Shimiagaran

Shimiagaran Rulebook

Table of Contents

Components

16 Elixir cards
36 Potion cards (21 Dark Potion cards and 15 Light Potion cards)
5 Player boards
70 plastic cubes: 10 cubes of each of the 7 colours, plus 7 spare cubes (1 of each colour)
1 white bag
1 black bag
15 Vessel sheets (5 Jars, 5 Mortars and 5 Sacks)
1 rulebook

The six coloured cube types are ingredients, and the black cubes are Tarantulas. The 7 spare cubes are not put into play.

Vessels: a Jar holds liquid ingredients, a Mortar holds herbal ingredients, and a Sack holds large ingredients. Each player has one of each.

Setup

The game is for 3 to 5 players. For a 2-player game, see the 2-Player Game section.

Each player places a Player board in front of them and takes one Jar, one Mortar and one Sack.
Put 6 ingredients (1 of each ingredient colour) and 6 Tarantulas (black cubes) into the black bag, and make it available to all players.
Put all remaining ingredients and Tarantulas (except the spare cubes) into the white bag, and make it available to all players.
Shuffle the Dark Potion cards and the Light Potion cards separately and place each deck in the middle of the table. Then turn face up 4 Light Potion cards and 5 Dark Potion cards.
Leave an empty space above the Light and Dark Potion decks. This is where Burnt Potion cards are placed.
Shuffle the Elixir cards and place them next to the Potion cards. Then turn 3 of them face up. For each face-up Elixir card, draw from the white bag the number of ingredients shown on the card and place them in the spot marked on the Elixir card. If a Tarantula is drawn during this step, set it aside and draw again until the required number of coloured ingredients has been drawn. Then return all Tarantulas drawn this way to the white bag.

Now you are ready to start the game!

Object of the Game and Flow of Play

In Shimiagaran you try to brew potions by collecting the ingredients you need. You can use the effects of the potions you have brewed, or keep poisons and medicines you have brewed and combine them to brew legendary Elixirs. At the end of the game, the player with the most points is the winner.

The starting player is the player who most recently was poisoned by eating a poison, was treated with a medicine, or became immortal by drinking the elixir of immortality. Alternatively, you may choose a starting player at random.

On your turn you may perform one Main Action and any number of Side Actions. Then play passes clockwise. This continues until the game ends. (For full details on the end of the game and scoring, see the End of the Game and Scoring section.) The player with the most points after scoring is the winner.

Main Actions

Main Actions are those that you must perform one of on your turn. They are:

Take ingredients from one of the bags
Brew a potion (Dark or Light)
Build an Elixir

Side Actions

Side Actions are those that you may perform any number of times on your turn. They are:

Use the effect of a medicine
Use the effect of a poison

How to use the effects of potions is explained in the Potion Cards section.

Game at a Glance

The printed rulebook opens with an illustrated overview of the game in six steps:

Take ingredients from the bags.
Beware of the Tarantula's bite!
Combine the ingredients ...
... and brew Dark and Light potions.
Use the effects of medicines and poisons.
Combine the potions and build legendary Elixirs.

Taking Ingredients from a Bag

On your turn you may take 5 cubes from one of the bags, the white bag or the black bag, without looking inside. If there is a Tarantula among them, apply the Tarantula Bite rule. If there are no Tarantulas among them, apply the Bag rules for the bag you took from.

Tarantula Bite

If you draw a Tarantula while taking ingredients from a bag, the Tarantula bites your hand and you gain no ingredient from that draw. Keep the Tarantula you drew in one of your vessels and put the rest of the cubes into the black bag.

Note: if you draw more than one Tarantula while taking ingredients from a bag, keep only one of the Tarantulas for yourself. The other 4 cubes (whether ingredients or Tarantulas) go into the black bag.

Note: it does not matter which bag the Tarantula was drawn from. When a Tarantula bites your hand, the extra Tarantulas and the extra ingredients go into the black bag.

Example: Zakaria takes 5 cubes at random from the white bag: 2 pink, 2 black (Tarantulas) and 1 red. He keeps one of the Tarantulas in one of his vessels and puts the 4 other cubes (2 pink, 1 black and 1 red) into the black bag.

