Rajas of the Ganges: The Dice Charmers Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Contents
• Object of the Game
• Set-Up of the Game
• Course of the Game
• The Dice Colors in Detail
  • Purple – Obtain Goods
  • Green – Build Roads
    • Erected buildings
    • Opened-up markets
  • Blue – Advance on the River
  • Orange – Carry Out a Palace Action
• The Scoring Tracks
• The Upgrade of Buildings
• Karma
• Bonuses
• The Symbols
  • Example – Receiving multiple bonuses on one turn
• End of the Game
• The Game for Two Players
• Credits

Contents

• 2 Ganges playing pads (Sun side and Moon side)
• 1 starting player elephant (to be put together before the game)
• 8 dice (2 per color)
• 5 dice-depot tiles
  • Front side with 1 storing space for 3-5 players
  • Back side with 2 storing spaces for the 2-player game

Additionally, you will need pens.

Object of the Game

Make your province thrive! Use the dice to build roads, erect buildings, collect and sell goods, sail the Ganges and cleverly use your connections within the Great Mogul's palace. The fame points and the money you gain are recorded on tracks that run in opposite directions. The player whose tracks exceed the intersection point the most at the end of the game wins.

Set-Up of the Game

Each player takes a pen and a sheet. (For the first game, we recommend using the Sun side of the playing pad). This sheet represents a player's personal sphere of influence. Additionally, everybody puts one of the dice-depot tiles in front of him. In the two-player game, the side with 2 storing spaces should be face up; otherwise, use the side with 1 storing space. The dice are put in the middle of the table. The youngest player becomes the starting player; he places the elephant in front of him. And off you go!

The areas of the player sheet are: the palace area (top left), the karma track (top center), the residence, the fame track starting space (top left) and the fame track, the money track starting space (top right) and the money track, the province with its province spaces, the market area (bottom left), the building upgrade table, and the river (bottom).

Course of the Game

The starting player rolls all 8 dice in the middle of the table, then chooses one of them and puts it on his dice-depot tile.

He takes the second die of the same color from the middle of the table and places it on top of the elephant. This die is no longer directly available to the other players. Then the starting player carries out the action of the die.

The color of the die determines where exactly you can carry out an action.

If you earn fame points through an action, you record these points on your fame track, from left to right. If you get money through an action, you record this on your money track, from right to left.

• Purple dice allow you to collect new goods that you can sell later on.
• Green dice let you build roads that connect your residence to buildings and markets in your province.
• With blue dice, you advance on the river.
• Orange dice enable you to carry out a palace action.

After the starting player has finished his turn, the next player in clockwise order chooses one of the remaining dice and carries out the associated action – and so on until all players have used one die. Then the round ends and the elephant is passed on to the next player in a clockwise direction. He becomes the starting player of the new round and rolls all 8 dice again.

Special rules for the two-player game: See the end of the instructions.

The Dice Colors in Detail

Purple – Obtain Goods

If you opt for a purple die, you'll obtain 2 new goods (tea, silk, and/or spices) and circle them in your market area. To do so, you always have to take the first good that is still available, i.e., the not-yet-circled good of the respective kind that is furthest left in your market area.

Depending on the die chosen, you obtain either two goods of the same kind or two different goods. If you have already circled all goods of one kind, you can't get goods of this kind any more. Encircled goods are goods that you have in stock and that you can sell later on in order to receive money for them.

Green – Build Roads

If you opt for a green die, you can expand the road network in your province by drawing a road (a straight or a bend) within a region that has no road yet.

Your first road must start from your residence. Later on, you can start again from the residence or connect a new road to other roads that you have already drawn. The orientation doesn't matter (for instance, whether the straight is vertical or horizontal).

The die shows:

• a straight, or
• a bend, or
• two half-roads.

The half-roads can be:

• combined to form a straight (1), or
• combined to form a bend (2), or
• connected to already-existing roads (straight, bend or fork) (3) in order to form a fork or an intersection.

You are not allowed to mark a new province space only half by drawing one half-road. A new space always has to be marked by drawing a complete road (straight, bend, fork or intersection).

• 1: correct – a straight consisting of 2 half-roads
• 2: correct – a bend consisting of 2 half-roads
• 3: correct – 2 half-roads connected to already-existing roads
• 4: incorrect – The new province space is not marked with a complete road.
• 5: incorrect – The straight is not connected to the residence.
• 6: incorrect – The straight goes beyond the border of the province space.

