Sunken City
Sunken City Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 1 gameboard
- The color marking indicates the 16-space area belonging to each player.
- Each player's village has a storage space for the treasures they have brought to safety.
- 1 hourglass
- 10 storage spaces for the houses (=grottoes)
- 6 storage spaces for the streets (=street spaces)
- Dark water spaces: streets and houses appear here.
- The dark water space in the middle: only houses appear here.
- Light water spaces: only streets appear here.
- 10 numbered houses
- 2 unnumbered houses, which have no significance for the game
- 30 streets
- 44 treasures in 4 colors, 4 each of values 1-10, plus 4 of value 12
- 4 adventurers
- 4 adventurer boards
- 1 water spirit
- 24 movement cards in 4 colors
- 8 water spirit chips
- 4 short rules summaries
- 3 dice: beige: 1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 4 / purple: 0, 1, 1, 2, 2, 3 / black: 0, 1, 2, 2, 3, 3
Setup
Before the first game, carefully remove the pieces from the punch-boards.
Place the gameboard in the middle of the table.
Each player receives, in the color of their choice:
- 1 adventurer
- 6 movement cards
- 11 treasures, and
- 1 adventurer board and 1 short rules summary.
The adventurer is placed in their village. Each player takes their movement cards into their hand. Players set the adventurer board and the short rules summary down in front of themselves. The treasures are placed on the adventurer board with the house side (roof) face up: treasure 1 on space 1, treasure 2 on space 2, and so on.
On street space 1, place 20 streets face up for 2 players, 23 for 3 players, and 26 for 4 players.
Place one street with the blue back face up on each of street spaces 2 to 5. Space 6 remains empty. Any remaining streets go back into the box.
Houses 1 through 9 are placed in the matching grottoes (house 1 in grotto 1, house 2 in grotto 2, and so on). House 10 is placed on the space in the middle of the gameboard.
The water spirit is placed on house 10.
With 2 players, play with the beige die; with 3 players, the black die; and with 4 players, the purple die. Dice that are not needed go back into the box.
The 8 water spirit chips are placed ready next to the gameboard.
If only 2 players are playing, they should choose colors that lie diagonally opposite one another.
Sequence of Play
The youngest player begins. Play continues clockwise. The player whose turn it is plays a movement card.
Playing a Movement Card
The player decides on a card and places it face up in front of them. Each card allows 3 actions:
- Streets and houses appear
- Move adventurer
- Move water spirit
The order of these actions is free to choose.
The upper number on the card indicates how many streets and/or houses (=pieces) appear on the gameboard. The lower number indicates how far the player's own adventurer can be moved (=movement points). A card's water-spirit icon shows the water spirit being moved.
Played cards remain face up on the table in front of the player until they have no cards left in hand. Only then does the player take all the cards back into their hand.
Streets and Houses Appear
Exactly as many pieces must be placed as the card indicates. However, only one house can appear per turn. For example, a player who can make 3 pieces appear may choose between 3 streets, or 2 streets and 1 house.
- Streets appear by taking the top street from the stack (starting with street space 1) and placing it on the lake. They can appear on any free space of the lake, except the space in the middle. They may touch other streets and houses. If streets touch only at their corners, they are not connected to one another. Streets may not be placed in a way that would prevent an adventurer from leaving or entering their village.
- Houses appear by taking any house from the grotto. They can only appear on the dark spaces of the lake. They may not touch each other, not even at the corners.
Both houses and streets may appear so that they lie by themselves, completely surrounded by water.
Move Adventurer
An adventurer moves onto the houses in order to recover the treasures lying there. They can be moved at most as many spaces as the lower number on the played movement card indicates. An adventurer can only move on streets and houses. They never cross water spaces. Each street (=1 space) and each house (=1 space) counts as one movement point. An adventurer can move horizontally or vertically, but not diagonally. Several adventurers may stand on the same street or house. Within one move, an adventurer can move forwards and backwards. If an adventurer enters a house to recover a treasure, or returns to their village to bring one or more treasures to safety (see below), they may immediately continue moving, as long as the player still has movement points available.
