Alubari: A Nice Cup of Tea Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Game Setup
• Game Sequence
  • Excavation Work rate
  • Lay Track Work rate
  • Crop Harvest Work rate
• Phase 1 • Restock Contract Cards
• Phase 2 • Adjust the Weather
• Tea Harvests
• Phase 3 • Restock the Stockyard & Process any Events
• Phase 4 • Assign Workers to Actions
• Phase 5 • Resolve Actions then Check for End of Game
  • 1. Using Contract Cards
  • 2. Resolve Action Spaces
• Description of the Action Spaces
  • A. The Stockyard
  • B. Excavation
  • C. The Foundry
  • D. Lay Track
  • E. Building
  • F. The Post Office
  • G. The Chaiwala
• End of the Round
• Equipment
  • The Shunter
  • The Toy Train
  • Garratt D Class 0-4-0+0-4-0
  • East India Company Warehouse
  • Construction Work Gang
  • Very Fine Train
  • Very Reliable Train
  • Line Inspection Train
• End of the Game
• Scoring
• Events
• Solo Play
  • Annex - Solo Variant - Achievements Table
• Credits

Components

• 1 gameboard
• 1 × cloth bag
• 1 × Score pad
• 8 × Equipment cards
• 8 × Tea Estate cards
• 30 × Contract cards
• 7 × Action cards
• 2 × Help cards

Punchboards

• 48 × Tea leaves
• 19 × "5 Tea leaves" discs
• 2 × Fog tiles
• 1 × Darjeeling blockage tile
• 3 × Blockage tiles

Wooden elements

• 1 × Starting Player marker

Cubes, bars, and markers

• 40 × Iron ore cubes
• 24 × Stone cubes
• 14 × Chai cubes
• 5 × Event cubes
• 48 × Rubble cubes
• 6 × "5 Rubble" discs
• 3 × Game markers discs
• 10 × Game Ownership markers
• 3 × Sun discs
• 3 × Fog discs
• 3 × Rain discs
• 16 × Steel bars

Elements for each player (5 players)

• 3 Workers
• 20 Ownership markers

Game Setup

1. Place the board in the centre of the table within easy reach of all players.

2. If playing with fewer than 3 players, also place the Darjeeling blockage tile on the second Darjeeling Station space (top right of the board, see marking on the board).

3. According to the number of players, place a blockage tile on one or more spaces at the end of the Chai track. For example, in a 3-player game, block off the last two spaces.

4. Take the weather markers (3 yellow for Sun, 3 blue for Rain, and 3 grey for Fog) and place them near the weather track.

5. Place the 2 Fog tiles on the spaces below the fog effect line.

6. Take the 3 black discs and place one on each of the starting spaces of the Excavation Work rate, Lay Track Work rate, and Crop Harvest Work rate tracks (indicated by a darker green).

7. Place all of the Tea Leaves, Rubble cubes, Steel bars, and Game Ownerships markers in a general supply near the board.

8. Take the overlay cards appropriate to the number of players and place them on top of the corresponding Action areas printed on the board.

   • Solo and 2 players: overlay cards are for Action areas A, D, F, and C.
   • 3 players: no overlay cards needed as everything is printed on the board.
   • 4 and 5 players: overlay cards are for Action areas A, B, C, D, E, and F.

   Keep the additional Action card near the board and remove all unused Action cards.

9. Shuffle the Contract cards and place them face down in a deck on the darker card space. Reveal the 2 top cards and place them, face up, in spaces A and B. Then, look at the back of the card on the top of the deck and place a Weather marker of the appropriate colour in position P2 of the Weather track. Reveal that card and place it, face up, in space C. Look at the back of the next card on top of the deck, place the corresponding Weather marker in position P3 of the Weather track.

10. Shuffle the Tea Estate cards and flip them at random during shuffling as they are double-sided. Then, place one on each of the Tea Estate spaces printed on the board, filling spaces according to the number of players in the game. For your first game, the Alubari Tea Estate, which is already printed on the board, is used and is a helpful start so should be left uncovered. In future games, you can choose to leave it uncovered or place another Tea Estate card over it. Return unused Tea Estate cards to the game box, they will not be used in this game.

