Viajantes

Viajantes Rulebook

Table of Contents

Components
Setup
Objective
How to Play
Closing the Suitcases
End of the Game
Scoring
Variants for 3, 4 and 5 Players
Tips

Components

12 Character cards ("Personagens"), front: open suitcase / back: closed suitcase (five personal items for each character)
60 Personal Item cards ("Objetos pessoais") (five for each character)
8 Clothing cards ("Roupas")
6 Carriage cards ("Vagões") (worth 30/30/20/20/10/10 points) and 1 Locomotive card ("Locomotiva")
12 Secret Identity cards ("Identidades Secretas") (showing the five personal items of the character)
6 Help cards ("Ajuda") for the players: front shows the game's actions, back shows the scoring
5 Action Point cards ("Pontos de Ação")

Setup

The explanation below refers to a game with 6 players. The changes for 3, 4 and 5 players are on page 8.

Place the Locomotive card in the centre of the table and, from it, from left to right, the six Carriage cards in this order: 30, 30, 20, 20, 10 and 10 points.
Shuffle the 12 Character cards and place, at random, two in each carriage (one on each side), starting with the 1st carriage connected to the locomotive and going to the last one. Note: place all of them with the OPEN SUITCASE side facing up!
Shuffle the 12 Secret Identity cards and deal two to each player without looking at them. They must be kept secret by the players and will be revealed to everyone only at the end of the game.
Shuffle the 60 Personal Item cards and deal exactly 10 to each player (starting hand).
Lay out a row on the table with the 8 Clothing cards and leave them within everyone's reach. Note: leave the side showing the clothes facing up.
Each player takes a Help card to assist them during the game.
Finally, the last participant to have made a train journey takes the 5 Action Point cards and starts the game.
Six characters stay on one side of the carriages. We will call this area PLATFORM A.
The other six stay on the other side of the carriages. We will call this area PLATFORM B.

Objective

Each player must try to gather in the suitcase of each of their two characters the greatest possible number of personal items that belong to them. It is also possible to add to the suitcases Clothing cards, which are worth extra points. However, the position occupied by the character on the train, that is, the carriage in which they sit, is very important and can make all the difference at the end of the game. Thus, after a certain number of suitcases have been "closed", the game ends, and the participant with the greatest sum of points is declared the winner!

How to Play

On your turn, each player has exactly 5 action points to spend. The actions may be performed in any order and may also be repeated any number of times. When a player spends an action point, they pass a card to their neighbour on the left at the table. No player may perform actions that require more than five points. It is permitted, however, to end the turn by spending fewer than five points, but the points saved are lost. After spending the five points, the player ends their turn and the turn passes to the next player clockwise around the table.

Here is a detailed description of each of the six actions the game offers:

Action 1: Put an item in a suitcase - cost = 1 point

The player chooses a personal item card from their hand and places it beneath any character whose suitcase is open. Any personal item may be placed in the suitcase of any character in the game. If that item is the first to be placed in a suitcase, the player may place it face up OR face down. From then on, the next items placed in the same suitcase must alternate, that is, one face up, the other face down, and so on. Note: it is not permitted to put items in closed suitcases! (See Closing the Suitcases below.)

Example (figures 1-3 in the source): Ana spends 1 action point and places a personal item card of the Tourist (a gift) in the suitcase of the Grandma (figure 1). As this is the first item card to be placed in the suitcase, it may be placed face up or face down. Ana chooses to place it face up.

The next item card in this suitcase must be placed face down, and so on.

Then Ana decides to place a personal item of the Student (which is one of her two secret identities) in that character's suitcase (figure 2). As there is already a personal item of the Grandma face up there (dentures), Ana must place the new item card face down.

For this action she must pay 1 more action point, handing the card to the player seated to her left at the table.

Note: always form COLUMNS of cards beneath each character, to make all the objects easy for everyone to see.

Figure 3 in the source: the Student's personal item placed face down.

Action 2: Look at an item - cost = 1 point

A player may spend one action point to look at any personal item card that is hidden (face down) in the open suitcase of any character. After looking at the card, the player must return it to the same position it was in, keeping it face down. During their turn, a player may look at several items within the same suitcase or in different suitcases, spending one action point for each item "looked at".

