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Gamehelpeggsandempires

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Eggs and Empires

Overview

In Eggs and Empires, players send Adventurers to Ridback Mountain to collect valuable Dragon Eggs while trying to avoid Exploding Eggs.

Each player has a matching deck of Adventurers numbered 1–10. On each turn, players simultaneously choose an Adventurer from their hand.

Normally, the highest-numbered Adventurer chooses an Egg first, followed by the next highest, and so on. However, many Adventurers have special abilities that can change the order or affect what happens to the collected Eggs.

The game is played over 3 rounds of 9 turns each.

At the end of the game, the player with the most total VP wins.

Components

  • 60 Empire Cards
    • 6 matching decks of 10 Adventurers
  • 42 Egg Cards
  • 13 Egg Tokens
  • 1 Tie Breaker Marker

Setup

Prepare the Egg Deck

Remove Egg Cards based on the number of players.

Players Egg Cards Used
2–4 Cards marked 2/3/4p
5 Cards marked 2/3/4p and 5p
6 All Egg Cards

Return all unused Egg Cards to the box.

Player Setup

Each player takes 1 Empire Deck.

Then:

  1. Shuffle your 10 Empire Cards.
  2. Place them face-down as your personal draw pile.
  3. Draw the top 3 cards into your hand.

At the beginning of the game, each player may once choose to discard their entire starting hand and draw 3 new Empire Cards.

If you do:

  • Shuffle the discarded cards together with your remaining Empire Cards.

Prepare the Play Area

  1. Shuffle the Egg Deck.
  2. Place it face-down in the center.
  3. Reveal starting Egg Cards based on the player count.
Players Eggs Revealed Each Turn
2–4 2
5 3
6 4

Give the Tie Breaker Marker to the player who most recently got eaten by a Dragon.

Gameplay

The game lasts 3 rounds.

Each round lasts 9 turns.

Every turn follows these steps:

  1. Choose an Empire Card.
  2. Reveal Empire Cards.
  3. Collect Eggs.
  4. Discard played cards and unclaimed Eggs, then reveal new Eggs.
  5. Resolve Turn End abilities and draw back up to 3 cards.

1. Choose an Empire Card

Each player secretly chooses 1 Empire Card from their hand.

Place it face-down in front of you.

Once everyone has chosen:

  • Reveal all selected Empire Cards simultaneously.

2. Reveal Empire Cards

After revealing, determine the order in which players will collect Eggs.

Normally:

  • The highest-numbered Empire Card chooses first.
  • The next-highest chooses second.
  • Continue in descending numerical order.

Some Adventurer abilities override this order.

3. Collect Eggs

Starting with the highest eligible Empire Card, players collect available Egg Cards.

Continue until all revealed Eggs have been collected, if possible.

Collecting Rules

  • A player normally collects no more than 1 Egg per turn.
  • Players must take an Egg if able.
  • Collected Egg Cards are placed face-down in the player's play area.
  • Empire Card abilities may change collection order or prevent a player from collecting an Egg.
  • If a player does not collect an Egg, move to the next eligible Empire Card.
  • Continue until all available Eggs have been taken or no eligible player can take one.

Tie Breaker Marker

If multiple players reveal Empire Cards with the same number:

  1. Begin with the player holding the Tie Breaker Marker.
  2. Proceed clockwise from that player to determine the order among tied players.

After any turn in which a tie occurred:

  • Pass the Tie Breaker Marker to the player on the left.

Important:

Multiple Dark Priestesses (9) canceling each other is not considered a tie for purposes of moving the Tie Breaker Marker.

4. Prepare the Next Turn

After Eggs have been collected:

  1. Discard all played Empire Cards unless an ability instructs otherwise.
  2. Discard any unclaimed Egg Cards.
  3. Reveal new Egg Cards according to the player count.
Players New Eggs
2–4 2
5 3
6 4

5. Resolve Turn End Abilities

Resolve any applicable Turn End Empire Card abilities.

Then each player draws back up to:

  • 3 Empire Cards

Exception:

Before the 9th turn of a round, there are no Empire Cards remaining to draw.

Empire Card Abilities

Each Empire Deck contains Adventurers numbered 1–10.

1 — Bard

No Ability

Resolve the Bard normally according to its rank.

2 — Scout

Turn End

After Egg Cards have been collected:

  1. Take the top card of the Egg Deck.
  2. Secretly look at it.
  3. Place it face-down in the center of the play area.

This Egg becomes available during the next turn.

The normal number of Egg Cards is still revealed face-up for the next turn.

Therefore, the face-down Egg is in addition to the normal revealed Eggs.

If multiple Scouts were played:

  • Each Scout player performs this ability in player order.
  • Each player may look only at the face-down Egg they personally added.

3 — Shepherd

Collect Eggs

The Shepherd always collects an Egg before any Blacksmith.

4 — Courier

Turn End

If the Courier collected an Egg:

  • You may give that Egg to any other player.

5 — Merchant

Turn End

If the Merchant did not collect an Egg:

  • The Merchant is worth +6 VP at the end of the round.

Place the Merchant in your scoring pile to track this bonus.

6 — Priest

Turn End

If the Priest collected an Egg:

  • You may discard any Egg Card you previously collected.

This may include:

  • The Egg collected by the Priest this turn
  • An Egg collected during an earlier turn

7 — Mage

Collect Eggs

The Mage never collects a face-up Exploding Egg with negative VP.

If a face-down Egg is available:

  • The Mage may choose whether to collect it.

