King of the Dice: The Board Game Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Components
• Game Setup
• How to Play
  • Phase 1: Roll the Dice
  • Phase 2: Check Dice Result
    • Use Citizen Cards
    • Example
  • Phase 3a: Use Citizen Card
    • Stack 1: Grumpy Merchant
    • Stack 2: Arrogant Thief
    • Stack 3: Busy Dragon Trainer
    • Stack 4: Aggressive Ruffian
    • Stack 5: Greedy Land Developer
    • Example of Stack 1
    • Example for Stack 4
  • Phase 3b: Dragon Alarm
• End of the Game
  • Scoring
• Card Overview
  • Dice Conditions
  • Example of Scoring
• Quick Reference Guide
  • Goal of the Game
  • Game Setup
  • How to Play
  • End of the Game

Game Components

2 game board halves — Each half shows 15 territory spaces.

30 castle tiles — The castle tiles each show a specific terrain type on the front. Each terrain type is shown twice on the game board. The back of all castle tiles are the same.

Front side terrain types (2x each): Floodplain, Coastline, Swamp, Field, Desert, Caves, Volcano, Farmland, Mountains, Lava, Steppe, Pine forest, Mushroom forest, Flower meadow, Gemstone quarry.

Back side: Castle.

60 citizen cards — These are divided into 5 piles of 12 cards each: Stack 1 (Grumpy Merchant), Stack 2 (Arrogant Thief), Stack 3 (Busy Dragon Trainer), Stack 4 (Aggressive Ruffian), Stack 5 (Greedy Land Developer).

Front: shows the effects and the joker symbol (top edge) as well as the dice conditions (bottom edge).

Back: is used in the game as a super joker (symbol in the top-middle).

Important: The different background colors of the stacks are only used for easier sorting and do not play a role in the game!

4 overview cards — are the same on both sides and show the end game scoring.

18 white gemstones, 6 gold gemstones, 6 dice, 15 dragon fires

64 player markers — 16 per player, in purple, yellow, turquoise and black.

Game Setup

The placement of the game board pieces and the number and starting location of the dragon fires changes depending on the number of players. Use the game's setup illustrations to set up the game for the correct number of players.

1. Place the two game board pieces as a map in the center of the table, according to the number of players.
2. The dragon fire spaces on the map are covered with castle tiles and dragon fire. To do this, look for a castle tile that matches the dragon fire space, place it on the matching territory space on the map face down (castle side showing) and then place a dragon fire on it.
3. Place all remaining dragon fires in a general stockpile next to the map.
4. Shuffle all the remaining castle tiles and place them face down next to the map as a general stockpile. Then draw 2 random castle tiles and place them back into the game box without looking at them.

Note: Nobody should know which castle tiles have been removed!

5. Place 6 white and 4 gold gemstones directly on the matching territory spaces according to the game setup illustration.
6. Each player receives one white gemstone, which they place in front of them in their personal player area.
7. Place all remaining gemstones next to the map as a general stockpile.
8. In addition, each player selects a player color, then places the colored player markers (16 pieces) and the colored overview card in their personal player area.
9. Player markers and overview cards that are not needed are returned to the game box.
10. Sort the citizen cards into their different types (see Game Components) and shuffle these piles separately. Then place the 5 piles face up in a row above the board. The top card of each pile should always be visible. These 5 face-up citizen cards form the Job Market.

Note: It is best to place the card stacks so that they show the panoramic picture. The order is not relevant when playing, however this means that the cards are arranged from left to right according to difficulty and effect strength.

11. Let the dice decide who will be the starting player. Each player rolls all 6 dice once. The player who rolls the most sixes starts the game.

Variant: In later games when you have more experience, you can arrange the territory parts differently and distribute dragon fires and gemstones randomly, or however you like.

Note: The territory spaces of the game board sections also show small symbols so that you don't need to look at the rulebook every time. These symbols are not needed for the rest of the game.

How to Play

"Let's go – there are new lands to settle!"

Players take turns in a clockwise direction. The starting player begins. A turn consists of 3 phases:

• Phase 1: Roll the Dice
• Phase 2: Check Dice Result
• Phase 3a: Use Citizen Card, or
• Phase 3b: Dragon Alarm

Phase 1: Roll the Dice

Whose help would you like this time?

Take the six dice and try to roll what you need to hire one of the citizen cards in the Job Market. The following rules apply:

• You may roll a maximum of three times (so two rerolls are allowed).
• Before rerolling, you may decide which dice to keep and which ones to roll again.
• You may stop rolling and use the dice rolled before your third roll, but you must keep whatever is rolled after the third roll.

