Rattus: Academicus Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Components
• Overview of the Expansion
• Module 1: The Upgrades
  • Set Up
  • Game Overview
  • Overview of the Upgrades
• Module 2: The Universities
  • Set Up
  • Game Overview
  • Game End
• The New Class Cards
  • Royal Librarian (Royalty)
  • Professor (Bourgeoisie)
  • Inquisitor (Chivalry)
  • Alchemist (Magic)
  • Philosopher (Church)
  • Student (Peasantry)
  • Card Combinations and Example

Game Components

• 25 event cards (5x "University founded", 12x "Class bonus" (2 for each class), 2x "Discard class cards" and 6x "No event")
• 6 class cards (1 for each of the 6 classes Royalty, Chivalry, Bourgeoisie, Church, Magic and Peasantry)
• 6 upgrade tiles (1 for each of the 6 class cards King, Knight, Merchant, Monk, Witch and Peasant), with two sides (Level II/Level III)
• 12 university victory point tokens
• 2 university pieces

Overview of the Expansion

This expansion consists of two modules: The Upgrades and The Universities. Additionally, this expansion contains six new class cards which are designed to be used together with one or both these modules. Most of the class cards require one of the new modules, but apart from this, you can combine the parts from this expansion with the base game and any other expansion as you wish. You can play with just one of the new modules, with both of the new modules, or with one or both of the modules combined with any number of the new class cards.

Module 1: The Upgrades

This module consists of six upgrade tiles which allow players to upgrade the class cards from the base game.

Set Up

The game is set up following the rules for the base game and any expansions used. Additionally, place the six upgrade tiles next to the board.

Game Overview

The game is played following the rules for the base game and any expansions used, with the following addition:

If a player holds a class card from the base game (Peasant, Merchant, Monk, Knight, Witch or King) at the start of his turn, he may choose to upgrade this card. If a player upgrades a card, he can't take a new class card this turn. An upgrade replaces the card's basic ability with a better one. The card still counts as only one class symbol when evaluating rats. To upgrade a basic class card take the corresponding upgrade tile and place it on top of the class card with the level II side up. If a card is already upgraded (and has an upgrade tile on it), flip the upgrade tile so the level III side is up. A class card which has already been upgraded to level III cannot be further upgraded.

Note: If an upgrade tile is not available (because of the Inquisitor or the Alchemist, see class card descriptions below), the corresponding class card cannot be upgraded.

Important: If a player takes an upgraded class card from another player, all upgrades on that card are lost and returned to the supply. The new owner of the card may upgrade the card to level II on his next turn.

Overview of the Upgrades

The printed overview shows each tile's two levels side by side but does not name the card beside each row. The rows below follow the order in which the tiles are listed in the Game Components section (King, Knight, Merchant, Monk, Witch, Peasant), which matches the portraits on the tiles.

Card	Level II	Level III
King	You may move one cube from any region (even from a region containing rat tokens) to the palace.	You may move two cubes from any one region (even from a region containing rat tokens) to the palace.
Knight	You may move the plague piece to any region. Before revealing any rat tokens you may decide to make it count as two neutral population cubes (like the basic card).	You may move the plague piece to any region. Before revealing any rat tokens you may decide to set the population limit of all rats in this region is zero.
Merchant	You may move an unlimited number of your own population cubes to an adjacent region.	You may move an unlimited number of your own population cubes from one region to one other region (doesn't have to be adjacent).
Monk	You may move one rat token from one region to another region (doesn't have to be adjacent).	You may move two rat tokens from one region to another region (doesn't have to be adjacent).
Witch	You may look at three rat tokens on the board and swap them any way you like.	You may look at four rat tokens on the board and swap them any way you like.
Peasant

Module 2: The Universities

This module introduces universities, which will be founded in various regions on the board at random times during the game. This will allow the players to score additional points during the game.

Set Up

The game is set up following the rules for the base game and any expansions used with the following additions:

• Place one university victory point token in each region of the board. In a game with two or three players some of the regions are not used, don't place tokens in the regions. (Place any unused university victory point tokens back in the box.)
• Place the two university pieces in in two randomly chosen different regions.
• Shuffle the event cards and place them in a face down event deck next to the game board.

Important: In the initial placement round (where each player places his first cubes on the board), no player is allowed to place cubes in any region containing a university piece.

Note: When playing with the expansion Rattus Africanus, place the university victory point tokens in 12 randomly chosen regions.

Game Overview

The game is played following the rules for the base game and any other expansions used, with the following addition:

At the end of each player's turn, after resolving the plague in phase C, the player draws and reveals one card from the event deck. If the event deck has been depleted, shuffle all event cards and make a new face down event deck.

The event card revealed has the following effect:

University founded: In each region containing a university piece, the player holding the majority of cubes receives the university victory point token from this region. Thereafter, that player moves the university piece to another region. The new region must contain a university victory point token (a region not scored this way during the game) and it can't already contain another university piece. If two or more players are tied for majority, no one gets the victory point token and the university piece is not moved. In the rare event that the order of these scorings (and subsequent moving) matters, the green university piece should be scored and moved first, followed by the white.