The principal rules are:

• You always have to draw roads in such a way that there is a connection to the residence.
• If you draw a road on a province space with a building for the first time, this building is then considered erected, and gives you immediate fame points.
• If you draw a road on a province space with a market for the first time, this opens up a market where you can immediately sell the depicted goods once (up to 3 goods of the same kind or of different kinds that you would have to have in stock at this moment).
• If you connect a bonus at the edge of your province via a road to your residence, you receive this bonus once on the same turn.

Only half-roads enable you to expand a road (one that you have already drawn on a province space) to a fork or intersection – but not with a straight or bend. Fame points for buildings or money for markets are not granted a second time for the same province space if you expand a road with a half-road.

Erected buildings

If you have erected a building, you immediately gain fame points according to the upgrade table.

At the beginning of the game, each connected building is worth 1 fame point. Later on, you can upgrade the buildings (see the section, "The Upgrade of Buildings"). For each type of building you connect to the road network, you gain as many fame points as indicated on the rightmost marked space of the respective row (3 fame points maximum).

Example: Rajesh draws a bend and, with this, also erects this building. This gives him 2 fame points.

Opened-up markets

If you have opened up a market, you can immediately sell up to 3 goods once and get money for this. So, if you open up a market, you should at this time have goods in your stock that you can sell there.

• 1-3 goods of the same kind: Here you sell 1 to 3 goods of one kind.
• 1-3 different goods: Here you sell 1 to 3 different goods.

Important: You can sell only goods that you already own. To this end, they need to have been circled in your market area. You sell your goods in the respective rows from left to right. Sold goods are immediately crossed out. How much money you get depends on the number of goods you have already sold. The more goods of one kind you have sold, the more valuable is that kind. The coin below the respective column indicates how much money you get for selling a good of this column.

Example: Leila draws a road and, with this, also opens up a market. Now she may sell up to 3 different goods. For each kind, she crosses out the leftmost circled good and, in return, gets 5 money (1 for tea, 1 for silk, and 3 for spices). She immediately records this income on her money track.

Blue – Advance on the River

If you opt for a blue die, you advance to the next unoccupied river space with the corresponding symbol. You mark (only!) the target space you have reached, and immediately get the earnings depicted there (see the "Bonuses" section for an explanation of the symbols). As a basic principle, you get all earnings depicted on that target space.

If you choose a blue die again on a later game turn, you advance from your current position to the symbol of the now-chosen die.

The current position always is the rightmost river space that you have marked.

Note: When you have marked the third space of one symbol, dice with this symbol will be of no more use to you.

When you have reached the last river space, you can no longer advance on the river and no longer use blue dice.

Orange – Carry Out a Palace Action

If you opt for an orange die, you carry out the corresponding palace action. First, cross out the chosen action in your palace area. Remember to always cross out the leftmost space first.

Note that you can use each of the six palace actions only three times during the game (regardless of whether it is through dice or bonuses).

The palace actions are:

• The Great Mogul: If you cross out a space of the Great Mogul, you can freely choose from one of the other 5 palace actions. You additionally cross out the chosen palace action and carry out the respective action.
• The Maharani: You immediately advance 1 or 2 spaces (your choice) on the river, mark the chosen space, and gain the respective earnings.
• The Trader: You may immediately sell up to 2 goods of your choice. If you are not willing or able to sell any goods, you get one good of your choice and circle it in your market area.
• Raja Man Singh: You get 1 money. Record it on your money track and immediately make an upgrade of one of your buildings (see also "The Upgrade of Buildings").
• The Master Builder: You immediately get 2 half-roads that you can combine to form either a bend or a straight in order to draw another road. Or you connect the two half-roads to already-existing roads in order to get access to adjacent spaces or to bonuses at the edge of your province (see "Bonuses" section).
• The Portuguese: From your current position, you move 1 or 2 unoccupied spaces back on the river, mark the chosen space, and gain the earnings from there. When you move backwards, you don't include already-marked spaces in the count and thus cannot use them again.

Example: Rajesh uses the "Portuguese" palace action. He has already reached the following position on the river:

Now he may mark one of the next two yet-unused spaces to the left of his current position, which gives him the choice between "Sell any 2 goods" or "4 money". He cannot choose the in-between palace action, since he has already used it on a previous turn. He chooses the 4 money and marks the river space.