Taking from the White Bag

If you take ingredients from the white bag (and there is no Tarantula among them), keep 3 of them for yourself and pass the other 2 to the player on your left. That player keeps one of the 2 ingredients received and passes the other to the player on their left.

Each ingredient you obtain must be placed in its matching vessel. (For more information about vessels and how to store ingredients, see the Vessels section.) In a 2-player game, the rules for the white bag are different; see the Two-Player Game section.

Note: if there is no room in the matching vessel for an ingredient, you must return that ingredient to the same bag it came from, i.e. the white bag. You may not move ingredients between your vessels!

Example: Shapur takes 5 cubes at random from the white bag. He keeps 3 and passes 2 to Zakaria, who sits on his left. Zakaria has no free space in his jar or mortar for either of them, so he cannot keep them. He puts the white ingredient into the white bag and passes the green ingredient to Sudabeh, who sits on his left.

More information about vessels is on the Vessels section.

Taking from the Black Bag

If you take ingredients from the black bag (and there is no Tarantula among them), keep all 5 ingredients for yourself.

Place each ingredient you obtained into its matching vessel.

Note: if there is no room in the matching vessel for an ingredient, you must return that ingredient to the same bag it came from, i.e. the black bag. You may not move ingredients between your vessels!

Example: Sudabeh takes 5 cubes at random from the black bag. She keeps all of them and places them in their matching vessels.

Example: Zakaria takes 5 cubes at random from the black bag: 2 green, 2 white and 1 red. His jar has room for only 2 ingredients, so he cannot keep all 3 ingredients that belong in that vessel. He keeps 4 ingredients in their matching vessels and puts the remaining red cube into the black bag.

Brewing a Potion (Dark or Light)

To brew a potion (Dark or Light), you must pay the ingredients shown in the Base Recipe section of the Potion card. (For more information about Potion cards, see the Potion Cards section.) Put the paid ingredients into the white bag, take the Potion card for yourself and place it beside your player board. Then fill the empty spot in the Potion row with a new card from the same deck.

Note: if the relevant deck (Dark or Light) has run out, shuffle the Burnt Potion cards and place them as a new deck in its place.

Example: Shapur wants to buy this Light Potion card, which requires 1 white, 2 green and 2 light blue ingredients. He takes from his vessels 1 white, 1 green, 2 light blue and 1 Tarantula (in place of one green), and puts them into the white bag. Then he takes the Potion card for himself.

Building an Elixir

To build an Elixir, you must pay the Potion cards shown in the Base Recipe section of the Elixir card, in addition to the ingredients shown in the Lost Recipe section of the Elixir card. (For more information about Elixir cards, see the Elixir Cards section.)

Burn the paid Potion cards face up in the designated place above the Potion decks. Put the paid ingredients, together with the ingredients that were on the Elixir card in its Lost Recipe section, into the white bag.
Place the built Elixir card beside your player board.
Fill the empty spot of the built card with a new Elixir card.
Then draw from the white bag the number of ingredients shown in the Lost Recipe section of the new Elixir card, and place them on the new Elixir card.

Note: if a Tarantula is drawn during step 4, set it aside and draw again, as described in the Elixir Cards section.

Example: Sudabeh wants to build the "Shapeshifting Elixir". She pays 2 Dark Potion cards and 1 Light Medicine card, together with 1 white, 1 yellow and 2 pink ingredients. She burns the Potion cards and puts the ingredients into the white bag.

End of the Game and Scoring

When one of the players reaches 30 points, the game enters its final phase.

In the final phase, the game continues for two more rounds. The player who brought the game into the final phase takes 1 turn, and the other players take 2 turns each. Then the game ends. Players calculate their scores, and the player with the most points in total is the winner.

Scoring

Each player scores:

+1 point for each Tarantula in their vessels
+1 point for every 3 ingredients in their vessels (1 point per 3 ingredients; any remainder is not counted)
the points printed on their Elixir and Potion cards

Example: Zakaria has built 1 Elixir card and 3 Potion cards worth a total of 32 points. In addition, at the end of the game he has 3 Tarantulas and 7 other ingredients in his vessels. His final score is 37: 32 points from the cards, plus 3 points for the Tarantulas, plus 2 points for the ingredients (7 ingredients, 1 point per 3).