Action 3: Move an item - cost = 1 point

It is possible to move a personal item card from the open suitcase of one character to the open suitcase of another character, even if they are on different "platforms". The moved card may be in any position in the column of cards beneath the character, but the card's orientation must be kept, that is, if it is face up it must remain so, and if it is face down it must also remain so. In this way, it is possible during the game for two or more cards in a row to be face up or face down in the same column of cards of a certain suitcase. See the example:

Example: Before the action, Léo decides to spend 1 action point to move the Grandma's dentures (which are in the Student's suitcase) to the Grandma's suitcase, because she is one of his two secret identities.

The orientation of the card must be kept, so after the move there will be two item cards in a row face up in the Grandma's suitcase (gift and dentures).

In a later turn of the game, if any player chooses to "put an item in a suitcase" (action 1) into the Grandma's suitcase, the new item must be placed face down!

Note: the carriages occupied by the characters during the moving of items are of no importance at all. Furthermore, it is not permitted to remove (move) items from suitcases that are already closed!

IMPORTANT: During their turn, a player may REPEAT action 1 (Put an item in a suitcase) and action 3 (Move an item) several times. However, it is NOT permitted for the player to place or move more than one item into the same suitcase in the same turn. This means the player may place several items, each into a DIFFERENT suitcase, and may move several items, each of them into a DIFFERENT suitcase as well. (Note: the items moved may be "taken out" of the same suitcase or from different suitcases.)

So, in the example above, after moving an item into the Grandma's suitcase, Léo may NOT, in the same turn, move or place any other item into that same suitcase!

Furthermore, the maximum number of item cards that a suitcase may hold during the whole game is 5 CARDS. (See Closing the Suitcases below.)

Action 4: Swap two characters' places - cost = 3 points

A player may swap the positions of two characters. The two may be on the same platform (in adjacent carriages or not) or on different platforms, however, the suitcases of both must be closed for the swap to take place (see Closing the Suitcases below). During the swap, each character carries with them all the objects that are inside their suitcase. This means the player must take care to keep the stacks of cards intact when moving the characters on the table.

Example: Ana decides to swap the Doctor's place with the Policeman's. The suitcases of both characters are closed, so the swap is permitted. She spends 3 action points and reverses the positions of the characters on the train.

Note: a character whose suitcase is still open may NOT change place. Furthermore, the position occupied by each character at the end of the game is relevant to their score!

Action 5: Swap hands of cards with another player - cost = 4 points

At any moment during the game, a player may swap their entire hand of cards with the entire hand of another player, regardless of how many cards are in each hand. A player may ask the other player how many cards they hold before the swap, but never what kind of cards they are. The player with whom the swap is intended may not refuse it. If a player runs out of cards in hand during the game after having placed all their items in the suitcases, they may still swap, paying 4 action points and swapping zero cards for the entire hand of someone else.

Action 6: Buy a clothing card - cost = 2 points

Clothing cards add extra points at the end of the game and, unlike personal items, they do not belong to any particular character. They may be placed in any open suitcase, following the orientation rules already explained, that is, one card face up and one card face down, alternately. They are limited, and during the game setup they are laid out on the table in a quantity equal to the number of players plus two; that is, in a 6-player game, there will be 8 cards available.

Note: each player may buy, paying two action points, at most one clothing card in their turn, adding it to their hand. Furthermore, as with all other personal items, players may not place nor move two clothing cards into the same suitcase in the same turn. Of course, during the game it is permitted to hold several of these cards in hand, bought one per player turn.

Closing the Suitcases

The open suitcase of any character is IMMEDIATELY "closed" at the exact moment a fifth card is added to the suitcase, whether through action 1 (put an item) or through action 3 (move an item).

It does not matter which type of card is used, personal item or clothing, nor its orientation, face up or face down.

The player who added the fifth card to the column of cards beneath the character slides the whole column upwards and forms a pile, keeping the orientation of all the cards. Then they turn the character's card over to the side showing its closed suitcase and place it on top of the newly formed pile.

Example: Five personal item cards stacked face down beneath the closed Tourist suitcase. Note that the Tourist must remain in this carriage until some player decides to change its position through action 4 (swap two characters).

