Tea Garden
Tea Garden Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
- Game Components
- Game Objective
- Goal of the Game
- Game Setup
- Course of the Game
- 1) Action Phase
- Types of Main Actions
- Secondary Actions
- Free Actions
- Bonus Effects
- Important Rules
- 2) Maintenance Phase
- End of the Game
- Important Terms
- Symbols of Effects and Icons
- End-Game Scoring Effects of Emperor Cards
- Credits
Game Components
Player Components
- 4 player boards
- 28 Pagodas representing Tea Gardens in 4 colours (7 per player)
- 32 Worker meeples in 4 colours (8 per player)
- 4 Boat meeples in 4 colours (1 per player)
- 4 Victory Point markers in 4 colours (1 per player)
- 44 Starting cards – a set of 11 cards per player, marked with a fan in the player's colour
Shared Components
- 1 game board
- 30 black Cup tokens
- 40 Cup tiles
- 1 Starting Player token
- 18 Region Bonus tokens
- 80 Tea Leaf tokens (one side of the token is green, the other side is brown)
- 1 white Round marker
- 24 Scroll tiles (in 3 types)
- 30 Emperor tokens
- 16 Emperor cards – marked with the Emperor symbol in the top right corner
- 45 Action cards – marked with Roman numerals in the top right corner
- 30 Caravan cards
- 10 Overview cards
Game Objective
The players act as the owners of the first tea gardens in the Chinese Yunnan Region. They try to expand their tea plantations by building new tea gardens in the valley along the river.
The game is played over five rounds. Each round, players can take up to 4 main actions, which are triggered by playing cards from their hand, signifying the actions' strength. The cards may also feature a Teapot symbol and available secondary actions the players can take. Actions include expanding the players' tea plantations, acquiring new cards, harvesting and selling tea, sailing down the river and engaging in tea studies.
Goal of the Game
The goal of the game is to accumulate as many Victory Points as possible. The player with the most Victory Points wins.
Game Setup
Before your first game, carefully punch out the components from the punchboards.
1. Place the game board in the centre of the table so that it is easy to reach for all players.
The game board contains:
- Victory Point track
- Tea University
- Emperor track
- Space for Action cards display
- Space for Emperor cards display
- Spaces for Cup tiles
- Round track
Next to the game board, create a supply of Scroll tiles and sort them into three piles by type.
Place the Tea Leaf tokens, Emperor tokens, and Cup tokens next to the game board where all players can easily reach them.
2. Turn the Region Bonus tokens face-down, shuffle them, and randomly place them on all hexagonal spaces on the game board, then flip them over. Return unused tokens to the box.
3. Shuffle all the Cup tiles. Prepare a stack of Cup tiles for each Province according to the number of players. Check out the required number of tiles in each stack in the table at the starting yellow Province. Place prepared stacks of Cup tiles randomly face-up in individual stacks on the game board (there is a special slot for them in each Province). Return unused tiles to the box.
(2 players: 5 Cup tiles per Province; 3 players: 6; 4 players: 8.)
4. Create a deck of Action cards. First, create 5 stacks (one for each level – the level is shown in the top right corner: I, II, III, IV, V).
Depending on the number of players, take the corresponding number of cards from every level (return the remaining cards to the box):
- 2 players: 4 cards
- 3 players: 5 cards
- 4 players: 6 cards
Turn the cards face-down and shuffle each level separately. Then create a single deck by placing level 4 on top of level 5, level 3 on top of level 4, and so on.
Reveal 6 cards face-up from this Action card deck into the display (starting from the left). Place the deck face-down next to display.
5. Create a Caravan deck. Take the Caravan cards with the blue ornament, shuffle them and create a deck, placing it face-down. Then create the basic Caravan deck by shuffling the Caravan cards with the orange ornament. From that deck, randomly select a number of cards based on the number of players (see the table on the next page) and place them on top of the blue Caravan deck. Return the remaining basic (orange) Caravan cards to the box.
- 2 players: 7 basic Caravans
- 3 players: 10 basic Caravans
- 4 players: 13 basic Caravans
Finally, reveal 3 Caravan cards from the deck into the display next to the game board.
