ORE-SOME Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Goal
• Game Setup
• Playing ORE-SOME
  • Order of Play
• Move Phase
  • Dropped Ore
  • Moving the Mining Carts
  • Trapped
  • Shunting
• Dig Phase
  • Taking Turns
    • 1. Dig for Ore
    • 2. Pick Up Ore
    • 3. Cash In
  • Fulfilling Contracts
  • Cashing In Ore
  • Finally
• End of the Day
• Action Cards
  • Move Cards
  • Dig Cards
• Surprise! Cards
• Contractor Cards
• Character Tiles

Components

• 6 Character Cards
• 5 Mining Carts
• 5 Coloured Dice
• 5 Reference Cards
• 2 wooden figures
• 6 wooden beams
• 70 wooden cubes
• 42 contract cards
• 39 action cards
• 1 bank card
• 1 double sided round card
• 32 track tiles
• 1 round marker
• 1 first player token
• 71 coins & 3 scrip tokens
• 1 printed cloth bag
• 1 rulebook
• and Scraps the Dog!

Goal

There are six rounds in the game. The player with the most money at the end of the game wins! Completed contracts and everything in your cart counts too!

Variation: for a longer game that's more about contracts, use the 8 round side of the round track.

Game Setup

Set up the game as per the enclosed pull-out reference sheet.

Playing ORE-SOME

Order of Play

Each round has a Move Phase, then a Dig Phase. Starting with the first player, and playing clockwise, everyone completes their move in the Move phase then, starting from the first player again, everyone completes their mining actions in the Dig phase.

Once everyone has moved and mined, the first player token is passed to the next clockwise player, and they become the first player. The round marker is moved forward 1 space.

Move Phase

Play Move, Dig and Surprise! cards during the Move phase. Move or Surprise! cards played during the Move phase only affect the active player!

At the start of the Move phase:

1. Move the Contract Agents up to 3 tracks using the rules below:

   NOTE: the Contract Agents do not move in round one.

   a. Baron Pierce, walking along the tracks, moves toward the cart with the most ore. Ties are in favour of the closest cart.

   b. Ma Courtland, walking along the tracks, moves toward the cart with the least ore. Ties are in favour of the youngest player.

   c. Ties which cannot be resolved (e.g. players with the most ore are the same distance away) the Contract Agent moves toward the first player's cart.

   d. Agents cannot pass through wooden beams. If an Agent is trapped (blocked by a wooden beam with no route to the mine-shaft), place them on the mine-shaft tile.

2. Trapped players declare if they will be digging their way out (see Trapped!).

3. Any players that are not trapped, roll their dice simultaneously.

4. Starting with the first player, each player in turn moves their cart the number they rolled unless affected by a move or Surprise! cards.

NOTE: Sabotaged players do not roll and start with zero but they can move if Oil Slick is played on them.

Dropped Ore

When players move their cart, any cubes that fall off remain where they lie. Cubes that fall "out of the mine" are placed on the nearest track tile. The cart owner returns cubes that fall off due to other players knocking the cart.

Moving the Mining Carts

Players move their cart in ONE direction. The player must follow the track when moving, unless they have a "Whack the Lever" card.

Example: You roll a two.

• If your cart was in tile 1, you could move forward to tile 3.
• You could not move to tile 4 (because you'd change direction on tile 2).
• If your cart was in tile 3, you could move to tile 1 or 4 as the track lets you move forward at all times.

If you have a Whack the Lever card:

• From tile 1 you can move forward two tiles to Tile 3 OR move to Tile 4. Whack the Lever allows you to move forward one tile to Tile 2, then change direction there and follow the curved track to Tile 4.

If your movement would take you into a tile containing a wooden beam or "out of the mine", stop. If your cart has any cubes visible above the top of the cart, it must drop one just like in Shunting opposite.

If there is another cart in the tile you move in to, you shunt that cart (see Shunting).

The wooden beam can either block 1 track (placed between two tiles) OR can block a tile (placing the beam diagonally across the tile) blocking all tracks on that tile.

Trapped

If your cart has no route to the mine-shaft (because of wooden beams), you can "dig your way out" instead of moving.

Roll your die and remove that number of wooden beams instead of moving. Your cart does not move this turn.

Shunting

If you move into a tile that already has a cart in it, the cart you hit is "shunted".

