Jiangnan: Life of Gentry Rulebook

Table of Contents

Components
Game Setup
Goal of the Game
Gameplay
- I. Action Phase
  - Player Turn
District Actions
II. Upkeep Phase
III. End of the Game
- Final Scoring
  - Advanced Final Scoring
List of Scoring Goal Tiles
List of Talent Powers
List of Assistant Powers
Game Chapters
2-Player Rules
Solo Bot Rules
- Difficulty Settings
List of Works
- Paintings
- Dramas
- Novels
List of Cities
Quick Reference
Credits

Components

20 Character Tiles (Double-sided) — each shows a named literati character. All Character Tiles in this game are double-sided, and may be used as Talents (player avatars) that provide special powers, or as Muses that provide inspiration and abilities during the game. Advanced rules for drafting Talent Characters for each player are given in the Chapter setup sections, and are carried out in step 14 of setup.
3 District Boards (Double-sided)
1 Upkeep Board
3 Long River Boards
1 Short River Board
6 Boat Tiles
4 Player Boards
1 Final Scoring Overlay (Double-sided)
12 Scholar Markers (wooden pawns, 3 each in 4 colors)
20 Player Markers (wooden discs, 5 each in 4 colors)
100 Servant Markers (wooden pawns, 25 each in 4 colors)
45 Portfolio Tiles (21 Age 1, 24 Age 2)
48 Starting Action Tiles (12 each in 4 colors)
6 Shop Tiles (Double-sided)
54 Basic Action Tiles (black script on back; 12 Age 1, 12 Age 2, 15 Age 3, 15 Age 4)
2 Special Action Pointer Tiles (3 Different Sides)
90 Idea Tiles (30 each in 3 types — Novels [Yellow], Dramas [Red], Paintings [Blue])
24 Advanced Action Tiles (red script on back; 6 Age 1, 6 Age 2, 6 Age 3, 6 Age 4)
6 Spirits Tiles
6 Blocking Tiles
6 Charm Tiles
54 Coin Tiles (18 gold $5-Coin tokens and 36 silver $1-Coin tokens)
5 Draw Bags
15 Display Tiles (5 each in 3 types)
4 Imperial Degree Tiles (Double-sided)
12 Travel Tiles
15 Public Scoring Trend Tiles (Double-sided)
1 Muse Stack Cover
12 Scoring Goal Tiles
4 Player Aids
1 Rulebook

Game Setup

Use Side A of the District Boards, and place them in the order shown for the current Chapter (A1, A2, A3). The 3 boards are double-sided, and Side B will have extra rules that will be gradually introduced to the game. Rest of setup below is for Chapter 1. Details on setup changes for Chapters 2-6 are in the Game Chapters section. Each Chapter will have a suggested District Boards layout, but you may freely arrange them for different gameplay experiences.

District Boards — place as described above.
Portfolio Tiles — Shuffle the Age 1 Portfolio Tiles facedown, and stack them to the left of the Society district. Reveal 4 + N tiles (where N = number of players), and place them nearby for drafting later in step 14.
Display Tiles — Take 2 Display Tiles of each type, and randomly place 3 each across the Teahouse district and the Tavern district. Place the remaining tiles nearby for later use.
a. Shop Tiles — Place the 6 Shop Tiles, showing Side A, in random spaces in the Temple Fair district. b. Special Action Pointer — Place the Special Action Pointer, showing Side A, straight up in the center of the Temple Fair district.
Travel Tiles — Randomly place a Travel Tile faceup in each of the 10 city locations on the Travel District map. Put the remaining tiles back into the box. They are not used for this game.
Muse Tiles — Shuffle Muse Characters B01-B16, and stack them with the Muse side faceup in the left space of the Parlour district. Cover the stack with the Muse Cover Tile, then reveal the top 4 tiles and place them Muse side face up on the 4 unmarked spaces to the right.
Upkeep Board — Use Side A of the Upkeep Board and Side A of the Final Scoring Overlay. Place a number of random Age 1 Basic Action Tiles (black script on the back) face up into the hexagonal spaces on the Upkeep board, according to the number of players:
- 1-2 Players: 6 Action Tiles
- 3 Players: 9 Action Tiles
- 4 Players: 12 Action Tiles
Put the remaining Age 1 Tiles back into the box. Put the later Ages' Basic Action Tiles nearby for future use.
River Boards — Place the River Boards below the District Boards so the Score Track numbers show in ascending order from left to right. a. Scoring Goal Tiles — Shuffle the 6 Scoring Goal Tiles marked A-F. Randomly reveal 5 tiles to place faceup by the left side of River Boards in a vertical column. Unused Scoring Goal Tile(s) go back into the box. b. Boat Tiles — Place the 6 Boat Tiles on the Long River Boards. No Boat Tile is placed on the Short River Board below the Upkeep Board. c. Scoring Trend Tiles — Randomly place 2 Scoring Trend Tiles on each Boat Tile. Flip them when needed so that:
- No Boat is showing 2 of the same Scoring Trend.
- No 2 Boats are showing 2 Scoring Trends of the same combination.
Put unused Scoring Trend Tiles back into the box.

You can now start playing!

Goal of the Game

Players will perform various actions at different districts depending on the Action Tiles they choose to use on their turns. You will need to collect new ideas and earn money to help you publish your own portfolios.

Throughout the game, you may choose to travel around to inspire yourself, or meet new people to help you with your work.

At the end of each round, the player with the most servants on the boat farthest down the river will determine a new city trend, which will become a category for scoring. This will heavily influence the strategy of each game.

Players will score victory points (VP) as the game progresses. At the end of the 6th round, whoever has the most points wins and becomes the greatest literati scholar in Jiangnan!

How to use your Player Board

Your player board represents your studio, your space for creative expression and composition.

Here you will keep track of your hired staff, your spirits, your inspired ideas, your portfolios both completed and incomplete, and your city tasks.

The contents of your draw bag is hidden information. Everything else you have is public information and should be visible to other players at all times. You may check the contents of your draw bag at any time. Any time you do, give the bag a good shake afterwards, to shuffle the tiles inside.

Action Track — Place your available Action Tiles here.
Place your drafted Action Tiles here (the Drafted Action Tiles Area).
Place your unused Scholar Markers & used Action Tiles here. Drafted & used Action Tiles will only return to your bag at the Upkeep Phase of Rounds 2 & 4.
Spirit Level Track — Keep track of your Spirit Level here. It cannot go above 6 or below 0.
Place your unpublished Portfolio Tiles here, and your published Portfolio Tiles in a separate area.
Place your Talent tile here. This will provide a special ability for you during the game.
Place your hired Assistant Tiles here.
Place all your available Coins & Ideas here.
Place all your available Servant Markers here.

Rest Action Reminder — If your Spirit Level drops to 0 during Upkeep, you must take a Rest action. (See the Rest section.)

Discarded Action Tiles are removed from the game. You may keep them nearby to inspect at any time, but take care not to mix them with your drafted tiles and used tiles.

Bonus Icons

Action Tile — shows the District you will visit when you choose this Action Tile, and the Discard Bonus (the bonus resource you gain when this Action Tile is discarded).
Gain 1 Novel Idea
Gain 1 Painting Idea
Gain 1 Drama Idea
Gain 1 Coin
Gain 1 Spirit
Gain 1 Portfolio — Gain 1 faceup Portfolio Tile from the Society district. You may not refresh the tiles.
Activate Special Action — Activate the Shop the Special Action Pointer is pointing to. (See the Temple Fair section.)

Districts

There are 6 Districts you can visit in the game. (See the District Actions section for a list of District icons.)

Scholar Tracks

Each district's Scholar Track has 4 spaces. Each space can hold 1 Scholar Marker. You cannot visit this district if all 4 spaces are full.

Gameplay

The game is divided into 2 phases in each round:

I. Action Phase II. Upkeep Phase

The game will end at the end of Round 6.

I. Action Phase

According to the Turn Order of the current round, each player will take a single turn until everyone has taken 3 turns.

Player Turn

During your turn, perform the following 5 steps:

Choose District to Visit
Gain Discard Bonus
Perform District Action
Replenish Action Tiles
Next Player

1. Choose District to Visit

Choose any Action Tile from your Action Track, and move it to the Used Action Tile Area above your player board.

Age 3 and Age 4 Action Tiles each indicate 2 districts. You may choose 1 of the districts to visit.
If there are no more spaces available in the Scholar Track at that district, you cannot visit that district.
You can not visit the Parlour, Tavern, or Travel districts if you do not have enough coins. If you are unable to visit any of the 4 districts available on your Action Track, then you must take a Rest action. (See the Rest section.)

2. Gain Discard Bonus

Remove the rightmost Action Tile from your Action Track, and immediately gain the Discard Bonus listed on the bottom half of the tile. You must take the bonus. Discarded Action Tiles are removed from the game.

Some tiles indicate more than 1 bonus. You gain all bonuses indicated on the tile.
You can use the Discard Bonus to pay for the cost of the action at the district you are visiting this turn.

3. Perform District Action

Place 1 of your Scholar Markers below the district indicated on the top half of your chosen Action Tile.

