Keltis: Das Orakel
Keltis: Das Orakel Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Game Material
- 1 Oracle Priestess
- 12 player figures (3 each in four colours)
- 4 scoring stones
- 4 large clover tiles
- 1 game board
- 39 Way Tiles: 9 Wishing Stones, 3 Mirrors, 3 Spirals, 3 Leprechauns, 5 coloured clovers, 16 point tiles
- 110 cards (2 sets of 0 to 10, in five colours)
Game Preparation
- Before the first game, carefully remove the parts from the frame.
- Each player takes in a colour the three player figures, a scoring stone, and a large clover tile.
- If playing with less than four players, return the unused material to the box.
- Place the figures on the game board on the large stone at the beginning of the spiral pathway.
- The scoring stones are placed on the first space of the scoring track.
- Each player places his large clover tile on the table to indicate their player colour.
- Place the Oracle Priestess on the Start Space (the first large stone) of the spiral pathway.
- Place the 9 wishing stones on the associated large stones on the pathway. Note: only one stone is placed at the end space in the centre of the spiral.
- The 30 Way tiles are mixed face down and placed onto the marked spaces on the spiral pathway, so that they do not cover the symbols in the space. They are revealed immediately.
- The cards are shuffled and every player is dealt a hand of eight cards. The remaining cards form a face down draw deck. The cards show a number from 0 to 10 in one of five colours. There is also a green number on each card that indicates the maximum number of spaces the Oracle Priestess may be moved.
Note: in two player games, 30 cards are removed from the deck and placed hidden into the game box.
The Game Board
- The board shows a long spiral path. The path begins with a large "Start Space" and ends at a large space in the centre of the board. Each space on the path has a coloured icon (red-brown, yellow, pink, green, blue), which can also be found on the cards. The players figures begin on the Start Space. The colour on the card indicates which space the player may advance one of their pieces to.
- The spaces along the path also show the point players will receive for occupying these spaces. Early spaces on the path show negative points.
- The last seven spaces along the path are the Goal Section (The Oracle), with points of value 6, 7 and 10 in red. The game ends immediately when a player moves their third figure into this area, or the fifth figure (out of all the players) enters the Oracle area.
- The small stone spaces along the path have random Way tiles; thus, every game is different.
- The two scoring tables on the board show how many points you receive at the end of the game for collected wishing stones.
- A scoring track runs around the edge of game board.
Playing The Game
The player who most recently visited Ireland begins; otherwise, the oldest player begins. When a player takes a turn they must (A) play a card in front of them and advance one of their figures or the Priestess. If they cannot or choose not to play a card, they must (B) discard a card unplayed and may not move any figure. They draw a new card at the end of their turn. The next player then takes a turn.
A - Playing a Card
The active player chooses a card from his hand and places it in front of him. It makes sense to play the highest or the lowest card in a colour.
- If the first card in a colour is played, it begins a row of cards for that colour. If there is already a row in that colour, the new card is placed into the row so that the numbers of all cards can be seen. New cards can only be played in ascending or descending order - the second (or third) card in the series will determine which order further cards are played.
- Ascending order - only cards of the same or higher values are allowed (0,1,2,2,5, etc).
- Descending order - only cards of the same or lower values are allowed (9,9,7,6,4, etc).
- You are allowed to have gaps in values in your row of cards.
- You are only permitted to have five rows of cards - one in each colour.
Note: At the end of the rule, there is a detailed example of playing cards.
Moving a Figure
After playing a card, the active player has two options. Either a) they move one of their figures, or b) they move the Priestess.
a) Moving Their Figure
- The active player moves one of their figures to the next space showing the colour of played card. The number one the card does not matter.
- Any number of figures may stand on the same space.
- Playing more cards later in the game moves figures further down the spiral path.
- Players may use all of their figures, but they do not need to. A figure standing on a negative space at the end of the game will lose points.
Note: At the end of the rule, there is a detailed example of moving a figure.
b) Moving the Oracle Priestess and receiving the Oracle Bonus
- The player may move the Oracle Priestess up to as many spaces as indicated on the card. E.g. if you play a 9, you may have the Oracle Priestess 1, 2, 3 or 4 spaces (the number on the card above the image of the Oracle Priestess).
- If the Priestess is moved to a space with one or more the active player's figures, the active player receives an Oracle Bonus of five points. Move the scoring stone along the scoring track for this bonus.
- If there are several figures of the active player on that space, the active player still only receives five bonus points.
- If the movement of the Oracle Priestess ends on a space, with no active player's figure, nothing happens.
- Other players who have figures on that space receive no points.
- If a player moves one of their figures on space with the Oracle Priestess, they receive no points.
- The Priestess only moves forwards, never backwards. If the Priestess reaches the last space on the path, it cannot be moved further for the rest of the game.
B - Discard a Card
If a player has no suitable card to play, or chooses not to play a card, they must instead discard a card from their hand. This card is not used, and is placed onto a discard pile for that colour. Each colour has its own discard pile. Only the top card in each discard pile is visible.
Drawing a Card
After the player has played or discarded a card, they draw a card to bring their hand back up to eight cards. The card(s) they draw can come from either the draw deck or the top card from any discard pile. If the player used a Leprechaun Way tile, they can draw two cards (see below).
The next player then takes their turn and the game continues.
Way Tiles
Any player who moves their figure onto a stone space with a green Way tile (tiles are never removed) received the following bonus:
- Points Scoring: The player immediately moves their scoring piece ahead the indicated value.
- Clover: The player may advance their figure down the path to the next stone in the colour of the clover. Any tile on this new stone will also be actioned, etc.