Recovering Treasures and Bringing Them to Safety
At first, all the treasures on the adventurer boards lie with the house side face up.
As the game progresses, the adventurers move into the houses on the gameboard. As soon as a house has been entered, the player turns the matching treasure on the adventurer board over, so that the treasure side faces up. Within one move, and as long as the adventurer is travelling on the streets and in the houses, they may enter any number of houses and recover just as many treasures (=turn them over).
Treasures that are still on the adventurer board are not safe from the water spirit. Only after a player has returned to their village with their adventurer may they take the exposed treasures from the adventurer board and place them, treasure side up, on the space with the tower. Here they are safe and are scored at the end of the game.
If treasures lie with the house side up on the adventurer board, this means the adventurer still has to visit these houses to recover the treasures. If treasures lie with the treasure side up on the adventurer board, this means the adventurer has already recovered the treasures but has not yet brought them to safety. Empty spaces on the adventurer board mean the treasures are in the village and therefore safe.
Example: Player Yellow plays the movement card "place 3 pieces / move adventurer 4 spaces". From their village they make 2 streets appear, followed by house 9. Now they can still move their adventurer up to 4 spaces. They move from their village to house 9 (street, street, house = 3 movement points). They then turn over the treasure of this house (=treasure 9) on their adventurer board, so that the treasure is visible. Afterward they move 1 space back from the house onto the street.
Once an adventurer is moved back to their village on their next turn, they bring the treasure to safety.
Move the Water Spirit
At any point during their turn, a player may move the water spirit, as long as it is not completely surrounded by water. At the start of the game the water spirit stands on house 10 in the middle of the gameboard. The water spirit moves like the adventurers. It can only move over streets and into houses. It may not move into the adventurers' villages. If the water spirit is within a player's territory, that player may move it up to 3 spaces (with 3 or 4 players) or up to 4 spaces (with 2 players). A player's territory is marked by their player color along the lakeshore and in the water.
If the water spirit is outside its territory, the player rolls the die. The water spirit can be moved by the number rolled, or any lesser number.
If the water spirit is standing on a piece that has no connection to a street or house — that is, one that is completely surrounded by water — it cannot be moved. It must remain in place.
If the water spirit is standing on a street that lies only partly within a player's territory, this still counts as that player's territory. (For example: the water spirit is in the yellow territory, because the street it is standing on lies half within the yellow territory.)
Streets and Houses Submerge
All streets and houses that the water spirit leaves, or that it is moved across, submerge and are removed from the gameboard. This also includes the piece it started from.
- Houses are placed back in the matching grottoes.
- Streets are collected with the back side up, first on street space 2.
If house 10 has submerged, any house may later appear in the middle of the gameboard.
Example: The yellow adventurer had already been in houses 5 and 9. The matching treasures lie with the treasure side up on their adventurer board. The water spirit is moved by a fellow player 3 spaces along the street to the yellow adventurer, as the illustration shows. House 5 and the two streets submerge.
Adventurers Must Return to Their Village
Every adventurer standing on a piece that is currently submerging must return to their village. However, as long as the water spirit's move ends on the piece the adventurer is standing on, nothing happens to the adventurer — they remain in place. They may have the chance to escape the water spirit on their next turn. Only once the water spirit leaves a piece occupied by an adventurer must that adventurer return to their village.
All treasures belonging to that player which lie treasure side up on their adventurer board are turned back to their house side, so that the house becomes visible again. These treasures must be recovered again. As compensation, the player receives 1 water spirit chip.
If the player themselves moved the water spirit over their own adventurer, they do not receive the chip! (If the water spirit is moved by another player, as the illustration shows, the yellow adventurer must return to their village, because the street they are standing on submerges. The yellow player turns treasures 5 and 9 back to their house side and receives a water spirit chip. The streets submerge.)
Adventurers may move onto or across the piece the water spirit occupies without anything happening!
Example: The yellow adventurer has 3 ways to move to their village:
- 4 movement points: street with water spirit, street, street, village (see illustration)
- 5 movement points: house 5, street with water spirit, street, street, village
- 6 movement points: house 5, street with water spirit, house 9, street, street, village
The water spirit does not hinder them. All treasures lying treasure side up on their adventurer board are placed in their village.
