Àiyé Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Overview
• Components
• Setup
  • Player Setup
• Card Anatomy
• On Your Turn
  • Step 1: Sowing
  • Step 2: Activate Columns
  • Step 3: Village
• Card Abilities
• End of the Game
• Scoring
  • Scoring Example: Robert
  • Scoring Example: Leon
• Mask Scoring
• Card Abilities Reference
• Alternative Setup
• Adrinka
  • A Visual System of Proverbs, Aphorisms and Wisdom
• Credits

Overview

Àiyé is played over a series of rounds, where you will sow seeds to activate character and mask card abilities. Cleverly manipulating your Energy Seeds will allow you to activate your column abilities, receive new Energy Seeds, move cards and seeds, or even perform an extra sowing action on your turn. You can also buy new character cards, which add new abilities, or Mask Cards, which give you scoring conditions and sometimes abilities. The player who earns the most victory points wins.

Components

120 Cards

• 44 Starting cards
• 48 Character cards
• 24 Mask cards
• 4 Player Aid cards

8 Column Tokens

• 4 Column 1 tokens
• 4 Column 2 tokens

48 Energy Seeds

• 24 Sun (yellow)
• 24 Moon (blue)

Setup

Shuffle the Character Cards and place them face down on the playmat to form the character deck.

Shuffle the Mask Cards and place them face down on the playmat to form the mask deck.

Flip four cards from each deck and place on the 4 spaces on the playmat to create the village.

Place the Energy Seeds on the two locations on the playmat to create a supply.

Place a player aid and two Column Tokens above it next to your player area.

Player Setup

Each player receives 8 Starting Character Cards (4 with Sun Seed icons and 4 with Moon Seed icons). These cards have no cost in the upper left corner. Return any unused Starting Character Cards to the box.

Each player arranges the 8 cards into six columns: the first three columns hold one card each, and the last two columns hold two cards each (stacked).

Place 3 Sun Seeds below the first column; 2 Moon Seeds below the third column and 1 Moon Seed below the fifth column.

Card Anatomy

Character Card: Shows the card cost (top left corner), the villager name, the Energy symbol, the Victory Points, and Ability icons.

Mask Card: Shows the card cost (top left corner), the mask name, the Mask symbol, a Scoring condition, and Ability icons.

On Your Turn

A player's turn is divided into three steps:

1. Sowing
2. Activate Columns
3. Summon a Village Card

Step 1: Sowing

Before you do anything, check if you have any Energy Seeds in your source spaces (the spaces below your columns). If you have seeds you may sow following the steps below. If you have ZERO seeds: Do not sow. Instead, take 1 Sun Seed and 1 Moon Seed from the supply, place them under your column with the most cards (if you have multiple columns with the most cards, pick one), and skip directly to the Village step.

The Sowing Process

• Pick Up: Choose one of your columns and scoop up all Energy Seeds in the source space below it.
• Move Right: Begin placing seeds one by one, starting at the very next space to the right.
• Skip Sabotage: If a column is "sabotaged (See Step 2: Conflict)," do not place a seed there. Move to the next valid space.
• The Loop: If you reach the rightmost column and still have seeds in your hand, "wrap around" to the leftmost column and continue.

Example: Luis scoops up the three Energy Seeds from the space below his first column and distributes them in the second, third and fourth columns.

Recover Sabotaged Columns After Sowing

A sabotaged column will have the top card turned face down as a result of a conflict (See Step 2: Conflict). Immediately following the sowing step, you may recover all of your sabotaged columns by flipping any face-down Character Cards in your columns. If you have an extra sowing bonus, you will recover sabotaged columns after the extra sowing is completed.

Step 2: Activate Columns

Now that you have sowed your seeds, the activated column (where your very last seed landed) becomes the focus of your turn. This is where you trigger your card effects to build momentum. You have full control. You can trigger the abilities of the cards in that column in any order you choose.

Example: In the previous example, the fourth column was activated during Sowing. Luis activates the abilities shown on cards in this column and gains two blue Moon Seeds. He places them below the activated column.

Card Abilities

As you add new villagers in Step 3: Summon a Villager Card, you will add new abilities to your columns. The following are abilities you will find on cards. These abilities are activated with all other cards in a column when activated by sowing.

