Goetia: Nine Kings of Solomon Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• List of Components
• Setup - Prepare Decks
  • Sort The World Cards
  • Prepare New World Cards
  • Quick Setups
  • Prepare Pact Cards
  • Class Symbols on Cards
  • Sort and Prepare the Demon Cards
• Setup - Build The World
  • 1. Set up Scry Boards
  • 2. Set up The World
  • 3. Set up World's Edge Cards
  • 4. Set up New World Cards
  • 5. Set up Pact Cards
  • 6. Set up Demon Cards
  • 7. Set up resources
• How to Play
  • Round Structure
  • Before the First Round
  • Placing Followers & Getting Resources
  • White & Black Cubes
  • Getting Back Followers
  • If All Followers Get Stuck in The World
  • Supply Limits
  • Breaking Ties
• Definition of Areas
  • The World - Getting Resources
  • Scry Boards - Contact Demons (get Attention, resources, and Darkness)
  • The World's Edge - Get Followers, Resources, and Pact Cards
  • Worship Demons - Get Demonic Powers, Relics, and Treasures
  • Dark Boards
  • How to Acquire Pact Cards
  • Player Area - Store Your Followers, Resources, and Cards
• End of a Round
  • 1. Get Cards from Demons
  • 2. Get Attention from Scry Boards
  • 3. Conjure Demons
  • 4. Draw New World Card(s)
  • 5. Get Back Followers
  • 6. Check End Game Condition
  • 7. Pass the Starting Player Token
• Game End
  • Scoring
  • What if There Is a Tie?
• Cards
  • Player Area
  • Anatomy of a Card
  • Demonic Powers
  • Relics
  • Treasures
  • Pacts
• How Card Effects Work
  • Overwriting Existing Cards
  • Clarification of What an Event Is
  • Example of a Card Effect in Action
• Definitions
• Questions and Answers
• Credits
  • Changes That Differ From the Printed Rulebook

List of Components

Demon Cards — 63x Cards (67x44mm). 9x Demon decks containing 7x cards of each Demon. On the back are Demonic Powers, Relics, and Treasures.

Pact Cards — 14x Cards (67x44mm).

Ram Skull — 1x Starting player token.

Score Pad — 50x Score sheets.

World Cards / Demons — 27x Double sided cards (80x80mm). With hex-spaces on the front and Demons on the back.

Scry Boards / Dark Boards — 12x Cardboard boards (4 of each class). Methods of contacting Demons (Scrying) on the front and Dark Boards on the back.

Discs — 18x World's Edge covers.

Followers — 40x Wooden player pieces. 10x of each color.

Resources — 100x 8mm wooden cubes. 20x of each color.

New World Cards — 27x cards (80x80mm). With hex-spaces on the back.

World's Edge Cards — 12x Double-sided cards (80x80mm). With a follower on the front and a hex-space on the back.

Player Aids / Quick Setup — 4x Reference cards (148x105mm). 3x Quick Setup cards (148x105mm).

Overview Summary Cards — 10x Summary of all cards (148x105mm). With a summary of each Demon and all Pact Cards.

Attention — 30x small metal coins (value 1). 15x large metal coins (value 5).

Setup - Prepare Decks

The very first step is to organize and sort the cards by various types and sizes.

Sort The World Cards

Take all World Cards (they have a Demon on the back) and, with the Demon face up, sort them into three piles of decks where each pile consists of 4, 3, or 2 hex-spaces.

A deck of World Cards consisting of nine cards where each card has 4 hex-spaces, 3 hex-spaces, or 2 hex-spaces, respectively.

Prepare New World Cards

Take all New World Cards and, with the hex-spaces face-up, sort them into four decks based on the number of hex-spaces each card has. New World Cards have zero, one, two, or three hex-spaces.

Depending on how many players you have, you will be placing some of the cards back in the game box.

Number of players	New World Cards to be removed
4 players	Remove cards with 1 hex-space
3 players	Remove cards with 1 & 3 hex-spaces
2 players	Remove cards with 2 & 3 hex-spaces

After removing cards, shuffle the remaining New World Cards and build a deck of 9 New World Cards. Place them with the hex-spaces face down.

These 9 cards are now the Deck of New World Cards. Place this deck on the table near The World Cards.

Quick Setups

Depending on the number of players, you will remove a certain amount of cards from the game and use a specific set of cards when building The World.

In subsequent games, you may consult the quick setup card to swiftly set up the game.

Prepare Pact Cards

Draw the below-specified number of Pact Cards. Put the rest of the Pact Cards back into the game box. They will not be used.

Number of players	Pact Cards
4 players	12 cards
3 players	9 cards
2 players	6 cards

Class Symbols on Cards

Demons and Scry Boards are marked with pentagrams. The number of pentagrams indicates the strength of the cards. Stronger cards appear later in the game. Cards and Boards with different class symbols will be referred to during the setup (Class 1, Class 2, Class 3).

Sort and Prepare the Demon Cards

For each of the 9 Demon decks, create decks with the same number of cards as there are players:

Number of players	Cards in each Demon Deck
4 players	4 cards
3 players	3 cards
2 players	2 cards

Return the rest of the Demon Cards to the game box.

Sort all Demons into separate decks and then, from each deck, remove cards until you have as many cards in each deck as players.

