Propeller Islands Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
  • Player Components
  • Round Overview (Reference Card)
• Forge Board
• Building Tiles
  • Guild Buildings
  • Hub Buildings
  • Depots
  • Landmarks
• Setup
• Game Play
  • Game Play Flow
  • A. Claim a Tile
    • Guild Links
  • B. Discarding for Energy
  • C. Activating Buildings
    • Activating Buildings
• Dock Boards
  • Rewards
• Character Boards
• Completing Blueprints and Upgrading Buildings
  • Blueprint Cards
• End of Round
• End of Game and End Game Scoring
• Character Abilities
  • Jacques, the Explorer
  • Nelson, the Admiral
  • Amelia, the Pioneer
  • Marie, the Scientist
  • Nicola, the Inventor
  • Sir Charles, the Politician
• Index
• Building Tiles Index
  • 01: Capitol
  • 02-04: Depot
  • 05-13: Guild & Hub Buildings
  • 14-23: Landmarks

Components

• 9 dice
• 70 building tiles
• 38 Blueprint cards (21 Level I, 17 Level II)
• 1 Forge Board
• 60 resource tokens (20 each of parts, steel, and energy)
• 1 Start Player token
• 38 Upgrade tokens (9 Wild Die upgrades, 20 Production upgrades, 9 Guild Banner upgrades)

Player Components

• 4 Dock Boards
• 6 Character Boards
• 4 Resource Multiplier cards
• 52 workers (13 each in 4 player colors)
• 4 Fame Point trackers (1 each in 4 player colors)
• 4 Capitol tiles (double-sided)
• 12 Reference cards (4 each in English, German, and French)
• 4 15+ Fame tokens
• 4 50+ VP tokens

Round Overview (Reference Card)

1. Roll all the dice and place them on the Forge Board.
2. Choose one die (you may adjust the die value +/-1 for 1 energy) and take one action: a. Claim a tile; b. Discard a tile for energy; c. Activate buildings. End of turn: Complete one Blueprint.
3. When only one die is left on the Forge Board, everyone may use it to activate buildings on their islands.

End Game Scoring (Reference Card): Fame Points; Resources (round down); Landmark Buildings; Completed Blueprints.

Forge Board

1. Forge Spaces - The dice you roll at the beginning of the round will be placed here.
2. Building Spaces - The building tiles are placed around the forge board.
3. Central Space - This icon is a reminder to players that they may pay energy to alter the die they draft prior to activating it.
4. Score Track - The back of the Forge Board has the VP track for end game scoring.

Building Tiles

Guild Buildings

These tiles require a worker to be activated.

1. Worker Housing Space.
2. Guild Banner.
3. Activation Effect Block - This space shows this building's Activation Number and the activation benefit.
4. Upgrade Spaces.

Hub Buildings

These tiles require a worker to be activated. They also generate fame points when linked with buildings with a Guild Banner matching their hub icon.

1. Worker Housing Space.
2. Activation Effect Block.
3. Upgrade Spaces.
4. Hub icon.

Depots

Depots do not house workers and do not have Activation Numbers. Instead, they provide instant benefits when they are placed, as depicted in the Benefit Block. They also generate fame points when linked with buildings with a Guild Banner matching their hub icon.

4. Upgrade Spaces.
5. Hub icon.
6. Benefit Block.

Landmarks

Landmark tiles do not have Activation Numbers. Instead they provide end game victory points if you satisfy the requirements shown in their Benefit Block. Landmarks have guild banners and can house workers, but do not require workers to score points.

1. Worker Housing Space.
2. Guild Banner.
3. Upgrade Spaces.
4. Benefit Block.

Example: This Landmark is worth 5 VP if you have a set of building tiles on your island with Activation Numbers of 2, 4, and 6. If you have multiple sets of these buildings, you will score these points once for each set. Note that buildings with a "?" die upgrade do not count towards scoring specific numbers on Landmarks.