Place the Scholar Marker on the River board below this district, in the rightmost available space of the Scholar Track.

Perform your action at the chosen district. Refer to the District Actions section for the details of each district.

If there are no more spaces available in the Scholar Track at that district, you cannot visit that district.
Age 3 and Age 4 Action Tiles each indicate 2 districts. You may choose 1 of the districts to visit.

4. Replenish Action Tiles

Slide any existing Action Tiles on your Action Track to the right to fill up any empty spaces.

Replenish any empty spaces on the Action Track from right to left by drawing from your draw bag. Always draw only 1 Action Tile at a time, and fill the rightmost space.

If your draw bag is empty, do not replenish any more empty spaces on your Action Track.
Never put the discarded Action Tiles back into your bag.
You only refill your draw bag at the ends of Rounds 2 & 4.

5. Next Player

The next player in Current Round Turn Order takes a turn, and proceeds to step 1.

Continue until all players have taken 3 turns or have no unused Scholar Markers on their Player Boards, then proceed to the Upkeep Phase.

District Actions

There are 6 districts in the game. Each district provides a different action. Additionally, one action, Rest, has no district. The Rest Area is located below the Upkeep board. (See the Rest section for details.)

Society — You can converse with other talented scholars and inspire each other with new ideas for your works.
Parlour — You can enjoy the performances of talented Muses for inspiration.
Teahouse — You can publish your own works or admire the works of others for inspiration.
Travel — You can view the scenery around the capital city of Jinling and find new inspiration.
Tavern — You can publish your own works or admire the works of others for inspiration.
Temple Fair — You can observe the life of the common people and incorporate the experiences into your creations.
Rest — If you do not have enough coins to visit any of the 4 available districts on your Action Track, or you do not wish to visit any of them, you may choose to Rest instead.

Advanced Actions

Advanced versions of the Society, Temple Fair, Travel, and Parlour district actions will be available in Chapters 3-6. The extra actions you can perform at each district will be shown in green like this. You may disregard them for your first game or when playing Chapters 1 & 2.

Society

You can converse with other talented scholars and inspire each other with new ideas for your works.

Take your Player Marker near the Next Round Turn Order Track, and place it on the highest empty space on the track. Skip this step if you already visited the Society district this round.
You may pay 1 Coin to take all 4 Portfolio Tiles on display and discard them facedown, in random order, to the bottom of their stack, then replenish the empty spaces with new tiles drawn from the stack. You can only do this once per turn.
Choose one of the following actions: a. Choose any 2 faceup Portfolio Tiles and place them in the unpublished Portfolio Tiles area of your player board. b. Choose any 1 faceup Portfolio Tile and place it in the unpublished Portfolio Tiles area to the left side of your player board. Gain 1 Idea Tile of any type. c. Gain 2 Idea Tiles of any type(s). d. Take the Imperial Exam. (See the Imperial Exam section below.)
Replenish any empty spaces in the display by drawing new Portfolio Tiles from their stack.
If the Age 1 Portfolios stack is exhausted before the end of Round 3, shuffle the Age 2 Portfolio Tiles to form a new stack. If that is exhausted as well, no new Portfolio Tiles will be available.

Player Markers that haven't been used for next round should be placed nearby off the board.

Imperial Exam

Taking the exams to earn a degree and become a government official is another way to acquire glory and fame in Ancient China. The Imperial Exams are shown on Side B of the Society district and are used in Chapters 2 & 6.

During the game you can take the exams twice by paying the required resources:

Juren Exam — You can do this when you have no degree. Discard 2 unpublished Portfolio Tiles of any type(s) and pay 6 Idea Tiles of any type(s) to pass the exam. Discarded Portfolio Tiles are removed from the game. Take an Imperial Degree Tile and place it, showing the Juren side, to the right side of your player board.

Gongshi Exam — You can do this when you are a Juren. Discard 3 unpublished Portfolio Tiles of any type(s) and pay 9 Idea Tiles of any type(s) to pass the exam. Discarded Portfolio Tiles are removed from the game. On the right side of your player board, flip your Imperial Degree Tile to show the Gongshi side.

Imperial Degree Tile

Juren Degree — During Public Scoring and Final Scoring, this acts as though you have published 1 each of Drama, Novel, and Painting Portfolio tiles. This provides no income.

Gongshi Degree — During Public Scoring and Final Scoring, this acts as though you have published 2 each of Drama, Novel, and Painting Portfolio tiles. This provides no income.

Portfolio Tiles

Publishing Portfolios is the main source of VP in this game. There are 3 types of Portfolio Tiles in 3 colors: Drama (red), Novel (yellow), and Painting (blue).

Portfolios have their Age printed on the back. Tiles of later Ages cost more to publish, but they provide bigger payouts.

Cost — Publish this Portfolio by paying the indicated number of Idea Tiles of this type.
Title — All Portfolios are based on real, existing works. (See the List of Works section for a list of these works.)
Income — Dramas and Novels will provide income bonuses during Upkeep.
Payout — Gain these resources when you publish this Portfolio.
Drama — Dramas provide VP upon publishing. They will also provide a steady income of Coins during Upkeep.
Novel — Novels provide Coins upon publishing. During Upkeep, you may pay 1 Novel Idea (yellow) to activate the income to gain VP.
Painting — Paintings provide both Coins and VP upon publishing. They do not generate income during Upkeep.

Teahouse

You can publish your own works or admire the works of others for inspiration.

Check if you have any Servants on the Display Track in the Teahouse district. Gain 1 Coin for each Servant Marker you have in the Teahouse.
Choose one of the following actions: a. Publish a Portfolio i. Pay the Ideas cost of an unpublished Portfolio Tile of your choice on your player board. Move it to the published Portfolios area of your player board. ii. Gain the Payout for the Portfolio you just published. iii. Take a Display Tile of the matching type, and slide it into the left of the Display Track. Place 1 of your Servant Markers on the new Display Tile.
- When a new Display Tile is added to the Display Track, slide the existing tiles (along with any Servants on them) 1 space to the right. This pushes the rightmost tile off the track. Return the tile to the supply and the Servant Marker on it to its player. b. Draw Inspiration — For each Display Tile on the Display Track, gain 1 Idea Tile matching that Display Tile's type.

Example for step 1: The Green Player visits the Teahouse district. They have 1 Servant on the Display Track, thus they gain 1 Coin.

Example for step 2.a, Publish a Portfolio: The Green Player publishes a Painting and gains the payout of Coins and VP. They take a Painting Display Tile and slide it onto the Display Track, and they place a Green Servant Marker on the tile. The rightmost tile is pushed off the track, and the Servant Marker is returned to the White Player.

Example for step 2.b, Draw Inspiration: The Green Player chooses to Draw Inspiration. The Display Track displays Drama (red), Novel (yellow), and Drama (red). Thus, the Green Player gains 2 Drama Idea Tiles and 1 Novel Idea Tile.

Display Tiles

These tiles keep record of what types of works have been recently published in the Teahouse and Tavern districts. These works will become the latest fashions of the district; thus, you are able to draw inspiration based on the displayed types.

The patrons of the Teahouse and Tavern districts will also remember the authors of recent works, so you will be tipped when you visit the district while still in their memories.

Display Tiles can be freely used between both districts, and you can keep separate supply piles near both.

Tavern

You can publish your own works or admire the works of others for inspiration.

Pay 1 Coin. You must be able to pay this to visit this district.
Increase your Spirit Level by 1.
Check if you have any Servant Markers on the Display Track in the Tavern district. Gain 1 VP for each Servant Marker you have in the Tavern.

The 3 steps above are the only difference between the Tavern and the Teahouse. Everything below is the same.

Choose one of the following actions: a. Publish a Portfolio i. Pay the Ideas cost of an unpublished Portfolio Tile of your choice on your player board. Move it to the published Portfolios area of your player board. ii. Gain the Payout for the Portfolio you just published. iii. Take a Display Tile of the matching type, and slide it into the left of the Display Track. Place 1 of your Servant Markers on the new Display Tile.
- When a new Display Tile is added to the Display Track, slide the existing tiles (along with any Servants on them) 1 space to the right. This pushes the rightmost tile off the track. Return the tile to the supply and the Servant Marker on it to its player. b. Draw Inspiration — For each Display Tile on the Display Track, gain 1 Idea Tile matching that Display Tile's type.

Example for step 3: The Green Player visits the Tavern district. They have 1 Servant on the Display Track, thus they gain 1 VP.

Example for step 4.a, Publish a Portfolio: The Green Player publishes a Painting and gains the payout of Coins and VP. They take a Painting Display Tile and slide it onto the Display Track, and they place a Green Servant Marker on the tile. The rightmost tile is pushed off the track, and the Servant Marker is returned to the White Player.

Example for step 4.b, Draw Inspiration: The Green Player chooses to Draw Inspiration. The Display Track displays Drama (red), Novel (yellow), and Drama (red). Thus, the Green Player gains 2 Drama Idea Tiles and 1 Novel Idea Tile.

Spirit Level Track

Your Spirit Level represents the social and communal connections you have with the outer world. It will only be consumed at the end of each round.