Step 3: Village

The Village consists of 8 cards face up on the playmat. After activating your column(s), you can summon a new card from the Village by paying its cost and add it to the top of one of your existing columns. Remember, columns cannot have more than four cards. Also, you cannot create or eliminate columns in your play area during the Village step. When you finish the Village step, your turn ends. The game continues with the next player in clockwise order until the game end is triggered.

Paying the Cost of a Card

When summoning cards there are 2 costs that must be paid:

• Base Cost: The player must pay the cost shown on the top left corner of the card. Return paid Energy Seeds to the supply on the mat.
• Column Cost: If you place the summoned card into a column as the third card, you must pay 1 additional Energy Seed. If the summoned card is placed as the 4th card in a column, you must pay 2 additional Energy Seeds. Column costs may be paid with any type of Energy Seed.

Example: Luis chooses a Character Card in the Village and pays the cost with three Sun Energy Seeds from two different column spaces. As this is the second card in the column, he does not need to pay any additional Energy Seeds. In this other example, Luis chooses a different column to place the card. So, he pays the cost with two Sun Energy Seeds from two different columns. As this is the third card in the column, he pays an additional Energy Seed, using a Moon Energy Seed.

NOTE: In the rare case where a player does not have a column with less than four cards and wants to summon a card, he must place a card from his columns on his Council as a free action, before adding the new card.

Renew Village Cards

If you do not like the selection of Character cards, you may pay 1 Energy Seed to discard all Character cards OR all Mask cards in the Village and reveal four new cards from the corresponding deck.

IMPORTANT: The player cannot summon a second copy of a Mask Card that is already in their play area. However, a player can have multiple copies of the same Character Card. Immediately reveal a new card from the respective deck and place it in the Village. There must always be four cards available from each deck in the Village. If one of the decks runs out, shuffle your discard pile and create a new deck.

Card Abilities

Extra Sowing (second sowing icon): This icon allows you to perform a second sowing. To help avoid confusion you have first column and second column markers to mark your column. When you activate a column with this icon, place the first column Token above the column then immediately perform the second sowing. Ignore (for the moment) the other card abilities in the first column. You may scoop seeds to initiate the Second Sowing from any column, including the column you just activated.

Place the second column Token over the second activated column. The activated columns can be different or the same column.

Finally, activate the remaining abilities in the first column. Activated abilities cannot interact with cards in the second column. For example, when activating an effect from the first column, you cannot move a card to the second column to activate it again, nor can they move a card from the second column to another location. After resolving card abilities in the first column, activate the card abilities in the second column. Remove both column markers and proceed to Step 3, the Village.

IMPORTANT: A player may only perform one Second sowing per turn. If another Second sowing action is activated, ignore it.

Example: a Second Sowing

1. Karen finished her sowing under her fourth column activating a Second Sowing. She placed the First Column token above the column.
2. Then, she performs her extra sowing, using only one Sun Seed. She placed the Second Column token above the column.
3. Karen activates the two other abilities in the first column and gains two Energy Seeds. Lastly, she activates column 2 and gains two Energy Seeds below the second activated column and removes both column tokens.

Energy Seed: If a card with this ability is activated, collect a matching Energy Seed from the supply and place it below the activated column. When the icon shows both Sun and Moon, this allows you to choose either seed type.

Exchange Energy Seeds: Chooses one Energy Seed, from any column, of the indicated type (Sun or Moon) and exchange it with the supply for two seeds of the other type. Place the two new seeds below the activated column.

Promote to the Council: Chooses a card from any column in your play area and place it horizontally, below your columns, creating a reserved stack called the Council. Also, collect any two seeds from the supply and place them below the activated column.

Cards in the Council are still in play, but their abilities can only be activated with Council Meeting action. Icons and card abilities in the Council count towards the final score. You may only have one Council.

Council Meeting: Activate your Council cards instead of the activated column. To activate your Council cards you may not activate any other card abilities in the activated column (including Extra Sowings).

When resolving a Council ability, you cannot move cards into or out of your Council.

Place any Seeds received below the activated column. Your Council can be activated only once per turn.

Move Energy Seeds: This allows you to move all Energy Seeds (leaving zero) from any one column to another column.

Extra Summon: You may immediately summon a Village card by paying the summoning cost.

