Powerline Rulebook

Table of Contents

Components for the Standard Game
Components for the Variants (p. 7)
Setup
Playing The Game
Scoring
End of the game
Solo-Game
Variants
Scoring tiles

Components for the Standard Game

Common components:

1 Center board (Front: with pre-printed Scoring tiles)
1 Round marker
6 Dice in 6 colors
318 Powerline tokens
30 Joker tiles

Player components, for 6 players:

1 Player board (Front: Green worker chart)
8 Power station tiles
1 Vacation tile
1 Rules booklet

In player color:

18 Worker tiles (Front) / Energy tiles (Reverse Side)
1 +50/+100 VP tile
1 Kite tile
1 VP marker
6 Worker meeples in the 6 dice colors

Note: Any additional tiles are meant as a replacement in case some go missing!

Components for the Variants (p. 7)

Variant 1: Construction Limits

Reverse side of the Player boards (Blue worker chart)

Variant 2: Adventure Island

6 "Adventure Island" tiles

Variant 3: Contracts

Reverse side of the Center board (without pre-printed Scoring tiles)
9 Scoring tiles: 3x red, 3x green, 3x yellow (A, B, C) (D, E, F) (G, H, I)

Variant 4: Special Contracts

3 Scoring tiles: J, K and L

Setup

Place the Center board in the middle of the table, front side (with the pre-printed scoring tiles) up. The Round marker starts on space 0 of the round track. Put the Dice and all Powerline tiles and Joker tiles next to the center board. Per player, place one joker tile on each of the joker spaces above the first two scoring spaces of the round track on the center board.
Each player chooses a color and takes:

A) Any 1 Player board: Place the player board with the green worker chart side up in front of you.

B) 1 Kite tile: Place it at the top of your player board. The kite displays your player color.

C) 18 Worker/Energy tiles: Place the 15 worker tiles on the worker chart of your player board, one tile per space. 3 go beside your board as energy tiles.

D) 6 Worker meeples, 1 each in red, yellow, blue, green, white, and black: Put them on the matching colored worker spaces of your player board.

E) A supply of 1 Vacation tile and 8 power station tiles: Place them next to your player board.

F) 1 +50/+100 VP tile: Place it next to your board. If your VP marker passes the 50 VP space during the game, place your tile next to the center board with the 50 VP side up. If you pass the 50 VP space again, flip the tile to the 100 VP side.

G) 1 VP marker: Place it on space 10 of the VP-track on the center board.

Note: Each player board has a different distribution of pips in the segments of the various powerlines.

Playing The Game

Powerline is played over 15 game rounds, with each round played simultaneously by all players.

Players earn points by completing powerlines, thereby supplying cities with energy and connecting power stations. There are, in addition, 3 other opportunities to score points: Two mid-game scorings after the 5th and 10th round and a final scoring after the 15th round. The player with the most points after the final scoring wins the game.

Each game round consists of the following three phases, played consecutively:

Roll Dice
Plan Workers
Construct Powerlines

1) Roll Dice

One player rolls all 6 dice and places them according to their color on the designated spaces of the center board.

2) Plan Workers

Players simultaneously plan their construction by placing their colored workers on eligible segments of uncompleted powerlines: A segment is eligible if the die of the same color as the worker shows the same number of pips as the uncompleted segment (see next page for more details).

Players must begin by placing either the red or the black worker. If they choose to place more workers, they have to continue in the order of colors (i.e. yellow if red was chosen and white if black was chosen, and so on) from left to right or right to left on the line of workers. That order is identical to the sequence of the dice on the center board.

Each player may choose how many workers to place, up to a maximum of all six workers. They must place at least one worker.

Eligible placements for your workers

On an empty powerline, you may choose the first segment on either end to place a worker. This sets the direction of construction for this powerline.
On a powerline with at least one worker, you may only place the new worker on the next empty segment in the direction of construction.
On a powerline with at least one powerline token, you may only place a worker on the next empty segment in the direction of construction.

Important: You are only allowed to begin construction from one end of the Powerline and proceed in the chosen direction of construction!

You are allowed to place more than one or even all your workers on segments of the same powerline, provided the workers can be placed in the correct order of colors.
Each round you may place your workers on up to 3 powerlines. You may not place workers on more than 3 lines!
The island is always eligible: you can send as many workers there as you like to "skip" the die of the same color as the worker. You will lose 1 VP per worker on the island at the end of the round, but this may be a good option if you cannot use the result of a certain die.