If your Spirit Level reaches 0 during the upkeep phase, you are overcome with solitude and will need to forfeit an action on your next round to recover. (See the Rest section for details.) You may also take a Rest action to prevent this. (See the Rest section for details.)

Your Spirit Level starts at 4, and cannot go above 6 or below 0 during the game.

If you have a Spirits Tile, you may discard it anytime to immediately increase your Spirit Level by 3. May be used to prevent a Mandatory Rest.

Parlour

You can enjoy the performances of talented Muses for inspiration.

Pay 1 Coin. You must be able to pay this to visit this district.
Increase your Spirit Level by 1.
Place 1 of your Servant Markers on a Muse Tile of your choice, and gain the Muse Bonus.
Check if you fulfill the requirements of the Charm Tile. If you do, you may place another 1 of your Servant Markers on a Muse Tile of your choice, but do not gain the Muse Bonus. (See the Charming Scholar section below.)
If the Servant Marker you place is the second Servant of your color on the Muse Tile, the Muse immediately joins your studio as an Assistant. Retrieve your Servants from the tile, and return any other Servants on the tile to their respective players. Place this Muse, who now becomes a hired Assistant, to the right side of your player board. This can be triggered even if you did not visit the Parlour district.

Any time during the game, when there is an empty space in the Parlour district, replenish from the top of the Muse stack. If the stack is empty, no more new Muse Tiles are available for this game.

Muses & Assistants

Muses are talented people you can meet in the Parlour district to gain inspiration. When one of them joins your studio as an Assistant, they will provide income or a special action for you during the Upkeep phase. (See the List of Assistant Powers section for a list of all Assistant Powers.)

Name — shown on the tile.
Muse Bonus — Resources you gain when you meet this Muse.
Assistant Power — During Upkeep, provides the indicated resources as income or a special action you may activate. (See the List of Assistant Powers section for a list of all Assistant Powers.)
Muse/Assistant Icon — shown on the tile.

Charming Scholar

Your reputation precedes you, so when you go meet new friends at parties you might be able to gain more favor with your Charm. This is shown on Side B of the Parlour district, and it is used in Chapters 5 & 6. (See the Chapter 5 setup section for setup of Charm Tiles.)

If you satisfy the requirement listed on the Charm Tile of this round, you may place another 1 of your Servant Markers on a Muse Tile of your choice, but do not gain the Muse Bonus. List of Charm Tiles' requirements:

A. You have 1 or more Servants in the Teahouse district.
B. You have 1 or more Servants in the Tavern district.
C. You have 1 or more Servants in the Boat Tile beneath the Parlour district.
D. Your Servant in the Temple Fair district is in a Shop the Special Action Pointer is pointing to.
E. You have traveled at least once.
F. You have 2 or more unpublished Portfolios Tiles.

Travel

You can view the scenery around the capital city of Jinling and find new inspiration.

The central city pictured on the Travel district map is the capital city of Jinling. Four paths connect Jinling to different cities surrounding the Jiangnan region.

You can't visit this district if you can't pay the Travel Cost.

1a. Pay the Travel Cost according to the city you are traveling to. Choose your destination with the following requirements:

It is a city you haven't traveled to before. (You must not have a Servant Marker in the city already.)
It is next to Jinling or to a city you have traveled to before.
You have enough coins to pay the Travel Cost.

1b. Or, you may Publish a Portfolio instead of paying Coins as the Travel Cost. If you choose to do this, you will not gain the City Bonus. (See the Traveling Artisans section below.)

Increase your Spirit Level by 1.
Place 1 of your Servant Markers in the chosen city.
Gain the City Bonus indicated on this city:
- (Idea icons): Gain 1 Idea Tile of the indicated type.
- (Portfolio icon): Take 1 revealed Portfolio Tile from the Society district and add it to your player board. Replenish any empty spaces from the Portfolios stack. (You may not pay a Coin to refresh available Portfolios.)
- (Special Action icon): Take the action of a Temple Fair district Shop the Special Action Pointer is pointed to. (See the Temple Fair section.)
Each city you visit will provide a Scenery symbol. They could earn VP for you during Public Scoring. (See the Public Scoring section.)

Travel example: Player A has Servants in cities D1 (Taihu), A1 (Yangzhou City), A2 (Twenty-Four Bridges) and A3 (Grave of Emperor Yang Guang). They may choose to travel to C1 (Suzhou City), B1 (Huangshan Mountains), or D2 (Hangzhou City) next.

Travel District Icons

Travel Cost — Amount of Coins you need to pay. Or, you may Publish a Portfolio instead.
Servant Space — Place your Servant Marker here to record your travels. Servants from different players can occupy the same space.
City ID — See the List of Cities section for a list of all Jiangnan cities.
City Name — shown on each city location.
Scenery Symbol — shown on each city location.
City Bonus — Resources you gain when you travel to this city.

Traveling Artisans

Your fame reaches the region surrounding the capital city of Jinling, and enterprising business owners are willing to sponsor your travels in exchange for displaying your creations in their establishments. This is shown on Side B of the Travel district, and it is used in Chapters 4 & 6.

When you visit the Travel District, instead of paying Coins you may publish a Portfolio to pay the Travel Cost:

1b. When you choose to visit the Travel District, declare that you wish to Publish instead of paying Coins. i. Pay the Ideas cost of an unpublished Portfolio Tile you have. Move it to the published Portfolios area of your player board. ii. Gain the payout for the Portfolio. Publishing Portfolios this way will not affect the Display Tracks of the Teahouse or Tavern.

Increase your Spirit Level by 1.
Choose a City that is next to Jinling or next to a city you have traveled to before, and place 1 of your Servant Markers there.
You do not gain the City Bonus, you only get the Scenery symbol for scoring.

Temple Fair

You can observe the life of the common people and incorporate the experiences into your creations.

Choose one of the following: a. Pay 0 Coins and move your Servant 1 space. b. Pay 1 Coin to move your Servant 2 spaces. c. Pay 2 Coins to move your Servant 3 spaces.
- When moving your Servant, you can choose to move it clockwise or counterclockwise; however, it must maintain the same direction for the entire move. Servants of different players can occupy the same space.
Gain the Passing Bonus shown on each path your Servant passes through.
Perform the action of the Shop where your Servant stopped.

Temple Fair example: Player A visits the Temple Fair. They pay 1 Coin to move 2 spaces, collecting the Passing Bonus of 1 Spirit Level & 1 Painting (blue) Idea Tile and lands on Shop A6. They perform the shop action, first refreshing the Portfolio Tiles in the Society district, then taking 1 newly revealed tile.

Shop Actions

A1 - Printing Press: You may take 1 Idea Tile of any type, then you may publish a Portfolio. Pay the Ideas cost, then gain the payout. Portfolio Tiles published this way will not affect the Display Tracks at the Teahouse or the Tavern district.
A2 - Peddler: Take the Travel district action, ignoring any cost to travel to the next city along a path. You only gain the Idea Tiles of the City Bonus, not Portfolio Tiles or Shop special actions.
A3 - Gift Shop: You may place a Servant Marker on any Muse for no additional cost, but you do not gain the Muse Bonus. Then you may activate their Assistant Power. (See the List of Assistant Powers section.)
A4 - Boatman: You may pay 1 Coin to place a Servant Marker on any Boat Tile on the River boards. (See the Resolve Boats section for details on Servant placement on Boats.)
A5 - Liquor Shop: You gain 1 Spirits Tile. Anytime during the game, you may discard a Spirits Tile to immediately increase your Spirit Level by 3.
A6 - Calligraphy Shop: You may refresh the 4 available Portfolio Tiles in the Society district for free. You may gain 1 revealed Portfolio Tile from the Society. Replenish any empty space with a tile drawn from the stack.

Passing Bonus — Gain the indicated bonus for each of these icons your Servant passes through.

Special Action Pointer — Used to determine which Shop action will be activated when you gain a Special Action icon. Will rotate and point to a different Shop each round.

Advanced Shop Actions

B1 - Printing Press: You may pay 1 Coin to publish a Portfolio. Pay the Ideas cost, then gain the payout. Choose to publish in the Teahouse or the Tavern, and update the Display Track of the chosen district.
B2 - Peddler: You may exchange up to 2 used or drafted Action Tiles with the ones on your available Action Track. If your Action Track is empty, instead of exchanging, you can just move any 2 tiles down to your Action Track.
B3 - Gift Shop: You may exchange up to 3 Idea Tiles you have for Idea Tiles of any type(s).
B4 - Boatman: You may move 1 of your Servant Markers from any Boat Tile to another Boat Tile of your choice. (See the Resolve Boats section for details on Servant placement on Boats.)
B5 - Liquor Shop: You gain 5 Coins.
B6 - Calligraphy Shop: You may take up to 2 Portfolio Tiles from the top of the Society district stack. You can look at your first draw before deciding if you want a second Portfolio Tile. You must keep the Portfolio Tiles you draw.

Servant Space — Place your Servant Marker here to record your location in the Temple Fair. Servants from different players may occupy the same space.

Special Action Pointer B & C — You will use Side B in Chapters 3-4 and Side C in Chapters 5-6. Both of these point to 2 Shops at once, and you may choose 1 Shop to activate when you gain a Special Action icon.

