Nisyros Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Nisyros: co-operative strategy game
  • Game overview
  • Contents
  • Preparation for the first game
  • Setting up
    • Game setup legend (3-player setup diagram)
  • Choosing the game level
  • Game flow
    • Step 1: Moving workers and boats
    • Step 2: Events
    • Step 3: Action dice
    • Step 4: Gathering resources
    • Step 5: Building dams and boats
    • Step 6: Summoning new workers
    • Step 7: Feeding the workers
    • Step 8: Flow of lava
    • Step 9: Eruptions
    • Step 10: Evacuating inhabitants
  • Fleeing
  • Displaced persons
  • Game end
  • Event cards

Nisyros: co-operative strategy game

2 to 4 players, ages 12 and up, duration of play about 50 min

Game overview

At the beginning of the game, each player has two workers and eight citizens. The workers recognize the danger and immediately start working. The citizens are still unaware of the threat, but can be summoned to join the workers during the game.

The workers need wood for building boats and stone for building dams. Wheat is grown to feed all the workers. These three resources can be harvested on the volcano slopes. The upper fields bring the highest yield, but these will soon be covered with lava. When an area is overflowing and workers are present, they will try to escape. If they fail, they will go to Hades, the realm of the dead.

Apart from the unpredictable volcano, in each round of play there will be 1, 2 or 3 events that can be either positive or negative. Five action dice can double the yield of the areas, but sometimes cause extra eruptions.

Will we succeed in bringing the inhabitants safely to Kos before Nisyros is completely covered with lava?

Contents

• 4 volcano parts (circles)
• 4 sea parts (puzzle pieces)
• 4 coastal areas with villages and workplaces
• 16 resource areas (stone, wood, wheat)
• 40 inhabitants (wooden play figures) in 4 colours
• 3 resource charts for stone, wood and wheat
• 3 ring-shaped markers for the 3 resources
• 4 bonus resources (2x stone, 1x wood, 1x wheat)
• 32 boats
• 32 dams
• 26 event cards
• 1 red event die
• 5 yellow action dice
• 1 black volcano die
• 1 sheet with die stickers
• 1 game flow marker (oval shaped ring)

Preparation for the first game

• Put the stickers on the 7 dice as indicated on the sticker sheet. Take care, every die is different! Also check the correct die colours.
• Glue the 4 round vulkano parts together by joining the letters A-A / B-B / C-C. This creates the volcano base with the crater in the middle.

Setting up

(See the game setup at the backside of this booklet.)

• Puzzle the 4 sea parts together and put the volcano base in the center.
• Put down the 20 areas. Start with a ring consisting of the 4 largest pieces, the coastal areas, then place the smaller and smaller rings of 4 resource areas each. Lay them down randomly, so that each game will have a unique setup. Take care that you construct a game board consisting of 4 quarters, the 4 zones of the game.
• The upper 4 resource areas (directly around the volcano crater) receive a bonus resource marker.
• There are 4 villages: Mandraki, Pali, Emporios and Nikia. Each player chooses a village and places 8 inhabitants of its colour on the village: the citizens. Two inhabitants start as worker, put these on the meeting place (theater) next to the village.
• Divide the 3 resource charts between the players. If one player wants to manage all three of them, this is OK as well.
• Indicate the resource amounts with the ring shaped markers. The team receives a stock of 3 wheat per player, thus depending on the number of players 6, 9 or 12 wheat. Wood and stone start at zero.
• Put the boats and dams within reach next to the board.
• Select the 10 event cards with a star symbol in the upper left corner. Shuffle them well and set aside 5 of them. Shuffle the other 5, together with the event cards without a star and pile these up next to the game board. Then put the 5 cards that were set aside on top of the pile.
• The starting player receives the 7 dice. This could be the one who recently returned safely from a Mediterranean holiday.
• Place the game flow marker on step 1 of the overview on the game board.

Game setup legend (3-player setup diagram)

A Game flow overview; B Game flow marker; C Zone; D Coastal area; E Village with citizens; F Meeting place with workers; G Shipyard; H Dam building place; J Resource areas; K Bonus resources; L Resource charts; M Dam supply; N Boat supply; O Event cards; P Event die; Q Action dice; R Volcano die; S Crater of the volcano; X These areas have no function in a 3-player game.

Choosing the game level

Together, select a game level:

• Achilles: each inhabitant needs a boat to escape and in every round of play 2 eruptions will occur.
• Heracles: each inhabitant needs 1 wheat to escape with a boat; still 2 eruptions per round of play.
• Zeus: each inhabitant needs 1 wheat to escape with a boat and there will be 3 eruptions per round of play.

Game flow

The active player follows the 10 steps of the game flow that are depicted on the overview on the game board. He or she will also throw dice for the whole team and makes decisions for the team in case the players cannot easily decide together. Players with resource tables keep tracking the increase or decrease of their resource. Of course, all players perform the actions of their own inhabitants, usually they can do this simultaneously.