Conflict and Shield: Conflict allows you to sabotage the mancalas of all your opponents. When activated, each opponent must flip the top card of their column with the most cards that is neither sabotaged nor protected by a Shield. A column with the top card face down is sabotaged. You may activate more than one Conflict.

If multiple columns match the Conflict conditions, the affected player chooses which column is sabotaged.

During Sowing, the Sabotaged columns are skipped. You can still scoop seeds below a sabotaged column as a source space when performing a sowing action.

NOTE: In the rare case that a player starts their turn with all columns sabotaged, they will skip Sowing and Activating a Column. Then they will recover their columns and proceed directly to Step 3: Village.

Move a Card: You may move any card from one column to another. If you move a card into the activated column do not activate the moved card. Do not pay the Column Cost for moving cards with this ability.

If a card is moved from the activated column before using its abilities they are not used.

Columns cannot have more than four cards. You cannot move a card to a column with four cards.

Removing and Creating Columns: A column will be eliminated if you move the only card in it. If there are energy seeds in the space below the eliminated column, move them to the column on its right. If the column eliminated is the last column, move the seeds to the first column.

You can create a new column by moving a card to the right or left of your other columns or to the gap between columns. You must maintain a minimum of four columns in your player area. If the number of columns will drop below four after moving a card, that card cannot be moved.

End of the Game

The game ends when one of these two conditions is met:

• When a player gains their 4th Mask Card into their play area (including their Council).
• When a player gains their 18th card in their play area (including the Council).

When either of these conditions are met, the current round continues until all players have had an equal number of turns. Then, play one final round and score.

Scoring

Each player scores their victory points in the following order (Scoring shown on bottom of mat):

1. Characters: Total all points on all your cards, including Council (visible in the bottom left corner).
2. Masks: Total points earned by fulfilling your Mask card conditions.
3. Council: Gain one point per card in your Council.
4. Columns: Gain points for the number of columns in your play area.

Columns	4	5	6	7	8	9+
Points	-5	-3	0	3	5	8

The player with the most points wins!

In the event of a tie use these tie-breakers in the following order:

1. The player with the most pairs of Sun and Moon Symbols in their play area wins!
2. The player with the most pairs of Sun and Moon Energy Seeds in their play area wins!
3. If players are still tied, the tied player closest to the starting player in turn order wins!

Scoring Example: Robert

• Character Cards: +14 points
• Mask Cards: Patience Mask: +8 points. Robert has 2 pairs of columns with exactly 3 cards. Loyalty Mask: +8 points. Robert has 2 pairs of Moon Symbols. Resilience Mask: +8 points. Robert has 3 Shield icons.
• Columns: +3 points for having 7 columns.
• Total: 41 points. Robert wins with tie-breaker 1. He has 2 pairs of Sun and Moon symbols.

Scoring Example: Leon

• Character Cards: +9 points
• Mask Cards: Force Mask: +8 points. Leon has 3 Conflict icons. Generosity Mask: +5 points. Leon has 1 column with 4 cards. Devotion Mask: +8 points. Leon has 3 cards in his Council. Serenity Mask: +11 points. Leon has 6 Sun Energy Seeds.
• Council: +3 points for the 3 cards in his Council.
• Columns: -3 points for having only 5 columns.
• Total: 41 points.

Mask Scoring

All Mask Cards grant points at the end of the game based on a scoring condition. Important: Players cannot have two copies of the same Mask Card.

• Joy: Gain 5/8/11 points if you have 2/4/6+ Moon Energy Seeds.
• Abundance: Gain 5/8/11 points if you have 2/4/6+ Sun Energy Seeds.
• Force: Gain 0/5/8/11 points if you have 1/2/3/4+ Conflict icons.
• Resilience: Gain 0/5/8/11 points if you have 1/2/3/4+ Shield icons.
• Loyalty: Gain 5/8/11 points if you have 2/4/6+ Moon symbols.
• Serenity: Gain 5/8/11 points if you have 2/4/6+ Sun symbols.
• Simplicity: Gain 5/8/11 points if you have 2/4/6+ columns with exactly two cards.
• Patience: Gain 5/8/11 points if you have 2/4/6+ columns with exactly three cards.
• Generosity: Gain 5/8/11 points if you have 1/2/3+ columns with exactly four cards.
• Courage: Gain 8 points, minus one point for each Energy Seed in your play area.
• Respect: Gain 5/8/11 points if you have 1/2/3+ cards with an Exchange icon.
• Devotion: Gain 0/5/8/11 points if you have 1/2/3/4+ cards in your Council.

