Eggs and Empires Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Overview
• Set-Up
  • Sort the Egg Deck
  • Player Set-Up
  • Play Area
• Gameplay
  • Collecting Eggs
• Round End
• Game End
• Two-Player Rules
• Empire Card Abilities
• Credits

Components

• 60 Empire Cards: 6 matching decks of 10 Adventurers
• 42 Egg Cards
• Tie-Breaker Marker
• 13 Egg Tokens

Overview

In this fast-playing card game, players will use matching decks of Empire Cards that contain Adventurers numbered 1-10. Starting with a hand of 3 Adventurers, on each turn all players will select 1 card from their hand and play it simultaneously in an attempt to collect Eggs (VP) from the middle.

Typically, the player who played the highest Adventurer chooses an Egg first, then the player with the second highest Adventurer picks an Egg, and so on until all revealed Eggs are collected. Ah, but it's not that simple! Each Adventurer has a unique power that can affect the order in which Eggs are selected. The powers interact in strategic and awesome ways so that every hand is exciting and different.

Outwit your opponents to collect as many good Eggs as possible while avoiding those nasty Exploding Eggs! The player who collects the most total VP over three rounds wins!

Set-Up

Sort the Egg Deck

Sort the Egg Deck and return to the box all Egg Cards not used based on number of players:

• 2/3/4p: Remove all the Egg Cards marked with 5/6p and 6p.
• 5p: Remove all the Egg Cards marked with 6p.
• 6p: Use all the Egg Cards.

Player Set-Up

• Each player takes one Empire Deck. All players shuffle their Empire Cards, place them face down in a pile, and draw the top THREE into their hand.
• Players may choose to discard their starting hand and draw three new Empire Cards ONCE at the beginning of the game. They then shuffle their remaining Empire Cards together.

Play Area

• Shuffle and place the Egg Deck face down in the middle of the Play Area.
• From the Egg Deck, reveal the starting Egg Cards per the number of players: 2/3/4p = 2 Egg Cards, 5p = 3 Egg Cards, 6p = 4 Egg Cards
• Randomly select a player and give them the Tie-Breaker Marker.

Gameplay

Eggs and Empires is played over three rounds, with nine turns each round. A turn is:

1. Each player selects one Empire Card from their hand of three and places it face down in front of them.
2. Reveal all chosen Empire Cards simultaneously.
3. Collect Eggs!
4. Discard played Empire Cards face up and discard any unclaimed Egg Cards, then reveal new Egg Cards: 2/3/4p = 2 Egg Cards, 5p = 3 Egg Cards, 6p = 4 Egg Cards
5. Resolve any "Turn End" Empire Card abilities and draw back up to three Empire Cards in hand.

Exception: Before the 9th turn of a round no Empire Cards are left to draw from.

Collecting Eggs

The HIGHEST revealed Empire Card chooses an Egg first. The next highest revealed Empire Card chooses second. This continues until ALL revealed Eggs have been taken, if able.

Players always place collected Egg Cards face down in front of them, creating a scoring pile. A player will never take more than one Egg in a single turn. Resolve Collect Eggs Empire Card abilities as needed. Empire Card abilities may affect the order that Egg Cards are selected, overriding numerical order.

Players MUST take an Egg Card if able. If, due to an Empire Card ability, a player does not collect an Egg, the player with the next highest Empire Card collects an Egg, if able.

Ties are broken by player order, beginning with the player that holds the Tie-Breaker Marker and moving clockwise. After any turn in which a tie occurred, the Tie-Breaker Marker passes to the left. NOTE: Multiple Dark Priestesses (9) canceling out is NOT considered a tie! Players may choose to pass the Tie-Breaker Marker clockwise after every round instead.

Example 6p game: There is a 13VP Egg, 10VP Egg, -6VP Egg, and -8VP Egg. Players select and reveal Empire Cards. Two Heroes (10), two Dark Priestesses (9), a Mage (7), and a Bard (1) are played. The Hero (10) closest to the Tie-Breaker Marker selects first and takes the 13VP Egg. The next Hero (10) selects second and takes the 10VP Egg. The Dark Priestesses (9) cancel each other out and neither select an Egg, so the Mage (7) selects next. A Mage does not collect face-up -VP and therefore does not collect an Egg as only Exploding Eggs remain. The Bard MUST collect an Egg and takes the -6VP Egg. The -8VP Egg is discarded.