Setup

1. Set the Forge Board in the middle of the play area.
2. Separate the Capitol tiles from the building tiles. Shuffle the building tiles and place them face down to form a draw stack.
3. Draw and place building tiles face up all around the Forge Board, creating an offer of twelve face-up building tiles.
4. Place all the energy crystals, steel, and parts tokens near the Forge Board where they will form a general supply, accessible to all players.
5. Place the 15+ Fame Tokens and 50+ VP Tokens in the general supply.
6. Take a number of dice depending on the player count: 5 dice (2 players), 7 dice (3 players), 9 dice (4 players). Return any extra dice to the box.
7. Separate Blueprints by their type into two stacks. Shuffle each stack separately and reveal three face up Blueprints from each stack to form a Blueprint offer. Then, deal each player two level "I" and one level "II" Blueprints from the face down piles to form their starting Blueprint hand.
8. Place the Upgrade tokens near the Blueprint offer area.
9. Randomly decide who will be the first player and give them the First Player token. That player will be the starting player for the first round of the game. The First Player token will be passed in clockwise direction at the end of each round.
10. Place one Capitol tile face up in front of each player to begin their island. Return any unused Capitol tiles to the box.
11. Each player chooses a color and takes 13 workers of their color and a Dock Board. Place one worker of your color on your Capitol. Place the rest of the workers in the empty spaces on your Dock Board.
12. Take a Fame Point tracker and place it on the "0" space at the bottom of your Dock board.
13. Deal a number of Character Boards equal to the player count plus one. In reverse player order, each player chooses one Character board and attaches it to the right side of their Dock board. Return the unchosen Character to the box.
14. Give each player 2 energy crystals and 1 steel.

You are ready to begin!

Game Play

Propeller Islands is played over a series of rounds. Each round, you will get two turns in which to draft a die and use it to either claim a building tile for your island, to discard a building tile to gain energy, or to activate your island and collect resources.

At the end of each round one die will remain, and each player will get to use it to activate all eligible buildings in their island.

The game will end at the end of a round when one of the following conditions occurs:

• The supply of building tiles is exhausted.
• One player completes their seventh blueprint.
• One player transfers all their workers onto their island.

After the game ends, calculate each player's score to determine the winner.

Game Play Flow

At the beginning of each round of Propeller Islands, the starting player will roll all the dice and place each on the corresponding Forge Space (1s on the 1 space, 2s on the 2 space etc.). If any Forge Space has more than three dice on it, re-roll the extra dice until each Forge Space has 0-3 dice on it. Then, players will take turns clockwise, beginning with the starting player.

On each of your turns, do the following, in order:

1. Choose one of the remaining dice on the Forge Board and set it aside.

Optionally, you may pay one energy crystal once to adjust the die value +/-1. You may change a 6 to a 1 this way, or a 1 to a 6.

2. According to the die value, do one of the following:

• A. (red) Claim a tile: Claim one building tile adjacent to the Forge Space with the value of your chosen die.
• B. (blue) Discard for energy: Discard one tile adjacent to the Forge Space with the value of your chosen die and gain two energy.
• C. (green) Activate buildings: Activate buildings with a ready worker and an activation number corresponding to the value of your chosen die.

3. After you are finished, place the die you chose into an open Drafted Die space on your Dock Board.

Then you may complete 1 Blueprint from your hand. Replace your completed Blueprint by taking any one of the face up Blueprints from the offer. You may instead draw a face down Blueprint from any stack. Replenish the offer by revealing a new Blueprint from the respective stack immediately.

A. Claim a Tile

Select one of the three tiles adjacent to the forge space with the value of your chosen die (remember, you might have paid to change the value +/-1) and place this tile adjacent to at least one other tile on your island. If you placed your new tile in a way that creates a Guild Link, gain one fame point immediately for each new Guild Link formed. Replace the building tile you took with a new one from the draw stack.

Guild Links

There are three guilds in the game - Industry, Science, and Culture. These guilds are identified by the banner located in the upper right area of a building tile (Guild Banners).

There are also hub buildings, that can link with a matching type of a Guild Banner to generate fame points. These hubs are identified by a hexagonal hub icon (Hub Icons).

Guild Links can be formed in any order. Whenever you add a building tile to your island and it creates an adjacency between a tile with a Guild Banner and a tile with a matching Hub Icon, you form a Guild Link and generate one fame point. You can form multiple Guild Links with a single tile placement. Hubs themselves do not have a Guild Banner when you initially place them and therefore do not form Guild Links with each other.

