Stone Age Rules

By Michael Tummelhofer

2-4 players
Age 13+
60-90 min.

Game components:


• 1 game board
• 4 player boards
• 68 wooden resources
• 40 wooden figures
• 8 markers in two different sizes
• 53 Food tokens
• 28 Building tiles
• 18 Tool tiles
• 1 First player token
• 36 Civilization cards
• 7 dice
• 1 leather dice cup
• 1 summary sheet
• this rulebook

Setup



1. Place the board in the middle of the table.

2. Sort the Food tokens according to their value and place each stack on the hunting grounds.

3. The 28 wood resources are placed on the forest.

4. The 18 clay resources are placed on the clay mound.

5. The 12 stone resources are placed on the quarry

6. The 10 gold resources are placed on the river.

7. The Tool tiles are sorted according to their value (1/2 and 3/4) and placed on the appropriate spaces of the village

8. The Civilization cards are shuffled and placed face-down next to the game board. Starting with the rightmost space, the first 4 cards (regardless of the number of players) are revealed and placed on the 4 indicated spaces.

9. The Building tiles are shuffled and stacked in piles of 7 buildings. Place as many piles in the spaces as there are players: 4 piles with 4 players, 3 piles with 3 players, and 2 piles with 2 players. Any leftover piles are returned to the box without looking at the tiles. Finally, reveal the first tile of each pile.

10. Each player chooses a color and places their small marker on space 0 of the agriculture track (lower left corner) and their big marker on space 0 of the scoring track (top left corner).

11. Each player takes a player board on which they will develop their village. On it, they put 5 figures of their color and Food tokens worth a total value of 12 (a 10 and a 2 for example). Your player board is where you will put the tools, buildings, and other pieces you acquire during the game. It also provides summaries.

12. The remaining figures (5 per color) create a general supply next to the game board. The 7 dice and the dice cup are also placed nearby.

13. The youngest player takes the First player token, and you may begin playing the game, as described on page 4.

Game overview


The first player will place one or more figures on the location of her choice. Then, the player to her left will do the same, and so forth until every player has placed all of their figures on the board. Following this, starting once more with the first player, each player moves from location to location and takes the corresponding action. This represents a player’s game turn. Once a player’s turn is over, the player to her left does the same, and so forth until every player has finished their turn. Finally, the first player hands the First player token to the player to her left. The game is played over a varying number of rounds played like the previous one. A detailed description of a game round and each action follows.


The game rounds


Each round is divided into 3 phases that must be played in the following order:
1. One after the other, players place their figures on the game board.
2. Players take the actions associated with their figures.
3. Players feed their tribe, represented by their figures.


1. One after the other, players place their figures on the game board The first player begins by placing one or more figures on the location of her choice. Then, in clockwise order, the next player does the same and places one or more figures on the location of his choice, followed by the next player, and so forth until every player has placed all of their figures on the board.
Notes: Each location shows a certain number of circles; these indicate the maximum number of figures that may be placed there. On his turn to place figures, a player may not pass if he still has some unplaced figures. A player may never place figures on a location where he already has figures. For instance, if Red had placed 4 figures in the forest, she could not add more figures to the forest during this same round, even if some circles were still available.

How many figures may be placed in the various locations?
Tool maker:
The tool maker only accepts one figure per round.
Example: Blue places one of his figures onto the tool maker space. That lone space is now occupied and no other figure may be placed onto the tool maker this round.

Hut:
Only 2 figures of the same player may be placed at the same time onto the hut. These 2 figures must be placed at the same time.
Example: Green places 2 figures onto the hut (because he chose the hut, he must put 2 figures on it). No other players may visit the hut this round.

Field:
The field only accepts one figure per round.
Example: Yellow places one of her figures onto the field space. That lone space is now occupied and no other figure may be placed onto the field this round.

Hunting grounds:
This is the only location with no circles. Each player may put as many figures as they wish onto the hunting grounds.

Forest, clay mound, quarry and river:
Each of these locations can accept up to 7 figures.
Example: Red has 4 figures on the forest. Yellow decides to place 2 of her figures onto the forest. There are now 6 figures in the forest. Blue then places 1 figure onto the forest. The 7 forest spaces are now occupied and no other figure may be added to it during this round.

The same rules apply to the clay mound, the quarry and the river.


Civilization cards:
As per the depicted circle, each card can only accept one figure. Cards may be occupied in any order.
Example: Red places 1 figure onto the 2nd Civilization card. That card is now full. The remaining 3 Civilization cards may still be occupied by any player (the same or another one).

Building tiles:
As per the depicted circle, each building can only accept one figure. Buildings may be occupied in any order.
Example: Yellow places 1 figure onto the 3rd building. That building is now full. The remaining 3 buildings may be occupied by any player (the same or another).

