Pyramidion Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Objective
• Components
• Set up
• Game sequence
  • 1. Renew boat cards
  • 2. Resources distribution
  • 3. Resources negotiation
  • 4. Character cards distribution
  • 5. Site activation / resolution
    • A. Activate a site
    • B. Play character cards
    • C. Resolve cards
    • D. Discard cards
  • 6. Adjust turn order
  • 7. Loading boats
  • 8. End of the round
• End of the game
• Rules for 2 players
• Overview special characters
• Overview site powers

Objective

Each player will play a foreman of the Egyptian empire in charge of the resource supply at the gigantic construction site of the Cheops pyramid. Each foreman will use his contacts among merchants, negotiators and torturers to supply boats located in major cities of Egypt. These boats will only set sail in the direction of Giza when full capacity is reached with the resources they require. The foreman who will furnish most effectively the construction site (the one who will obtain 10 victory points) will be rewarded by the Pharaoh himself. This foreman will obtain the ultimate privilege of placing the last block of stone (Pyramidion) at the top of the pyramid.

Components

• 60 character cards: 20x Merchant (8x basic), 20x Negotiator (4x basic), 12x Torturer (4x basic), 3x Revolt, 13x Special character (4x basic). Note: all basic cards have a symbol with the player's colour on the bottom.
• 10 distribution cards
• 20 boat cards
• 8 site tiles
• 185 resource tokens: 35x Camel, 35x Wood, 35x Food, 35x Stone, 35x Worker, 10x Statue
• 4 player tokens
• 6 revolt tokens
• 4 turn order tokens
• 20 negotiator troops tokens (5 in each player's colour)
• 20 torturer troops tokens (5 in each player's colour)
• 8 sundial tokens
• 1 philosopher token
• 12 category tokens: 4x Merchant, 4x Negotiator, 4x Torturer

Set up

1. Place the eight site tiles in the centre of the table as illustrated.
2. Each player chooses a colour and takes in this colour: five negotiator troop tokens, five torturer troop tokens and five basic characters cards (2x Merchant, 1x Negotiator, 1x Torturer and 1x Special (Goddess) character). Remove all unused basic character cards from the game and place these back in the box.
3. Shuffle the forty remaining character cards and place them in a face down deck near the site tiles.
4. Sort all resources and place them in different piles near the site tiles.
5. Place the eight sundial tokens near the site tiles.
6. Shuffle the revolt tokens face down and place them in a stack near the site tiles.
7. Shuffle the distribution cards and place them in a face down deck near the site tiles. Draw one card and place it face up on top of the deck.
8. Shuffle the boat cards and place them in a face down deck near the site tiles. Draw five cards and place them face up in a row next to the deck.
9. Take the appropriate number of turn order tokens (in a two player game use number 1 and 2, in a three player game use number 1 to 3, in a four player user number 1 to 4) and shuffle these face down. Each player takes one turn order token. Then everyone places his player token on the number at Giza corresponding to the order token he drew.
10. Place all turn order tokens near Giza.

Important: The supply of resources and troops is limited. If any of these is lacking it is considered to be in shortage and can't be produced or placed on a site until it's available again. When the deck of cards is depleted, shuffle the discard pile and form a new draw deck.

Game sequence

The game is played in rounds. A round consists of eight phases.

1. Renew boat cards
2. Resources distribution
3. Resources negotiation
4. Character cards distribution
5. Site activation / resolution
6. Adjust turn order
7. Loading boat
8. End of the round

1. Renew boat cards

Draw boat cards and place these face up in the row next to the draw deck (see game setup) until there are five cards in this row. Boat cards which were not taken in a previous round remain in place.

Example: There are three face up boat cards on the table. Draw two new boat cards and add these to the cards on the table.

2. Resources distribution

Distribute resources as indicated by the face up distribution card on top of its deck. Resources already available on the sites stay on that site. The produced resources are added to these resources.

After distributing resources place the distribution card in the discard pile. Draw the next distribution card and place it face up on top of the deck. This card will be used in the next round.

Example: This distribution card is on top of the deck. Add 1 Camel and 2 Food at Giza, 1 Worker and 1 Statue at Thebes, 4 Stone at Luxor, 1 Worker at Alexandria, 2 Wood at Cairo and 1 Camel at Philae. No goods are added to Abu Simbel and Karnak.

3. Resources negotiation

For each negotiator troop on a site, its owner takes one resource (of his choice) from that site and adds it to his personal reserve.

Example: A negotiator troop belonging to the red player is present at Alexandria. Two workers and a wood resources are present on the site. Thus, the red player can take a worker or a wood. He decides to take one wood that he places in his personal reserve.

4. Character cards distribution

All five basic character cards are returned to their respective players.

Note: In the first round players already got their cards during the set up.

Shuffle all remaining character cards in the deck and the discard pile in order to have a deck with 40 cards and deal four cards to each player face down. This way each player will have 9 character cards to use during this round.

Important: The player with a torturer troop at Thebes receives an additional character card.

5. Site activation / resolution

In turn order (as indicated by the player tokens at Giza) a player selects a site. This site will be activated and resolved. After all players have selected one site, this process is repeated until each player has activated two sites. Then this phase ends.