Example: Vera places a science guild building adjacent to two science hubs she placed previously. She immediately gains two fame points. This could also work in reverse. If she placed a science building down first and later placed a science hub adjacent to it, she would score a fame point as well.

Strategy tip: As the game progresses, you may be able to add new Guild Banners to your existing buildings to create new Guild Links and gain additional fame points.

Example: Vera earned a Science Guild Banner by completing a Blueprint. She places it on a building no. 10 on her island. This creates one new Guild Link, with the adjacent hub building no. 04 and Vera immediately gains 1 Fame Point. Vera does not gain a fame point from the hub icon on the building no. 10 on which she placed the banner because Guild Links can only be gained by adjacency.

B. Discarding for Energy

Choose one of the three tiles adjacent to the Forge Space with the value of your chosen die, discard it, and collect two energy crystals from the supply. Replace the discarded tile with a new one from the draw stack.

C. Activating Buildings

Instead of claiming or discarding a building tile from the offer, you may use the die you chose to activate all buildings on your island with matching Activation Numbers which are found in the Activation Blocks, as long as they have a ready (standing) worker on them. (remember, you might have paid to change the value +/-1).

You may activate the buildings in any order, and you may choose not to activate some of them. You may use rewards from a building you have activated this turn to activate another building on the same turn. Your Capitol and any buildings with a "?" symbol may activate on any die value.

Activating Buildings

When you activate a building tile, place the worker on it flat to indicate that this building can not be activated again this round. Then, carry out the effect shown in the effect block. Some effects require that you pay additional cost, such as steel or energy.

Example: Susan drafts a 5 and decides to activate her island. She has a ready worker on building no. 10 and her Capitol tile (01). Susan activates her Capitol, lays her worker down and chooses to collect one steel and one energy (1). She then activates building no. 10, lays that worker down, pays one steel and gains two parts (2). Susan cannot activate building no. 07, because it requires a 3 to be activated.

Dock Boards

The Dock Boards house the players' workers. Whenever you deploy a worker onto a building, take it from any space of your Dock Board. You may not rearrange workers on your Dock Board. You may not use the deploy action to remove a worker from your dock board if you have no tile with a vacant worker housing space on your island!

After deploying a worker, if you clear a row or column, claim the reward in that row or column immediately. Rewards may not be saved for later. It is possible to claim more than one reward in the same turn.

1. Worker Spaces. Place 12 of your workers here at the start of the game.
2. Die Spaces. Place your drafted dice here after you use them. The icon reminds you that you may complete one Blueprint at this time.
3. Rewards for clearing out columns of workers.
4. Rewards for clearing out rows of workers.
5. Fame Track. Track the fame you gain during the game.

Rewards

• Take one random building from the top of the draw stack.
• Take one part.
• Immediately activate any two different building tiles in your island with a ready worker present, regardless of their activation number.
• Gain three Fame Points immediately.
• Activate up to two different depot tiles on your island.
• Take one energy and one steel.
• Deploy one worker.

Character Boards

Characters provide a unique special power to each player. The basic version of this power (1) is available, when your fame point tracker reaches the first trumpet icon on your fame track. The advanced version of the special power (2) is available when your fame point tracker reaches the second trumpet icon on your fame track.

When you exceed the 15 fame points, take a 15+ Fame Point token from the supply and place your fame tracker back on the 0 space of your dock board.

Completing Blueprints and Upgrading Buildings

At the end of your turn, you may complete one of the Blueprint cards in your hand by paying its indicated cost. Return the required energy, steel, and parts to the supply. Then, take the upgrade token indicated on the Blueprint you've completed. There are three types of upgrades - Production upgrade, Guild Banner upgrade, and Wild Die upgrade. Place your upgrade on one of your building tiles that has a vacant space matching its type.

Guild Banner Upgrades: There are three types of Guild Banner upgrades: Industry, Science, and Culture. Place the indicated banner on one of the building tiles on your island. Check to see if the newly placed banner forms any new Guild Links. If it does, immediately gain one Fame Point for every new Guild Link formed. Buildings can have multiple copies of the same banner or two different kinds of banners.

