Gorinto
Gorinto Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Objective
Gather tiles to build a Gorinto on your mat that will create the greatest Wisdom according to this game's two Goals and two Key Elements.
On each turn you will be moving a tile from the Path into the Mountain, and collecting other tiles from the Mountain based on the tile you moved and the Understanding you've developed of that Element.
At the end of each Season, players will gain Wisdom according to the Goal cards. At the end of the game, players will also gain Wisdom for the game's Key Elements. The player who has accumulated the most Wisdom wins!
Components
- 1 Game Board, divided into the Path, the Mountain, and the Patterns area
- 1 Scoreboard, with a Wisdom Track, a Season Track, Key Element spaces, and Goal spaces
- 4 Player Mats
- 1 Season Marker (assemble it before your first play)
- 100 Element Tiles, 20 of each of the five Elements: Void, Wind, Fire, Water, Earth
- 12 Goal Cards
- 5 Key Element Cards
- 4 Wisdom Markers
- 4 High Wisdom Markers (with a +50 side and a +100 side)
- 1 Start Coin
- 1 Draw Bag
What's this other stuff? The rest of these components are mainly for Kitsune Solo mode (see the Kitsune section below for details). You won't need them for games with three or more players! The 2-player Standard Method makes use of the Burrow tokens, and the Compassionate Turn Order variant makes use of the Kitsune tiles.
- Burrow Tiles
- Kitsune Tiles
Setup
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Place the game board in the center of the table, with the scoreboard beside it.
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Place the Season marker on the first (Spring) space of the Season track.
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Mix the 100 Element tiles thoroughly in the bag. Draw random tiles from the bag to stack face up on the 25 Mountain spaces. Each space gets a number of tiles stacked in it according to the Peak diagram below.
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Draw 10 more random tiles from the bag and place one each on the ten spaces of the Path.
For steps 3 and 4, work methodically. Decide which space you intend to put the next tile into before you draw it from the bag, to ensure a random result.
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Shuffle the Goal cards, deal two face up into the Goal spaces on the scoreboard, and return the rest to the box. Some Goal cards have conflict letters in the bottom right corner. If the second card displays the same letter as the first card, discard the second one and deal a replacement. It is permitted for both cards to display no letter at all. These two Goal cards create scoring conditions that will earn Wisdom for the players at the end of each Season.
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Shuffle the Key Element cards and deal two face up into the Element spaces on the scoreboard. These two are this game's Key Elements, which will earn Wisdom for players at game end. Return the rest to the box.
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Each player selects a player color. When you've chosen your color, take the player mat and High Wisdom marker in your color, and place the Wisdom marker in your color near the start of the Wisdom track. Return unused player colors to the box.
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Randomly select a start player, and give them the Start coin as an indicator. You are ready to begin!
Peak Diagram
This diagram shows how many tiles to stack in each space of the Mountain board for the default Peak landscape. Check the Alternate Landscapes section for other landscape options!
| 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 |
| 2 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 |
| 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 |
| 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
Gameplay
Gameplay is divided into four Seasons. In each Season, players will have an equal number of turns (the number differs depending on player count). At the end of each of the four Seasons, players will gain Wisdom for both Goal cards in the manner described on those cards. At the end of the game, players will gain 2 Wisdom for each tile they have gathered of the two Key Elements.
Make sure to understand how the Goals will score. They do not change over the course of the game, and they will each score at the end of every season. Building a Gorinto that is unified with those goals will make a world of difference in your search for wisdom! The Key Elements are important too, but they only score once, at game end.
On Your Turn
Choose one of the tiles remaining on the Path. Move the tile along its column or row on a straight line into the Mountain as many spaces as you wish, placing it on the stack (or empty space) there.
Then gather Element tiles from the Mountain based on your Understanding of the Element tile you moved, and the Pattern for that Element.
Add your gathered tiles to the appropriate stack on your mat. Then play passes to the next player.
Example: If you choose any tile in the upper path (such as the Wind tile as shown), you could move it down to any spot in its column. If you choose any tile in the left path (such as the Earth tile as shown), you could move it across to any space in its row.
Understanding
Your Understanding of each Element is the number of other tiles you must gather when you move a tile of that type. That number is 1 plus the number of tiles of that Element you have on your mat.
Example: On your very first turn, you have no tiles on your mat. Your Understanding for all five Elements is 1, so you would gather only one tile no matter which type of tile you moved. If you have two Fire tiles and one Earth tile on your mat, your Fire Understanding is 3, your Earth Understanding is 2, and your Understanding of the other three Elements remains 1.