11. For each space on the Tea Estate cards, take a number of Rubble cubes from the supply as indicated by the number next to the shovel and place them on the space. For spaces requiring five or more Rubble, make use of the "5 Rubble" disks for convenience.

12. Shuffle the Equipment cards and choose 7 of them at random, placing them face up near the board to form the Engine shed. Return the remaining Equipment cards to the game box, they will not be used in this game. If any of the selected Equipment 'comes with' Chai, place a Chai cube on the Equipment.

13. Fill the supply bag with the resources (Iron ore, Stone, and Chai) according to the Supply table (see below). Return any unused resource cubes to the game box, they will not be used in this game.

Players	1	2-3	4	5
Iron ore	23	27	34	40
Stone	14	15	20	24
Chai	6	All remaining Chai cubes

14. Mix up the contents of the bag and draw an appropriate number of cubes from the bag depending on the number of players (6 for the solo game, 12 for 2-5 players). Place them on the appropriate spaces of the game board.

15. Add the Event cubes into the bag. Use 4 in a solo game, and 5 for all other player counts.

Players	1	2-3	4	5
Event cubes	4	5	5	5

16. Give each player a set of player pieces: 3 Workers and 20 Ownership markers. One of the Workers is placed on the Tea House, one of the Ownership markers goes on space 0 of the Chai track, and all other pieces go into the player's personal supply/playing area. Return unused player pieces to the game box.

17. The player to last drink a cup of tea is the Starting Player, give them the Starting Player marker.

Game Sequence

The game is played over a series of Rounds with each Round divided into five Phases, carried out in the following order:

1. Restock Contract cards (skip in Round 1)
2. Adjust the Weather (skip in Round 1)
3. Restock the Stockyard & process any Events (skip in Round 1)
4. Assign Workers to Actions
5. Resolve Actions then check for End of Game

At the end of the game, Final Scoring is performed, and the player with the most points wins the game.

Excavation Work rate

This represents how much Rubble can be excavated per action. If the marker is on the leftmost space, ignore any effect that decreases the Work rate further. If the Excavation Work rate ever increases above 5, set it back on 5 and immediately process a Tea Harvest (see page 5).

Lay Track Work rate

This represents how much track can be laid per action (see page 7). If the marker is on the leftmost space, ignore any effect that would decrease the Work rate and if the marker is on the rightmost space, ignore any effect that would increase the Work rate.

Crop Harvest Work rate

This represents how much tea can be harvested from the estates. If the marker is on the leftmost space, ignore any effect that decreases the Work rate further. If the Crop Harvest Work rate reaches the end of the track, set it back on the rightmost '2' space and immediately proceed to a Tea Harvest (see page 5).

Phase 1 • Restock Contract Cards

Skip this Phase in Round 1 of the game.

If a Contract card is in position A of the Post Office (the highest at the right side of the game board), put it face down onto the discard pile. Then, move all other Contract cards in the Post Office to the top (towards position A), closing up any gaps. Then, from the top of the Contract card deck, add cards face up to refill any empty positions until all three Post Office positions are filled.

If the Contract card deck is ever empty, shuffle the discard pile to make a new Contract card deck and if necessary, continue filling any spaces.

Example: Card A is discarded. Card B is moved to the top space of the line and two cards are drawn to fill the two empty spaces below.

Phase 2 • Adjust the Weather

Skip this Phase in Round 1 of the game.

Follow these steps:

1. Remove the Weather disc from the bottom space.
2. Remove any fog markers from actions B and D.
3. Move each Weather disc one space to the bottom along the Weather track. The disc now in the bottom space shows the weather for the current Round.
4. Adjust the Work rate markers on the Excavation, Lay Track, and Crop Harvest tracks according to the current weather, referring to the Weather Key next to the Weather track.
5. Look at the top (unrevealed) card of the Contract card deck, take a Weather disc in a colour matching the weather icon on the back of that card and place it in the top position on the Weather track.

• Sun: +2 to Excavation, +1 to Lay Track.
• Rain: -1 to Excavation, -1 to Lay Track, +1 to Crop Harvest.
• Fog: -1 to Crop Harvest and block the last Worker space on the B Excavate and D Lay Track actions with a Fog marker; these spaces will not be available for placement of Workers in the current Round.

