Odysseus Rulebook

Table of Contents

Components
Setup
Playing the Game
Anatomy of a Challenge Card
- Composition of a Challenge Card
Your Turn
Tales, Epic, and Athena's Favors
End of Game
Solo Mode
- Setup
- Playing the Game
- Automa's Turn
- Tale
- Epic
- End of Game
The Journey of Ulysses

Components

5 Tale boards
28 Tale tokens
1 Ulysses' Ship game board
20 cubes (5 red, 5 blue, 5 yellow and 5 green)
5 Epic tiles
40 Athena's Favor tokens
60 Challenge cards
5 player aid cards
16 Automa cards
4 Automa difficulty tiles
1 score pad

Setup

Place Ulysses' Ship at the center of the table. Shuffle the 28 Tale tokens and form two face-down decks in the spots indicated on Ulysses' Ship. Reveal 4 Tale tokens from one of these decks and place them in the spots indicated on Ulysses' Ship. Take at random a number of Challenge cards corresponding to the number of players (indicated on Ulysses' Ship). Shuffle them and form a face-down deck in the spot indicated on Ulysses' Ship. Draw 4 Challenge cards and place them, face down, on the 4 central spaces of Ulysses' Ship. Draw 8 Challenge cards and place them, face up, on the remaining spaces of Ulysses' Ship. Place 1 Athena's Favor token on each side of Ulysses' Ship. Form a reserve with the remaining tokens. Form a stack, from lowest to highest value (highest value on top of the stack), with the 5 Epic tiles and place it on its spot on Ulysses' Ship. Finally, each person takes:

A Tale board and 4 wooden cubes (one of each color), which they place on each 0 space of the corresponding color.
A Tale token from one of the two face-down decks, which they place face up on the leftmost space of their Tale board.
An Athena's Favor token from the reserve and a player aid card.

The last person to have traveled by boat starts the game.

Playing the Game

The game is played clockwise. You take turns starting with the first player. The game ends when each person has 11 Challenge cards.

Anatomy of a Challenge Card

The Challenge cards represent the 15 great stages of Ulysses' journey across the Mediterranean. Your goal is to help Ulysses succeed at them in order to score their victory points at the end of the game. Each Challenge belongs to one of four skills, each associated with a color: strength, intelligence, cunning, luck.

Composition of a Challenge Card

The value to reach in the skill in order to succeed at the challenge.
The victory points earned if the challenge is succeeded.
The rewards you gain when you set off on the adventure with this card.
The type of challenge: navigation, encounters, gods, creatures, Ithaca.

Your Turn

You perform the following steps, in order:

Choose a Challenge card
Set off on the adventure or Rest
End your turn

1. Choose a Challenge Card

You must choose a Challenge card located at one of the ends of the two sides of Ulysses' Ship. You may therefore not choose a Challenge card that lies between 2 other cards. If you choose a Challenge card adjacent to a face-down card, reveal the 2 face-down Challenge cards on that side of the Ship and win the Athena's Favor located between those 2 cards.

Example: Adelaide has a choice between 3 Challenge cards, 1, 2 and 3. She chooses Challenge card 3, which is adjacent to a face-down card. She turns over the 2 face-down Challenge cards on that side of the Ship and wins the Athena's Favor.

2.a Set Off on the Adventure

You win the rewards indicated at the bottom of the Challenge card you chose, as follows:

skill icon: increase the associated skill by one point.
any-skill icon: increase the skill of your choice by one point.
Athena's Favor icon: take 1 Athena's Favor from the reserve.

Then you add the Challenge card to your Tale board, in the column corresponding to its skill.

IMPORTANT: you may not place more than 4 Challenge cards per skill. If you have no other choice but to choose a 5th card of the same skill, then you must rest instead.

Example: Adelaide has chosen her Challenge card and decides to set off on the adventure. She increases her Cunning skill by 2 points. Then she adds the Challenge card to the Luck column of her Tale board.

2.b Rest

You place the Challenge card, face down, to the left of your Tale board, without winning its rewards.

In exchange, you increase a skill of your choice by one point and you win one Athena's Favor from the reserve.

Example: Nikos chooses to rest and places his Challenge card, face down, to the left of his Tale board. He decides to increase his strength by one point. He also receives an Athena's Favor from the reserve.

