Golems Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• About
• Components
• Setup
• Game Flow
• On Your Turn
  • Gain Gems
  • Take a Card & Perform an Action
• Perform an Action
  • Golem Cards
  • Rune Cards
  • Gem Cards
• Game End
• Final Scoring
• Rune Card Scoring
• Gem Card Rewards
• Solo Game
  • Solo Setup
  • Solo Gameplay
  • Solo Game Gem Reward
  • Solo Game End
  • Advanced Solo Scoring Variant
• Credits

About

Golems is a card collection game where every card can be used in one of two different ways. You have to decide whether to keep cards as resources, spend resources to summon golems, or reserve powerful runes which will give victory points at the end of the game. Only the player who best utilizes their cards will become victorious!

Components

• 36 Golem cards
• 9 Rune cards
• 8 Gem cards
• 13 Gems

Setup

Note: These are the setup instructions for a 2 player game. The solo setup instructions can be found on the Solo Game section.

1. Separate the Rune cards, Gem cards, and Golem cards into individual stacks.
2. Find the 4 Rune cards that show a square symbol in their bottom left corner. Shuffle these and then each player draws one into their hand. Place the other 2 cards nearby, they will be used in setup step #4.
3. Find the Gem card with the circle symbol in the bottom left and return it to the box. It is only used in the solo version of the game.
4. Shuffle all remaining cards together into one deck. This includes Golem, Gem, and Rune cards.
5. Remove the top 2 cards from this deck and place them to the side. They may be needed for a Gem Reward Action later in the game, see the Gem Card Rewards section.
6. Draw 12 cards from the shuffled deck and place them in a grid with 4 rows with 3 cards each. Flip all of these cards so that their face-up side is visible.
7. Each player takes 4 gems. The remaining 5 gems should be placed into a supply so that each player can access them during the game.
8. The last player who built a snowman now becomes the first player.

Game Flow

During each player turn, they will either take a new card from the face-up grid or gain 2 gems from the supply. Each card can be used in one of two ways, and those options vary with each card type. Chosen cards will let the player gain resources, summon golems, or receive end-game points. After the active player finish their turn, the next player will then perform their own turn and the game will continue like this until the game ends.

On Your Turn

You must either take a card from the face-up grid or gain 2 new gems from the supply.

Gain Gems

If you have 0 or 1 gem in your personal reserve, then you may take 2 gems from the supply. If you ever need to gain gems and there aren't enough in the supply, then take the rest from your opponent. After this, your turn is over and your opponent now takes their turn.

Take a Card & Perform an Action

You may take one card from the face-up grid. Depending on the number of cards in the selected card's row, perform the following:

3 Cards — Place 1 gem from your reserve onto each of the cards you are not going to take. You must have at least 2 gems in your reserve to choose this option. Take the selected card and immediately perform an action with it, actions are explained in the next section.

2 Cards — Remove the gem from the card you have selected and place it onto the one remaining card in that row. Take the selected card and immediately perform an action with it, actions are explained in the next section.

1 Card — Remove both gems from the selected card and place them into your personal reserve. Draw 3 cards from the top of the deck and place them face-up to create a new row. If there are not enough cards to make a full row then this will trigger the end of the game which is explained in the Game End section. Next, take the selected card and immediately perform an action with it, actions are explained in the next section.

Perform an Action

After taking a card, you must immediately perform an action with it. Each card has 2 action options that can be chosen:

Golem Cards

Resource Action — Turn the chosen card into one resource by rotating the card 180° so that the resource icon is in the top left corner. If you already have resources of this type, place the new card on top of that stack so that all resource icons are showing. If this is the first resource of that type then start a new column with that card.

