Iwari Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Overview
• Components
• Set-up
• The Board
• Gameplay
• Playing Cards
• Playing Pieces
• Drawing Cards
• 2 Player Additional Rules
• Half Journey Scoring
• Tent Scoring
• End of the Journey Scoring
• Totem Scoring
• Settlement Scoring
• Game End
• Feats
• Maps Atlas (Expansion)
  • Floating Lands
  • Glacial Mass
  • Forgotten Island
  • The Uncharted Paths
  • The Long Road
  • The Void
• Expedition Cards (Expansion)
• Additional Feats (Expansion)
• Solo Mode (Expansion)
  • Solo Set-up
  • Solo Gameplay
  • Void Special Actions
  • Additional Solo Rules
  • Solo End Game
• 2 Player Cooperative Mode (Expansion)
  • Coop Set-up
  • Coop Gameplay
  • Coop End Game
• Credits

Overview

Iwari is an abstract-like Eurogame where players represent different tribes who endeavor to define their identity by traveling and expanding settlements into five different types of territories in a strategy game of majorities.

Components

• 1 Game rulebook
• 1 Double-sided map game board
• 40 Plastic Totems (8 for each color)
• 105 Wooden Tents (21 for each color)
• 1 Scoring-track double-sided board
• 12 Territory Scoring Markers
• 4 Mountains for connection blocking
• 5 50/100 double-sided point tokens
• 57 Biome cards: 13 Tundra (red), 12 Forest (green), 11 Glaciers (blue), 11 Coast (yellow), 10 Desert (orange)
• 1 Totem Connection Scoring Marker (first player token)
• 6 Wooden Feats
• 5 Player aid cards

Set-up

1. Pick one of the two sides of the map game board and place it at the centre of the table.
2. Place the scoring-track board beside the map game board.
3. Each player selects a color and takes all of the Tents and Totems of that color. Then, each player places one of their Tents on the top of the scoring-track board, on the number zero. In a two player game, choose a third color and put all of the pieces on the side of the board. Refer to the two player game rules in the gameplay section.
4. Depending on the number of players, the set-up of the mountains on the map game board changes. There are four sets of two connections, each marked with a symbol. When placing mountains, randomly choose one of the two available connections for each symbol and place a mountain token on it. All connections covered by mountains will not score at the end of the game. Place the mountains following this scheme:
   • 5 players: place 1 mountain (1 symbol).
   • 4 players: place 2 mountains (2 symbols).
   • 3 players: place 3 mountains (3 symbols).
   • 2 players: place 4 mountains (all 4 symbols).
5. The player who most recently traveled is the starting player. The first player takes the Totem connection scoring marker (first player token).
6. Depending on the number of players, adjust the deck:
   • In a 5 player game, use the entire deck.
   • In a 4 player game, remove 1 Biome card of each color.
   • In a 2/3 player game, remove 2 Biome cards of each color.
7. Players take three cards as their starting hand. The starting player places the remaining cards face-down beside the board as a draw deck, and draws the 4 topmost cards, placing them face up next to the draw deck. These 4 cards will be considered as the display.

After your first game you can follow these rules: Create the draw deck and reveal the display before drawing the starting hands. Then, starting with the last player, all players draw their starting hands from the draw deck and/or display. The display gets replenished back to 4 face-up cards every time a player has completed refilling their hand.

The Board

The map shows the world of Iwari, that is divided into territories corresponding to each of the five different Biomes.

Each territory shows two types of circles. Tents must be placed on top of the smaller circles, while Totems must be placed on top of the larger ones.

The five Biomes are: Forest (green), Tundra (red), Coast (yellow), Glaciers (blue) and Desert (orange).

The numbers on the map indicate connections between territories. During scoring, connections are scored in numeric order.

Gameplay

Starting with the first player and proceeding in a clockwise order, each player takes a turn by performing one of the following actions:

1. Play up to three cards from your hand to place Tents or Totems on the board. Then, refill your hand back up to three cards.
2. Discard one card and draw one new card.

Whenever the draw deck is exhausted, the players score. The first time the draw deck is exhausted, players will only score Tent majority. After shuffling all discarded cards back into a new draw deck, score Tent majority. The second time the draw deck is exhausted, score the Tent majority, Totem connections and settlements. After this scoring the game ends.

