Amygdala
Amygdala Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Game Setup
- Place the Amygdala game board in the center of the table, with the side faceup to match your player count (2-3 players / 4 players).
- Place the circumstance token at the top of the lotus flower, between purple (surprise) and indigo (sadness).
- From the 72 resource tiles, use the tiles marked for your player count: for a 2-player game use only the tiles marked for 2 players; for a 3-player game add the tiles marked for 3 players; for a 4-player game add the tiles marked for 4 players as well. In a 2-3 player game, return unused resource tiles to the box.
- Deal tiles faceup to each lotus flower. In a 2-3 player game, deal 2 resource tiles to each lotus. In a 4-player game, deal 2 sets of 2 to each lotus.
- Place the remainder of the deck in a face-down draw pile next to the game board.
- Place the following components next to the game board in a supply:
- 56 Neuron Coins (16 of value 1, 5 of value 5, 12 of value 10)
- 18 idea tokens
- 12 reward tokens
- 18 happiness tokens
- 24 dream tokens
- Choose a start player. If you can't decide, the player with the earliest life memory goes first. They take the start player marker.
Player Setup
A. Choose a player color and take the following components in that color: 1 player board, 21 emotion tiles, 7 claim tokens, 1 mood marker, 1 thought marker, and 1 VP marker.
B. Place your player board in your play area.
C. Place your thought marker on the top left of your player board.
D. Place your mood marker on the roots of the same lotus flower as the circumstance token.
E. Place your 7 claim tokens face up next to your player board; you do not have access to these in game yet.
F. Find your emotion tile with the 3 happiness token symbols. Place this in the center of your board.
G. Shuffle the rest of your emotion tiles facedown, and randomly place them facedown on all the other empty spaces of your player board, then turn them faceup. Leave all bonus spaces, spaces that contain icons for rewards, happiness tokens, claim tokens, and dream tokens, uncovered.
H. Place 1 reward and three value-10 neuron coins on 4 free spaces of the memory bank on your player board.
I. Place your VP marker on the 0 space of the VP track.
Overview
Players collect resource tiles to place emotion tiles and claim majorities in the 7 color regions of the game board. The player with the most Victory Points (VP) at the end of the game, wins!
The 7 color regions and their emotions are: sadness, serenity, gratitude, happiness, hope, anger, and surprise.
Gameplay
The player with the start player marker takes the first turn. Players continue to take turns in a clockwise order until the end game is triggered.
Each turn you must perform one of the following three actions:
- A. Acquire resource tiles
- B. Place an emotion tile
- C. Place a claim token
A. Acquire Resource Tiles
Your mood marker must be on the roots of the lotus where you wish to buy a resource tile. You may move your mood marker clockwise to any other lotus for free. However, if your mood marker moves onto or past the lotus where the circumstance token is, you must pay 1 coin.
There might be 1-2 tiles in 1-2 sets on each lotus depending on the number of players. You may buy 1 or 2 resource tiles. In a 4-player game you can only buy tiles from a single set. If you choose to buy 2 tiles you only need to pay for the most expensive one, the cheaper one in the set is free. To pay, return the required coins from your memory bank to the supply, and place the purchased resource tiles as well as any change on free spaces in your memory bank.
Whenever there is a total of 3 or fewer resource tiles left on all the lotus flowers, refill from the draw pile. Start the refill by dealing to the lotus containing the circumstance token and move clockwise. Shuffle the discards to form a new draw pile when necessary.
Note: Whenever you don't have the correct amount of neuron coins to perform a desired action, you can exchange 2 VP for 1 coin.
Example: Geneva moves her mood marker to the lotus between surprise and sadness. She chooses to pay 3 coins for both the tiles in the first set.
Memory Bank
Your memory bank is the 10 leaf shaped spaces of your player board. By the end of your turn all your items (coins, rewards, ideas, dreams, resource tiles, happiness, and earned claim tokens) need to fit into your memory bank. 1 item to each space. During your turn you may exceed the limit of your bank, but at the end of your turn all excess items need to be discarded (player's choice). At any point, neuron coins can be freely exchanged with the supply to make change (ex. Two value 5 coins for one value 10. Etc).
B. Place an Emotion Tile
This action is done in 4 steps.
- Unlock an emotion tile
- Place the unlocked emotion tile
- Score VP
- Check for bonuses
1. Unlock an emotion tile
Your thought marker needs to move to the emotion tile you wish to unlock.
The first time during the game you move your thought marker it may be placed on any emotion tile on the outside edge of your player board.
On future turns, when you want to move the thought marker, it may:
a. move to an adjacent emotion tile for free or
b. jump to any emotion tile for a cost of 2 coins. You may jump for free if there is no emotion tile adjacent to the thought marker.
Once the thought marker has moved, you must pay the resources that match the emotions on the chosen tile. Select the correct resource tiles in your memory bank, or you may use the exchange chart to swap items (dream tokens, neuron coins, other emotions, etc) for any missing resources (See Additional Actions). All paid items are returned to the supply. This emotion tile is now unlocked.
Note: Happiness emotion tiles can only be purchased with happiness tokens, mainly earned as a bonus (see step 4).
