Monolyth Rulebook

Table of Contents

Contents
Setup
Gameplay
End of the Game
Scoring
Solo Variant
Credits

1 Double-sided Main Board
5 Player Boards
80 Plastic Stones
10 Structure Cards
14 Level Tokens
20 Prophecy Tokens
4 Structure Tokens
1 Crystal Standee
1 First Player Token

Setup

Place the Main Board in the center of the table. Flip it to the side corresponding to the number of players in the game, as indicated by the icon in the Structure Card slot.
Place the Prophecy tokens, Level tokens, and Structure tokens on the corresponding spaces on the Main Board. Return the remaining tokens to the box.

Note: There are icons on some token slots. Tokens should only be placed on these slots when playing with the respective player count: 1 for 1 player, 2 for 2 players, or 4 for 4 players. Token slots with no icons are always used.
Choose 1 Structure card (either agreed upon by all players or picked randomly) and place it on the Main Board on the corresponding space. Return the other Structure cards to the box.
Place all the 1-cube Stones in a supply near the board.
Place the Crystal Standee in the site marked with the arrow.
Place all remaining Stones in the box lid and shuffle them. Randomly draw out 12 Stones and place them on the empty sites around the board.
Each player places a random Player Board on the table in front of them. Return any unused Player Boards to the box.
Randomly choose the starting player and give them the First Player token.

The player with the First Player Token takes the first turn. Then, play moves clockwise around the table until the game ends.

On the active player's turn, they must either:

Move the Crystal and place a Stone (on their player board); or
Make a Prophecy.

Gameplay

Move the Crystal and Place a Stone

The player first moves the Crystal Standee. They choose to move it 1 to 4 sites clockwise around the board.

Then, the player either:

Takes the Stone from the site the Crystal lands on; or
Discards that Stone from the game to take a 1-cube Stone of the same color from the supply (Stones discarded this way cannot return to the game).

Then, the player must stack the Stone they took onto their Player Board, adhering to these restrictions:

The Stone must be in line with the grid printed on the board, or in line with the cubes of the previously placed Stones.
No part of the Stone may overhang the printed grid.
There must not be any empty space under the Stone.
The Stone placed must not cause the player's Monolyth to exceed a height of 3 cubes in a 3-4 player game, or 4 cubes in a 1-2 player game.

At any time, a player may rotate any player's board to get a better look at it. They may also pick up a Stone to see if it fits their Monolyth before making their choice.

After the Stone is placed, a random Stone from the box is drawn and placed in the empty site where the Crystal was at the start of the player's turn.

If the box runs out of Stones, the site is left empty. A site with no Stone on it is skipped over and no longer counted as part of the 1 to 4 sites when the Crystal moves.

Any player close to the box can draw the random Stone. However, they must pick the first Stone they touch, without looking or feeling for a particular Stone! Then, they place that Stone in the empty site.

Players may look inside the box to know what Stones are left at any time, except when drawing a Stone from the box lid.

Important: When taking this action, the player must place a Stone on their Monolyth unless all available Stones cannot be legally placed, or they don't match the color of any 1-cube Stones left in the supply. The player must still move the Crystal, then discard the Stone it lands on from the game without placing any Stones on their Monolyth.

Make a Prophecy

The player chooses any Prophecy token from the Main Board and slots it into any of the empty Prophecy spaces on their Player Board. Only 1 token may be slotted into each space. They cannot be moved or replaced. If the player's Prophecy spaces are all filled, they may not take this action.

Making Prophecies is essential for players to score more points at the end of the game! See "Scoring" on the next page for more details.

End of a Turn

Completing a Level

At the end of the player's turn, they must check if they have just completed a level of their Monolyth. This is when there is a cube in every space of their Player Board at a particular height. If so, the player takes the Level token with the highest value from the Main Board and places it beside their Player Board.

If a player completes multiple levels in a turn, they take that many Level tokens. During a game, each player can only earn a fixed number of Level tokens equal to the maximum height of their Monolyth. (3 Levels for 3-4 player games, 4 Levels for 1-2 player games).

Level completion example: After the player places the orange Stone on their Monolyth, they complete the first level because all spaces on the grid have a height of at least 1 cube. Because of that, they get the highest value Level token on the Main Board.

