Gold Country Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Overview
• Setup
• Gameplay
  • Place Your Claim Tokens to Extend the Mines
    • Tiles
  • Make Up to Two Mine Card Transactions
  • Pay Three Coins to Activate One Action Card
• Game End
• River Board
  • Setup Changes
  • Additional Tiles
  • Tunnels
  • River

Overview

• 2-4 Players
• 30-60 Minutes
• Ages 8+

Setup

1. Lay out the board with the forest side face up. It shows a field with four colored base camps. Place the corresponding starting tile of value 5 on each base camp.
2. Seven spaces on the board are dense forest spaces. Lay two bandit tokens on their sides in a pyramid shape on each of these spaces. Then, place the gold vein of value 5 on the bandit tokens in the center and the gold veins of value 3 on the other bandit tokens. Every dense forest space will have two bandit tokens with a gold vein tile on top.
3. When playing with this side of the board, leave the dynamite, gem, boat, and boat marker tiles in the box. Shuffle the remaining tiles face down and randomly place them face up on the gold-colored spaces.
4. Shuffle the four secret mine cards and deal one to each player. Return unused secret mine cards unseen to the box. Players may look at their secret mine card, but keep it hidden until the game end.
5. Sort the mine cards by color. Each player receives one in each color and displays these face up in front of him or her for everyone to see. Place the remaining mine cards in face-up stacks at the edge of the board next to the corresponding mines.
6. Each player receives 20 coins. The players keep their coins face up in front of them for everyone to see. Keep the remaining coins in reach.
7. Mix the claim tokens of the four mines into the bag. Each player takes a screen, draws three claim tokens from the bag, and hides them behind his or her screen.
8. Display the hardware store next to the board. Draw one claim token from the bag and place it on the store.
9. Display the nine action cards face up next to the board. There are four action cards depicting a claim token. Take a corresponding claim token from the bag and place one on each of these cards. Then, place one bandit token on the action card depicting a bandit.
10. Place the player aid cards between any new players who may need them.

Gameplay

The last player to handle money goes first (or randomly choose a start player). Then, play progresses clockwise.

At the start of your turn, lift your screen to reveal your three claim tokens. Then, take the following actions in any order (each action must be fully completed before moving on to the next action):

• Place your claim tokens on the board to extend the mines (mandatory). Optional: Exchange one of your claim tokens with the claim token in the store.
• Make up to two mine card transactions (optional). Each transaction consists of either buying or selling one mine card.
• Pay three coins to activate one action card (optional). Each card can be activated at a specific time during your turn, as explained later.

At the end of your turn, draw three new claim tokens from the bag and hide them behind your screen.

The actions are explained in further detail below:

Place Your Claim Tokens to Extend the Mines

Each claim token extends the mine of the corresponding color. Place the claim token on any space on the board adjacent to the base camp or any claim token of the same color. There may only be one claim token on each space. All claim tokens must be placed.

Example: The red arrows indicate which spaces you can place the next red claim token.

When placing claim tokens, you may exchange one of your claim tokens with the claim token in the store.

Suggestion: You can add the claim token from the hardware store to your three claim tokens when you reveal them. Then, place your claim tokens on the board, making sure you have one left at the end of your turn to return to the hardware store.

Tiles

When you place a claim token on a space with a tile, remove the tile from the space. Depending on the type of tile, do the following:

• Gold vein: Hurray! A new gold vein has been found. Place the tile on the base camp of the mine. Put the bandit tokens that were underneath the gold vein into the bag (these bandit tokens effectively become claim tokens that players can draw and place).
• Gold: Splendid! More gold has been found! Place the tile on the base camp of the mine.
• Fool's gold: Bad news! What looked like gold turns out to be useless fool's gold. Place the tile on the base camp of the mine.
• Nuggets: Fantastic! Gold nuggets are distributed to the owners of the mine. Each player receives two coins for every corresponding mine card. Discard the tile into the box. Note: Secret mine cards are not considered for this tile's effect.
• Cave-in: Disaster! The owners of the mine must pay money to repair the mine. Each player loses two coins for every corresponding mine card. Discard the tile into the box. If a player does not have enough coins, they must return mine cards at half value (rounded down) until the full payment is made or until they have no more mine cards. Note: Secret mine cards are not considered for this tile's effect.

Top Up Rule: If a player ever has no mine cards and fewer than 20 coins, they may instantly top up their coins to 20. No player is ever excluded from the game due to lack of coins.

Exploited Mine Rule: If a mine is fully exploited so that it cannot be extended to further spaces with a tile on them, discard any claim tokens of the corresponding color and draw replacement tokens from the bag. This happens immediately for all players (and the hardware store) and any time a player draws a claim token of the exploited mine for the rest of the game.

Placing bandit tokens: When placing a bandit token, place it on a space adjacent to any base camp or any other claim token. The bandit token does not belong to any mine. If the bandit token is placed on a space with a tile, discard the tile without effect (though if it was a gold vein, the bandit tokens underneath are still put into the bag).