Example: Sending this green worker to the island opens up new possibilities.

Joker tiles:

You may spend a joker tile from the sun space of your player board, to place a worker on any eligible segment disregarding the corresponding die result. The spent tile is returned to the common supply.

Example: The joker tile can be used to place the white worker on a segment with a 6-pip icon even though the die shows a 4-pip icon.

The Worker tiles

When you are done planning, count how many empty worker spaces there are on your board: From the worker chart, remove a worker tile from the column that corresponds to the result. Place the tile next to your player board and flip it. It is now an energy tile.

Example: There are 4 empty worker spaces on Nico's player board. He removes the first worker tile from the 4-worker column of the worker chart.

Important: If you do not have any worker tiles remaining in the corresponding column, you cannot plan your construction this way; you will have to plan again, checking your worker chart to see how many workers you are still allowed to use.

Example: Luna has deployed two workers, but there are no more worker tiles left in the 2-worker column. She could either put the yellow worker back on its space, send the blue worker to the island, or plan again.

Gaining a joker tile

If you have placed only 1 worker on a powerline segment or on the island, you remove a worker tile in the first column of your worker chart and unlock a joker tile: Place one joker tile from the supply on your sun space.

Example: Luna deploys only one worker and uncovers a sun symbol when she removes the worker tile from the 1-worker column. She then places a joker tile on the sun space of her player board.

Declare when you are done planning. Once all players are done, proceed with phase 3) Construct Powerlines.

3) Construct Powerlines

Place powerline tokens

All players take powerline tokens from the supply and place them on all segments on which their workers are deployed. Return the workers to their spaces at the top of your player board.

Note: For your first few games, we recommend to play phase 3) Construct Powerlines consecutively to make sure that everything is correctly build.

Example: Leon places powerline tokens where his workers were deployed and returns them to their spaces on his player board.

The Island

For every worker on the island, lose 1 VP (move your VP marker back). You cannot drop below 0 VP. The workers return to their spaces on your player board as usual.

Example: For 2 workers on the island Nico loses 2 VP. He moves his VP marker back 2 steps and returns the workers to their worker spaces.

The Vacation tile: Once per game you can elude the penalty of the island by returning your vacation tile to the game box: You do not lose any VP this round, no matter how many workers there are on your island!

Note: After a few games of Powerline, you'll be ready to play without the vacation tile: Leave it in the box.

Check your powerlines:

Cities

If you have covered the last segment of a powerline with a powerline token, take one energy tile and place it on the city directly next to the powerline: The city is now supplied with energy; advance your VP marker according to the number depicted on the covered city.

Example: Nico has completed the 3-VP powerline. He covers the city with an energy tile and advances his VP-marker 3 steps on the VP track.

Power stations

If all powerlines connecting a power station with its neighboring stations are completed, that station has reached its full efficiency: Cover it with a power station tile from the supply and advance your VP marker according to the number depicted on the covered power station.

Example: On a later turn, Nico has also completed the other powerline that connects to the wind power station (top left corner of the player board). He covers the depicted 5 points with a power station tile and advances his VP-marker 5 steps on the VP track.

When all players have finished this phase, advance the round marker 1 space: If it lands on a number, start the next round with phase 1) Roll Dice. If it lands on a scoring space, proceed with the scoring.

Scoring

When the round marker lands on one of the 3 extra scoring spaces – after the 5th, 10th, and 15th round – all 3 scoring cards are evaluated for each player. Each card shows a condition that has to be met by you in order to gain VP, with the amount you earn changing in each scoring. You can gain the VP in each scoring, even if you already gained VP in a previous scoring.

Important: When everyone has received their VP, all players take a joker tile from above the scoring space.

Then the round marker is advanced to the next space and a new round starts. If this is the final scoring, play continues with "End of the game."

