Minute Realms
Minute Realms Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Contents
- A deck of 56 building cards
- 30 coins
- Invader Track
- Invader tokens (5 × value 0, 5 × value 1, 2 × value 2)
- 1 First Player marker (to be assembled)
- These rules
The Cards
Each building card shows:
- Building Cost — the number of coins needed to build it, shown at the top left.
- Trading Actions — symbols at the top right that you must execute if you take the card from in front of another player or from the middle of the table.
- Illustration — the artwork of the building.
- Name — the building's name.
- Category — the symbol showing which of the six categories the building belongs to.
- Remove with 2/3/4 Players — a number in the top left corner indicating the minimum player count that uses this card; cards showing a number higher than the current player count are removed from the deck before play.
- Symbols and Scoring — the icons and text at the bottom of the card describing how it scores victory points.
Setup
Depending on the number of players, remove all the cards which show a number higher than the player count from the deck and return them to the box. (That is, remove cards with 3, 4, and 5 if you're playing with 2 players, cards with 4 and 5 if you're playing with 3, and cards with 5 if you're playing with 4. With 5 players use all the cards.) Shuffle the remaining cards and place them as a draw pile on the table.
The player who has visited a castle most recently takes the First Player marker (in case of doubts, choose at random). Give each player their starting treasury in coins based on their position in turn order, as shown below:
| Player Number | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starting Coins | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 5 |
Keep the leftover coins in a supply accessible to everybody. (Coins are meant to be unlimited. In the unlikely event that the supply runs out during the game, use any suitable replacement.)
Place the Invader Track on the table. Depending on the number of players, remove the following Invader tokens from the game:
| Players | Tokens removed |
|---|---|
| 2 or 3 players | 1 purple token, 2 orange tokens (3 × "0") |
| 4 players | 1 purple token (1 × "0") |
| 5 players | none |
Shuffle the remaining Invader tokens and place them in a face down pile on the number "1" on the Invader Track.
Playing the Game
A game of Minute Realms lasts 8 rounds. In each round, the First Player distributes one card from the deck, face up, in front of each player (including themselves), plus two additional cards, also face up, near the deck. During the game, players will "build" cards in front of them to create their "Realm". Make sure that the cards in your Realm are clearly separated from the new card you are dealt each round.
Beginning with the First Player and going clockwise, each player in turn:
- chooses one of the available cards, and
- chooses how to build it in their Realm.
1. Choosing a Card
When it is your turn, you must choose one of the available cards (i.e., a face up card dealt this round that has not been chosen yet). You can choose the card in front of you, the card in front of another player, or one of the two cards in the middle of the table. Cards in any player's Realm are not available!
- If you choose the card in front of you, just take it and proceed to the building step (see 2. Building).
- If you choose the card in front of another player, you must replace it with the card in front of you (the card you pass to them stays face up in front of that player). In this case, before proceeding to your building step, you must first execute all of the trading actions listed at the top right of the card you have chosen (if there are any).
- If you choose one of the cards in the middle of the table, you must replace it with the card in front of you. In this case also, you must first execute all of the trading actions listed.
In other words: If you trade your card for a different one, you must execute the trading actions stated on the card you take; if you keep your card, you don't. Trading actions on the card you give away are always ignored.
Trading Actions
You must carry out the actions indicated by the symbols, one at the time, in order from left to right:
- Take coin: Take 1 coin from the supply.
- Pay coin: Pay 1 coin to the player who had the card in front of them. If you take a card from the middle of the table, pay it to the supply instead. If you can't pay, then you can't take this card!
- Invasion: Take the top Invader token from the pile and place it, always face down and without looking at it, on the dashed space below the space for the current round. Important: During each round, only 1 Invader token can be placed in the dashed space. If there is already an Invader token in the dashed space matching this round's number, ignore the Invasion symbol.
2. Building
Choose how to build the card you have taken. You have two choices:
Option a) Build the Building. Pay the number of coins shown on the card to the supply, then put that card face up in front of you in your Realm (note that some cards are free). If you can't pay to build the card, you cannot choose this option and must choose Option B instead. (E.g. a card showing "2" as its cost would cost 2 coins to build.)
Option b) Erect a Defensive Bastion: Place the card face down in front of you in your Realm. Then take 2 coins from the supply. Cards with the "cannot be used as a Defensive Bastion" symbol cannot be used in this way and must be built with Option A. Each Defensive Bastion provides 2 defense.
