Maji
Maji Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
About the Game
"Maji" is Kiswahili and means "Water".
Game Content
25 Serengeti tiles (one spare tile), 6 well parts each in two different colors, 2 goat tokens, 1 worker standee, 1 plastic base, 7 red rubies, 5 blue water gems (one spare gem each), 1 rule-book.
Goal of the Game
In MAJI two well builders are compete to finish their well first. On the one hand they look for suitable water sources and on the other hand they gather clay for the well curb. The player who completes their well first, having a sufficient amount of water, wins the round and gains a ruby. As soon as one player has four rubies, this player wins the whole game.
Preparation
Before starting the first game, put the worker standee in the plastic base.
- Shuffle the 25 Serengeti tiles and put them in a 5 × 5 grid.
- Place one blue water gem on each Serengeti tile with a waterhole.
- Put the red rubies within reach.
- Cast lots about which player obtains the bright well parts. The other player receives the dark ones.
- Stack the six well parts of your color in front of you.
- The goat tokens are used for a variant of MAJI–which is explained later–you don't need them in your first game.
- In the first round, the player with the bright well parts begins.
- The player, who does not start the round, puts the worker standee either in front of the middle row or in front of the middle column of the tile grid, their choice.
Game Play
Play alternately. In your turn pick a Serengeti tile in the row or column in the line of sight of the worker standee—the meaning of the tiles is explained below—and remove it from play. It is not possible to pass the turn. You always have to pick a Serengeti tile, even if it is unfavorable to you.
Afterwards move the worker standee to the column (resp. row) orthogonal to the taken tile. (The worker standee is always alternating between facing a column and facing a row). Then it's the next player's turn.
Example: Player 1 picks the fourth Serengeti tile in the fourth row (green arrow), performs the action and moves the worker standee in front of the column, the tile was just taken out of. Player 2 now has to pick one of the remaining four tiles in this column (red line).
Whenever one of the following conditions is fulfilled at the end of a turn, the current round ends immediately:
- A well is completed with at least six parts. It does not matter whether it contains any water or not.
- There are no remaining Serengeti tiles in the row or column of the worker standee. The dry period begins. Unfortunately, no well has been finished in time.
- One player was able to collect all five water gems.
Meaning of the Serengeti Tiles
- One, two, three or four adobe bricks. The player selecting this tile, takes one, two, three or four well parts corresponding from the supply and places them in such a way in front of themself, that the well parts result in the well curb piece by piece. It is not possible to build less well parts than adobe bricks on the tile. If the player finishes their well, the current round ends (see above).
- Waterhole. The current player gains the water gem from this tile and puts it into their well under construction. Or—as long as they have not built any well part—in front of themself.
- One, two, three or four Buffalos. Whoever picks—or is forced to pick—this tile, dismantles one, two, three or four—corresponding to the number of destroyed adobe bricks on the buffalo tiles—already built own well parts and puts them back on top of the supply pile. If the buffalo tramples more adobe bricks than well parts the current player has built, they return all of them to the supply pile. If no well part was built at all, nothing happens. All water gems are avoided by buffaloes. While being aggressive, buffaloes are also not the brightest minds in the savanna.
End of the Round, End of the Game
There are three ways to end a round:
1. A well has been finished. The player who owns a well with exact six parts and at least a water gem, gains a ruby as a reward. If the player has not water gem, however, when a player is so foolish to finish the well without having any water gems, the opponent obtains the ruby. What good is a well without water?
If a well with more than six parts would be erected–that, for example, is the case when somebody has already build five well parts and picks (or is forced to pick) a Serengeti tile with three adobe bricks–for each surplus brick on the chosen tile an additional water gem is required (in this example, one plus two additional, that makes three water gems). In this case the player, who finished the well, gets the ruby. If that player does have not enough water gems, however, the opposing player receives the ruby.
2. The worker standee has been placed to a row or column with no remaining Serengeti tiles. Whoever has at least one water gem, receives a ruby. When both players have at least one water gem, the ruby goes to the player with the most build well parts. It there is a tie, the number of water gems decides. And if this number is the same, nobody gains a ruby.
3. A player has collected all five water gems. The gathered knowledge about the water deposits is so valuable for the village community, that it's even worth a ruby, when no well has been finished.
As soon one player owns four rubies, that player wins the game. Otherwise prepare the game for a new round. Keep your rubies and the well parts of your color. The player who gathered the most water gems in this round starts the next one. When both players had the same number of water gems, the person, who did obtain no ruby start. If both players gained no ruby, the player with the dark well parts begins the next round.
The Goats
Albeit being often stubborn, greedy and ungrateful, goats are the most important livestock besides to cattle in the village. Not they are only the ideal pack animals in the dry Serengeti, but also provide milk and valuable wool for blankets and clothes. Goat owners have advantages.
Goats add an extra twist to the game and are only recommended to players who have already played MAJI for a while.
At the start of the game, each player takes one of the goat tokens and puts it with the colored side face-up in front of themself.
Whenever there is a situation where a player is forced to take a really unfavorable tile, they may turn their goat token face-down to skip their whole turn. In this case, no Serengeti tile is taken and the worker standee is not moved.
This is only possible once per round and only if the player has not more water gems than their opponent and the opponent did not use their own goat in the last turn.
At the start of the next round turn the goats face-up again.
Strategic Hints
- Don't be too greedy with the bricks. You should focus on the waterholes, as there are only five of them.
- Nothing is more annoying, than being forced to pick a Serengeti tile with 3 or 4 adobe bricks, when you don't have enough water gems.
- Sometimes it makes sense to accept a buffalo encounter, when this moves the standee to a column or row, which is very unfavorable for your opponent. Especially, as buffaloes are harmless if you have not started with well construction yet.
- True well construction masters think ahead. With guile and wile, planning skills and a bit of bluff your victory is for sure.