Yangtze Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Components
• Goal of the Game
• Game Setup
• Game Play
  • The Actions in Detail
    • 1. Sell a Bundle of Goods
    • 2. Purchase One Good
  • Branches
  • Rulers
• Special Cards
• End of Game and Final Scoring
  • 1. Sale of Goods Bundles
  • 2. Branches Scoring
  • 3. Liquidation Cards

Game Components

1 Game board displaying:

• The river Yangtze, which flows from central China (open side) to Shanghai and is filled with goods tiles; only the goods that are on the river may be purchased during the game; the flow of the goods will take place according to the river current starting at the open side where the goods will be placed
• 8 Trading houses with the numbers 4 to 10; the numbers indicate the price for the goods on the tile, that lies in front of the respective trading house
• 12 Half round fields, one for each ruler of the Qing Dynasty, indicating his reign; Next to these fields the 12 rulers are placed during the game
• 3 Overview tiles: two, listing values of goods bundles, one, listing the value of branches

61 "Goods" tiles in two different categories:

• 25 Luxury goods: five different goods in 5 different colors, recognizable by the following features:

  • goods are in strong, bright colors
  • dark brown ship
  • blue water
  • a symbol in a round white field; each color is assigned a symbol

• 36 Daily needs goods: six different goods in 6 different colors, recognizable by the following features:

  • goods are in pastel colors
  • light brown ship
  • turquoise water
  • a symbol in a square, brown field; each color is assigned a symbol

• 24 Special cards: 4 color coded sets of 6 cards each

• 12 "Ruler" Tokens with special actions

• 15 Coins with the value 50

• 20 Tokens: Branch tokens

• 1 Cloth bag

• 4 Money Track boards

• 4 Marking coins with square hole; These are used to mark the level of money on the track boards

• 4 Player screens to hide the purchased goods tokens

Goal of the Game

The goal is to possess the greatest fortune at the end of the game by cleverly buying and selling goods as well as investing in branches.

Game Setup

Before the first play, carefully push the pieces out of the punching boards.

The game board is placed in the center of the table.

The goods, rulers and branch tokens are placed in the bag. Then, one at a time pull a tile out of the bag and - as long as it is a goods tile – place it face up onto the Yangtze river until each trading house has one tile in front of it. If you pull any ruler or branch token, put them back in the bag, then place the bag next to the game board.

Note: The prices along the river become cheaper as they get closer to Shanghai, because the skippers are becoming ever more impatient to sell their goods. But if you wait too long for a better price, you risk forfeiting your chance of getting the best goods at a bargain price to your competitors!

Each player receives a player screen as well as a money track board and a marking coin that's placed on the number 30 of the money track. The track board is used to track player's money and is visible to all players. The coins with the 50 value are placed next to the game board. In addition, each player receives a set of special cards of one color and places them face up in front of him so that they are visible to all players.

Each player may now pull two goods tokens out of the bag and place them behind their screen. Tokens with branches or rulers are put back in the bag.

Game Play

A start player is chosen. Then, game play proceeds in clockwise fashion.

On a player's turn he performs the following actions:

1. Sell bundle(s) of goods
2. Purchase one good

After a player has completed his turn, it's the next player's turn.

Note: Should the rare event occur, that no player wants to perform an action in a round, the game ends and the final scoring takes place.

The Actions in Detail

1. Sell a Bundle of Goods

The player can sell one or more bundles of goods only at the beginning of his turn. A bundle of goods consists of tokens of the same category (luxury goods or goods of daily use), which show either the same goods or have the same goods color or symbol color. The value of the bundles depends on the number of tokens in the bundle. The overview boards on the game board and the player screens show the value for the respective goods category.

Examples of Goods of daily use:

• 1x good = 3
• 4x same goods = 35
• 3x same color or same symbol = 20

Examples of Luxury goods:

• 1x good = 3
• 2x same goods = 15
• 3x same color or same symbol = 20

The player advances his marking coin on the money track according to the value of the bundle of goods sold and then places the goods bundle tokens in the box (not in the bag!).

If a player's money level exceeds 60, he receives a coin with a value of 50 and resets his marking coin on the track board by 50 points. The coins with a value of 50 may be exchanged at any time if the money on the money track board drops to 0 or falls below 0.

2. Purchase One Good

A player can purchase any one good from the Yangtze river. It is recommended to proceed as follows: first, player takes the desired token from the river and places it in front of his screen, then the player sets his coin marker back on the money track by the cost amount of the bought good and only thereafter he places the purchased good behind his screen. This allows all players to see what good was purchased and to follow the money track changes. Purchases that would exceed the money amount of the player are not allowed.

If the player bought a good, he draws a new token out of the bag and as long as it's a goods token, he places it at the open side of the board pushing any other tiles along the river until the resulting gap is filled.

