Istanbul: Choose & Write Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Setup
  • Terms
• Summary of Play
  • General Notes for the Rules
• Course of Play
  • Play a Location Card
  • Play a Guild Card
  • Ending your Action
• End of Game
• Solo Rules
  • Turns
  • End of Game
  • Alternative
• Location Cards
  • Fountains
• Caravan Cards
• Goods Cards
• Guild Cards

Components

• 1x Pad with 80 paper Game Plans
• 2x Sultan's Palace cards
• 1x Active Player card
• 5x Pencils
• 100 Cards
  • 40x Location cards
  • 20x Ruby cards
  • 16x Guild cards
  • 8x Caravan cards
  • 16x Goods cards

Setup

Green Text is used for special rules based on number of players.

1. Place the two Sultan's Palace cards next to one another on the table as shown to the right.

2. Sort all other cards by their backs and separately shuffle the 5 decks facedown.

3. Place the Ruby cards as a deck facedown to the left of the Sultan's Palace cards.

4. Reveal 4 Ruby cards and place 1 above each letter A to D on the Sultan's Palace cards.

   With 1 or 2 players: Turn over 4 more Ruby cards and slide them under the first 4 so that you can only see the topmost Good on the card underneath.

5. Place the Location deck facedown to the right of the Sultan's Palace cards, reveal 2 cards, and place them above the deck to form a display. If any Fountains are revealed, perform their action immediately as described under Location Cards.

6. Place the Caravan, Goods, and Guild decks facedown nearby leaving space under the Goods, Guild, and Location decks for discard piles.

7. Reveal the top card from the Caravan deck and place it faceup on its deck.

8. Each player takes 1 sheet from the Game Plan pad and a pencil.

   Turn your Game Plan to the side so that it corresponds to the number of players.

9. With 1 or 2 players: Cross off the Action icons with a bold border at locations 3, 7, 8, and 12 as they are only used in a 3-player game.

   With 4 players: Cross off the box with a bold border in the Bonus Actions section on the lower right as this is only used in the 5-player game.

10. Each player now draws 1 Location card from the Location deck.

    If you draw a Fountain: perform its action immediately as described under Location Cards.

11. Randomly determine the Start player, who now crosses off the corresponding space on the bottom left of their Game Plan and takes the Active Player card.

Terms

• Action Icon — the icon on a Location showing which action it performs.
• Locations — the 16 spaces on the Game Plan, each holding an Action Icon.
• Improvements — additional space for Rubies on 2 rings after game end is triggered.
• Lira — spaces for tracking Lira.
• Start Player Indicator — marks the Start player on the Game Plan.
• Goods — spaces for tracking the four types of Goods.
• Bonus Rubies — Rubies earned by filling a Goods column.
• Bonus Actions — spaces for tracking Bonus Actions.
• Spaces (Lira/Goods/Bonus Actions) — the round white spaces you fill in and cross off.
• Amulet with 10 spaces for Rubies — the Amulet in the bottom center of the Game Plan where you record Rubies.

Summary of Play

Your goal is to collect the most Rubies, which is indicated by filling in spaces on the Amulet your Game Plan.

In turn order, you will each play Location or Guild cards and perform their Actions.

As soon as someone has collected 10 Rubies, as indicated by the 10 available spaces on the Amulet, complete the current Round and then end the game.

The winner is the player who has collected the most Rubies at the end of the game.

General Notes for the Rules

1. Whenever you take Goods, Lira, or Bonus Actions, fill in the round white spaces in the corresponding sections.

   If you take a Ruby, fill in one of the spaces in the Amulet in the bottom center of your Game Plan.

2. Whenever you spend a Good or Lira, or take an Action when it's not your turn: Cross off a filled in space with a line for the corresponding item.

3. Whenever you take an Improvement: Place a check mark in a gray square. These will apply for the rest of the game and will never be crossed out.

4. If you take a Guild or a Goods card, you must draw it from the appropriate deck. If that deck is empty, shuffle its discard pile to create a new draw deck to draw from.

Course of Play

On your turn, you either play 1 Location card or, if available, 1 Guild card.

After your turn, play continues clockwise.

Play a Location Card

You either play the Location card from your hand or one of the two faceup Location cards in the display. Place the played card in the discard pile.

