Lascaux
Lascaux Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Game Contents
- 54 playing cards (the Animals)
- 50 stones
- 30 markers (5 sets of 6 markers)
- 1 game rules
The Playing Cards
Lascaux has 54 cards. Each card has one of six animals (Aurochs, Deer, Horse, Goat, Mammoth and Rhinoceros) and two colours of handprints. The players must try to collect the most cards of an animal in order to win.
The Marker
The game has five sets (one set per player) of 6 marker-stones. The back of the marker contains a specific symbol to identify the player, the front contains a handprint with one of six colours. These colours match the colours of the handprints on the animal cards.
The Stones
The stones are the currency of the game. During the game, each player lays stones in the middle of the table to display their interest in the cards.
Setting Up the Game
- The cards are shuffled to form the deck. This deck is placed in the middle of the table with the cards face down.
- Each player takes a set of 6 matching markers (with the same symbol on the reverse side).
- Each player receives 12 stones (10 in a 5-person game).
- All unused stones and markers are returned to the game box. They will not be used during the game.
- The youngest player is the starting player for the first round.
Game Flow
Lascaux is played in rounds. The start player starts the round, the other players follow in clockwise order. The marker selection is done simultaneously, see "Marker Selection" below.
Drawing and Laying Out Cards
The start player draws cards from the deck one at a time and lays them face up in a row in the middle of the table. Each card is laid next to the previously drawn one. This continues until one of the following conditions is met:
- The cards on the table have 6 different colours of handprints displayed.
- There are seven cards laid out on the table.
Marker Selection
Each player secretly selects one of their six markers and places it face down (colour side down) on the table in front of them. Their other five markers are laid to the side and will not be used this round.
Bidding and Collecting Stones and Cards
Next, the start player places a stone in the middle of the table. Play continues clockwise around the table with each player placing one stone. If play returns to the start player, they place another stone in the middle of the table and play continues.
Note: instead of throwing their stones into the middle of the table, players can use the box lid or the central recess of the box insert as a receptacle.
Important: the stone supply of a player is always visible to the other players. A player may never cover their stone supply.
When a player will not or cannot lay a stone (i.e. if there are no more stones in their supply) they pass, taking all the stones from the middle of the table and putting them in their supply. The player then places their marker, which they selected at the start of the round, face down next to the row of cards and does not bid again in this round.
Example: Daniel is the start player and has placed a stone in the middle of the table. Next in turn order is Jurgen who places a stone, followed by Jan-Paul and Michael who do the same. It is Daniel's turn again and he decides to pass and take all four stones from the middle of the table and place them in his supply. He then places his marker face down in the middle of the table by the row of cards.
The other players proceed in the same way by placing a stone in the centre of the table. When another player passes, they receive the stones and place their marker face down on top of the marker that is already there.
Example: After two more rounds Michael decides to pass. He takes the stones and lays his marker on top of Daniel's. Jurgen and Jan-Paul continue the round.
When only one player remains with a marker in front of them, they reveal it immediately. They take all cards which have one coloured handprint that matches the colour of their revealed marker, and put them face up in front of themselves.
After the winner has their cards, the owner of the marker at the top of the pile turns it over and takes all remaining cards with a matching colour. This proceeds from the top to the bottom of the marker pile until all markers were uncovered and all possible cards were taken by players.
Cards that were taken by no players because no one had a matching coloured marker remain on the table and form part of the set of cards for the next round.
Finally, all markers are returned to the owners and a new round begins.
The Next Round
The player whose marker was at the bottom of the pile (and who was the first to pass) becomes the start player in the coming play round. They follow "Drawing and Laying Out Cards" and draw cards from the deck until 6 colours or 7 cards are in a row on the table. They lay the first stone in the middle of the table.
Game End
The game ends when all 54 cards have found an owner. Now players receive points for the most animals in each of the six types. The player with the most cards of an animal species receives as many points as they have cards of that species. The other players receive no points for this animal.
Example: Daniel collected the most Aurochs and has five. He receives five points.
The points for the other five animal species are awarded in the same way. If two or more players have the most cards of an animal species, they all receive points equal to the number of cards of that species.
Additionally, each player receives one point for each six stones remaining in their supply.
Example: Jurgen has eight stones and receives one point, Jan-Paul has 14 and receives two points.
The player with the most points wins!
Other Rules
If a player has no stones in his supply and there are no stones in the middle of the table, he does not receive any stones and must pass and place his marker on the pile in the middle of the table.
Towards the end of play, it can occur that there are not enough cards to lay out six colours or seven cards. In this case all remaining cards are laid out in a row and play proceeds normally.
The players can agree to play a number of games and add their points afterwards. In this case, we recommend changing the play direction between clockwise and anti-clockwise in each game and having a different player start each game.
Variant: Before beginning play, the players may agree to keep their stone supplies secret.
Card Distribution
The following card-distribution table is reproduced from the companion "Lascaux Summary" document (v. 1.01, January 1, 2013, by Kent Reuber), which lists the animal for each of the 54 card's two-colour handprint combinations. Note this summary uses slightly different English animal names than the main rules translation above (Bison for Aurochs, Ram for Goat) — both refer to the same six animal card types.
9 cards per animal: Bison, Deer, Horse, Mammoth, Ram, and Rhinoceros. 18 cards per colour (exception: 17 blue, 19 pink).
Colours: B = Blue, G = Green, P = Pink, T = Tan, W = White, Y = Yellow.
| Animal | B/G | B/P | B/T | B/W | B/Y | G/P | G/T | G/W | G/Y | P/T | P/W | P/Y | T/W | T/Y | W/Y |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bison | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | ||||||
| Deer | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | ||||||
| Horse | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | ||||||
| Mammoth | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | ||||||
| Ram | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | ||||||
| Rhinoceros | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X |