Palaces Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Method of Play
• How to Win
• Setup
  • Setup Example
• Sequence of Play
  • Selection
  • Bidding
  • Bid Values
  • Bid Rank Examples
  • Resolution
• Building
• Drawing
• FAQ

Components

48 basic resource cards

• 12 Gold
• 12 Crystal
• 12 Silver
• 12 Jade

1 Active Player Cube

32 card Castle Deck (Purple interior arch)

32 card Dungeon Deck (Red interior arch)

32 card Garden Deck (Blue interior arch)

100 Tower level pieces

• 25 Gold
• 25 Silver
• 25 Crystal
• 25 Jade

1 Rulesheet

1 Rulebook

Method of Play

Each turn, players will bid on a room card. The winning bidder will pay the cards they bid into their discard pile and build a tower level in the suit of that card. They will also add the card they won to their hand. The players who did not win the bid will draw two cards from their own decks into their hands.

How to Win

Each player will build exactly two towers. The towers must match at each elevation. The player with the tallest tower when any prize deck runs out wins but you only count the smaller among each of a player's two towers. If there is a tie, count the suit of the highest completed level(s) to break the tie.

Example: As you can see above, the middle player wins because their smallest tower is 2 levels high. The player on the right has a really tall biggest tower but it doesn't matter. Only the smaller tower counts for winning. As a matter of fact, the player on the right is in third place because their smallest tower is tied with the player on the left at 1 high but the tiebreaker is suit and Silver beats Crystal.

Setup

1. Place tower level pieces in a space accessible to all players.
2. Shuffle each of the prize decks separately and deal 12 from each into three separate piles in a row in the center of the table. (Note: the prize decks are differentiated by a slight color difference in the arch red, purple, and blue.) Depending on player count, place unused prize and resource cards in the box.
3. Turn the top card of each of prize deck face up. These are the available cards. Each round, the acting player will choose 1 from among these to be the prize card for the round.
4. Issue each player a deck of 12 cards consisting of 3 each of the basic resource cards (gold, silver, crystal, jade). Note that this setup shows a 3-player game, so three decks of resource cards are issued.
5. Each player shuffles their deck and draws a starting hand of 3 cards.
6. Randomly determine a starting player and place the active player cube in front of them.

Setup Example

(The setup example is a diagram showing the three prize deck piles, the resource decks issued to each player, and the starting hands. The printed diagram is numbered 1 through 6 for the steps above.)

You are now ready to start the game. Follow the sequence of play on the following page until one of the prize decks is emptied or tiles of one color are exhausted.

Sequence of Play

Selection

In the example below, the active player selects one of the three available cards to be the prize card for this round by removing it from its deck and placing it below and near the three available decks (1). Turn face up the next card in the deck the prize card was selected from (2).

You can see in the above example that the prize card is a Jade Fountain (also shown right). It will count as part of everybody's bid. Whoever wins this card will add it to their hand and be able to "Draw a card" because that is what it says you can do.

Bidding

Beginning with the player to the left of the active player, each player makes one bid or passes. Your bid must beat the previous bid or you must pass. The active player bids last.

Bid Values

The bid with the largest set of a resource wins. If there is a tie for the largest set, you compare the suits in the following order: Gold, Silver, Crystal, Jade. If there is a tie for largest set and suit, you compare the next largest set in the same way.

It is customary to list your bid in the order of the largest highest set first (e.g. "2 Jade and 1 Silver" or "1 Gold, 1 Silver, 1 Crystal and 1 Jade", or "3 Silver"). Here's a quick test to see if you understand the bidding process: Which of these aforementioned example bids would win? Answer: 3 Silver would win because a set of 3 is larger than a set of 2 or a set of 1. Even though there are more total cards in the bid with one of everything and it contains gold. The set of 3 is bigger than a set of 1 or 2 so it wins.

The prize card being bid upon counts as part of the bid for each player's bid. Thus, if you have 2 Silver in hand and the prize card is a Silver card, you could bid 3 silver (You could bluff and bid more silver but I'll get to that later).

There is no such thing as a "full house" or "two pair". The total number of cards in a bid is irrelevant. The only thing that matters is the number of cards of the same resource in the bid.

Pages 9, 10 and 11 of this rulebook show a list of possible bids ranked in order of value from highest to lowest. (Transcriber's note: the printed bid-rank list appears on pages 7 to 9 of this rulebook; the page references are reproduced as printed. The bluffing rules referred to in this section ("I'll get to that later") are not covered in the printed text.)

Bid Rank Examples

Here is a list of possible bids ranked in order of value from highest to lowest. This list is not exhaustive, but will help to familiarize players with the hierarchy of bidding resources in Palaces. Note: The chosen prize card for this round is a Jade Fountain, as shown here. Some of these bids also include a prize card from the player's hand that were won earlier in the game. They will generate their effect when you win the bid. (Transcriber's note: the printed examples show the prize card as a "+" symbol added to each bid; "(plus the prize card)" below reflects that.)