Example: The Sun token is removed from the board and the next two tokens (sun and fog) are moved one space down. The day's weather is now Sun. Move the Excavation Work rate marker 2 spaces right, and the Lay Track Work rate marker 1 space right. The weather shown on the top card of the draw pile is Rain. Add a Rain token on the top space of the weather track.

Tea Harvests

Tea Harvests happen when any of these things is true:

• the Excavation Work rate gets to more than five.
• the Crop Harvest Work rate reaches the end of the track.
• the Harvest event happens on the Event track (this could happen multiple times in a single game).
• as the result of a Contract card effect.

All players who have their markers in excavated Tea Estate spaces now harvest Tea.

Each player gains Tea Leaves equal to the number of Tea Estate spaces they own (have their markers on) multiplied by the current Crop Harvest Work rate, rounded down.

After a Tea Harvest, reset the Crop Harvest marker back to its starting space (with darkest green).

Example: The current Crop Harvest Work rate is ½. Blue has 3 Tea Estates and gains 1 Tea Leaf. Red has 4 Tea Estates and gains 2 Tea Leaves. Then move the marker to the starting space.

Phase 3 • Restock the Stockyard & Process any Events

Skip this Phase in Round 1 of the game.

In this Phase, the Stockyard is re-filled with cubes drawn from the bag. The number of cubes needed to restock the Stockyard varies according to the number of players and is shown on the board to the top-left of the Event rondel.

Players	1-2	3	4-5
Cubes drawn	6	9	12

Take the appropriate number of cubes at random from the Supply bag and place them in the Stockyard spaces according to their type: Iron ore (orange), Stone (grey), and Chai (green). Then, if any Event (white) cubes are drawn, put them on the Events rondel, one cube per space, starting with the first Event space (as shown by the marker) and then each subsequent cube being placed on the next empty space in a clockwise direction. As you place each Event cube, immediately resolve the Event in that space before placing any further Event cubes (see Events - page 11).

Example: In a 4-player game, 12 cubes are drawn.

Note: There are 2 Iron ore remaining from the previous round.

Note: Space 1 already contains an Event cube.

Phase 4 • Assign Workers to Actions

At the start of this Phase, each player with at least one Equipment may pay one Chai from their supply (recorded on the Chai track) to take their temporary Worker from the Tea House space and put it in their personal supply; this gives the player one additional Worker to place this Round.

Then, in clockwise order beginning with the Starting Player, each player places one of their Workers from their personal supply onto any empty numbered action space in any of the Action areas on the game board (A through G). Action spaces do not need to have Workers placed on them in numeric order (you can place a Worker on the "3" space of an Action area, for example, even if spaces "1" and "2" are empty. It is allowed for a player to have multiple Workers in the same Action area.

Continue to place Workers, one per player at a time, until all players have placed all of the Workers from their personal supply onto Action areas.

Example of a 3-player game placement.

Phase 5 • Resolve Actions then Check for End of Game

In this Phase, the Action areas are resolved in order from A Stockyard through to G Chaiwala.

When resolving an Area, the following two steps are performed in order:

1. All players may use any unused Contract cards (see below)
2. Resolve the action spaces in numeric order.

1. Using Contract Cards

Before any actions are resolved for an Action area, each player, beginning with the Starting Player and going clockwise round the table, may use one or more unused Contract cards (not turned sideways) that have the current Action area shown in the corners of the upper section.

A player may use a Contract card for an Action area even if they do not have any Workers in that area, and even if there are no Workers in the area at all.

To indicate a Contract card has been used, turn it sideways but leave it in front of you.

When a Contract card is used in this way, the effect of it (printed in the upper section of the card) lasts until the end of the current Round. This could be to modify the Action you are about to take, provide extra actions for free, and/or change the rules in your favour.

Each Contract card can only be used once during the game. However, the scoring bonus printed on the top part of the Contract card still applies at the end of the game whether the card has been used or not (see the Scoring section).

Example Contract card effect: Immediately convert 2 Rubble in your personal supply into 1 Stone up to 3 times. Take the Stone from the Supply Bag.