Players play in clockwise order. Locations may be chosen in any order.

Placing turn example where the play order is: Red (first player), Blue, Green, Yellow.

Red places 1 figure onto this card.

Blue places 5 figures onto the hunting grounds.

Green places 2 figures onto the hut.

Yellow places 1 figure onto that building

Since players place a varying number of figures on each of their placing turns, some players will often run out of figures on their player board while other players will still have figures left to place. Once every player cannot play figures (either because their figures are all on the game board, or because they cannot place their remaining figures on the available locations), the 2nd phase of the game begins.


2. Players take the actions associated with their figures Starting with the first player and continuing in clockwise order, each player takes every action corresponding to their figures. On their turn, a player chooses the order in which they want to take their actions (which varies with the placement of their figures).
Once a player has taken a figure’s action, that figure is returned to its player board. In this way, at the end of their turn, a player will have all of their figures back on their player board.


Which action is associated with which location?


The tool maker
It is here that players acquire new Tool tiles. If a player does not yet have a Tool tile, she takes a value 1 Tool tile and places it on her player board so that the number 1 is visible.

Then, players follow these
For their 2nd and 3rd Tool tiles, the player takes a new value 1 Tool tile and puts it on an available space.

For their 4th tool, the player flips a value 1 tool value 2 face-up.

Starting with the 7th tool, value 2 Tool tiles are replaced with a value 3 Tool tile. Starting with the 10th tool, value 3 tools are flipped value 4 face-up.

Important: Each Tool tile may only be used once per round, during a dice roll for gathering resources or food. A Tool tile is always used completely, thus it is not possible to keep part of a Tool tile for a future dice roll. After using a Tool tile, its owner should turn it 90° to indicate that it has already been used during this round.

For examples on using Tool tiles, see “Hunting and the dice roll” on page 6.

Hut:
This location allows the player who placed 2 figures there to take an extra figure from the supply and add it to his player board. That player will have access to this extra figure for the remainder of the game rounds.
Example: Green placed 2 figures on the hut. He takes one of his figures from the supply and puts it on his player board, and takes back his 2 figures from the hut.

Field:
The player returns her figure on her player board and moves her marker up on the agriculture track by 1 space. This increases the food a player receives at the end of a round.

Hunting and the dice roll:
For each of his figures on the hunting grounds, the player takes 1 die and places it in the dice cup. He rolls these dice and adds the value shown on them. He can then use as many tools as he wants to modify this result. Finally, he divides the final result by 2 (rounded down) and this quotient (the result of the division) indicates the quantity of food the player receives.
Example: Blue rolls 5 dice and gets 14. He does not use any tools and takes 7 food from the board.
Example: Green rolls 3 dice and gets 11. Normally, he would only receive 5 food, however he decides to use a value 1 tool to increase his result to 12. This gives him a total of 6 food. He then turns his Tool tile by 90° and will no longer be able to use it this round.
Example: Yellow rolls 2 dice and gets 4. Yellow uses her 2 value 1 tools, for a final result of 6. This allows her to take 3 food from the supply.
Hunting allows a player to get the food they might be missing since the food acquired with the help of the agriculture track is often insufficient to feed a player’s tribe (see phase 3).


Forest, clay mound, quarry and river - dice roll:
These locations allow players to obtain wood, clay, stone, or gold. The various resources are acquired in almost the same way that food is obtained from the hunting grounds, with the only difference being that the final result is not divided by the same number:
Forest - Wood gathered is equal to the result divided by 3.
Clay mound - Clay gathered is equal to the result divided by 4.
Quarry - Stone gathered is equal to the result divided by 5.
River - Gold gathered is equal to the result divided by 6.

Example: Green rolls 2 dice for the 2 figures he placed on the river and gets a 5. Because he has already used his tool for hunting, he cannot use it again. Since his result is not at least 6, he does not get anything.
Example: Red rolls 3 dice for her 3 figures and gets 7. She uses her 3 value 2 tools to increase her result to 13, allowing her to get 2 gold.
The resources are used to acquire Civilization cards and buildings. Resources are not limited. If need be, use replacement pieces that you deem suitable.

Civilization cards:
The player takes the card and pays the number of resources depicted above that card. Paid resources are returned into their respective supply. The player pays with the resources of her choice (usually wood or clay; food is not a resource and therefore cannot be used to acquire cards or buildings). If the player cannot or does not want to pay the required resources, she takes back her figure and leaves the card in place.
Each player places their cards face-down on the corresponding space of their player board. The “One-use tool” cards must be placed next to their player board until used. Players are allowed to look at their cards at any time. Civilization cards are described in detail on the cards summary sheet.