The scoring tiles:

A) Score VP for the number of your supplied cities (i.e. covered by an energy tile): 1st scoring: 2VP for 1-2 cities, 5VP for 3-5 cities 2nd scoring: 1VP for 1-2 cities, 3VP for 3-5 cities, 5 VP for 6+ cities 3rd scoring: 0VP for 1-2 cities, 1VP for 3-5 cities, 3VP for 6+ cities

D) Score VP for the number of power station tiles on your player board: 1st scoring: 4VP for one power station tile, 5VP for two tiles, 7VP for three 2nd scoring: 2VP for one power station tile, 3VP for two tiles, 4VP for three 3rd scoring: 0VP for one power station tile, 1VP for two tiles, 2VP for three

G) Score VP for the Joker tiles on your sun space: 1st scoring: 1VP for each Joker tile 2nd scoring: 2VP for each Joker tile 3rd scoring: 3VP for each Joker tile

Example of the 1st Scoring: A: Nico has 3 cities covered by an energy tile, so he earns 5 VP. D: There is 1 power station tile on Nico's player board. He earns 4VP. G: For one Joker tile on his sun space, Nico earns 1VP.

End of the game

The game ends after the third and final scoring has taken place.

As indicated on the last space of the game round track, players now lose VP for powerlines that are not completed, but have at least one powerline tile on them:

Number of unfinished powerlines	1	2	3	4	[+1]
– VP	1	3	6	10	[+5]

After everyone has moved back their VP-markers, the player who is now in the leading position on the VP-track wins the game. In case of a tie, the player who has placed more power station tiles on their board wins. If still tied, the players share the victory.

Solo-Game

The Solo game is played identically to a game with 2-6 players. After the end of the game, use the following chart to determine your skills as a powerline-builder:

VP
0-60	Dice are not your friends...
61-70	A good start! Keep it up!
71-80	Solid work!
81-90	Awesome accomplishment.
91-100	You're a master builder of powerlines!
101+	It is about time for you to increase the difficulty!

When you find yourself scoring high consistently, that is a good time to introduce one or more of the following variants to increase the difficulty and give you a new challenge!

Variants

The following variants change the game play of Powerline in different ways and allow for new experiences. They can be played individually or in any combination. All rules of the base game still apply except for the changes described in each variant.

Variant 1: Construction Limits

Use the reverse side of your player board, which has a new (blue) worker chart. This chart introduces new limits for placing workers on powerlines:

If you only deploy 1 or 2 workers, you can only place workers on 1 powerline.
If you deploy 3 or 4 workers, you may place them on 1 or 2 powerlines.
Only if you deploy 5 or all 6 can you place them on 1, 2, or 3 powerlines.

Important: The number of deployed workers includes any workers send to the island. The island does not count towards the limit of powerlines.

Note: When playing with younger players, experienced players may use this module as a handicap.

Variant 2: Adventure Island

At the start of the game, cover the island of your player board with the "Adventure Island" tile: When deploying a worker to the Adventure Island, place it on the die symbol that has the same number of pips as the die of the same color as the worker which has been sent to the island.

In phase 3) Construct Powerlines replace each worker deployed to a certain number with a Powerline token. For each tile you will lose VP: For the first tile on the stack of any number you immediately lose 1VP. For the second tile of a stack, you lose 2 VP, for the third 3VP, and so on, up to a maximum of 5VP per tile.

Example: This turn, Nico has sent 2 workers to the Adventure Island, to skip a 5-pip die two times. Later, when replacing the first worker with a Powerline token, he loses 2 VP, as he had already skipped a 5-pip die on an earlier turn. Thus, the new token is the second token of the 5-pip stack in total. For the other worker, replaced by the third tile, he loses 3VP.

Important: The Powerline tokens are not removed from the "Adventure Island" throughout the course of the game! This means skipping the same die result on later turns will increase the amount of lost VP!

Variant 3: Contracts

For this variant, use the side B of the center board and the scoring tiles A-I.

Using the side B of the center board, you will not get a joker tile after the 2nd scoring. During Set-up, separate the scoring tiles by color, shuffle them, and draw one of each. Place them on the same colored spaces of the center board and return the rest to the box. Each scoring tile will be scored during the 3 scoring phases. The different conditions and amount of VP each scoring card gives are explained in detail on page 8.

Note: You can also play using just the scoring tiles and not flipping the center board to side B. In that case cover the three imprinted scoring tiles with the ones just drawn. You may also shuffle all scoring tiles, disregarding their colors, and randomly draw 3 tiles.

Variant 4: Special Contracts

During set-up, shuffle scoring tiles J, K, and L (marked with a small crown in the lower left corner) with the rest of the tiles or use just them.