Note: if players' scores are tied, the winner is the player who built the most Elixirs. If the number of Elixirs is also tied, the winner is the player who used the fewest Poisons. If the number of Poisons used is also tied, the winner is the player who used the fewest Medicines.

Vessels

Each player has 3 vessels to store ingredients: a Jar, a Mortar and a Sack. Each vessel can hold up to 5 items. Tarantulas may be stored in any vessel of your choice.

Sack: for storing large ingredients. Holds Blue Catechu (light blue cube) and Sulfur Stone (yellow cube).
Mortar: for storing herbal ingredients. Holds Datura Leaf (green cube) and Oleander Flower (pink cube).
Jar: for storing liquid ingredients. Holds Crocodile Tears (white cube) and Heart's Blood (red cube).

Note: during the game you may not move ingredients between your vessels! If you obtain an ingredient for which there is no room in its matching vessel, you must return it to the bag it came from.

Potion Cards

Potion cards are divided by their effect into two types, Poison and Medicine, and by their recipe into two types, Dark and Light.

You can tell whether a potion is a Poison or a Medicine from the symbol beside the card (a skull-like symbol for Poison, a flower-like symbol for Medicine).
You can tell whether a potion is Dark or Light from the colour of the card.

Each Potion card has the following parts:

Points (Potion points): the number in the top-left circle.
Base Recipe: the ingredients you must pay to brew the potion.
Potion Type: the Poison or Medicine symbol.
Potion Effect: the effect you may use once the potion is cooled (see below).

Side Actions: Using Potion Effects

On your turn, in addition to your Main Action, you may perform Side Actions any number of times. These Side Actions are using the effects of Poisons and Medicines.

After you use the effect of a potion, place the card under your player board so that only its points are visible. This is a reminder that the effect of this potion has been used once, and that it can no longer be used to build an Elixir. The points of used potions are counted at the end of the game.

Note: when a potion is brewed, it is hot and cannot be used during the same turn. After one round, on your next turn, the potion has cooled and the player may use its effect.

Medicine Effect

Medicine effects are extra ingredients. You may use a Medicine's effect when paying the cost of a Potion or an Elixir. If you use even one of the ingredients shown in the Medicine's effect section, the Medicine has been used, and you must place the card under your player board.

Poison Effect

Poison effects harm one other player:

Using a Dark Poison, you may choose another player and burn 3 ingredients from that player's ingredients.
Using a Light Poison, you may choose another player and steal 2 ingredients from that player's ingredients.

The vessel from which the ingredients are burned or stolen is the Sack, the Jar, the Mortar, or any vessel of your choice (these options are listed on the quick-reference sheet, see the Quick Reference section).

Example: Shapur wants to brew this potion, but he only has the red ingredient for it. He has previously brewed potions that can help him brew it. Using a Light Poison, he steals 2 green ingredients from Zakaria's mortar, and instead of the white ingredient he uses the effect of a Dark Medicine. He then pays the cost and brews the potion.

Translator's note: the printed rulebook does not say where burned or stolen ingredients are placed; the text above reproduces only what it states.

Elixir Cards

Elixir cards have two sections: the Base Recipe and the Lost Recipe. The Elixir's points are shown in the top-left circle of the card, and its title is shown at the top.

The Base Recipe shows the number and type of Potion cards needed to build the Elixir. You may pay only Potion cards that you have brewed and have not yet used (that is, cards you have not placed under your player board).
The Lost Recipe shows slots for ingredients. The ingredients placed on this section were drawn from the white bag and placed on the card when the card was turned face up (see Setup and Building an Elixir). When you build the Elixir, these ingredients are paid together with the Base Recipe Potion cards.

Note: a Tarantula cannot be placed in the Lost Recipe section of an Elixir card. If, while drawing ingredients from the white bag for an Elixir card (at setup, or during play after a new Elixir card is turned face up), you draw a Tarantula, set it aside and draw again until the number of ingredients shown on the Elixir card has been drawn. At the end, return all Tarantulas drawn this way to the white bag.