Setup - Build The World

The steps to build The World are: 1. Set up Scry Boards, 2. Set up World Cards, 3. Set up World's Edge Cards, 4. Set up New World Cards, 5. Set up Pact Cards, 6. Set up Demon Cards, 7. Set up resources.

Make sure you have enough space: Goetia: Nine Kings of Solomon requires approximately 100 cm (39") of lateral space, as the game area will expand through course of play. Please ensure there is enough room for two more Scry Boards to the right of the setup.

1. Set up Scry Boards

Create three stacks of Scry Boards. Each stack should have a class 3 board on the bottom, a class 2 board in the middle, and a class 1 board at the top. Place each stack on the right side of the table. Put the remaining 3 Scry Boards in the game box.

Add Attention to the top Scry Boards

At the top of the board is a circular space dedicated to keeping Attention. Place the indicated amount of Attention on the Scry Board.

2. Set up The World

The World will consist of 9 cards arranged in a 3x3 grid. This grid of World Cards will be on the left side of the three stacks of Scry Boards.

Depending on the number of players, there will be a specific number of cards used from each of The World Decks. When drawing cards, make sure that each card is a unique Demon (discard any duplicates).

Number of players	3-hex deck	2-hex deck	4-hex deck
4 players	3 cards	4 cards	2 cards
3 players	2 cards	3 cards	4 cards
2 players	1 card	2 cards	6 cards

No duplicates allowed! No duplicate Demons are allowed to exist on the grid. If you would draw a Demon already present in the grid, simply discard that card and draw another card from the deck.

Arrange the World Cards

You should now have 9 unique Demon Cards. Place the Demons in the 3x3 grid depending on their class:

• If the card has 3 class symbols: The Demon is placed in the left column.
• If the card has 2 class symbols: The Demon is placed in the center column.
• If the card has 1 class symbol: The Demon is placed in the right column.

The World Cards will be arranged in a 3x3 grid: class 1 cards in the column closest to the Scry Boards, class 2 cards in the middle column, and class 3 cards in the column furthest from the Scry Boards.

Flip the Demons

Now when the grid is full of unique Demons, flip all World Cards so that the Demon is face-down and the hex-spaces with the resources are visible. This is now The World.

3. Set up World's Edge Cards

Find the three World's Edge Cards that have purple backgrounds on them. Place these cards to the left of The World Cards (furthest from the Scry Boards). Place the card with the follower face up.

Now randomly draw six of the nine World's Edge Cards and place them around the rest of The World Cards with the meeple face up. (9 World's Edge Cards surround The World.)

Add followers to The World's Edge

Each player now places one follower on each of the 9 World's Edge Cards. The placed follower should be placed so that the sacrifice symbol is covered. In a 4-player game, all of the sacrifice symbols will be covered with followers. In a 2-player game, two of the sacrifice symbols will be covered with plastic tokens.

If you are playing with fewer than 4 players - some sacrifice symbols will be visible after you have placed your followers on the cards. Cover each of these symbols with a black disc.

4. Set up New World Cards

Shuffle the deck of New World Cards (this deck consists of 9 cards). Place them at the top left corner of The World face down.

5. Set up Pact Cards

Place the Pact Cards face up adjacent to the Purple World's Edge Cards so that they line up with the Scry Boards. Make sure each row of Pact Cards has the same amount of cards. (In a 4-player example there are 12 Pact Cards, 4 in each row adjacent to the purple World's Edge Cards.)

6. Set up Demon Cards

Place all of the 9 Demon Decks near the board. You will need these cards as the Demons are conjured throughout the game.

7. Set up resources

Place all Cubes and Attention within easy reach of all players. This is the general supply.

Finally, each player should have one follower left over from the setup. Put these into the general supply. These followers are considered to have been sacrificed and can be resurrected.

You are now ready to play!

How to Play

Goetia: Nine Kings of Solomon is played in clockwise turn order. The player who last worshiped a Demon is the starting player (or randomly select a player). The starting player takes the starting player token.

Goal of the game: The Goal of the game is to acquire as much Demonic Attention and Worship Points as possible.

Round Structure

Start of a round. Players take turns in placing a follower on any available hex-space.

Players can place their followers in various areas. The central area consisting of the 9 World Cards is referred to as The World and is always free. A free hex-space is indicated by the clean edges on the hex-space. Other areas have hex-spaces with burning edges on them, indicating that they have a cost. Most of these areas will activate at the end of the round, rewarding the players with Cards and Attention.

End of the Round. Players have reached the end of the round when they have no more followers to place.

At the end of the round players are rewarded:

• Attention for having followers on Scry Boards.
• Demon Cards for followers on Demons.

Followers are then returned to the players (note that some followers might get stuck). The starting player token is passed clockwise to the next player, and a new round begins.

Players keep doing this until at least one of the two end game conditions is triggered.

Before the First Round

Starting with the player who has the starting player token: Players take turns in taking one of their followers from The World's Edge and putting that follower in their Player Area (this is the area in front of you where you will keep all of your resources, followers, and cards).

Players continue to do this until all players have three followers each. Each player takes turns in taking three of their followers from any World's Edge Card without paying any cost.