Patterns
Each Element type has a different pattern that it can potentially gather tiles from when you move it:
- Void — Can gather from the four locations diagonally adjacent to your placement.
- Wind — Can gather from the four locations orthogonally adjacent to your placement.
- Fire — Can gather from the four other spaces in your placement's column. (The column only, not the row. The legend on the board indicates which way is up.)
- Water — Can gather from the four other spaces in your placement's row. (The row only, not the column. The legend on the board indicates which way is up.)
- Earth — Can gather from the stack you placed upon. Watch for stacks with more than four tiles in them... placement of an Earth tile when you have high Understanding can net you more tiles than usual!
Additional Gathering Rules
- You may never gather the tile you placed during the turn that you placed it. That tile remains where you placed it, and it becomes available to be gathered by future placements.
- With the exception of Earth, you may only take the top tile of any stack you are gathering from, and you may not take from the same stack twice in a single turn. Because of how Patterns work, this means that (in most cases) four tiles will be the most you could gather in a single turn even with very high Understanding.
- When gathering with Earth, any tile in the stack beneath your placed tile is available to you regardless of its position in the stack. Do not disturb the vertical arrangement of any tiles you don't take.
- You must gather as many tiles as your Understanding permits; you may not choose to take fewer than that if there are available tiles in the Pattern.
- Sometimes (for example because you chose a spot along the Mountain's edge, or because stacks are empty), there will be fewer tiles available than your Understanding requires you to gather. In that case you take as many available tiles in the Pattern as you can, even if that number is zero.
- As you gain tiles, eventually your Understanding will sometimes be higher than the number of available tiles in the Pattern. In that case you only gather as many tiles as are available.
Adjustment for 2 Players
When playing with 2 players, play your first turn in each season normally. For the remaining three turns of each season, after you have taken your turn but before the other player acts, you will remove another tile from the Path and discard it from the game. There are two methods of accomplishing this:
Standard method: before play begins shuffle the stack of Burrow tokens (from Kitsune mode) into a face down draw pile. To determine which Element tile to remove, reveal a Burrow token and discard the indicated tile. If that tile has already been removed, keep drawing until you are able to remove one. Reshuffle the Burrow tiles each Season, and if you ever need to draw one and the pile is empty.
For example if you drew the Burrow token shown, you would remove and discard the Water tile from the indicated Path space.
More tactical method: don't use the Burrow tokens at all, but instead choose 1 tile remaining in the Path and discard it from the game.
A Sample Turn
You decide to move the indicated Void tile from the Path to the indicated space in the Mountain. Your Void Understanding is 3 (1 plus the 2 Void tiles on your mat), so you could gather any three of the four tiles in Void's Pattern (diagonally adjacent to the space, circled in green). You decide to take one Fire tile, one Earth tile, and one Void tile, which raises your Understanding of each of those Elements by 1.
There are a few motivations to taking tiles:
- To raise your Understanding so that you can take more tiles in the future.
- To meet the criteria of the Goal cards, which will score every Season.
- To stock up on the Key Elements, which will score at game end.
End of a Season
After all players have taken a turn, count the remaining tiles on the Path. If there are fewer tiles than players, the current Season ends. Otherwise play continues in the current season.
For 4 players, there will be two tiles left in the Path when the Season ends. For 3 players, one tile. For 2 players, zero tiles.
When a Season ends, score both of the Goal cards. Each Goal card describes how it scores. As you score, move your Wisdom marker on the score track to indicate the Wisdom you have gained.
- Most Goal cards permit players to score independently of each other, while others require players to compare stacks.
- When a Goal card instructs you to "score a stack", that means to earn Wisdom equal to the number of tiles in that stack. The Element symbols printed on the mat do not count as tiles.
If you ever pass 50 on the Wisdom track, take your High Wisdom marker and place it near the start of the track with the +50 side up as a reminder. If you pass 100, flip it to the +100 side.
Sample Season Scoring
You have the following tiles: 3 Void, 0 Wind, 3 Fire, 1 Water, and 1 Earth.
For the first Goal, you will score each stack that is the same height as one or more of your other stacks. That means that your Void and Fire stacks both score (3 Wisdom each), and your Water and Earth stacks both score (1 Wisdom each).
Total for this Goal: 8 Wisdom.
For the second Goal, you'll score your tallest stack once and your shortest stack (of at least one tile) twice. Your tallest stack is a tie at 3 (Void and Fire) so you score one of them for 3 Wisdom. Your shortest stack of at least one tile is also a tie, with Water and Earth at 1 each. You score one of them twice for 2 Wisdom.
Your total Wisdom for both Goals this season is 13!
