Solani Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Setup
• Gameplay
  • 1. Preparation
  • 2. Drafting
  • 3. Placement
  • 4. Special Feature Draft
  • 5. Clean Up
• Scoring
  • 1. Planets
  • 2. Guiding Stars and Star Clusters
    • 2a. White Stars
  • 3. Special Feature
  • 4. Branches
  • 5. Bonus Tiles
• Credits

Components

• 96 Circular Tiles
  • 16 Planets
  • 24 Special Features
  • 56 Star Clusters
• 64 Branch Tiles
• 24 Special Feature Cards
• 16 Dark Sky Tiles
• 4 End Game Bonus Cards
• 4 Setup Cards
• 4 Player Boards
• 2 Bags for tiles
• 1 Main Board
• 1 First Player Sun Token
• 1 Rulebook
• 1 Scorepad & Pencil
• 1 Box

Setup

1. Place the main board in the center of the table.
2. Randomly give each player a player board, ensuring that at least one player receives the Coyote player board.
3. Set aside 1 "l2", 2 "i1", and 2 "v2" Branch tiles and set them nearby.
   • These tiles will be used to populate the Main Board in the 12th, final round of the game.
4. Place all of the Branch Tiles into one of the bags, and all of the Star Cluster tiles into the other bag.
5. Shuffle the 2-star Special Feature cards into a face-down pile and set it above the main board.
   • Flip a number of cards from this deck face-up equal to the number of players +1.
   • Find the matching Special Feature tiles and place them on top of the corresponding card.
6. Shuffle the 3-star Special Feature cards into a face-down pile and set it above the 2-star Special Feature deck.
   • Flip a number of cards from this deck face-up equal to the number of players +1.
   • Find the matching Special Feature tiles and place them on top of the corresponding card.
7. Shuffle the circular Planet Tiles and place a number of them onto the main board in the indicated spaces, starting from the center, and working outwards equally in both directions.
   • 2 Players: 8 Planets
   • 3 Players: 10 Planets (as shown in the example)
   • 4 Players: 12 Planets
8. Set 4 additional Planet tiles face-down and near the board.
9. Shuffle the Dark Sky cards, and draw one. Randomly orient it and place it in the center of the table.
   • Players should then place their 4 Dark Sky tokens onto their player boards in the positions indicated by the Dark Sky card, relative to their seating position.
10. Set up the Bonus tiles face-up below the Main Board.
11. Give the First Player Sun token to the player sitting to the left of the player with the Coyote player board.

Gameplay

A game of Solani takes place over 12 rounds, with each player acting as the first player an equal number of times. After the 12th round, the game ends, and players score their player boards. The highest score wins!

Each round takes place over 5 phases.

1. Preparation
2. Drafting
3. Placement
4. Special Feature Draft
5. Clean Up

1. Preparation

At the beginning of each round, draw and place circular Star Cluster tiles and cross shaped Star Branch tiles onto the indicated areas of the main board, based on the number of players.

• 2 Players: 3 Star Clusters & 3 Star Branches
• 3 Players: 4 Star Clusters & 4 Star Branches
• 4 Players: 5 Star Clusters & 5 Star Branches

If all of the planets have been selected, and there are still 4 additional ones next to the main board, add them to the central four spaces of the planet track. After this, no additional planets will be added to the game.

If it is the 12th round, set up the Star Branch tiles from among the tiles placed next to the board during setup.

2. Drafting

During this phase, players will draft two tiles, one of each type, and place them into the Holding Spaces at the bottom of their player board. Once a player has drafted both tiles, they can immediately proceed to 3. Placement without waiting for other players to make their selection.

The player with the Sun token makes the first selection of tile, and may select any Star Cluster tile or Star Branch tile. After making a selection, the player sitting clockwise makes the next selection of tile and must select a tile of the same type as the starting player. Continuing in clockwise order, all players will select a tile of the type determined by the First player's selection.

When a player selects a Star Cluster, they always have the option to immediately trade it for an available Planet tile. To do this, discard your selected Star Cluster tile near the main board, then take a Planet and place it into your holding area. The Planet you take is determined by the Star Cluster you discard; you must take a Planet that is near to the matching Star Cluster, with no other planets separating them.

"2" and "3" Star Clusters will most often allow you to select from only a single Planet, but "4" Star Clusters are usually able to select from multiple.