You may either perform the Action of the played Location or that of a Location vertically or horizontally adjacent to it on your Game Plan (Exception: Catacombs, see Location Cards).

Example: You've played the Tea Room Location card (8). All players (including you) now have a choice to use the Action for 1 of these Locations: 8, 4, 9, 13, B, or D.

Everyone else may also use this card in the same manner!

However, unlike you, they must also cross out one Action: either an Action icon in the Location used or a Bonus Action on their Game Plan.

If someone can't or doesn't want to use the played card, they take a Bonus Action instead.

Note: During a turn, players may perform their Actions simultaneously, as you don't have to play in order. However, in case of doubt, resolve your actions in clockwise order.

For a list of all Locations and their Actions, see Location Cards.

Play a Guild Card

When you play a Guild card, you are the only player who can use the card. The other players take no Action this turn.

Guild cards have a cost of 1–10 Lira as shown in the top left of the card. You must spend this amount before you may perform the Action shown below it.

For a list of all Guild cards and their Actions, see Guild Cards.

Ending your Action

• If you have managed to fill in the last space in either of your 2 large Lira sections, or if you have filled in all the spaces for the Goods in all 4 columns to a row showing a Bonus Ruby, cross off the corresponding Bonus Ruby. Then take 1 Ruby.

• If you played the Location card from your hand: Decide whether you will take one of the two cards in the display or draw a card from the Location deck into your hand.

• Then, if necessary, refill the display of Location cards to 2 cards.

• Whenever you draw a Fountain: place it in the discard pile. Everyone gains whatever is depicted on the Fountain card. Draw another Location card.

• Add 1 Ruby card for each letter on a Sultan's Palace card where at least 1 Ruby has been taken this turn. Slide the cards under the previous cards for those letters so that only the top Good can be seen. This increases the number of Goods needed to deliver to those letters by 1.

  Note: If the deck is empty, no more cards are added.

• If anyone used the Caravan card this turn, return it face down to the bottom of the deck and then reveal the next card and place it on top of the deck.

• Pass the Active Player card to the next player in clockwise order to begin the next turn.

End of Game

Once anyone has taken their tenth Ruby to complete their Amulet, finish the current Round, which ends the game with the player to the right of the Start player.

Note: If you have more then 10 Rubies, use the additional space on the 2 Rings to mark them on your Game Plan.

The game ends immediately if the Location card display can't be completely refilled, or if a player can't draw a card from it.

At game end, the player with most Rubies wins.

In the event of a tie, the tied player with the most filled spaces that haven't been crossed out wins (including any Goods on Goods cards).

If there is still a tie, the tied players share the victory.

Example: You have 1 Goods card, 3 Lira, 6 Goods, and 1 Bonus Action that have not been crossed out. This is 12 points when determining the tiebreaker.

Solo Rules

In the Solo game, you must collect as many Rubies as you can, just like in the multiplayer game. What's more, you are also trying to complete additional challenges. You can record your results in the table below. Your goal is to complete the entire table over the course of several games, or at least columns 10 and 11!

Note: All values for Challenges are minimums except for No. 1. Crossed-off Lira and Goods do count.

Difficulty key: Easy, Average, Hard.

No.	Challenge	Total Rubies 10	Total Rubies 11	Total Rubies 12
1	3 Improvement check marks at most
2	35 Lira
3	35 Lira + 1 type of Goods column completely filled in
4	35 Lira + 2 Bonus Rubies for the 4 Goods columns
5	35 Lira + 0 Guild cards played
6	2 types of Goods columns completely filled in
7	3 Bonus Rubies for the 4 Goods columns
8	3 Bonus Rubies for the 4 Goods columns + 1 type of Goods column completely filled in
9	All Location Actions crossed out
10	All Location Actions crossed out + 1 type of Goods column completely filled in
11	4 Guild cards played + 1 Bonus Ruby for the 4 Goods columns
12	0 Goods cards played
13	8 Rubies gained from any Sultan's Palace A, B, C, and/or D
14	5 Rubies gained using only 1 Sultan's Palace letter + 20 Lira

Example: If you have collected 11 Rubies in a game, have crossed out 3 Bonus Rubies for the 4 Goods columns, and crossed out all Location Actions, you can check off rows 7 and 9 in column 11.

