The Glorious Guilds of Buttonville
The Glorious Guilds of Buttonville Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Contents
- 300 Villager cards: 25 different Villagers, each with 12 cards
- 42 Button tokens: 30 1-point tokens, 12 3-point tokens
- 1 Storage box
- 1 First player marker
- 1 Reference card
- 1 Sorting strip
- 1 Score track
Game Concept
Buttonville is a card collecting game, in which players pick up Villager cards from the market. From their hand of cards, they play sets of the same Villager by laying them out in front of them. In Buttonville, playing a set of Villagers triggers the effect written on that Villager's card. The more Villagers you can play of the same type the more the effect of the Villager's abilities are amplified. At the end of the game, each set of Villagers and buttons collected earns players Prestige points. The player with the most Prestige points wins.
Game Setup
1. Select Villagers
It's up to you to decide which Villagers you want to play with!
There are twenty five different Villagers in Buttonville, each of whom belongs to one of the six Guilds: Nobles, Automatons, Artists, Magicians, Tradespeople, and Citizens.
| Nobles (1x) | Automatons (1x) | Artists (1x) | Magicians (1x) | Tradespeople (1x) | Citizens (3x/4x) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alucard | Ben | Harley | Fortune | Antony | Bob, Gil |
| Charles | Rusty | Pablo | Hattie | Nevole | Cawrl, Horace |
| Liz | Taylor | Quartney | Jack | Polli | Deerdre, Jack & Ace |
| Flora, Marty | |||||
| Fred, Soulange |
At the start of the game, select 4 Villagers from the Guild of Citizens and then 1 Villager from each other Guild. Choose any Villagers you want to play with. You won't need the remaining Villagers, so leave them in the box.
Note: In a 2-player game select only 3 Villagers from the Guild of Citizens and 1 from each other Guild.
If you're playing Buttonville for the first time, we recommend using the following Villagers:
- Soulange the Professor
- Jack & Ace the Gamblers (Add Cawrl the Thief if playing with three or four players)
- Marty the Time Traveler
- Hattie the Wizard
- Quartney the Bard
- Nevole the Miner
- Ben the Clockmaker
- Charles the Duke
2. Prepare the draw piles
Shuffle the cards of all the Villagers you've selected together well to form a draw pile.
Use the first player marker to prepare a second draw pile. To do this, move the starting player marker into the side of the draw pile (see illustration). Then set the cards pushed out aside. You'll use this second draw pile when the normal draw pile has been used up (see 'End of the game').
3. Final setup
Deal each player 4 cards from the first draw pile. You may look at your cards but keep them secret from other players. Then give each player two 1-point Button tokens.
Now lay the top five cards from the first draw pile out on the table, turned face up. This is the market. Leave some space beside the first draw pile for a discard pile.
Whoever has the most buttons on their clothes places the first player marker in front of them and is the starting player (in case of doubt, the youngest player starts).
Playing a Turn
Beginning with the starting player, each player takes a turn. The game proceeds in a clockwise direction after the first player is done.
A turn involves two phases:
- Recruit two Villagers (required)
- Play a set of Villagers (optional)
1. Recruit Villagers (required)
On your turn you must first recruit two new Villagers. For each Villager you recruit, decide whether to take a face-up card from the market or the top face-down card from the first draw pile to add to your hand.
Important: As soon as there are fewer than five Villager cards in the market, immediately turn a new card from the draw pile over so that there are always five Villager cards available in the market. So you can take a card from the market, add a new one from the draw pile, then take the card you just added.
2. Play a Set of Villagers (optional)
You may play one set of Villagers from your hand. A "set" means any number of cards featuring the same Villager. Lay these cards out in front of you in a column, slightly offset so that you can see how many cards there are. Create a separate column for each Villager.
Most Villagers have an effect that is activated when the card is played. This effect can only be applied once, not once per Villager in the set. However, some effects depend on the number of Villagers you have in your set. This number is represented by an X in the explanation of the effect.
Important: Sets can't be combined! If you play a set of Villagers, it can't be added to a set featuring the same Villager that you played in a previous round. Place it next to this as a new set instead.
Example: You play a set of four Nevole the Miner. This card's effect is that you receive as many buttons as there are miners in the set. So you would receive four buttons.