If a World's Edge Card would become depleted of followers, flip that World's Edge Card. Players now start the game with only these three followers each. They do not have any resources, Attention, or cards.

Placing Followers & Getting Resources

Players take turns in placing one of their followers from their Player Area onto any available hex-space. Each hex-space may normally only contain 1 follower.

When a follower is placed, that player is instantly rewarded with whatever is depicted inside of the hex-space. Examples of hex-space rewards: get 1 pink cube from the supply; get 2 cubes of the same color from the supply; get one follower from a World's Edge.

After a player has placed one follower, the player on the left proceeds to place one of their followers.

Should a player run out of followers, that player skips their turn and waits until all other players have placed their followers.

White & Black Cubes

Black cubes represent Darkness, which is a wild resource. They can be used as any color.

White cubes are referred to as Any Resource and represent any colored cube (not black). When getting two or more white cubes, the player always takes cubes of the same color.

Getting Back Followers

Followers are returned to the players at the end of a round (when players have no more followers in their Player Area). However, some followers might get stuck if placed on linked hex-spaces.

Two hex-spaces can be linked together — they are associated with each other.

Followers on a single hex-space. Followers on single hex-spaces are returned to the players at the end of a round.

Followers on incomplete links. If players have placed their followers on linked hex-spaces where the associated spaces remain unoccupied, those followers won't be returned at the end of the round.

Followers completed links. If all of the associated linked spaces are occupied with followers, all those followers will be returned to the players.

Example: the yellow follower is on a single space and will be returned to the yellow player at the end of the current round. Two other followers standing on three linked spaces are stuck and won't be returned that round. Because all followers on completed spaces are standing on completed spaces, they will be returned to their players at the end of the round.

Flipped cards with followers! Occasionally, followers will be standing on a World Card, Demon, or Scry Board, that becomes flipped; those followers are returned to each of the players' Player Area.

If the flip occurs during a round, this will result in the players getting back those followers and returning them to their Player Area. These followers will be available on the player's next turn.

If All Followers Get Stuck in The World

In the unlikely event that a player would place all of their followers on linked spaces in The World so that they may never be returned. That player must at the beginning of the next round return all of their cubes to the supply and return all of their followers to their Player Area. That player will start their next round with no cubes and all of their recruited followers.

Supply Limits

The supply is limited. In the event a player or a treasure card is to gain a resource, and the supply of that resource has run out (or there is an insufficient amount left), the player takes the remaining required amount, one cube at a time, from the player who holds the most of the particular resource.

For example, a hex-space gives a player three pink cubes, but only one pink cube remains in the supply. That player will first take the remaining cube from the supply, and then one cube from whichever player has the most pink cubes. The resource-gaining player is still owed a pink cube, so that player checks yet again to see which player has the most pink cubes and takes one from that player (if the resource-gaining player has the most cubes, they steal from themselves).

Breaking Ties

In the event of a tie, the player with the fewest recruited followers prevails. If still tied, the player with the fewest WP prevails. If still tied, resolve by reverting to turn order (clockwise from the starting player).

When stealing resources, the player who loses the tie will lose said resource.

Note that there are different tie-breakers at the end of the game for determining the winner of the game (see Game End).

Definition of Areas

The World - Getting Resources

The World is the main area where all players can get cubes. World Cards have a teal, brown, pink, or yellow border and background.

Example: the purple player places a follower on a hex-space depicting "get two brown cubes." There is no cost to this placement (indicated by the clean edges), and the player gains two brown cubes.

Scry Boards - Contact Demons (get Attention, resources, and Darkness)

The Scry Boards are where you send your followers to contact Demons and get Attention.

When placing a follower on a Scry Board, you must pay a cost. This cost is always one colored cube. The color of the cube is determined by The World Card directly adjacent to the Scry Board.

The follower may be placed on any available hex-space on the Scry Board, and when placed the player claims whatever is depicted inside that hex-space.

The Attention stored on Scry Boards is awarded to the player(s) whose followers are standing on Scry Boards at the end of the round.

Example: when the red player places a follower on the Scry Board, he pays one teal cube to the supply (since the adjacent card to the left has a teal border) and also collects two pink cubes (since he placed his follower on a hex-space that rewarded him with two pink cubes).

Single hex-spaces on Scry Boards. Some Scry Boards have single hex-spaces. When placing followers on those spaces, those followers will not be getting any Attention. They will, however, be returned to the player at the end of the round.

Plan ahead... Beneath the Scry Board title, players can see what the costs will be on the following Dark Board (the Dark Board is the backside of the Scry Board).

The World's Edge - Get Followers, Resources, and Pact Cards

The World's Edge is represented by the cards surrounding The World. This is where players can recruit more followers.

Cost of recruiting followers. To recruit another follower, you must place a follower on a hex-space in The World's Edge where you have one of your unrecruited followers.

The cost of recruiting is always one Attention plus all visible resources in that associated column or row. You also get a discount for each discount symbol visible on that World's Edge Card. Discounts become visible as players recruit more followers.

The cost is determined by the hex-spaces in that row or column. Hex-spaces that are occupied by followers are not considered to be visible and are therefore disregarded. This could result in cheap recruitments that cost only a single Attention.