Base Recipe Icons

Each icon in the Base Recipe shows one Potion card. The icons combine a book colour and an effect symbol:

Icon	Meaning
Dark book	A Dark Potion (it does not matter whether it is a Poison or a Medicine)
Light book	A Light Potion (it does not matter whether it is a Poison or a Medicine)
Dark book with Poison symbol	A Dark Poison
Light book with Poison symbol	A Light Poison
Dark book with Medicine symbol	A Dark Medicine
Light book with Medicine symbol	A Light Medicine
Plain (white) book with Poison symbol	A Poison (it does not matter whether it is Light or Dark)
Plain (white) book with Medicine symbol	A Medicine (it does not matter whether it is Light or Dark)

Some icons do not show a colour, and others do not show whether the potion is a Poison or a Medicine. When paying a Potion card, any property that an icon does not indicate has no effect on the payment.

Example: to build this Elixir, you must pay 2 Medicine cards and 2 Poison cards (it does not matter whether they are Light or Dark), together with the ingredients shown on the Lost Recipe section of the Elixir card (1 white, 1 red, 2 yellow and 1 green).

Tarantula Rules

Protection and Storage of Tarantulas

The Tarantulas you obtain are kept in your vessels. Each Tarantula takes up one of the 5 spaces in the vessel in which it is kept.

A vessel that contains a Tarantula is safe from other players' Poisons. Other players cannot use a Poison to attack the ingredients in a vessel that holds a Tarantula. Ingredients in vessels without a Tarantula remain at risk.

Example: in earlier turns Sudabeh drew 2 Tarantulas, one of which she kept in her Jar and the other in her Mortar. Other players therefore cannot use a Poison against the ingredients in her Jar and Mortar. However, the ingredients in her Sack are still at risk.

Using Tarantulas Instead of Ingredients

When brewing a potion or building an Elixir, you may use Tarantulas instead of ingredients:

You may use 1 Tarantula in place of 1 ingredient of your choice.
You may use 3 Tarantulas in place of 5 ingredients of your choice.

Example: Shapur wants to buy this Potion card, but lacks the red and green ingredients it requires. He has 2 Tarantulas in his vessels. By paying the 2 Tarantulas together with a white and a red ingredient, he can brew this Potion card.

Example: Zakaria has none of the ingredients required by the Lost Recipe of this Elixir. He has 3 Tarantulas in his vessels, and he can pay all of the Lost Recipe ingredients with those 3 Tarantulas.

Two-Player Game

Before reading this section, read the 3-to-5 player rules carefully. For a 2-player game, the 3-to-5 player rules apply, except for the following changes.

Setup Changes (2 Players)

Separate 18 ingredients (3 of each colour) together with 1 Tarantula, and return them to the game box. These cubes are not used in a 2-player game.
Put 6 ingredients (1 of each colour) and 5 Tarantulas into the black bag, and make it available to all players.
Turn one fewer card in the Potion and Elixir arrangement. That is, turn face up 4 Dark Potion cards, 3 Light Potion cards, and 2 Elixir cards.

The remaining setup steps are the same as in the 3-to-5 player game.

Taking Ingredients from the White Bag (2 Players)

If you take ingredients from the white bag (and there is no Tarantula among them), give all of them to your opponent. Your opponent keeps 1 of the 5 ingredients for themselves and returns the other 4 to you. You then keep 3 of these ingredients for yourself and give the last ingredient to your opponent. In this way, taking ingredients from the white bag gives you 3 ingredients and your opponent 2 ingredients.

Example: it is Sudabeh's turn. She randomly takes 5 cubes from the white bag: 2 yellow, 2 white and 1 green. Then, in order:

Sudabeh gives all 5 ingredients to Shapur.
Shapur keeps 1 green for himself and gives the other 4 back to Sudabeh.
Sudabeh keeps 2 yellow and 1 white for herself and gives the last white ingredient to Shapur.

In the end, Sudabeh has obtained 3 ingredients (2 yellow and 1 white), and Shapur has obtained 2 ingredients (1 white and 1 green).

End of the Game (2 Players)

When one of the two players gets 35 points, the game enters its final phase.

In the final phase, the game continues for three rounds. The player who brought the game into the final phase takes 2 turns, and the other player takes 3 turns. Then the game ends. Players calculate their scores, and the player with the most points is the winner.

