A game by Klaus Teuber for 2-4 Players
Published by Gold Sieber Spiele, 1996
English Rules Translation by Chris Mellor
Typed, Edited and Distributed from The Sumo Rules Bank by Mike Siggins
Editor's Notes and Queries are in [square brackets].
Version 1.0 2/29/96
1. Welcome to the old world of discovery. Vast unexplored seas lie in front of you. What awaits you? Small islands? Large islands? Rich treasures?
2. Discoveries are expensive and cost an amount of money. The amount of money you have is clearly shown in front of you on your gold display.
3. The amount of income you earn per round is decided by luck and is different each turn. It is, however, the same amount for everybody playing.
4. The ship starts from the edge of the board and sails into the unknown. Does your money only stretch to a short expedition (one discovery card) or to a longer one (two discovery cards)?
5. Land in sight! Your discoverer's journey has been successful. You place one unit, or do you bleed your gold supply and build a fort or a settlement?
6. An island is completely discovered. Who receives the praise? Naturally, the player with the most valuable type of unit, possibly a settlement. The praise of posterity is given in the form of victory points on the border scoring track.
7. It is not only the sea that is discovered. Whoever discovers the treasures of a new land - such as potatoes or tomatoes - is awarded additional victory points.
8. There are also special events - discovery cards with question marks. You could encounter storms and pirates, or on the other hand you could find gold or old ruins.
9. The winner at the end is the player whose success counter is furthest advanced around the track.
Before the first game, punch out the various components. Put the rotating arrow on the spinner device. Sort the Reserve Cards (with the Goldsieber balls) from the other discovery cards. The Reserve Cards are sorted according to their number and are placed next to the board, face up, number down, in six piles. The remaining discovery cards are well shuffled and are placed in five face down piles. The Discovery Chips are shuffled and placed face down in two piles. The event table is placed next to the board. Each player receives all pieces and the success counter of one colour, a gold display and a gold marker. The gold marker is placed in space 4 of the gold display. The success counter is placed on the start space of the border track. The youngest player receives the income display and the ship, and begins.
1. Determine Gold Income. At the beginning of each turn the youngest player determines the income for everybody.
2. Discovery. When it is your turn, place the ship on an already discovered space on the board in an attempt to discover new lands. The more gold coin you invest, the greater your chances of success.
3. Placing Units. Whoever discovers new land can place their units there.
4. An Island is Fully Discovered. If one or more islands have been fully discovered and a player has ended his turn, all players with units on the island receive victory points.
5. New Player. The player then passes the ship clockwise to the next player.
The youngest player spins the income spinner. Each player adds that amount to the gold on his gold display, to a maximum of twelve.
When it is your turn, you place the ship in the middle circle of an already discovered space. This space must possess at least one free white line (connecting line) to an undiscovered space on the board.
In the first turn the ship can only be placed on a circle in a discovered side area (the blue circles off board).
NB If a player begins his turn on a space in which there is a unit of another player, this incurs [extra] cost. He must spend as much gold as the value of the opponent's unit. eg if there is a fort there, he must move his gold marker back three spaces.
The player now declares how many discovery cards he will turn over during his turn. For each declared card he move his gold marker down one space. He must declare at least one card.
i) The player draws a card from one of the five decks. If he draws a card with a question mark, then after placing the card the event is read off from the event table and carried out.
ii) He places the card on a free side of the space on which the ship stands. All four sides of the card must fit with any cards already in place - water to water, and land to land.
iii) If the card does not fit, then it is removed from the game and placed in the box.
iv) If the card fits, then it must be placed down. The player then moves the ship along the connecting line onto the circle of the newly discovered space. If the player has more than one placing down option, the he chooses which one.
v) If the player has declared more than one card then he can keep on trying to discover - he places down cards and moves the ship onto the card.
vi) It can happen that a player can turn over fewer cards than he has declared. Indeed, if he moves with his ship onto a card which has no more connecting lines to an undiscovered area he has no choice but to stop.
vii) If at the end of a turn there is a gap in which only a specific type of card can be played, ie all four sides are surrounded by discovered areas, then this gap can be filled from a card in the reserve. In rare cases a group can consist of more than one space which is surrounded only by land. This gap is filled with reserve cards on which there is only land.
If a player has moved the ship onto a card on which land is shown, then he can place down one unit from his supply. His turn then ends, even if the player would have turned over further cards and placed them.
The player places the unit on the land and moves his gold marker down by the cost of the unit: Scout = 1; Fort = 3; Settlement = 6.
If at the end of a turn an island is completely discovered, the largest discoverer of an island is determined. This is the player with the most valuable type of unit on the island (a settlement is more valuable than a fort). If there is a tie as to who is the largest discoverer, then in addition you take into consideration who has the most of the lesser units on the island [ie Settlement + Fort + Two Scouts beats Settlement + Fort + One Scout. Fort + No Scouts beats Three Scouts - it is the possession of a fort which wins, not the number of 'lesser' units]. If there is still a tie, then all player in the tie are joint discoverers of the new land.
If there is at least one fort or settlement on the island, then a new discovery has been made. The largest discoverer (or more than one if a tie) takes a discovery chip from the pile and places it face up in front of him. If there aren't enough chips for all eligible players to draw, then no-one receives one.
The value of an island is determined by adding together the number of tiles that form the island and the value of discovery chips found there. If more than one player has drawn chips, then only the chip with the highest value is counted.
The largest discoverer receives the entire value of the island as victory points. The other players on the island each receive half the victory points of the player ahead of them. ie If the winner receives twelve points, second receives six, the third three and so on. Round up fractions [each time - so 10,5,3,2]. All player who score points move their victory point marker around the track and all units from the island are returned to their owners' supply piles.
The game ends when all spaces on the board have been discovered. If the last card laid completes an island, this island is scored as usual.
In exceptional cases it can happen that the board is not completely full when the last discovery card is taken. In which case, the game ends when the placing of the latter takes place. All incomplete islands are scored as if they had been fully discovered [at their current size or their projected size?], however a discovery chip is not given for these islands.
A discovery bonus is made to the player with the most discovery chips in front of them. The bonus is equal to the number, not total value, of discovery chips a player has and these are added to his victory point tally. If two or more players are tied for discovery chips, each player gains the discovery bonus.
Whichever player is now furthest along the victory point track is the winner.
Sturm - Storm: Your turn ends immediately. The player cannot place any unit, nor turn over any further discovery cards.
Feindliche Ureinwohner - The Natives are Revolting: If the player wishes to place a unit on this card, then he must pay double the amount of money - so 2 for a scout, 6 for a fort. It is not possible to build a settlement here.
Freundliche Ureinwohner - Friendly Natives: The player can draw a discovery chip from the pile and place it face up in front of him. NB This chip cannot be used to move along the victory point track [so what is it used for? - determining the value of the island? Does it have value at game end?]
Pirates: The player loses half his money, rounding the losses up. He must move his gold marker back that number of spaces.
Ruins: The player receives three victory points. He immediately moves his victory point marker forward three spaces.
Gold: You find three gold pieces (and a wand of fireballs). Move your gold marker up three spaces to a maximum of twelve.