A game for 2 to 6 players, from A.S.S.
Rules translated by Dennis Arnold
Rules typed by Dawn Thurbon
Distributed from The Rules Bank by Mike Siggins
Each participant takes a set of 6-pieces of a Roman family (3 generations), and a scoring piece of the same colour.
On the Caracalla board there are 6 baths in which 7 different types of family meetings can be held; in doing so, whoever uses his Romans best, gets valuable points. He can then move his scoring piece in the Gardens accordingly.
Whoever arrives first in the Temple at the centre of the Gardens, has won the game.
The scoring pieces are placed at the entrance gate to the Gardens (small board).
Each player gets 6 Roman pieces of the same colour as his scoring piece; these are not put on to the board until the game has started.
On the Caracalla board there are 124 square spaces, separated by the black lines. The Baths, each with 8 spaces, also count as movement spaces (Pool spaces).
In the centre of the board, there are 2 mosaic fishes; these barriers may not be crossed and they do not count as spaces.
A player is chosen to start and the others follow clockwise in turn.
On his turn a player can choose 1 of 3 possibilities:
Basically, the Romans may move only horizontally or vertically from space to space, but not diagonally.
Baths may be entered and left.
Your own Romans and those of other players may be jumped over.
Occupied spaces and the barriers in the centre may not be landed on.
The aim of the game is to hold Family Meetings at the various Baths. These are possible at any of the 6 Baths.
Each family consists of a mother, father, grandmother, grandfather, a boy and a girl.
There are 7 different types of family meeting, each having at least 4 participants:
People who do not belong to a meeting do not interfere with it, but they get no score.
A maximum of 8 Romans can participate in any one meeting, this being the maximum number of bath spaces.
Each player can, at the end of his turn, organise a meeting in a baths if the requirement is met - ie. There must be at least 4 Romans in a group at the baths.
The player chooses which meeting he wants to organise. In each baths, there can only be one definite meeting held, even if there are other possible combinations.
Each piece which is participating in a meeting comes into the scoring.
| No. of Families (i.e. different colours) | Points per Piece |
|---|---|
| 1 | 1 |
| 2 | 3 |
| 3 | 6 |
| 4 | 10 |
| 5 | 15 |
| 6 | 21 |
Each player participating in a meeting, determines his total points score and moves his piece in the Gardens accordingly, in the direction of the Temple.
All the Romans participating in a meeting are then removed from the board. Any pieces there, but not participating, remain and can, in due course, be moved as normal.
The participating players get their Romans back and can use them again.
The Baths in which the Meeting took place are now closed with one of the red square pieces. The 8 pools at this Baths may not be entered by the Romans any more but, any pieces already there, can leave in the normal way.
When all the Baths are closed with the red squares, the blocks are all removed and meetings can be held in the Baths again.
The player who reaches the temple in the Gardens first, wins the game.
Each plays with 2 families, playing one colour each turn alternately.