Nakum Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Game Set-Up
• Initial Considerations
• How to Play
  • Day
  • Action: Use a basic space
  • Heritage Card
  • Market Card
  • Action: Use an Encampment (page 4)
  • Action: Use one of the Pyramid tile:
• The Night
• End of the Game
• Final Score
• Glossary of Market Card Icons
• Destiny Expansion
• Nakum Cenote Expansion
  • Starting setup
  • Using the Cenote
  • Workers on the Offering cards
  • Night Phase (Cenote)
  • Final score (Cenote)
• Variant: Nakum Forest
• Solitaire Play: Chaak'Bot
  • Introduction
  • Setup
  • How to play
  • Chaak'Bot actions
  • How to place the tiles
  • Night Phase (Chaak'Bot)
  • Hard mode

Components

• 9 tiles (1 Pyramid tile, 8 other tiles)
• 4 Clan cards
• 16 Workers (4 in each of the 4 player colors)
• 17 black cubes
• 1 Initial Player token (the snake)
• 21 Victory Point tokens
• 30 Resource tokens (Corn, Jaguar Skin, Jade Mask)
• 22 Market cards
• 12 Heritage cards
• 12 Offering cards
• 8 Chaak'Bot cards (solo mode)
• 1 Cenote tile, 6 Tseek' tokens (Cenote expansion)
• 6 Destiny cards (Destiny expansion)

Game Set-Up

1. Place the Pyramid tile face up. Then shuffle the remaining 8 tiles and place 6 face down around the Pyramid in a random pattern. This is the board for this game.
2. Shuffle the Offerings deck and draw 2 cards, show them and leave them near the board. These will be the first active Offerings. These Offerings are common to all players and can be achieved at the Pyramid.
3. Shuffle the Market deck and draw 5 cards, show them and leave them near the board. These are bought with the Market action.
4. Create a reserve with all the black cubes, Resource markers, Victory Points and 2 workers from each player. Place everything near the game board. Resources are unlimited; if you run out of markers (e.g. if a player hoards them), you can replace them with another item.
5. Give each player one Clan card, 2 workers of their color and 3 Heritage cards. The remaining Heritage cards are placed back in the box.
6. At the same time, each player plays 1 Heritage card from his hand and gets the Resource markers and/or Victory Points indicated on it.
7. Next, the starting player (the last person to have visited a Mayan pyramid) is selected, and they must reveal one of the tiles of their choosing; the following player reveals another one. ONLY 2 TILES ARE TO BE REVEALED! (In 2-player games only 1 tile is revealed.)
8. Finally, 1 black cube is placed in the Increase the clan action; this action is not available during the first turn. In the first Night phase, this cube is removed.

The Clan card is an information card of that clan.

Initial Considerations

Golden rule: You can never have less than 2 workers. If you would be left with less than 2 workers when making a sacrifice, you will NOT be able to make it.

In Nakum there are 3 types of spaces in which you can place your workers in order to perform Actions: Basics, Encampments and Special spaces. There can only be 1 worker in each space, except in 4-player games.

• A) In 2- or 3-player games, there can only be 1 worker in each action space.
• B) In 4-player games, there are basic spaces marked with a worker symbol. In these spaces the maximum number of workers increases to 2, and the two workers cannot be of the same player.

Types of spaces:

• Basics: By placing a worker on it, you get the benefit or resource immediately.
• Encampments: Are those with a firepit printed on them. In order to use an Encampment there must be at least one worker (from either player) on one of the basic spaces of that tile. One of the benefits is obtained by placing a worker at the firepit.
• Encampments get depleted: when a player uses an Encampment, place a black cube covering the selected action. It will no longer be available for the rest of the game. When all the options are covered with black cubes, the Encampment has been depleted.

Example: a basic space providing 1 Corn; an Encampment providing 1 Victory Point and 1 Jade Mask.