Note: It is possible that you might use all the cards in one or more piles. This is not a problem and you may continue playing normally.

Phase 2: Check Dice Result

"Hey you – yes you!"

If you can fulfil the conditions of one citizen card in the Job Market, hire this citizen card and place it face up in front of you, then continue with Phase 3a: Use Citizen Card.

If you can fulfil the conditions of multiple citizen cards in the Job Market, you must decide on hiring only one of them.

If you cannot fulfil the conditions of any citizen card in the card arrangement with your dice result, take any one citizen card from the card arrangement and place it face down in front of you (so that the side with the super joker can be seen). Go to Phase 3b: Dragon Alarm.

Note: All dice conditions are explained in detail at the end of the rules.

To improve your dice result, you may use citizen cards that you have already hired with (you can ignore this step during your first move).

Use Citizen Cards

Each card is marked with a specific or wild joker symbol at the center of the top.

The front shows a die in a specific color and with a specific number. The back shows a die in any color and with any number of dots (super joker).

• You can discard two citizen cards with matching joker symbols in the same color and with the same number from your personal player area. Add a pretend die with the matching number and color to your current dice result.
• The super joker on the back of the card can be for any color or number of dots. You may use it in combination with any other joker symbols on the front of a Citizen card.
• If you have two super jokers, they can be combined into a dice of any color and number of dots.

Important: 2 cards must always be discarded from the personal player area. The super joker "only" has the advantage that it can be used as any color and number.

Note: You may discard more than one set of jokers to add additional dice to your result, one die per matching pair of symbols discarded.

Note: If you can fulfil the conditions of a citizen card with your dice result, you must hire that Citizen. You may not voluntarily decide to continue with Phase 3b: Dragon Alarm. This naturally only applies to the original dice result from Phase 1. You are not forced to use citizen cards as jokers.

Example

After rolling the dice three times, Michi has a dice result and would like to hire a citizen card from Stack 3. However, to fulfil the dice condition, Michi is missing a "6" in any color. Fortunately, Michi has already collected citizen cards in their personal player area.

They can discard the ruffian and the land developer. This allows them to add one more red 6 to their dice result. Michi could also have combined and discarded a super joker with one of the two red 6 jokers. They could also have discarded both super jokers for a red 6.

Michi returns the discarded citizen cards to the game box and continues with Phase 3a.

Even with a different dice result, Michi could have met the dice condition for Stack 3 by discarding the ruffian and land developer for a red 6, and then discarding the two super jokers for a 1 (in any color).

Phase 3a: Use Citizen Card

"Thank you very much!"

Place the citizen card you hired face up in front of you. The area in front of you is your personal player area. This is visible to all players. You may not hide any cards, player markers, gemstones or dragon fires.

Then perform all the effects of the newly hired citizen card.

Note: The cards within a stack mainly differ with regard to the dice conditions (bottom of the card) and the joker symbol (center top). The effects (top left and top right) of all cards in a stack are the same, with a few exceptions.

Stack 1: Grumpy Merchant

"I have something to offer... should we bargain?"

Brief explanation: Draw 1, 2 or 3 castle tiles, place 1 of them. If * = 3, take a gemstone from the stockpile.

Depending on how many of the dice conditions you have fulfilled on this card, draw 1, 2 or even 3 castle tiles from the general stockpile and turn them over (visible to all players). Select one of them and then shuffle the others face down in the general stockpile.

Place the selected castle tile face up on an empty territory space of the matching type. Place one of your player markers on top. Free territory spaces are territory spaces without castle tiles. If there is a gemstone on the territory space, take it and place it in your personal player area.

If you have fulfilled all the dice conditions (all dice up to the small gemstone symbol), you receive one additional gemstone from the general stockpile and place this in your personal player area.

Note: At the start of the game, there are two gold gemstones and several white gemstones in the general stockpile. Once the gold gemstones have been claimed, you will only receive white gemstones when completing this card.

In the unlikely event that there are no more gemstones in the stockpile, you are unfortunately left empty handed.

Stack 2: Arrogant Thief

"Pssst…. check this out!"

There are two different effects in this stack: steal citizen card or steal gemstone.

Steal citizen card:

Brief explanation: Draw 2 castle tiles, place 1 of them. Steal 1 face-up citizen card from any other player.

