Tyros Rulebook

Table of Contents

Goal of the Game
Game Materials
Preparing for Play
- Establishing the Four Empires in Your First Game
- Variable Establishment of the Four Empires
Sequence of Play
Ending the Round
Ending the Game and Determining Victory
The Author
Rule Summary

Goal of the Game

To win, gain points by controlling territories with cities and ships at the end of the game.

Game Materials

1 Game board
32 Map tiles
60 Commerce cards
40 Ships (10 each in 4 player colours)
40 City markers (10 each in 4 player colours)
80 Empire chips (20 each in 4 neutral colours)
1 Starting Player token

Preparing for Play

Before playing for the first time, carefully punch out the square city markers, round empire chips, and the rectangular starting player token from the two frames. Likewise, punch out the map tiles from the third frame. Discard the three map tiles with grey rectangles.

Each player receives all the ships and city markers of one colour, and places two of his ships on the coast of the space with the city Tyros, between spaces 31 and 32.
Create the four neutral empires, which will grow to various sizes during play, as follows.

Establishing the Four Empires in Your First Game

When playing your first game, for a quick and balanced setup, put the indicated empire chips on the following numbered spaces: one orange-coloured chip on space 7, one yellow on space 13, one green on 23, and one violet on 26. Afterwards, take the four matching map tiles and put them back in the box; they will not be used during the game.

Variable Establishment of the Four Empires

To vary the initial position for each game, beginning with your second game create the empires as follows:

Shuffle the map tiles and form them face down into a draw pile. Turnover four tiles.
Place an orange-coloured empire chip in the centre of the space on the game board matching the tile with the highest number.
Place a yellow chip in the centre of the space matching the second-highest numbered tile.
Perform this action two more times, placing a green chip on the third-highest and a violet chip on the fourth-highest space.
The four map tiles that were turned over are put back in the box; they will not be used further this game.

Note: No two empires may begin on spaces that are adjacent horizontally or vertically. If this happens, turn over another tile. The replaced tile is put on the bottom of the pile.

When all four empire chips have been placed, shuffle the remaining map tiles and deal 4 to each player. Stack the remainder of the tiles in a pile next to the board.
The Commerce cards are shuffled and formed into a draw pile.
A pen and scratch paper will be needed to record victory points.

Whoever last visited the Mediterranean goes first, and receives the starting player token. If that cannot be determined, then the oldest player goes first.

Sequence of Play

The game consists of a number of rounds. Each round consists of 3 phases, which are performed in the following order:

Deal commerce cards
Expand empires
Card actions!

1. Deal Commerce Cards

There are 14 commerce cards in each of the four empire colours. These colours have nothing to do with the player colours. Each colour shows trade goods familiar to the Phoenicians: copper, oil, lumber, and dye. There are also 4 grey-bordered cards, which are wild and can be used as any of the four empire colours. Shuffle all the commerce cards together. Each player is dealt 12 cards for 3 players, or 10 cards for 4 players.

2. Expand Empires

The empires expand as new map tiles are added to those played previously played.

Each player, beginning with the starting player, must expand one empire. Play one map tile corresponding to a space that is adjacent to a space with an empire chip. Put the map tile back in the box and mark this space with a chip matching the colour of the neighbouring empire. Thus, the empire gets larger.
If there is more than one adjacent empire, the player may choose which one to expand.
After expanding an empire, the player takes a new map tile from the pile if any remain.
If a player cannot play any of his map tiles because they are not adjacent to any existing empire, he must reveal all his map tiles, put one on the bottom of the pile, and draw a new one. That player plays no tile this time.
If an empire chip is placed on space 31 or 32, adjacent to Tyros, then immediately put an empire chip of the same colour on Tyros.

Note: This is also possible when establishing the empires at the start of the game.

When each player has gone once, there is a second round of expansion.

Important: When playing with four players, there are two expansion rounds only on the first turn of play. However, when playing with three players, there are always two chances to play map tiles. If the pile of map tiles is used up, the players continue to play with just the map tiles in their hands.

3. Card Actions

This is the phase where most of the action takes place. Beginning with the starting player, each player chooses one of the following actions. Play continues in order until all players pass consecutively. Each action requires some number of commerce cards.

The Actions

A. Move a Ship

A ship may only move to a space belonging to an empire, i.e. with an empire chip on it.
To move, the player must discard a number of commerce cards that match the colour of the empire that the ship is moving to. The number of cards must equal the number of spaces moved. Ships can only move horizontally or vertically to adjacent spaces. The spaces must be connected by sea (see "Examples of Permitted Ship Movement").
Movement cannot end on a space without an empire chip. Ships cannot move over the open sea, i.e. the space with the sea serpent.
If a player ends his movement in a space with a city belonging to another player, he must give that player any one of his commerce cards.
A ship may move through a space with 1 or 2 ships already in it.
However, at the end of a ship's movement, there can be at most 2 ships in a space. They may belong to different players.

Exception: As long as there is no city marker in Tyros, each player may have two ships there.

Examples of Permitted Ship Movement

From Tyros, one can reach space 23 by moving this way: 32-28-24-23. An alternate route would be: 31-27-22-23.
If one wants to move from space 31 to 29, one possible route is: 31-30-26-25-29.
The shortest way from 22 to 8: 22-17-12-8.
The shortest connection from 22 to 15: 22-17-16-15.
Italy is a special case. If one wants to move around the boot, one must move through the same space twice. The route from 15 to 10: 15-16-17-16-11-10. It would also be possible to move 15-16-17-12-11-10.