• 5 Jade (plus the prize card). This beats the next bid because 5 is bigger than 4. The largest set wins.
• 4 Gold, 2 Silver, 2 Crystal, 1 Jade (plus the prize card). This beats the next bid because the largest set ties in size and suit so we compare the second largest set (2 Silver) to nothing.
• 4 Gold, 1 Jade (plus the prize card). This beats the next bid because the largest set ties in size so we compare the suits of the largest set.
• 4 Silver, 3 Gold, 2 Jade, 1 Crystal (plus the prize card). This beats the next bid because the largest set of 4 is bigger than the set of 2 regardless of resource type.
• 2 Gold, 1 Jade (plus the prize card). This beats the next bid because the largest set ties in size so we compare the suits. Gold beats Jade.
• 2 Jade, 1 Gold, 1 Crystal (plus the prize card). This beats the next bid because 2 is bigger than 1 regardless of the resource type.
• 1 Gold, 1 Jade (plus the prize card). This beats the next bid because the largest set ties in size so we compare the suits. Gold beats Jade.
• 1 Silver, 1 Crystal, 1 Jade (plus the prize card). This beats the next bid because the set size is the same, so we compare resource types. Silver beats Jade.
• 1 Jade (plus the prize card). The player bids nothing from their hand, and uses only the Jade prize card.

Resolution

After all players have bid or passed, the player with the highest bid resolves their bid in the order of their choosing. Each of the cards with special powers in the bid (including the prize card) resolves and the player who won the bid gets to build a tower level in the suit of the prize card they won. Unlike the other cards in the bid, the prize card is added to the player's hand instead of being put into their discard pile. All other cards of the winning bid are put into the player's own discard pile. The players who did not win the bid do not spend any cards. All of these actions take place in the order of the player who won the bid's choosing.

Building

When a player is entitled to make a build either through winning a bid or some special card that allows them to build, they must follow the following rules:

You can only build 2 towers. The towers must match one another.

(Diagram: "You can do this." and "You cannot do this." examples of matching towers.)

Example: If your bottom level on your first tower is Gold, the bottom level on your second tower must also be Gold. If you are entitled to build a Jade level, you may place it on top of your Gold level (1) but not as the bottom level of your second tower (2). You may not place anything on your second tower until you place a Gold level there to match the first. Your towers must match one another at every elevation.

Drawing

The player who won the bid is not entitled to draw. The other players each draw 2 cards. This represents that they are out gathering resources while the winner is spending their own resources to build.

FAQ

What if I bid higher than I actually have?

If you win a bid and are unable or unwilling to complete it, you must discard a card from your hand and the bidding on the prize card begins anew without you.

Does my bid have to match the prize card?

No. The prize card counts as part of your bid so if you have 2 Jade in your hand you are willing to spend and the prize card is a Silver you could say "I bid 2 Jade and 1 Silver." If the prize card were Jade you'd be able to say, "I bid 3 Jade." Note that with bluffing (see above) you could bid whatever you want but be careful. If you win a bid you can't pay, you must discard a card and the rest of the players restart the bidding for the prize card without you.

Can I bid more than one set of cards?

Yes. This is often done. Only the largest set counts but if those sets match in size and suit, the next largest set is the tiebreaker. Players will often bid a large set and then a smaller set or two because they want to trigger the special powers in cards that aren't part of their largest set.

How much should I bid?

This is a great question and the hardest part of the game. Sometimes you need to bid everything you have to get a card at all costs. Other times, you won't even want the card if it is free. You'll have to just get the hang of it. Generally, cards go for a bid of 3 or 4 cards. This changes based on where you are in the game and how many players there are. I'm sorry for not having a more definitive answer but if I did, there wouldn't be a game.

The Greenhouse card says the prize card goes on top of my deck. What?

The Greenhouse is actually something of a penalty because the card doesn't go into your hand, it goes on top of your deck. This makes the Greenhouse less valuable. If it is used in a bid later, the effect triggers too. Don't bid a lot for it unless you really need that level.

The moat says "stays in play"? What's up with that?

When you win the moat card (or when it comes up later as part of a successful bid) leave it face up on the table in front of you. At any time when another player wins a bid that includes a card that would harm you in some way (forcing you to discard, draw fewer cards, etc.) you may put the moat in your discard pile instead of suffering the misfortune you were supposed to suffer.

There's a one page rule sheet inside. Why are these rules different?

Those rules weren't clear enough and they made for a slower game. These revised rules get the special cards into your hands immediately and more card drawing means you cycle through to get the special cards faster. The illustrations are better as well.