3. End Your Turn

If, at the end of your turn, only a single Challenge card remains on Ulysses' Ship, discard that card to the box and redeal, from the deck, 4 face-down cards and 8 face-up cards to their respective spaces. Then, add one Athena's Favor to each side of Ulysses' Ship. It is then the turn of the person to your left to play.

Tales, Epic, and Athena's Favors

Tales

Tales let you score additional victory points at the end of the game based on the Challenge cards you own. There are 14 different Tales:

4 for the skill types
5 for the skill values: 1-2, 3, 4, 5, 6
5 for the challenge types

Each Tale is present in two copies in the deck. All Tales award 2 victory points for each matching element you have on your Challenge cards.

IMPORTANT: you score the victory points from your Tales even if your Challenge cards were not succeeded by the end of the game.

Winning a Tale

You can win a Tale in two different ways:

By spending, once per turn, 3 Athena's Favors (see below).
Whenever you form a row of 4 Challenge cards, one card in each skill: strength + intelligence + cunning + luck.

When you win a Tale, you may choose one of the 4 face-up Tales or take the top one from either of the two decks. If you chose a face-up Tale, replace it with the top one from either of the two decks. You can win a maximum of 6 Tales during the game.

Example: Yannis completes his first row of Challenge cards and wins a Tale. He chooses a Tale that grants him 2 victory points for each Challenge of value 1 or 2 he has in front of him at the end of the game, whether it was succeeded or not.

Epic

To complete an Epic, you must own a Challenge card of every type: navigation, encounters, gods, creatures, Ithaca.

You then win the first Epic tile from the stack and place it to the right of your Tale board. The victory points on the Epic tiles decrease, and you may complete only one Epic during the game.

Athena's Favors

Athena's Favors let you acquire new Tales or change the skill points you gain.

You can spend, once per turn, 3 Athena's Favors to win a Tale.
Whenever you increase a skill by one point, you can spend an Athena's Favor to change it into a different skill.

Example: Nikos has chosen a Challenge card that increases his Cunning by 2 points. He decides to use one of his Athena's Favors to change one point of Cunning. He ends up gaining one skill point in Cunning and one point in Luck.

End of Game

When only a single Challenge card remains on Ulysses' Ship and the deck is empty, the game ends and it is time to count victory points.

For each of your skills, count the victory points of your Challenge cards that have a value less than or equal to your score in that skill.

Then count the victory points from your Tales. As a reminder, Tales award victory points for all your Challenge cards, even those with a value higher than your skill score.

Finally, add the victory points from your Epic tile.

The player with the most victory points wins the game. In case of a tie, the player with the higher Tale score wins. If the tie persists, victory is shared.

Solo Mode

Setup

Perform a setup for 2 players; step 7 concerns only you. Choose the Automa's difficulty for this game: 1, 2, 3 or 4. Then the Automa receives a number of Tale tokens according to the difficulty you chose: 2, 3, 4 or 5. Finally, shuffle the 16 Automa cards into a face-down stack.

Playing the Game

You start the game, since the Automa doesn't know how to travel by boat. You take your turn as in a regular game, then you play the Automa's turn, and so on. The game ends when the Automa has 11 Challenge cards.

Automa's Turn

Draw the top Automa card from the stack and perform the following 2 steps:

If the Automa card has a symbol: discard the 4 Tale tiles from the Ship board and replace them. Following the direction of the arrow, the Automa chooses, as a priority, the first available Challenge card that lets it win an Athena's Favor, and ends its turn. If that isn't possible, it chooses a card as indicated in step 2.
Following the direction of the arrow, the Automa chooses the first available Challenge card.

In every case, if the Challenge card chosen by the Automa is adjacent to a face-down card, you must reveal the 2 face-down Challenge cards on that side of the Ship and discard the associated Athena's Favor.

Tale

The Automa starts the game directly with the Tales corresponding to its difficulty and does not win any others.

Epic

As soon as the Automa owns all 5 Challenge types, it wins the first available Epic tile.

End of Game

Proceed with your victory point count as in a regular game. For the Automa, add to the victory points of the chosen difficulty the victory points of its Tale tokens and those of its Epic tile. You win the game if you exceed its score.

The Journey of Ulysses

Ulysses is a legendary hero of Greek mythology. King of Ithaca, he is known for his intelligence, his cunning and his courage. He is one of the main characters of the Odyssey, an epic poem attributed to the Greek poet Homer, composed in the 8th century BC.