• Special spaces: There are 4 special spaces, and they have their own set of rules. These are on the initial tile (Pyramid tile):
  • The Pyramid
  • The Grand Priest Pituk
  • Starting player
  • Increase the clan

How to Play

Nakum is played in a variable number of rounds, and each round is split into 2 phases: Day, in which players perform their actions, and Night, in which Offering and Market cards are replenished and explored tiles are revealed.

Day

Beginning with the starting player and in a clockwise manner, each player performs an action by using one of his workers and obtains the resources, benefits or points immediately. This process continues until all players have used up their workers. At this moment they proceed to the Night phase.

Actions:

• Use a basic space.
• Use an Encampment.
• Use a Pyramid tile action.
• Explore a face-down tile.

Action: Use a basic space

The indicated Resource or Victory Point is immediately taken from the general Reserve. There is no limit to how many Victory Points can be accumulated. However, there is a limit for the other Resources. On the cards of each Clan there is a reminder of these limits.

• Corn: In the Mayan culture, corn was the basis of their daily diet, the cause of their great astronomical and calendrical advances, the reason for their religiosity and architecture, and the material from which the gods formed their bones and muscles.
• Jaguar Skin: The jaguar, called Balam, was a symbol of power. The high personages of the ancient Mayan society used clothes with the skin of the animal, thus showing their authority and importance in the society.
• Jade Mask: Jade masks were made with a mixture of jade, snail shell, obsidian and hematite, giving them the brightness that we can see in them today. They represented entities and spirits that granted their powers to those who wore them.

Heritage Card

Playing a Heritage card: discard a Heritage card from your hand and immediately get Resources or Victory Points.

Market Card

Acquire a card from the Market: you acquire an available card from the Market, after paying the Resources specified if necessary. The benefits of the card are then obtained.

There are two types of Market cards: free cards that grant Resources as soon as they are obtained, and those with a cost to be used.

• Resources are gained as soon as they are received.
• When the cost symbol appears on the card, to obtain the benefits on the right, you must pay the Resources that appear on the left (never in reverse order).

Example: pay 1 Jade Mask to the Reserve to obtain 2 Corn; at the end of the game it awards 1 Victory Point.

Some cards have the icon to free an Encampment. At the moment of acquiring one of these cards, 1 black cube must be removed from the board. If there is no cube, the icon is ignored.

Keep the cards you buy in the Marketplace and the Heritage cards you play near your Clan card, as they can eventually award Victory Points.

Action: Use an Encampment (page 4)

Action: Use one of the Pyramid tile:

Increase the clan: the Resources indicated on the Clan card must be discarded to the general Reserve. Two workers are placed, and a third from the Reserve, which becomes available to the player in the next round. This action can be done as long as there are workers in the Reserve.

This action is not available during the first round of play.

Don't forget to remove the black cube in the first Night phase.

Example: the Yucateca player (green) must pay two Skins when he wants to increase his clan and get one more worker.

The Pyramid: The Pyramid is located in the center of the board and is where the Offerings and sacrifices are made. It is here that the Offering cards are completed using two workers. Several players can use it at the same time, and there is no limit to the number of workers.

When performing the Pyramid action to make an Offering, the following steps are followed:

1. Place 2 workers on the Pyramid or on the Offering card, whichever the player prefers.
2. Sacrifice, if necessary, as many workers as indicated on the Offering card. For this purpose, the figures of the sacrificed workers are knocked down. (A sacrifice icon on the card indicates that you have to sacrifice one of your workers to make the Offering, in addition to the Resources shown.)
3. The specified Resources are paid, and the Offering card is placed visibly next to the Clan card. At the end of the game it gives the player the Victory Points printed on the card.

On the example Offering card ("El pobre", 7 Victory Points), the sacrifice icon indicates that you have to sacrifice one of the workers to make the Offering, in addition to 2 Corn and 1 Jaguar Skin.