Step 1: Moving workers and boats

Each player starts with 2 workers. Put these at the places where you expect them to be useful. Workers can move to a volcano slope to gather resources (see step 4). Or they can be placed on a dam building place or shipyard on the coastal areas to build dams or boats (step 5). Or they can stay on the meeting place (theater) to call up more workers (step 6).

The upper 8 resource areas have a limit of 2, the shipyards a limit of 3 workers. This is indicated at those workplaces. All other workplaces can be used by any amount of workers. Workers can be placed in their own zone (quarter of the game board) and in the two adjacent zones, but not on the opposite side of the island.

In a 2- or 3-player game, the resource areas in the zone of an empty village can be used normally. It is also possible to use the dam building place for building dams in this zone. The other parts of this coastal area (village, meeting place, shipyard) are not used during this game.

In step 1 you can also transfer boats to a different zone where they might soon be needed for fleeing to Kos.

Step 2: Events

The active player throws the red event die. This die shows whether 1, 2 or 3 events will take place in this round of play. The colour of the number is irrelevant. One by one, take the event cards from the pile and immediately check the effect. In the middle of the game rules you will find a detailed description.

Most cards have their effect right away. Some cards are handled in a later step of this round of play. Put these cards next to the game flow overview until their effect has taken place. Put all event cards on the discard pile (next to the draw pile) as soon as they have been handled.

In case an event cannot be carried out or has no effect, do not draw a new card to replace it.

Example of two event cards: each card shows its card number, a star on the starting cards, the step in which the event has effect, and whether it is a positive or a negative event.

Step 3: Action dice

Now the active player throws the 5 yellow action dice. All dice with +1 or -1 are placed on step 9 of the game flow overview. Dice with x2 may double the result of workers on one workplace. Each workplace has its own doubler and the Hermes (winged shoe) can be utilized on any workplace. Decide together on the best way to deploy them. You can only use 1 die per workplace.

Action dice that cannot be used are already passed on to the next player.

Step 4: Gathering resources

All players gather stone, wood and wheat from all workers on the volcano slopes. Each worker gathers 1 resource. On the 8 upper areas each worker even produces 2 resources of that type. Doubling this with an action die can thus render 4 resources per worker. With the right event, in the best case 8 resources per worker can be obtained!

The upper 4 resource areas give 1 bonus resource the first time they are harvested. The bonus resource marker is then removed. Bonus resources are never doubled (neither by action dice nor by event cards).

All gathered resources are recorded on the resource charts by moving the resource marker. The maximum number of resources that can be stored is 16, 20 or 24, depending on the number of players. This is indicated on the resource charts.

Leave the workers on the fields after gathering resources.

Step 5: Building dams and boats

Each worker on a dam building place can build a dam in this zone. Each worker on a shipyard can build a boat. Of course, this can be doubled with the right action dice.

Building a dam costs 1 stone, building a boat costs 1 wood. Take these from the supply on the resource chart. If the supply is empty, you must stop building. It is allowed to stop earlier to save some resources for later use.

A constructed dam is put on one of the indicated spots in the same zone as the dam building place. Boats are placed at sea near the coastal area where they were built.

Leave the workers on their workplaces after building dams and boats.

Step 6: Summoning new workers

Each worker on a meeting place (theater) can call up a citizen from the village to join the workers. In one round of play a maximum of 2 workers can be summoned on each meeting place. So doubling this action with an action die is only useful if there is just one worker on the meeting place.

Move the called up citizens from the village to the meeting place. From now on you can deploy them as workers.

Step 7: Feeding the workers

Hard work brings appetite! Each player counts his or her workers, including recently summoned workers. Players with 1 to 5 workers need 1 wheat to feed them. For 6 or more workers, pay 2 wheat.

For every wheat that is lacking, 2 workers get sick and return to their village. Decide together whose workers are affected.

Step 8: Flow of lava

Skip this step in the first round of play.

The lava is flowing down! In each zone that contains lava, the area directly underneath is threatened. Only areas with all dams in place are safe from the lava flow. With no or too few dams, the area is turned over to the lava side. Useless dams are returned to the supply next to the game board. Any inhabitants on this area will need to flee. This will be explained separately below.

Step 9: Eruptions

One eruption less in the first round of play.

The volcano starts erupting! The number of eruptions is determined in the following way:

• Game level Achilles and Heracles have a basic number of 2, level Zeus of 3 eruptions.
• The yellow dice that were placed here in step 3 can raise (+1) or lower (-1) the number of eruptions.
• The first round of play always has one eruption less.

The maximum number of eruptions is 5 (Achilles/Heracles) or 6 (Zeus).