Draw 2 castle tiles from the general stockpile and turn them over (visible to all players). Choose one of them and shuffle the other one face down back into the general stockpile.

Place the selected castle tile face up on an empty territory space of the matching type. Place one of your player markers on top. Free territory spaces are territory spaces without castle tiles. If there is a gemstone on the territory space, take it and place it in your personal player area.

In addition, you may steal any face-up citizen card from any other player and place it in your personal player area.

Note: You may not steal a super joker!

Steal gemstone:

Brief explanation: Draw 1 castle tile and place it. Steal 1 gemstone of your choice from any other player.

Draw 1 castle tile from the general stockpile and place it face up (visible to all players).

Place the castle tile face up on an empty territory space of the matching type. Place one of your player markers on top. Free territory spaces are territory spaces without castle tiles. If there is a gemstone on the territory space, take it and place it in your personal player area.

In addition, you may steal any gemstone (gold or white) from any other player and place it in your personal player area.

Stack 3: Busy Dragon Trainer

"Dragon here, dragon there, dragon obey!"

Brief explanation: Replace 1 dragon fire of your choice with your own player marker. At the end of the game, +4 points for most dragon fires.

Replace any dragon fire on the map with your own player marker from your personal stockpile. Place the dragon fire in your personal player area. If there is a gemstone on the territory space, take it and place it in your personal player area.

Note: At the end of the game, the player with the most dragon fires in their personal player area receives 4 extra points. In the event of a tie, all tied players receive 4 extra points.

Note: The question mark is a reminder that you can defeat any dragon on the map. Elves can fly.

Stack 4: Aggressive Ruffian

"Hmpf…. attack!"

Brief explanation: Replace the closest player marker of another player with your own player marker.

Replace the closest neighboring player marker of another player with one of your own player markers from your personal stockpile. Return that player marker to its owner.

"Closest neighbor" in this case means that you can only replace player markers that are touching a space with your player markers (i.e. one space away). If there are no neighboring player markers, you can only replace a player marker that is 2 spaces away from your player marker. If there are no player markers that are 2 spaces away, you can only replace a player marker that is 3 spaces away, etc.

Note: The exclamation mark reminds you that it matters where the player marker of the other player is on the map. Gnomes are relatively lazy, so they don't travel far.

Note: If you have not placed one of your own player markers on the map, all player markers on the map are "closest" for you.

Stack 5: Greedy Land Developer

"Yes, exactly, please sign here."

Brief explanation: Draw 2 castle tiles and place them both.

Draw 2 castle tiles from the general stockpile and turn them over. Place both castle tiles face up on empty territory spaces of the matching type. Place one of your player markers on each. Free territory spaces are territory spaces without castle tiles. If there are gemstones on the territory spaces, take them and place them in your personal player area.

Note: If you need to draw more castle tiles than are still available in the general stockpile, draw as many as possible.

Example of Stack 1

Nadine rolled 5 red dice after her third throw. This would have fulfilled the dice condition. Nadine would be allowed to draw 2 castle tiles and place one of them. But she really wants the additional gemstone from the stockpile! She discards two of her citizen cards with the same joker symbol, earning her another red die. This fulfils the dice condition so she can hire the Greedy Landdeveloper. She draws 3 castle tiles, places one of them, and also takes one white gemstone from the general stockpile (the gold gemstones have unfortunately already been taken).

Example for Stack 4

Chrissy would like to conquer a territory space that belongs to Nico. However, Nico's player markers are all 2 territory spaces away from Chrissy's player markers. Michi's player markers are 3 territory spaces away from Chrissy. Two of Nadine's player markers are neighbors to Chrissy's player markers. Chrissy therefore has no choice except to replace one of Nadine's two player markers.

Phase 3b: Dragon Alarm

If you were unable to fulfil any of the pictured dice conditions, you have already taken a castle card of your choice from the Job Market and placed it face down in your player area. You can use this card later as a super joker.

Also draw a castle tile from the general stockpile and turn it over.

Place the castle tile face up on an empty territory space of the matching type. Place a dragon fire from the general stockpile on top. Free territory spaces are territory spaces without castle tiles.

If there is a gemstone on the territory space, it remains there until a player drives out this dragon fire with a busy dragon trainer (Stack 3).

Note: In the unlikely event that there are no more dragon fires in the general stockpile, you must place a dragon fire from your personal stockpile. If you don't have a dragon fire, place a dragon fire from any other player.

End of the Game

The game ends as soon as there are no more castle tiles in the general stockpile at the end of Phase 3, and all but 2 territory spaces on the map are occupied.