Completing a Structure

In addition, if a player completed the Structure shown on the Structure card, they earn the Structure token with the highest value. Each player can only earn 1 Structure token per game.

Structure Cards

The card represents a Structure that the players may try to build to score extra points. Each number represents the possible levels that they must reach on each space of their grid to successfully build the Structure.

A "1-2" can be either Levels 1 or 2. A "3+" can be level 3 or higher. Players may build the Structure rotated and/or mirrored in any direction.

Structure completion example: After the player places the orange Stone on their Monolyth, they complete the Structure shown on the card, rotated. One of the middle spaces has 4 levels, but that's fine, because that space on the card is marked as a "3+". Because of that, they earn the Structure token with the highest points on the Main Board.

End of the Game

When any player has completed the top level of their Monolyth (Level 4 in a 1-2 player game or Level 3 in a 3-4 player game), play continues until the last player completes their turn, so that everyone has played the same number of turns. Then, the game ends. Some players may not be able to complete their Monolyth.

Note: On extremely rare occasions that there are no more Stones in the sites on the Main Board or in the box, the game ends immediately (players don't take an extra turn).

Scoring

For each of the 4 walls of their Monolyth, the players count the cubes that match the color printed on that side of their board.

Cubes are not counted if they are visible through gaps in the wall. They must be part of the wall itself.

If the total matches or exceeds the number on the Prophecy token in the corresponding slot, keep the token. If this total is less than the Prophecy token, that token is discarded. An unfulfilled Prophecy doesn't award any points!

Scoring example (2-player game): This player scored 7 points for the turquoise side of their board because there are at least 7 turquoise cube faces in that wall. However, they would score 0 points for the white side of their board because there are less than 14 white cube faces in that wall. (The cube in the inner face doesn't count towards the Prophecy!)

The players now add up the value of all their remaining Prophecy, Level, and Structure tokens. The player with the most points wins!

Note: In the case of a tie, the player furthest from the starting player in turn order wins.

Solo Variant

For the solo variant, the changes in the game are:

Limited Prophecies: If the player chooses to move the Crystal and place a Stone, they must choose and discard 1 of the Prophecy tokens on the Main Board.
Completing a Level: At the end of the turn, if they have completed a level, instead of taking the Level token with the highest value, they take the one with the lowest. This means they get 6 points for the first level completed, then 8 for the second, 10 for the third, and if they manage to finish the fourth level, they score 16 points!
End of the Game: When there are no Prophecy tokens available or when the top level of the Monolyth is completed, the game ends. Total the points earned from your tokens.
Check your score against the chart below:

Points	Skill Level
45 or less	Dutiful Builder
46-59	Steadfast Craftsman
60-69	Dedicated Artisan
70-79	Sovereign Architect
80 or more	Monolyth Master

Credits

Game Design: Phil Walker-Harding

Lead Game Development and Solo Player Rules: Marco Portugal

Game Development: Eric M. Lang

Production: Rebecca Ho (Lead), Thiago Aranha, Marcela Fabreti, Vincent Fontaine, Guilherme Goulart, Isadora Leite, Thiago Meyer, Shafiq Rizwan, Kenneth Tan, Gregory Varghese

Art Director: Mathieu Harlaut

Art: Davide Tosello

Graphic Design: Max Duarte, Louise Combal, Matteo Ceresa

Sculpting: Aragorn Marks

Proofreading: Jason Koepp

Publisher: David Preti

Playtesters: Alexandre Petean, Ana Theodoro, Bianca Mancini, Caio Quinta, Chris Morphew, David Harding, Fábio Cury, Fernando Costa, Helena Dutt-Ross, Isabeau Zambrin, Ivo Rafael, Jamie Dunk, Júlia Ferrari, Leo Mazzei, Lucas Martini, Luiz Alvarez, Luiz Coelho, Marcela Fabreti, Marcial De Carvalho, Mauro Wu, Max Duarte, Nat Van Der Reyden, Pam Yumi, Patrícia Brolezzi, Paulo Andrade, Rafa Ortega, Raquel Fukuda, Reinaldo Narumi, Renato Grando, Rod Mendes, Rodrigo Sonnesso, Vinícius Shkromada