2. Resolve Action Spaces

For each Action area, resolve the Action spaces one by one in numeric order starting with space 1. If you have a Worker on an Action space, you must carry out the action if possible. If you have multiple Workers in the same Action area, the action must be carried out for each Worker if possible.

Before resolving your Action, you may pay one Chai from your supply (recorded on the Chai track) to take the more powerful version of that Action; the effect of paying Chai is detailed in the descriptions of the actions below. A maximum of one Chai can be spent on each Worker during a Round.

Description of the Action Spaces

A. The Stockyard

Take up to 3 cubes from the Stockyard and place them in your personal supply. You may take any combination of cubes but not more than one Chai (green) cube for a given Worker. If your Worker was on the last space of the Stockyard, you additionally take the Starting Player marker and immediately become the new Starting Player from this point on. If no Worker is in the last space, the current Starting Player retains the Starting Player marker.

Chai bonus: Your Worker may take an additional two cubes from the Stockyard; one of them could be a Chai cube.

Taking Chai cubes

Whenever you take a Chai cube (from either the Stockyard or from an Equipment card), advance your marker on the Chai track by one space and remove the Chai cube from the game.

B. Excavation

Take a number of Rubble cubes equal to the current Excavation Work rate from the leftmost Excavation space(s), continuing along the line of Tea Estate cards from left to right.

The current Excavation Work rate is shown by the Excavation Work rate marker but this can be modified by bonuses from an owned Equipment, Contract cards, and/or spending Chai.

If you remove the last Rubble cube from a space on a Tea Estate card, place one of your Ownership markers on the space. This will be worth Victory points for you at the end of the game and you will also gain Tea from that site whenever there is a Tea Harvest.

It is possible to excavate and clear multiple spaces with this Action.

If able to, you must take the full number of Rubble cubes up to the current Excavation Work rate plus any permanent modifiers (e.g. from an Equipment that permanently increases your Work rate of excavation), but you are not required to trigger Chai or Contract card effects if you do not wish to.

Chai bonus: The Excavation Work rate for this Worker's Action is considered to be 3 higher than the current Excavation Work rate. E.g. If the Excavation track shows a Work rate of 4, the Worker's actual Excavation Work rate is 7 for this Action.

At the end of a Round when the last Rubble cube is removed from the line of Tea Estate cards, place the additional Action card over the E Action area on the board; this is now a new Action area with a single space for a Building (Equipment or Station space) on it.

Example: The current Excavation Work rate is 5. Patrick (Red) is resolving his Excavation action. This clears 5 Rubble cubes in total, taken from left to right as shown here. Patrick places Ownership markers in the two spaces cleared from Rubble with his action.

C. The Foundry

You may perform up to three of the following mini-actions, in any combination (you may perform the same mini-action more than once):

• Make Steel: Pay 3 Iron ore cubes into the Supply bag and take 1 Steel bar into your personal supply.
• Make Stone: Pay 2 Rubble cubes to the general supply and take 1 Stone cube from either the Stockyard OR the Supply bag (your choice).
• Smash Stone: Pay 1 Stone cube into the Supply bag and take 2 Rubble cubes from the general supply into your personal supply.

Chai bonus: Your Worker may perform any number of mini-actions they are allowed to perform. Also, 'Make Steel' costs 2 Iron ore cubes instead of 3.

D. Lay Track

Return a number of Steel bars to the general supply up to the current Lay Track Work rate plus any other permanent effects (e.g. from an Equipment that permanently increases your Work rate) and/or temporary effects (e.g. paying Chai or a Contract card).

For each Steel bar returned, place one of your Ownership markers on the next available Track space on the railway, starting from the space between Siliguri Town and Sukna (crossing the river) and moving 'up' the mountain towards Darjeeling.

An available Track space is one that does not have an Ownership marker on it (or a Game Ownership marker, see the Events section). It could be a Town space, a Simple space, or a River space.

Markers on Track spaces will bring you Victory points at the end of the game.

If you build on a River space (blue circle), gain 1 Chai as a bonus (record this on the Chai track). Now players can build Station spaces in any towns before the next available River space (see Build a Station Space).