When you keep sailing on the river later on, your current position on the river is considered the starting point again, of course – that is, the rightmost marked river space.

If there is no unoccupied space on the river that you can move back to, or if you don't want to move back, you obtain a good of your choice.

The Scoring Tracks

You enter your fame points and your money on two different tracks. The fame track starts on the top left of the sheet. The money track starts on the top right of the sheet. Whenever you land on or pass a space that shows a bonus, you receive this bonus immediately.

The Upgrade of Buildings

Each type of building has a basic value of 1 fame point. During the course of the game, this basic value can be raised to 2 and 3 fame points: through the "Raja Man Singh" palace action, a river action, or connected or achieved bonuses.

If you get an upgrade, you immediately choose the type of building you want to upgrade, strike off the current number and mark the next higher value in the space to its right in the upgrade table.

The upgrades are marked from left to right for each building type. From then on, you get 2 (or 3) fame points for buildings of this type.

As soon as you have upgraded each type of building at least once, you immediately receive the bonus depicted below this column. If you have upgraded all building types twice, you immediately receive the bonus depicted below the second column.

Karma

Karma allows the other players to reroll the die that the starting player has placed on top of the elephant at the beginning of the round, plus one yet-unused die from the middle of the table.

At the beginning of the game, you have one karma.

You can get new karma through bonuses at the edge of your province, on the money track or on the river. You can use karma only at the beginning of your turn.

When you use karma, you cross it out at the start of your turn – from left to right. Then you take the die off the elephant, plus any other die from the middle of the table. Roll both dice. Choose the result of one of these dice and carry out its action. Put the chosen die on your dice-depot tile and the other die on top of the elephant. The latter die will now be available again to subsequent players using karma. After that, you must carry out the action of the die on the depot tile.

However, you are allowed to use any amount of collected karma on one turn in order to roll the two chosen dice multiple times.

You receive one bonus each when you circle karma for the third, for the fourth, and for the fifth time.

Bonuses

During the game, you can receive bonuses in various ways:

• When you connect bonuses at the edge of your province.
• When you have sold all goods of one tent.
• When you have marked a complete column at the palace or in the upgrade table.
• When you have collected the third, fourth, and fifth karma.
• When you land on or pass a bonus on the tracks.

Once you have released a bonus, you immediately circle it. After you have carried out the actual die action, you cross out the bonus and use it.

If you receive several bonuses while carrying out the die action, the order in which you want to use them is up to you. Cross out each bonus right before you use it.

By the end of your turn, make sure that you have used and then crossed out all these bonuses.

Example: Leila carries out a building action and, in doing so, connects a bonus at the edge and circles it.

Then she first scores for the building of the province space where she has drawn the road. For this, she gets 2 fame points.

After that, she crosses out the circled bonus and advances 1 space on the river, beginning from her current position. She crosses out the "Get 3 different goods" river space and circles one good of each kind in her market area.

The Symbols

Below, you'll find explanations of the different symbols that come up on different occasions in the game:

• Palace characters (Great Mogul, Maharani, Trader, Raja Man Singh, Master Builder, Portuguese): You find the people from the palace also as bonuses at the edge of your province. Their function is the same as described under "Palace actions." If, for example, you get the Portuguese as a bonus at the edge, you cross him out at the palace and move 1 or 2 unoccupied spaces backwards on the river. Each of the palace actions can be used only a maximum of three times. So, if you have already used the Portuguese three times, it is not worth it for you to connect him as a bonus, since you can't use him anymore.
• Question mark: Carry out a palace action of your choice by crossing out the next space at the respective character and carrying out the associated action.
• Scroll: Receive an upgrade for one type of building.
• Karma knot: Get a karma.
• Fame points (1, 2, 3): Earn one or more fame points and immediately record them on your fame track.
• Money (1, 2, 3, 4): Earn one or more money and immediately record them on your money track.
• Purple goods die: Get 2 goods according to the current result of one of the two purple goods dice. Choose the goods of one of the two dice. It doesn't matter whether the die is lying in the middle of the table, with one of the other players, or on top of the elephant. The die stays where it is; you get only the two goods shown on it.
• 1, 2 or 3 different goods: Get 1, 2 or 3 different goods. If you get 3 goods, circle 1 good of each kind. If you get fewer goods, you may choose which different goods you want to circle.
• Sell any goods (1, 2, 3 or 1-2): Sell any 1, 2, 3 or 1-2 goods of your choice. To do so, cross out circled goods in your market area and get the applicable amount of money.
• Tent 1-3: Sell 1-3 goods of the same kind or of different kinds.
• 2 different goods: Sell 2 different goods.
• Half-road: Connect a half-road to an already-existing road in your province, thus building a fork or intersection.
  • Attention: Special case: If you manage on the same turn to release 2 half-roads as bonuses (column bonus at the palace + bonus on the money track), you may also combine these to form a straight or a bend.
• Straight / fork / intersection: Draw a straight, fork or intersection on an unoccupied province space; it has to be connected to your residence via already-existing roads.
• Arrow forward on the river: Starting from your current position on the river, move forward to the next river space, mark it, and gain the earnings from there.
• Arrow back on the river: Starting from your current position on the river, move back to the next unoccupied river space, mark it, and gain the earnings from there.
• Double arrow back (1-?): Starting from your current position on the river, move back to any yet-unmarked river space, mark the chosen space, and gain the earnings from there.