When all players are finished scoring, perform the following steps to prepare for the next Season:
- Move the Season marker to the next space on the Season track. If it was already on the final (Winter) space of the track, the game is over; skip the rest of the steps and proceed to Game End.
- If there are any tiles remaining on the Path, discard them from the game. Then draw ten new random tiles from the bag and place one in each space of the Path.
- Pass the Start coin to the player with the lowest score. If there is a tie for lowest score, the coin moves clockwise from the current start player until it arrives at the first tied player. Now begin the next Season!
Game End
After scoring the fourth and final Season, the game ends. There is one final scoring that is based on the Key Element cards. For both Key Elements, each player scores 2 Wisdom for each tile they have of that Element, and moves their Wisdom marker on the track to reflect the gain.
The player with the highest final Wisdom score is the winner.
In the event of a tie, the winner is the tied player with the fewest tiles on their mat. If there is still a tie, the tied players share a harmonious victory!
Kitsune: Solo Mode for Gorinto
Designed by Richard Yaner & David Turczi
Solo mode for Gorinto introduces the wily Kitsune as an opponent. Kitsune are powerful and mischievous spirits that often take the form of many-tailed foxes. See if you can outfox this unpredictable rival!
Extra Components
5 Kitsune Tiles, 10 Burrow Tokens, 1 Kitsune Coin, 5 Movement Chits, 1 Head Token, 1 Tail Token.
Changes to General Setup
- Do not play with the Dragon Expansion.
- Set up the Scoreboard as normal. Use one color of player mat and Wisdom marker for yourself, and another color for the Kitsune.
- Remove the Goal cards with conflict letter "C" from the Goal deck; they will not work for Solo.
- Set up the Goal cards and regular Key Element cards as normal. From the three leftover Key Element cards, draw two more and place them below the scoreboard. These two are the Kitsune Key Elements.
- Set up the Mountain as normal (in whatever landscape you choose), but do not fill the Path. The Path is filled as described below.
Path Setup
- Shuffle the ten Burrow tokens face down in a stack, and the five Kitsune tiles face down in a stack. Reveal the top Kitsune tile and the top Burrow token; the Burrow token shows you where to place that Kitsune tile on the Path. Repeat this process four more times until all five Kitsune tiles are on the path. Set aside all Burrow tiles for later.
- Draw random Element tiles from the bag one at a time to fill the five empty spaces on the Path.
Movement Setup
- Mix all five Movement chits and place them in a face down stack near the board. Remove the top chit from the stack and set it well aside without looking at it. This will leave a stack of four Movement chits, which is the exact amount needed each round.
- Draw one Movement chit from the stack and place the Head token on the row or column of the same-numbered Kitsune tile, that many places into the row or column. For example, if you reveal the 2 chit, you'd place the Head 2 spaces into the row or column that has the 2 Kitsune tile on the Path. Repeat this for the Tail token.
Gameplay
Alternate turns with the Kitsune. You each get three turns each per round, with you acting first. Your turn will play as normal; you may only choose Element tiles from the Path to move, never Kitsune tiles.
Then the Kitsune takes its turn as detailed below. Important note: A stack with a Head or Tail on it is accessible to you for normal play. If you move a tile onto (or gather from) such a stack, ignore the Head/Tail and just adjust if needed so that it remains the topmost item in its space when you are done.
Kitsune's Turn
Flip the Kitsune coin to activate the Kitsune. A heads result will activate the Head; a tails result will activate the Tail. One of two things will happen depending on the activated token's position:
- If it is sitting on an Element tile, the Kitsune will gather using the Pattern of the tile it is on at unlimited Understanding, taking the maximum number of tiles available.
- Void takes the top tile from all 4 diagonal spaces
- Wind takes the top tile from all 4 orthogonal spaces
- Fire takes the top tile from every other space in the column
- Water takes the top tile from every other space in the row
- Earth takes everything beneath the Earth tile
- If it is on a blank space, the Kitsune's magical powers will activate, and it gathers the most plentiful visible Element (counting topmost tiles of stacks only) on the Mountain. For example, if there are 7 Fire, 6 Water, 5 Void, 5 Earth, and 2 Wind, it will gather the 7 Fire tiles.
- If there is a tie for most plentiful, the Kitsune prefers a Kitsune Key Element to a regular Key Element, and a regular Key Element to the non-scoring Element. If they are the same, the Kitsune prefers Elements in Gorinto order from top to bottom.
Organize the Kitsune's gathered tiles on its player mat.