Round End

• A round ends after NINE turns. Players will have ONE unused Empire Card.
• Each player sums their Egg Cards and Bonuses from Empire Cards using the positive and negative VP marked on them. Track scores with pen and paper, or try Con/Pub Scoring below!
• All players then shuffle their Empire Cards, place them face down in a pile, and draw the top three cards into their hands. Players may choose to discard their starting hand and draw three new Empire Cards as in previous rounds.
• Give the Tie-Breaker Marker to the player with the lowest total VP.
• Collect all Egg Cards, shuffle, then place the Egg Deck face down in center of the play area. Reveal the starting Round 2 Egg Cards: 2/3/4p = 2 Egg Cards, 5p = 3 Egg Cards, 6p = 4 Egg Cards

Game End

The game ends after Round 3 is completed.

Sum each player's total from Three Rounds of play. Highest total VP is the winner! If there is a tie, enjoy your shared victory!

Con/Pub Scoring: At the end of each round the player with the highest total VP collects an Egg Token. If there is a tie, all tied players collect an Egg Token.

In 2-4 player games, the first player to collect 3 Egg Tokens is the winner. With 5-6 players the first player to collect 2 Egg Tokens is the winner!

Two-Player Rules

Two-player (2p) Eggs and Empires plays like 3-6 players with the following exceptions:

• Each player takes TWO Empire Decks and shuffles them together.
• Each player draws FOUR Empire Cards into his hand.
• Each player plays TWO Empire Cards and may collect TWO Egg Cards, if able.
• A player may NOT choose to play the same two Empire Cards on a turn!

Example 2p game: There is a 13VP Egg and -6VP Egg. Each player selects and reveals TWO Empire Cards. Player one reveals a Hero (10) and a Blacksmith (8). Player two reveals a Blacksmith (8) and a Shepherd (3). The Hero (10) selects first and takes the 13VP Egg. The Shepherd (3) selects ahead of the Blacksmiths (8) and must take the -6VP Egg. Since neither Blacksmith (8) captured an Egg Card, both players must place them in their respective score piles! Both players then draw back up to four Empire Cards.

Empire Card Abilities

(1) Bard: No Ability.

(2) Scout (Turn End): After Egg Cards have been collected, Scout takes the top card of the Egg Deck, looks at it, then places it FACE DOWN in the center of the play area. Egg Cards played this way are part of the NEXT turn.

The appropriate number of Egg Cards are then revealed face up from the Egg Deck, as normal. Any face down Egg Cards are in addition to the normal revealed Egg Cards. If multiple Scouts (2) have been played in a turn, then those players each get to execute the Scout action (in player order), but those players only look at their own face down Egg Card.

Note: Face down Egg Cards are collected in the same way as face up Egg Cards, but the value remains hidden until AFTER they are collected. All face down Egg Cards must be collected if able, only a Mage may choose not to collect a face down card.

(3) Shepherd (Collect Eggs): Shepherd ALWAYS collects Egg Cards before Blacksmith.

(4) Courier (Turn End): If Courier DID collect an Egg Card, you may give that Egg Card to any other player.

(5) Merchant (Turn End): If Merchant did NOT collect an Egg Card, you receive 6VP at round end. Track this by placing Merchant in scoring pile.

(6) Priest (Turn End): If Priest DID collect an Egg Card, you may discard ANY collected Egg Card, even the Egg Card just collected during the turn Priest was played.

(7) Mage (Collect Eggs): Mage NEVER collects face-up Exploding (negative) Egg Cards. Mage may choose whether or not to take an available face down Egg Card, but must keep it even if it is an Exploding Egg.

(8) Blacksmith (Turn End): If Blacksmith did NOT collect an Egg Card, you receive -4VP at round end. Track this by placing Blacksmith in scoring pile.

(9) Dark Priestess (Collect Eggs): If more than one Dark Priestess was played this turn, NONE collect Egg Cards. 9's cancel each other out.

(10) Hero: No Ability.

Credits

Designers: Matthew Riddle and Benjamin Pinchback • Illustrations: Cristian Chihaia

Graphic Design: Chris Kirkman

Matt and Ben would like to thank their families and friends for all the support and love.

Playtesters: Pat Desantis, Joe Piva, Ken Grazier, Matt Wolfe, Eric Handler, Joel Eddy, Chris Kirkman, Ralph Anderson

Rules Review: Matt Smith, Keith Collins, a few people we are forgetting! Sorry!