After the Trojan War, Ulysses takes ten years to return home, facing numerous trials: monsters, storms, hostile gods, temptations, and more. His journey becomes a symbol of humanity's struggle against adversity. Supported by the goddess Athena, he triumphs more through cunning than through strength.

Ulysses' story tells not only of a physical return, but also of an inner journey, made of losses, patience and wisdom.

The Odyssey is a founding work of Western literature, exploring universal themes such as identity, loyalty, home and the quest for self.

Athena

In Greek mythology, Athena is traditionally represented by a little owl. She is the protective goddess of Ulysses and supports him throughout his journey. She advises him and intervenes with the gods on his behalf.

1. The Lotus-Eaters

Ulysses and his men arrive among the Lotus-Eaters, who consume a lotus with soporific effects. Some companions, seduced by the fruit, forget their mission and want to stay. Ulysses forces them back to the ship to avoid losing his crew.

2. Polyphemus

Ulysses and his men, prisoners of the cyclops Polyphemus, put him to sleep with wine and blind his eye. They escape, hidden beneath the sheep. Out of pride, Ulysses reveals his name, provoking Polyphemus's anger, who calls on Poseidon for revenge.

3. The City of Aeolus

Ulysses is welcomed by Aeolus, god of the winds, who gives him a bag containing all the winds except the one that will bring him back to Ithaca. His companions, believing it holds treasure, open it in secret. The winds escape, causing a storm and driving the ship away from Ithaca.

4. The Laestrygonians

After leaving the island of Aeolus, Ulysses lands among the Laestrygonians, cannibal giants. The Laestrygonians capture his men, devour them, then destroy the fleet by hurling rocks. Only Ulysses' ship escapes the massacre.

5. Circe

Ulysses lands at Circe's island; she transforms his men into pigs. With Hermes' help and a magic plant, Ulysses resists her spells and forces her to restore his companions to human form. Circe becomes their ally and hosts them for a year.

6. The Sirens

To escape the sirens' deadly song, Ulysses plugs his men's ears and has himself tied to the mast. Seduced by the song, he begs to be freed, but his companions do not listen to him. The ship crosses the area unharmed.

7. Charybdis & Scylla

Ulysses crosses a strait guarded by two monsters: Charybdis, a giant whirlpool, and Scylla, a six-headed creature. To save his ship, he chooses to pass close to Scylla, losing six men but escaping Charybdis.

8. The Sacred Cattle of Helios

On the island of Thrinacia, despite the warnings, Ulysses' starving companions kill the sacred cattle of the god Helios, guarded by his daughters. By disobeying, they provoke the divine wrath of Zeus.

9. The Wrath of Zeus

After eating the sacred cattle of Helios, Ulysses' companions provoke the wrath of Zeus. He unleashes a storm that destroys their ship, killing the entire crew. Ulysses, the sole survivor, drifts to the island of Calypso.

10. Calypso

Ulysses washes up on the island of Ogygia, where the nymph Calypso keeps him for seven years. She offers him immortality, but he wants to return home. On Zeus's orders, Hermes demands his release. Calypso agrees and helps him depart.

11. The Wrath of Poseidon

Polyphemus calls on his father, Poseidon, to curse Ulysses. The furious god makes his journey endless with storms and shipwrecks, until the gods of Olympus force him to stop his vengeance.

12. Arrival Among the Phaeacians

Shipwrecked, Ulysses is taken in by Nausicaa among the Phaeacians. At a banquet, he reveals his identity and tells of his adventures. Moved, King Alcinous gives him a magic ship that carries him home to Ithaca while he sleeps.

13. Arrival at Ithaca

Ulysses arrives at Ithaca, asleep aboard the Phaeacians' ship. Athena transforms him into a beggar to help him reclaim his throne. Unrecognizable, he prepares his return with the help of his loyal followers and his son, Telemachus.

14. Return to the Palace

Ulysses goes to the palace disguised as a beggar. He secretly finds Telemachus and prepares his revenge. He observes the suitors, tests the loyalty of the servants and plans the reconquest of his throne with cunning.

15. The Archery Contest

Ulysses attends the contest organized by Penelope: string Ulysses' bow and shoot through twelve axes. No suitor succeeds. Ulysses attempts the trial, succeeds, reveals his identity and kills the suitors with Telemachus's help.