Santa Cruz
Santa Cruz Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Contents
- 1 Game Board
- 28 Building Cards
- 16 Scoring Cards
- 54 Tiles
- 52 Buildings
- 22 Bird Chits
- 4 Scoring Markers
- 8 50-Step Markers
- 4 Overview Cards
- 1 Rule
Course of Play and Objective
Santa Cruz is being settled. In 2 independent rounds the players build houses, churches and lighthouses, tap available resources and collect points. The player with the most points at the end of the 2nd round will be the winner.
Setup
1. Take Buildings
Every player chooses a color and places buildings in that color in front of him as supply: 2 Lighthouses, 3 Churches, 8 Houses.
Buildings of color not chosen are placed back in the box.
2. Lay Out Tiles
The board is layed out.
Tiles are first well shuffled, then placed randomly face down on the spaces on the board. They are placed as follows:
- Volcano tiles on the volcano spaces.
- Land tiles on the land spaces.
- Lighthouse tiles on the coastal spaces.
Volcano and land tiles stay face down. All coast line tiles are placed face up.
Left over tiles are placed back in the box without looking at them.
3. Get Bird Tokens Ready
The bird tokens are shuffled face down and are placed next to the board.
4. Lay Out 50-Point Markers
The 50-step markers are placed on the compass image.
5. Distribute Scoring Cards
One player shuffles the 16 Scoring cards and gives each player a number of them face down. How many depends on the number of players:
| Players | Scoring cards each |
|---|---|
| 2 Players | Everyone gets 4 cards |
| 3 Players | Everyone gets 3 cards |
| 4 Players | Everyone gets 2 cards |
The left over cards are formed as a face down stack for the 2nd Round of the game. The players can now take the received cards into their hand and look at them.
6. Choose Building Card Sets
One player groups the Building cards by letters to make 4 sets of 7 cards:
| Set | Contents |
|---|---|
| Set A: River-Set | 1 Ship, 2 Roads, 3 Rivers, 1 Double move |
| Set B: Road-Set | 1 Ship, 4 Roads, 1 River, 1 Double move |
| Set C: Ship-Set | 3 Ships, 2 Roads, 1 River, 1 Double move |
| Set D: Balanced | 2 Ships, 2 Roads, 2 Rivers, 1 Double move |
Every player chooses one set and takes it in the hand holding it together with the Scoring cards. Oldest player chooses first. The other players also choose in the counter clockwise order.
From the above, it follows that: With 4 players the last player has no other choice but the take the leftover set. With less than 4 players, the left over set is put back in the box.
7. Determine Start Player
The player who choose a cards set last will be the start player of the 1st Round.
Players place their scoring markers on the scoring track:
- Start player sets the scoring marker on 0.
-
- Player sets the scoring marker on 1.
-
- Player sets the scoring marker on 2.
-
- Player sets the scoring marker on 3.
We recommend that players who are new to Santa Cruz get their cards sets assigned to them randomly. The start player in the 1st Round will be then the youngest player.
Play Order
In clockwise order. Players play in turn order. The start player begins with a first move. The other players make their moves in a clockwise order.
The sequence of a round: Land — then for each player in turn, Play card (Build or Score) — until the End of the Round.
Overview
In every round the players are settling the island.
In the first turn they reach the shores of the island. Starting with the 2nd turn they must play one card at a time.
Often it will be a Building card: River card, Ship card, or Road card. To play a Building card means, to play it out open in front of you and then place 1 Building on 1 Tile (Build). This gives players the points necessary to win the game.
Besides Building cards, players also have Scoring cards on hand. To play a Scoring card means, to play it from hand open in front of you and score it. This often brings points to multiple players.
The round will end only after all players play all of their cards.
Land
The round begins with players reaching the shore and landing there, one player at a time. No Building card needs to be played for this move.
This means: Each player places 1 Building of their choice on 1 Tile on the board of their choice.
Players must abide by the building rules explained in the Build section.
Play card
After reaching the shore the game can be started: Players play exactly 1 card in the players order. This is continued until all cards are played.
The player plays either one Building card of their choice, or one Scoring card of their choice.
- If a player plays a Building card, he must build.
- If the player plays a Scoring card, he must score for it.
Players keep the played Building and Scoring cards separate from each other and lay them in such a way that they are visible to all players.
End of the Round
The round ends, when all players have played all of their cards.
Build
To build, means to play 1 Building card and then place 1 Building on 1 Tile on the board.
Buildings are Lighthouses, Churches and Houses. When reaching the shore for the first time, the player places 1 Building – without playing a Building card – on an available shore tile, otherwise he must play 1 Building card in order to build.
1. Where to Build?
- Ship card: If a player played a Ship card, he places 1 Building on an available shore line tile of player's choice.