Note: If you connect a bonus that you can't use on this turn, it goes to waste – e.g., if you would be allowed to sell a good but don't have any, or if you would be allowed to connect a half-road but haven't yet drawn any roads, etc.

Example – Receiving multiple bonuses on one turn

On her turn, Leila uses one of the blue river dice and advances to the next flag symbol.

There she gets a fork that she may immediately build in. She draws the fork in the top right corner in such a way that she receives the bonuses "Master Builder" and "Goods Die." She circles both.

Then she checks in the upgrade table how many fame points she gets for the building on the province space. Since she has already upgraded it once, she gets 2 fame points and immediately records these on her fame track.

After that, she crosses out the "Goods Die" bonus and decides to circle the 2 spice boxes indicated by the goods die currently lying on top of the elephant.

Then she crosses out the "Master Builder" bonus. In the palace area, she also crosses out the Master Builder.

With this, she completes the first column of the lower palace area and may cross out an additional bonus there – again, "Goods Die."

First, she carries out the "Master Builder" action. She decides to split the road sections, connecting one half-road so that it opens up the road to the temple, and building the other one so that she receives the "Advance on the River" edge bonus.

She circles the bonus and crosses it out, before she marks the next space on the river, "4 coins." She records this money on her money track.

Finally, she crosses out the column bonus at the palace and decides to circle another 2 spice boxes at her market. Since Leila manages to intersect her two scoring tracks on this turn, she triggers the end of the game.

End of the Game

The game ends as soon as one player's entries on his money and fame track intersect. The round is still completed, so that all players have had the same number of turns. If one or more of the other players manage to intersect their two scoring tracks, the player whose tracks exceed the intersection point the most wins.

Example: Rajesh has collected 21 fame points and 40 money; the intersection point is exceeded by 2 points.

Leila has collected 16 fame points and 51 money; the intersection point is exceeded by 2.5 points.

Consequently, Leila wins the game by half a point (or 1 money).

In case of a tie, the player who has collected (i.e., has circled) more karma wins. If players have collected the same amount of karma, the tied player who has used (i.e., crossed out) more karma wins. If there is still a tie, the tied players share the victory.

Example: Rajesh has collected 5 karma.

Leila has collected 5 karma as well, but she has used 3 and thus wins the tie.

Note: In the rare case that there is no suitable die left on your turn and you don't have any karma, you don't carry out any action on this turn.

The Game for Two Players

In the two-player game, players alternate using one die each until both players have had two turns. Then the starting player changes, and the dice are rolled anew.

Special karma rule: When it is the starting player's second turn to take a die in a round, he now also has the possibility to use his collected karma (if he has any).

Special rule for the game end: If a player already fulfills the game-end condition with the 1st die, the game ends after the current turn.

Credits

© 2020 HUCH! | www.hutter-trade.com

Authors: Inka & Markus Brand. Illustration: Dennis Lohausen. 3D: Andreas Resch. Design: HUCH!. Product manager: Britta Stöckmann. Translation: Sybille & Bruce Whitehill, "Word for Wort". Text edited by: Frank DiLorenzo.

Manufacturer + Distributor: Hutter Trade GmbH + Co KG, Bgm.-Landmann-Platz 1-5, 89312 Günzburg, GERMANY. Distribution USA: R&R Games, Inc., PO Box 130195, Tampa, FL 33681, USA.

Warning! Not suitable for children under 3 years. Small parts. Choking hazard.