New Salem
New Salem Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Objective
Players will draft Buildings and score points for completing sets and for playing Buildings that correspond with their Character card. Witch players will attempt to end the game with a certain amount of Despair in the town, while Puritan players will try to keep the Despair under that number by the end of the game.
Components
- 144 Building cards
- 10 Character cards
- 8 Event cards
- 5 Round counters
- 30 Despair cubes
- 30 Hope cubes
Symbols
New Salem contains little text, and is primarily symbol-based. Below is a description of each symbol.
Building Types
Although the building types are named, players may simply reference and match the symbols.
- Entertainment
- Law
- Education
- Trade
- Finance
- Gloom
Other Symbols
Despair — Despair determines whether the game is won by a Witch or a Puritan citizen. This is an unlimited resource, so if Despair cubes run out, use something else to represent Despair.
Hope — Hope is New Salem's currency and is used to initiate events. When shown on a Building card, this symbol indicates the amount of Hope provided by that Building. When shown on an Event card, this symbol indicates the amount of Hope that must be spent to initiate that event. This is an unlimited resource, so if Hope cubes run out, use something else to represent Hope.
Remove Despair — When anyone plays a Building or triggers an event that displays this symbol, that player removes one Despair cube from any building in the game for each symbol displayed. This cannot be saved for another round; if there is no Despair on any Building when a Building or event with this symbol is played, it does nothing.
Draft Passing Direction — This symbol is shown on the Round Counter, and indicates which direction cards are passed during drafting each round.
Setup
Character Cards
Separate the Puritan and Witch Character cards into two separate piles. Reference the table below to determine the appropriate number of Witch and Puritan cards to be included based on the number of players. Randomly remove cards from each pile until you have the appropriate number based on the chart, then shuffle the remaining Character cards together. Deal one to each player. Unused Character cards are removed from the game and may not be viewed by any player.
| Players | Witch Character Cards | Puritan Character Cards |
|---|---|---|
| 3 | 2 | 4 |
| 4 | 2 | 4 |
| 5 | 2 | 4 |
| 6 | 2 | 5 |
| 7 | 3 | 6 |
| 8 | 3 | 6 |
Example (six players): Separate the Witch and Puritan Character cards. Randomly remove two of the Witch Character cards and one of the Puritan Character cards from the game. Shuffle the remaining two Witch and five Puritan Character cards together and deal one to each player. Remove the remaining Character card from the game.
Building and Event Cards
Each Building and Event card has a number in the bottom right corner to indicate whether it will be used during this game. Remove any Building and/or Event cards that show a number that is greater than the number of players in the game. Place the remaining Event cards face-up in the center of the table where they are visible to all players.
Example (six players): Remove all Building and Event cards with a seven or eight in the bottom right corner.
Round Counters
Place the round counters in a face-up pile in the center of the table where they are visible to all players. Stack the counters in order with Round 1 on top and Round 5 on bottom.
Gameplay
Each of the game's five rounds consists of the following four phases, in this order.
1. Draft Buildings
A. Deal
The Round Counter for the current round indicates how many Building cards should be dealt to and played by each player each round. This is also shown in the table below.
| Round | Buildings Dealt | Buildings Played |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | 2 |
| 2 | 4 | 3 |
| 3 | 5 | 4 |
| 4 | 4 | 3 |
| 5 | 3 | 2 |
Deal example (round two): Each player is dealt four Building cards at the beginning of the round. Each player will play three Building cards when drafting and discarding are finished.
B. Draft
Each player chooses one card and places it face-down on top of their Character card, then passes the remaining cards to the next player. If that player is still choosing between other cards, the cards being passed should be placed near the edge of the table between the two players. Reference the Round Counters to determine which direction cards will be passed. Players continue drafting cards in this manner until they are choosing between two cards.
Draft example (round one): Players 1 and 2 were each dealt three Building cards. Player 1 chooses one Building card to keep and places it face-down on top of his Character card (A). Player 2 is still choosing between her three cards, so Player 1 places his remaining two cards along the edge of the table between himself and Player 2 (B). Player 1 then picks up the two cards that have been passed to him (C).
C. Discard
When a player has two cards handed to them, they must do one of the following:
- Keep one of those cards and discard the other
OR
- Discard both cards and draw and keep a building card from the top of the building deck.
Discarded Building cards are placed on the bottom of the deck and may not be viewed by other players.