For each eruption, throw the black volcano die. The volcano erupts in the direction of the indicated village. Throw again if this zone was already completely covered with lava. With a combination of 2 colours, you get to choose the direction, unless one of the 2 was already completely covered. If they were both covered with lava already, throw again.

Now that the direction of the eruption is determined, turn over the upper area in this zone to the lava side. Dams do not protect against eruptions and are returned to the supply. Any inhabitants on this area have to flee (see below).

Step 10: Evacuating inhabitants

You can bring inhabitants to safety by evacuating them by boat from Nisyros to Kos. Choose freely which inhabitants - citizens and/or workers - you want to save. Evacuate them from any location and with boats from any zone. Decide together which inhabitants need to be saved!

For each evacuated inhabitant, 1 boat is returned to the supply next to the game board. On game level Heracles or Zeus, also remove 1 wheat from the supply. Place the inhabitant on Kos.

Fleeing

Should an area be covered by lava in step 8 or 9 containing 1 or more workers, they flee in panic. Each worker has 2/3 chance to escape. For each fleeing worker, throw the red die to determine success or failure. If you throw a black number (1 or 3), the flight succeeds. Put the worker on his own meeting place (theater). If you throw a red number (2), the worker was too slow and is placed on Hades.

A coastal area usually contains both workers and citizens. Follow the steps below when such an area is covered by lava. Keep throwing the red die for each inhabitant.

1. First try to bring as many citizens as possible from the village to Kos. Since this is a panic situation, only boats on the zone of this village can be used. On level Heracles or Zeus, pay 1 wheat for every successfully fled citizen. Without wheat it is impossible to escape in this way!
2. Are there still boats (and grain), workers can also flee to Kos in this way. Workers that belong to this village get priority. A different fleeing order is allowed if decided together.
3. Is there still a coastal area from another player, then the left over inhabitant can flee to that area. Citizens go to the village, workers to the meeting place (theater) of this coastal area. However they must be able to reach it: if the coastal area is closed in by lava on both sides, it is impossible to reach the area on the opposite side. In that case, all inhabitants are placed on Hades.
4. When all inhabitants have escaped or moved to Hades, any empty boats left in this zone are covered by lava. Return them to the supply.

Displaced persons

Should your coastal area be covered by lava, at the end of this round you may choose another village as your temporary home that you share with the owner of this village. Put all your citizens on this village and all workers on a meeting place in this coastal area. In the upcoming rounds of play you can deploy your workers from this location. Usually the owner of the village will deploy his workers before the displaced workers are moved. Displaced citizens can still be summoned to become workers, at the theater next to their new village.

Game end

The game ends when Nisyros is completely covered by lava or when there are no inhabitants left on the island. Now each player counts the number of his or her inhabitants that have safely reached Kos.

• Did each player save 7 or more inhabitants, then the team yields a small victory. Play the next game on the same level.
• Did each player save 9 or 10 inhabitants, then you have earned a big victory! You are ready for the next challenge. Consider playing at the next level.

Event cards

Each card number is followed by the number of copies of that card in the deck (as printed on the card overview). Cards 1 to 10 are marked with a star on the card as printed in the overview.

1. (1x) One of the workers has a brilliant plan. After throwing the 5 action dice in step 3, you may reroll 1 or 2 of them. Extra eruptions cannot be rerolled.
2. (1x) One of the workers happens to be a great marathon runner. After placing the action dies in step 3 you may move 1 worker to a different workplace.
3. (1x) A heavy thunderstorm turned loose several rocks. During step 4 all stone fields have double yield. Do not double the bonus resource marker.
4. (1x) A mighty storm uprooted several trees. During step 4 all forest fields have double yield. Do not double the bonus resource marker.
5. (1x) Nice weather conditions deliver an excellent harvest. During step 4 all wheat fields have double yield. Do not double the bonus resource marker.
6. (1x) A slow drizzle cools the lava. The stream of lava slows down just enough for the workers to escape. At the end of step 6, move each worker to a meeting place of your choice.
7. (1x) The workers are fasting for one day, so no food is needed. Skip step 7.
8. (1x) The stored food is gnawed by rats. Remove 2 wheat from the wheat supply.
9. (1x) The workers are exhausted and need a long siesta. Two workers do nothing in this turn. Lay them on their side to indicate this.
10. (2x) The workers are stupefied by volcanic fumes. Throw the black die until it indicates a zone with at least 1 worker. The upper area with workers in this zone has no output. Lay the workers on their side to indicate this.
11. (1x) In a big search a missing worker is found back! One of the players that previously lost an inhabitant may put him back from Hades to his meeting place.
12. (1x) An unmanned boat has washed ashore. Take 1 boat from the supply and put it near one of the villages.
13. (1x) An oracle predicts on which side the volcano will erupt. For the first eruption during step 9, do not throw the volcano die but choose the direction together.
14. (1x) The lava sinks into a crevice. Choose one zone and turn back the lower lava field in this zone to the side without lava.