The Grand Priest Pituk: The High Priest Pituk is available as soon as all the tiles on the board have been explored. He can be used 2 times before being used up. When used, 1 black cube is placed on one of the available spaces, the player gains 1 Victory Point and obtains the favor of the Pituk. The Pituk's favor allows the player to discard the active Offerings and replace them with 2 new ones drawn from the Offerings deck. If there are no available spaces left, the High Priest Pituk cannot be used.

Starting player: The player gets the starting player marker and will be the first to start in the next round. He cannot perform this action if he is already the starting player.

Explore: This action is carried out in two parts:

1. The Expedition, which takes place in the Day phase: 1 worker is placed on a non-explored tile. You earn 1 Victory Point.
2. Discovery in the Night phase: the explored tile is revealed.

The Night

When the players have used all their workers, the Night begins. This is a maintenance phase. Perform the following steps in order:

1. Each player gathers the workers used in the Day phase. The sacrificed workers return to the general Reserve.
2. The explored tiles are revealed.
3. The missing Market cards are replenished until there are 5 cards.
4. The missing Offering cards are replenished until there are 2 cards.
5. If it is the first Night phase, the action of increasing the clan that was blocked during the preparation of the game is unlocked.

After these steps, a new round begins.

End of the Game

The game ends when one of the players achieves 2 Offerings. The current round is ended, and once all players have finished performing their actions, it goes to the final score, without a Night phase.

Final Score

To determine the winner of Nakum, the points are added up from:

• Offering cards completed
• Market cards obtained
• Victory Points gathered along the game
• Resources stored

Resources stored:

• 3 Corn = 1 VP
• 2 Skins = 1 VP
• 1 Mask = 1 VP

The player with the most Victory Points wins. If there is a tie, the player with the most Jade Masks wins. If there is still a tie, the winner will be the first player to make an offering at a Mayan pyramid in the Yucatan.

Glossary of Market Card Icons

Resources: Corn, Skin, Mask, Victory point, Tseek' (skull).

• Steal: (icon captioned "Steal the VP to another player") choose one of the options, discarding the Resources to the general Reserve, and steal from the player of your choice.
• Pituk: allows you to perform a Pituk action even if it is exhausted or not yet available.
• Increase the clan: the indicated Resources are paid and a worker from the Reserve is placed in the multiply action. This does not occupy or block the action and can be performed even if the Increase the clan action is already occupied. The workers are recovered in the Night phase and will be available from the next turn.

Destiny Expansion

The Destiny Expansion adds cards with secret objectives that grant Victory Points to the player who possesses it and fulfills the requirement indicated on it. This expansion is not compatible with solitaire mode.

They are dealt randomly, one per player at the beginning of the game, at the same time as the Heritage cards.

There are two zones on the cards, which indicate the necessary requirements and the Victory Points that are obtained by fulfilling that requirement. You can fulfill and score for one or both conditions, in either order.

• The upper part shows Heritage or Market icons, indicating the number and type of cards that must have been played in the game to fulfill the requirement and score the 3 Victory Points.
• The lower part refers to the amount and type of Resource in your Warehouse needed to get the 2 Victory Points from the card at the end of the game.

Example: if you played 3 Heritage cards in the game, you win 3 VP, and if you still have 3 Corn and 2 Skin cards in your Warehouse at the end of the game you will get 2 additional VP.

Nakum Cenote Expansion

Since the discovery of the Cenote of Chaak near the city, the priests stipulated that sacrifices there would be gestures welcomed with joy by the Gods.

The Chaak Cenote introduces a new sacrifice mechanic to the game. On this tile, clan members can be sacrificed before making Offerings in the Pyramid. This new action allows you to get one of the limited tseek' (Mayan word meaning "skull") of the game and to reserve an Offering by placing on it the sacrificed worker in the Cenote.

It also adds a variant to the preparation of the game, in which all the tiles are used, called "Nakum's forest", which is detailed below.

Starting setup

The game is prepared according to the instructions in the section "Game setup" (see page 3). After placing the tiles to be used in the game, the Cenote tile is placed adjacent to the board thus formed.