Example: John places a white claim token on a cave-in tile. John loses two coins for his one white card. Sam and Ben each lose six coins for their three white cards. John places his second white claim token on the fool's gold tile — this tile is added to the white base camp. Finally, John places a bandit token adjacent to the red claim token on the gold vein tile. The gold vein tile is discarded to the box, and the two bandit tokens underneath are put into the bag.

Make Up to Two Mine Card Transactions

Before or after placing your claim tokens, you may make up to two transactions. Each transaction consists of buying or selling one mine card. Both transactions must be done together. You cannot split the two, making one before and one after placing your claim tokens.

Buying: Take one mine card from the stack and display it in front of you. Pay coins equal to the total value of the mine (displayed at the base camp): the starting value is 5, and gold veins, gold, and fool's gold change the value accordingly.

Selling: Return one of your mine cards to the corresponding stack. Then, take coins equal to the total value of the mine. Note: Secret mine cards cannot be sold during the game.

Make change where possible so that the total value of each mine is easy to see. If the values of tiles cancel out, you can freely discard them to the box. You can also use coins to help simplify the displayed value. (The starting tiles of each mine have no special significance after setup.)

Note: The total value of a mine may fall below 0. In that case, you can buy (and sell) mine cards for 0 coins. If a stack of mine cards is used up, these mine cards are temporarily unavailable.

Pay Three Coins to Activate One Action Card

During your turn, you may pay three coins to activate one action card. After using it, turn the action card face down (or return it to the box). The three action card types are explained below:

• At the start of your turn, before doing anything else, draw three new claim tokens from the bag and then return your current three claim tokens to the bag. (You must do this before exchanging claim tokens with the hardware store.)
• When you place your claim tokens, take the token from the action card and add it to your claim tokens. Note: If the claim token is for a mine that cannot be extended to further spaces with a tile, discard the token and draw a replacement from the bag.
• You may make a third mine card transaction at the same time as your other two. Note: You may not activate this action card if you do not make three transactions.

Game End

The game ends at the end of a turn when all seven gold vein tiles have been removed from the dense forest spaces.

The game also ends immediately when the last token is drawn from the bag. The claim tokens and bandit tokens still behind the players' screens will not be placed.

When the game ends, all players reveal their secret mine card and sell all their mine cards (including the secret mine card) at their current values.

The richest player wins! In case of a tie, the victory is shared.

River Board

The river board offers a more challenging and dynamic experience — recommended for experienced players!

Setup Changes

1. Each player receives one boat marker to keep in front of them for everyone to see. Keep the remaining boat markers within reach.
2. Before randomly placing the tiles face up on the gold-colored spaces, mix the gem, boat, and dynamite tiles face down with the tiles.

Additional Tiles

The river board introduces three new types of tiles. When you place a claim token on one of these tiles, do the following:

• Gems: Collect the gem tile and keep it with your coins for everyone to see. At the game end, each gem tile counts as 5 coins. You cannot spend gems during the game.
• Boat: Take one of the boat markers and keep it in front of you, then discard the boat tile into the box. (Do not simply keep the boat tile, as this would cause confusion when used to cross the river; see "River" below.)
• Dynamite: Immediately draw two claim tokens from the bag and add them to your claim tokens. (You may exchange these tokens with the hardware store.) Discard the tile into the box.

Tunnels

The river board has four tunnel spaces. To use a tunnel, you need two claim tokens of the same mine, and a matching claim token must already be adjacent to the tunnel space:

Enter: Place the first claim token on the tunnel space. Exit: Place the second claim token adjacent to a different tunnel space.

You must enter and exit at the same time!

A tunnel space with a claim token on it can no longer be used to enter or exit that tunnel space, by any mine, but claim tokens of the same color may be placed adjacent to this space (like a normal placement). Each mine may only use one tunnel.

Bandit tokens may not be placed on tunnel spaces.

Example: Sam places a red claim token on the tunnel space. Sam must then place a red claim token on any of the indicated spaces. (The tunnel space in the lower right cannot be used to exit since it has already been claimed.) Remember: You may not enter a tunnel space without immediately exiting from a different tunnel space!

River

This board has a river running through it. The dense forest island space in the center bridges the two river sides, and a claim token may be placed on this space as usual. Apart from this space, claim tokens may not be placed on river spaces.

On your turn, you can use a boat marker to cross the river: Place your boat marker on an empty river space adjacent to a claim token. Then, immediately place a claim token of the same color (or a bandit token) on a land space adjacent to your boat marker (this can even be on the same side of the river).

Each boat marker may only be used once to cross the river. When used, the boat marker stays on the river but loses its function. The boat marker does not belong to any mine. There cannot be more than one boat marker placed on a single river space.

Example: If Sam places a boat marker on a river space, then she must place a blue claim token (or a bandit token) on one of the adjacent land spaces.