Summon Golem Action

• Each golem has resource requirements listed on the banner in its top right corner. In order to summon the golem you must have all of these requirements showing within your resource area. If a requirement is a white circle with a number, then all you need is the indicated number of resources in any variety of colors. White circle resources count as 1 resource of the same color as the first resource in that column. Some resource icons won't match the rest in that column and those non-matching resources may still be used for summoning.
• Place the summoned golem face-up in front of you, near any other golems you have summoned. You must then remove 1, 2, or 3 resource cards from your resource area and tuck them face-down under the summoned golem. Each removed resource card must have at least one resource icon that matches a requirement shown on the summoned golem. You decide how many cards to remove, from 1 to 3, and each tucked resource card will be worth 1 victory point at the end of the game. Note: Each required summoning resource can match with only one spent resource icon on discarded cards.

Rune Cards

Resource Action

• Turn the chosen card into one or two resources by rotating the card 180° so that the resource icons are in the top left corner. When used as resources, Rune cards cannot start a new resource column, and instead must be stacked onto at least one other resource card.
• Rune cards with 2 resource icons must be placed into an established column that matches at least one resource on that card.
• Rune cards with a white circle resource can be placed onto any previous column and act as one resource of the type that matches the first card that was placed into that column.

Reserve for Scoring Action — If you now have 3 or more gems in your personal reserve, you may pay one of them to the general supply to place the Rune card into your hand. It will stay there for the rest of the game and potentially be worth victory points during final scoring. Rune card scoring is explained in the Rune Card Scoring section.

Gem Cards

Gem Reward Action — Gain all rewards shown in the top right corner of the card. These are explained in the Gem Card Rewards section. If you ever need to gain gems and there aren't enough in the supply, then take the rest from your opponent. Place the Gem card into your hand.

Gem Dust Action — Turn the chosen card into gem dust by rotating the card 180° so that the dust icon is in the top left corner. Place this card near your resources, it will be worth points during final scoring.

Once you have completed taking an action with the card you chose, your turn is over and your opponent can now take their turn.

Game End

The game's end will be triggered once there are not enough cards in the deck to refill a row to 3 cards. Continue playing the game until both players have taken the same number of turns and then proceed to final scoring.

Final Scoring

Each player now calculates their final score by adding up the points gained from the following:

• 2 points for each summoned golem.
• 1 point for each card tucked underneath summoned golems.
• 1/3/6/10 points for having 1/2/3/4 gem dust near their resources. No additional points are gained for having more than 4 gem dust.
• Any points showing on Gem cards in each player's hand.
• Variable number of points for each Rune card in each player's hand. These are described in the next section.

Whoever has the most points wins the game! If there is a tie, whoever collected the most points from summoned golems wins. If there is still a tie, whoever collected the most points for tucked cards under golems wins. If there is still a tie then both players share the victory.

Rune Card Scoring

Master of Elements — Receive 2 points for each summoned golem of the corresponding type.

Master Summoner — Receive 7 points if you have summoned at least 1 red, blue, yellow, and green golem.

Master of the Reserve — Receive 1 point for each gem token in your personal reserve.

Master of the Gems — Receive 2 points for each Gem card in your hand, up to a maximum of 6 points.

Master of the Resources — Receive 1 point for each of your unused resources, up to a maximum of 6 points. Cards with multiple icons will have each icon counted toward this scoring.

Gem Card Rewards

There are 8 Gem cards, each with its own reward:

• Receive 3/2/1 Gems immediately. Gain 0/1/2 victory points during final scoring.
• Receive 1 Gem immediately and then take another turn.
• (Solo game only) Receive 1 Gem immediately. Take 6 cards from this grid on this turn instead of 5.
• Receive 1 Gem immediately. Once you have both cards with this icon in your hand, perform the following effect: Take the 2 cards discarded during setup. Perform an action with one of these cards, paying no costs. That means you can use it to summon a golem without having or spending matching resource cards, or you can take it as a scoring Rune card without possessing 3 gem tokens as well as without paying 1 gem token. Remove the other card from the game. Note: This effect is different in the solo game, see the Solo Game Gem Reward section for details.
• Receive 2 Gems immediately. You may discard this card to gain one temporary resource color of your choice. Once used, you lose access to this temporary resource at the end of your turn, and then this Gem card is removed from the game.
• One of the Gem cards is only used with the solo game, and another has a modified effect for the solo game, described in the Solo Game Gem Reward section below.