Note: See page 7 for changes in a game with two players (see "Rules for 2 players" below).

A. Activate a site

The player in turn selects a site without a sundial token on it to activate.

Note: In a game with two or three players not all sites will be activated during a round.

Important: Some sites have special powers when activated. See the "Overview site powers" section below for an overview of all site powers.

B. Play character cards

Each player, starting with the player that activated the site (followed by other players in clockwise order), can play one character card on this site or pass.

When it's his turn again, a player can play another card (the same type or another type) on this site or pass.

A player that has passed, can't play anymore cards on this site in this round.

Recruit a Character: If a player passes without playing any character on this site, he may discard one character face up to the discard pile and draw one new character card.

Note: Play cards face up in front of you so every other player can see them. Place the cards over each other, but make sure their values are still visible. This will make it easier to count your total points in each category.

Important: If a player plays a special character card, this card immediately has to be resolved. See the "Overview special characters" section below for an overview of all special cards.

Important: If a player decides to play a goddess card, he immediately has to choose a category (influence, negotiation or bargaining) and place the corresponding token on the card.

When all players have passed for playing cards on the activated site, the site is resolved.

Important: Some sites have special powers when a specific type of card is played. See the "Overview site powers" section below for an overview of all site powers.

C. Resolve cards

All character cards played during site activation are now resolved in the following order:

1. Revolt
2. Torturer: implement a torturer troop
3. Negotiator: implement a negotiator troop
4. Merchant: gather resources

The effects of cards in detail:

1. Revolt

Take a number of revolt tokens from the stack equal to the number of revolt cards played and place these tokens face up on the site.

Note: For a better overview you can decide to place a face down revolt token on the site each time a revolt card is played. When resolving the site, flip the revolt tokens face up.

Determine the revolt value by adding the value on each revolt token. Each player determines the influence points for the cards he played on this site by adding the numbers next to the influence symbols. If a player's total influence isn't equal or higher than the revolt value, the player must discard all of the cards he played on this site. These cards won't have any effect anymore during this site's resolution.

Note: The effect of the special cards "Stone writer" and "Slave driver" are cancelled when discarded. You can't use the "High Priest" when it's discarded.

The player with the most influence manages the revolt and gets the resources indicated on the revolt token(s) on this site from the general supply. In the case of a tie for the most influence, no player gets the resources from the revolt token(s). After resolving the revolt cards, the face up revolt tokens are shuffled with the other revolt tokens to create a new face down deck.

Example: Luxor is resolved. Blue and Yellow both played a revolt card, so two revolt tokens are drawn. The total revolt value of this site is 13. Red has only 9 influence points and must discards all his cards played. Yellow has 14 influence points and doesn't have to discard his cards. Blue has the most influence points and gets a worker and a food resource from the general supply.

2. Torturer: implement a torturer troop

Each player determines the influence points for the (remaining face up) cards he played on this site by adding the numbers next to the influence symbols. The player with the most influence points adds a torturer troop token on the site. He can only do this when his influence is equal or higher than the minimum influence points required on this site.

In the case of a tie for the most influence points, no player places a token.

Note: When a torturer troop is placed on a site, the current torturer troop on the site returns to its owners personal reserve. It's impossible that two torturer troops are on the same site. Torturer troops give an advantage during phase 7: Loading boats and phase 8: End of the round.

Example: Thebes is resolved. Blue has 7 influence points. He has the most influence points played and meets the minimum required needed (7) on this site. He removes the yellow torturer troop on this site and replaces it with a torturer troop in his colour.

3. Negotiator: implement a negotiator troop

Each player determines the negotiating points for the (remaining face up) cards he played on this site by adding the numbers next to the negotiating symbols. The player with the highest total of negotiating can add a negotiator troop token on the site. He can only do this when his influence is equal or higher than the minimum negotiating points required on this site.

In the case of a tie for the most negotiating points, no player places a token.

Note: When a negotiator troop is placed on a site, the current negotiator troop on the site returns to its owners personal reserve. It's impossible that two negotiator troops are on the same site.

Negotiator troops are used in phase 3: Resources negotiation to claim resources.

Example: Abu Simbel is resolved. Red has the most total negotiating points, but he doesn't have the minimum negotiating points needed for this site. The blue negotiator troop stays at the site and isn't removed.

4. Merchant: gather resources

Each player determines the bargaining points for the (remaining face up) cards he played on this site by adding the numbers next the bargaining symbols. The player with the highest amount of bargaining points gets all resources tokens on the site. In case of a tie, no player gets the resources.

Note: If no resources are taken, all resources stay on the site and can be taken in a next round.

Example: Karnak is resolved. Since both Red and Yellow have 6 bargaining points, nobody gets the resources in this site. These resources stay on the site and can be taken in a next round.

D. Discard cards

All played cards on the activated site are discarded and can't be used anymore this round. Place a sundial token on the influence icons on the site to indicate no other player can activate this site during this round anymore.

6. Adjust turn order

Adjust the turn order according to the turn order tokens the players selected at Giza. The player with a "1" places his player token on the first space on that site, etc. Players that haven't played a torturer card and therefore didn't get a turn order token keep their relative position in the turn order.