Example: the Purple player recruits another follower by placing a follower on one of the hex-spaces in The World's Edge depicting a follower. As the follower is placed, the player counts all visible resources in The World in that row and pays that amount plus 1 Attention to the supply. Since two other players have already recruited followers in previous rounds, there are two discount symbols visible, giving the purple player a 2-cubes discount. In this example, the purple player chooses not to pay for a yellow and a teal cube. This results in that player paying 1 Attention, 1 pink cube, 2 yellow cubes, and 1 teal cube. The player immediately takes the recruited follower from The World's Edge Card and can then use it on their next turn.

Getting the follower. The player immediately takes their newly acquired follower into their Player Area and can place that follower on their next turn.

Incidentally, the cost of recruiting followers will, starting from the next round, be cheaper for your opponents.

Getting discounts for recruiting late. If other players have recruited followers from a World's Edge in previous rounds, the cost for the remaining unrecruited followers in that row or column will be lower. This is represented by a crossed-out cube. For each discount symbol visible on The World's Edge Card, the player recruiting from this particular World's Edge Card pays one less cube (player's choice).

When a World's Edge Card has no more followers. Whenever a player takes the last follower from a World's Edge Card, that card will become flipped at the end of the round (when players take back their followers).

Flipped cards will reveal a new hex-space, which players can use by paying the cost (as if paying the cost to recruit a follower).

Example: at the end of the round, this World's Edge Card has had its final follower removed. The purple player flips the card, revealing a new hex-space where players from now on can send their followers to get 4 teal cubes by paying the cost of all visible cubes in that row/column.

Worship Demons - Get Demonic Powers, Relics, and Treasures

A conjured Demon is available after a Scry Board has been depleted of its Attention.

By worshiping Demons, players can acquire cards: Demonic Powers, Treasures, and Relics.

Cost to get cards. To place a follower on a hex-space that is on a Demon, that player must pay all visible resources on the Dark Board.

Getting cards. Demon Cards will be dealt to the followers at the end of the round. Players closest to the top of the linked spaces on that Demon will receive cards first.

Order of distribution of cards. If a player has placed followers on multiple Demons, the order of which the cards are dealt is determined by the top left corner of the Demon Card. Demon Cards with higher numbers are drawn before cards with lower numbers.

Example: a Demon is covering a Dark Board. The yellow player already has a follower worshiping King Zagan. As the purple player places a follower to worship King Zagan, the player pays two teal cubes to the supply and places the follower in any available hex-space on the Demon. At the end of the round, since the purple player is closest to the top of the card, that player is worshiping first and draws two King Zagan cards (as many cards as there are worshipers on this Demon). The purple player looks at the two cards, keeps one of them, and then hands the remaining card to the yellow player. Since there are still cards on the Demon, and the linked spaces are not fully occupied, the purple follower will remain to worship King Zagan. (The yellow follower is standing on a single hex-space and is returned.) The Purple player will most likely get another card at the end of next round.

Multiple worshipers on a Demon. The player closest to the top of the Demon draws as many cards as there are followers worshiping that Demon.

That player then proceeds to look at those drawn cards and keeps one of them. The player standing next in line on the Demon then gets to pick cards from those drawn. Players continue to do this until each worshiping follower has been awarded a card. There is a risk that a player will be without cards.

When all cards are dealt. If all cards are depleted from a Demon, at the end of the round the Demon is discarded, and the Dark Board and its hex-spaces underneath will become available.

Dark Boards

A Dark Board becomes available once a conjured Demon has been discarded. (A Demon is discarded at the end of a round if all cards from said Demon have been dealt.)

There are special hex-spaces that can only be found on Dark Boards. In order to place a follower on these special hex-spaces, you have to pay all visible resources on that Dark Board.

Examples of special Dark Board hex-spaces:

• Get any Demon Card. When a follower is placed on this space, that player may take the top card of any Demon Deck (from a currently conjured Demon) of class 2/3 or below. The card is taken immediately and placed in the player's tableau. Players worshiping a Demon could thus end up without getting a card at the end of the round.
• Get any Pact Card. When a follower is placed on this space, that player may take any one of the available Pact Cards (not from the game box).
• Pay the cost and sacrifice another of your followers from your Player Area to get any 1 available Pact.
• Get four Darkness. When a follower is placed on this space, that player takes 4 black cubes (Darkness) from the supply.
• Trade cubes for Attention. When a follower is placed on this space, that player may exchange up to 10 yellow cubes for an equal number of Attention. The cubes that are exchanged are returned to the general supply. Black cubes may be traded as any color. Demonic Powers and Relics may be used in order to trade cubes that are otherwise of the wrong color. Demonic Powers with discounts cannot be used when trading cubes for Attention.
• Resurrect a sacrificed follower. When a follower is placed on this space, that player may take back one of their sacrificed followers and immediately place that new follower in their Player Area. The player also receives 3 Attention.

To place a follower on a Dark Board that has a cost depicting a broken follower, the player must pay all visible resources plus one follower to the general supply. This follower is considered to have been sacrificed.

Thus, in order to place a follower on such a Dark Board, the player needs two followers: one that is sacrificed, and another which stands on the hex-space.

The sacrificed follower is always taken from the unplayed followers in the player's Player Area.

Example: this Dark Board has a special hex-space. To place a follower here, the player must pay the visible cubes and sacrifice one of their followers. The sacrificed follower is placed into the general supply.

