Gamehelpstoneage

Goal

Gain the most Victory Points by the end of the game.

There are two ways to gain points:

• Acquiring buildings during the game for either a fixed or variable amount
• Acquiring Civilization cards during the game that give extra points at the end of the game

Rules summary

Each round is divided into 3 phases, which are executed in the order described:

• The players take turns placing their people on the game board.
• The players use the actions of their placed people all at once in turn order.
• The players feed their people.

Phase 1:

Place People on the Board

In turn order, one area at a time, players place one or more of their people in the different areas of the board. Each "ring" in each area of the board can only be occupied by one person. The exception to this rule is the hunting ground which can be occupied by as many people of any color every turn.

Special Considerations When Playing With Fewer Than 4 Players

When playing with 2 or 3 players: Of the non-resource areas (Tool Maker, Hut and Field) only two may be occupied per turn. The third place remains empty until the next round.

With 3 players: Of the resource areas (Forest, Clay Pit, Quarry and River) only 2 players may place people in each round, even if there are additional spaces for additional people.

With 2 players: Of the resource areas (Forest, Clay Pit, Quarry and River) only 1 player may place people in each round, even if there are additional spaces for additional people.

All remaining rules remain unchanged when playing with fewer than 4 players.

Phase 2:

Use the Actions of Your Placed People

In turn order each player uses all of their placed people in any order. During this phase, the following actions may be used:

• Hunting Grounds (Food), Forest (Wood), Clay Pit (Brick), Quarry (Stone), and River (Gold): Roll 1 dice per person placed and acquire food or resources according to the number rolled (1 Food for each full 2 on Hunting Grounds, 1 Wood for each full 3 on Forest, 1 Brick for each full 4 on Clay Pit, 1 Stone for each full 5 on Quarry, 1 Gold for each full 6 on River).

• Field: Placing a person in the Field increases your Agriculture Level. Each turn during the Feeding Phase, your Agriculture Level is subtracted from the amount of people you have. A higher agriculture level allows you to more easily sustain your population. You may have a maximum agriculture level of 10.

• Tool Maker: Placing a person on the Tool Maker adds one new Tool to your player board. You only have 3 tools on your player board, and each subsequent person placed on the Tool Maker upgrades one of your tools to the next level. You have a maximum of 3 level 4 tools.

• Hut: Place two People on the Hut to gain an extra Person to place (and feed) for the rest of the game. You may have a maximum of 10 people.

• Building Card: Buy the building with the resources shown on the Building Card, scoring the point value shown in the top-left corner (A question mark in the top-left corner is explained below).

• Civilization Card: Buy the card with a number of resources (of any kind) depending on its position in the Civilization Card Track (1 to 4 resources depicted above the card). The immediate effect of the card is applied when purchase. The bottom half of Civilization Card is used for scoring at the end of the game.

Resources and Food

Hunting Grounds, Forest, Clay Pit, Quarry, and River: Roll 1 dice per Person placed in that area and take the corresponding resources:

• 1 Food (not a resource) for each full 2 on Hunting Grounds,
• 1 Wood for each full 3 on Forest,
• 1 Brick for each full 4 on Clay Pit,
• 1 Stone for each full 5 on Quarry,
• 1 Gold for each full 6 on River.

You may use tools to increase the dice result and take more resources. Each of your tool must be used all at once, and can be used once per turn. Some cards give you single-use tools which are lost after they are used, and don't count for final scoring.

Buildings

Pay the building cost to get the Building and receive the Point Value listed in the top-left corner of the card.

If the building cost is Not Fixed: If there is a question mark in the corner of the card, you win points for each of the resources used to acquire this building. The values of each resource correspond to the numbers it requires when people are placed on them:

• Each Wood is worth 3 Points,
• Each Brick is worth 4 Points,
• Each Stone is worth 5 Points,
• Each Gold is worth 6 Points.

Civilization Card Details

Each Civilization Card acquired brings an immediate advantage (depicted on the top half of the card) and some multiplier for final scoring (depicted on the bottom half of the card).

Place the mouse cursor on each card to see details in the tooltip.

Note that at the list of your acquired civilization cards you will see only the bottom half of each card, for the top half is no longer relevant.

Phase 3:

Feed Your People

Each Agriculture Level automatically counts as 1 Food during this phase.

You must provide 1 Food per Person.

In the event that you don't have enough food, you may use any resource to feed your people.

If you don't manage (or choose not) to feed your people by the means above, you lose all of your food and 10 points as a penalty.

Game End

The game ends when either:

• One Building Stack is empty at the end of a round, or
• There are insufficient Civilization cards to fill the 4 spots at the beginning of a round.

The final number of points for each player is decided by the conditions below:

• Points earned during the game by acquiring Buildings or Civilization, minus Food Penalties,
• Multipliers denoted at the bottom halves of Civilization Cards collected,
• Each Resource that a Player has leftover on their Player Board Scores 1 Point.

Variants

Harsh Winter

• Spend an extra stone when building certain buildings to score 5 points.
• Spend an extra gold when purchasing cards to score 6 points.

Wild Animals

• Four animal cards are shuffled into the civilization deck. When revealed, animals stay in play until driven off, subtracting 1, 2, or 3 from all dice rolls.
• Players must collectively place a total of X people on the card to drive it off (X = number of players).
• After driving off a wild animal, each player rolls 1 dice per person placed on it and receive the rewards.

Igloos

• Spend 3 resources of the same type to buy an igloo, which awards points like a building but does not count for the end-game building bonus.

The New Huts

• Adds new buildings that grant fewer points when built in exchange for a bonus (gain a wood/brick/stone each round, or +1 worker/tool/agriculture level). These do count for the end-game building bonus.

Mammoth Herd

• At the beginning of each round, a mammoth appears on the resource shown by the top-most bonus tile.
• Players who place their people there can also spend 1 food or resource per person to try to tame the mammoth.
• Each player who place people to tame the mammoth roll 1 dice per person.
• The player with the highest single dice is the mammoth tamer. Others are challengers.
• The mammoth tamer can choose to take the "1" or "all" bonus, as shown on the back of the bonus tile. The challengers take the "all" bonus.
• At the end of the game, the player with the most mammoth tile scores 10 points.

The Expansion

• A new location is available on the board: Merchant. 2 people are needed to use this place. When using, increase the merchant level by 2 and gain 2 jewelry.
• Once per round, for buying a card or a building, players can trade resources or jewelry to receive one or two resources or jewelry, depending on their levels. However, a player cannot trade if they are on space 0.
• The rules for Hunting Grounds has changed: for each full 2, 1 food or 1 jewelry can be taken.
• There is a new space for civilization cards: 3 jewelry is needed to buy a card on that space. After that, 3 extra jewelry can be spent to buy the topmost face down civilization card without applying its immediate effect.
• Jewelry is not a resource, therefore it can not be used to feed people and is worth nothing at the end of the game.
• When there are only 4 people, only 3 non-resource places are available each round. When there are only 2-3, 2 are available.
• Trade is not allowed for buying an igloo.
• The extra stone and extra gold of the Harsh Winter variant can not be obtained with a trade.