Abroad
Abroad Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 240 Location cards
- 46 Postcard cards
- 20 Bucket List tiles (double-sided: a Cost side and an Ability side)
- 40 Festival tiles (4 per region; a Cost side and an Ability side)
- 10 Local tiles (a dark Cost half and a light Effect half)
- 1 First Player token
- 5 Overview cards (showing the Turn Overview: 2.1 Travel — Stay / Train / Plane; 2.2 Activity — Write / Rest / Plan; 2.3 Extras — Local tile / Bucket List tile / Festival tile)
- 50 Coins
- 30 Energy
- 30 Excitement
- 30 Locals
- 2 Scoring Bonus tokens
- 5 Pawns (1 per player)
- 140 Day discs with an Insider Tip side (28 per player)
- 5 Scoring discs (1 per player)
- 1 Map, with a Scoring track, a Regions track, and the 10 regions
- 10 Multiplier tiles
- 1 Suitcase
- 5 Calendars (1 per player), each with an Income track and a week of 7 weekday columns (Monday through Sunday)
General Setup
Find the setup and rules for the Solo game on the extra sheet.
- Place the Map in the center of the play area.
- Put the Suitcase on the first space of the Regions track.
- Shuffle the Postcards and place them face down next to the Map to form the Postcard deck.
- Shuffle the Locations and place them face down next to the Map to form the Location deck. Feel free to split the deck into separate piles to avoid it tipping over.
- Randomly pick 1 side per Bucket List and then place both with the same side in their region, with the tile worth 5 stars stacked on top. For your first game, use 5 Bucket Lists with side A and 5 with side B.
For a 2-player game: Place 2 Day discs of an unused neutral color in each region. Flip 1 Day disc in each region to its Insider Tip symbol.
- Place all Coins, Energy, Excitement, Locals, and Multiplier tiles as the general supply within reach of all players.
- Place 1 random Local tile in each region on the Map above their 3-letter acronym.
- Give the First Player token to the player who needs a vacation the most.
- Place the Scoring Bonus tokens in 2 randomly chosen regions.
For your first game, skip step 10, leaving all Festival tiles in the game box. Add them in for the full game experience after you've played the game at least once.
- Return all Festival tiles matching the 2 regions where the Scoring Bonus tokens were placed to the game box. For the remaining 8 regions, set aside a number of the indicated Festival tiles equal to the player count minus 1 (e.g., in a 3-player game, 2 tiles per region). For Week 1, randomly choose Festival tiles for 2 different regions and place one of each in their region with the cost side face up. Keep the remaining Festival tiles for those regions with the ability side face up next to the Map for ease of reference. Put the Festival tiles for the other 6 regions aside for now.
Personal Setup
- Place a Calendar in front of yourself.
- Place 1 Energy, 1 Coin, 1 Excitement, and 1 Local on the "0" space of your Income track at the top of your Calendar. These 4 markers are your resource markers.
- Choose a color. Take the 28 Day discs of your color and place them in the 28 spots of your Calendar with the Insider Tip symbol face down.
- Place your Scoring disc on the "0" space of the Scoring track.
- Place your Pawn, 4 Coins, 2 Energy, 1 Local, and 1 Excitement into your personal supply.
Resources (Coins, Energy, Excitement, Locals) are not limited in this game. If you run out, use the Multiplier tiles or a suitable substitute.
- Draw 7 Locations into your hand. Don't show them to the other players.
- Draw 3 Postcards. Choose 1 to keep secretly. Return the other 2 to the bottom of the Postcard deck.
For your first game just draw 1 Postcard and keep it.
Anatomy of a Location
Every Location card shows:
- Days: How long it takes to visit.
- Region: Your Pawn must be in this region to visit this Location.
- Tag: Locations have 1 to 4 Tags. They are used to complete Bucket Lists and game effects. Each square Tag appears on 21% of Locations. Each round Tag appears on 13% of Locations.
- Weekday special: Extra effect if placed on this weekday.
- Effect: Immediate action you may take once when you place this Location.
An overview for Regions and Tags can be found on the last page of this rulebook.
Gameplay
Abroad is played over 4 rounds. A round represents 1 week of travel.
Each week has the following 7 phases:
- Draw Locations
- Play Week
- Region Scoring
- Refresh Festivals (only in the full game)
- Income
- Discard Locations (except in week 4)
- First Player Change (except in week 4)
Gameplay terms
- Gain: Comes from the general supply.
- Spend: Comes from your personal supply.
- Gain a Star: Advance your Scoring disc 1 space on the Scoring track.
- Discard: Comes from your hand.
- Reveal: Draw and show the indicated number of cards. Put them onto the discarded pile immediately after resolving the effects of the card that caused the reveal.
1. Draw Locations — until 7
Each player draws Locations until they have 7 in hand.
If the Location deck runs out, shuffle the discarded Locations into a new deck.
2. Play Week — 2.1 > 2.2 > 2.3
Starting with the player who has the First Player token and going clockwise, players take turns. On your turn, perform 2.1 Travel, 2.2 Activity, and 2.3 Extras in that order.
