Meenakshi Temple Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Goal
• General Setup
• Player Setup
• Determine Turn Order
  • Receive compensation for turn order, depending on the number of players
• Turn of the Game
  • A Player's Turn
• Main Actions
  • 1. Gaining a Shiva Statue
  • 2. Construction
  • 3. Receiving Divine Gifts
  • 4. Installing a Roof Card
  • 5. Upgrading Your Board
• Additional Actions and Bonuses
  • Action Card Bonuses
  • Restrictions and Supplies
  • End of Round
• End of Game and Determining the Winner
  • End of Game
  • Scoring
  • Determining the Winner
• Rules for a 2-Player Game
• Objectives
• Appendices
• Boards
  • Minakshi
  • Kali
  • Ganesha
  • Skanda (this board cannot be used in a 2-player game)
  • Ganga

Components

• 5 double-sided player boards
• 15 player pawns (5 sets of 3 pawns, one color each)
• 28 development cards
• 6 objective cards
• 5 foundation cards
• 50 construction cards
• Game board
• 2 action-selection cards
• 6 gift tokens
• 115 statue-columns (5 sets of 20 pieces, plus 15 Shiva statues)
• 1 turn-direction marker token
• 5 reference sheets

Goal

Score the most victory points ( ) by matching your actions to the wishes of the Hindu deities: place statues on the tower's floors, receive gifts from the gods, and complete your secret objective.

General Setup

1. Place the wooden statues and the game board in the middle of the table so that every player can see how many statues remain and can reach them easily.

2. Find the action-selection card that matches the number of players, and place it in the corresponding spot on the board (use the number in the bottom-right corner of the action-selection card to orient yourself).

3. Shuffle the construction deck and deal several cards, roof side up, onto the matching slots of the roof market on the board.

   The number of cards depends on the number of players:

   • 6 for 2 and 3 players,
   • 8 for 4 players,
   • 10 for 5 players.

   The cards are marked with letters from A to E — if several cards with identical letters come up, form them into stacks.

4. Split the rest of the construction deck into 2 roughly equal stacks and place them in the matching spots on the board, action side up.

5. Place the turn-direction marker under or above the action-selection card so that the arrow points right. The direction of the arrow determines which half of the action-selection card — right or left — the players use to choose actions on the current turn.

6. Return to the box any development cards that do not match the number of players (the number in the bottom-right corner). Then split the development cards into 2 decks — level I and level II. Shuffle each deck separately, then place the level II development deck down first, and the level I development deck on top, both face down. You now have a complete development deck!

7. Place the development deck in its zone on the board and reveal the top 3 cards, laying them out below the deck. During the game the cards will always shift from right to left as players take them and new ones are revealed.

8. Place the 6 gift tokens on the board, random side up. These tokens cannot be flipped during the game. In your first game, use the sides marked with a dot at the bottom of the tokens.

Player Setup

1. Deal each player a random objective card. In your first game, set all objectives aside in the box — they are not used.

   All objective cards earn a player 4–7 points for each floor of the tower they build that satisfies its condition. Points are counted separately for each floor. The topmost floor may be left uncovered by a roof card.

   For example, if a player has built 4 floors of the tower and satisfied the objective card's condition on each one, they receive from 20 to 28 points at the end of the game.

   Players keep their objectives face down and do not reveal them to their opponents.

2. Deal out the player boards randomly or by agreement. Player boards are double-sided, but in your first game we recommend playing the side with a white dot above the patron deity's image. Later on you are free to choose either side of your board depending on your preferences or the objective card you received.

   Each board shows a deity, the property that a player receives under that deity's patronage, and the slots of your statue storehouse.

   Setup and rules for a 2-player game — see page 12.

3. Take the foundation card matching your patron, and place it so that it is convenient for you to build your gopuram tower on it during the game without accidentally knocking it over.

4. Take 2 player pawns and place 1 of them on the "0" space of the scoring track.

   Every time you gain points, advance your pawn the matching number of spaces.

Determine Turn Order

Place the player pawns on the left side of the action-selection card so that each pawn ends up opposite its own color on the left construction card (see the illustration below). The higher a player's pawn stands, the earlier they take their turn.