- River card: If a player played a River card, he places 1 Building on an available tile of player's choice on a river. To build on that river player must already have at least one building on it.
- Road card: If a player played a Road card, he places 1 Building on an available tile of player's choice that connects directly to his already placed building over a road.
2. What to Build?
Every tiles has a picture of the Building that must be placed there: Lighthouse, Church or House.
3. Build from Supply
A player must have a matching Building in his supply. He places the Building from his supply on a chosen tile.
4. Points for Building
Every time a player builds, he receives points. The number of points he receives is printed on the tile.
Points are scored right after building. The points are always displayed on the middle right of the tile.
The "+3" on the picture are not points for the building, but for the Fish Bonus (see Fish Bonus, below).
5. Taking a Bird Token
Some tiles have a picture of a Bird token. After the player has placed a building on a tile and scored points for it, he takes 1 Bird token from supply without showing it to other players.
Then he places it face down in front of him. Players can look at their Bird tokens any time.
At the end of the game Bird tokens bring either 1, 2 or 3 extra points (see End of Game).
6. Uncover Tiles
Now the player flips all the tiles face up, that are directly connected over a road or a river to the building he just placed.
If players forget to flip the tiles right after placement, the tiles can be flipped later in the game at any time.
7. End of Building
This ends the building action and it's the next player's turn.
Example of play: Red player plays a Ship card. He places 1 Lighthouse on a shore tile of the small volcano island. He receives 2 points and a Bird token for that. Then he flips the directly connected tiles face up. That ends his turn.
Further Rules, Exceptions and Rare Situations When Building
Occupied Tiles
It is not allowed to build on a tile that already has a building on it.
Joining to Share the Tile
The player who plays last in the current round can, one time in this whole round, place 1 building on a tile that already has a building of another player, instead of on an available tile.
Not Able to Build
If possible, a player must place a building. If he cannot, his turn ends immediately after playing a card.
Tip: A player can also play a card even if he cannot build with it.
Example: Red player has played a River card and is present on a short river. But he cannot place on the only available tile, since he doesn't have a Church in his supply. Thus he cannot build and his turn ends immediately.
Face Down Tiles
It is possible that the player may want to place a building on a tile on a river that is still face down. In that situation he flips the tile face up.
He then must place a building pictured on a flipped tile. If he doesn't have a pictured building in his supply, his turn is over.
Double Move
Every player has 1 Double Move, that allows him to build 2x in a row. The player then builds as if he played either 2 Ship cards or 2 River cards or 2 Road cards.
In this situation the player performs the phase BUILD 2x completing each one after another. However, mixing Building cards is not allowed (example: 1x Ship and 1x River cards).
Exception with 2x River card: Even if the player can't build the first building, he still builds (if possible) the second building.
Score
To score means, to play one Scoring card and get points.
Important: Every player that fulfills the requirements of the Scoring card gets the points. The player who played the card marks his points on the scoring track first. After that each player does the same in player's turn order.
Resources Scoring
Some tiles have resources (or animals) printed on them. When a player has a building on such tile, he receives points when the matching Scoring card is played.
Example: Red has a building on a tile with Wood and Gold, Blue on a tile with Wood. When one player plays the Wood Scoring card, Red and Blue receive 6 points.
How many points brings the Resource Scoring? All players that have at least 1 Building on a matching resource tile receive points:
| Scoring card | Points | Who receives them |
|---|---|---|
| Sheep | 7 points | For all players that built on at least 1 Sheep tile. |
| Fish | 5 points + Fish Bonus | For all players that built on at least 1 Fish tile. |
| Wood | 6 points | For all players that built on at least 1 Wood tile. |
| Sugar | 7 points | For all players that built on at least 1 Sugar tile. |
| Gold | 6 points | For all players that built on at least 1 Gold tile. |
| Sheep + Fish | 7 points + Fish Bonus | For all players that built on Fish and Sheep tiles. |
| Sheep + Fish | 3 points + Fish Bonus | For all players that built only on one of the two resources. |
| Wood + Sugar | 7 points | For all players that built on Wood and Sugar tiles. |
| Wood + Sugar | 3 points | For all players that built only on one of the two resources. |
| Gold (second card) | 10 points | For all players that built on at least 1 Gold tile. |
Multiple Resources
Players get points once per resource type, even if their Buildings stand on more than one resource of the same type.
Example: A player plays a Gold Scoring card. Blue player receives only 10 points, despite having 2 buildings.
Fish Bonus
Whenever a Scoring card is played with a Fish picture on it, the players receive extra points marked with a "+" on the tiles with their buildings.
Example: Red player receives 3 points for the Sheep + Fish Scoring card (he has no Sheep) and 4 extra points together for the Fish Bonus.