If you have the Steel bars available, you cannot choose to lay fewer tracks than the current Lay Track Work rate (modified by permanent effects). However, you are not obliged to use Chai or Contract card effects if you do not wish to.

If there are not enough Track spaces remaining to be completed by an action, you must complete as many as there are available. If the last Track space has now been filled, the game will end at the end of the current Round (see End of the Game).

Chai bonus: The Lay Track Work rate for this Worker's Action is considered to be 2 higher than the current Lay Track Work rate. E.g. If the current Lay Track Work rate is 2, the Worker's actual Work rate is 4 for this Action.

Example: The current Lay Track Work rate is 2. Yellow and Red players choose the Lay Track action. They must lay track twice, but Yellow only has 1 Steel bar, so they can perform this action and lay only one track.

E. Building

With this action, you have two choices: Build a Station or Buy an Equipment.

Build a Station Space

At the start of the game, the only Station spaces that can be built are the five in the town of Siliguri at the bottom of the mountain.

When a marker is placed on a River space (see Lay Track), players can build Station spaces in any towns before the next available River space (with no marker on it).

Track does not need to have been laid right up to the town for a Station to be built there.

Example: Once a marker has been placed on the first River space, the towns of Sukna, Rangtong, and Tindharia can have Stations built in them, even if no other track has been laid.

To build a Station, pay the resources specified on the space itself and place one of your markers on it. Iron ore and Stone cubes are returned to the Supply bag, Rubble and Steel bars are returned to general supply. Some spaces provide Victory points at the end of the game, others provide an immediate bonus:

Example: To build a Station on this town space in Sukna costs 8 Rubble. This space is worth 5 points at the end of the game.

• Cost: 2 Stone / Bonus: 4 points at the end of the game plus get your third worker, for free, for the next round only.
• Cost: 1 Steel bar / Bonus: Take 2 Steel bars from the general supply.
• Cost: 8 Rubble / Bonus: Immediately take a Contract Card from the display; do not replace it.
• Cost: 1 Steel bar / Bonus: Immediately take any available Equipment card for free (it will have cost you 1 Steel, in effect).

Buy an Equipment

To buy an Equipment, choose one of the available Equipment by the board and pay the cost as indicated in the top left corner of the Equipment card to the general supply/from the Chai track. Then, take the Equipment card and place it in front of you.

If there were any Chai cubes on the card, return those cubes to the game box and move your marker along the Chai track one space for each Chai cube.

Any bonus or effect of the Equipment applies immediately after you have built it.

You may own more than one Equipment, but each is subject to maintenance (see Events).

Each Equipment is worth 9 points at the end of the game (16 for the Very Fine Train).

At the beginning of each Phase 4 - Assign Workers to Actions, if you have at least one Equipment card, and if you pay the cost, you could take your third Worker for the Round.

Chai bonus: Your Worker may perform an additional building action (build in a Station space / buy an Equipment).

F. The Post Office

The Post Office is where you gain contracts for powerful in-game bonuses and/or game end scoring. Take one of the available face-up Contract cards at the side of the game board, and place it face up in a portrait orientation in your personal area. Do NOT replace the taken card; other players using the Post Office action during this Round must choose from those cards remaining. If there are no cards available when an action space resolves, the action is wasted.

There is no limit to the number of Contract cards you can have. Each Contract card is worth points at the end of the game, if you manage to complete the requirements depicted on the card (see the Scoring section). Also, as mentioned earlier, each Contract card can be rotated to use the effect of them once per game.

Chai bonus: You may discard all of the Contract cards in the current line and refill with three new cards from the top of the deck. Then, take one of the available Contract cards. If there are not enough cards in the deck, shuffle the discard pile to make a new draw deck.

G. The Chaiwala

With this action, you have a choice: Take Tea Leaves, or Convert Tea Leaves into Chai.

If you choose to take Tea Leaves, you receive a number of them from the general supply equal to the position of the marker on the Crop Harvest track (1 or 2). If the Crop Harvest track is on the leftmost space (½), you cannot take Tea Leaves.

If you choose to convert Tea Leaves, they are converted into Chai on a one for one basis. Return the Tea Leaves you are converting to the general supply and record your Chai on the Chai track.