Receive compensation for turn order, depending on the number of players

• 3 players: The second player receives 1 statue of their own color, the third player receives 2 statues.
• 4 players: The second and third players receive 1 statue of their own color each, the fourth player receives 2 statues.
• 5 players: The second and third players receive 1 statue of their own color each, the fourth and fifth players receive 2 statues each.

Players place their statues in the storehouse slots on their boards.

Turn of the Game

The game consists of a series of rounds. Rounds consist of player turns, and player turns consist of 1 main action and possibly several additional actions. The player then passes the turn to the next player in line.

The player whose pawn stands highest on the action-selection card goes first. Note that every pawn position on the action-selection card has its own height — even if the positions sit on the same action row.

The action-selection card is an astrological calendar. Depending on the position of the planets, the gods favor one action or another. Players choose which forecast to follow and which reward to receive.

The active player moves their pawn to the half of the card that the turn-direction marker points to, takes one of the free spots, and performs the action shown opposite their pawn, followed by an additional action (if available). They then pass the turn to the next player (the one standing lower).

When all players have moved their pawns and performed their actions, the round ends.

A Player's Turn

A player moves their pawn from one side of the action-selection card to the other, in the direction the turn-direction marker points. The pawn may be placed on any free spot not occupied by another player. The higher the spot, the earlier you will take your turn in the next round — but the smaller your bonus will be (see below). The bottom row of the action card lets you perform any main action, but grants no bonuses and does not let you use a development card or, in some cases, your board's property (it has neither a special action nor a color).

Having moved their pawn onto the action-selection card, a player performs their main and additional actions in any order, but must always finish one action before starting another. After completing all actions, the player passes the turn to the next participant or ends the round (see "End of Round" on page 11).

Main Actions

There are 5 main actions in the game: gaining a Shiva statue, construction, receiving and installing a roof card, receiving gifts, and upgrading your board. To the right of each main action (except the first and the last) there is a bonus on the action card (see page 11 for details).

1. Gaining a Shiva Statue

Take a Shiva statue (white) from the organizer and move it to your storehouse. If there are no Shiva statues left, take a statue of any other color instead. You may not have more statues than free slots in your storehouse.

2. Construction

Place any number of statues from your storehouse onto any free slots of your tower's current floor, and gain points for placing them:

• +1 point for each statue placed;
• +1 additional point for each statue placed on a slot of its own color;
• +3 points for each completed scene. Each roof card has 1 or 2 scenes — groups of three slots joined by color. A scene counts as completed once it is fully filled with statues of different colors. You gain these points as soon as you complete the scene.

Example: a player gains 12 points for placing 5 statues. The green statue earns 1 point, since it is placed on a slot of another color (white). The yellow, white, red, and blue statues each earn 2 points, since they are placed on slots of their matching colors. The player also gains 3 points for completing the white scene, since all 3 statues in it are different colors.

3. Receiving Divine Gifts

Players worship the gods and receive gifts for the number of statues on the tower's current floor. But the gods dislike being petitioned too often. If you have not yet appealed to the gods while building the current floor (there are no gift tokens next to your board), you may perform this action. To take gift tokens from the shared pool, or take them away from other players, you must satisfy 2 conditions:

• You have at least 2 statues of that color on your gopuram tower's current floor.
• On the current floor, you have no fewer statues of that deity (as many or more) than any other player (when playing with 2–3 participants — strictly more than any opponent).

If you have the advantage in several kinds of statues, you may choose the order in which you receive the gifts yourself. You may also decline to receive any of the gifts. After receiving gifts, immediately perform the actions shown on them.

4. Installing a Roof Card

Take a roof card into your hand and, if possible, you may install any roof card from your hand in your temple:

• Take a roof card from the market (if there are no cards on the market, take a card from the bottom of the current action stack).
• Check whether the floor is ready: if all the slots outlined with a thick white line are filled with statues, you may place any roof card from your hand on top of the current floor.
• Return any gift tokens you held to the board once you install the roof card.

5. Upgrading Your Board

You may perform this action one of two ways:

A — Expand your storehouse: take the leftmost development card on the market and place it to the right of your board, face down. This action gives you 2 additional slots for storing statues, and also earns you 1 point at the end of the game.