You cannot trade a Star Cluster with a White Star on it.

Note: if the first player begins their draft by taking a Star Cluster, and then trades their star cluster for a planet, the other players are not obligated to trade their tiles for planets, but still must select Star Clusters.

Once all players have selected a tile and placed it into a Holding Space on their board, players will select a tile of the other type, and place it into their remaining Holding Space. Beginning with the last player to make their selection, and proceeding in counter-clockwise order, each player selects one tile of the other type and places it into a Holding Space.

The moment a player has selected a tile of each type, they may immediately proceed to 3. Placement.

3. Placement

Once a player has selected a tile of each type, they may immediately place them into their puzzle. Players can do this simultaneously. All tiles follow a single rule when being placed:

• Tiles must be placed adjacent to any other tile of the opposite type. Star Branch tiles can be placed next to Guiding Star tiles, which are pre-printed on the board in several spaces. Star Clusters, Planets, and Special Features must be placed next to a Star Branch tile (even if the branch does not connect to it).
• Dark Sky tiles do NOT count as tiles for the purposes of placing Circular tiles.

If on your turn, after placing both of your tiles, you have completely surrounded a Dark Sky tile with Star Branch tiles, you will be eligible to draft a Card and Tile during the Special Feature Draft.

Once all players have completed this phase, if at least one player surrounded a Dark Sky tile this turn, move on to 4. Special Feature Draft.

4. Special Feature Draft

Only players who completely surrounded one or more Dark Sky tiles this turn will participate in this phase.

Beginning with the first player and proceeding clockwise, players will take a Special Feature card, and immediately place the matching Special Feature tile on to their board.

When it is your turn to select a Special Feature card, you may take one of the available face-up cards, or you can draw 2 cards from either deck of your choice, select 1 to keep, then add the other face-up to the corresponding row. If you add a card to a row, find and place the matching Special Feature onto it.

After selecting a card, place it next to your player board.

If you surrounded multiple Dark Sky tiles this round, make your selections during this draft one at a time (not all at once).

You can only have 2 of each type of card (2-star & 3-star). Then, take the matching Special Feature tile and immediately place it on to your board, following the placement rules for Star Clusters.

These tiles score based on special criteria related to their position and connections, as detailed on their card.

5. Clean Up

(skip this phase in round 12 and proceed to Scoring)

Return any unselected Star Cluster or Star Branch tiles to their respective bags.

If either pool of Special Feature Cards is empty, draw the top card and place it next to the corresponding row, then place the matching Special Feature tile on top of it.

The First Player Sun token is passed to the next player clockwise.

Scoring

1. Planets

Score points for your Planet tiles according to the chart below (shown with the four Planet colors: brown, green, red, and yellow). A Planet can potentially score as part of both sets. Remember that Planets do not score if they have one or more Branch lines connected to them.

Planets chart:

• Unique: 0 / 3 / 7 / 12
• Pair: 3
• Triple: 7
• Quad: 12

2. Guiding Stars and Star Clusters

• Count the number of Stars printed on the tile.
• Count the number of Branch tile nodes touching the tile.
• If the numbers are equal, score that number of Points.

2a. White Stars

Any time a White Star appears on a Star Cluster tile, it can be treated as an Optional star. This means that a tile with 2 Normal Stars, and 1 White star can be scored legally as either a 2-Star Cluster, or as a 3-Star Cluster.

3. Special Feature

Each Special Feature Tile presents unique scoring criteria. Score VP based on how well you met the criteria on each of your 4 Special Feature cards with the placement of the matching tiles.

4. Branches

Lose 1 VP for each Branch node that does not connect to a Star Cluster, Special Feature, Guiding Star, or Planet.

5. Bonus Tiles

Award the Bonus tiles based on their criteria. Based on their wording, some Bonus tiles may be awarded to only one player, or multiple players. In the case of a tie, all players receive the indicated points.

The player with the most VP wins! In the case of a tie, the tied player who scored the most VP from Star Cluster tiles wins. If there is still a tie, tied players share the victory.

Credits

Game by: Drake Villareal Art by: Bojan Drango Graphic Design by: Bojan Drango Rulebook Layout: Jim Garner Development by: Jonny Pac

Final Frontier Games ©2021