Rest

If you do not have enough Coins to visit any of the 4 available districts on your Action Track, or if you do not wish to visit any of them, you may choose to Rest instead:

Choose an Action Tile from your Action Track, and move it to the Used Action Tile Area. You will not perform the District action.
Place a Scholar Marker on the Short River board below the Upkeep board, in the rightmost available space of the Scholar Track. This is the Rest Area.
Remove the rightmost Action Tile from your Action Track and immediately gain the Discard Bonus listed on the bottom half of the tile. You must take the bonus. Discard the tile, it is removed from the game.
Gain 2 Coins.
Increase your Spirit Level by 4.
Slide your remaining Action Tiles to the right, then replenish empty spaces on your Action Track.

Mandatory Rest

If your Spirit Level is at 0 at the end of the Upkeep phase, you must immediately perform a Rest action, following the steps above. Thus, you will begin the next round with 1 fewer Scholar Marker. You will take your first 2 turns as normal, but skip your 3rd turn of the round.

Rest example: The Green Player has no Coins and cannot visit any of the 4 available districts on their Action Track. Thus, they are forced to take a Rest action. Green uses the third Action Tile without visiting the indicated district, and places 1 of their Scholar Markers on the rightmost space of the Rest Area. Then the Green Player removes the rightmost tile to gain the Discard Bonus of 1 Spirit Level. They gain 2 Coins and increase their Spirit Level by 4. However, Green's Spirit Level is now at 3, so they can only increase their Spirit Level by 3 to 6.

II. Upkeep Phase

After each player has taken 3 turns, perform the Upkeep phase in the following steps:

Personal Income
Resolve Boats
Draft New Action Tiles
Upkeep Events
Update Board Status
Consume Spirits

Upkeep Event Reminders — Some events in the Upkeep phase are not performed each round. These icons are shown on the Public Scoring Track as reminders. Each round, players will place 1 Scoring Trend Tile on this track from top to bottom, so you can easily keep track of what to do each round. (See the Upkeep Events section for details on how to perform each event.)

a. Refill Action Tiles
b. Public Scoring
c. Refill Draw Bags
d. Swap Age 2 Portfolio Tiles
e. Game Ends

Action Tile Area — The tiles available for drafting in each round will be placed here.

Public Scoring Track — The Scoring Trend Tiles chosen each round will be placed here.

Final Scoring Overlay — Use Side A for Chapters 1, 3. Use Side B for Chapters 2, 4, 5, 6.

1. Personal Income

For each player:

a. Gain the Coin income indicated on your published Drama Portfolios. b. You may pay Novel (yellow) Idea Tiles to activate VP income on your published Novel Portfolios. c. You may activate the Assistant Powers for any or all of your hired Assistants. d. Gain 1 Coin for each of your Servants in the Teahouse district. e. Gain 1 VP for each of your Servants in the Tavern district.

Each tile may only be activated once per round. You may activate them in any order to your benefit.

Income Sources: a. Published Dramas; b. Published Novels; c. Hired Assistants; d. Servants in Teahouse; e. Servants in Tavern.

2. Resolve Boats

Place Servants on the Boats below each District:
- Beginning with the rightmost Scholar Marker and proceeding to the left, the Scholar's player places 1 of their Servant Markers on the Boat Tile.
- If you already have Servants on the Boat, place your Servant Marker on the same space as your other Servants.
- Otherwise, place your Servant Marker on the rightmost unoccupied space of the Boat Tile. Each Boat Tile space can only hold Servants from a single player.
- Scholar Markers in the Rest Area will not place any Servants on Boats.
- If a player does not have enough Servant Markers to place on boats, use any suitable replacement.
Slide all the Boat Tiles 1 space to the right, pushing the rightmost Boat to be below the Upkeep board.
Resolve the Boat Tile below the Upkeep board. The player with the most Servants on this boat wins, and chooses 1 of the 2 Scoring Trend Tiles for Public Scoring.
- In the case of a tie, the tied player whose Servant Markers are further to the right (placed earlier) on this Boat Tile wins and shall choose the Scoring Trend Tile.
- If no player has Servants on this Boat Tile, the rightmost Scoring Trend Tile will be chosen.
Place the chosen Scoring Trend Tile on the highest empty space of the Public Scoring Track, covering the left half of the light square. The other Scoring Trend Tile on this boat is removed from the game, and return all Servants on this boat to their respective players.
Place this now-empty Boat Tile on the leftmost River board. Take the bottom Scoring Goal Tile and place it on this Boat Tile. (Skip this step in Round 6.)

Servant Placement Example: This Scholar Track has 3 Scholar Markers, the placement order from right to left is Purple, Green, White. The Purple Player places a Servant Marker on the rightmost empty space of the Boat Tile, which is the second space from the right. The Green Player already has a Servant Marker on this Boat Tile, so they place the new Servant on the same space as the previous one, which is the first space on the right. The White Player places a Servant Marker on the rightmost empty space of the Boat Tile, occupying the third space from the right.

Boat Resolution Example: This boat is moved to the rightmost river board under the upkeep board, so we now determine its winner. There are 2 Green, 1 Purple, and 1 White Servant on this boat. The Green Player wins, and decides to place the Painting tile on the Public Scoring Track. All Servant Markers on this boat are returned to their respective players, and the other Trend Tile is removed from the game. Move this Boat Tile to the leftmost River Board, and place the bottom Scoring Goal Tile on it.

3. Draft New Action Tiles

The Scholar Markers will now form a continuous row across all Scholar Tracks of the river boards, indicating the various districts players visited this round. The drafting order will go from left to right, following these markers.

The leftmost Scholar's player chooses an Action Tile to draft from the Upkeep board. The player places the chosen Action Tile in the Drafted Action Tiles Area above their player board. Do not put these new Action Tiles in your draw bags yet. The draw bags are only replenished in Rounds 2 & 4 during Upkeep step 4 "Upkeep Events".
The player recovers their leftmost Scholar Marker.
Repeat steps 1-2 until all Scholar Markers are recovered from the river boards. Each player will draft 3 new Action Tiles per round.

No Action Tiles are drafted in Rounds 5 & 6. All Scholar Markers are returned directly to their respective players.

Drafting Order Example: 4 Players, Purple (A), Green (B), White (C), Orange (D) have a total of 12 Scholar Markers placed on the river boards. Thus, players will draft new Action Tiles in this order: D, B, C, A, A, B, C, B, D, C, D, A (or Orange, Green, White, Purple, Purple, Green, White, Green, Orange, White, Orange, Purple). First the Orange player drafts a new Action Tile from the upkeep board and recovers their leftmost Scholar Marker. The Green Player is next, then White Player, and so on.

4. Upkeep Events

Check the icons next to the newly placed Scoring Trend Tile to see what events will happen in this round. After resolving the shown events, slide the Trend Tile to the right.

a. Refill Action Tiles

This only happens in Rounds 1, 2, & 3.

Put all unchosen Action Tiles remaining on the Upkeep board into the box. Randomly refill the Upkeep board with a number of faceup Action Tiles of the indicated Age, according to the number of players:

1-2 Players: 6 Action Tiles.
3 Players: 9 Action Tiles.
4 Players: 12 Action Tiles.
5 Players: 15 Action Tiles.

Put the remaining Action Tiles of the indicated Age back in the box, they are removed from the game.

No Action Tiles are drafted in Rounds 5 & 6.

Upkeep Events Example: This is the Upkeep phase of Round 2. The events that will take place are: 1. Refill Action Tiles for Age 3; 2. Public Scoring for 2 VP; 3. Refill Draw Bags. Refill the Upkeep board with Age 3 Action Tiles.

Advanced Action Tiles

The Advanced Action Tiles have their age shown in red script. These are used in Chapters 3-6. To accommodate this extra variance, more tiles will be available when players draft new Action Tiles:

1-2 Players: 8 Action Tiles.
3 Players: 12 Action Tiles.
4 Players: 15 Action Tiles.
5 Players: 15 Action Tiles.

The updated drafting amounts are shown on Side B of the Upkeep board.

b. Public Scoring

This only happens in Rounds 2, 4, & 6.

Go through all Scoring Trend Tiles on the Public Scoring Track from top to bottom. Players score VP for each matching item they have. The VP provided for each match is indicated by the current round's icon. When there are multiples of the same Scoring Trend Tiles, each tile scores.

Scoring Trends

Players score VP on their accomplishments according to the current fashion of Jiangnan. This is decided by the Scoring Trend Tiles placed on the Public Scoring Track. The 6 possible Trends are:

Published Dramas
Hired Assistants
Published Novels
Gold (Every 5 Coins)
Published Paintings
Scenery Symbols

Mixed Ages Drafting

This rule is used in Chapters 2, 5, & 6. It increases variance in the drafting pool, and it adds significance to the drafting order.