B — Choose any card on the development market and place it in any slot of your board. If all 3 of your development slots are occupied, place the new card on top of one you received earlier — the covered card stops working. While this card lies beneath your board, it grants you additional actions or bonus properties.

Whichever you choose, the remaining cards on the development market shift right to left, and you reveal a new card. Note that storehouse cards (face down) and development cards (face up) count as different cards when resolving gift or Meenakshi board effects.

Additional Actions and Bonuses

There are 3 kinds of additional actions and bonuses in the game:

• The bonus shown on the action card next to the action symbol
• Your player board's effect
• The effect of your board's development cards

A player may perform the main and additional actions and gain bonuses in any order. For example, gain the action card's bonus, perform the main action, perform the development card's action, and finally perform the board's action. Or, conversely, first perform the development card's action, then the main action, then the board's action, and finally gain the action card's bonus.

Action Card Bonuses

1. Gain additional statues into your storehouse (for example, a sign next to the main action's icon means you may gain 2 yellow Ganesha statues).
2. Gain additional points (a sign of three flower icons means you gain 3 points).

Restrictions and Supplies

During the game, participants will gain cards and statues.

• Roof cards are held in hand, and their number is unlimited.
• Cards that expand the storehouse are placed to the right of the board, and their number is also unlimited.
• Development cards are placed in the special slots at the bottom of the board, and if the free spaces run out, you place a card on top of one of your previously placed cards.
• Players place statues in their storehouse, so they cannot gain more statues than they have free slots for. If you are due to gain more statues than you can place, you simply do not gain the statues you cannot place, by your own choice.
• If you are due to gain a statue of some color but they have run out, take a statue of any other color, except Shiva: he is too jealous and demanding of his followers for his statue to be gained just like that.

A white statue-column can only be gained through the "Gain a Shiva Statue" action (see "Main Actions" on page 8).

End of Round

Once all players have performed their actions, the round is over!

1. Flip face down the action card next to which the players' pawns stand on the action-selection card, and move it to the roof-market slot with the matching letter.
2. Turn the turn-direction marker to the opposite side.
3. Determine turn order (this may be affected by the Skanda board with 3–5 participants).

Announce the start of the next round, or proceed to scoring if this round was the last one (see "End of Game" on page 12).

End of Game and Determining the Winner

End of Game

The game ends if 1 of 2 events has occurred:

• One of the players has installed their 6th roof card (a foundation card does not count as a roof card);
• Statues of any 2 colors have run out, including the Shiva statue.

In this case, players finish the current round to the end and then play 1 more full round, after which they proceed to final scoring and determining the winner.

Scoring

During the game, players earn points for building statues on roof and foundation cards, as a bonus for certain actions, and while receiving divine gifts. Once you have finished the last round, add the following bonus points:

• +1 point for every 2 statues in your storehouse;
• +1 point for each storehouse-expansion card;
• points for roof cards remaining in your hand: gain 1/3/6/10/15 points for 1/2/3/4/5 different letters among the roof cards in your hand. Each letter earns points only once.
• 4–7 points for each floor on which you achieved your personal objective, i.e. satisfied the condition on its card (see "Appendices" on page 14).

Determining the Winner

The player who has scored the highest total number of points becomes the winner! If 2 or more players have scored the same number of points, the winner is whichever of them has their pawn standing higher on the action-selection card at the end of the game.

Rules for a 2-Player Game

• Deal each player 3 pawns of their color.
• Fewer statues are used in a 2-player game. Remove 3 white statues and 6 statues of each other color from the organizer, back into the box.
• When preparing the development deck, remove the cards marked with the numbers 3+ and 4+.
• Remove the Skanda board from the box — it is not used in the duel game.
• Before dealing objectives, remove into the box the cards that earn 7 points per floor (they are marked 3+).
• Turn order for the first round: the first player places one of their pawns on the first row of the action card, the second player places both of their pawns on the second and third rows of the action card, then the first player places their second pawn on the fourth row. There is no compensation for turn order in a 2-player game. In subsequent rounds, each pawn will have its own turn order, as in a 4-player game.
• Remember that in a 2- or 3-player game you receive gifts only for the deities whose statues you have more of on the current floor than your opponents.