On the Cenote tile are placed the tseek' markers available during the game, which will be 4/5/6 for games of 2/3/4 players respectively.

The tseek' markers serve as a wild card and can be used to replace any Resource during the game. In Offerings where there is a sacrificed worker in the Cenote, the worker can also replace a future sacrifice.

The Cenote tile has no limit to the number of players that can use it at the same time, just like the Pyramid, and can be used as long as there are tseek' markers left on it.

Using the Cenote

Each player can only send a worker to the Cenote once per round. To do so, he must sacrifice him, obtaining 1 of the tseek' left on the tile. The sacrifice can be boosted, as indicated on the tile itself, by discarding Resources to gain 1 or 2 immediate additional Victory Points.

The player must decide whether to leave the worker on the Cenote tile, in which case it is returned to the general Reserve in the Night phase, or to place the sacrificed worker in one of the available Offerings.

When a sacrificed worker is placed in the Cenote on an Offering card, it can only be completed using at least one tseek', either in substitution of 1 of the Resources needed or of a worker to be sacrificed.

Workers on the Offering cards

Offering cards with workers on them are completed following the normal rules: two workers must be sent to the Pyramid and the Resources paid for. The payment must include at least one tseek' marker.

To fulfill an Offering with a worker on it:

• Check if there is a sacrifice to be made. If so, and the worker on the Offering is yours, you may pay for that sacrifice with a tseek'.
• If the worker is NOT of your color, you will have to sacrifice your worker and the tseek' will be a wild card to pay for any of the Resources needed.
• If there is no sacrifice on the Offering card, use the tseek' as a wild card.

Notes:

• Workers sacrificed on an Offering card that is obtained by any player return to the general Reserve.
• When completing an Offering using 1 or more tseek', they are placed on the Offering card in the player's zone as a reminder, as they cannot be used again. These markers award Victory Points at the end of the game.
• If a Pituk action removes Offering cards with workers on them, the workers are returned to the general Reserve.
• It is possible for an Offering to have workers from different players, although it is a risky decision.

Night Phase (Cenote)

After performing the actions of the Night phase indicated in the base game, the remaining workers on the Cenote are returned to the general Reserve.

Final score (Cenote)

The tseek' markers score as follows at the end of the game:

• 4 Victory Points for each tseek' on an Offering completed by the player.
• 3 Victory Points for each tseek' marker in the player's Warehouse.
• Tseek' cannot be used as jokers for scoring on Destiny cards.

Example: the purple player sacrifices in the Cenote 1 of his workers and a mask, for which he receives 2 Victory Points and a tseek' marker. He decides to place the sacrificed worker on the Offering card of "El Cazador". From that moment on, to complete the Offering, any player will have to replace 1 of the Resources given in the Pyramid by a tseek'. The purple player will be able to complete the Offering without having to sacrifice another worker, since the previous sacrifice plus the tseek' will serve to pay the current sacrifice; he will pay 4 Skins and 1 tseek'. Any other player must make a sacrifice of a worker, 3 Skins and a tseek' marker to fulfill the Offering.

Variant: Nakum Forest

In this variant, all the tiles in the game are used: the Pyramid and the Cenote are placed in the center, surrounded by the remaining eight tiles. During the game, the Pituk will be available from the first turn. If the deck of Offerings runs out, the discarded Offerings are shuffled to create a new deck.

Solitaire Play: Chaak'Bot

Introduction

The solitaire mode of Nakum controls the actions of a player, the bot, through a deck of 8 cards with two possible orientations. At the beginning of each turn, 3 cards are drawn for Chaak'Bot, which will make him gather Resources and perform the actions in the game, except for playing Heritage cards and visiting the Pituk, since the bot is the god Chaak and does not need these actions to carry out his will.

Setup

The 2-player preparation is used, with the following modifications:

• The human player gets 4 Heritage cards.
• The action of Increase the clan and the Pituk are available from the beginning of the game.
• Chaak'Bot always starts the game, with the first player marker next to him.