Wild Die Upgrades: These upgrades replace the current Activation Die of the building you place it on. For the rest of the game, you may choose to activate this building with any die.

Production Upgrades: Production Upgrades come in three types: energy, steel, and parts. These upgrades add an additional resource to what is produced when the building is activated. If the building requires a cost to activate it, you must still pay the cost to collect any benefits from the tile.

Each tile may have a maximum of one of each upgrade type. Once installed, the upgrades can not be moved. If you do not have eligible tiles or you do not want to install the upgrade, keep it to the side. You may not install them later! Each two unused upgrades are worth 1 VP at the end of the game.

Example: Susan pays the resources shown on the blueprint to complete it. This blueprint gives her a Guild Banner Upgrade, which she places on a tile with a free Guild Banner slot.

After completing a Blueprint, choose and take any one of the face up Blueprints from the offer. You may freely choose from either Basic or Advanced types. You may also draw a face down Blueprint from any stack. Replenish the offer by revealing a new Blueprint from the respective stack immediately.

Blueprint Cards

1. End Game VP
2. These symbols are the resources you must pay to complete this Blueprint. In this case, you would need one energy, one steel, and one part.
3. This is the Upgrade you may install on one of your tiles after completing this Blueprint. In this case, it is the Industry Guild Banner.
4. This indicates the Blueprint's level. In this case, it is a Level 1 Blueprint.

End of Round

After you have finished your turn, play proceeds clockwise. Once each player has taken two turns in a round, one die will remain. Simultaneously, each player may use that bonus die to activate all of their eligible building tiles. Remember, the buildings that were already activated this round will have their workers in a down position and may not be activated. You may not spend energy crystals to manipulate the bonus die. You may not complete a Blueprint after activating the end of round bonus die.

Next, check to see if any of the following conditions have been met:

• Any player has completed 7 or more Blueprints
• Any player has deployed all their workers to their island
• There are no more Building tiles in the draw stack

If any of those conditions are met, proceed to end game scoring.

If not, all players should stand their exhausted workers upright so they are ready for the next round. Pass the First Player token clockwise to the next player and start the next round.

End of Game and End Game Scoring

Begin by flipping the Forge Board to its back side to reveal the Victory Point track.

1. Gain 1 VP for every Fame point you have. Place your Fame Point Tracker on the space of the Victory Point track equal to its final position on your Fame Track (e.g. space 11 of the Victory Point track, if you ended the game with 11 Fame).
2. Score your left-over resources in the following ways:
   • A. 1 VP for every 3 energy rounded down
   • B. 1 VP for every 2 steel rounded down
   • C. 1 VP for each part
   • D. 1 VP for every 2 unused upgrades rounded down
3. Score any Landmark buildings on your island. Each Landmark has its own scoring condition shown in its effect block. Landmark buildings do not require workers to be present to score.
4. Score all the listed VP on all your completed Blueprints.

When you exceed 50 VP, take a +50 VP token from the supply and place your tracker back on the 0 space of the Forge board.

The player with the most VP after the end game scoring is the winner! In case of a tie, the player with the most undeployed workers is the winner. If there is still a tie, the youngest player is the winner.

Character Abilities

Each character lists two abilities: the basic version (upper) and the advanced version (lower).

Jacques, the Explorer

• Basic: You may re-roll your chosen die to gain 1 energy. If you do, you must keep the result.
• Advanced: You may re-roll your chosen die to gain 1 energy and 1 steel. If you do, you must keep the result.

Nelson, the Admiral

• Basic: When using end of round die, you may count it as +1/-1.
• Advanced: When using end of round die, you may count it as any number.

Amelia, the Pioneer

• Basic: Once per round, when you gain fame, gain 1 energy.
• Advanced: Once per round, when you gain fame, gain 1 energy or 1 steel.

Marie, the Scientist

• Basic: When activating your Island on your turn, you may spend 1 energy to activate any 1 extra building with a ready worker present.
• Advanced: When activating your Island on your turn, you may activate any 1 extra building with a ready worker present.