Discard example — when deciding between only two cards, a player may: 1. Keep one and discard the other. 2. Discard both and draw a random card from the deck.
2. Take Cubes
When all players have finished drafting, they reveal and play their Building cards on the table simultaneously. Each player places one Hope or Despair cube on top of the Hope and/or Despair icon at the bottom of any Buildings they played this turn. Any player who played a Building that removes Despair must then remove one Despair cube from any building in play unless there is no Despair in play.
Take Cubes example: A player reveals her three buildings and adds one Hope cube and one Despair cube to her Burial Grounds. Since her Sheriff's Office removes a Despair, she then removes a Despair cube from her Burial Grounds.
3. Initiate Events
Players may give any or all of their Hope to another player or players. A player may also spend Hope to initiate an Event. The amount of Hope required to initiate each Event is displayed on the Event card. Players may not combine their Hope to initiate an Event together, however any player may give their Hope to another player, who may then initiate the Event of their choosing. Trial and Pardon Events are given to players and may only be initiated a limited number of times in each game. All other Events may be used any number of times, so long as the Hope cost is paid each time the Event is initiated.
Initiate Events example: Player 1 wants to initiate Cleansing, but Cleansing costs five Hope, and Player 1 only has three Hope. Player 1 gives Player 2 two Hope cubes so she can initiate Cleansing. Player 2 may now use her five Hope cubes to initiate Cleansing or any other Event of her choosing.
4. Shuffle and End Round
When players have finished initiating and resolving events, shuffle the Buildings deck. Flip over the top Round Counter and place it face-down next to the Round Counter pile. Play ends when all five rounds have been completed.
Game End
Resolve Trials
At the end of the game, a trial occurs. All players reveal their Character cards.
- For each Witch who has a Trial card, remove 2 Despair cubes from the town.
- For each Witch who does not have a Trial card, add 2 Despair cubes to the town.
- For each Puritan who has a Trial card, add 2 Despair cubes to the town.
Game end example (four players): There are a total of seven Despair cubes on all players' Buildings. Player 1 is a Witch and has a Trial card, so two Despair cubes are removed. Player 2 is a Witch and does not have a Trial card, so two Despair cubes are added. Player 3 is a Puritan and has a Trial card, so two more Despair cubes are added. Player 4 is a Puritan and does not have a Trial card, which causes no change.
Count Despair
If there are enough Despair cubes in the town at the end of the game, the Witch with the most Victory Points is the winner. If there are not enough Despair cubes in the town for a Witch to win, the Puritan with the most Victory Points is the winner. If there are enough Despair cubes in the town for the Witches to win, but no player is a Witch, all players lose. The table below shows the minimum number of Despair cubes that must be in the town at the end of the game for a Witch to win.
| Players | Despair Needed for a Witch to Win |
|---|---|
| 3 | 6 |
| 4 | 8 |
| 5 | 10 |
| 6 | 12 |
| 7 | 14 |
| 8 | 16 |
Game end example (four players), continued: There are now a total of nine Despair cubes. Since there are four players, this means only the Witches are eligible to win.
Count Victory Points
Players earn Victory Points as follows:
- 1 point for each player's Building that matches one of the types shown on their Character card
- 2 points for each complete set of 3 unique Buildings of any type, regardless of whether that type is on the player's Character card
In the event of a tie, the player with the most Hope cubes wins. If players are still tied after considering Hope cubes, all tied players win.
Game end example, continued: Player 1 gets two points for his set and one point for each Building card matching one of the types on his Character card. Player 2 gets two points for her set and one point for each Building in the set, because the buildings match one of the types on her Character card. Player 2 wins with five points.
Quick Reference
Character Cards
| Players | Witch Character Cards | Puritan Character Cards |
|---|---|---|
| 3 | 2 | 4 |
| 4 | 2 | 4 |
| 5 | 2 | 4 |
| 6 | 2 | 5 |
| 7 | 3 | 6 |
| 8 | 3 | 6 |
Drafting Buildings
| Round | Buildings Dealt | Buildings Played |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | 2 |
| 2 | 4 | 3 |
| 3 | 5 | 4 |
| 4 | 4 | 3 |
| 5 | 3 | 2 |
Minimum Despair for Witch to Win
| Players | Despair Needed for a Witch to Win |
|---|---|
| 3 | 6 |
| 4 | 8 |
| 5 | 10 |
| 6 | 12 |
| 7 | 14 |
| 8 | 16 |