If the Mage chooses a face-down Egg:

  • You must keep it after revealing it, even if it is an Exploding Egg.

8 — Blacksmith

Turn End

If the Blacksmith did not collect an Egg:

  • The Blacksmith is worth -4 VP at the end of the round.

Place the Blacksmith in your scoring pile to track this penalty.

9 — Dark Priestess

Collect Eggs

If more than 1 Dark Priestess is played during the same turn:

  • All Dark Priestesses cancel.
  • None of them collect an Egg.

This cancellation does not count as a tie for purposes of the Tie Breaker Marker.

10 — Hero

No Ability

Resolve the Hero normally according to its rank.

Round End

A round ends after 9 turns.

At that point:

  • Each player will have exactly 1 unused Empire Card.

Round Scoring

Each player totals the VP from:

  • Collected Egg Cards
  • Positive VP
  • Negative VP from Exploding Eggs
  • Merchant bonuses
  • Blacksmith penalties
  • Any other applicable scoring effects

Record each player's score.

Prepare the Next Round

After scoring:

  1. Each player shuffles their Empire Cards.
  2. Place them face-down as a new draw pile.
  3. Draw 3 cards.
  4. Players may choose to discard their starting hand and draw 3 new Empire Cards as in previous rounds.
  5. Give the Tie Breaker Marker to the player with the lowest total VP.
  6. Collect all Egg Cards.
  7. Shuffle the Egg Deck.
  8. Place it face-down in the center.
  9. Reveal the appropriate number of starting Egg Cards.
Players Starting Eggs
2–4 2
5 3
6 4

Then begin the next round.

Game End

The game ends after the completion of Round 3.

Add each player's scores from all 3 rounds.

The player with the highest total VP wins.

If tied:

  • The tied players share the victory.

2-Player Rules

A 2-player game follows the normal rules with the following changes.

2-Player Setup

Use the 3/4-player Egg Deck setup.

Each player:

  1. Takes 2 complete Empire Decks.
  2. Shuffles those decks together.
  3. Draws a hand of 4 Empire Cards.

2-Player Turns

Each player plays:

  • 2 Empire Cards per turn

Each player may collect:

  • Up to 2 Egg Cards per turn, if able.

You may not choose to play two copies of the same Empire Card on the same turn.

For example:

  • You may not play both Heroes (10) together.
  • You may not play both Blacksmiths (8) together.

Resolve all played Adventurers together according to their ranks and abilities.

2-Player Example

Suppose the available Eggs are:

  • 13 VP Egg
  • -6 VP Egg

Player 1 reveals:

  • Hero (10)
  • Blacksmith (8)

Player 2 reveals:

  • Blacksmith (8)
  • Shepherd (3)

The collection order is:

  1. Hero (10)
  2. Shepherd (3)
  3. Blacksmith (8)
  4. Blacksmith (8)

The Hero takes the 13 VP Egg.

The Shepherd collects before the Blacksmiths because of its ability and must take the -6 VP Egg.

Neither Blacksmith collects an Egg.

Therefore:

  • Both players place their Blacksmith in their respective scoring piles for its -4 VP penalty.

Players then draw back up to 4 Empire Cards.

Con/Pub Scoring Variant

Instead of tracking cumulative VP across 3 rounds, you may use Egg Tokens.

At the end of each round:

  • The player with the highest VP for that round collects 1 Egg Token.

If multiple players tie for the highest score:

  • Each tied player collects 1 Egg Token.

Winning with Egg Tokens

Players Egg Tokens Needed to Win
2–4 3
5–6 2

The first player to reach the required number of Egg Tokens wins.

Clarifications

  • Players choose Empire Cards simultaneously.
  • Normally, higher-numbered Adventurers collect Eggs before lower-numbered Adventurers.
  • Empire Card abilities may override normal numerical order.
  • Players must collect an Egg if able.
  • A player normally cannot collect more than 1 Egg per turn.
  • Collected Eggs are kept face-down.
  • Unclaimed Eggs are discarded at the end of the turn.
  • Face-down Eggs created by Scouts are added to the normal number of Eggs revealed for the following turn.
  • A Mage may refuse a face-down Egg, but if the Mage takes it, the Egg must be kept.
  • Multiple Dark Priestesses cancel one another rather than creating a normal tie.
  • Each round lasts exactly 9 turns.
  • Each player will have 1 unused Empire Card at the end of a normal round.
  • Merchant and Blacksmith cards should be retained in a scoring pile when their scoring effects trigger.

Quick Reference

Each Turn

  1. Choose 1 Empire Card.
  2. Reveal simultaneously.
  3. Resolve Egg collection order and abilities.
  4. Collect Eggs.
  5. Discard played cards and unclaimed Eggs.
  6. Reveal new Eggs.
  7. Resolve Turn End abilities.
  8. Draw back to 3 cards.

Egg Collection

Normally:

10 → 9 → 8 → 7 → 6 → 5 → 4 → 3 → 2 → 1

Remember the major exceptions:

  • Shepherd (3) collects before Blacksmith (8).
  • Mage (7) never takes a face-up negative Egg.
  • Multiple Dark Priestesses (9) collect nothing.

Credits

  • Design: Matthew Riddle and Benjamin Pinchback
  • Illustration: Cristian Chihaia
  • Graphic Design: Chris Kirkman
  • Playtesters: Pat Desantis, Joe Piva, Ken Grazier, Matt Wolfe, Eric Handler, Joel Eddy, Chris Kirkman, Ralph Anderson
  • Rules Review: Matt Smith, Keith Collins, and others
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