6. Shuffle the Emperor cards and reveal 3 cards face-up below the Emperor track.
7. Each player chooses a player board and takes the following components of one colour:
7 Tea Garden Pagodas, 8 Worker meeples, 1 Boat meeple, 1 Victory Point marker, 11 Starting cards
- Players place their Tea Garden Pagodas on the marked spots on their player boards. They place the remaining Tea Garden Pagodas into the starting area on the game board (yellow Province).
- Each player takes 2 Tea Leaf tokens and places them green side up on their player board into the Basket with the number 2. The number indicates the quality of the Tea Leaves in the Basket. The higher the number, the better.
- Each player shuffles their 11 starting cards, makes a face-down deck out of them, and draws 4 cards of this deck into their hand.
8. Each player places:
- the Victory Point marker of their colour on the starting space of the Victory Point track.
- 1 Worker meeple on the starting space of the Tea University.
- 1 Worker meeple on the bottommost space of the Emperor track.
- 1 Boat meeple on the starting space of the River.
9. Place the Round marker on the Round track. The player who last enjoyed a good cup of Chinese tea receives the Starting Player token. In case the players don't know, they select a starting player randomly.
Course of the Game
The game is played over 5 rounds and proceeds in turns. In each round, each player can perform up to 4 turns. Turns are performed one by one over the course of the game by playing cards, with the first 3 turns being free and the fourth turn requiring players to pay Tea Leaf tokens. A player's turn consists of one main action, one optional secondary action and any number of free actions. A game round consists of the following phases:
- ACTION PHASE
- MAINTENANCE PHASE
About Tea
Tea Leaves are the basic commodity in this game. There are 6 grades of tea quality, represented by 6 collection Baskets on the player boards. Each Region produces a different quality of tea (shown by a coin symbol). The quality of Tea Leaves is important when purchasing Action cards or advancing on the Emperor track.
Fresh (green) Tea Leaves can be enhanced through Fermentation. While ripening, fermented (brown) Tea Leaves increase in quality, while fresh Tea Leaves lose their quality (see "Maintenance phase – Tea Ripening").
When paying, if a green Leaf is displayed, you can pay it with either a green Leaf or a brown Leaf. However, a displayed brown Leaf can only be paid with a brown Leaf.
1) Action Phase
In the Action phase, starting with the player who has the Starting Player token, players take their turns one by one in clockwise order. During their turn, the player can perform one main action and one secondary action corresponding to the symbol printed on the topmost played card. Additionally, the player can perform any number of free actions. Main, secondary and free actions can be played in any order. Players take turns one by one, and when they cannot or do not want to continue, they pass. The Action phase ends when all players have passed.
Main Actions
During their turn, players always choose one of the five main actions (described below) and play any number of their cards (but at least one) to determine the strength of the action. Played cards are stacked in such a manner that the strength of each card is visible. The cards are placed in the appropriate place at the bottom edge of the player board (always in the leftmost available space). If the topmost played card has a symbol of a secondary or other action, the player can use it during the same turn. In the next turn, the player again places a card or cards in the leftmost available space. If a player wants to play a fourth turn, they must pay 3 Tea Leaf tokens, one of which must be brown.
The strength of the played card/s is important for performing the chosen main action; the higher it is, the better effects the player can achieve.
As a one-off bonus, a player can increase their strength by 1 by discarding a "+1" Scroll tile.
Action Card Anatomy
- Strength required to purchase a card
- Card strength
- Purchase cost of the card
- Victory Points (which you receive at the end of game)
- Secondary action effect
- Card level
The player can gain one Teapot symbol by discarding a Teapot Scroll. This Scroll counts as any Teapot colour. Another way to acquire a Teapot is by paying either 3 of any Tea Leaves or 2 fermented Tea Leaves of any quality.
Types of Main Actions
A) Building a Tea Garden
On the player board, below each Tea Garden there is a number indicating the minimum total strength of played cards required to build this garden. The player places a new Tea Garden on any available space in a Region adjacent to a Region in which the player already owns a Tea Garden. A Region is the smallest territorial unit on the game board. The River is considered the border of the Region. The player can also build a Tea Garden in a Region not adjacent to a Region already containing their Tea Garden by paying 2 points of strength more than the regular strength required for its construction. This allows the player to cross only one additional border.
It is not possible to build a Tea Garden in a Region in which the player already has one.