E.g. the following routes are not permitted, since there are no direct sea connections:

From 31 to 29: 31-30-29
From 26 to 16: 26-21-16
From 15 directly to 10

B. Build a City

To build a city, the player must have exclusive control of the space, i.e. he must have one or two ships in the space, and no other player may have a ship in the space.
The player must discard 5 commerce cards matching the colour of the empire chip in the space, or only 4 commerce cards if he has two ships there.
Place a city marker on the brown circle in the space.
After building the city, the player must remove one of his ships there and return it to his supply. If he had two ships there, only one of them is removed.
Only one city may be built in each space.

C. Build a Ship

At the start of play, every player may build ships in Tyros. However, once a player builds a city in Tyros, only that player may build ships there.
A player may build a ship in a space with one of his own cities, or in Tyros if no other player has built a city there yet.
To build a ship, the player must discard one commerce card matching the colour of the empire chip in the space.
If there is already a ship (friend or foe) in the space, the player must discard two commerce cards. At least one of the cards must match the empire owning the space.
To build a ship in Tyros (if no player has built a city there yet), the player must discard a number of cards equal to the number of ships in the Tyros space (plus one for his new ship). The cards may be of any colour(s). E.g., if there are 3 ships in Tyros, the player must discard 4 cards of any colour(s).
The newly built ship is placed on the coast next to the city marker. This is especially important in space 16 in Italy. Ships built there are always placed on the west coast of the boot.

D. Trade with the Bank

A player may trade with the bank in one of two ways:

The player may discard up to three commerce cards, and draw the same number of cards from the draw pile – if enough cards remain. If the draw pile runs out, do not shuffle the discard pile.

The player may discard any three commerce cards, and choose any one card in the discard pile to put in his hand.

E. Trade with Another Player

A player may ask other players if they want to trade commerce cards with him. Any number of players may be asked, but only one player may be traded with. If a trading partner is found, any number of cards may be traded, even unequal numbers. Map tiles may not be traded. If no trade is made, the player may instead perform one of the other actions, A–D.

Note: Actions D and E each count as one action. After a successful trade, that player's action is done, and play passes to the next player.

Pass

A player may pass without taking an action. If a player passes, and it comes around to his action again, he may choose to perform an action or pass again.

Ending the Round

The round ends when all players pass consecutively.
Each player may retain 3 commerce cards. The rest must be discarded.
The starting player token is passed clockwise, and a new round is begun by dealing out new commerce cards (10 cards for 4 players, 12 cards for 3 players).

Note: Since players may retain commerce cards from turn to turn, players may begin a new round with different amounts of commerce cards.

Ending the Game and Determining Victory

The game ends when at the end of a round, one or more players have no map tiles remaining. The round is played out normally, until all players pass consecutively. Note: It is possible that not all the map tiles will be played, and therefore not all spaces will have an empire chip at the end of the game.
Players now receive victory points for space they control with their cities or ships. A space is city-controlled if a player built a city there. A space is ship-controlled if only one player has one or two ships there, and there is no city in the space.
The larger the empire, i.e. the more spaces belonging to it, the more points those spaces are worth.
Note the following points on a sheet of paper.

	City Control	Ship Control
Largest Empire	12	6
Second Largest Empire	10	5
Third Largest Empire	9	4
Smallest Empire	8	3

If more than one empire is the same size, the following order of rank applies: Orange, Yellow, Green, Violet.

There are also Bonus Victory Points, as follows:

The first player to build a city in each of the four empires receives 7 points.
For each empire, if one player alone has the most cities in that empire, he scores 7 points.

The easiest way to count up the points is as follows:

First, remove all ships from spaces with ships belonging to more than one player.
Then remove all ships in spaces with cities.
Now determine who receives the bonus points for most cities in each empire.
Finally, count up the city and ship control points for each empire, starting with the smallest. Remove the cities and ships as they are counted.

The player with the most victory points wins. If more than one person has the most points, then the winner is the player with the most points in the largest empire.

The Author

Englishman Martin Wallace lives in Manchester, and prefers complex, demanding games. He has his own publishing house which has published a whole set of games of his own design. "Tyros", his third game for Kosmos after "The White Lotus" and "Full Steam", allows one to simply experience the history of a past culture.

Editorial Treatment: TM-Spiele Organization: Pohl & Rick Photography: Dirk Hoffman Illustration: Bernd Wagenfeld Ship Design: Andreas Klober

The author and publisher would like to thank all the playtesters and proofreaders.

Rule Summary

This quick-reference summary appears on a separate insert card included with the game.

A Round of Play

Deal Commerce Cards — 12 cards for 3 players, 10 cards for 4 players.
Expand Empires — Play a map tile and place an empire chip (twice for 3 players).
Card Actions
- A. Move a Ship — Only to a space with an empire chip; cost: per space, 1 commerce card matching the colour of the destination empire.
- B. Build a City — Requires exclusive ship control; cost: 5 commerce cards of the empire's colour, 4 cards with 2 ships. Afterwards, remove 1 ship.
- C. Build a Ship — In a space with your city, or in Tyros; cost: 1 commerce card of the empire's colour, plus 1 card for each existing ship in the space.
- D. Trade with the Bank — 1:1 (max. 3), from the draw pile, or 3:1, your choice from the discard pile.
- E. Trade with Another Player — May ask all players, but trade (freely) only with one.
- Pass — May take actions later.

Ending the Round

When all players pass consecutively, retain 3 commerce cards and pass the starting player token clockwise.

Ending the Game

The game ends at the end of a round if one or more players have no map tiles.

Victory Points

	City Control	Ship Control
Largest Empire	12	6
Second Largest Empire	10	5
Third Largest Empire	9	4
Smallest Empire	8	3

Break ties in order of rank: Orange, Yellow, Green, Violet.

Bonus for first player to build a city in every empire: 7 points. Bonus for most cities in an empire: 7 points each.