Maharaja: The Game of Palace Building in India
Maharaja: The Game of Palace Building in India Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Setup
Each player chooses a color and takes an action disc, an action summary card, their architect (placed on its starting position), 7 palaces and 4 houses in their color, and 15 gold pieces (1 coin of 10 value and 1 coin of 5 value). Money may be kept hidden from other players.
Other houses are put in a quarry (bank) next to the board.
Place the Maharaja on his starting position. Place the character cards 1-6 next to the board.
Shuffle the 7 governor pieces and randomly place them faceup on the governor track, one in each box above the arrow (boxes 1-10 will not be occupied).
The action chits and character card 7, the Yogi, are only used in the advanced game.
The youngest player selects one of the character cards and places it in front of him, then so does the next player in clockwise order, and so on. The numbers on the card determine the player turn order, and break a tie when scoring in a city. The lower the number, the higher it ranks.
Players now place their initial 4 houses in any villages on the board, at no cost and in player turn order, one at a time. No more than 2 houses may be built in any one village (1 per village in a 2 player game). Remember to connect cities where scoring is done first.
All players then receive 6 houses from the quarry.
Sequence of Play
1. Move the Maharaja
Place the Maharaja piece into the city whose governor is at the bottom of the governor track.
2. Move a Governor
Move the bottom governor piece above the topmost governor on the track.
3. Choose Actions
Player choose their actions for the next game turn, using both arrows on their action disc. You may select the same action.
4. Execute Actions
The player with the lowest numbered character card then flips over his action disc and conducts both of his actions (in any order), followed by the next player in player turn order, and so on.
A player may renounce a part of an action, a whole action or both of his actions.
5. Scoring Actions
Scoring is done in the city where the Maharaja is located. Every player represented in that city (the player's architect does not need to be there) receives money from the bank.
Players get points for their buildings and architect in the city:
| Building | Points |
|---|---|
| Architect | 1 point |
| House | 1 point |
| Outer palace | 1 point |
| Central palace | 3 points |
Consult the line on the Scoring Table on the summary corresponding to the number of players in the game. The player with the most points gets the leftmost number of gold coins from the bank. The player with the secondmost points gets the second numbers' worth of coins, and so on.
On a tie, the player with the lower number on their character card wins the higher amount.
If only 1 player scores points in a city, he receives 5 additional gold pieces.
Action
Travelling
This is a free action and is not on the action disc. You may freely move your architect any time during your turn. You may move him to a city, build there, move him to another city, build there, etc.
You may only move your architect through villages containing at least 1 house. He may never be moved through a village in which no house (of any player) is present.
Travelling through cities and the starting location, and travelling through villages where you have at least one house, is free.
You must pay 1 gold piece for each house in a village you travel through where do you not own a house, payable to the house owners.
Gold
You receive 2 gold pieces from the bank.
Build a House
You may build 1 house in a village or a city. A house costs 1 gold piece.
Build 2 Houses
You may build 2 houses: one must be placed in a city, the other in a village or a city. Each house costs 1 gold piece. You may only build a house in a city if your architect is present.
Move a House
You may move one of your houses from a village or city to another village or city, at no cost. You may only move it to a city if your architect is in that city.
Quarry
You may receive 2 of your own houses from the quarry and place them into your pool. You may build them in future actions.
Palace
You may build 1 palace for 12 gold pieces. You may only build in a city if your architect is present.
Governor Track Order
You may change the order of governors by taking any governor piece and moving it 2 boxes down on the governor track. The pieces that are overtaken are pushed one box up. It is possible that there will be vacant boxes.
Character Cards
You may take a character card away from another player (the player cannot stop this) or take one from the bank. Your existing card is given to the bank. The player left without a character may now select one from the bank.
A player conducting his turn is always allowed to complete it. If he has completed his turn he does not get another in the same game round.
Among the players who have not yet had a turn, the one with the lowest ranking character is the next player.
Building
It costs 1 gold piece to build a house, and 12 gold pieces to build a palace.
No more than 2 houses may be built in any one village. In a 2 player game, only 1 house per village is allowed.
Only 7 palaces may be built in a city, but any number of houses may be built in a city.
Your architect does not have to be present to build in a village. Your architect must be present to build houses and palaces in a city.
Character Special Powers
- Mogul — Moves first and is the best card if a tie has to be broken during scoring.
- Trader — Always receives 1 gold piece in each of his turns.
- Sadhu — Outer palaces are worth 2 points during scoring (instead of 1).
- Wandering Monk — The player's architect always travels for free.
- Builder — Builds or moves 1 additional house for free.
- Artisan — Pays only 9 (instead of 12) gold pieces to build a palace.
Winning
The game ends after scoring has been conducted in the game turn when one or more players have built their seventh palace, or one of the governors is placed in box 10 of the governor track.
The winner is the player who has built the most palaces.
On a tie, the tied player with the most gold pieces wins; on a further tie, the ranking of the player's character determines the winner.
Variants
Shorter Playing Time
The players only receive 6 palaces and the maximum number of game turns is 8.
Advanced Version 1
Add the following rules:
Components: Add the Yogi character and the action chits.
The Yogi: A player with the Yogi receives one action chit during his turn. He may use it immediately or in a later turn, even if he does not have the Yogi anymore. Each chit allows him an additional action.
Action Chits: Each action chit allows a player a third action during his player turn. He may select an action from the ones on the chit, declare it and execute it. The action Character Card may not be selected with this extra action. Only one action chit per turn may be used. After use, the chit is returned to the bank.
Less Than 5 Players: At the start of the game place one outer palace of each unused color in each palace garden.
Bidding on Character Cards: Before the start of the game, the character cards are auctioned off. The youngest player bids 0, 1 or more gold pieces for the right of first choice; in clockwise order, players overbid or pass (drop out). The last and highest bidder pays the bank and chooses a character. Repeat the process among the remaining players. The last player (or a player who bids 0 and then all other players pass) gets a character for free.
Home City: Every character has a home city which shows his image. The player who has a corresponding character of a scoring city gets an additional point (even if he scores no further points).
Advanced Version 2
A player may have more than one character card, and may use the special powers of all of his characters.
At the start of the game each player gets one character card (they may be bid for as above).
Each player's lowest numbered character card determines the player order. Each player only has one player turn.
If there is a tie during scoring, the player with the lowest ranking character card breaks the tie.
A player selecting Character Card as an action receives a character and does not return one. If there are non left, he may exchange a character with another player or entice one away from him.
Exchange: The player whose turn it is names a character card; the owner of that card must give it to him and receive one in exchange (selected by the player whose turn it is).
Entice Away: The player whose turn it is can only do so if he has less character cards than the targeted player; if so, the targeted player chooses a character and must give it to him. He does not receive one in return.