By building a Tea Garden, the player gains a one-off bonus determined by the Region Bonus token. This bonus is obtained by all players who build a garden in the same Region. If a player builds a Tea Garden on one of the special scoring spaces (with Victory Points on it), they immediately earn these points and mark them on the Victory Point track.
During one main action, you can only build 1 Tea Garden.
Example: Karel plays cards with a total strength of 5 and decides to play Building a Tea Garden as his main action. So far, he only has the initial garden in the yellow Province. Since he has played cards of strength 5, he can decide whether to build a garden of strength 5 in a Region adjacent to the yellow Province or a garden of strength 3 and pay 2 strengths to cross one extra border. He chooses the second option, building the garden in a blue Region with a value of 4.
B) Buying an Action Card
Above the Action cards in the display there is a number indicating the minimum strength of played cards required to purchase each Action card. The farther left the card is in the display, the lower its strength requirement is.
Furthermore, the player must then pay the price indicated on the purchased Action card. This price is printed in the brown frame at the bottom of the card. It consists of the number of Tea Leaf tokens of the specified minimal quality that the player must pay into the common supply and the required Teapots that the player must have on the cards laid out in their playing area. Any topmost card with a Teapot symbol played in this round counts (unlike the Teapot symbols on the cards stacked under the topmost played card – those do not count).
The player takes the purchased card into their hand and can use it in the following turn(s).
After the player buys an Action card, all cards in the display to the right of the now empty space are moved one space to the left. A new card from the Action card deck is then placed at the rightmost end of the row.
During one main action, you can only purchase 1 Action card.
Example: Karel chooses for his main action to Buy an Action card. His played cards have a total strength of 4, and the top card in his playing area shows the symbol of a green Teapot. He is missing one Teapot symbol for purchasing the selected card. So, he decides to discard 1 Teapot Scroll to replace the missing symbol and buy the card. He also pays 2 Tea Leaves of quality 3. Karel takes the purchased card into his hand.
C) Selling Tea to Caravans
Players can sell their tea to passing Caravans. Each Caravan card has two parts – a trade part and a strength part. In order for a player to acquire a Caravan card, they must fulfil one of the conditions in both parts, one of the conditions from the trade part and one of the conditions from the strength part.
The Caravan card shows: 1. Trade part, 2. Strength part. Caravan cards come in two kinds: 3. Basic Caravan cards (orange ornament) and 4. Advanced Caravan cards (blue ornament).
- In the trade part of the card, there are 2 ways of selling Tea Leaves, from which the player chooses one. These Leaves must be paid by the player into the common supply and can be any quality. If a green symbol of a Tea Leaf is displayed, it can be any Leaf. If a brown symbol is displayed, the player must pay a fermented Tea Leaf. After fulfilling the condition, the player receives the bonuses and/or Victory Points displayed next to the symbols of the respective Tea Leaves.
- In the strength part of the card, 2 different values of action strength are listed. To get the Caravan card and the corresponding bonus, the player must attain one of the strength values with the strength of their cards laid-out to carry out this action.
- The Victory Points obtained for Caravans are credited to the player immediately. Players keep the Caravan cards placed in front of them on the table, as they can be important for the final scoring.
- Once someone purchases a Caravan card, a new card is immediately revealed so that players can always choose between 3 Caravan cards.
- During one main action, only 1 Caravan card can be obtained.
Example: Karel plays cards with a total strength of 6 and plays Caravans as his main action. He pays 3 fresh Tea Leaves and 1 fermented Tea Leaf into the common supply. Because he has fulfilled the conditions of the Caravan card, he receives the following bonuses: He gets 1 Cup token and places it on his connected Cup tiles + 2 Victory Points for the trade part of the card. For the strength part of the card, he receives 6 Victory Points and 1 Emperor token.
D) Fermentation
During Fermentation, fresh green Tea Leaves are turned into fermented brown Tea Leaves.
- Green = fresh, its quality decreases as it ripens.
- Brown = fermented, its quality increases as it ripens.
Depending on the played strength, the player can ferment the corresponding number of Tea Leaves (strength = number of Leaves). Fermentation is carried out by the player turning the Tea Leaves from green (fresh) side to brown (fermented) side. Note that the Leaves must always remain in the same Basket as before the Fermentation!