You get the next resource(s) and Darkness that are returned to the supply.

How to Acquire Pact Cards

Getting any one Pact Card from the Dark Boards. Players can acquire one Pact Card by paying all visible resources on a Dark Board that has a hex-space with the "Choose any Pact Card" symbol. The player may choose any one of the available Pact Cards from the left side of The World.

Example: the purple player placed a follower on a Dark Board and pays all visible cubes on that Dark Board plus another follower. Since the follower was placed on a hex-space with a "Choose any Pact Card" symbol, the purple player gets to choose any one of the remaining Pact Cards.

Getting Pact Cards from The World's Edge. If a player was to place a follower at The World's Edge on a hex-space with a single "Choose a Pact Card" symbol, that player would pay four black cubes as well as all visible resources in that row. The player would then pick one Pact Card from one of those that were adjacent to The World's Edge Card where the follower was placed.

Example: the purple player placed a follower on one of The World's Edge and pays all visible cubes in that row as well as four black cubes (as indicated on The World's Edge Card). The purple player would thus pay four black, one yellow, and two teal cubes. Since the hex-space is a "Chose a Pact Card" symbol, the purple player gets to choose one of the remaining three Pact Cards that are available in that specific row (in this example, the middle row).

Player Area - Store Your Followers, Resources, and Cards

The Player Area is where each player keeps all of their resources, followers, and acquired cards.

The Player Area is kept visible to all players.

Each player is only allowed to use their own cards and effects.

Tableau of cards. Cards are placed in a tableau consisting of four columns. There is no limit on how many cards a player can have. However, each player may only have four active cards at any one time.

Once a player has four cards in their tableau, any further cards they receive must overwrite one of their current active cards.

Example: a player has four active cards, one of which is a Pact Card, which, if kept at the top of a stack, will be worth WP at the end of the game.

End of a Round

When all players are unable to place any more followers, they do the following in order: 1. Get cards from Demons, 2. Get Attention from Scry Boards, 3. Conjure Demons, 4. Draw New World Card(s), 5. Get back followers, 6. Check end game condition, 7. Pass the starting player token.

1. Get Cards from Demons

This is how you get Demonic Powers, Relics, and Treasures. At the end of a round, for each follower you have worshiping a Demon you will receive one card from that particular Demon.

1. Draw as many cards as followers worshiping this Demon. (The deck might become depleted, meaning not everyone will get rewarded.)
2. The player with the follower in the topmost hex-space gets to select one of those drawn cards first.
3. The player with the follower in the second hex-space gets to select the next card.

Players continue selecting cards in turn until all of the drawn cards have been taken. There is a risk that the Demon Deck will get depleted before all players have received cards.

If the Demon Deck becomes depleted, the followers on this Demon are returned to the players, and the Demon is removed from the game, revealing the Dark Board and its underlying hex-spaces.

Example: this deck of King Zagan cards contains four cards. At the end of the round, the purple player will receive two cards and the yellow player will receive one card. The purple player draws three cards from the King Zagan Demon Deck. He carefully chooses one of the cards and then passes the remaining two cards to the yellow player, who then proceeds to choose one of the cards. The yellow player finally gives the remaining card to the purple player. The deck will have one more card, which will be up for grabs for any player, since all the hex-spaces are single, and all followers on this Demon will be returned.

2. Get Attention from Scry Boards

At the end of a round, if you have followers on a Scry Board, you get one Attention per follower.

The order in which the Attention is awarded to the players is determined by their position on the Scry Board. The follower closest to the top of the card gets to take an Attention first. Then the next follower in line gets the next Attention, and so forth.

If the Attention is depleted from the Scry Board, a Demon is immediately conjured by the player closest to the top (see 3. Conjure Demons, below).

Example: the purple and yellow players will be getting 1 Attention each. Had there been three Attention on this Scry Board, the purple player would have received another Attention. The Attention is distributed amongst the followers on this card. The purple player has a follower closest to the top, so that player gets an Attention. The yellow player then proceeds to take an Attention. All the Attention is now depleted, so the purple player will not be getting any more Attention. Since there is no more Attention on this Scry Board, a Demon will be conjured immediately!

3. Conjure Demons

At the end of a round, if there is no more Attention on a Scry Board, a Demon is conjured, following this procedure:

1. Check which player has a follower closest to the top of the Scry Board. That player proceeds with the following steps.
2. Return all followers to corresponding players from the Scry Board.
3. Move the Scry Board to the right, revealing a new Scry Board that lies beneath.
4. Flip the Scry Board, revealing the Dark Board.
5. Take The World Card that was adjacent to the Scry Board and flip it. Return any followers that were on this card. The World Card has now become a Demon. Place the Demon on the Dark Board. The player must place the Demon to cover either the top or bottom row of resources on the Dark Board.
6. Each player who was contacting this Demon may now, without shuffling, look at the stack of Demon Cards.
7. Place the stack of Demon Cards on the Demon so that the artwork matches.
8. Move the remaining World Cards to the right.