Note: If Giza isn't activated during this round, the turn order isn't modified and remains the same.

Example: Red played a torturer at Giza and took turn order token "1". No other player played a torturer on this site. The new turn order will be: Red – Blue – Yellow.

7. Loading boats

In turn order (the order of the player tokens at Giza) players can load boats. The player in turn can load one boat: he returns the required resources to the general supply, takes the boat card and places it face down in front of him.

After loading a boat, the next player in turn order can load one of the remaining boats. This phase continues until all boats are loaded or no player wants to load a boat anymore.

Note: Loaded boat cards remain face down during the rest of the game. The player may look at their value, but keeps them hidden for other players.

Important: The Statue resource can be used as any type of resource when loading a boat.

Torturer troops on sites can be used to take resources required from the general supply. Each torturer troop can be used only once each round for this purpose.

When it's a players turn to load a boat, he has to decide whether he wants to use one or more torturer troops to take resources. Each torturer troop can be used to take one resource from the general supply. This resource must match one of the resources that can be produced from the site (shown in top right corner of the site tile) where's the torturer troop is present. These resources must be used immediately for loading the boat and therefore are immediately returned to the general supply.

Example: It is Blue's turn to load boats. He has torturer troops on Giza and Cairo and these resources in his personal supply: 1 camel, 1 statue, 2 stone and 1 worker. He uses a torturer to take one camel from the general supply and loads this boat (he uses the statue as a food). He returns the 6 resources to the general supply, takes the boat and places it face down in front of him.

8. End of the round

All players secretly calculate the victory points on their boat cards. If a player has 10 or more victory points he reveals his boat cards and the game ends. If no player has 10 or more victory points a new round starts.

Important: The player with the most torturer troops on sites adds 1 victory point to his total (only applies this round for determining whether the end condition is reached or not). In case of a tie, no victory points are added.

All resources and troops will stay on the respective sites, but all sundials will be removed from the sites, so the sites can be activated again in a new round. Any character cards players got in their hand go to the discard pile. A new round starts with phase 1.

Variant: for a longer game, you can play up to 12 or 15 victory points or even until all boats have been loaded.

End of the game

The player with 10 or more victory point wins the game. If several players have 10 or more victory points, the player with the most victory points wins. In the case of a tie for the most victory points, the tied player with the most character cards wins the game. If there is still a tie the player having the most boat cards wins. If the tie persists, the player having the best turn order wins the game.

Rules for 2 players

The following changes apply in a game with two players:

• Only three sites are activated on each turn:
  • The first player in the turn order activates the first site.
  • The second player in the turn order then activates the second site.
  • Finally the first player activates the last site.
• If able, each player must play at least one card on each activated site.
• Each player can't play more than five cards on a site.
• The "recruit a character" option (see phase 5) is no longer applicable.
• If Giza is not activated during the round, the second player will be the new starting player for the next round.

Overview special characters

Goddess (basic card): Place a category token on this card. This card will have a value of 6 for that category (influence, negotiation or bargaining) on this site.

High priest: Take back one of your played character cards into your hand at the end of the resolve cards step. Note: It is allowed to take a special card back into your hand.

Bandit: Discard one character card played by any player on this site and place it on the discard pile. Note: If a revolt card is discarded this way, no revolt token is placed on the site.

Guardian: Discard one character card played by any player on this site and place it on the discard pile OR return one troop on this site to its owner. Note: If a revolt card is discarded this way, no revolt token is placed on the site.

Vizier: Take one resource available on this site.

Thief: Eliminate one merchant card played on this site and place it on the discard pile.

Philosopher: Duplicate the effect of any previously played character card on this site. You have to choose immediately which card you want to duplicate. Place the philosopher token on the duplicated card. Note: It is allowed to duplicate special cards and character cards an opponents has played.

Slave driver: All values (influence, negotiation, bargaining) on cards your opponents play on this site get -1.

Stone writer: Raise the minimum values required on this site by three OR exchange two resources on this site with two resources on another site. (If there is only one resource on a site, you can only exchange one resource)

Politician: Add one resource of your choice from the general supply on this site and draw one new character card.

Overview site powers

Giza: If a player plays a torturer on this site, he chooses immediately one of the available turn order tokens. Note: Each player can only take one turn order token.

Abu Simbel: After resolving this site, all players (even players that didn't play cards on this site) can trade three worker resources against one statue with the general supply.

Thebes: During the "character cards distribution" phase the player having a torturer's troop at this site receives an additional character card.

Luxor: The first player that plays a card with an Ankh symbol on this site draws one card.

Alexandria: Each time a player plays a card with an Ankh symbol on this site, he takes one resource of his choice from the general supply.

Cairo: The first player that plays a card with an Ankh symbol on this site may immediately return a troop of any player on a site of his choice to its owners reserve.

Philae: Each revolt token on this site gets +2. Note: If no revolt cards are played, the revolt step is still skipped.

Karnak: The player that activated this site draws a boat card and places this card face up in front of him. He is the only player who can load this boat. Note: If this boat isn't loaded at the end of the round the boat is discarded.