Example: Karel plays cards with total strength of 4 and he decides to play Fermentation as his main action. He has a total of 7 Tea Leaves on his player board – 3 fresh Leaves of quality 3, 2 fresh Leaves of quality 4, 2 fermented Leaves of quality 5. Karel can ferment 4 Leaves in total. He chooses 2 Leaves of quality 4 and 2 Leaves of quality 3. He turns those Leaves to the brown (fermented) side and leaves them in the same baskets.
E) Extra Leaf Harvest
A player can harvest Tea Leaves outside the main harvest by playing the Extra Leaf Harvest action. For each strength point played in the current turn, the player can harvest from one of their Tea Gardens. From each harvested Garden, they receive one fresh Leaf of the quality corresponding to the value of the Region in which the garden is located. So, if they play a strength of 3, they will get a total of 3 Tea Leaves, corresponding to the values of the Regions of their 3 chosen Tea Gardens. You can extra harvest only 1 Leaf from each Tea Garden per turn.
Example: Karel plays cards with a strength of 4 and decides to take the main action of Extra Leaf Harvest. He already has 6 gardens on the game board in the Regions with the values 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 6. He decides to harvest the Leaves from the latter 4 gardens. Therefore, he receives 1 fresh Leaf quality 4, 1 fresh Leaf quality 5 and 2 fresh Leaves quality 6.
Secondary Actions
Secondary actions are marked with a decorative circular frame. A player gains a secondary action by playing cards in such a manner that the topmost card the player lays out contains the symbol of one of the three secondary actions; then the player can perform that action at any time during their turn. It is possible to repeat the secondary action (more about that in the section "Free actions").
A) River Navigation
By playing this secondary action, the player moves their Boat meeple one segment forward along the River and immediately gains the displayed bonuses. The first player to reach the last segment of the River places their meeple on the space with the highest Victory Point value available. Note that these Victory Points are added only at the end of the game.
Example: As a secondary action, Karel plays River Navigation, moves his Boat meeple on the River forward by 1 segment and gains the bonus of 1 Emperor token. In the segment there are 2 Victory points. He does not earn these points at this time, but they would be added at the end of the game if he was still in this section of the river.
B) Cup Production
A player takes one Cup tile from the top of one of the stacks on the game board (each stack is placed in the place of a provincial colour). They can only choose from the Provinces where they have at least one of their Tea Gardens. The player arranges the tiles next to each other in a row and tries to connect the circular symbols of the same colour. Tiles are not allowed to be laid upside down. For each same colour connection, the player earns Victory Points at the end of the game (see "scoring" section). The player can also connect symbols of different colours (however, such a connection does not earn Victory Points, only a Cup token).
After the player connects two Cup tiles, they immediately place a Cup token on this connection.
This token serves as a one-time free action. At any time during their turn, the player can remove it to gain a bonus from one adjacent Cup. On each connection, there can be any number of Cup tokens that the player can utilise.
Example: At any time during their turn, this player can remove a Cup token to gain an Emperor token or 3 Victory Points.
The number of Cup rows is not limited. A player can start a new row at any time. Once a tile is placed, it cannot be moved.
C) Tea Studies at University
The Tea University is divided into four sectors, with each sector divided into two parts with bonuses. Whenever a player plays this secondary action, they move their Worker meeple to the next sector clockwise. They choose one part of the given sector, place their Worker there, and receive the listed bonuses (bonuses are received only from the selected part). Every time a Worker crosses the starting position, the player takes another Worker meeple from their supply and places it in the centre of the circle. Each Worker meeple in the centre has a value of 10 Victory Points at the end of the game. For a meeple that remains on the outer rim of the circle, the player receives Victory Points corresponding to the value printed in the respective circle section.
Example: Karel plays cards with a total strength of 4, with the symbol of the Tea Studies on the topmost card. He decides to play this secondary action first. His Worker is in sector 4, so he moves it clockwise to the first sector, where he must choose among two parts with bonuses. He could either gain 3 fresh Tea Leaves of quality 2, or ferment 2 Leaves from his supplies. He chooses Fermentation. Since he has crossed the starting position in this round, he places a new Worker meeple from his supply into the centre of the circle. At the end of the game, he earns 10 Victory Points for it.
Free Actions
Free actions can be played at any time during a player's turn, even before the cards are played, but there must be a card or cards played in any case.