The End of a Round
Once all players have chosen and built a card, the round is over. Discard the 2 leftover cards from the middle of the table into a discard pile (we recommend keeping the discard pile to one side of the table rather than in the middle, so it won't be confused with the revealed face up cards each round). Then, the First Player marker is passed to the next player, clockwise, who will be the First Player in the next round. Finally, move the pile of Invader tokens one space forward, above the number for the next round.
Unless there is an invasion a new round can begin!
Invasion!
At the end of the 4th and 8th Rounds, invaders attack everyone's Realms!
At the end of the 4th Round, turn all of the Invader tokens on the dashed spaces face up (the ones below Rounds 1 to 4). Add up the numbers on the tokens: the total is the Strength of the invasion!
Each player must defend against the invaders by themselves.
Your Defense is equal to the number of shields in your Realm.
- If your Defense is equal to or greater than the Strength of the attack, then nothing happens to your Realm.
- If your Defense is less than the Strength of the attack, you lose 1 building (only 1, regardless of the Strength difference). Choose 1 building in your Realm and turn it face down. You cannot choose a Defensive Bastion! You also cannot choose a building with the "cannot be used as a Defensive Bastion" symbol. (If you have only "cannot be used as a Defensive Bastion" buildings, then you lose nothing.) The building you turn face down becomes a Defensive Bastion and will contribute 2 shields to your Defense in the future (but in this case you don't receive 2 coins!).
The game then continues with the 5th turn. The revealed Invader tokens remain face up.
Example: It's the end of the 4th Round, and there are 3 Invader tokens under the track. They are turned face up, revealing a total Strength for the invasion of 1 + 1 + 0 = 2. Any player who has less than 2 shields in their Realm must choose 1 of their buildings and turn it face down. Note: It is possible that there will be no Invader tokens under the track, in which case the invaders' Strength is 0.
At the end of the 8th Round, turn all of the face down Invader tokens on the dashed spaces face up (the ones below Rounds 5 to 8). Remove any Invader tokens left in the pile on the track. Add up the numbers on all of the tokens (from Rounds 1 – 8), and resolve the attack as described above. The only difference is that if you successfully defend your realm this time, you score a number of victory points equal to the invaders' attack Strength.
The End of the Game
The game ends after the invasion at the end of the 8th Round (the deck will have run out). Each player adds up the victory points in their Realm. If you successfully defended against the second invasion, add victory points equal the attack Strength to your score. The player with the most points wins!
Ties are resolved by the most coins left and then by the most (face up) buildings. In case of a further tie, the victory is shared.
The Symbols on the Cards
Each building belongs to one category, identified by a symbol in the lower right corner. There are 6 categories:
- Production buildings
- Residential buildings
- Commercial buildings
- Military buildings
- Nobility buildings
- Clerical buildings
A card marked "cannot be used as a Defensive Bastion" cannot be used as a Defensive Bastion, and cannot be turned face down if you fail to defend against an invasion.
Scoring symbols on cards:
- 5: 5 Victory points.
- 3 × [category]: 3 Victory points for each building of the category shown in your Realm.
- 2 × [any category]: 2 Victory points for each building of 1 category of your choice in your Realm.
- 1 × [coin]: 1 Victory point for each coin you have at the end of the game.
- [category] + [category] = 6: 6 Victory points if you have at least one pair of buildings of the two categories shown (additional pairs do not bring more points!).
- [different categories table]: Victory points depending on the number of different categories in your Realm (0 categories = 0 points, 1 = 1, 2 = 2, 3 = 4, 4 = 7, 5 = 10, 6 = ... following the same progression).
- 9 − [coin]: 9 Victory points less the coins you have at the end of the game. You cannot score less than 0.
- [shield] + 3: +1 Defense against invasions and 3 Victory points.
Scoring Example: At the end of the game, your Realm looks like this:
- Invader Track showing tokens 0, 1, 0, 1 revealed: 2 VP
- A Defensive Bastion (face down building): 5 VP
- A card worth 9 minus 1 leftover coin: 8 VP
- A card worth 1 × 6 (category count): 6 VP
- A card worth 0 VP
- A card worth 1 VP
- A card worth 2 VP × 3 (pairs) = 6 VP
- A card worth 4 categories = 4 VP
TOTAL = 32 VP
You have 1 coin left over, and the invaders attacked with a Strength of 2. Since your Defense is 3, you do not lose a building. It is the 8th (and last) round of the game, so you score a number of victory points equal to the attack Strength (2). Therefore your final scoring is: 32 VP.