Then, if there are any Movement chits left in the stack, the token that activated (the Head or the Tail, not both) moves. Draw one Movement chit from the stack, and place the moving token on the row or column of the same-numbered Kitsune tile, that many places into the row or column. For example, if the Tail just activated and you reveal the 4 chit, you'd move the Kitsune Tail to the spot four spaces into the row or column that has the 4 Kitsune tile on the Path.
If there are no Movement chits left, the Season ends.
End of the Season (Kitsune Mode)
- You score Wisdom only for the Goal cards as normal.
- The Kitsune does not ever score for Goal cards. It scores 1 Wisdom per regular Key Element tile it has, and 3 Wisdom per Kitsune Key Element tile it has. Track its score on the scoreboard for it.
- Discard any Element tiles remaining on the path from the game, then perform the Path Setup as at game start.
- Perform the Movement Setup as at game start.
Game End (Kitsune Mode)
The game ends after the fourth season is completed, and scored as described above.
The Kitsune does not score any further Wisdom at game end, but you score Wisdom for your regular Key Element tiles:
- For Normal Difficulty, score 3 Wisdom per Key Element tile you have.
- For Expert Difficulty, score 2 Wisdom per Key Element tile you have.
- You never score any Wisdom for Kitsune Key Elements on any difficulty.
If you have greater Wisdom than the Kitsune, you have defeated the notorious trickster spirit and won the game!
Alternate Landscapes
For an interesting challenge (in any game mode), try one of these alternate landscapes! The varying heights of tile stacks on the Mountain create a new flow of collection possibilities that you will have to contend with as you play!
Waves Diagram
| 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 |
| 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 |
| 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 |
| 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 |
| 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 |
Mesa Diagram
| 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| 2 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 2 |
| 1 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 1 |
| 2 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 2 |
| 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
Lake Diagram
| 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
Hill Diagram
| 1 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 1 |
| 1 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 1 |
| 1 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 1 |
| 1 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 1 |
| 1 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 1 |
Compassionate Turn Order
This turn order variant takes a little more effort to manage, but makes your 3-4 player games a little more fair to all players.
Do not use the Start Coin; play does not go in clockwise order. Instead, use the numbered Kitsune tiles from Kitsune mode (in a 3-player game use tiles 1-3, in a 4-player game use tiles 1-4). During Setup, randomly distribute the Kitsune tiles; players act in numerical order instead of clockwise. At the end of each Season, redistribute the Kitsune tiles so that the player with the lowest Wisdom score gets tile 1, next-lowest gets tile 2, and so on. In the event of a tie, the tied player who went later in the previous Season goes earlier in the new Season.
Partnership Mode
Ready for a unique mode of play for four players? Try Partnership Mode, where you and your partner try and earn the most Wisdom together! There are only a few small setup and rule changes:
Changes to Setup
- Sit across from your partner, so there is an opponent to your left and right.
- Place only one Wisdom marker on the scoreboard for your team; it will be used to track both of your scores.
- Instead of laying two Goal cards onto the scoreboard, deal one random Goal card face up between each pair of adjacent players. No player may have Goal cards with the same conflict letter on both sides of them. If this occurs, discard the more-recently-dealt card and deal a replacement. When you are done there will be four Goal cards total. Each player will be scoring only the cards to their immediate left and right. This arrangement means that you will be sharing each of your Goals with a different opponent, and you won't share any Goals with your partner.
Changes to Gameplay
- Whenever you gather at least 1 tile on your turn, you must give one of the gathered tiles to your partner.
- At the end of each Season, each player scores only the two Goal cards to their left and right. Both partners' scores are tracked with the single Wisdom marker for the partnership.
- At the end of the game, both partners gain Wisdom for the Key Element tiles they have collected, and add their scores to the partnership's score. The partnership with the highest score wins!
Credits
Game Design: Richard Yaner Graphics & Rulebook: Joshua Cappel Solo Mode Co-Design: David Turczi Publisher: Marc Specter 3D Models: Heriberto Martinez, Marcus Kirk Cultural Consultant: Jeremy Robinson Development: Bruce Miller, Lauren Woolsey
Ricky thanks: My wonderful wife and main playtester Ashley Yaner as well as Tim Mickelson and Mike Fowler who played countless iterations of this game. In addition I would like to thank the Colorado Game Designers Guild for their testing and feedback, and Heather Newton who saw this game's potential early on and helped greatly.
Marc thanks: Our Kickstarter backers, who made this project possible. He also wishes to thank all the people to the left, whose time and talent he does not have. Your support and efforts mean the world.
Published by Grand Gamers Guild. ©2020 All rights reserved. www.grandgamersguild.com