Riket
Riket Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Riket in Brief
Riket takes you through different epochs of Swedish and European history. The players try to imagine how people lived and thought in the different time periods and answer the questions based on this.
Is the question too hard? A rich player passes the question on to any opponent of their choice. A poor player takes their fellow players in to help. Use the different roles' advantages to get through the game's six epochs.
One lap of the board corresponds to one epoch, and different rules apply on the two parallel tracks for the game's rich and poor players. The two spinners for Fate and Challenge affect the players' fortunes.
When all the epochs have been played, the player with the most gold coins wins.
First Time You Play
Assemble the Fate Spinner (A) and the Challenge Spinner (B). Loosen the arrow carefully. Press the round plastic part up through the hole in the board from underneath, then press the arrow down from above onto the round plastic part.
Sort the card decks into categories. Place the coin cards and the cards for each epoch in separate compartments of the tray.
Letters refer to the diagram on page 3 of the rules.
Setup
Fill the card holder (C) with knowledge cards from the game's first epoch (ancient times, forntid). Place the Fool cards (D) and the Old-word cards (E) on the board. Place the gold coins (F) in the middle of the board. Deal 6 gold coins to each player.
At the start of the game, the split between rich and poor players is determined by the number of players. Take out the Riket cards needed and shuffle them well.
| Number of players | Poor | Rich, without the Ruler's Ring | Rich, with the Ruler's Ring |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | 2 cards | – | 1 card |
| 4 | 2 cards | 1 card | 1 card |
| 5 | 3 cards | 1 card | 1 card |
Players draw their Riket card one at a time in turn order (this is repeated at the start of every new epoch). Place the card on the table in front of the player so that everyone can easily see which rules apply to rich and poor. The card is swapped each time the player's role changes.
Players choose a pawn and place it in the correct start ring (G): poor players on the inner track, rich players on the outer track. The player who starts as rich and as the Ruler places the Ruler's Ring on their pawn. (A rich player who has the Ruler's Ring when the epoch ends gets three extra gold coins in addition to the gold coins they receive for their placement.)
The Riket cards decide whether a player starts as rich or poor.
The knowledge cards are divided into 6 epochs, 1,800 questions in total. The coin cards are used when needed to exchange gold coins. The Fool cards and the Old-word cards are each split into two piles.
Contents
1 game board, 5 pawns, 1 Ruler's Ring, 2 spinners, 3 card decks of 120 cards each, 1 tray, 1 card holder, gold coins, and rulebook.
Starting the Game
The eldest player begins. Several pawns may stand in the same ring. Players move forward by answering the game's knowledge questions correctly.
Taking a Turn
Each time it is a player's turn, the turn begins with the player receiving a knowledge question to answer. The questioner is always the opponent sitting to the right of the player who is to answer. Pull the knowledge card up to the colour marking and read the top question. (Do not change the card until all four questions on it have been used in the game. Place read cards at the back of the card holder.) The player who receives the question can act in different ways depending on whether they are rich or poor.
A rich player who receives a knowledge question:
- Answers correctly and moves forward 3 steps.
- Answers incorrectly and spins the Fate Spinner.
- Does not answer, and passes the question to any opponent of their choice (but not to the questioner). The player who receives the passed question cannot pass it on or get help from fellow players, but must answer it themselves.
A poor player who receives a knowledge question:
- Answers correctly and moves forward 2 steps.
- Answers incorrectly and spins the Fate Spinner.
- Answers by getting help from the other poor players (who may not refuse to help). If the answer is correct, all the poor players move forward 1 step. If the answer is wrong, the helpers move back 1 step and the player who asked for help must spin the Fate Spinner. If one of the helpers lands on a ring with a spinner symbol when moving, that symbol does not apply.
The Fate Spinner
When a player is forced to spin the Fate Spinner, one of the following can happen:
Stay put. Nothing happens. The next player in turn takes their turn.
Move back 1, 3 or 4 steps. A rich player can pay to avoid moving backwards. The price is 1 gold coin per step. (A player can never move back past the start ring, and does not need to pay to avoid backward movement behind the start ring.)
Swap places with any player. Remember to swap the Riket cards if the players' roles change. If a player swaps places with the Ruler, the Ruler's Ring passes to that player.
Switch track but keep your position. (This does not affect other players.) Do not forget to swap the Riket card. If the player who owns the Ruler's Ring becomes poor, the ring is removed from the game until the end of the epoch.
The Challenge Spinner
If a player stops on a ring with a spinner symbol when moving forward, the player must accept the challenge and spin the Challenge Spinner in the same turn.
The following can happen:
Fate. Spin the Fate Spinner and follow the instructions.
Gammelord (Old Words). Now there is a duel in understanding old words and expressions. The player chooses a duel opponent. Both duellists take one Old-word card each. The player who spun the spinner reads out the top old word on their card. If the opponent can explain the meaning of the word, the duel continues with the opponent reading the top old word on their own card. The duellists continue alternately until one of them answers incorrectly.
- The winner moves 2 steps forward and becomes rich (if not already rich).
- The loser keeps their placement but becomes poor (if not already poor). If the player who has the Ruler's Ring loses the duel, the ring passes to the winner of the duel.
A player who, after the Old-word duel, stops on a ring with a spinner symbol does not spin the spinner; the turn passes to the next player.
Narrkort (Fool cards). The opponent to the right takes 1 Fool card and asks the player to name a number from 1 to 4, reads the question with that number, and waits for the answer. The player has about half a minute to answer.
- A correct answer moves the player forward 2 steps (applies to both rich and poor players).
- A wrong answer moves the player back 2 steps (applies to both rich and poor players, but a rich player can buy their way out, at 1 gold coin per step).
A player who stops on a ring with a spinner symbol after a Fool card does not spin the spinner; the turn passes to the next player.
Note on the spinner diagram: the sector labels on the printed Challenge Spinner are partly illegible in the rules scan, and the outcomes above are taken from the written rules text.
When the First Player Reaches the Goal, the Game Is Interrupted
The placement on the board decides how many gold coins the players win at the end of the epoch. Hand out 6 gold coins to first place, 4 gold coins to second, 3 gold coins to third, 2 gold coins to fourth, and 1 gold coin to fifth. If two players share a placement, both win the same number of gold coins. (Example: with a double second place, first place gets 6 gold coins, both second-placed players each get 4 gold coins, and the next in order, fourth place, gets 2 gold coins.)
A rich player who has the Ruler's Ring when the game is interrupted gets 3 gold coins (in addition to the gold coins they receive for their placement).
If gold coins run short, remember to exchange coins for the coin cards.
Switching Epochs and Continuing Play
As soon as the gold coins have been handed out, all players move their pawns forward for a common start in the next epoch. Take out the card holder and fill it with knowledge cards from the next epoch you want to play. Take out the Riket cards needed (see the table on page 2) and shuffle them well. The players each draw a new card. Chance decides whether you start as rich or poor in the next round.
Who Wins?
When all the epochs have been played, the player with the most gold coins wins.
Varying the Length of the Game
A full game spans six epochs. It does not matter in which order the epochs are played. If you want a shorter game, decide in advance how many – and which – epochs you will play.