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Gamehelptheguildofmerchantexplorers
Goal
The goal of the game is to earn as many coins as possible. Players earn coins by placing explorers on cities, ruins, or discovery towers. Players can also create trade routes between cities, the capital, or other villages.
Gameplay
The game consists of 4 Eras. In each Era, players will take simultaneous turns after revealing Explore Cards until the Exploration Deck is exhausted.
At the end of each Era:
- All explorers (cubes) are removed from the maps. Villages, trading posts, treasure tokens, and discovery towers are left on each player's maps.
- The next Era's Explore Card is added to the Exploration Deck.
The game ends at the end of the 4th Era and the player with the most coins wins.
Spaces
There are 4 basic terrains to explore:
- Grassland
- Desert
- Mountain
- Sea
Each terrain space can be 1 of 5 different types:
Blank Spaces
Empty spaces where Villages may be placed.
Coin Spaces
Earn coins when explored.
Ruin Spaces
Special sea terrain; earn a Treasure Card when explored.
City Spaces
Connect 2 City Spaces to create a trade route.
Discovery Spaces
Special "wild" terrain; earn coins when explored.
Placing Explorers
Players may simultaneously place explorers based on the currently revealed Explore Card.
Players must place their explorers directly adjacent to the following:
- The capital space
- Previously placed explorers
- Player villages
Discovering villages
Discover new villages by fully exploring a region in a single era.
A region is a contiguous group of tiles of the same terrain.
When a region is fully explored for the first time, immediately replace an explorer on one of the blank tiles in that region with a village. Then, score coins equal to the current era.
Each region may only have one village.
Villages will not be removed at the start of each era, as opposed to explorers.
Creating trade routes
Connecting 2 City Spaces creates a trading route. Cities can be connected with a chain of explorers, villages and/or your capital.
When creating a trade route, multiply the values of the both cities and gain that amount of coins.
Then, cover up one of these cities with a trading post. This city can not be part of a trading route anymore.
Discovery spaces and towers
Discovery spaces are "wild" terrain, which means it can be explored with any type of exploration action.
When explored, gain coins based on how many other Discovery Spaces have been explored by the player (6/8/10/14).
Then, cover up the space with a Tower. This space can not be scored again.