Santorini: Riddle of the Sphinx Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Adventures
  • Starting a New Adventure
  • Adventure Map
  • Constellation Tree
• Riddles
  • Objectives
  • Setup a Riddle
• How to Play
  • Move & Build
  • Select a God
  • Playing the Sphinx's Game
• Glossary
  • Icon Legend

Components

• 1x Dice
• 1x Adventure Book
• 1x Book of Riddles
• 1x Sphinx Mini
• 5x Sphinx's Game tokens
• 20x Reversible Objective tokens
• 6x Sphinx Attack tokens
• 40x God Cards
• 2-pc Sphinx board

Before reading the rules, we recommend opening the Book of Riddles to "Sunshine & Seashores" on page O so you can learn as you play with our 15-minute tutorial.

If you would like to learn the game with a video tutorial, visit roxley.com/santorini-video.

Adventures

The Book of Riddles contains 22 puzzle-like scenarios, called riddles. These are played as part of an ongoing adventure. You will lay this book flat and use its pages as the game board on which to play each riddle. The riddles can be played (or replayed) in any order, and do not need to be played with the same players every time. You can also have multiple adventures active at once.

Starting a New Adventure

• If you have not yet played the tutorial, we recommend opening the Book of Riddles to "Sunshine & Seashores" on page O so you can learn as you play with a 15-minute tutorial, and begin an adventure.
• If you choose to skip the tutorial, you can begin an adventure by opening the Adventure Book to a fresh page. On the Adventure Map page (A), any participating player can write their name in the guestbook, then you can use the map to select your first riddle.

Adventure Map

The Adventure Map is like a menu of all the riddles. You can use it to select the next riddle you'd like to play.

• Each riddle on the Adventure Map highlights a page number (D). (Open the Book of Riddles to that page to begin that riddle.)
• Riddles are grouped together into island clusters. Each island has a small storyline which is best enjoyed when played in order (though this is not required). We recommend playing the riddles from Paradise Islands first, since they are designed to introduce you to the co-operative game elements.
• Each riddle highlights its difficulty (E) using these icons: Easy, Medium, Hard.
• Each riddle shows numbered objective circles (C) which correspond to the numbered objectives on that riddle's page.
• After a riddle, use a pencil to shade in any objective circles on the Adventure Map page that match objectives you completed during the game. Then proceed to the Constellation Tree on the opposite page.

Constellation Tree

For each objective circle you shade in on the Adventure Map, shade in a white diamond along a path on the Constellation Tree (F) connecting two of its paths together.

When a god's constellation on the Map has been connected by these diamonds to Polaris at the center (G), that god becomes friendly, offering 2 favors. (In example G, the Minotaur is now a friendly god.)

When a setup step calls you to spend favors, you will shade in a favor (heart) on a god (H) to add their card to the god deck. Use these wisely, because once both favors are shaded you can no longer summon that god (though they may be used if specifically called for during setup). If all friendly gods have no remaining favors then they take pity on you, and you may gain the favor of a friendly god for free.

In addition to gaining favor, players can also be granted up to 4 Divine Gifts (I) on the Constellation Tree. These are granted as soon as the 4 diamonds surrounding them (J) are shaded in, AND they are also connected to Polaris at the center. Once granted, these bonuses are applied during setup steps of all future riddles.

You can replay any riddle any time, for fun, or to shade in Adventure Map objective circles you previously missed. However, you gain no further rewards for shading in an objective circle you already shaded during a previous session.

Riddles

Each page of the Book of Riddles has a unique scenario, called a riddle.

Objectives

Objectives are featured in every riddle (A, B, C) and challenge you with increasingly difficult goals to achieve.

To beat a riddle, you must achieve any 1 of its objectives.

To ace a riddle, you must achieve all of its objectives in one game.

• Some objectives describe a goal you must achieve (C).
• Some objectives have silver (A) & gold (B) objective coin slots. Objective coins will be placed on the map during setup, representing building goals the players must achieve to complete an objective. Objective coins indicate a number of building layers (1, 2, 3, 4), and that token is collected as soon as that many layers (or more) have been built below it. When building on an objective coin, remove the token to place your block. If the token's layers have been fulfilled, collect it, otherwise place it on top of the new building (you do not collect objective coins by moving onto them).
• When an objective coin is collected, it is moved to fill one of the corresponding objective coin slots. Silver tokens are placed on silver slots, and gold tokens are placed on gold slots.
• Every riddle ends immediately when the last objective coin is collected. (Unless stated otherwise, even if other Objectives are incomplete.)
• Every objective yields adventure rewards on your Constellation Tree after the game. Some also describe an in-game reward (D), which is obtained immediately once that objective is fulfilled. (If multiple rewards are earned together, the player decides the order.)

Setup a Riddle

Setup a riddle according to its setup steps. Typical steps are as follows:

1. Select a riddle from the Adventure Map (in the Adventure Book) and open the Book of Riddles (E) to the indicated page.
2. Setup the map with the riddle's setup steps (F) by placing blocks, tokens, & workers on the pages of the book (the map).

