Siberia
Siberia Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Game Components
- 1 gameboard
- 4 players panels
- 70 action counters
- 24 pawns in 4 colors (to be used as workers or salesmen)
- 1 fabric bag
- 70 resource-cubes (18 x gas, 16 x charcoal, 14 x petroleum, 12 x gold, 10 x diamonds)
- 8 exhaustion counters
- 20 investment tiles
- 6 stock exchanges
- 1 starting player marker
- money
The gameboard has spaces for resources, spaces for investment tiles (4 face-up), and areas of Siberia where resources are placed (only one resource of each type per area). It also has spaces for exhaustion counters (analog timer face-up), the Vladivostok area, and spaces for stock exchanges (Frankfurt is always in play).
Preparation
- Place the board on the table.
- Place the money next to the board.
- The youngest player is the starting player for the first round. He gets the starting player marker.
- The starting player shuffles the resources (wooden cubes) in the fabric bag, then draws and places resources on the board until 2 different resources are lying in each area. (Resources in an area must always be different). The remaining resources from the fabric bag are sorted and placed on the respective reserve spaces of the board as reserve.
- Stock exchanges will be placed on the intended spaces of the board with the active side facing up. The starting player decides which side of the tile shall be active in the game.
- Exhaustion counters will be placed on the intended spaces of the board.
- Investment tiles are shuffled and placed face down in a stack on the investors space of the board. Then 4 tiles are drawn and placed face up beside the stack.
- Each player selects a colour and gets the panel as well as 6 pawns in this colour. He places one of his pawns as a worker in Vladivostok, and one as a salesman at the Frankfurt stock exchange. The other pawns will remain in his stock and can be placed during the game.
- The starting player puts the action counters into the fabric bag and shuffles them.
Overview
The aim of the game is to extract resources and to sell them as gainful as possible. The player who has most money at the end of the game is the winner.
Course of Action
The game proceeds in playing rounds. Each of them can be divided in 2 phases. First phase: Drawing of action counters and placing them on the panel. Second phase: Performing the actions. This will run off till every player passed. Afterwards, the starting player hands the starting player marker to the player sitting on his left side and the next playing round starts. The game ends if either all resource cubes have been taken from 8 areas, or 3 of the 5 reserve spaces for resources are empty.
Phase 1: Drawing and Placing of Action Counters
- Beginning with the starting player, everyone draws 6 action counters out of the fabric bag (unseen). Afterwards, everyone places them on his panel. (This proceeds for all players at the same time.)
- Most of the counters show two elements: one person and one resource. (The "Manager" counters, however, only show the manager and no resource.)
- Players now choose where to place the action counters on their panel: either for the Research action below the label Research-Facility (the number of counters placed there is not limited) or on a free action space corresponding to either the type of person or the type of resource.
Example: The Logistician/Gas counter can either be placed on a free space of the Logistician action or on a free space of the Gas action, or below Research-Facility. (The Manager counter can solely be placed on the Manager space or below the label Research-Facility.)
- If a counter cannot be placed on an action space because all of them are already covered, the counter has to be placed below the label Research-Facility.
Phase 2: Performing the Actions
Beginning with the starting player, actions can now be performed in compliance with the following rules:
- Each player has to perform exactly one action on his turn, then the next player in clockwise direction continues to act. The round ends when each player has passed.
- The first action to be performed by each player is the Research action (meaning discovering new resources, see Research action) if there are counters below the label Research-Facility. If there are no counters, the player can choose any other action or pass.
- After that, players can choose any action or pass at any time.
- If a player passes, he ends this round for himself. The other players can still continue to play until everyone has passed.
- Actions can only be performed, if both spaces of the corresponding action are covered. The spaces can be covered with two action counters or with one action counter and one investment tile (but not with 2 investment tiles).
- To perform an action, all action counters will be removed. Investment tiles remain - they will always remain until the game ends.
The Actions in Detail
Research
The Research action results in new resources being discovered.