Example: status of a row on the board at the end of a round, before a Demon has been conjured. A Demon will be conjured since there is no more Attention on this Scry Board. Note that the purple follower on the yellow World Card is about to be returned to the player, since that yellow World Card will be flipped in order to become a Demon Card. After the Demon is conjured: the Scry Board has been flipped and is now a Dark Board, which is placed to the right. The two purple followers that were occupying the Scry Board are returned to the purple player. The purple follower from the yellow World Card is returned to the player as The World Card is flipped to become the Demon King Zagan. The Demon is put on top of the Dark Board (covering the underlying hex-spaces). The Demon Cards may now be inspected by the purple player (since he/she was contacting the Demon), and then the Demon Cards are placed onto the Demon. Finally, all World Cards in that row are moved to the right so that a new card is adjacent to the new Scry Board.

4. Draw New World Card(s)

If one or more Demons were conjured this round, there will be hole(s) in The World. Remember, the hole(s) will always be in the left-most part of The World (since the cards moved to the right when the Demon was conjured).

Draw New World Card(s) and place it face up in The World to fill any gaps. Make sure all The World Cards have moved to the right so that each Scry Board has an adjacent colored World Card. Then draw New World Cards to fill any remaining gaps in The World.

5. Get Back Followers

At the end of a round, players' followers will be standing on different hex-spaces. Some of these hex-spaces are linked, while others are not (see Getting Back Followers, above).

Getting back followers from linked hex-spaces. Followers that are on single hex-spaces, or have all of the associated, linked hex-spaces occupied, will be returned to the players. This means a follower that is worshiping or contacting a Demon may have to be returned to a player even if the player would prefer to continue worshiping or contacting for another round.

Example: if this is the end of a round, the red follower will be stuck since the associated linked space is unoccupied. The purple follower will be returned since it is standing on a single hex-space.

Getting back followers because of flipped or discarded cards and boards. If, for any reason, a card that has followers on it would be removed or flipped, the followers standing on that card will be returned to that player's hand.

Examples of when cards/boards will be flipped:

• When all Attention has been depleted from a Scry Board, all followers on the Scry Board will be returned. The followers on the card to the left of the Scry Board will also be returned to the players (since that Scry Board will be flipped into a Dark Board, which will house the Demon).
• When all cards from a Demon have been depleted, that Demon is removed from the game, and any followers standing on the Demon will be returned to the players.
• At the end of a round, if a World's Edge Card has no more followers, that World's Edge Card is flipped.

Getting back followers during a round. If a card that has followers on it would become flipped in between turns, those followers are returned to the players' hands to be used during the same round (even if the players had previously passed due to not having any more followers).

6. Check End Game Condition

Check the number of available Pact Cards on the board. If there are fewer or an equal number of Pact Cards than there are the number of players, the game ends.

If any player has 4 Pact Cards in their tableau, the game ends.

Once an end game conditions has been met, proceed to final scoring.

7. Pass the Starting Player Token

If neither end game conditions has been met, pass the starting player token once in a clockwise direction and begin a new round.

Game End

The game will end at the end of the current round when any of the following two conditions have been met:

• If there are fewer or an equal number of Pact Cards available than there are players.
• If any player has 4 (active or inactive) Pact Cards in their tableau.

Example: in a three-player game, the game will end at the end of the round since there are only 3 Pact Cards available. In another example, the game will end at the end of the round since a player has 4 Pact Cards in their tableau.

Scoring

• Count the sum of the Attention (coins).
• Count the sum of the WP numbers on all cards.
• Count the sum of the visible Pact Cards.
• Count all your cubes. Every 4th cube is worth 1 WP.

The player who has the most points is the winner of Goetia: Nine Kings of Solomon!

Example: a player managed to get two purple Pact Cards, which ended up being worth 12 WP; 6 WP were from having three cubes on Treasures, the other 6 WP were from having three Demonic Powers.

What if There Is a Tie?

In case of a tie, the player with the most Darkness (black cubes) is the winner. If a tie still exists, the player with the most colored cubes is the winner. If players are still tied, the player with the most Attention will be the winner. If there still is a tie, the player with the most cards is the winner. In the unlikely event that a tie still exists, the tied players share the victory.

Cards

Cards are primarily acquired by worshiping Demons. The most powerful cards can be acquired by Class 3 Demons (Bael, Beleth, and Paimon). Cards are always kept in your Player Area.

Relics, Treasures, and Demonic Powers are always worth WP at the end of the game (even if they have been covered by other cards).

You may also get Pact Cards from the Dark Boards or The World's Edge. However, these cards are only worth WP at the end of the game, and only if they are visible (on top of a stack) at the end of the game.

There are four types of cards: Demonic Powers (red), Relics (black), Pacts (purple), and Treasures (yellow).

Player Area

The Player Area can hold up to four stacks of cards at one time. As soon as a player acquires a card, it is immediately put into their Player Area. If a player has four visible cards in play and gets a fifth card, that player must cover one of their old cards. Only the cards on top of the stacks can be used during the game. All played cards can, however, be worth WP at the end of the game.

Example: a player has acquired 6 cards so far. Some have been overwritten by other cards. The topmost cards are active.

Using cards before Round start. Treasure Cards and cards that specifically say "Start of round" can only be used at the start of each round.

Using Relic Cards on your turn. If a player wants to activate a Relic during a round, they may do so during their turn by spending their action by placing a follower on the hex-space of the Relic Card.