Playing Cards

On their turn, the player may play up to three Biome cards from their hand to place Tents or Totems on the board. The color and symbol of the Biome cards played indicates in which territory the player may place their pieces.

After placing the pieces, the player discards the used cards onto a discard pile in front of him.

Playing Pieces

When placing pieces on the board, players must follow these rules:

• Place one piece for each Biome card.
• On each turn pieces can be placed only in a single territory, corresponding to the Biome card played.
• In unexplored territories (without pieces yet) only a single Tent can be placed.
• In explored territories (containing at least one Tent of any color) up to two pieces between Tents and/or Totems can be placed.
• Two Biome cards of the same color can be used as a wild card to place a piece in another Biome color of your choice.

The 3-2-1 golden rule: A player may use up to 3 cards to place up to 2 pieces into 1 territory.

The following special rules apply when placing the different types of pieces:

• A Tent must always be placed onto a Tent space (the smaller circles in the territories). Each Tent space may not contain more than 1 Tent. When all Tent spaces on a territory are occupied, no more Tents can be placed in the territory.
• A Totem must be placed onto a Totem space (the larger circles in the territories). A Totem space may contain multiple Totems.

Fundamental rule: The Tent majority within a territory determines the maximum number of total Totems (of any color) that may be present in that territory. No Totems may be placed on a territory without any Tents yet.

For example, if the Tundra tribe (red) has Tent majority on the Glaciers territory (blue) with a total of 3 Tents, that means a maximum of 3 Totems in total can be placed in that territory. If on a future turn the Tundra tribe places another Tent in the territory, the limit for the amount of Totems that can be placed increases to 4, allowing the tribe to strategically place a Totem during the same turn (remembering the 3-2-1 rule). When all of the Tent spaces of a territory are filled, players may continue to place Totems on that territory, provided that they follow the Totem placement rules.

Drawing Cards

Players only replenish their hands back up to 3 cards once they have ended their turn.

Players may pick Biome cards from the display or from the top of the draw deck in any order and combination they wish.

The display gets replenished back up to 4 once the player has completed refilling their hand. After replenishing the display, the turn passes to the next player.

2 Player Additional Rules

Players will be sharing a third tribe during the game.

On their turn, after performing their normal action, players must play a turn as the third tribe before drawing new cards; this is done by using at least one of the remaining cards in their hand after their own turn. If players don't have any remaining cards to play as the third tribe, the turn of the third tribe doesn't take place.

Every action performed for this tribe could help with your strategy, but this tribe will accumulate points like any other player. If the third tribe wins, both players lose the game.

Half Journey Scoring

The half journey scoring happens when the draw deck is exhausted for the first time and consists of the following steps:

• Reshuffle all discard piles into a new draw deck and interrupt the game immediately (if while creating a new draw deck, the player still needs to finish the replenishment of their hand, he will draw the remaining cards needed from the new draw deck and interrupt the game immediately after).
• Count the Tents scoring.
• Totems and settlements are not scored.
• Proceed with the next turn.

Tent Scoring

Use the Territory Scoring Markers on the map to keep track of the territories while you score them. Once you have scored all territories, you can remove the Territory Scoring Markers from the board.

• The player with the most Tents in a territory receives one point for each Tent in the territory, regardless of color.
• The player with the second-most number of Tents in a territory receives one point for each Tent belonging to the player with the most Tents.
• The player with the third-most number of Tents in a territory receives one point for each Tent belonging to the player with the second-most number of Tents.
• The player with the fourth-most number of Tents in a territory receives one point for each Tent belonging to the player with the third-most number of Tents.
• The player with the fifth-most number of Tents in a territory receives one point for each Tent belonging to the player with the fourth-most number of Tents.

If a player doesn't have any Tents in a territory, he won't score any points for that territory.

In the case of a tie, players with the same amount of Tents receive the full amount of points following the rules mentioned above. All other players receive points as mentioned above without skipping a position.

Example: The Tundra tribe (red) has the Tent majority in the Desert territory (orange) and will get a total of 7 points (1 for each Tent in the territory). The Glaciers tribe (blue), which holds the second-most number of Tents, will get a total of 3 points (1 point for each Tent of the tribe that holds the majority in the territory). The Forest tribe (green) and Coast tribe (yellow) are tied and hold the third-most number of Tents; each of them will get a total of 2 points (1 point for each Tent of the tribe who achieved the second-most number of Tents).