- The player removes all action counters from his Research space. For each counter, he places one resource cube of the type stated on the counter from the reserve space on any area of Siberia where this resource is not yet placed (since no more than one resource of each type may be in the same area).
- If an action counter shows a resource which has already run out, or that is already placed on all areas, this counter will be removed without action. No other resource will be placed instead.
- For any Manager counter the player has to choose an available resource cube and place it on the board.
- Removed counters are put back into the bag.
Manager
To perform the Manager action the action counters will be removed from the manager spaces. One Manager counter can now be placed as a wildcard on any free action space to substitute another action counter. (If existent, the second action counter is removed from the panel and put back into the bag).
Logistician
Action counters are removed and put back into the bag. The player can move his workers which are already located in Siberia by a total of 3 steps. He may divide these steps among his workers any way he likes. Steps may also be omitted. One step means moving one worker from one area to an adjacent area.
Salesman
Action counters are removed and put back into the bag. The player can place a pawn as a salesman at any stock exchange. He can take a pawn from his reserve or he can move a salesman from one stock exchange to another, or he can take a worker off from Siberia and place him as a salesman at a stock exchange.
Worker
- Action counters are removed and put back into the bag. Using the Worker action, the player may place another pawn from his reserve as a worker on the Vladivostok area of the board. All workers start their way to the other areas of Siberia here.
- If a player doesn't have enough pawns in his reserve he may remove one of his salesmen from a stock exchange (It's also allowed to remove a worker from any area and replace him in Vladivostok).
Investor
- Action counters are removed and put back into the bag. The player can choose one of the four investment tiles lying face up on the board and place it immediately on the correspondent action space of his panel. To place an investment tile, at least one space of the correspondent action has to be uncovered. Afterwards, he immediately takes another investment tile from the stack and uncovers it.
- Investment tiles are very profitable. Spaces covered by investment tiles are covered for the rest of the game, they don't have to be removed upon acting. This means, the player does no longer have to cover both spaces with action counters. For each type of action, only one space may be covered with an investment tile.
Resource Actions: Extract and Sell Resources
This action can be performed for each single resource: diamonds, gold, oil, charcoal and gas. It is always performed following the same principle:
- Action counters are removed and put back into the bag.
- The player can now extract the resources according to the action and sell them immediately. From all areas where his workers are placed, the player takes the corresponding resource cubes. He sells them immediately to a stock exchange where one of his salesmen is present. Sold resource cubes are taken out of the play (they can't be placed in any area again). If a player has several salesmen at different stock exchanges, he can choose where he sells to get the most profit. If he sells several cubes, he gets the money multiplied by the number of cubes.
Example: Mike extracts gas. He takes two gas-cubes from two different areas where his workers stand. Since another of his pawns is at the Tokyo stock exchange, he can sell each cube for $3000, so he will get $6000 in total.
- Extracted resources have to be sold immediately. It is not allowed to take them in stock and sell them later on.
End of Round
At the end of a round, the starting player hands the starting player marker to the player sitting on his left side. Action counters on the panel will remain there for the next round(s), but it's not allowed to have more than 10 action counters on one's panel at the end of the round (investment tiles not included). If a player has more than 10 action counters at the end of a round, he has to remove the surplus counters from his panel and put them back into the bag. All counters in the fabric bag will be shuffled. A new round can begin, starting with the new starting player.
Exhaustion of Areas
If an area is out of resources after extraction, this area is completely exhausted. No more resource can be found there. Therefore, the workers standing on this area are returned to the players' reserves. An exhaustion counter is placed on the empty area. While moving workers, exhausted areas are skipped and do not cost a movement step. After placing the 8th exhaustion counter on an area, the game ends.
End of Game
There are two ways to complete the game.
- First: As soon as 8 areas are completely exhausted (all exhaustion counters are placed on areas), the game ends.
- Second: 3 of 5 reserve spaces for resources are empty.
In both cases, the current playing round will be played till the end. Afterwards, every player counts the money he earned. The most prosperous player wins.