Some Relic Cards have a glowing red edge. This is an indication for the other players that once this Relic Card is activated, everyone else will also get a benefit.

Anatomy of a Card

A card contains some or all of the following features: a) Title, b) Flavor text, c) Type of card, d) Hex-space, e) Effect, f) Cost (pay this in order to place a follower on this card), g) Class & origin of the card, h) Worship Points.

Additional cost note: some cards require all visible resources and Darkness in the World (not World's Edge) to be paid in order to place a follower on them.

Demonic Powers

Demonic Powers are passive effects that are always active. A player can never ignore the effect. The effect of the Demonic Power is only active if it is fully visible in the player's tableau.

Relics

Relic Cards may have a cost associated with them. The effect requires a follower to be used in order to become active. Relics must be fully visible in the player's tableau to be used.

Treasures

Treasure Cards have resources on them. At the start of each round, players may take one resource from each of these cards. If a Treasure Card is ever overwritten, all resources on that card are returned to the supply.

Pacts

Pact Cards can be acquired on Dark Boards or at The World's Edge. They grant extra WP at the end of the game based on how the game has been played. For a Pact Card to yield WP, it must be at the top of the player's tableau in their Player Area at the end of the game.

How Card Effects Work

Overwriting Existing Cards

When a player already has 4 cards visible and receives their 5th card, they have to place the new card on top of an existing active card. The covered card will still be worth WP at the end of the game, but the effect will be overwritten by the new card.

Overwriting Treasure Cards. If a Treasure card is overwritten, any resources on that card will be returned to the supply. The card will be worth WP at the end of the game.

Overwriting Pact Cards. If a Pact Card is overwritten, that card will no longer be active, and the player will not get the WP from that Pact Card at the end of the game.

Overwriting Demonic Power Cards. If a Demonic Power is overwritten, that power can no longer be used. The card, however, will still be worth WP at the end of the game.

Overwriting Relic Cards. If Relic Cards are overwritten, they can no longer be used. They will, however, still be worth WP at the end of the game.

Followers standing on an overwritten Relic Card become sacrificed and are put into the general supply.

Example: the white player has a Relic Card that has a follower on it. The white player got an additional card to put into the tableau. He chooses to overwrite the Relic Card that has a follower on it. This follower is now considered to have been sacrificed.

Clarification of What an Event Is

Events need to be defined to clarify how the effects of the cards work. Any card's effect can be used multiple times during a turn and round, but only once per event. Effectively this also means that no infinite loops of effects can occur.

A card will only be activated once for each time any event occurs.

Here are the following events that can occur:

• Get a card for worshiping Demons.
• Get one or more Attention for contacting Demons.
• Pay a cost because you placed a follower.
• Place a follower on a hex-space.
• Get resources because of an opponent's action.
• Get resources because of your action.

Example of a Card Effect in Action

Each card received from worshiping Demons is considered to be separate events.

For example, the yellow player has two followers worshiping King Belial and one follower worshiping King Zagan.

At the end of the round, when it's time to get cards for worshiping Demons, the yellow player will be getting two cards from King Belial. And because of the Demonic Power Parseltongue this player will also be getting two colored cubes. The player will then get one card from King Zagan and one colored cube.

Example: each event will trigger any cards once per event. Getting two cards from Belial is considered to be two events. Getting one card from Zagan is considered to be another event.

Definitions

Empty hex-space — Nothing happens.

Action — Place a follower on a hex-space.

Get a follower from The World's Edge — Cost: All visible cubes in The World row or column and one Attention.

Resources — Colored cubes (not Darkness or Attention).

Cube — A cube that is pink, teal, yellow, brown, or black.

Colored Cube — A pink, teal, yellow, or brown cube (not black).

Get one Demon Card of class 2 or lower — Get any one Demon Card from the available Demon Decks in play that is of class 2 or lower. Cost: All resources shown on that Dark Board.

Darkness — A black cube (not colored).

Any Resource — Any colored cube (not black).

Get one Demon Card of class 3 or lower — Get any one Demon Card from the available Demon Decks in play that is of class 3 or lower. Cost: All resources shown on that Dark Board.

Contacting a Demon — What followers standing on Scry Boards are doing.

Get a Pact Card from the Pact Cards adjacent to this World's Edge — Cost: 4 black cubes plus all visible resources in that row/column.

Conjuring Demons — When all Attention has been depleted from a Scry Board, a Demon is conjured.

Exchange Cubes into Attention — When placing a follower here, exchange up to 10 yellow cubes for an equal number of Attention. Cost: All resources shown on that Dark Board.

Worshiping Demons — What followers standing on Demons are doing. Players get Demon Cards for each of these followers at the end of the round.

Get a Pact Card and 3 Attention — When placing a follower here, get 3 Attention and any one available Pact Card. If all Pact Cards are gone, the player only gets the Attention. Cost: Pay all resources shown on that Dark Board.

Scry Board — The large board where you primarily get Attention. For example: Séance, Spirit Walk, and Exorcism.

Dark Board — The back of a Scry Board (has a dark background).

Demon Deck — A deck of cards from a Demon.

Discount Symbol — Pay one less cube (colored or black).

Supply — All cubes or Attention that are not in play. (Cubes and Attention on Treasures are not in the supply.)