Note: You cannot move your Chai marker higher than the point indicated on the Chai track; the maximum varies according to the number of players in the game (and is printed on the game board).

Chai bonus: There is no Chai bonus for this area.

End of the Round

When all worker actions have been resolved, it is the end of the round. Players should make sure that they retrieve all of their workers (if not already done) and (if necessary) return their third worker to the Tea House for a well-earned cup of tea.

If it is not yet the end of the game, begin the next round with Phase 1: Restock Contract cards, otherwise proceed to final scoring.

Equipment

There are a number of ways in the game that you can buy an Equipment. Equipment provide a number of benefits:

• If you have at least one Equipment, you can spend 1 Chai to use your temporary Worker for that Round.
• Each Equipment is worth 9 points at the end of the game (16 for the Very Fine Train).
• Each Equipment provides an additional ability, as described below.

You may own more than one Equipment, but must pay maintenance for each one during the Equipment maintenance event (see Events).

The Shunter

Cost: 3 Chai. At game end: +9 points. You may use your extra Worker for the Round using 2 × Rubble rather than 1 Chai.

The Toy Train

Cost: 2 Steel bars. Comes with 1 Chai. At game end: +9 points. Whenever a Worker of yours takes the Stockyard action (A), take 1 Tea Leaf.

Garratt D Class 0-4-0+0-4-0

Cost: 2 Steel bars. Comes with 1 Chai. At game end: +9 points. The first time you lay one or more tracks in a Round, gain 1 Chai; you may use it with any other Workers you have yet to resolve in action spaces, including space D.

East India Company Warehouse

Cost: 1 Steel bar. Comes with 1 Chai. At game end: +9 points. At the end of the game, each Contract card you have that requires Tea Leaves requires 1 fewer Tea Leaf to be completed.

Construction Work Gang

Cost: 1 Steel bar. At game end: +9 points. Provides a discount of 2 × Rubble or 1 × Stone when building in Rubble or Stone Station spaces respectively.

Very Fine Train

Cost: 1 Steel bar. Comes with 1 Chai. At game end: +16 points. Score an extra 7 points at the end of the game.

Very Reliable Train

Cost: 1 Steel bar. At game end: +9 points. Not affected by the Equipment Maintenance Event.

Line Inspection Train

Cost: 1 Steel bar. At game end: +9 points. In a Round with at least one Event, you get your third Worker to use for free for that Round.

End of the Game

The game ends at the end of the Round in which the last Track space on the railway – the one adjacent to Darjeeling – has been completed (either by a player or a game Event).

In the solo or 2-player game, the game may end before the last Track space has been laid with track:

• Solo game: as soon as you place your last scoring marker.
• Two players: as soon as one player has placed their last scoring marker, their opponent plays one additional Round by themself before the game ends.

Scoring

Victory points are depicted by this symbol: a Victory point icon.

Using the score pad provided, each player records their victory points as follows:

Tea Estates

Score Victory points for each Tea Estate space you own. Do not remove your markers yet as these may be used for scoring Contract card bonuses. Note: if you have made use of Contract cards 28 and/or 29 to 'borrow' one or more game-owned Tea Estate spaces during the game, remove your markers from those spaces before scoring.

Stations

Score Victory points for each of your markers on Station spaces in towns which are worth points. Do not remove your markers yet.

Completed Track spaces

Score Victory points for each of your markers on Track spaces. Do not remove your markers yet.

Completed Contract cards

Score Victory points for each Contract card you have if you meet the requirements as shown on the bottom section of the Contract card. These points are scored regardless of whether or not the card's effect has been used. There is no penalty if you fail to complete a Contract card.

Note: Each cube and marker can only be used for one Contract card. For example, if you have laid track on four Track spaces and have a '4 Track' and a '3 Track' Contract card, you can only score for one or the other, not both.

Contract cards score in a variety of ways across various categories. If a Contract card has a mix of criteria, you must satisfy ALL of the criteria to score the points.