J) Score VP if there are at least 6 Powerline tokens on the 17VP-powerline: 1st scoring: 5VP 2nd scoring: 3VP 3rd scoring: 1VP

K) Score VP if 1, 2, or 3 of your wind power stations (A) and/or hydro power stations (B) are covered by a power station tile: 1st scoring: 5VP for one wind power station OR one hydro power station 2nd scoring: 2VP for one wind power station OR one hydro power station; 4 VP for one wind power station AND one hydro power station; 6 VP for one wind power station AND one hydro power station, PLUS a second wind power and/or hydro power station 3rd scoring: 0 VP for one wind power station OR one hydro power station; 2 VP for one wind power station AND one hydro power station; 4 VP for one wind power station AND one hydro power station, PLUS a second wind power and/or hydro power station

L) Score VP if there are no, 1-2 or 3-5 Powerline tokens on the "Adventure Island" (in total, no matter on which stack they are placed): 1st scoring: 3VP for no Powerline tokens 2nd scoring: 5VP for no Powerline tokens, 3VP for 1-2 Powerline tokens 3rd scoring: 7VP for no Powerline tokens, 5VP for 1-2 Powerline tokens, 3VP for 3-5 Powerline tokens

Note: To use this tile without the "Adventure Island", just place a Powerline token on the island for each worker that was deployed there, when returning your workers in phase 3) Construct Powerlines. Do not place any powerline tokens when spending the vacation tile.

Scoring tiles

Explanation of the scoring tiles:

In the top half of each scoring tile, you'll find a diagram of your player board: The powerlines, cities, power stations, or other spaces that are relevant for scoring are marked in red (A).

In the bottom half, you'll find a VP-chart: In the top left corner (B) is a picture of the game piece that is associated with the scoring. The potential VP for the first (top), second (middle), and third scoring (bottom) are presented in three rows (C). The columns (D) indicate how many VP you will earn depending on how many of these game pieces you have on your board.

B) Score VP if 1 or 2 of your cities with an opera house are supplied (i.e. covered by an energy tile): 1st scoring: 5VP for one city, 7VP for 2 cities 2nd scoring: 3VP for one city, 5VP for 2 cities 3rd scoring: 1VP for one city, 2VP for 2 cities

C) Score VP if 1 or 2 of your cities with a church are supplied (i.e. covered by an energy tile): 1st scoring: 3VP for one city, 5VP for 2 cities 2nd scoring: 2VP for one city, 3VP for 2 cities 3rd scoring: 1VP for one city, 2VP for 2 cities

Sorry, something went wrong here! Instead of the index letter "C" there is an erroneous second "A" printed on this scoring tile. This does not affect the usability of the tile. But please check twice which tile you have at hand when referencing it on this page.

D) Score VP for the number of power station tiles on your player board: 1st scoring: 4VP for one power station tile, 5VP for two tiles, 7VP for three tiles 2nd scoring: 2VP for one power station tile, 3VP for two tiles, 4VP for three tiles 3rd scoring: 0VP for one power station tile, 1VP for two tiles, 2VP for three tiles

E) Score VP if 1 or 2 of your solar stations are covered with a power station tile: 1st scoring: 5VP for one solar station, 7VP for 2 solar stations 2nd scoring: 3VP for one solar station, 5VP for 2 solar stations 3rd scoring: 1VP for one solar station, 2VP for 2 solar stations

F) Score VP if 1 or 2 of your biogas stations are covered with a power station tile: 1st scoring: 3VP for one biogas station, 5VP for 2 biogas stations 2nd scoring: 2VP for one biogas station, 3VP for 2 biogas stations 3rd scoring: 1VP for one biogas station, 2VP for 2 biogas stations

G) Score VP for the Joker tiles on your sun space: 1st scoring: 1VP for each Joker tile 2nd scoring: 2VP for each Joker tile 3rd scoring: 3VP for each Joker tile

H) Score VP if you have already removed all worker tiles from the columns for 5 AND 6 workers: 1st scoring: 5VP 2nd scoring: 3VP 3rd scoring: 0VP

I) Score VP if you have already removed all worker tiles from the column for 3 workers: 1st scoring: 5VP 2nd scoring: 3VP 3rd scoring: 0VP