2 Colored Cubes — These cubes must be of the same color.

Sacrifice — When a follower is removed to the supply, either by overwriting a used Relic Card or as part of a cost.

Attention — A coin worth 1 WP at the end of the game.

Remove follower from Game/Sacrifice — This symbol indicates that a follower is to be sacrificed. The sacrificed follower is put in the general supply.

Class Symbol — Indicates which class a card belongs to (see Setup - Prepare Decks).

Questions and Answers

Must I place a follower? Can't I pass? You must always place a follower if you can.

I still have followers in hand, but I am unable to place them anywhere. If you cannot place a follower during your turn, your turn is skipped. Keep trying to play your follower on your next turn or continue to skip your turn until all players have placed their followers.

If you are the last player with followers in hand and you still are unable to place a follower, the follower remains unplayed in your hand, and everyone proceeds to the end of the round.

Can I choose not to get a resource? No. If you place a follower on a get resource space, you must take that corresponding resource.

Is there a limit to how many resources I can have in my Player Area? No. You can have as many resources as you wish. However, the supply is limited by the number of components in the game.

What if the supply has run out of a resource? If the supply has run out of a certain resource, you take (steal) the owned resource from the player who has the most of that resource. If you are the player who has the most of that resource, you "steal from yourself" (i.e., get no additional resources).

If players are tied for the most of a particular resource, the tie is resolved according to the tie-breaking rules described on page 9 (see Breaking Ties, above).

Some cards will let me put cubes or Attention on to hex-spaces on my turn. What do I do with them at the end of the round? Return them to the general supply.

Where are unrecruited followers allowed to be? Some cards may allow players to send back followers to the World's Edge Cards. These may only be placed on World's Edge Cards if they are covering a sacrifice symbol. You cannot return unrecruited followers to a flipped World's Edge Card (since the flipped side does not have any sacrifice symbols to place the worker on).

What are the small cubes underneath the Scry Board titles? These are showing the costs on the Dark Board (the other side of the Scry Board).

How do I get Attention? The main way to get Attention is to use the Scry Boards. The cost for placing a follower on a Scry Board is one colored cube. The color of this cube is determined by the color of The World Card adjacent to the Scry Board.

How are Demons conjured? Scry Boards have 3-5 Attention on them. As players are sending their followers to contact Demons, the Attention is removed from the Scry Board. When a Scry Board has run out of Attention, a Demon is conjured.

How do I get cards? By having followers Worshiping Demons. Demons must first have been conjured before players can send followers to worship them.

On your turn, players can pay the cubes shown on the Dark Board and then place a follower on the hex space on the Demon Card. At the end of the round, cards will be dealt to those players who have followers worshiping Demons.

Is there a limit on how many cards I can have? You can have as many cards as you like. However, only 4 cards can be kept fully visible at any time during the game. If you acquire more than 4 cards, you will be forced to overwrite your existing cards.

Can I rearrange my tableau of cards? No. (Unless you have a card that says that you may.)

On some Scry Boards or Relic Cards you can get a follower. From where do I take this follower? You may choose from whichever World's Edge Card you want to acquire this follower. The newly acquired follower can be used in the player's next turn.

Where to find the latest version of this Rulebook? Any errata, as well as an updated rulebook, can be found at: http://goetia.demonicgames.com

Credits

Game Designer: Kristian Karlberg

Artwork: Andrzej Masianis

Special Thanks to: Maria Karlberg, Johan Säwing, Martin Johansson, Esbjörn Rundbom, Stephanie Pitel, Jonatan Karlberg, Henrik Karlberg, Amanda Hellberg, Tobias Hellberg, Niklas Björkbacka, Linnea Björkbacka, Thomas Strand, Mia Strand, Joppe Widstam, Kenny Zetterberg, Shawn Sieben, Zabdiel Rodriguez, Bart van Eijl, Ryan Tebo, Vennie Nemecek, Magic, Board Game Design Lab, Kickstarter and everyone who playtested at GoBo, GothCon, LinCon, TrollCon, CalCon, BSK, Sthlm Tabletop Game Expo.

This game would not have existed, were it not for you.

Copyright © 2020 by Demonic Games. All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a review.

Changes That Differ From the Printed Rulebook

• Page 17, Conjure Demons - Made it more clear that you are not to shuffle the stack of Demon Cards after the players who contacted the demon have looked at them.
• Page 9, Supply limits - Made it more clear that if you are the one with the most cubes, and you are still owed cubes, you steal from yourself.
• Page 23, Where unrecruited followers are allowed to be - Rewrote this section to clarify that this only applies to unrecruited workers.
• Page 19, End Game Scoring calculation - Changed one of the relic cards in the left column to make the math correct (the sum was 20, now it is 21).
• Page 17, 3 VI Looking at Demon Cards - Corrected to say each player that was contacting this Demon (not worshiping) gets to look at the cards.
• Page 9, Supply Limits - Added that this rule about stealing resources also applies when adding cubes from the supply to treasure cards.
• Page 21, Example of a card effect in action - Removed a sentence that contradicted the previous sentence.
• Page 18, 19, End Game Trigger ambiguity - Removed the word "active" so that the end game trigger is guaranteed to happen when a player gets their 4th pact card.