During setup, mix the Age 1 and Age 2 Action Tiles (silver) in a draw bag, then draw tiles randomly from the bag to fill the Upkeep board with the specified number of tiles according to the number of players.
Keep using this mix of silver Action Tiles when refilling the Upkeep board during Round 1. Empty the draw bag after Round 1.
Mix the Age 3 and Age 4 Action Tiles (gold) in a draw bag, and use this mix of gold Action Tiles when refilling the Upkeep board during Rounds 2 & 3.

Tighter Tile Drafting

This is a rule used in Chapters 5 & 6. A limited selection of tiles for players to draft from will further increase variance in the drafting pool and add greater significance to the drafting order.

During Upkeep, refill the Upkeep board with a number of random Action Tiles of the indicated Age, according to the number of players:

1-2 Players: 6 Action Tiles.
3 Players: 9 Action Tiles.
4 Players: 12 Action Tiles.
5 Players: 15 Action Tiles.

Public Scoring for Round 2

There will be 2 Trend Tiles to be scored. Each player gains 2 VP for each matching Trend they have.

Round 2 Scoring Example: The Scoring Trend Tiles are for Published Dramas and Gold. Player A has published 1 Drama Portfolio (2 VP) and has 8 Coins (2 VP), so they score a total of 4 VP.

Public Scoring for Round 4

There will be 4 Trend Tiles to be scored. Each player gains 3 VP for each matching Trend they have.

Round 4 Scoring Example: The Scoring Trend Tiles are for Published Dramas, Gold, Published Dramas, and Hired Assistants. Player A has published 3 Drama Portfolios (18 VP due to 2 Published Dramas Trend Tiles), has 12 Coins (6 VP), and has hired no Assistants, so Player A scores a total of 24 VP.

Public Scoring for Round 6

There will be 6 Trend Tiles to be scored. Each player gains 4 VP for each matching Trend they have.

Round 6 Scoring Example: The Scoring Trend Tiles are for Published Dramas, Gold, Published Dramas, Hired Assistants, Published Novels, and Scenery symbols. Player A has published 5 Drama Portfolios (40 VP due to 2 Published Dramas Trend Tiles), has 21 Coins (16 VP), has hired 1 Assistant (4 VP), has 1 Scenery symbol (4 VP), and has published no Novel Portfolios, so Player A scores a total of 64 VP.

c. Refill Draw Bags

This only happens in Rounds 2 & 4.

All draw bags should be empty, and each player should have exactly 12 Action Tiles above their player board. (6 used Action Tiles and 6 drafted Action Tiles.)

Each player refills their draw bag with the 12 Action Tiles above their boards, gives the bag a good shake to shuffle the tiles, then draws 4 Action Tiles and places them on their Action Track. Always draw only 1 at a time, filling the rightmost space.

Refill Draw Bag Example: The reminder icon is revealed after Public Scoring (after you slide the round's chosen Scoring Trend Tile to the right). All players take the used & drafted Action Tiles (12 in total) above their player boards, and put them into their own draw bags. Then each player draws 4 Action Tiles for their Action Track.

d. Swap Age 2 Portfolio Tiles

This only happens in Round 3.

Remove all Age 1 Portfolio Tiles (including the stack) from the Society district, and remove them from the game. Shuffle all Age 2 Portfolio Tiles facedown together to form a new stack in the Society district. Reveal 4 new faceup Portfolio Tiles from the new stack.

e. Game Ends

The game ends immediately after the 4VP scoring event. Proceed to Final Scoring. (See the End of the Game section.) The remaining 2 steps of the Upkeep Phase (Update Board Status, Consume Spirits) are skipped.

5. Update Board Status

Skip this step in Round 6.

These are game state information that needs to be updated each round on the district boards.

a. Rotate Special Action Pointer — Rotate the Special Action Pointer 60 degrees clockwise so it points to the next Shop in the Temple Fair district.

b. Adjust Turn Order

Slide the Player Markers on the Current Turn Order Track off to the right of the track.
Slide the Player Markers on the Next Round Turn Order Track to the right, onto the Current Turn Order Track and in the same positions, top to bottom.
Fill any empty spaces of the Current Turn Order Track top to bottom with the Player Markers to the right of the track, checking them top to bottom and skipping any player colors already on the track.
This will be the new turn order for the next round. Take any remaining Player Markers that are not on the Current Turn Order Track, and place them above the board for use later in the Society district.

Turn Order Adjustment Example:

The turn order for this round was Green, White, Purple, Orange. Slide all Player Markers on the Current Turn Order Track to the right.
The White Player and the Purple Player placed their Player Markers in the Society district this round, so they'll become the first and second players of the next round.
To retain relative turn order, Green's Player Marker is placed on the third space, and Orange on the fourth.
The new turn order is White, Purple, Green, Orange.

c. New Charm Tile — Discard the current Charm Tile and remove it from the game. Take the bottom Charm Tile from the column above the district boards, and place it into the designated space of the Parlour.

6. Consume Spirits

Skip this step in Round 6.

For each player:

Decrease your Spirit Level: i. First, decrease it by 1. ii. Then, decrease it by 1 for each of your unpublished Portfolio Tiles. iii. Finally, decrease it by 1 for each of your hired Assistants.

Your Spirit Level will not go below 0 during this step.
Check your Spirit Level: If it is 0, then you must perform a Mandatory Rest action immediately, losing a turn in the next round. (See the Rest section for details on Rest actions.)
- You may immediately use a Spirit Token to prevent this.

Spirit Consumption Example: The Green Player has 1 unpublished Novel Portfolio and 2 hired Assistants. The Green Player decreases his Spirit Level by 1 + 1 + 2 = 4, dropping it from 4 to 0.

Mandatory Rest Example: The Green Player's Spirit Level is now at 0, thus is forced to take a Mandatory Rest action. To perform the Rest action, they move an action tile to their used area and take the third Scholar Marker to place in the Rest area. Then they discard their rightmost action tile for a Discard Bonus, gain 2 Coins, and increase Spirit Level by 4. Finally, replenish action tiles if there are tiles in their draw bag.

III. End of the Game

Final Scoring

The game ends after the 6th round, followed by the Final Scoring of these 5 items:

Resolve Scoring Goal Tiles
Sets of Published Portfolio
Hired Assistants
Scenery Symbols
Unused Idea Tiles
Resolve the 5 Boat Tiles with Scoring Goal Tiles. The players with the most Servants and second-most Servants on each boat score VP according to the method indicated on the Scoring Goal Tile. (See the List of Scoring Goal Tiles section for a list of all Scoring Goal Tiles.)
- In the case of a tie, the tied player whose Servant Markers are further to the right (placed earlier) on each Boat Tile wins.
- Only 1 player scores the VP for first place, and only 1 player scores the VP for second place.
Score 4 VP for each set of "1 Drama, 1 Novel, and 1 Painting Portfolio Tile" you have published.
Score 3 VP for each Assistant you have hired.
Score 2 VP for each Scenery Symbol on cities you have traveled to.
Score 1 VP for every 3 Idea Tiles, of any type(s), you still have.

After Final Scoring, the player with the most VP wins the game, and becomes the greatest artisan of Jiangnan! Your works will be studied and admired by literati scholars for hundreds of years to come.

In the case of a tie, the player who is earlier in the turn order of the final round wins.

Advanced Final Scoring

This is shown on Side B of the Final Scoring Overlay, and it is used in Chapters 2, 4, 5, & 6. These steps replace their normal equivalents in final scoring.

Unchanged from above.
Score 5 VP for each set of 1 Drama Portfolio, 1 Novel Portfolio, and 1 Painting Portfolio you have published.
Score VP equal to the square of the number of Assistants you have hired. The square is of the number of hired Assistants (N) multiplied by itself (N x N, or N²).
Score VP equal to the number sequence sum 1+2+3+...+N, where N is the total number of Scenery symbols on cities you have traveled to.
Unchanged from above.

Final Scoring Example:

Orange wins first place on the boat with Scoring Goal A, so Orange scores 4 VP for each Drama Portfolio they have published. Since they have published 5 Drama Portfolios, they score 5 x 4 = 20 VP. Green is second place, so scores 2 VP for each Drama they have published. White is third place and does not get to score.
Orange has published 5 Dramas, 1 Novel, and 2 Paintings. Thus Orange only has 1 set of portfolios, and scores 1 x 4 = 4 VP.
Orange has hired 2 Assistants, thus scores 2 x 3 = 6 VP.
Orange has visited 4 cities and has 4 Scenery Symbols, thus scores 4 x 2 = 8 VP.
Orange has 4 unused Idea Tiles left, thus scores 1 x 1 = 1 VP.