End of the Journey Scoring

The end of the journey scoring happens when the draw pile has been exhausted for the second time, or when a player has no Tents left:

• The current round goes on until all players have played an equal number of turns.
• Count the Tents, Totems and Settlements scoring.
• The game ends.

Totem Scoring

Totems themselves aren't scored; rather, the connections between Totems in two neighbour territories are. A Totem connection is only worth points when a player has the Totems majority in both of the connected territories; in the event of a tie, all tied players are considered to have the majority.

The players with the Totem majority in both connected territories receive 1 point for each Totem in both territories, regardless of color.

There are a number of different connections in each map, which are numbered and should be counted in ascending order.

Use the Totem Connection Scoring Marker on the map to track the connections while you score them, starting by placing the Totem Connection Scoring Marker on top of the connection number 1. Once the first connection has been scored, proceed in ascending order. Once you have scored all connections, you can remove the Totem connection scoring marker from the board.

Example: When scoring connection number 7, on the Glaciers territory (blue) both the Glaciers tribe (blue) and Coast tribe (yellow) hold the majority of Totems. However, on the Tundra territory (red) the Coast tribe (yellow) has the majority of Totems. Since the Coast tribe (yellow) holds majority in both territories, the player will score 5 points (1 point for each Totem within both territories). The Glaciers tribe (blue) does not score any points, since it only has Totem majority in one of the connected territories.

Settlement Scoring

A settlement is formed by 4 or more Tents of the same tribe that are uninterruptedly connected by one or more paths. Settlements may also cross territories, and will score 1 point per Tent.

Game End

The winner is the player with the most points at the end of the game. In the event of a tie, the winner is the player with the most unused pieces (Tents and Totems).

Feats

At the end of the game, Feats will multiply the base Tent or Totem scoring, according to how many and which Feats are placed on the territory that is being counted.

• 1 Feat: x2
• 2 Feats: x3
• 3 Feats: x4
• 4 Feats: x5

By accomplishing certain tasks, players are allowed to place Feats on the map by following specific Feat placement rules. You can use one or more of these Feats as an addition to the base game.

• UNION: Only the first and second player to complete a Settlement can place one of the two Union Feats, which can be placed in one of the territories where the Settlement lies. Score multiplier: Tent scoring.
• DISCOVERY: Only the first and second player to place a Tent on the last available Tent space of an explored territory can place one of the two Discovery Feats, which can be placed in any territory of the map excluding the one where the last Tent was placed. Score multiplier: Tent scoring.
• HONOUR: Only the first player to have the Totem majority on a connection by land can place an Honour Feat, which can be placed on top of that connection only. Score multiplier: Totem scoring.
• RESPECT: Only the first player to have the Totem majority on a connection by water can place a Respect Feat, which can be placed on top of that connection only. Score multiplier: Totem scoring.

Example of Tent scoring with Feats: The Tundra tribe (red) holds the majority of Tents and will score a total of 5 points. The Coast tribe (yellow) holds the second-most number of Tents and will score 3 points. Because of the presence of two Union Feats, the base Tent scoring will be multiplied by a total of x3. The Red tribe will get a total of 15 points (5x3) and the yellow tribe will get a total of 9 points (3x3).

Maps Atlas (Expansion)

The Iwari expansion offers several new ways to play the game by introducing new maps with special rules, a set of new missions and Feats. With this expansion you can also play in both solo and co-op mode.

Floating Lands

• Follow the base game rules.
• Totems can't be placed on the Tundra Biome.
• Connections also act as roads for settlement creation.

Solo/Coop mode:

• Every time one or more Tundra cards are played during the player action, one Void Ruin is placed on the Tundra territory.
• All Void Ruins on the Tundra territory are considered adjacent and form settlements disregarding their location.
• Any time the Void achieves a settlement of 8 or more Ruins along the road, the Void wins.

Glacial Mass

• Follow the base game rules.
• Connections 1 and 11 are on the same territories.

Solo/Coop mode:

• Follow the solo/coop game rules.