Use the rules for the two-player game with the following exceptions:

Turns

• After each of your turns, discard the leftmost Location card in the display. You can then use this card in the same way as when an opponent plays it in the multi-player game, by crossing off an Action icon or a Bonus Action, or by taking a Bonus Action.
• When refilling the Location card display: There is a small mark at the bottom of each Location card that indicates whether you place the card to the left or to the right of the card currently in the display.

End of Game

• The game ends immediately when you can no longer refill the Location card display to 2 cards or when you can no longer draw a Location card.

Alternative

Of course, you can also play for personal high scores by trying to collect as many Rubies as possible. If the number of Rubies is the same, the second objective is the total number of spaces filled in but not crossed off and unused Goods on Goods cards.

Are you able to collect 13 Rubies in a single game?

Location Cards

Each of the 18 Locations on the Game Plan appears twice in the Locations deck along with 4 Fountain cards.

• 1, 5, 10, 14 Warehouse/Black Market: Take as many Goods as shown and checked off. (This will be 2–4 Goods.)
• 2 Gemstone Dealer: Spend 10 Lira. Take 1 Ruby.
• 3 Large Market: Spend 2 identical Goods. Take 3 Lira and fill in 1 space.
• 4 Post Office: Take 1 Goods card and 1 Lira.
• 6 Caravansary: Perform the faceup action on the Caravan card.
• 7 Roasting Plant: Take 2 Goods of your choice.
• 8 Tea House: Take as many Lira as shown and checked off.
• 9 Guild Hall: Take 1 Guild card.
• 11 Small Market: Discard 1 Goods card. Take 5 Lira.
• 12 Catacombs: Perform the Action at a Location of your choice without crossing out an Action icon at the chosen Location. Important: This place is not adjacent to any other space so it can't be used when playing cards 11, 13, C, or D.
• 13 Wainwright: Take up to 2 Improvements at Locations 1, 5, 8, 10, or 14. This will increase your income at these Locations. You may also split the Improvements between 2 Locations.
• A, B, C, D Sultan's Palace: Spend the specified Goods at the indicated letter. Take 1 Ruby.

Fountains

These cards are always immediately discarded and are never taken into your hand.

All players take the depicted item: 1 Lira / 1 Good of your choice / 1 Goods card / 1 Improvement.

Caravan Cards

• Take 3 identical Goods.
• Take 3 different Goods.
• Take 2 Lira and 1 Goods card.
• Take 2 Guild cards, take 1 and discard the other.
• Take 4 Lira.
• Perform either Sultan Palace Action A or B. Then take 1 Goods card.
• Perform either Sultan Palace Action C or D. Then take 1 Good of your choice.
• Take either 1 Goods card or 1 Good of your choice. Take 1 Improvement or fill in 1 space. Take 1 Lira.

Goods Cards

These depict 2 Goods that you can use when needed, for example, when you exchange Goods for a Ruby at the Sultan's Palace. If you only can use 1 of the 2 Goods, the unused one is forfeited.

You may never fill in spaces with these Goods.

Guild Cards

• Cost 1: Take 2 Goods of your choice and take 1 Improvement.
• Cost 1: Fill in 2 spaces.
• Cost 3: Take 4 different Goods and 1 Lira.
• Cost 3: Take 4 Goods of your choice.
• Cost 3: Perform Sultan Palace Action A. Then take 5 Lira.
• Cost 3: Perform Sultan Palace Action B. Then take 1 Guild card.
• Cost 3: Perform Sultan Palace Action C. Then take 1 Good of your choice and fill in 1 space.
• Cost 4: Perform Sultan Palace Action D. Then take 1 Goods card and 1 Improvement.
• Cost 4: Take 2 Goods cards, 1 Good of your choice, and fill in 1 space.
• Cost 4: Spend 3 Goods of your choice. Then take 1 Ruby.
• Cost 4: Discard 1 Goods card and 1 Good of your choice. Then take 1 Ruby.
• Cost 5: Perform 1 Sultan's Palace action of your choice. Then take 1 Goods card and 1 Guild card.
• Cost 6: Discard 1 Goods card. Then take 1 Ruby and fill in 1 space.
• Cost 7: Take 1 Ruby.
• Cost 8: Take 1 Ruby and 1 Good of your choice.
• Cost 10: Take 1 Ruby, 1 Goods card, and 1 Guild card.