How to play

Draw 3 cards for the Bot (in hard mode they are drawn hidden). If there are less than 3 cards left in the deck, reshuffle the discard deck, randomly turning some cards to vary their orientation, and complete the 3 Chaak'Bot cards with the new deck.

Chaak'Bot is checked to see if it can fulfill any Offering, first the Resources and then the sacrificial hearts (in hard mode, if necessary, the cards are uncovered to check the Heart icons). If the Bot fulfills any Offering, it is placed next to its board, discarding the Resources used. Chaak'Bot is finished and does not perform any more actions during this turn. The player has a break!

If the bot does not fulfill any Offerings, the game is played as normal, in the Day phase:

The player with the starting player marker begins the Day phase. When it is Chaak'Bot's turn, it performs the actions shown at the top of the first card on the left, from left to right. It then checks if there is any combo on the card. This happens when the center symbols of the 1st and 2nd card match. If so, it earns that bonus as well. In the hard mode the combo is checked with the previous card. In other words, in the first turn of the hard mode you will have no combo, and in the second turn you will check the second and the first card for matching symbols.

After the player's turn, Chaak'Bot acts again, performing the actions on the top of its second card and checking, if played in normal mode, if the central symbols of the 2nd and 3rd match; in hard mode, the 1st and 2nd would be checked at this point.

The game continues until the player runs out of workers. It is possible for the player to perform more actions than Chaak'Bot, which only performs 3 groups of actions, one per card, plus the possible bonus if the central symbols are repeated.

The game ends as usual, when either player has 2 Offerings in his playing area.

Example: the bot starts its turn blocking the Encampment on the right of tile no. 5, gets a Skin and explores tile 1. Then it checks if it has a combo, and it does indeed have the first of the combos, and also gets a Mask.

Chaak'Bot actions

Four types of actions can be found on the cards: gathering Resources, Market, optional board actions and combos.

• Get resources: Chaak'Bot gets the Resources and Victory Points indicated at the top of the card he is going to play, and he has no Warehouse limit!
• Market: whenever the Market icon appears, Chaak'Bot will try to acquire the leftmost card in the Market line. If he does not have the Resources to do so, he will move on to the next one. It will pay the necessary Resources from its Warehouse and will get the benefits. If it is the Pituk card or the card to increase the Clan, it leaves the card in its play zone and does not get the benefits. If the card indicates to remove cubes from Encampments, the player chooses which cube to remove, being possible in this way to unblock an action of the Pyramid that has blocked Chaak'Bot in the turn. After this, all Market cards are shifted to the left. It may be the case that it cannot buy any of the available cards, in which case Chaak'Bot would lose the action.
• Optional board actions: they are performed if possible, and if not, they are omitted. There are two:
  • Explore: if the tile is unexplored, the bot performs the action as normal, earns 1 Victory Point and places a worker on the explored tile that will be revealed in the Night phase.
  • Block camp: if the tile is already uncovered, it blocks the Encampment on the left or right, as indicated by the icon.
• Combos: combos are completed only if the two central icons of the cards are identical.
  • Get a Mask: get a Mask marker that goes to its Warehouse.
  • Get the starting player marker: Chaak'Bot gains the starting player marker and places a cube in the starting player action (the snake). During this turn the player will not be able to place workers on this action. It is unlocked in the Night phase. It does not matter if the bot is already the starting player.

How to place the tiles

Number 1 is always the top tile (corresponds to 12 o'clock on a clock). Then count clockwise.

If there is no Encampment on the tile or it is already blocked, the action is ignored.

Night Phase (Chaak'Bot)

It is done as normal, and also the Chaak'Bot markers on the Pyramid tile are removed. The market is filled from left to right.

Hard mode

In the hard mode the cards are revealed as Chaak'Bot acts, while all the actions that he will perform in the Day phase remain visible in the normal difficulty. The other difference is in the combos check, which in normal mode is done between one card and the next, while in hard mode it is between one card and the previous one (as the next one is not yet revealed).