Nicola, the Inventor

• Basic: After you fulfill a Blueprint, gain 1 energy.
• Advanced: After you fulfill a Blueprint, gain 1 energy or 1 steel.

Sir Charles, the Politician

• Basic: You may +/-1 your chosen die once for free.
• Advanced: You may +/-2 your chosen die once for free.

Index

• Activating Island/Buildings - One of the three actions you can take on your turn. Using a chosen die to gain resources or other benefits from Building Tiles on your island.
• Activation Block - The highlighted area on the bottom of some Building Tiles.
• Activation Costs - These are resources you must pay to Activate some Building Tiles. Activation costs are always shown to the left of the grey arrow icon in the Activation Block and have a red X on them.
• Activation Number - This is the number on the die located on the left side of the Activation Block on some Building Tiles. You must use a die that matches this number to activate this Building Tile. If there is a "?" instead of a number on the die in the Activation Block, you may activate this Building Tile with any die.
• Benefit Block - The highlighted area on the bottom of Depot tiles that shows the immediate, one-time benefit gained when placing the tile onto your island.
• Character Board - The right side of your Player Board. Provides the player unique abilities once certain Fame thresholds are achieved.
• Blueprints - Cards that can be completed by paying resources to gain Upgrade Tokens.
• Building Tiles - These are the tiles you will use to build your island.
• Capitol Tile - This is the first tile on your island. At the beginning of the game, Activating the Capitol Building is the only way to deploy workers onto your island.
• Claiming a Tile - One of the three actions you can take on your turn. Using a chosen die to take a Building Tile and place it on your island.

Building Tiles Index

01: Capitol

Deploy one worker or gain one steel and one energy. You may only choose the deploy one Worker option if you have an empty Worker Housing Space on your island.

02-04: Depot

When placed onto your island, gain an immediate one-time benefit as shown in the effect block. Serves as a hub building. Does not house a worker. You may only use the effect of deploying one worker, if you have an empty Worker Housing Space on your island. (Tile 02: deploy one worker; tile 03: gain steel; tile 04: gain a part, as shown by the icons in the effect blocks.)

05-13: Guild & Hub Buildings

• 05: Tinker Shop - Gain one part.
• 06: Refinery - Gain two energy.
• 07: Iron Foundry - Gain one steel.
• 08: Hotel - Deploy one worker. You may only activate this building if you have an empty Worker Housing Space on your island.
• 09: Smelting Plant - Pay two energy to gain one part and one steel.
• 10: Factory - Pay one steel to gain two parts.
• 11: Radio Station - Activate any tile on your island that has a ready worker on it.
• 12: Warehouse - Gain the one-time benefit of one Depot tile in your island.
• 13: Crystal Trader - You have two options: Pay two Energy to gain either one steel or one part, or pay one part or one steel to gain two Energy. Only one exchange can be performed during this Activation.

14-23: Landmarks

• 14: Luxury Apartments - for each six workers on your island at the end of the game, score 3 VP.
• 15: Parcel Service - for each set of three Depots on your island at the end of the game, score 5 VP.
• 16: Floating Gardens - if this tile is completely surrounded by other tiles at the end of the game, score 5 VP.
• 17: Theater - For each set of three different Guild Banners adjacent to this tile, score 5 VP. Each Banner may only be counted once.
• 18: Laboratory - For each set of three Science Guild Banners you have, score 4 VP.
• 19: Archives - For each set of three Culture Guild Banners you have, score 4 VP.
• 20: Newspaper - For each set of three Industry Guild Banners you have, score 4 VP.
• 21: Coffee House - for each four building tiles with different activation numbers on your island at the end of the game, score 5 VP. Wild activation die "?" buildings cannot be counted. Example: If you have buildings activated by numbers 1, 2, 4, and 6, you have a set of four buildings with different activation numbers.
• 22: Zeppelin Tower - for each set of building tiles with activation numbers 2, 4, 6 on your island at the end of the game, score 5 VP. Wild activation die "?" buildings cannot be counted.
• 23: Observation Platform - for each set of tiles with activation numbers 1, 3, 5 on your island at the end of the game, score 5 VP. Wild activation die "?" buildings cannot be counted.