• Track bonuses: Move the indicated number of Ownership markers from Track spaces you have completed on to the Contract card and gain the indicated number of points. If you cannot move enough markers onto the card, leave them where they are and score nothing for the Contract card.
• Building/Tea Estate space bonuses: move the indicated number of Ownership markers from Station or Tea Estate spaces you have completed on to the Contract card and gain the indicated number of points. If you cannot move enough markers on to the card, leave them where they are and score nothing for the Contract card. Note: Some building bonus Contract cards explicitly refer to Station spaces with RUBBLE requirements; you can only use Ownership markers in that type of space to score these contracts e.g. 3 of the 4 spaces in Gayabari are built using Rubble cubes.
• Tea bonuses: Move the indicated number of Tea Leaves from your personal supply onto the Contract card and gain the indicated number of points. If you cannot move enough Tea Leaves, leave them in your personal supply and score nothing for the Contract card.
• Chai bonus card (No. 27): Score an additional 2 points for each Chai recorded on the Chai track; this is in addition to the points you will get from the Chai track (see below).

Chai & Tea Leaves

Score the points according to the position of your marker on the Chai track. Then add ½ point for each tea leaf in your personal supply (not already assigned to a Contract card) – do not round down.

Equipment

Each Equipment you own is worth 9 points (not in the solo game); in addition, the Very Fine Train is worth an additional 7 points.

The player with the most points is the winner; if there is a tie, then all players share in the victory.

Events

When one or more Event cubes are drawn from the Supply bag, put them on the Event track in the next available space (start with space 1 for the first Event cube of the game), one cube per space and resolving each one in turn.

The Event track is circular, so it is possible that Events are triggered multiple times during a game!

No. 1 Excavate

2-5 players: Remove all Rubble cubes from the leftmost two Tea Estate spaces in the line of Tea Estate cards that have Rubble cubes on them.

Solo game: Remove all Rubble cubes from a number of the leftmost Tea Estate spaces that have Rubble cubes on them equal to the current Excavation Work rate (between 2 and 5).

Place a game Ownership marker in each Tea Estate space cleared in this way; this space is now owned by the game (Contract cards 28 and 29 allow you to make use of these spaces, if needed).

Also, if there are Event cubes on Event spaces 4, 5, and 6, return those cubes to the Supply bag and then reduce resources in the Stockyard in excess of 7 Iron Ore, 4 Stone, and 1 Chai, placing them back into the Supply bag. Note: the reduction in resources in the Stockyard only happens if the Event cubes are returned (i.e. not on the first ever Event in the game).

No. 2 Crops Grow

Move the Crop Harvest marker along two spaces to the right on the track. If it reaches the end of the track, immediately perform a Harvest (see Tea Harvests).

No. 3 Track Is Laid

Complete a number of Track spaces equal to the current Lay Track Work rate, starting from the lowest incomplete Track space on the mountain. Place game Ownership markers on the spaces completed; no player will receive points for these Track spaces.

No. 4 Station Building

The town closest to Siliguri Town (but not Siliguri Town) that is incomplete (at least 1 Station space is empty) is marked as complete: Place game Ownership markers on all remaining Station spaces of that town. No further spaces in that Town may be built by the players.

Also, put the Event cubes on spaces 1, 2 & 3 back in the Supply bag.

No. 5 Equipment Maintenance

For each Equipment a player has, they must either pay maintenance for that Equipment, or return it to the Engine Shed. Equipment maintenance costs either 1 Steel bar (paid to the general supply) or 2 Chai (record the use on the Chai track). Equipment returned to the Engine Shed which originally came with a Chai do not get a Chai cube.

No. 6 Tea Harvest & Track Is Laid

Immediately perform a Harvest (see Tea Harvests). Then, lay track as per Event No. 3.

Solo Play

The solitaire game is played in the same way as the normal game, except for the following changes:

• You start with 20 Ownership markers in a colour of your choice (leave the rest in the box).
• Three Track spaces, except River spaces, start the game as already completed - these should be selected at random (use your own method).
• Select three Equipment cards, at random, to be available for your use during the game.
• When Restocking Contract cards, discard ALL remaining cards and draw a new line of 3 cards.
• When Event 1 is triggered for a second time (when the events have gone around the track once), Siliguri Town must be blocked using a game marker and no further building can be completed there.
• The game ends when either the last Track space has been completed OR you have used all of your Ownership markers.
• You may only own up to two Equipment at a time. Additionally, Equipment are worth zero points each at game end, even the Very Fine Train.
• The solo variant encourages you to aim for a series of achievements - see annex.