Buildings Scoring
How many points brings the Buildings Scoring?
| Scoring card | Points | Who receives them |
|---|---|---|
| 4 Houses | 6 points | For all players that have already built at least 4 Houses. |
| Variety | 6 points | For all players that have already built at least 1 House, 1 Church and 1 Lighthouse. |
| Street | 7 points | For all players that have already built at least 4 connected Buildings. |
For the Street card: the buildings must be directly connected over Roads. Branching is allowed.
Places and Birds Scoring
How many points brings the Places and Birds Scoring?
| Scoring card | Points | Who receives them |
|---|---|---|
| Coast | 3 points | Per building a player built on a coastal tile. |
| River | 3 points | Per building a player built on a river. |
| Volcano | 3 points | Per building a player built on a volcano tile. |
| Eruption | -2 points | Per building a player built on a volcano tile. |
| Bird Tokens | 2 points | Per Bird Token a player has collected so far. |
Examples: Coast — Red: 6 points, Blue: 3 points. River — Red: 3 points, Blue: 3 points. Volcano — Red: 3 points, Green: 3 points. Eruption — Red: -2 points, Green: -2 points. Bird Tokens — a player receives 6 points.
Volcano Eruption
At the time of volcano eruption all buildings on volcano tiles are destroyed and are removed from the board.
Destroyed buildings are at first out of the game, but can be rebuilt in the 2nd round.
The volcano tiles are now available again for the next player to build and place their buildings.
Score Points
Scoring Track
Players mark their points on the scoring track with markers of their color.
Place Behind
If a marker is placed on a scoring field that already has a marker of another player, it is placed behind all the other markers that are present on that field, to clearly indicate the order of play.
Important! The behind placement is necessary so that there are no ties.
50-Point Markers
If a marker crosses a scoring field 49, player takes a 50-Point Marker from compass area, places it under his scoring marker and begins on the scoring track from the start.
Example: Red has 51 points: scoring marker is placed on 1 again.
Special situation during volcano eruption: if a player loses points because of the volcano eruption, he moves his scoring marker back. If he ends up on a field with a scoring marker of another player, he places his marker behind the one that's already there. When he crosses back the 0 field, he puts back his 50-point marker and places his marker accordingly.
2. Round
Tip: You should only read this section when you have finished the 1. Round of play.
In the 2nd Round Santa Cruz will be settled again. But this time, the players can profit from their experiences from the 1st Round. Now players can choose which cards they will use to play this Round and what strategy they will take.
Clean Up
All players take all buildings of their color back into their supply area. This includes any buildings destroyed by volcano.
The Bird tokens stay face down in front of the players. The cards players have played stay in front of them sorted. All tiles also stay the way they are.
Take 1 New Scoring Card
Every player takes 1 new Scoring card from the deck and looks at it without showing it to other players. Then he places it face down for later use.
Choose Hand Cards
All players now choose the cards that they will use to play the 2nd Round.
The player furthest behind on the scoring track begins. He chooses one of the cards sets (including Scoring cards) and takes them in his hand.
The next player is the next furthest behind on the scoring track and so on. One is also allowed to choose his own cards set from the 1st Round. The player who's first on the scoring track must choose the left over cards set.
Example: Green (furthest behind) chooses a set of cards; Red is second to choose; Blue chooses his own set of cards; Yellow takes the left over set.
Discard Scoring Card
In addition to the chosen sets the players add the earlier chosen Scoring card to the hand. From his hand cards every player now picks one Scoring card of his choice and puts it back in the box without showing it to other players.
New Starting Player
The player furthest behind on the scoring track will become the Start player of the 2nd Round. In the example above it's the green player.
The course of play is the same as in the 1st Round (see 1. Round).
Game End
After players have played the 2nd Round to an end, the points for Bird tokens are scored and the winner will be the one with most points.
Points and Bird Tokens
Starting with the player who played the last card, the players uncover in player order their Bird tokens and score points.
For every token, players receive 1, 2 or 3 points displayed on the token and mark those on the scoring track.
Winner
The player who's furthest on the scoring track wins the game.
Credits
© 2012 Hans im Glück Verlags-GmbH
Do you have any suggestions, questions or criticism? Write us at the following email address: [email protected] or to Hans im Glück Verlag, Birnauer Str. 15, 80809 München. www.hans-im-glueck.de / www.cundco.de
The author and the publisher want to thank all the countless testers, among them Agnes Lison, Dominik Wagner, Lisa Brodner, Tobias Klüpfel, Martin Pittenauer, Familie Casasola, Barbara Schmick, Pascal Magalowski, Jakob Härter, Gregor Abraham, Karl-Heinz Schmiel, Hannes Wildner and Dieter Hornung.
Graphics: Michael Menzel. 3D-Illustrations: Andreas Resch.
English translation: Maciej Ulatowski (BGG: greengow), unofficial.