The player with the most points wins the game and is crowned the King of the Dice. In the event of a tie, the player with the most dragon fires wins. If there is still a tie, then these players share the win.

Important: If a player has placed their 16 player markers and would need to place another player marker, they immediately win the game.

Scoring

Now each player counts their points:

• 3 points for every castle they own in their largest connected area. If the player has several areas of equal size, only one of them counts as the largest area.
• 1 point for every occupied space outside this area.
• 4 points for the player with the most dragon fires in their personal player area. If several players have the most dragon fires, all tied players receive 4 points each.
• 3 points for each gold gemstone in the personal player area.
• 2 points for each white gemstone in the personal player area.

Card Overview

Dice Conditions

• The number of dice pictured on the card need to be the color(s) shown.
• The number of dice pictured on the card needs to show the pictured number(s).
• Your dice result needs to be able to create number pairs or groups. Each symbol stands for a number of your choice. Please note that different symbols cannot represent the same number. You can decide which number is represented by each symbol. The number of dice on the card show how many dice are needed.
• The sum of all dice must be equal to or greater than the stated value.
• The sum of all red dice must be equal to or greater than the stated value.
• The total of the red dice must be greater than the total of the blue dice, which in turn must be greater than the total of the green dice. For example: 12 > 5 > 1 is OK; 12 > 6 > 0 is OK; 12 = 12 > 5 is NOT OK.
• You must be able to create a run of numbers on as many dice as pictured, i.e. the numbers rolled must be consecutive. This means that the numbers rolled must follow each other without any gaps. In one specific case, this is a dice condition of Stack 1 and you can make a run of 4, 5 or 6 dice. If you create a run of 6 dice, you will also receive a gemstone from the general stockpile.
• • = 1, * = 2, or * = 3 and a gemstone from the stockpile.

Example of Scoring

Four players (Chrissy, Michi, Nico, Nadine) tally their points across castles in the largest connected area (3 points each), castles outside that area (1 point each), dragon fires (4 points for the most), gold gemstones (3 points each), and white gemstones (2 points each) to reach their final totals.

Quick Reference Guide

Goal of the Game

With a bit of luck and the right strategy, you can roll the dice and hire citizens to claim territories and discover gemstones, all to earn points and the title of King of the Dice.

Game Setup

• Set up the game board pieces, dragon fire with matching castle tiles, and gemstones depending on the number of players.
• Divide the citizen cards into the 5 stacks, shuffle them and place them face up in a row as a Job Market.
• Give each player all player markers and an overview card in their color.
• Shuffle the castle tiles face down and remove 2 without looking at them.
• Place the remaining dragon fire and gemstones as a general supply.
• Give the starting player all 6 dice.

How to Play

Take turns in a clockwise direction. Each turn consists of 3 phases:

Phase 1: Roll the Dice — Roll all 6 dice. Choose any number of dice to reroll up to two times.

Phase 2: Check Dice Result — Multiple options. Use citizen cards to expand the dice result with a bonus die:

• 2 identical joker symbols create a matching die.
• 1 joker symbol + 1 super joker create the matching die of the joker symbol.
• 2 super jokers create any die.

Can the dice condition of a citizen card in the Job Market be fulfilled?

• Yes: Hire this citizen card and place it face up in your own player area. Continue with Phase 3a.
• No: Hire any citizen card and place it face down in your own player area. Continue with Phase 3b.

Phase 3a: Use Citizen Card — Perform the effects of the newly hired citizen card:

• Stack 1: Draw 1, 2 or 3 castle tiles then place one of them. If * = 3: Take a gemstone from the stockpile.
• Stack 2a: Draw 2 castle tiles then place one of them. Steal a face-up citizen card from any other player.
• Stack 2b: Draw a castle tile and place it. Steal any gemstone from any other player.
• Stack 3: Replace any dragon fire with your own player marker.
• Stack 4: Replace the closest player marker of another player with your own player marker.
• Stack 5: Draw 2 castle tiles and place them both.

Phase 3b: Dragon Alarm — Draw a face-up castle tile from the stockpile and place it with dragon fire on top.

End of the Game

The game ends as soon as all the castle tiles in the stockpile have been placed. The player with the most points wins!

• 3 points per owned castle in the largest continuous area.
• 1 point per owned castle outside this area.
• 4 points for the player with the most dragon fires.
• 3 points for each gold gemstone.
• 2 points for each white gemstone.