If it is your turn but you have no more Day discs available in the current week, you are skipped. Phase 2 ends when all players have no remaining Day discs in the current week.
It is possible that some players use up all of their Day discs of the week, while others still have Day discs left to play.
2.1 Travel
Choose 1 of the following 3 options:
- Airplane: Spend 4 Coins, then move your Pawn to any region of your choice.
- Train: Spend 1 Energy to move your Pawn to an adjacent region. Repeat this step (spend + move) as many times as you like. Adjacent regions are those that share a border and are a different color or are connected by a dotted line.
- Stay: Leave your Pawn where you are if you do not want to travel or cannot pay the cost.
On your first turn of the game: Place your Pawn for free in a region of your choice.
Travel Example: Blue wants to travel from FBR to SOU. By Airplane, they would spend 4 Coins. By Train, they would spend 3 Energy, since the shortest route enters 3 regions (via DAC or ITA, then BLK, then SOU).
2.2 Activity
Resolve 1 of the following 4 types of Activities, spending as many Days as its cost (marked by an X in a red box). For each Day you spend, place this week's leftmost Day disc from your Calendar to the region where your Pawn is.
You cannot spend more Days than you have remaining in your current week.
A. Visit Location: You can only visit Locations that match your Pawn's region.
Play a Location from your hand, spending as many Days as indicated on the card. Then place the Location on the last spent Day of your Calendar.
You can reduce the Day cost of a Location by spending Excitement. Each Excitement spent reduces the Day cost by 1, down to a minimum of 1.
You cannot reduce a Location's Day cost using Excitement gained from it.
Then, in any order, resolve that Location's effect and, if applicable, its Weekday special. You only resolve a Location's Weekday special if it was placed on the indicated weekday of the Calendar.
Some effects require you to spend resources or to have a number of Tags among the Locations in your Calendar. You may still visit a Location even if you cannot or don't want to use its effects.
Tags on a Location can count towards its own requirement.
Visit Location Example: Blue traveled to DAC and wants to visit a Location there. They must choose between Heidelberg and Vienna, since these are the only Locations in the DAC region they have in their hand. They visit Heidelberg. This Location requires 2 Day discs, so they place 2 Day discs from their Calendar into DAC, alongside their Pawn. Then Blue resolves the effect of Heidelberg. They cannot use the Weekday special because the Location is being played on a Thursday, and the card shows a special on Tuesdays.
B. Write: Spend 1 Day and discard 3 Locations from your hand to gain 4 Coins.
C. Rest: Spend 1 Day and discard 3 Locations from your hand to gain 2 Energy.
D. Plan: Spend 1 Day to draw 3 Locations.
Tip: For activities (B, C, D), you place a Day disc into the region where your Pawn is. Similar to activity A, but without needing to have a Location of that region.
If you can increase your income, advance the corresponding resource marker 1 space on your Income track, then choose 1 of the 2 bonuses depicted on it. If the marker is already on the "4" space, leave it there and gain 2 Stars. With the "increase any" bonus, choose any 1 resource marker to increase.
Income Example: Blue can increase their Energy Income, so they advance their Energy marker 1 space on their Income track, and immediately choose to gain 1 Coin or draw 1 Location. During the Income phase later this week, they will gain 1 Energy as income.
If you receive an Insider Tip, flip one of your Day discs anywhere on the Map to its Insider Tip side.
Insider Tip Example: Blue received an Insider Tip and chose to flip 1 Day disc in CEN to its Insider Tip side.
If you can gain a Postcard, draw 3 from the Postcard deck, keep 1, and return the other 2 Postcards to the bottom of the deck.
Each Postcard shows a top goal and a bottom goal, each worth a Star value with its own requirement (for example, the Berat Postcard's top goal is worth 5 Stars and requires having at least 3 Locations of the same region in your hand, while its bottom goal is worth 2 Stars and requires having at least 2 Locations of the same region in your hand).
Goals: If you fulfill the conditions, you gain Stars at Game End for either the top or the bottom goal.
2.3 Extras
Choose up to 3 of the following options and perform them in any order. You may only perform each option within the region containing your Pawn.
A. Local tile: Pay the cost (dark half) of the Local tile to use its effect (light half). You may use the Local tile a maximum of once per turn.
Locals Example: After Blue visited Heidelberg, they chose to spend a Local to gain 1 Excitement and draw 1 Location.
B. Bucket List tile: Check if you meet the requirements of the Bucket List tile before taking it. Take the tile with the most Stars, place it in front of you, and gain Stars immediately.
You may not complete a Bucket List if any of the following are true:
- You do not meet the requirements.
- You already have a Bucket List tile from this region.
- No more Bucket List tiles exist in this region.
C. Festival tile (only Saturday or Sunday): Pay the cost of the Festival tile, take it from the Map and immediately gain 2 Stars. From now on, you have the ability shown on this Festival tile. If there is a matching Festival tile next to the Map, place it in this region.
You may not choose a Festival if either:
- There are Day discs on Monday-Friday in your Calendar this week.