List of Scoring Goal Tiles

A — The player with the most Servants on this Boat scores 4 VP for each Drama Portfolio they have published. Second place gets 2 VP each.
B — The player with the most Servants on this Boat scores 4 VP for every 5 Coins they have. Second place gets 2 VP each.
C — The player with the most Servants on this Boat scores 4 VP for each Painting Portfolio they have published. Second place gets 2 VP each.
D — The player with the most Servants on this Boat scores 4 VP for each Novel Portfolio they have published. Second place gets 2 VP each.
E — The player with the most Servants on this Boat scores 4 VP for each Assistant they have hired. Second place gets 2 VP each.
F — The player with the most Servants on this Boat scores 4 VP for each Scenery symbol they traveled to. Second place gets 2 VP each.
G — The player with the most Servants on this Boat scores 4 VP for each Spirit Level they currently have. Second place gets 2 VP each.
H — The player with the most Servants on this Boat scores 4 VP for each of their own Servants on this Boat. Second place gets 2 VP each.
I — Winner gets 4 VP for each Portfolio they have published, of the single type (Drama, Novel, or Painting) they have published the most of. Second place gets 2 VP each.
J — Winner gets 5 VP for each Portfolio they have published, from 1 of the 3 types (Drama, Novel, and Painting) they have published the least of. Second place gets 3 VP each.
K — The player with the most Servants on this Boat scores 3 VP for each Servant (belonging to any player) on this Boat. Second place gets 1 VP each.
L — Winner gets 3 VP for each Portfolio they have published (all types, Drama, Novel, & Painting). Second place gets 1 VP each.

List of Talent Powers

A01 — Tang Bohu (唐伯虎): During the Upkeep phase, your hired assistants will not lower your Spirit Level.
A02 — Xu Zhenqing (徐禎卿): Gain double (2x) the number of Coins you earn in the Teahouse district and VP you earn in the Tavern district for your Servants there, during both the Action phase and the Upkeep phase.
A03 — Zhu Zhishan (祝枝山): When you visit the Travel or Temple Fair district, gain double (2x) the amount of Coins, Idea Tiles, Spirit Level, and VP for the City Bonus and Passing Bonus.
A04 — Wen Zhengming (文徵明): When you publish a Portfolio, you gain double (2x) the payout (Coins, VP).
A05 — Dong Xiaowan (董小宛): When you visit the Travel or Temple Fair district, gain double (2x) the amount of Coins, Idea Tiles, Spirit Level, and VP for the City Bonus and Passing Bonus.
A06 — Liu Rushi (柳如是): During Upkeep, gain double (2x) the income bonuses (Coins, VP) for each Drama and Novel Portfolio you have published.
A07 — Gu Hengbo (顧橫波): You win ties for Servants on Boat Tiles. Each time you win first place for boat resolution, you gain 3 VP.
A08 — Bian Yujing (卞玉京): During Upkeep, gain double (2x) the income bonuses (Coins, VP) for each Drama and Novel Portfolio you have published.
A09 — Li Xiangjun (李香君): When you publish a Portfolio, you gain double (2x) the payout (Coins, VP).
A10 — Kou Baimen (寇白門): You may visit any district of your choice even when you have 0 Coins. Whenever you would need to pay any Coins for a district action, you pay 0 Coins instead.
A11 — Chen Yuanyuan (陳圓圓): Gain double (2x) the number of Coins you earn in the Teahouse district and VP you earn in the Tavern district for your Servants there, during both the Action phase and the Upkeep phase.
A12 — Ma Xianglan (馬湘蘭): Start the game with 9 Coins instead of 3, and 3 Idea Tiles each of all 3 types instead of 1 (for 9 Idea Tiles total).
A13 — Chun Mei (春媚): When you visit the Society district, you may take 1 more Portfolio or Idea Tile. When you visit the Parlour district, place an extra Servant Marker on any Muse Tile there. This Servant does not provide an extra Muse Bonus.
A14 — Xia Qing (夏清): You win ties for Servants on Boat Tiles. Each time you win first place for boat resolution, you gain 3 VP.
A15 — Qiu Xiang (秋香): When you visit the Society district, you may take 1 more Portfolio or Idea Tile. When you visit the Parlour district, place an extra Servant Marker on any Muse Tile there. This Servant does not provide an extra Muse Bonus.

List of Assistant Powers

B01 — Tang Bohu (唐伯虎): You may increase your Spirit Level by 2.
B02 — Xu Zhenqing (徐禎卿): You may gain 1 Coin, plus gain 1 Coin for each of your Servants in the Teahouse district.
B03 — Zhu Zhishan (祝枝山): You may pay 1 Coin to activate a Shop the Special Action Pointer is pointing to.
B04 — Wen Zhengming (文徵明): You may gain 1 Painting (blue) Idea Tile.
B05 — Dong Xiaowan (董小宛): You may move your Servant 1 space in the Temple Fair district, and gain the Passing Bonus. Do not activate the Shop.
B06 — Liu Rushi (柳如是): You may gain 1 Idea Tile of any type.
B07 — Gu Hengbo (顧橫波): You may pay 2 Coins to place 1 of your Servant Markers on any Boat Tile.
B08 — Bian Yujing (卞玉京): You may exchange any 2 Idea Tiles you have for 2 Idea Tiles of any type(s).
B09 — Li Xiangjun (李香君): You may gain 1 Drama (red) Idea Tile.
B10 — Kou Baimen (寇白門): You may gain 2 Coins.
B11 — Chen Yuanyuan (陳圓圓): You may gain 1 VP, plus gain 1 VP for each of your Servants in the Tavern district.
B12 — Ma Xianglan (馬湘蘭): You may exchange 1 used or drafted Action Tile with the ones on your Action Track. If your Action Track is empty, instead of exchanging, you can just move any 1 tile down to your Action Track.
B13 — Chun Mei (春媚): You may pay 1 Coin to travel to a new city in the Travel district, following the normal Travel requirements but without paying the Travel Cost. You do not gain the City Bonus.
B14 — Xia Qing (夏清): You may pay 1 Coin to move 1 of your Servant Markers from a Boat Tile to another Boat.
B15 — Qiu Xiang (秋香): You may pay 1 Coin to place an extra Servant Marker on any Muse Tile in the Parlour district. You do not gain the Muse Bonus.
B16 — Dong Rui (冬瑞): You may gain 1 Novel (yellow) Idea Tile.
B17 — Lin Daiyu (林黛玉): You may pay 1 Coin to take 1 revealed Portfolio Tile in the Society district. Replenish any empty spaces.
B18 — Xue Baochai (薛寶釵): You may gain 1 facedown Portfolio Tile from the stack in the Society district.
B19 — Qin Keqing (秦可卿): You may gain 2 VP.
B20 — Jia Baoyu (賈寶玉): You may pay 2 Coins to publish 1 of your unpublished Portfolio Tiles. Pay the normal Ideas cost, and gain the payout as usual. Portfolio Tiles published this way will not affect the Display Track in the Teahouse or the Tavern district.

Game Chapters

Chapter 1 - Welcome to Jiangnan

The prosperity of the Jiangnan region led to a golden age of culture and art during the Ming Dynasty, not unlike Venice during the Renaissance. Pursue fame and glory in this exciting time, and create masterpieces that will be admired for generations!

The basic rules, without the rules in green boxes, is an introductory Chapter 1. There are no special abilities for the players, and only the basic version of all game tiles will be used. Rest assured that there is still lots of variety from game to game depending on how the Scoring Trend Tiles are placed during setup.

Players are recommended to become familiar with how this affects other mechanisms of the game before proceeding.

Chapter 2 - The Four Great Talents

Players will be taking on the roles of the "Four Great Talents of Jiangnan," a group of famous literati scholars during the Ming Dynasty renowned for their literature, calligraphy, and brush paintings.

Gather at the capital city of Jinling, compete with your rivals, and be remembered as the greatest artisan of the age!

Setup

Map: A1-A2-A3
Talent Pool: A01 ~ A04
Muse Pool: B05 ~ B16
Action Tiles: Basic only
Shop Tiles: All Side A
Special Action Pointer: Side A
Scoring Goal Tile Pool: G ~ L
Upkeep Board: Side A
Final Scoring Overlay: Side B

Additional Rules

"Four Great Talents" Character Draft — During setup, place Characters A01-A04 with the Talent side faceup near the Parlour district. During step 14 of setup, in reverse player order, each player chooses a Talent tile and places it to the lower left side of their player board. Each will provide a special ability during the game. (See the List of Talent Powers section.)
Mixed Age Drafting — During setup, use all Age 1 and Age 2 (silver) Action Tiles together when filling the Upkeep board for setup and Round 1. Before Round 2, use all Age 3 and Age 4 (gold) Action Tiles together when filling the Upkeep board in Rounds 2 & 3. (See the Upkeep Events section for details.)
Advanced Scoring Goal Tiles — Use Scoring Goal Tiles G-L during setup step 9.a. These advanced Scoring Goals provide a different method of scoring at the end of the game, and they add significance to the majority control of the last Boats. (See the List of Scoring Goal Tiles section.)
Advanced Final Scoring — During setup, place Side B of the Final Scoring Overlay on the Upkeep board. Non-linear scoring is used for Assistants you have hired and Scenery symbols you have traveled to. (See the Final Scoring section for details.)

Chapter 3 - The Imperial Exams

For over a millennium, taking the Imperial Scholar-Official Exams to become a bureaucrat has been the established way to climb the social ladder. The exams are difficult and stressful, but achieving high grades will also help your works become more respected by your fellow literati scholars.

Find the balance between your studies and your creations to become the most prestigious scholar-artisan in Jiangnan!

