Isis & Osiris Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Setup
• Goal of the Game
• Course of Play
• End of the Game
• Scoring
  • Example
• Variant

Components

• 1 game board
• 22 Isis tiles (2x +1, 6x +2, 2x +3, 1x +4, 2x -1, 6x -2, 2x -3, 1x -4)
• 32 playing pieces (8 each in 4 player colors)
• 4 scoring markers (in the 4 player colors)
• 4 +/-20 markers
• 1 rulebook

Before the first game, carefully press the Isis tiles and the +/-20 markers out of their frames to avoid damaging them.

Setup

1. Place the game board within easy reach of all players in the center of the table. It shows the 6x6 playing field in the middle, and a scoring track on each side with blue numbers for plus points and red numbers for minus points.
2. Place the +/-20 markers ready to hand next to the scoring track.
3. Each player chooses a color and places the matching scoring marker in front of themselves.
4. Shuffle all 22 Isis tiles together face down. The tiles show blue, positive numbers or red, negative numbers on their front. The back of every tile is the same and shows an eye.
5. Depending on the number of players, each player now takes playing pieces in their color and a set number of face-down tiles:
   • 2 players: 8 playing pieces and 11 tiles
   • 3 players: 6 playing pieces and 7 tiles
   • 4 players: 5 playing pieces and 5 tiles

Note: players must not look at their tiles, but must set them down as a face-down stock in front of themselves. Any remaining tiles are put back in the box face down, without the players seeing their values. Any surplus playing pieces are also put back in the box.

Goal of the Game

At the end of the game, each playing piece has the value of the neighboring Isis tiles. Each player tries to achieve the best result through skillful placement of their playing pieces and the tiles.

Course of Play

The players agree who begins. When it is a player's turn, they must carry out one of the following two actions:

1. They place one of their playing pieces on any free space.
2. They take a face-down tile from their stock and turn it over so that all players can see which value the tile shows. Then they turn the tile face down again and place it on any free space. Attention: the eye on the back of all tiles must always point in the same direction!

Then the player's left-hand neighbor takes their turn.

Playing pieces and tiles may only ever be placed on free spaces, that is, spaces on which neither a playing piece nor a tile already lies.

As soon as a player has turned over one of their tiles, they must place it right away. They can no longer decide to place a playing piece instead.

If a player has no tile left, they must place a playing piece on their turn. Correspondingly, they must also place a tile if they have no playing pieces left in reserve.

End of the Game

The game ends when a player occupies the last free space on the board with a playing piece or a tile. Any tiles and playing pieces the players have not yet placed are put back in the box.

Scoring

Now all tiles are turned face up so their values are visible. The playing pieces of each color are then scored one after another. To do this, add up the values of all tiles that lie directly orthogonally adjacent to the playing piece. The value of a playing piece can also be negative.

Each player adds up the values of all their playing pieces and marks the total on the corresponding scoring track with their scoring marker. Plus points are marked on the blue scoring track, minus points on the red scoring track. If a player passes 20 points, they take a +/-20 marker and place it in front of themselves with the appropriate side (for plus or minus points) face up. They then mark only the points beyond twenty with their scoring marker on the corresponding track.

Scored playing pieces are removed from the board for a better overview.

The player with the most points wins. If all players have negative scores, the player with the fewest minus points wins.

Example

The green player scores -3 points (-1 -2) with playing piece A, and 1 point (+4 -1 -2) with playing piece B. The green player therefore has -2 points in total: -3 for playing piece A and +1 for playing piece B.

The purple player receives +3 points: +1 +2.

Variant

The same rules apply as in the normal game. During setup, only the playing pieces are distributed according to the number of players. All Isis tiles are shuffled face down and form a shared, face-down stock for all players next to the game board.

When a player wants to place an Isis tile, they take it from the shared face-down stock. They turn it face up so that all players can see which value the tile shows. Then they turn the tile face down again and place it on any free space.

Once the shared stock of Isis tiles is used up, the players must place their playing pieces.