Note: Exchange icons can be found in the abilities Promote to the Council and Exchange Energy Seeds.

Card Abilities Reference

• Extra Sowing: Take an extra sowing action. (Limit of once a turn) Use the Column Tokens to help identify the order to activate the columns.
• Council Meeting: Instead of activating the cards in the column, you may activate the cards in your Council. (Limit of once a turn)
• Energy Seeds: Receive the indicated amount and color of Energy Seeds from the supply.
• Exchange Energy Seed: Exchange one of the indicated color Energy Seeds for two Energy Seeds of the other type.
• Move Energy Seeds: Move all Energy Seeds from below one of your columns to another column.
• Shield: A column with this icon cannot be sabotaged during a conflict.
• Extra Summon: Allows you to summon an extra card during Step 3.
• Conflict: Announce a conflict. All opponents must flip the top card on their column with the most cards that is currently not protected or sabotaged. Energy Seeds cannot be sown below a sabotaged column. Restore sabotaged columns after sowing on their next turn.
• Move a Card: Move a card from one column to a column with less than four cards (Do not pay any cost). It is possible to eliminate or create a column with this ability.
• Promote to the Council: Move any card from your play area to your Council and earn the indicated Energy Seeds. It is possible to eliminate a column with this ability.

Eliminating a Column: Eliminate a column if there are no more cards in it and move any seeds from that column to the next column on the right. If the last column is eliminated move seeds to the first column. (You must have at least four columns in your play area)

Alternative Setup

Àiyé is a game about dynamics, efficiency and finding the best combination of skills. When you've mastered the basic game, during setup, you can replace Initial setup with any combination of Extra Cards, or add extra cards to your mancala. Players can begin with symmetrical or asymmetrical setups. Decide which options fit best with your play style and desired playing time. Here are two suggested setups:

Extra Sowing & Move a Card: Begin with a Second Sowing and Card Movement to give more control over your mancalas. Recommended for experienced players.

Extra Summon & Energy Seeds: Begin with a column containing three cards and an Extra Summon. This setup allows players to differentiate themselves more quickly and speeds up the game.

Adrinka

A Visual System of Proverbs, Aphorisms and Wisdom

Adrinka was traditionally stamped onto cloth but is now used widely in art, logos, and architecture throughout some African regions and represents the languages of the Akan, Ewe, Ga and Dagbani peoples. Each symbol carries deep meaning, serving as a form of visual communication and a way to honor tradition and captures the importance of history.

The original Adinkra symbols have been modified for ease of writing. Further modification was done from the standard Adinkra Alphabet to the simplified Adinkra Alphabet in 2015 by Charles Korankye.

Adrinka is used on the cards to celebrate this beautiful system of communication. You can use this key to translate the Villager roles found on the AIYE cards.

(A simplified Adinkra-alphabet key mapping the letters A-Z to their corresponding symbols appears on the reference sheet, used to spell out each Villager's role — for example, the pictured Caregiver card.)

Credits

Game Design: André Teruya & Igor Knop Artwork: Leon Lima Graphic Design: Luis Francisco & Ammon Anderson Development: Robert Coelho & Chris Eastridge

© 2023 Grok Games. Todos os direitos reservados. © 2024, Moon Saga Workshop, LLC. 100 Cerrydowns Ct. Meridianville, AL, 35759 www.moonsagaworkshop.com

Àiyé was one of the games presented in 2018 in a design challenge of the Encontro de Desenvolvedores de Jogos Independentes do Rio de Janeiro (EDIJ-RJ) (Rio de Janeiro's Independent Game Developers Meeting) with a mancala mechanism and the theme of black and African culture. Over these years, the game was only possible with the collective effort of several people, especially Professor Dr. Eliane Bettochi for the initial cultural consultancy, the dozens of playtesters, the incredible community of Brazilian authors at ProtoBR, Oficina do Playtest and Mansão das Peças, and to the generosity of Keith Matejka in helping us writing the first version of the rules.