Figure: the fifth card added to the Tourist's suitcase.

Once closed, the suitcase may NOT be reopened, and it is not possible to add new item or clothing cards to that suitcase.

With their suitcases closed, characters may swap positions on the train, changing carriages, through action 4 already explained. This allows players to improve their score at the end of the game.

End of the Game

Viajantes ends at the end of the round in which the number of closed suitcases is equal to or greater than the number of players. Note that the round is played to the end, so that all participants have the same number of turns during the game.

The position of the suitcases on the table does not matter. They may all be on the same platform or not. What matters is the number of closed suitcases, which must always be equal to the number of players!

Scoring

Starting with the player who began the game and proceeding clockwise around the table, each player, on their turn, reveals to everyone their two Secret Identity cards. Next, this player removes all the cards that are in the suitcases of their two characters and calculates their score. It does not matter whether the suitcases are open or closed; what matters is their contents. It is advisable for scoring to be done individually, that is, first the player scores one of their characters and then the other, so as not to mix the contents of the suitcases.

There are five scoring items in the game. See the table below for the points they offer:

Scoring item	Points
Own personal item of the character (the character's own item)	10 pts
Personal items of other characters	10 pts per pair ("Par")
Clothing / each card	5 pts
Position on the train	30/20/10 pts (according to the carriage occupied)
Nearby characters	15 pts (in the same carriage or in adjacent carriages on the same platform)

Example: Bia reveals her two Secret Identities, CLOWN and BALLERINA. She ends the game as follows: the Clown, closed suitcase with 5 cards, and the Ballerina, open suitcase with 4 cards. Both characters are seated in adjacent carriages worth 20 points.

Adding up the scores of her two characters, Bia ends the game with 115 points. See the figure below:

Clown's suitcase (total = 40 pts): 3 of the Clown's own personal items are worth 30 points, and 2 clothing cards are worth 10 points.
Ballerina's suitcase (total = 20 pts): 1 personal item of the Ballerina's own is worth 10 points; 1 pair of personal items of another character is worth 10 points (two items of the Policeman); 1 personal item of another character alone = 0 pts.

Because both of Bia's characters are occupying adjacent carriages, she receives 15 points for the "Nearby characters" item. Note that if the Ballerina, for example, were occupying the positions marked YES in the figure, Bia would also fulfil this item and receive the corresponding points. However, if the Ballerina were occupying the positions marked NO in the figure, the characters would not be considered nearby and this item would not be scored.

Note: in case of a tie, the player with the greatest number of "OWN" personal items in the suitcases of their two characters wins.

Variants for 3, 4 and 5 Players

All the rules are the same, but some changes occur in the game setup depending on the number of players: the number of carriages must always be EQUAL to the number of players. In addition, for each carriage removed from the game, TWO characters are also removed at random from the deck, together with their respective Secret Identity cards and the five personal items of each removed character. After that, the remaining personal item cards are evenly dealt among all the players until the deck runs out.

Note: regardless of the number of players, each participant will always have a starting hand of 10 CARDS to play with!

With regard to the clothing cards, always place on the table a number of cards EQUAL to the number of players plus 2 (example: 3 players = 5 cards). All other cards not used in the game are returned to the box.

With three players: use 3 carriages (30/20/10 points).
With four players: use 4 carriages (30/20/20/10 points).
With five players: use 5 carriages (30/30/20/20/10 points).

Note: DO NOT forget to remove from the game, for each carriage excluded, any two characters, their respective secret identity cards and all of their personal items!

Tips

Try to keep your two identities secret until the end of the game. Avoid placing the personal items of your two characters face up in their respective suitcases.
If you have few cards in hand and another player has many, swapping your hand with theirs can be a good alternative for finding better cards, such as the personal items of your characters, for example.
When you buy clothing cards, try to lay them on the table quickly to prevent another player from swapping their hand of cards with yours.
Try to place your two characters in nearby carriages to earn extra points at the end.
Viajantes is a game of bluff and deduction, so avoid very obvious plays and try to confuse your opponents to keep them from closing their suitcases prematurely or placing their characters in the last carriages of the train, which are worth fewer points. Have fun!