1. If the shunted cart has any cubes visible above the top of the cart (see below), it must drop one. The cart's owner must choose a cube from the top of their load and places it on the tile they are leaving. They cannot re-order their ore first!
2. The shunted cart then moves forward one tile following the normal move rules. The current player decides on the direction of the shunted cart!
3. Both carts keep moving forward until all moves are completed, or the current player's cart travels in a different direction. The shunted cart drops a cube for every tile it passes through while there are cubes visible above the top of the cart.
4. A shunted cart can then shunt another cart if it moves into its tile! The new shunted cart must now follow the steps above.
5. If a cart reaches the edge of the mine, or hits a wooden beam, they are shunted to a standstill and lose one cube (see step 1). The cart remains on the tile at the edge of the mine or the tile in front of the wooden beam. All carts behind the shunted cart stop (any remaining moves are lost) and may also lose one cube (see step 1).

Example: The blue cart moves onto the tile occupied by the red cart (left image). As the red cart has two ore visible above the cart top it must drop one. The red cart then moves one tile forward and the blue cart moves onto the vacated tile (right image).

Dig Phase

Play Dig and Surprise! cards during your turn in the Dig phase. Surprise! cards played during the Dig phase can affect the current player only!

Taking Turns

In any order, do any of the following three actions (you must Dig for Ore):

1. Dig for Ore

• You must, once per turn, take two cubes from the bag OR, if on your coloured tile, take four cubes from the bag.
• Place the cubes in your cart. You cannot rearrange your ore when adding new cubes!
• When players add cubes to their cart, any cubes that fall off remain where they lie. Cubes that fall "out of the mine" are placed on the nearest track tile. You cannot retrieve any cubes that fall onto the tile without a Pick Up Ore action!

2. Pick Up Ore

• You can pick up all or just some of the ore from the tile your cart is in and place it in your cart. You can do this once per turn, but using Hidden Springs you may be able to get at more!
• Any cubes that fall from the cart while loading remain on the tile until next turn.

3. Cash In

Cash in Ore to the bank at the published bank rates (you do not need to be near a contract agent).

If a Contract Agent is within four "walking" tracks of your cart (ignoring track directions), once per turn you can fulfil a contract for that Agent.

i.e. you are 3 tracks away from Ma Courtland and 6 tracks away from Baron Pierce. You can hand in contracts to Ma Courtland, but cannot hand in contracts to Baron Pierce as he is too far away.

Contract Agents cannot fulfil contracts through a track blocked by a wooden beam.

If you are not within four tracks of the relevant Contract Agent you can only Cash in Ore.

Fulfilling Contracts

1. Check you are within four walking tracks of the relevant Contract Agent.
2. Reveal your Contract card.
3. Empty your cart and place the ore you need on the contract card so everyone can see. "Dropped" ore at this stage can be recovered.
4. Return the spent ore to the bag and the remaining ore to your cart in any order.
5. Place the filled contract face down next to your player card.

If you empty your cart and cannot fulfil your contract, you must refill your cart in the following order: Copper first, then Silver, then Gold.

Cashing In Ore

1. Take the Bank Prices card.
2. Empty your cart and place the ore you need on the Bank Prices card so everyone can see. "Dropped" ore at this stage can be recovered.
3. Return the spent ore to the bag and the remaining ore to your cart in any order.
4. Take dollars for the ore you have cashed in and return the Bank Prices card.

Bank Prices card: 1 Copper Ore $1, 1 Silver Ore $2, 1 Gold Ore $3.

If you empty your cart, you must cash in at least one ore.

When you have completed your Dig Phase, you may discard up to five cards and draw up to five cards. These can be any combination of Contract or Action cards but you may never have more than five cards in your hand.

Finally

At end of Dig phase, once all players have had a turn, hand the first player token clockwise to the next player. This indicates the end of the round and the round marker is moved along the round tracker.

End of the Day

At the end of the game sell all the ore in your cart to the bank and tally your cash and completed contracts together. The person with the most money wins!

Action Cards

There are 16 action cards to choose within the Action Deck. These enhance the gameplay bringing both benefits and dastardly set backs to the players.

Move Cards

These have the Move (train track) icon and are used during the Move phase. These cards can be played on yourself or another player during their turn, but before the player moves their cart.