If the player draws a ruler or a branch token instead of a goods token, the "Branches" procedure takes place immediately as described below. Only thereafter does the player draw another token from the bag. This procedure is repeated until a goods tile is drawn that is then pushed from the open side onto the Yangtze river to fill in the open spot. This then ends the player's turn.

Branches

If the player draws a branch token, it will be immediately auctioned off among all players. The player who drew the tile may make the first bid or pass. Then, other players in player order may either make a higher bid or pass. The bidding will go on until there's only one player left with the highest bid. That player sets his marking coin back on the money track by the bid amount and receives the branch token. Bidding higher than the player's money level is not allowed.

Note: If no player bids for the branch token, it is placed back in the box.

The players place their branch tokens face up in front of their screens, so that other players can always see them. They remain there until the final scoring at the end of the game.

Of the four different branches, there are two green and three brown ones. On one hand, it's all about collecting as many different green and as many different brown branch types as possible, on the other hand, it's to have more branches of each type than the other players - see final scoring at the end of the game.

Rulers

If the player draws a ruler, this token is immediately placed on the table next to an open ruler spot on the game board (starting with Nurhaci 1616-1626, ending with Puyi 1908-1912).

Starting with the player whose current turn it is, the order of the ruler on the token is applied once to each player.

If there is a question mark next to the ruler order, each player may decide whether to execute the order or not. All other orders must be executed!

The ruler orders are:

• For each branch type displayed on the ruler token in front of your own player screen, the coin marker on the money track may be advanced 2 spaces towards 60.
• Pay taxes! For every 10 money units a player possesses on his money track, the coin marker must be moved one space on the money track towards 0.
• Pay taxes! Move the coin marker in the 0 direction one space on the money track for every goods token found behind your own player screen.
• Pay taxes! For every branch token in front of your own player screen, the coin marker must be moved on the money track one space back in the 0 direction.
• One already purchased goods token behind your own player screen must be placed back in the box.
• Sell a bundle of goods.
• Purchase back any one of your own liquidity cards (see "Special Cards"). The price is equal to the value you received when it was sold.
• Exchange one of the goods tokens from behind your own player screen with a goods token on the Yangtze river.
• Choose any one of the face up rulers already on the table and execute his order.

Additional notes:

If a player has to put one of his goods tokens in the box, but does not have any, his debts will be forgiven.

If a player has to pay taxes, but does not have enough money and does not have coins with a value of 50, the amount that would take him below 0 will be forgiven. If, however, the player still has a liquidity card, he must redeem it to settle his debts.

Special Cards

Each player starts the game with six special cards, that he may use once during the game. After a card is used, it is taken out of the game.

• The player may buy two goods instead of one during his turn. Only after both goods are bought are the two empty places refilled by placing two new goods tokens. For this purpose, the first token is drawn out of the bag and placed according to the river placement rules described earlier. Then the second token can be drawn.
• The player may sell one or more bundles of goods any time in order to raise his money level, for example, to be able to take part in the auction for branches. Without this card the player can sell his goods bundle(s) only at the beginning of his turn, as described earlier.
• If the player buys a good from the Yangtze river during his turn, he takes the good without paying for it. Note: If the player buys two goods using the special card described above, he receives only one of the two goods for free.
• Liquidity cards: The player may use these any time in order to raise his money level by 10, 15 or 20. This is the value of the cards during the game. At the end of the game, each liquidity card that a player has not used is worth 30.

End of Game and Final Scoring

If a player draws the 12th ruler token from the bag and places it next to the last free ruler field, the order is still executed and applied to all players in turn order. After that, the game ends and final score is calculated as follows:

1. Sale of Goods Bundles

Each player takes the goods from behind his screen, creates bundles of them and sells them.

2. Branches Scoring

If a player has two, three or four different green branches or two, three or four different brown branches, he receives money in the amount of:

• 15 for 2
• 30 for 3, or
• 50 for 4 settlements

Then for each type of branch it is determined which player has the most and second most tokens for each type (regardless of their color). These players receive money in the amount of:

• 30 for most, or
• 15 for second most number of branches of one type

In case of a tie, the dots on the branches of one type break the tie. The player who owns the branch of that type with the least total dots receives 30 money. If only one player has a branch of that type, the money for second place is not awarded.

Example:

	Player 1	Player 2	Player 3
Green Branches	3 different ones = 30	2 different ones = 15	Only one = 0
Brown Branches	3 different ones = 30	3 different ones = 30	4 different ones = 50
Most/Second most	Most = 30	—	Second most = 15
Most/Second most	Most = 30	0	Second most = 15
Most/Second most	Second most = 15	Most = 30	0
Most/Second most	0	Most = 30	Second most = 15

Each Most/Second most row compares the players' holdings of one branch type (regardless of color) against each other.

3. Liquidation Cards

Finally, for each unused liquidity card the player receives 30 money.

The player who has the highest amount of money after the final valuation wins.