Class bonus: For each class card of the displayed class, the player holding the class card may place one cube in one of the two regions containing a university piece. A player holding more than one class card of that class (e.g. Peasant and Student, when a Peasantry class bonus event is revealed), may place one cube for each of these class cards he holds. These cubes don't have to be placed in the same region. If the order of these placements matters, players should take turn in clockwise order, starting with the currently active player.

Discard class card: Each player (starting with the current active player and going clockwise around the table) may choose to discard one of his class card each, returning it to the middle of the table.

No event: Nothing happens.

Game End

At the end of the game, after all rats have been revealed, but before scoring, a "University Founded" event occurs in the regions containing university pieces.

Note: When playing with the expansion Rattus Mercatus, any Sales phase at the end of the turn will happen after revealing and resolving the event card. Also, the final Sales phase at the end of the game will happen after the University Founded at the end of the game.

The New Class Cards

Note: Only the active player may use the special abilities of his class card(s). He may use the abilities of each card only once each turn, and only before phase C is played (exceptions: Professor and Inquisitor).

Royal Librarian (Royalty)

Requires: The universities

The player holding this card may move the green university piece to another region. Like when moving the university pieces after scoring, the new region must contain a university victory point token and it can't already contain another university piece.

Professor (Bourgeoisie)

Requires: The universities

This card gives no special abilities to the player holding it during his turn. If a "University Founded" event is revealed (on any player's turn), the player holding this card may immediately (before resolving this event) place one of his cubes into a region containing a university piece. This also applies to the "University Founded" event at the end of the game.

Inquisitor (Chivalry)

Requires: The upgrades

The player holding this card may move the plague piece up to two steps in phase C, before the effects of the plague are evaluated. Additionally, if another player holding an upgraded class card (including the Alchemist) loses at least one population cube because of the plague, the player holding the Inquisitor may take an upgrade tile from that player and place it on the Inquisitor. The upgrade tile stays on the same side (the upgrade level is not modified). The abilities of the upgrade tile can be used immediately. The abilities of the Inquisitor are replaced by the abilities of the upgrade tile, so no other upgrade can be placed on this card as long as there is already an upgrade tile on it. The Inquisitor will still only have the Chivalry class symbol, regardless of the class of the upgrade card taken.

Note: If a player holding the Inquisitor takes a level II upgrade from another player, he may upgrade this tile to Level III in a later turn by turning it over.

Note: The Inquisitor only takes the upgrade tile, the class card itself (the one that was upgraded) does not change hands (but it will no longer be upgraded).

Game end: The player holding the Inquisitor (with no upgrade) in the final counter-clockwise round, may move the plague piece two steps and resolve the plague. If any player loses at least one cube he takes an upgrade from that player and immediately uses this upgrade once.

Card Combinations: If a player holds two or more Chivalry cards, he will still only be allowed to move the plague piece up to two steps.

Alchemist (Magic)

Requires: The upgrades

This card does not give the player any special abilities on the turn on which it was taken. The player holding this card at the start of his turn may take any available upgrade tile and place it with its Level III side up on the Alchemist card. From this moment, the Alchemist gives the player the abilities of the chosen upgrade tile. The chosen upgrade tile stays on the Alchemist until the Alchemist is taken by another player. The abilities of the Alchemist are replaced by the abilities of the upgrade tile, so no other upgrade can be placed on this card as long as there is already an upgrade tile on it. The Alchemist will still only have the Magic class symbol, regardless of the class of the upgrade card taken.

Note: The Alchemist may not take an upgrade card from another player. Placing a Level III upgrade card on the Alchemist does not count as performing an upgrade, that is, the player can also perform another upgrade or take a new class card on the same turn. When the Alchemist is used in a game, all six upgrade tiles should be used in the game, even if not all the six corresponding base class cards are used.

Game end: A player holding the Alchemist (with no upgrade) in the final counter-clockwise round, may immediately take an available upgrade card and place it with its Level III side up on the Alchemist card. He may then use this upgrade immediately.

Philosopher (Church)

This card gives no special abilities to the player holding it during his turn. Other players may not take class cards from this player, except for this card.

Note: The Philosopher does not protect a player from losing an upgrade tile to a player holding the Inquisitor.

Student (Peasantry)

Requires: The universities

The player holding this card may place one additional cube on the board during his turn. This cube must be placed in a region containing a university piece.

Card Combinations and Example

Card Combinations: If a player has both a basic class card (with no upgrade) and the Inquisitor or Alchemist with the corresponding upgrade, he may not use the abilities of the basic class card (he may only use the abilities of the upgrade).

Example: A player has the Peasant class card. Additionally, he has the Alchemist, which he has upgraded with the Level III Peasant upgrade. He may now use the Level III upgrade to place two additional cubes in any region. However, he is not allowed to also use the basic Peasant ability.