• Oil Slick: Increase a move roll by three.

  • Example: Lewis plays Oil Slick on Zoe (during Zoe's Move Phase). Zoe had rolled 2 on her dice so her move is now 5.
  • If you are "Trapped" (see page 4), Oil Slick has no effect.
  • You can play Oil Slick on yourself during your turn.

• Uphill: Reduce a move roll by two (minimum zero).

  • Example 1: Jessie plays Uphill on Silas (during Silas's turn). Silas rolled 1 so his move is now 0.
  • Example 2: Francis plays Uphill on James (during James's turn). James rolled 3 so his move is now 1.
  • If you are "Trapped" (see page 4), Uphill has no effect.
  • You can play Uphill on yourself during your turn.

• Whack the Lever: You may change direction in this move.

  • Note: You can play Whack the Lever on yourself during your turn.

Dig Cards

These have the Dig (pickaxe) icon and can be used at any time during your turn. These cards can be played on yourself or another player.

• Yoink!: Steal one ore from a cart up to three tracks away that doesn't have Scraps in it. The ore must be removed from the top (without moving another ore out of the way). The active player takes the ore. Any spillages are returned to the cart before the ore is removed in the same order.

  The following cards affect Yoink!:

  • Scraps: If Scraps are in the cart, Yoink! cannot target it.
  • Fool's Gold: If anyone plays Fool's Gold, the Yoink! card is discarded.

• Scraps: Place Scraps in your cart. Place the "Scraps" figure in your cart. (You can re-arrange the ore in your cart while doing this.) Discard this card into the game box.

• Cave-in: Place a wooden beam on an empty track tile anywhere in the mine. The player places a wooden beam anywhere on the board between two tracks or across a track tile that does not contain a cart, wooden beam or Contract Agent.

• Dynamite: Place, or remove a wooden beam from, an empty track tile up to two tracks away.

  • Add a wooden beam between two tracks or across a track tile that does not contain a cart, a wooden beam or Contract Agent. The tile may be up to two tracks away in any direction from your cart.
  • OR remove a wooden beam from a tile up to two tracks away in any direction from your cart.

  The following card affects Dynamite:

  • Damp Powder: If anyone plays Damp Powder, the Dynamite is discarded with no effect.

Surprise! Cards

These have an exclamation mark as an icon and are played in both the Move phase and the Dig phase. These cards can be played on another player.

• Damp Powder: A Dynamite or Long Fused Dynamite card just played does nothing. Play this card when either a Dynamite or Long Fused Dynamite is played. The player can be anywhere on the board, and does not need to be close to the active player.

• Fool's Gold: A just played Yoink! fails and is discarded. If another player attempts to Yoink! play this card instead. Both cards are discarded. Any player can play this card during the Dig phase. The player using Fool's Gold does not need to be near either player, and can be anywhere in the mine.

• Sabotage: Play on an opposing player, their move is now 0. This card reduces the target player's move to 0 at the time it is played. If played during the Dig phase, the player should retain this card, and does not roll their D3 during the next Move phase. at the end of the Move phase. Oil Slick played after receiving Sabotage would allow the player to move 3.

NOTE: The Sabotage text above is transcribed as printed in the source, including its "D3" reference and the sentence fragment "at the end of the Move phase.".

Contractor Cards

Baron Pierce is only interested in the big scores but Ma Courtland has time for the little guy. Both will deal with anyone willing to haul a cart filled with hard won copper, silver and gold!

• The yellow figurine on the game board represents Baron Pierce.
• The white figurine on the game board represents Ma Courtland.

Contract cards have the exact number of coloured cubes (representing the ore) that must be handed in to earn the contract.

Example: In this example 3 cubes (2 silvers and 1 gold) must be handed in. The dollar value represents the income calculated at the end of the game and the meeple in the top right corner represents either Ma Courtland or Baron Pierce.

Character Tiles

To support players with colour blindness, a character symbol has been added onto the coloured character tiles to help identify them. Each tile has a symbol representing an item from their character card.

• JESSE has a spade on the purple tiles.
• DOC FRANCIS has a candle, just like the one on his hat, on his blue tiles.
• ZOE has a stick of dynamite on the green tiles.
• LEWIS has a hat on the red tiles.
• SILAS has a hunk of ore on the brown tiles.