End of Your Turn
At the end of your turn, check that:
- You don't exceed the limit of seven cards in your hand. If you do have more than seven, you must discard as many as necessary to only have seven left in your hand again.
- You can only have one set of each Villager in front of you. Discard as many duplicate sets as you need to until you only have one set per Villager. It's up to you which sets you discard.
Example: You have a set of 3 Hattie the Wizards and a set of 2 Hattie the Wizards in play at the end of your turn. You must discard one set and choose the set with only 2 cards in it.
End of the Game
When the first draw pile has been used up, take the second draw pile you set aside while setting up the game and use it as a new draw pile. Continue the round until each player has had the same number of turns. You can determine this by the starting player marker: The player to the right of the starting player has the last turn. Then play one final round, after which the game ends and you all calculate your scores.
Important: If the final draw pile has also been used up and you can't draw a card anymore, you'll receive one button instead.
Each player counts the number of Villager cards in each of their sets and receives points according to the following table:
| Number of cards per set | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 or more |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prestige points | 1 | 3 | 5 | 7 | 10 | 13 | 17 |
Add up the points for your sets. You additionally receive one point for every two buttons. The player with the most Prestige points wins the game.
If there's a tie, the player with the most sets wins. If there's still a tie, play again with other Villagers!
Example scoring:
Christopher has laid the following sets of Villagers:
The set of 4 Jesters earns 7 points, 1 Duke earns 1 point, 3 Dressmakers earns him 5 points, 3 Thieves earns 5 points, the set of 5 Slimes earns 10 points, and finally, his set of 8 Professors earns 17 points.
Since he doesn't have a set of exactly two Villagers, he can't use the Professor's ability that can be applied at the end of the game. So, he doesn't receive the additional 5 points. Then, he adds two points for his five buttons.
Christopher's total score is therefore 7+1+5+5+10+17+2 = 47 Prestige points.
Suggested Combinations
When selecting Villagers at the start of the game, you can use one of the themed combinations of Villagers suggested below:
Buttons grow on trees
- Gil the Fisher
- Horace the Coachman
- Cawrl the Thief
- Add Soulange the Professor (when there are three or four players.)
- Jack the Harvest Spirit
- Pablo the Painter
- Antony the Lumberjack
- Rusty the Mechanic
- Charles the Duke
A synergetic explosion
- Horace the Coachman
- Bob the Slime
- Jack & Ace the Gamblers
- Add Flora the Botanist (when there are three or four players.)
- Hattie the Wizard
- Harley the Jester
- Polli the Adventurer
- Taylor the Dressmaker
- Alucard the Count
Crazy interactions
- Deerdre the Druid
- Fred the Hypnotist
- Cawrl the Thief
- Add Gil the Fisher (when there are three or four players.)
- Fortune the Oracle
- Harley the Jester
- Nevole the Miner
- Ben the Clockmaker
- Alucard the Count
Explanations of Terms
Draw: Take cards from the draw pile.
Lay: Place cards from your hand in sets or in the market.
Play: Use cards from your hand as part of a new set.
Pay: Pay buttons from your own supply to the general supply pile.
Discard: Get rid of excess cards in sets and place them on the discard pile.
Take: Take cards from the market or buttons from the general supply.
Details of Card Effects
The effects of cards bearing the keywords listed below apply once per set you have in front of you.
ACTION: You can activate the action once per round and at any time during your turn. You can also activate it during the turn in which you played the set.
Example: Taylor the Dressmaker — ACTION: Pay 2 buttons to take 1 card from the market.
ONGOING: This ability is always active after it is played and is triggered at the time specified in the explanation of the effect.
Example: Bob the Slime — ONGOING: At the end of your turn, add one Bob the Slime from the market or your hand to this set. If you can't, remove one Bob the Slime from your existing set and add it to the market.
GAME END: Check these abilities at the end of the game when you add up your Prestige points.
Example: Flora the Botanist — GAME END: If you have more Flora the Botanists than the player to your right, gain 5 Prestige points.
Reminder: If you're playing a set with an action and you already have this set in front of you, you can use the ability for both sets. Don't forget to discard one of the two sets at the end of your turn though.