Sozoikum Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Object of the Game
• Components
• Setup
• Playing the Game
  • Action of the Starting Player
  • Card Play (if the starting player chose this option)
    • Stay at the Camp (im Lager bleiben)
    • Gather Precious Stones (Edelstein holen)
    • Steal Precious Stones (Edelstein klauen)
    • Spread Terror with a Sabre-Toothed Tiger (Säbelzahntiger)
    • Steal a Stone with a Dumnopterix (Dumnopterix)
    • Place Your Veto (veto karte)
  • Gathering Stones
    • Auction (ventes aux enchères)
    • Hidden Bid (la mise cachée)
    • Bluff (le bluff)
  • Building Houses

Object of the Game

With 5 stones, build your house first.

Components

• 1 game board depicting the Stone Age environment.
• 1 bag of real stones.
• Precious stones in 4 colours (blue, green, yellow and red).
• A set of 6 different cards in 5 colours (blue, green, yellow, red and purple).
• 1 starting player card (StartSpieler) with a green back.
• 1 turn summary card with a green back.

Setup

Each player receives a set of 6 cards of one colour and 10 precious stones.

Each player chooses a location on the board on which to build his house (one of the areas where a prehistoric man with stacked stones is shown). He places his precious stones and his cards next to it. The remaining precious stones are placed in the mine on the right side of the board. The bag of stones is placed at the quarry.

Playing the Game

The game is played in turns. Each turn is divided into 4 phases:

1. Action of the starting player.
2. Card play.
3. Gathering stones.
4. Building houses.

Action of the Starting Player

The player with the most slender finger receives the Starting Player card and then carries out 4 actions:

• He takes 2 stones from the bag and places them on the fire.
• He decides whether the turn will be played with or without cards.
• He decides which stone-gathering rule will be used: auction, hidden bid or bluff.
• He passes the card to his left-hand neighbour for the next turn.

Card Play (if the starting player chose this option)

Each player has 6 cards, some of which are available every turn and others which can be used only once and are then discarded.

The cards available every turn are:

• Stay at the camp (im Lager bleiben).
• Gather precious stones (Edelstein holen).
• Steal precious stones (Edelstein klauen).

The cards usable only once are:

• Spread terror with a sabre-toothed tiger (Säbelzahntiger).
• Steal a stone with a dumnopterix (Dumnopterix).
• Place your veto (veto karte).

Each player secretly chooses one card and places it face down on the fire. All cards are revealed at the same time and their effects are applied.

Stay at the Camp (im Lager bleiben)

The aim is to recover stones from the fire.

If you are the only player who played this card, you recover the 2 stones. Otherwise, the rule chosen by the starting player is used to acquire them.

Gather Precious Stones (Edelstein holen)

The aim is to take precious stones from the mine.

All players who played this card take 5 precious stones.

The effects of the following cards only take place when an odd number of players have chosen them (1, 3 or 5 players). Only the last player, relative to the starting player, benefits from the effect. If an even number of players play a given card, they cancel each other out.

Steal Precious Stones (Edelstein klauen)

The aim is to steal the precious stones from the players returning from the mine.

If an odd number of players played this card, the last player, relative to the starting player, takes the precious stones that the players who played Gather Precious Stones (Edelstein holen) had taken.

Spread Terror with a Sabre-Toothed Tiger (Säbelzahntiger)

The aim is to spread disorder in a player's stone reserve.

If an odd number of players played this card, the last player, relative to the starting player, takes a stone from the reserve of one of the players and may keep it for himself.

Steal a Stone with a Dumnopterix (Dumnopterix)

The aim is to deprive a player, or the camp, of a stone.

If an odd number of players played this card, the last player, relative to the starting player, takes a stone from a player or from the camp. The stolen stone is returned to the bag.

Place Your Veto (veto karte)

The aim is to prevent a player present at the camp from taking stones.

If an odd number of players played this card, the last player, relative to the starting player, prevents one player located at the camp from taking stones for this turn, by cancelling his card im Lager bleiben (Stay at the Camp).

Gathering Stones

All persons present at the camp (that is, those who played the appropriate card) may attempt to gather stones. The starting player, having chosen the rule of play in advance, will use one of the following:

Auction (ventes aux enchères)

[Source heading reads "La ventes aux enchères"; rendered here as "Auction" for the English text.]

In no particular order, each player present at the camp announces how many precious stones he is ready to pay to acquire the stones. All negotiations are possible, including the formation of a coalition (a group of 2 players), and as many rounds as necessary take place.

When the best offer has been confirmed, the player pays the corresponding precious stones to the mine and takes the stones. In the case of a coalition, the player who bid the most precious stones chooses the first stone and the second player takes the second.

Hidden Bid (la mise cachée)

Each player present at the camp secretly takes a number of precious stones in his hand. The hands are opened simultaneously, and the player who offers the most precious stones obtains the stones and pays the mine with his bid stones. In the event of a tie between two players, each takes one stone. In the event of a tie between more than 2 players, the bidding is repeated.

Bluff (le bluff)

Each player present at the camp secretly takes a number of precious stones in his hand. The starting player announces. [Translator's note: the French source sentence at this point is garbled ("Le Premier joueur annonce est possible de soupçonner…"); it is rendered as printed in sense, with the missing words not supplied.] It is possible to suspect someone of announcing more than what he has really bid.

Several cases can occur:

• No suspicion: the player who announced the highest bid at that moment recovers the stones and pays the mine what he has really bid.
• A player raises a suspicion correctly: the accuser gains the stones and pays no precious stones in exchange; the bluffer pays the precious stones he has really bid.
• A player raises a suspicion wrongly: the accuser pays the mine with his bid stones, and the player who announced the highest bid recovers the stones without paying what he bid.

Building Houses

A player who has acquired 5 stones may try to build his house. The stones are placed one after another as follows:

• The walls must not touch.
• If a stone falls or the house collapses, the player loses his turn and the game continues.
• If the player wishes, he may try to exchange stones with other players (free negotiation).
• If the player manages to finish his house while respecting these rules, he wins the game and should not be long in meeting his soulmate…