Forgotten Island

Additional Set-up:

• Place one Void Ruin on each of the purple circles on the board.
• Mountains won't be used in this map.

Special Rules:

• Connections are blocked by Ruins that can be unlocked if replaced by a tribe Tent; these connections score only if unlocked. To place a Tent on a Ruin Tent's space, play two Biome cards of the same color according to the small icon shown on the Ruin Tent's space. Players will keep the Ruins they unlock.
• At the end of the game, each Ruin token is worth 1 victory point.
• Connections also act as roads for settlement creation.

Solo/Coop mode:

• Ruins are not placed during the set-up unlike the multiplayer game.
• When choosing a placement for a Void Ruin during the Void action (excluding Infection and Corruption), give priority to the purple tent spaces.
• If at the end of the game, there are more Void Ruins than Tents on the purple tent spaces, the Void wins.

The Uncharted Paths

Additional Set-up:

• Place five Void Totems on the purple territory at the center of the board.
• Mountains won't be used in this map.

Special Rules:

• During their turn, players can use one of their available actions to move a Void Totem into a different territory by following these two placement rules:
  1. Void Biome to any other Biome: Play two Biome cards of the destination Biome.
  2. One Biome (that is not a Void Biome) to a different Biome: Play one card of each involved Biome.

Totem placement follows the base game restrictions. Moving a Void Totem still allows players to place one of their pieces on the same territory of destination by playing the corresponding Biome card.

Solo/Coop mode:

• Void Totems won't be placed on the purple territory at the center of the board.
• When the Void needs to place a Totem on any territory during an Infection or Corruption, the Totem will be placed on the purple territory instead.
• Players can use one of their available actions to move a Void Totem from the purple territory to any other territory, by playing two Biome cards of the destination Biome.
• Any time the Void places the fifth Totem on top of the purple territory, the Void wins.

The Long Road

• Follow the base game rules.
• At the end of the game, count the majority of Tents placed on the purple road as if it was a territory.

Solo/Coop mode:

• When choosing a placement for a Void Ruin during the Void action, give priority to the purple road.
• If at the end of the game, there are more Void Ruins than Tents on the purple road, the Void wins.

The Void

Set-up:

• This map can be played up to six players.
• Place a Contested Territory Token on each corresponding space on the board.
• Add the Void cards to the Biome deck.
• Give the Determination Token to the last player.
• Mountains won't be used in this map.

Special Rules:

• Contested territories: To move one Contested territory token, players will use two cards of the same color of one of the Biomes connected by a Contested territory token. The Contested token will be placed on the corresponding Biome of the used cards, on the unpathed area, by flipping the token to the darker side and placing a Tent on top of it.
• Determination Token: The player that holds the token can use it to place a second piece on an unexplored territory by using the corresponding card. After using it, the Determination Token will be passed to the right.
• Expedition cards won't be used in this map.

Expedition Cards (Expansion)

Set-up:

• Shuffle the 16 expedition cards and place 3 on the side of the board.

Special Rules:

• The first player to achieve the expedition by completing the mission on the bottom left of the card places the expedition card in front of him and immediately gets the amount of points shown on the first circle on the bottom right corner of the expedition card. The second player to achieve the same expedition immediately gains the points shown on the second circle on the bottom right corner of the card and removes the card from the game. No other player will be able to accomplish that expedition.

The expedition missions are:

• 1–5: Gain victory points by having at least 4 Tents in the Biomes of that color.
• 6: Gain victory points by having at least 1 Tent in each of the five Biomes.
• 7: Gain victory points by having the Tent majority in 3 different territories.
• 8–12: Gain victory points by having at least 2 Totems in the Biomes of that color.
• 13: Gain victory points by having at least 1 Totem in each of the five Biomes.
• 14: Gain victory points by having the Totem majority in 3 different territories.
• 15: Gain victory points by having a settlement of five or more Tents.
• 16: Gain victory points by having 3 Tents on Road Crossings (Tent spaces that connect 3 roads).

Additional Feats (Expansion)

At the end of the game, Feats will multiply the base Tent or Totem scoring, according to how many and which Feats are placed on the territory that is being counted (1 Feat x2, 2 Feats x3, 3 Feats x4, 4 Feats x5). You can use one or more of these Feats along with the base game Feats.