A) Advancing on the Emperor Track
If a player has enough Emperor tokens, they can play a free action to advance on the Emperor track at any time during their turn. They must pay the required number of Emperor tokens and a Tea Leaf of the required minimal quality depicted on the row they wish to move to (this is always the row above this worker). The player then moves their worker to the target row and receives the reward depicted there. You move through the rows one at a time, you can't skip any. The reward may include Emperor cards. There are always 3 Emperor cards to choose from. The player chooses one, takes it into their hand and uses it similarly to Starting and Action cards. Emperor cards have special scoring end-game conditions. A new card is then replenished in the newly available space.
Example: Karel discards 2 Emperor tokens and one Tea Leaf of quality 1 and moves up one row on the Emperor track. He then obtains 1 Emperor card, which he takes into his hand, and also gains the option to remove 1 of his cards. He chooses a card from his draw deck, removes it from the game, and then shuffles his draw deck.
B) Using the Cup Bonus
At any time during their turn, the player can remove Cup token to gain a bonus from one adjacent Cup (see secondary action "Cup Production" for more details).
C) Repeating a Secondary Action
The secondary action can be repeated once per turn. There are two ways to do this:
- By discarding a "x2" Scroll, a player can play the secondary action they just played another time. If a player acquired the Scroll tile in the action just played, they can immediately use it to double the currently played secondary action.
- A player can also repeat a secondary action by discarding 3 fermented Tea Leaves.
D) Using a Scroll
There are 3 types of Scrolls in the game; these tiles must be discarded immediately after their effect is executed. Players can have any number of Scrolls.
(The three types are: the Teapot Scroll, the "+1" strength Scroll, and the "x2" Scroll.)
Bonus Effects
Some spaces and Cups contain special effects that are executed upon acquisition. If the effects are shown on the cards, they apply if you play them topmost. You can find their descriptions below.
Bonus Fermentation
The player can ferment the specific number of Tea Leaves depicted next to the sun symbol.
Draw and Discard
The player can draw one or two cards (depending on the icon shown) from their draw deck and then discards the same amount of cards from their hand to their discard pile. When there are no more cards to be drawn, the player immediately shuffles their discard pile and create a new draw deck.
Draw a Card
The player can draw a card from their draw deck.
Remove a Card
The player can select a card from their hand, draw deck or discard pile and remove it from the game. If a player removes a card from the draw deck, they must shuffle it afterwards. discard pile and create a new draw deck.
Important Rules
Action cards that a player purchases and Emperor cards acquired during the game go directly into the player's hand. These cards can then be played either in the current turn (Emperor cards) or in subsequent turns (Action cards). A player can keep any number of cards in their hand for the next round. At the end of each round, each player draws exactly 4 cards, they can thus start the round with more cards.
Turn Example
Karel plays two cards with a total strength of 4. The topmost card shows the symbol of the secondary action River Navigation. Karel decides to perform the secondary action first, moving his Boat forward by 1 segment of the River, which earns him an Emperor token and a Scroll enabling him to repeat the secondary action, which he immediately uses. He discards the Scroll, which allowed him to repeat the just-played secondary action River Navigation. As a result, he moves his Boat forward by another segment and gains the respective bonus of one Cup token, which he can place on any connection of his Cup tile.
Karel chooses to Buy an Action Card as his main action. His played cards have a total strength of 4, and the top card show a blue Teapot symbol. He is still one Teapot symbol short to buy the chosen card, so he decides to pay 2 fermented Leaves to replace the 1 missing symbol in order to buy the card. Next, he pays 3 fresh Leaves of quality 5. Karel takes the purchased card into his hand.
2) Maintenance Phase
During the Maintenance phase, the players prepare the game for the next round.
A) Move the Round marker forward by 1 space.
B) Pass the Starting Player token to the next player clockwise.
C) Remove the leftmost card from the Action card display. Shift the remaining cards 1 space to the left and place a new Action card from the respective draw deck into the empty space on the right at the end of the row.
D) All players move the played cards from the playing area below their player board to their discard pile to the right of their player board.
E) Tea Ripening: Now all players simultaneously perform the Tea Ripening phase. All green (fresh) Tea Leaves are moved left to the Basket which quality is lower by 1 (if the tea is already of quality 1, it stays in the quality 1 Basket). All brown (fermented) Tea Leaves are moved right to the Basket which quality is higher by 1 (if the tea is already of quality 6, it stays in the same Basket).