Objectives

Players gain points for each floor on which their objective is satisfied. A player may fail to satisfy the objective on any of the floors, but this will most likely lead to a loss in the game.

6 points × [4 or more different colors]: To satisfy the objective on a floor, there must be statues of 4 different colors, including Shiva statues. For example, yellow, red, purple, and white. This could be just 4 statues.

6 points × [all non-white slots filled]: To satisfy the objective on a floor, all non-white slots must be filled with statues. Note that in any case, building the next floor requires covering all the slots marked in bold with statues.

4 points × 1 Shiva statue / 7 points × 2 or more Shiva statues: To satisfy the objective on a floor, there must be at least 1 Shiva statue (white) — in this case the player gains 4 points for that floor. If there are 2 or more Shiva statues on the floor, the player gains 7 points for the floor. The number of other statues on the floor does not matter.

6 points × [3 to 5 statues]: To satisfy the objective on a floor, there must be 3, 4, or 5 statues. If there are 6 statues on the floor, this objective is not satisfied.

7 points × [3 pairs of different-colored statues]: To satisfy the objective on a floor, there must be at least 6 statues — two each of three different colors. For example, 2 yellow, 2 green, 2 white.

5 points × [3 or more statues of one color]: To satisfy the objective on a floor, there must be 3 or more statues of one color. For example, 3 Shiva statues.

Appendices

In all cases, the game cards use the following terms:

• Statue — a statue of any deity, including a Shiva statue.
• Patron statue — a statue of one of the 5 deity colors participating in the game as builders' patrons (red, green, blue, yellow, purple). Shiva statues are not patron statues.
• Development — a development card used by a player to expand their board's abilities, rather than as a storehouse.
• Storehouse card — a development card used by a player as a storehouse expansion. The board itself does not count as a storehouse card.
• Action color — the background color on the symbol of the action chosen by the player.

Icon key:

• Rainbow circle followed by a colon, then a rainbow statue icon — you may gain a statue of the color matching the action color.
• The generic "statue" icon stands for a statue of any of the 6 colors (the 5 patron colors plus white/Shiva); the generic "patron statue" icon stands for a statue of any of the 5 patron colors only (excluding white/Shiva).
• A gray circle stands for any action color.
• A colon (:) means you may perform the action in addition to the one indicated.
• An equals sign (=) means you may choose an alternative action instead of the one indicated.
• "1" marks the topmost action.

Boards

Minakshi

A player gains 2 points when they place a development card under the bottom of their board. This also applies if they replace one development card with another.

A player gains a statue of any patron (Shiva is not a patron) if they place a development card under their board (rather than using it to expand their storehouse).

Kali

When choosing an action with a purple background, a player may spend 1 point to gain 1 roof card from the roof market. If there are no cards on the market, the player takes a card from the bottom of either of the 2 decks on the board. If the player has no points, they cannot perform this action.

When choosing an action with a purple background, a player may spend 1 point to build a roof, if the conditions for installing a roof are satisfied on the current floor (see "Installing a Roof Card" on page 9) and the player already has a roof card in hand. If the player has no card, they cannot perform this action.

Ganesha

Instead of the main action, a player may gain 2 statues of the color matching the background of the chosen action's symbol. The player also performs the bonus action and any effects from development cards for the chosen action.

Instead of the main action, a player may build 2 statues on the floor and gain points, as with the "Construction" action. The player also gains the bonus and may play effects from development cards for the chosen main action.

Skanda (this board cannot be used in a 2-player game)

If the player chose an action with a red background, they place their additional pawn above the action-selection card to show that they will go first in the next round. After it is used, the additional pawn is returned to the player's area.

Before receiving gifts, the player names 1 color. That player is considered to have an additional statue of that color on the floor. This can be the white color (Shiva statue) as well. In this way, the player may receive a gift that the rules would not otherwise entitle them to. This property does not work during another player's turn.

Ganga

When choosing an action with a blue background, the player gains a statue of any patron, but only if the player has no more than 3 statues in their storehouse. The player may first gain a statue via their board's property, then perform other actions.

After gaining and placing 2 or more statues in their storehouse (including via a bonus or additional actions), the player may immediately build 1 any statue from their storehouse and gain points for placing it.