Depending on player count, worker rules change as follows:

• 1 Player: Setup 3 workers of any color (these are all your workers).
• 2 Players: Each sets up a pair of workers in their color of choice.
• 3 Players: Each sets up 1 worker of a different color, then together setup the Wanderer (the red shared worker).
• 4 Players: Two players across from each other setup a pair of workers sharing a color. The other players setup a different color pair.

Roll to determine start player & proceed clockwise. You can only use workers of your color. In a 3 player game, any player may use the Wanderer figure, however it may not be used two turns in a row.

3. Add blocks to the stockpile as indicated by the setup steps. The stockpile is a shared supply of blocks & domes any player can use (placed in a visible area below the Book of Riddles (G)). The supply is any block or dome in the box. In Coop players do not build from the supply (only from god cards or the stockpile).
4. Build the god deck - Each riddle lists god cards by name. Shuffle these together to form the god deck, and place it in the god deck slot (H). Reveal the top 3 cards into the 3 slots beside the deck (I) (marked with this icon). This is called the queue.

Often you'll be asked to "Shuffle your unlocked god cards, reveal 5 and add 1 to the god deck". To do this, gather any god cards you've unlocked from the Adventure Book Constellation Tree (excluding any who were named for the god deck) then shuffle them. We recommend organizing locked and unlocked gods using the ziplock bags provided.

How to Play

On your turn you must choose 1 of the following 3 actions:

• Move & then Build with one of your workers
• Select a God in the queue
• Play the Sphinx's Game

Move & Build

Move & Build works like the rules of basic Santorini. You select one of your workers and move them across to a neighboring space of the same height, move up to a block that is at most one step higher, or move down any number of steps. You then build a block or dome with that same worker into a neighbouring empty space which can be at any height (see Santorini rulesheet for a more in-depth explanation).

These 2 exceptions apply during Riddle of the Sphinx Coop mode:

• Workers can only build using a block or dome from the shared stockpile, or from a god card held by any of the players.
• If you choose to move & build, but are unable to move or unable to build (as in there are available blocks or domes), you must immediately end the game.

Select a God

Select a God means you can take a god card from the queue and place it face-up in front of you, granting you a new unique power, and more blocks or domes with which to build.

• (J) The player with the god card in front of them gains the optional ability to make use of their power. A player can have up to 2 gods at once, and both gods' powers can be applied together. A player cannot select a god if they already have 2 god cards in front of them.
• (K) When a god card is taken, place a block from the supply on it to match this icon. Any player can use this block as though it were in the stockpile. (This icon means the player chooses any type of block or dome for the god, chosen before or after refilling the queue.)
• (L) Each god card offers a quest. If the player who holds the card completes the quest, they immediately earn the reward. (If multiple rewards are earned together, the player decides the order.)
• The quest on most god cards is the "Default Quest": clear all blocks from the card on a turn where the player also uses the card's power, in order to gain (add a block or dome of choice to the stockpile).
• A god card is considered cleared if it has no blocks on it at the end of a player's turn. Move the card to the discard pile area (M).
• Blocks & domes on a god card held by one player can be built by any player, though only the player holding the card may use that god's power or earn its quest rewards.

Playing the Sphinx's Game

Playing the Sphinx's Game is a risky action, because like any good game of chance it can also result in DEATH. Nonetheless, a player can spend their turn to roll a die on the Sphinx's game (N).

• If they roll a result with a token on it (a Sphinx's Game token), remove that token and add the block shown to the shared stockpile (these tokens were placed on the Sphinx's game during setup steps).
• If they roll a skull result, they must destroy one of their workers, returning it to the game box (see destroyed workers in the "Glossary").

Glossary

• Bridges: On many maps an arrow will span across the coils at the center of the book. This arrow indicates a bridge. Spaces on either side of a bridge are considered adjacent and neighboring for abilities that concern movement, but not for building. So a worker can step horizontally from one end of a bridge to the other as a move.

  A worker cannot step diagonally across a bridge, and also cannot build on the opposite side of a bridge. A bridge is not a space, but rather indicates the two spaces on either side are neighboring each other (for movement and forced movement purposes only).

• Destroyed Workers: When a worker is destroyed, return them to the box. A player skips their turn if they have no workers in their color (or the red shared color) on the map. If a player's last usable worker is destroyed, they discard any god cards in front of them & move blocks or domes on those cards to the stockpile. If no workers are on the map, the game ends.

• Objective coins: Represents building heights (1, 2, 3, 4), which must be built in order to complete certain objectives.

• Clearing a God: A god card is "cleared" when there are no blocks or domes on top of it. The card then moves to the discard pile.

• God Deck: Refers to the deck of god cards used during a riddle.

• Queue: The top 3 cards of the god deck always get revealed into the 3 slots beside it (marked with this icon). This is called the queue.

• Supply: The extra supply of blocks or domes in the box, which are not available for use in Riddle of the Sphinx Coop mode.

Icon Legend

• Easy, Medium, Hard: riddle difficulty.
• Level 1 block, Level 2 block, Level 3 block.
• Dome.
• Block / dome of choice.
• Designated spaces to setup workers on.
• Setup a 1-high / 2-high / 3-high or 4-high tower.
• Dice colors / dice numbers.