Example: Karel has 6 Leaves on his player board. 1 fresh Leaf of quality 1, it stays in that basket and doesn't move anywhere. The 2 fresh Leaves of quality 3 are moved to the basket of quality 2. The 2 fermented Leaves of quality 4 are moved to the basket of quality 5 and the 1 fermented Leaf of quality 6 remains in the basket.
F) Tea Harvest: In the Harvest phase, players harvest 2 fresh Tea Leaves from each of their Tea Gardens on the game board. The quality of the tea corresponds to the value of the respective Region. The harvested Leaves are placed with the green side up into the Basket of the corresponding quality on the respective player boards.
Example: Karel has 6 gardens on the game board, in the Regions with the values 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 6. He gets 2 fresh Leaves of a particular quality from each garden. So, in total, he has 12 fresh Leaves to place in the appropriate baskets on his board.
G) Drawing cards into hand: Players draw 4 cards from their draw deck. If there are not enough cards, a player immediately shuffles their discard pile to form a new draw deck and draws the appropriate number of cards.
H) Now, the next round starts with the player holding the Starting Player token.
End of the Game
The game concludes after 5 rounds. There is no maintenance phase in the 5th round.
Scoring
Players now tally their Victory Points. In addition to the points earned during the game (which are already recorded on the Victory Point track), they add the following Victory Points:
1) Points for Action cards — Players sum up the Victory Point values of all their purchased Action cards (indicated on the right side).
2) Points for Emperor cards — Players earn Victory Points for fulfilling the scoring conditions on Emperor cards. You can find the description of these conditions at the end of the rules.
3) Points for River Navigation — Players gain Victory Points based on which River segment they currently occupy with their boat.
4) Points for Tea Studies — Players earn 10 Victory Points for each Worker in the middle of the Tea University. For a Worker on the outer circle, Victory Points are earned according to the respective position.
5) Points for Emperor track — Players reaching the topmost row on the Emperor track gain 10 Victory Points.
6) Points for Cup Production — Players count all same-colour connections (the connections do not need to be all of one colour, but the colour must always match on the individual connections) across all rows in their Cup collection. They earn Victory Points according to the table below:
| Connections | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Victory Points | 1 | 2 | 4 | 7 | 11 | 16 | 22 |
7) Points for unused Scrolls and Emperor tokens — Players earn 1 Victory Point for each unused Scroll and Emperor token.
The player with the most Victory Points wins. In case of a tie, the player with the most Tea Leaves on their player board is the winner. If there is still a tie, the player with the most fermented Tea Leaves is the winner. If the tie persists, the victory is shared.
Important Terms
Regions: Territories delineated by borders or the River. They represent the smallest territorial units on the map.
Provinces: Regions of the same colour. Each Province consists of several Regions (except for the starting yellow Province, which has only one Region, Sichuan).
River: Composed of segments containing various bonuses. Victory Points for the River are awarded at the end of the game. The River is considered the border of the Region.
Strength: Indicated on each card in the top left corner, used to execute main actions.
Teapot: Used for card purchasing; all Teapot symbols on your topmost cards played in that round are counted. There are three Teapot colors: green, red and blue. A neutral teapot symbol represents a Teapot of any colour.
Tea Leaf: Each Tea Leaf has two sides, a green and a brown one.
- Green = fresh tea, its quality decreases during Tea Ripening.
- Brown = fermented tea, its quality increases during Tea Ripening.
Payment with Tea Leaves:
- a) Green Leaf - can be paid with either a green (fresh) or a brown (fermented) Tea Leaf
- b) Brown Leaf - must be paid only with a brown Tea Leaf.
A coin symbol with leaves shows the quality of the tea and the number of Leaves you gain or you pay. In the pictured case, 3 Leaves of quality 2. For payment, you can pay green Leaves with fermented ones (not the other way around). If you gain Leaves, it is always fresh (green) Leaves.
Scrolls: There are 3 types of Scroll tiles in the game. All Scrolls are one-use only, and after using their effect, they are immediately discarded. Players can have any number of Scrolls of all three types.
- a) Strength +1 - temporarily increases the strength. Adds +1 to the total strength of the cards played in this turn. Multiple Scrolls of this type can be used in one turn.
