mystic place cards, and the gems in a pile above the mystic places. You may play your cards on the same mystic place or on two different ones.
Note: you may play 1 gem and 1 servant, or 2 gems, but never two servants.
You then have the option (optional) of discarding one gem card face down. Your turn then ends, and you may top up your hand to 7 cards. To do so, draw the cards one at a time from the gem draw pile and from your reserve of servants. This means you can control the proportion of gem cards and servant cards that make up your hand.
The player to your left then takes their turn, and so on.
Scoring Points
Ritual
At the start of your turn, before playing a card, you may announce a ritual on one of the mystic places. To announce a ritual, at least 3 cards must have been played on that place, and at least one of them must be a servant.
During a ritual, reveal all the gem cards on that mystic place. All gem cards identical to the mystic place are transformed into enchanted amulets, which score points.
Example: a black gem card scores points on a black mystic place. All other gem cards are discarded.
Point Scoring
The enchanted amulets must now be shared out among the players.
Each amulet is worth 1 point, so each player moves their pawn up one circle on the score column for each amulet won.
The fastest servant (the one with the lowest value) begins by taking as many enchanted amulets as its value (so a servant of value 2 takes 2 amulets).
All the other servants then take enchanted amulets according to their value (from lowest to highest). In case of a tie (servants of equal value), the servants take their amulets in turn order. All enchanted amulets must be distributed.
If no enchanted amulets remain while a servant still has not taken any, that servant gets nothing! However, the last servant takes all the remaining amulets. So, if more amulets remain than its value, the last servant takes them all! Being the last servant can therefore be very good or very bad.
New Mystic Place
Once the point scoring phase is complete, the mystic place on which the ritual took place is replaced by a new place (if any remain), and the players continue their turns normally as described in "How to Play".
End of Game
Once only one mystic place remains without a ritual, the game ends, and the player with the highest score wins the game (placed highest on the score column).
Note: if a player goes past the top of the score column, the bottom card is placed on top to continue the column upward. If the bottom card is occupied by a player's pawn, the game then ends immediately and the player placed at the very top is declared the winner.