Setup

Map: A2-A3-B1
Talent Pool: A01 ~ A04
Muse Pool: B05 ~ B16
Action Tiles: Basic + Advanced
Shop Tiles: All Side A
Special Action Pointer: Side A
Scoring Goal Tile Pool: A ~ F
Upkeep Board: Side B
Final Scoring Overlay: Side A

Additional Rules

"Four Great Talents" Character Draft — See Chapter 2 for instructions.
The Imperial Exams — During setup, use Side B of the Society district board. Place the Degree Tiles nearby for later use. During the game, players can take the exams to earn degrees that will count towards scoring. (See the Society district section for details.)
Advanced Action Tiles — During setup, 6 Advanced Action Tiles marked with red script are added to each age. These tiles have the "Gain a Portfolio" and "Activate a Shop" icon to provide more flexibility and possible combos. Side B of the Upkeep board will accommodate extra Action Tiles in the drafting pool. (See the Upkeep Events section for details.)

Chapter 4 - Traveling Artisans

Traveling is always expensive, and it was especially so in ancient times. But that won't stop a famous artisan like you! This chapter introduces the idea of using your works to get sponsorship for your travels.

Leave your mark at unique locations, and locals will sing your praises hundreds of years from now!

Setup

Map: A3-A1-B2
Character Pool: 01 ~ 16
Action Tiles: Basic + Advanced
Shop Tiles: All Side B
Special Action Pointer: Side B
Scoring Goal Tile Pool: A ~ F
Upkeep Board: Side B
Final Scoring Overlay: Side B

Additional Rules

Advanced Talent Draft — During setup, shuffle Talent Characters A01-A16, then reveal 4 + N of them, where N is equal to the number of players, near the Parlour district. During step 14 of setup, in reverse player order, each player chooses a Talent tile, and places it to the lower left side of their player board. Use the remaining Characters to form the Muse stack in the Parlour district.
Traveling Artisans — During setup, use Side B of the Travel district board. During the game, players may publish a Portfolio instead of paying Coins to travel. (See the Travel district section for details.)
Special Action Pointer B — During setup, place Side B of the Special Action Pointer in the Temple Fair district, so it points to 12 o'clock and 2 o'clock. When players get a Special Action icon, they may activate a Shop the Special Action Pointer is pointing to. (See the Temple Fair section for details.)
Advanced Action Tiles — See the Upkeep Events section or Chapter 3 for instructions.
Mixed Age Drafting — See the Upkeep Events section or Chapter 2 for instructions.
Advanced Final Scoring — See the Final Scoring section or Chapter 2 for instructions.

Chapter 5 - Charming Scholar

The bustling city of Jinling pumps the flow of trade throughout Jiangnan and surrounding lands, leading the Chinese economy through the 16th century. Exotic goods, sophisticated customs, and rare languages led to ever-changing fashions, faster than anyone could have anticipated.

Charm people with your fashionable deeds, speedily assemble a studio of outstanding assistants, and create great works of art together!

Setup

Map: A1-A2-B3
Character Pool: 01 ~ 16
Action Tiles: Basic + Advanced
Shop Tiles: All Side A
Special Action Pointer: Side C
Scoring Goal Tile Pool: G ~ L
Upkeep Board: Side A
Final Scoring Overlay: Side B

Additional Rules

Advanced Talent Draft — During setup, use Talent Characters A01-A16. See Chapter 4 for instructions.
Charming Scholar — During setup, use Side B of the Parlour district board. During step 6, randomly place a Charm Tile faceup in the Parlour district, then place the remaining 5 Tiles faceup in a vertical column above the Parlour district. They will come into play from the bottom to the top. During the game, players might be able to place an extra Servant Marker when visiting the Parlour district by being in fashion. (See the Parlour section for details.)
Special Action Pointer C — During setup, use Side C of the Special Action Pointer. Place it so it points to 12 o'clock and 6 o'clock. (See the Temple Fair section for details.)
Advanced Action Tiles — See the Upkeep Events section or Chapter 3 for instructions.
Mixed Age Drafting — See the Upkeep Events section or Chapter 2 for instructions.
Tighter Tile Drafting — Using Side A of the Upkeep board with the Advanced Action Tiles will limit the selection of tiles players will draft from. (See the Upkeep Events section for details.)
Advanced Final Scoring — See the Final Scoring section or Chapter 2 for instructions.

Chapter 6 - Life of Gentry

The life of gentry is the life of grand artisans. A variety of paths is available to you, depending on how you wish to distinguish yourself. You may use any or all of these paths to get ahead of your rivals, but don't forget about the trends in the city. You must adapt accordingly if you are to be rewarded the most.

Assess your options wisely, and create your legacy in Jiangnan: Life of Gentry.

Setup

Map: B1-B2-B3
Character Pool: 01 ~ 20
Action Tiles: Basic + Advanced
Shop Tiles: Random Side A/B
Special Action Pointer: Random B/C
Scoring Goal Tile Pool: All A ~ L
Upkeep Board: Random Side A/B
Final Scoring Overlay: Random Side A/B

Additional Rules

Advanced Character Draft — During setup, use all Characters (A01-A20) for the Talents draft. See Chapter 4 for instructions.
The Life of Gentry — During setup, use Side B of all 3 district boards. The Advanced actions of the Society, Travel, and Parlour districts will all be available during the game.
Special Action Pointer B/C — During setup, randomly use Side B or C of the Special Action Pointer. (See the Temple Fair section for details.)
Advanced Action Tiles — See the Upkeep Events section or Chapter 3 for instructions.
Mixed Age Drafting — See the Upkeep Events section or Chapter 2 for instructions.
Tighter Tile Drafting — See the Upkeep Events section or Chapter 5 for instructions.
Advanced Final Scoring — See the Final Scoring section or Chapter 2 for instructions.

2-Player Rules

During setup, each player chooses a second color as their vassal color and takes the corresponding Scholar Markers and Servant Markers.
On your turn, you will take an Action Tile as usual and place a Scholar Marker of your main color at the chosen district. After discarding the rightmost action tile and gaining the Discard Bonus, place a Scholar Marker of your vassal color below the district indicated on the upper half of the discarded tile. (For Action Tiles with multiple districts, you choose which of the indicated districts to place the vassal's Scholar at.)
- If the district is full, place the vassal's Scholar in the Rest Area.
- If a district only has 1 space left on its Scholar Track, and both you and your vassal are visiting this district in the same turn, you will take precedence of placing a Scholar Marker of your main color and perform the district action. Then, place the vassal's Scholar in the Rest Area.
- 2P Advance Variant: Instead of discarding the rightmost Action Tile, you can discard any available Action Tile to gain its Discard Bonus.
In the Upkeep phase when Resolving Boats, place Servants like normal on the Boat Tiles below each district, including for the vassal colors.
When deciding the majority on a Boat for Scoring Trend Tiles, count Servants of your vassal color as your main color. Your vassal's Servant can win ties for you if it is in the rightmost space.
In the Upkeep phase, when drafting new Action Tiles in Rounds 1-4, ignore the vassal Scholar Markers. Players only draft Action Tiles for their main color Scholars.
- 6 or 8 Action Tiles are placed on the board for players to draft from, depending on the Upkeep board used.
Only score VP for each player's main color.
During Final Scoring, second place will still score the listed VP for the Scoring Goals.
- Vassals will not get a separate ranking when resolving Scoring Goals. Count them along with your main color.

Solo Bot Rules

During setup, choose a player color for the Bot Player, and give all components of the chosen color for the Bot, excluding the player board. Place the Bot's Player Markers on the scoring track and Society district. The Bot will take 12 Starting Action Tiles of their color and put them all inside their draw bag.
- During step 13 of setup, randomly draw 1 Portfolio Tile for the Bot, then you choose 1 Portfolio Tile for yourself. The Bot's starting Portfolio Tile is published at the start of the game.
- The Bot does not use Talent Characters.
- The Bot will start with 0 Coins and 0 Idea Tiles. It does not use Idea Tiles during the game.
You, the Human Player, will be the start player of the game.
The Bot's actions will be different from the human player:
- The Bot does not need to pay any Ideas costs to publish a Portfolio; it will just publish for free.
- When the Bot publishes a Portfolio, it does not gain the payout.
- During the Upkeep phase, the Bot does not gain any income, does not activate any Assistant Powers, and does not increase or decrease its Spirit Level.
On the Bot's turn, draw an Action Tile from its draw bag, and place 1 of the Bot's Scholar Marker below the district indicated on the upper half of the Action Tile:
- Society
  1. Place a marker on the Next Round Turn Order Track for the Bot as usual.
  2. Draw the first tile from the top of the Portfolio stack; the Bot immediately publishes this Portfolio for free.
- Teahouse
  1. Draw the first tile from the top of the Portfolio stack; the Bot immediately publishes this Portfolio for free.
  2. Place a new Display Tile of the corresponding type as usual, but do not place a Bot Servant Marker on the tile.
- Tavern
  1. Draw the first tile from the top of the Portfolio stack; the Bot immediately publishes this Portfolio for free.
  2. Place a new Display Tile of the corresponding type as usual, but do not place a Bot Servant Marker on the tile.
- Parlour
  - Draw the first tile from the top of the Muse stack; the Bot hires this Assistant immediately. The Bot only needs to meet an Assistant once to hire them.
  - The Bot will not place Servants due to the Charm Tile.
- Travel
  1. The Bot will finish a path for free each time it takes a Travel action. The order the Bot will take is Path A, B, C, and D in this order.
  2. Place Servant Markers of the Bot's color on all cities along a path.