Solo Game

In the solo game you will play against an artificial opponent, the Automa.

Solo Setup

Ignore the 2 player setup instructions and instead follow these:

1. Separate the Rune cards, Gem cards, and Golem cards into individual stacks.
2. Find the 4 Rune cards that show a square symbol in their bottom left corner. Shuffle these and then deal one to yourself and one to the Automa. Take yours into your hand and place the Automa's Rune card face-up nearby. Place the other 2 cards nearby, they will be used in step #4.
3. Find the Gem card that has a circle symbol with a dot in the middle and return it to the box. It is only used in the 2 player version of the game.
4. If you have the encore expansion: Remove all golems with this symbol from that deck. They are not used in the solo game.
5. Shuffle all remaining cards together into one deck. This includes Golem, Gem, and Rune cards.
6. Remove the top 5 cards from this deck and place them to the side. They may be needed for a Gem Reward Action later in the game, see the Solo Game Gem Reward section for details.
7. Draw 9 cards from the shuffled deck and place them in a grid with 3 rows with 3 cards each. Flip all of these cards so that their face-up side is visible.
8. Take all 13 Gem tokens into your personal reserve by placing them next to you.

Solo Gameplay

Unless otherwise stated, follow the 2 player ruleset.

On your turn you must take 5 cards from the grid and you will perform an action with each as they are taken. Do not refill card rows once the third card is taken. Note: You are allowed to perform a Gem Reward Action even if there are no Gem tokens left for you to take in the general supply or the Automa player's gem reserve.

Once you have taken 5 cards and performed actions with each, there will be 4 cards remaining in the grid. Place these remaining cards, along with any Gem tokens on them, into the Automa player's area. Depending on the type of card, they will be placed differently:

• Golem cards — These are immediately summoned as golems for the Automa, at no cost. Place them together so that you can easily see how many of each golem the Automa has summoned.
• Rune cards — Ignore all effects and icons on these cards. Place these into a face down stack. Make sure the face-up Rune card the Automa received during setup stays separate. You may count the number of cards in the Rune stack at any time.
• Gem cards — Ignore all effects and icons on these cards. You may remove them from play, putting them back into the box.

Solo Game Gem Reward

One of the Gem cards is only used with the solo game, and another has a modified effect:

• Receive 1 Gem immediately. Once you have both cards with this icon in your hand, perform the following effect: Randomly take 2 of the 5 cards discarded during setup. Perform an action with one of these cards, paying no costs. That means you can use it to summon a golem without having or spending matching resource cards, or you can take it as a scoring Rune card without possessing 3 gem tokens as well as without paying 1 gem token. Remove the other 4 cards from the game.
• (Solo game only) Receive 1 Gem immediately. Take 6 cards from this grid on this turn instead of 5.

Solo Game End

The game can end in one of two ways:

• If at any time you are unable to perform any action according to the game rules, then you immediately lose the game.
• If there are not enough cards left in the deck to refill a grid of 9 cards. Once this happens, calculate your score according to the 2 player rules. Next, calculate the Automa's score using the following conditions and if your score is equal to or higher than the Automa, you win the game!
  • 2 points for each summoned golem.
  • 2 points for each summoned golem belonging to the Automa's face-up Rune card type. They received this card during step #2 of the solo setup.
  • 3 points for each set of 2 face-down Rune cards the Automa has collected. Be sure to not count the Automa's single face-up Rune card.
  • 1 point for each Gem token the Automa has in their reserve.

Advanced Solo Scoring Variant

The Automa player receives 5 points for every set of 2 face-down Rune cards they have, instead of 3.

Credits

• Game Design: Francesco Testini
• Illustrator: Sergio Chaves
• Publisher: ThunderGryph Games
• PM and Art Direction: Gonzalo Aguirre Bisi
• Game Editor: Pierpaolo Paoletti
• Rulebook Author: Jonathan Cox
• Rules Proofing: Cristina Aguirre Bisi
• Graphic Design: Daniel Tosco
• Mockups: Erick Tosco
• Thanks to the Support of: Cristina Bisi and Luis González