Scoring in the 2-player game is the same as in the 3-to-5 player game.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How do I remember when to put cubes into the white bag and when into the black bag? A: The rule: return the cubes to the white bag. Exception: if a Tarantula did not bite your hand, return the cubes to the black bag.

Q: The black bag is full of Tarantulas. Why should I take ingredients from it? A: At the start of the game the risk of a Tarantula bite from the black bag is high. As the game goes on, however, the ratio of Tarantulas to ingredients in the bags changes.

Q: If a Tarantula was placed on an Elixir card during setup, what ingredients must I pay to build that Elixir? A: Note: a Tarantula cannot be placed on Elixir cards. (Full explanation in the Elixir Cards section.)

Q: From which bag should I take the ingredients for Medicine effects? A: Medicine effects are extra ingredients, but you do not take these ingredients from any bag. When you want to use the effect, move the Medicine card under your player board and announce to the other players which ingredients of the Medicine's effect you have used.

Q: Can I use a Poison's effect during other players' turns? A: No. Using a Poison's effect is a Side Action that you may perform only during your own turn.

Q: If I draw more than one Tarantula while taking ingredients, can I keep all of the Tarantulas? A: No. It does not matter how many Tarantulas you drew: you keep only one Tarantula.

Q: If there is no room in the matching vessel for an ingredient I take, can I swap it with an ingredient already in that vessel? A: No. You are not allowed to swap ingredients.

Q: Can I move Tarantulas between my vessels? A: No. You are not allowed to move Tarantulas between vessels.

Q: If I keep a Tarantula in a vessel, must I use it in place of an ingredient from that same vessel? A: No. The vessel in which you keep a Tarantula has no effect on how you use it. You can always use a Tarantula in place of any ingredient of your choice.

Q: If I draw more than 5 cubes from a bag, what should I do? A: Return all of the ingredients to the bag, and draw 5 cubes again.

Teaching the Game to Others

If you want to teach Shimiagaran to your fellow players, the following points will help you.

Start from the goal of the game. Explain the goal of the game in the form of its story. So that players connect the game they are about to play with the goal you have described, name the main mechanisms of the game: taking ingredients, combining ingredients to brew potions, and combining potions to build Elixirs. Then show them the points on the Elixir and Potion cards. In this way, players align the explanations they hear with their own mental strategies as the teaching continues.
Rely on the story. The components, mechanisms and names in the world of Shimiagaran are fully meaningful within the game's story. Using the names given to the game's parts helps players remember the rules more easily.
Go from the end to the beginning. Contrary to the order in the rulebook, when teaching the game verbally it is better to start from the end. Show the players an Elixir card and make sure they understand its cost and its points. Then move on to the Potion cards. Finally, explain how to take ingredients from the bags.
Putting cubes into the bags. Players may not know at first under what conditions cubes must be put into each bag, and may become confused. You can explain that cubes are always returned to the white bag, except when a Tarantula is drawn, in which case you point to the black bag. Note that the Tarantula cube matches the colour of the black bag. During the first few rounds, make sure players do not put cubes into the wrong bag by mistake.

Quick Reference

The printed rulebook ends with a quick-reference sheet, translated here:

Tarantula instead of an ingredient: use 1 Tarantula in place of 1 ingredient of your choice.
Tarantulas instead of ingredients: use 3 Tarantulas in place of 5 ingredients of your choice.
Tarantula bite: if a Tarantula is drawn from a bag, keep one Tarantula for yourself and put the rest of the cubes into the black bag.
Ingredient colours and vessels: Blue Catechu and Sulfur Stone (Sack); Datura Leaf and Oleander Flower (Mortar); Crocodile Tears and Heart's Blood (Jar); the black cube is the Tarantula.
Poison targets: a Light Poison steals 2 ingredients; a Dark Poison burns 3 ingredients. The target vessel is the Sack, the Jar, the Mortar, or any vessel of your choice.
Potion icons: a Poison symbol and a Medicine symbol, combined with Light (yellow) or Dark (purple) books, make up the Base Recipe icons listed in the Elixir Cards section.

Translator's note: the publisher's letter, the designer's letter, the playtester acknowledgements and the credits printed in the rulebook are not transcribed, as they are attribution rather than rules.