Example of a complete player turn: Player Yellow is on turn. They play the card "place 4 pieces / move adventurer 3 spaces" and make their move: Player Yellow builds 4 streets, moves their adventurer 3 spaces to house 9, and turns treasure 9 on their adventurer board to the treasure side. They then move the water spirit 3 spaces to house 4, to the red adventurer. The streets the water spirit was moved across submerge.
Water Spirit Chip
If it is a player's turn, they may use a water spirit chip. With the help of the chip they may move their piece additional spaces beyond their regular movement points from the played movement card. The number of additional movement points equals the number of houses (not treasures!) that are on their adventurer board. A player may hold several chips, but may use only one chip per turn. The chip used is then returned to the supply.
Example: A player plays the card "place 2 pieces / move adventurer 5 spaces". Treasure 3 is already in their village. On their adventurer board, 9 houses and treasure 5 are visible. The player builds a street and a house. They then spend their chip and move up to 14 spaces total. (5 spaces from the played movement card, and 9 spaces from the treasures that, before their move, were showing the house side up on their adventurer board.) The treasures they find along the way are turned to the treasure side on their adventurer board.
The Most Valuable Treasure – The Treasure Chest
Only a house can appear on the space in the middle, never a street. The house in the middle is a special house. Whoever moves onto or across this house may not only turn the house's own treasure on their adventurer board to the treasure side, but also the treasure chest, worth 12. If the treasure of this house is already lying open on the adventurer board or in the village, only treasure 12 is turned to the treasure side. The treasure chest is treated like a normal treasure. It, too, is only safe once it has been brought to the player's village.
A Turn Ends
A player's turn ends after the actions Streets and houses appear (mandatory action), Move adventurer (optional action), Move water spirit (optional action). Afterward it is their left-hand neighbor's turn.
End of Game
The streets control the end of the game. Once the stack of streets on street space 1 is used up, the stack of submerged streets is immediately turned face up on street space 2 — this can even happen in the middle of a player's turn.
Whoever now makes streets appear takes them from street space 2; submerged streets are collected with the back side up on street space 3. Once the stack on street space 2 is also used up, the streets on space 3 are turned over and used as the new draw stack. Submerged streets are collected on space 4. Once the stack on street space 3 is used up, the streets on space 4 are turned over and used when streets appear. Submerging streets are collected on street space 5, and so on.
Example: The stacks on street spaces 1-4 are already used up. Streets that appear are currently taken from street space 5. Streets that submerge are collected on street space 6. Once the stack on street space 5 is also used up, the game ends — an hourglass becomes visible. A round already in progress is still played to the end, so that every player has had the same number of turns.
The game ends once one of two possible situations has occurred:
- A player has brought all the treasures (1-10 and 12) to their village and thereby to safety.
- The street stack on space 5 is used up and the hourglass is visible.
So that every player has had the same number of turns, a round already in progress is still played to the end.
If the game ends because the hourglass became visible, the players who still get a turn may take appearing streets from street space 6 and likewise place submerging streets on space 6.
The winner is whoever has the most treasures in their village. If several players have brought the same number of treasures to safety, the values of the treasures in the village are added up. Whoever now has the highest total is the winner.
Special Case: The Streets Run Out
In rare cases it can happen, close to the end of the game, that there is no draw stack of streets. Streets can only appear again once some have submerged first! While streets are missing, the action "Streets and houses appear" is not a mandatory action.
A Strategic Note
Which house you make appear does not matter at first. But to be ahead in the event of a tie, it is important to bring treasures with high numbers to safety whenever possible. You should also avoid making houses appear within reach of other players if they do not yet own the treasures from those houses.
Variants
A Shorter Playing Time
If you want to play a bit shorter, house "1" and the matching treasures "1" are not used.
Without Water Spirit Chips
Whoever likes a somewhat "harsher" style of play, plays without water spirit chips. Whoever now has to return to their village receives no chip.
Advanced Rules
An instruction booklet for even more challenge and even more tactical options can be found on the following websites:
The water spirit becomes stronger. But let yourself be surprised...