- Spiral: The player may move their figure backwards to any stone. Exception: they may not move back to the stone on which they began their move. Any Way tile on the new stone space will also be actioned.
- Goblins (Leprechauns): The player may immediately discard one of their cards onto the appropriate discard pile. This may be a card from their hand or the last card from one of their card rows. You are allowed to discard the card you played this turn.
- Goblin Scoring: Once during the game, players can make a special Goblin scoring. If all three's player figures are on three different Goblin spaces, he scores 15 points. If all three player's figures are on two different Goblin spaces, he scores 10 points. If all three player's figures are on the same Goblin space, he scores 5 points. To indicate a player has taken his Goblin score, he flips his Clover tile over to the Goblin side.
Orange Way Tiles are collected: when a player moves his figure onto an orange Way tile, he removes this tile and place it face up in front of him.
- Wish Stones: At the end of the game, players receive points for collected wish stones according to the table on the game board.
- Mirrors: At the end of the game, each mirror scores the players Wish stones again.
End of the Game
The game can end in one of two ways:
- Either the third figure of a player, or any five figures belonging to any players, end up in the red Oracle area of the spiral path. The game ends immediately - any green tiles are not actioned, and any orange tiles are not claimed.
- Or, the last card is drawn from the draw deck.
Scoring
Each figure on the spiral path scores the points next to its stone. Points are scored on the scoring track. If a player goes past 80 points, keep scoring from 1 and add 80 to the total. If a figure is next to a negative number, those points are deduced. Figures on the starting space score no points.
Players also score points for Wishing Stones collected during the game. The points are indicated on the table on the game board. For each Mirror that a player collected, the player scores those points again. This also applies to negative scores.
The player with the most points wins the game. A tie results in a shared victory.
Example: Player white moves his figure forward. Now, there are five figures in the Oracle section (1 black, 1 brown, 1 grey and 2 white) and the game immediately ends. The 3-point scoring Green tile that the white just move to does not action.
- White: White's three figures score 10+6-3 = 13 points. White collects 3 wishing tones and score 3 points. For each of the two mirrors, he scores 3 points again and scores 6 additional points. So, White has 13 + 3 + 6 = 22 points.
- Black: Black's three figures score 6+5+0 = 11 points. Black collects 1 wishing tones and score -3 points. For his single mirror, he scores -3 points again. So, Black has 11 - 3 - 3 = 5 points. Black has made one Goblin score, but it is not shown in the example.
- Brown: Brown's three figures score 7+5+3 = 15 points. Brown collects 2 wishing tones and score 2 points. So, Brown has 15 + 2 = 17 points.
- Gray: Gray's three figures score 7+5-2 = 10 points. Gray collects 2 wishing tones and score 2 points. So, Gray has 10 + 2 = 12 points.
Variant
After the players have played the game a few times, they can play with the following rule for the clover tiles. When a player moves one of their figures onto a Clover tile, they may immediately move any of their figures down the path to the next space matching the colour of the clover. If the new space contains a tile, it is actioned.
Examples
A) Playing a Card
White player plays his first card, "Green 0". In the subsequent rounds, he plays "Green 1", which is laid covering the "Green 0" partially so that all players can see the number sequence of the played cards. Now, the White player can only play Green cards in ascending order; i.e. the next Green card must be 1 or higher number.
White player starts a new colour row by playing a "Red-Brown 9". In the later rounds, he plays "Red-Brown 9" again and then plays "Red-Brown 7". From now on, the White player can only play Red-Brown cards in descending order.
The colour rows shall be separated properly so that all players can see the colours and numbers.
Naturally, players can play any colour cards in a turn. They need not play cards of a colour before playing another.
a) Moving a Figure
Player white played "Green 0" to start his Green row. He moves one of his figures to the next green space on the spiral path (1) and moves his scoring marker 3 spaces forwards on the scoring track. This green space gives -4 points at game end.
In his next turn, the White player plays another green card and moves his figure to the next green space (2a). He encounters the Spiral green Way tile and moves his figure backward to the large pink stone space (2b). He takes one of two wishing stones and places it in front of him.
In the following turn, he plays his first "Red-Brown 5" and moves his figure to the next red-brown space (3). He meets the Leprechaun. He can choose to discard a card from his hand or one of his played cards. He decides to discard his "Red-Brown 5" so that he can start his red-brown colour row anew.
Naturally, players can plan any of his figures along the path. They need not finish moving one figure before another.
b) Moving the Oracle Priestess and receiving the Oracle Bonus
White player plays a "Yellow 10" and moves his figure to the first yellow space. He decides not to take the action of the blue Clover because it is more beneficial for his figure to stay on the yellow space.
Afterwards, he plays a "Yellow 8" and lays it on top of the "Yellow 10". He decides to move the Oracle Priestess. He could have moved the Oracle Priestess three spaces forwards because "Yellow 8" shows "3" above the Oracle Priestess figure on the card. Yet, he decides to move the Oracle Priestess 2 spaces forwards because he has a figure on the yellow space. He immediately gets the 5 bonus points and moves his scoring marker 5 spaces forwards on the scoring track. The Black player does not get any bonus.
B) Discard a Card
The player has no suitable cards to play this turn. He decides to discard a "Green 2" from his hand on the green discard pile next to the draw deck. He cannot play "Green 2" in front of him because his top card in the green row is "Green 3" - playing "Green 2" would violate the ascending requirement and he cannot start a new green row as he already has one.
Besides the green discard pile, there are blue and yellow discard piles: Draw Deck, "Green 2" must be discarded as the top card, Blue Discard Pile, Yellow Discard Pile.