- You already have a Festival tile from this region.
Festival Example: Blue spent Saturday in ITA. Because it's the weekend, they may go to the Venice Carnival, paying the cost shown on the Festival tile (discard 2 Locations and spend 1 Excitement) and gain 2 Stars. They take the Festival tile from the Map and from now on have its ability.
3. Region Scoring
Score each region as indicated below:
- The player with the most Insider Tips in a region gains 2 Stars, or 3 Stars if the region has a Scoring Bonus token.
- The player with the second most Insider Tips in a region gains 1 Star.
To help keep track of which region was already scored, follow the order in the Regions track, moving the Suitcase down each time you finish one.
Note that 1 Insider Tip is enough to win against any number of Day discs but no Insider Tips.
In case of a tie for the most Insider Tips, the player with the most Day discs there wins. In case of a further tie, all tied players score as normal. However, in the case of a tie for the most Insider Tips, second place is not awarded.
You need at least 1 Day disc in a region to gain a Star there. Regions are also scored when NO Insider Tip is there.
In a 2-player game: Also consider Insider Tips of the neutral color when checking who has the most or the second most Insider Tips in a region.
Scoring Example: 1 Insider Tip counts more than any number of Day discs. Yellow: 2 Stars. Black: 1 Star. Because of the Bonus Scoring token in this region whoever has most Insider Tips gains 3 Stars: Grey: 3 Stars. Yellow: 1 Star. If 2 or more players have the same amount of Insider Tips, then the number of Day discs breaks the tie: Blue: 2 Stars. Black: 1 Star. In case of a tie all tied players gain the corresponding Stars: Blue: 2 Stars. Yellow: 1 Star. Grey: 1 Star.
4. Refresh Festivals (only in the full game)
Return the remaining Festivals both from the Map, and next to the Map, to the game box.
Randomly place 2 new Festival tiles on their respective regions, cost side face up. Keep the remaining Festivals next to the Map, ability side face up.
5. Income
Each player gains 2 Coins plus as much of each resource as indicated by their Income track — that is, the number indicated on the respective resource income track.
There are no phases 6 and 7 in week 4.
6. Discard Locations — until 7 or fewer
Each player discards as many Locations as they want, but at least down to 7.
Locations placed on your Calendar and Postcards are NOT discarded.
You may choose to discard more Locations than required in order to draw more in phase 1 (Draw Locations) of the next round. During phase 2 (Play Week), you may have more than 7 Locations in your hand.
7. First Player Change
The First Player token is passed clockwise to the next player.
Game End
After the Income phase of week 4, tally up each player's final score as follows:
- Each Postcard is worth as many Stars as its highest-scoring goal completed by its player.
- Count the total number of resources (Coins + Energy + Excitement + Locals). Gain 1 Star for every 4 leftover resources.
The player with the most Stars is the winner!
If 2 or more players have the most Stars, the player(s) with most Bucket List tiles and Festival tiles win(s).
If there is still a tie, the players share the victory!
Round Structure Summary
- Draw Locations — until you have 7 Location cards.
- Play Week — first 2.1 Travel, followed by 2.2 Activity, and finally 2.3 Extras:
- 2.1 Travel: Stay / Train (spend 1 Energy per region) / Airplane (spend 4 Coins)
- 2.2 Activity: Visit Location (spend Days shown on card) / Write (spend 1 Day, discard 3 Locations, gain 4 Coins) / Rest (spend 1 Day, discard 3 Locations, gain 2 Energy) / Plan (spend 1 Day, draw 3 Locations)
- 2.3 Extras, in any order: Local tile + Bucket List tile + Festival tile (Saturday/Sunday only)
- Region Scoring — most Insider Tips: 2 Stars (3 with a Scoring Bonus token); second most: 1 Star.
- Refresh Festivals (only in the full game).
- Income — gain resources by hand.
- Discard Locations — until 7 or fewer.
- First Player Change.
Icon Overview
- Your Insider Tips and Day discs on the Map.
- You can flip 1 Day disc anywhere on the Map (Insider Tip).
- Draw 3 Postcards, keep 1 and place the other 2 on the bottom of the deck.
- Location on any weekday on your Calendar (a Day-cost marker).
- You can increase any Income and choose 1 of the 2 bonuses.
- REG: Any Region.
Location Tags
- Explore urban life
- Admire nature
- Experience history
- Enjoy delicacies
- Towers & Walls
- Cliffs & Beaches
- Art & Culture
- Religion & Spirituality
- Ice & Snow
- Party & Nightlife
Regions
- NOR / EAS / SOU / WES / CEN — position on the map of Europe
- ITA — Italian Peninsula
- FBR — France & Benelux Region
- BLK — Balkans
- BRI — British Isles
- DAC — DACH-Region
Credits
- Game Design: Rodrigo Rego & Danilo Valente
- Development: Julian Steindorfer, Roman Rybiczka
- Graphic Design: Christian Schupp
- Layout: atelier198
- English version: Pedro Latro, Tyler Brown, Karol Mandel, Chevee Dodd