• COURAGE: The first player to explore the last unexplored territory of the map can place the Courage Feat, which can be placed adjacently to another Feat pawn on the map if present, otherwise discard it. Special scoring: Cancels the scoring multiplier of the closest Feat.
• WORSHIP: The Worship pawn with some additional components allows players to use this Feat in three different variants. Set-up: Choose one of the three Worship cards.
  • Variant 1: At the end of the game, the player with the majority of Tents on dead end roads can place the Worship Feat on any territory. In case of a tie, discard it. Score multiplier: Duplicate base Tent scoring.
  • Variant 2: Use it only in the Void map. At the end of the game, the player with the most Tents on top of Contested Territory Tokens can place the Worship Feat on any contested territory where one of their Tents lie. In case of a tie, discard it. Score multiplier: Duplicate base Tent scoring.
  • Variant 3: Place the Worship Golden tokens randomly on top of the Totem spaces matching the Biome type. At the end of the game, the player with the majority of Totems on top of all 5 Worship Golden tokens can place the Worship Feat on any Totem connection. In case of a tie, discard it. Score multiplier: Duplicate base Totem scoring.

Solo Mode (Expansion)

Read the base game rules before going through the solo mode rules. Solo mode can be played with all maps excluding The Void map. Feats and Expedition Cards can't be used in the solo game.

Solo Set-up

1. Place the map game board at the center of the table.
2. Select a color and take all Tents and Totems of that color.
3. Put all Void Totems, Void Ruins and Claim tokens next to the board.
4. Place the Totem Connection Scoring Marker (during the solo game it will be referred to as the Void Pawn) on connection number 1.
5. Shuffle all Biome cards, excluding the Void Biome cards, and take three cards from the deck as your starting hand. Then draw the 4 topmost cards, placing them face up next to the draw deck (this will be the display).
6. Divide the deck into four similar decks, insert 3 Void Biome cards into each deck. Shuffle each deck separately and then pile them up together. This pile will be the Biome deck.

Solo Gameplay

Territory control: If a Tent is placed in the last available space of an explored territory, the territory is immediately counted. To count a territory, start from the Tents/Ruins. The tribe with the majority of Tents/Ruins gains a Virtual Totem (that will not be placed in the stack but still count for scoring). When the Virtual Totem is 'placed', you are ready to count the Totems. The tribe with the majority of Totems (Virtual Totem included) will gain control of the territory, by placing a Claim token under the Totems, flipped on the white side if the player gains control of the territory, and on the purple side if the Void gains control of the territory. That territory is considered closed. In the case of a tie, the Void claims victory. The Void wins all ties even when a territory does not contain Tents/Ruins or Totems.

Turn sequence:

1. Player action
2. Void action
3. Replenish hand
4. Refill display

1. Player action: During your turn perform your normal action following the base game rules. Skip your action if your hand is composed of 3 Void Biome cards. The Void Biome cards cannot be used as wild cards.

2. Void action: After your turn, you must play a turn on behalf of the Void tribe by following the base game rules. This action can be done by using at least one of your remaining cards in hand. If you are left with an empty hand, the Void tribe's turn doesn't take place. If you are forced or want to play one or more Void cards, you will need to place the used cards face-up above the display. If one or more Void Biome cards are played, the Void performs only one Infection. If there are 4 or more Void Biome cards above the display, the Void performs a Corruption. If a Tent is placed in the last available space of an explored territory, the territory is immediately counted.

3. Replenish hand: Refill your hand following the base game rules.

4. Refill display: The display gets replenished back to 4 face-up cards only after you have refilled your hand. If during the replenishment a Void Biome card is revealed, the game stops and the Void performs an Infection. If the display shows 3 face-up Void Biome cards and a fourth Void card is revealed, the Void performs a Corruption.

Void Special Actions

Void Infection: When the Void performs an Infection, consider the connection number where the Void pawn lies. The Infection will take place on all of the incomplete territories linked to that connection number. For each incomplete territory perform the following actions:

• Place a Void Totem following the base game rules.
• If a Void Totem can't be placed, locate a Ruin in the closest available space to any already positioned Ruin (in case of a tie, you choose the placement of the Ruin).