- b) Neutral-coloured Teapot - This Scroll can be treated as a Teapot of any colour that is needed for purchasing a card. Multiple Scrolls of this type can be used in one turn.
- c) Repeat a secondary action - By discarding this Scroll, a player can repeat the secondary action they just performed. This can only be done once per turn. If a player obtains a Scroll tile in a just-played secondary action, they can immediately use it to repeat that secondary action.
Emperor token: used to advance on the Emperor track.
Symbols of Effects and Icons
- Sun with brown leaves — Enables the Fermentation of the depicted amount of fresh Tea Leaves. If you don't have the necessary fresh Leaves ignore the effect.
- Card with arrow — Allows you to draw a card from your draw deck.
- Crossed-out card — Allows you to remove a card from your draw deck, discard pile, or hand. If you removed a card from your draw deck, shuffle it afterwards.
- One card with two arrows — Allows you to draw 1 card from the draw deck. You must then discard 1 card to the discard pile.
- Two cards with two arrows — Allows you to draw 2 cards from the draw deck. You must then discard 2 cards to the discard pile.
- Green leaf → 1 / brown leaf → 2 — When the card with these symbols is played as the topmost card in your turn, you can sell fresh Tea Leaves for 1 Victory Point and fermented ones for 2 Victory Points each. The maximum is 6 sold Tea Leaves per turn.
- Two symbols separated by a slash — When the card with this symbol is played as the topmost card in your turn, you can choose only one of the actions shown.
- Pagoda — Represents a Tea Garden.
- Teal number token — The number of Victory Points you add straight away.
- Purple number token — The number of Victory Points you receive at the end of the game.
- Cup token symbol — Represents acquiring a Cup token, which is placed on the connected symbol of two Cup tiles. Multiple tokens can be placed on one symbol. If you don't have two connected Cup tiles you ignore the bonus.
- Gold coin with a number — Value of a Region – represents the quality of the harvested Tea Leaves.
End-Game Scoring Effects of Emperor Cards
All cards in your draw deck, discard pile, hand and below the board are considered to be part of your deck.
- Brown Leaf : 3 (max 6x) — If you have any fermented Leaves at the end of the game, each has a value of 3 Victory Points (max. 6 Leaves).
- Green Leaf : 2 (max 9x) — If you have any fresh Leaves at the end of the game, each has a value of 2 Victory Points. Count only the fresh Leaves. (max. 9 Tea Leaves).
- 12 — This card has a value of 12 Victory Points at the end of the game.
- Neutral Teapot Scroll : 4 (max 4x) — Any neutral-colored Teapot Scroll you have at the end of the game has a value of 4 Victory Points (max. 4 Teapots).
- Pagoda : 3 (max 6x) — Each of your Tea Gardens on the game board has a value of 3 Victory Points at the end of the game (max. 6 Tea Gardens).
- Caravan card : 3 (max 6x) — Each Caravan card you acquired during the game has a value of 3 Victory Points at the end of the game (max. 6 Caravan cards).
- 18 − 1 per Starting card — This card has a value of 18 Victory Points minus 1 Victory Point for each Starting card in your deck.
- River card : 3 (max 6x) — Each card with a River symbol in your deck has a value of 3 Victory Points at the end of the game (max. 6 cards).
- Tea University card : 3 (max 6x) — Each card with a Tea University symbol in your deck has a value of 3 Victory Points at the end of the game (max. 6 cards).
- Cup card : 3 (max 6x) — Each card with a Cup symbol in your deck has a value of 3 Victory Points at the end of the game (max. 6 cards).
- Teapot card : 2 (max 9x) — Each card with a Teapot symbol in your deck has a value of 2 Victory Points (max. 9 cards).
Credits
Author: Tomáš Holek
DTP and Graphics: Marek Jaroš, Tereza Moravcová, Jiří Trojánek, Karolína Zacklová
Illustrations: Barbora Srp Žižková
Development: Michal Šmíd
Production manager: Barbora Šulcová
Translation: Šárka Tůmová
Rule editing: Mirka Jandová, Josef Ševců, Barbora Šulcová
Proofreading: Corinna Spellerberg
Acknowledgements: The publisher would like to thank all who collaborated on this project. The author would especially like to thank Josef Ševců for his help in testing and editing the rules.