Difficulty Settings

Using Talent powers and the advanced actions of the later chapters may make it easier to win against the Bot. For a greater challenge you can increase the difficulty of the Bot.

The rules set out above are the standard "Easy" setting. For each higher difficulty level, amend the rules as described below:

Easy — Rules as set out above.
Normal — Easy rules plus the following:
- During Final Scoring, the Bot gains 1 VP for every 1 Coin it has.
Hard — Normal rules plus the following:
- When the Bot publishes a Portfolio, it gains the payout as normal.
Expert — Hard rules plus the following:
- During Upkeep, the Bot gains income from published Portfolio tiles.
- The Bot activates the Novel income for free.
- The Bot can not activate Assistant Powers, so does not get income from them.
Master — Expert rules plus the following:
- When the Bot visits the Teahouse or Tavern, it will place a Bot Servant Marker on the Display Tiles upon publishing.
- When the Bot visits the Teahouse or Tavern, it will also check for their Servants and receive Coins or VP.
- During Upkeep, the Bot will receive income from the Teahouse and the Tavern.
Nightmare — Master rules plus the following:
- During setup, give the Bot an Imperial Degree Tile and place it showing the Juren side.
Inferno — Nightmare rules plus the following:
- During setup, the Bot's Imperial Degree Tile above will be flipped to show the Gongshi side.

List of Works

The Portfolio Tiles in this game are real existing works from the Ming Dynasty that experts consider to be famous and influential. Some such as Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Journey to the West, and Legend of Heroine Mulan are still rebooted frequently in modern culture. Others may still be relevant, as sources of tropes that have been used in many Chinese works over the ages.

We are not including summaries here due to space constraints, but the titles are mostly self-explanatory, so you can get sense of their wide-ranging creativity.

Paintings

ID	Title (Chinese)	Title (English)
A1	山雨欲來圖	The Coming of Storms
A2	峰下醉吟圖	Drunken Chant Under the Peak
A3	山亭文會圖	Literary Gathering at a Mountain Pavilion
A4	歸去來兮圖	Returning Home
A5	嫦娥圖	Chang'e's Ascent to the Moon
A6	江南春圖	Spring in Jiangnan
A7	廬山高圖	Lofty Mount Lu
A8	湘軍夫人圖	Xiang River Goddesses and Madam Xiang
A9	春樹秋霜圖	Spring Branches and Autumn Frost
A10	瑞雪凝冬圖	Snow Accumulating in Winter
A11	關山行旅圖	Travelers in a Mountain Pass
A12	漢宮春曉圖	Spring Dawn in the Han Palace
A13	雙松飛瀑圖	Two Pines and a Flying Cascade
A14	神鳥鳳凰圖	Phoenix the Sacred Bird
A15	瀟湘秋意圖	Autumn Intention in Xiaoxiang

Dramas

ID	Title (Chinese)	Title (English)
B1	玉簪記	Story of the Jade Hairpin
B2	南柯記	Dream of the Southern Bough
B3	紫釵記	Story of the Purple Hairpin
B4	紅線女	The Red Line Women
B5	紅梅記	Story of the Red Plum
B6	玉禪師	Jade Dream of a Zen Master
B7	狂鼓史	History of the Mad Drum
B8	中山狼	The Wolf of Zhongshan
B9	杜甫遊春	Dufu's Journey to Spring
B10	寶劍記	Story of the Sword
B11	女狀元	The Female Top Scholar
B12	鳴鳳記	Cries of the Phoenix
B13	浣紗記	Washing the Silken Gauze
B14	牡丹亭	The Peony Pavilion
B15	雌木蘭	Legend of Heroine Mulan

Novels

ID	Title (Chinese)	Title (English)
C1	警世通言	Stories to Alert the World
C2	喻世明言	Stories to Admonish the World
C3	醒世恆言	Stories to Awaken the World
C4	初刻拍案驚奇	Astonishing Tales - First Hour
C5	醒世姻緣傳	A Marriage to Awaken the World
C6	二刻拍案驚奇	Astonishing Tales - Second Hour
C7	包龍圖判百家公案	Hundreds Judged by Dragon Bao
C8	海剛峰先生居官公案傳	Investigations of Judge Hai Rui
C9	儒林外史	Chronicles of Literati Scholars
C10	封神演義	The Investiture of the Gods
C11	金瓶梅	The Plum in the Golden Vase
C12	三國演義	Romance of the Three Kingdoms
C13	西遊記	Journey to the West
C14	水滸傳	Outlaws of the Marsh
C15	皇明英烈傳	The Valiant Emperors of Ming

List of Cities

The Cities on the Travel District are real existing locations around the Jiangnan region, and they are still popular destinations to this day.

Ancient literati are known to write poems or draw paintings of these places, and the locals love to tell of the famous literati that have visited the area, further boosting the reputations of both parties.

ID	Chinese Name	City Name
—	金陵	Jinling
A1	揚州府	Yangzhou City
A2	二十四橋	Twenty-Four Bridges
A3	隋煬帝陵	Tomb of Emperor Yang
B1	黃山	Huangshan Mountains
B2	景德鎮	Jingdezhen Town
C1	杭州府	Hangzhou City
C2	西湖	Lake Xihu
C3	錢塘江潮	Qiantang Tidal Bore
D1	太湖	Lake Taihu
D2	蘇州府	Suzhou City

Quick Reference

Society — Adjust your Player Order for the Next Round. May spend $1 to refresh tiles. Gain 1 Portfolio Tile. Gain 1 Idea Tile of any type.

Teahouse — Gain $1 for each of your servants in display area. Publish a Portfolio and place a servant in display area. Gain 3 Idea Tiles corresponding to the type of works on display.

Tavern — Must pay $1 to increase 1 Spirit. Gain 1 VP for each of your servants in display area. Publish a Portfolio and place a servant in display area. Gain 3 Idea Tiles corresponding to the type of works on display.

Parlour — Must pay $1 to increase 1 Spirit. Then place a servant on a Muse to gain the muse bonus. Anytime you have 2 servants on a Muse, they immediately become your hired Assistant.

Temple Fair — Move your servant 1 space. Pay $1 to move your servant 2 spaces. Pay $2 to move your servant 3 spaces.

Travel — Must pay travel costs according to destination. Then increase 1 Spirit, place a servant on the city, and gain the city bonus. Gain 1 Scenery Symbol, may score VP during scoring.

Rest — If you do not have enough coins to visit any of the 4 available districts on your Action Track, or you do not wish to visit any of them, you may choose to Rest instead. Details on reverse side.

Bonus Icons

Gain 1 VP
Gain 1 Coin
Increase Spirit by 1
Gain 1 Novel Idea
Gain 1 Painting Idea
Gain 1 Drama Idea
Gain 1 Idea in any color of your choice.
Gain 1 faceup Portfolio from the Society. May not refresh tiles.
Activate the Shop indicated by the Special Action Pointer.

Upkeep Phase Icons

Personal Income
Place servants, Resolve Boats.
Draft New Action Tiles
Refill indicated Action Tiles
Public Scoring for indicated VP
Refill Draw Bags
Swap Age 2 Portfolio Tiles
Game End
Rotate Pointer
Adjust Turn Order
New Charm Tile
Consume Spirits
Mandatory Rest when Spirit Level drops to 0.

Final Scoring

Scoring Goal Tiles
Sets of published Portfolios in 3 different types.
Hired Assistants
Scenery Symbols
Any 3 unused Idea Tiles

Rest

Unpublished Portfolios
Publish a Portfolio
Published Portfolios
Use an Action Tile, but you will not visit the indicated location. Place your Scholar in the Rest area instead.
Discard rightmost Action Tile to gain Discard Bonus. Then gain $2 and 4 Spirits.

Credits

This is the official rulebook (English First Edition, v1.10) published by Moaideas Game Design, dated October 1, 2022.

Publisher: Moaideas Game Design
Game Designer: DuGuWei
Game Developer: David Wang, Desnet Amane
Chapters, 2-Player, Bot Rules Designer: David Wang
Cover Illustration: Su
Character Illustration: NowNow, Su
Art Director: Chiyami, keykid
Graphic Designer: Chiyami
Icons & Interface: Chiyami
Rulebook Editing: David Wang, Desnet Amane
English Proofreader: Adam Sequoyah
Rulebook Layout: Kongkong
Production Layout: Kongkong, Desnet Amane
Prepress Tuning: Desnet Amane
Print Operation Manager: Desnet Amane
Special Thanks: The 1140 Amazing Backers on Kickstarter, Frank Liu, Jay Bernardo, Jerry Lee, Kickstarter Japan, Peter Liao
Playtesters: Sky Huang, AuAu Chen, An-ping Liu, Allen Wang, Tsai Huei-Chiang, Vencent, 小路, 綾瀨, 麥麥, 倫子, 品翔, 糸字維