Building tiles:
The player takes the building and pays the depicted resources. Paid resources are returned into their respective supply. Then, that player immediately moves her scoring marker on the scoring track by the number of spaces shown on the building. To complete this action, the player flips the next building in that pile face-up.
Example: Yellow pays 2 wood and 1 clay and returns them into their supply. She then places that building on her player board and scores 10 points by moving her marker forward on the scoring track. If a player cannot or does not want to pay the resources, she takes back her figure and leaves the building in place. There are 8 buildings for which a player may choose the type of resources used, but not the number. Furthermore, there are 3 buildings for which the number (max. 7) and type of resources are chosen by the player. When acquiring such a building, the player must count the points scored herself and move her marker by the corresponding number of spaces on the scoring track. The numbers used to obtain resources also determine their points value.


The various buildings


Buildings list the amount of VP that they provide the player and the resource required to construct it.

Example : Blue pays with the following resources: 3 stones and 1 wood (i.e. 4 resources of 2 different types). The value of these resources means that he scores 18 points. Each stone is worth 5 points whereas the wood is worth 3 points The player places the acquired building on one of the corresponding spaces of their board. Once a player has more than 5 buildings, he stacks them on these spaces.

3. Players feed their tribe, represented by their figures Once every player has taken back all of their figures on their player board, they must feed their tribe. Each figure needs 1 food.
Firstly, for each level a player has attainted on the agriculture track, she takes 1 food from the supply. Then, each player must pay 1 food to the supply for each figure she has on her player board. Leftover food tokens are kept for the following rounds.
If a player does not have enough food to feed all of her figures:
The player must first use all the food she has. Then, she may (if she wants and/or can) pay what is missing with resources of her choice (1 resource equals 1 food). Her tribe is satiated (thematically, the resources are traded for food). If a player cannot or does not want to use resources to pay for the missing food, that player immediately loses 10 victory points (the number of points lost is always 10, regardless of the number of unfed figures; also, a player may end up with a negative score). Either way, the player must use all of her food!
Once every player is done feeding their tribe (or not and lost 10 points), the round is over. The First player token is passed to the next player in clockwise order and a new round begins.
New round
To start a new round, the remaining Civilization cards are slid to the right. Then, new cards are revealed to fill the empty spaces, starting from the right as always. Finally, players may adjust their Tool tiles to indicate that they may use them again. Play continues with the 1st phase of a round.
Example: During the first round, the 2nd and 3rd card were taken by players. The 1st (rightmost) card stays in place and the 4th card is moved right. Two new cards are revealed from the pile and placed on the remaining two spaces.


End of the game


The game ends when one of these 2 situations occurs:
• Either there aren’t enough Civilization cards in the pile to fill the 4 spaces at the beginning of a round, or
• at least one pile of Building tiles is empty.
In the first case, the game ends immediately without starting the new round. In the second case, the current round is played to completion, including players feeding their tribe. Finally, players proceed with the final scoring.
Final scoring and winner Use the Civilization cards summary sheet for more information on this last phase. Each player proceeds as follows:
The number of different Civilization cards with a green background is multiplied by itself. Each player can have more than one set of different green-backed Civilization cards. Example: Adele has 5 different Civilization cards.

Writing Medicine Pottery Art Music
= 25 points (5x5)
She also has another Pottery card (thus creating a second set) : 1 point (1x1) Cards with a sand background are scored using the following method. The number of farmers is multiplied by the position of your marker on the agriculture track:
5 farmers x 7 on the agriculture track = 35 points.
The number of tool makers is multiplied by the total value of your
Tool tiles :
3 tool makers x 7 total Tool tiles value = 21 points.
The number of builders is multiplied by your number of Building tiles:
7 builders x 6 Building tiles = 42 points.
The number of shamans is multiplied by the number of figures that you have on your board:
3 shamans x 8 figures = 24 points.
Each remaining resource (not food) is worth 1 point.

All points are immediately recorded on the scoring track.
The player with the highest total is the winner.
In case of a tie, the tied players compare the sum of their agriculture level, total Tool value and acquired figures to determine the winner.
Changes for games with 2 or 3 players
• With 2 and 3 players, only 2 of these locations may be occupied during a round: tool maker, hut, and field. The 3rd location must remain vacant. The vacant location can, of course, change from round to round.
• With 3 players: the figures of only 2 players may occupy each of these locations: forest, clay mound, quarry, and river.
• With 2 players: the figures of only 1 player may occupy each of these locations: forest, clay mound, quarry, and river.
• The other rules remain unchanged.

Credits

© 2008 Hans im Glück Verlags - GmbH
© 2013 Z-Man Games Inc. for the English version
English version by: Team Z-Man Games
info@zmangames.com
www.zmangames.com

Z-Man Games Inc.
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Vaudreuil-Dorion
Québec, Canada
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