After having infected both territories, the Void pawn will need to be moved to the next higher number; if the Void pawn is at the highest number of the map it will need to be placed back to 1. If the Void pawn lies on top of a connection number that links two counted territories, the Void pawn will pass to the next connection number (in ascending order). If a Ruin is placed in the last available space of an explored territory, the territory is immediately counted.

Void Corruption: Perform an Infection. Before moving the Void pawn to the next available connection number, count both territories and then proceed with the regular placement of the Void pawn on the next available number. Collect the Void cards that have activated the Corruption, place one of these cards next to the board and shuffle the rest in the deck, excluding the discard pile. If the Corruption was activated by Void cards in the display, when refilling, the Void will perform an infection for each subsequently revealed Void card in the display by following the base game rules, including an additional Corruption if four Void cards are revealed.

Additional Solo Rules

1. You can play a card from a completely explored Biome to skip a Void action.
2. When the Void creates a settlement, interrupt the game and the Void immediately performs a free action (following the rules of the Infection) in the territory that contains the majority of Ruins that are part of the settlement. In the case of a tie, you choose the placement of the Ruin. After this action, the Void pawn won't change placement. When a free settlement action is used, lay the Ruins on the side, to indicate that the settlement can't be used again to gain a free action.
3. When you create a settlement, you can decide to perform a free action (following the base game rules, without the need of using any of your cards) in one of the territories where the settlement is built. When a free settlement action is used, lay the Tents on the side, to indicate that the settlement can't be used again to gain a free action.
4. You can play a card of a completely explored Biome in order to move one of your Totems or Tents from a territory of that Biome to any other Biome of your choice. In order to move one of your placed Totems, it must not have any Void Totem placed on top of it. Moving a piece from an already counted Biome to any other Biome never makes the territory countable again, even if it has a new available Tent or Totem space.
5. If the Void pawn lies on top of a connection number that links two counted territories, the Void pawn will pass to the next connection number (in ascending order).

Solo End Game

The game ends when:

• All territories have been counted.
• If you or the Void have to perform an action but don't have the piece to do it. In this case the game ends and you proceed to count all territories.
• When after a Corruption, there are 3 Void cards next to the board. In this case the game ends and you proceed to count all territories.
• Any time the Void makes a settlement of 10 or more Ruins along the road, the Void wins.

If the Void has control over 3 or more territories, you lose the game. You can make the game more or less challenging by increasing or decreasing the amount of territories needed for the Void to automatically win.

2 Player Cooperative Mode (Expansion)

Follow the Solo game rules with the following changes:

Coop Set-up

1. Each player selects a color and takes all Tents and Totems of that color.
2. Put all Void Totems, Void Ruins and Claim tokens next to the board.
3. Shuffle all Biome cards, excluding the Void Biome cards. Each player takes three cards from the deck as their starting hand, then draw the 4 topmost cards, placing them face up next to the draw deck (this will be the display).

Coop Gameplay

Turn sequence:

1. Player action
2. Void action
3. Replenish hand
4. Refill display

After replenishing the display, the turn passes to the next player. During the game players can communicate freely but must not explicitly tell the other player the cards in their hand. Follow the base game rules when placing tribe Tents and tribe Totems. Both players' Tents and Totems count as part of one unique tribe during the score count.

Coop End Game

The game ends when:

• All territories have been counted.
• If you or the Void have to perform an action but don't have the piece to do it. In this case the game ends and you proceed to count all territories.
• When after a Corruption, there are 3 Void cards next to the board. In this case the game ends and you proceed to count all territories.
• Any time the Void makes a settlement of 10 or more Ruins along the road. In this case, the Void wins.

If the Void has control over 1 or more territories, you lose the game. You can make the game less challenging by increasing the amount of territories needed for the Void to automatically win.

Credits

Game Design: Michael Schacht. Illustrator: Mateusz Mizak. Publisher: ThunderGryph Games. PM and Art Direction: Gonzalo Aguirre Bisi. Game Editor and Solo Mode Design: Pierpaolo Paoletti. Rules Proofing: Cristina Aguirre Bisi and Jacob Coon. Graphic Design: Daniel Tosco. Mockups: Erick Tosco. © ThunderGryph Games, All rights reserved. www.thundergryph.com