Annex - Solo Variant - Achievements Table

Building Achievements

• East India Company Depot: Build all Siliguri spaces
• Tea Mogul: 'Own' all of the Tea Estate spaces
• Branch Offices: Have an Ownership marker in each Station (Siliguri all the way to Darjeeling)
• Bridge Builder: Have an Ownership marker on each of the four River spaces
• Agony King: Have an Ownership marker on all 4 track spaces after the Tindaria River space up to Agony Point
• Northerner: Score over 180 points without any Ownership marker in Siliguri
• Builder: Score over 60 points in Station spaces (max poss is >110)
• Master Builder: Score over 90 points in Station spaces
• The Railway King: Score at least 20 points in tracks

Scoring Achievements

• Work Gang Worker: Score 100 or more using at least one Equipment
• Work Gang Deputy: Score 150 or more using at least one Equipment
• Work Gang Leader: Score 175 or more using at least one Equipment
• Work Gang Coordinator: Score 200 or more using at least one Equipment
• Work Gang President: Score 225 or more using at least one Equipment
• Solo Worker: Score 100 or more without using any Equipment
• Solo Deputy: Score 150 or more without using any Equipment
• Leader: Score 175 or more without using any Equipment
• Solo Coordinator: Score 200 or more without using any Equipment
• Solo President: Score 225 or more without using any Equipment
• Trainee Engineer: Score 100 or more without having Ownership markers in any Tea Estate space
• Graduate Engineer: Score 150 or more without having Ownership markers in any Tea Estate space
• Engineer: Score 175 or more without having Ownership markers in any Tea Estate space
• Expert Engineer: Score 200 or more without having Ownership markers in any Tea Estate space
• Master Engineer: Score 225 or more without having Ownership markers in any Tea Estate space
• Contractor - Grade I: Score at least 80 points in Contract cards
• Contractor - Grade II: Score at least 100 points in Contract cards
• Master Contractor: Score at least 120 points in Contract cards
• Procrastinator: Have 4+ unscored Contract cards and unused Contract cards

Personal Supply Achievements

• Tea Chest: End the game with 20 Tea Leaves in reserve (that have not been scored in Contract cards)
• Tea Store: End the game with 40 Tea Leaves in reserve (that have not been scored in Contract cards)
• Tea Warehouse: End the game with 60 Tea Leaves in reserve (that have not been scored in Contract cards)
• Chaiwala: End the game with full Chai track
• King of Spades: End the game with 30+ 'unused' Rubble
• Blast Furnace: End the game with 8+ Steel in reserve
• Tea-totaller (pun intended): End the game without Tea Leaves, Ownership cubes in Tea Estates / Siliguri / Darjeeling & score over 150 points
• Hard Worker: End game triggered by using all of your Score Markers (not building of last track space)

Campaign Achievements

• Middle-distance Runner: Play three games in a row scoring 400+ points in total
• Long-distance Runner: Play three games in a row scoring 500+ points in total
• Marathon Runner: Play three games in a row scoring 600+ points in total

Credits

Designer: Tony Boydell

Game Development: Fabien Conus, Aernout Cassier (Solo game)

Playtesters: Ben 'Boffo' Bateson, Becky 'Smudge' Bateson, John 'Jobbers' Plant, Dave 'from Ledbury' Daffin, Russell & Alex Martin, Ben & Steph, Matthew Dunstan, Phil Alberg, Lee Lavery, Dean Jones, Paul Naylor, Ava Jarvis, Paul Grogan, Paul Luxton, Gary Hampson, Archer, Rick Howard, Andrew Kerrison, Emilie Ruff, Jenny Leigh, Edward and Amanda from Heavy Cardboard, Lucien, Paulo Renato, Bruno V, a lovely Italian gentleman called Mo, Meeplepeat, Matthias Nagy, Nick Case...

Thanks to the Darjeeling and Himalayan Railway Society (http://www.dhrs.org).