Example: Joseph wants to unlock the emotion tile with 1 surprise icon and 1 gratitude icon. He pays 2 coins to jump from his current space across the board. He pays 1 gratitude resource and 1 reward in place of a surprise resource. This tile is now unlocked.
2. Place the unlocked emotion tile
The Amygdala game board has 7 regions: yellow, purple, indigo, blue, green, pink, and red. In the middle of each region there is an emotion printed onto the board, this is known as a source (ex. indigo has sadness).
The unlocked emotion tile is placed adjacent to either of the following:
a. a source matching an emotion on the tile or
b. one of your own previously placed tiles depicting the same emotion. This means you may grow your network across borders of regions if it is placed adjacent to a matching emotion.
Before placing the emotion tile, your mood marker must be on the roots of the lotus adjacent to the color region in which you wish to place your unlocked emotion tile. You may move your mood marker clockwise to any other lotus for free. However, if your mood marker moves onto or past the lotus where the circumstance token is, you must pay 1 coin.
To place emotion tiles in the center yellow area, your mood marker must be on the same lotus as the circumstance token.
Happiness emotion tiles can also be placed adjacent to any source (your mood marker must be on the roots of the lotus adjacent to that color region as usual).
Example: Joseph wants to place his unlocked gratitude and surprise emotion tile in the center yellow region, which he can do by placing adjacent to his previously placed hope/surprise tile. He moves his mood marker to the same lotus as the circumstance token, pays 1 coin, and places his tile.
3. Score VP
Each of your emotion tiles adjacent to another of your emotion tiles with a matching emotion is considered connected in a network. Receive 1 VP for each matching emotion (not each tile) in a network with the tile you just placed.
If there is more than 1 type of emotion on your newly placed tile, you must choose which of the emotion networks to score.
The source counts as a connection in your network, but does not earn VP. Happiness only networks with happiness; it is not considered wild even though it matches any source.
Note: A connected network of emotion tiles can extend over multiple regions.
Example: Joseph chooses to score his network of pink hope tiles. He scores 4VP and moves his scoring marker accordingly.
4. Check for bonuses
Bonus locations are those spaces on your player board that contain icons of rewards, happiness, idea, dream, and claim tokens. Check if all spaces directly adjacent to a bonus location are newly free of emotion tiles (can only be a bonus location next to your thought marker). If so, take all the bonus items pictured (from the supply or next to your game board), and place them on free spaces in your memory bank.
If you earn a claim token from next to your game board, you may choose which one to take.
- Claim tokens are needed to claim regional majority VP.
- Rewards can be used as a coin or wild resource for an emotion (not happiness).
- Happiness tokens pay for happiness emotion tiles.
- Ideas can be exchanged for coins.
- Dreams can be exchanged for VP.
Example: Joseph has unlocked and placed all emotion tiles around a bonus space. He takes 1 idea token and 1 claim token. He chooses his hope claim token, and places both in his memory bank.
C. Place a Claim Token
Your mood marker must be on the roots of the lotus adjacent to the color region you wish to place your claim token. If you wish to place it in yellow, your mood marker must be on the same lotus as the circumstance token. You may move your mood marker clockwise to any other lotus for free. However, if your mood marker moves onto or past the lotus where the circumstance token is, you must pay 1 coin.
Place a claim token from your memory bank on the region of the board that matches that color of the claim token. Place your claim token in the first available space (clockwise on the tear drop spaces with an outline) in that region. The order of placement will break ties during the end game, earlier placement is better.
The claim token means you are eligible to score points in this region at the end of the game.
Example: Debra wants to place her Serenity claim token. She must pay 1 coin to pass the circumstance token as she moves clockwise to the first lotus adjacent to the blue region. Geneva already has a claim token in this region, so Debra places her claim token in the next available space (clockwise from Geneva's token).
Additional Actions
In addition to your action (A, B, or C), you may also exchange as many items in your memory bank as needed for payment at any point on your turn.
- 1 dream or 1 happiness token can be exchanged for 2 coins.
- 1 resource tile or 1 reward token can be exchanged for 1 coin.
- 1 reward, 2 resource tiles, or 5 coins can be exchanged to match 1 emotion when unlocking a tile (not happiness).
- 7 coins can be exchanged for 1 happiness token when unlocking a tile.
- 1/2/3/4 ideas can be exchanged into 2/5/10/15 neuron coins, respectively.
- 1/2/3/4/5/6 dreams can be exchanged into 2/5/9/14/20/27 VP, respectively.
Game End
When 1 player has only 5 emotion tiles left on their player board at the end of their turn, the game is almost finished. Continue the round, so that everyone has the same number of turns. Then everyone gets one more turn.
Example: Geneva is 2 seats to the right of the start player, Charley. After taking her turn she only has 5 emotion tiles left, so the end of the game is triggered. Debra is seated to her left, and takes 1 more turn. Then all players take 1 more turn.
Final Scoring
For every 3 neuron coins receive 1 VP.
Score the 7 Color Regions of the Board
Pick one region to score at a time. All players count the number of emotion icons they have in each region. Some emotion tiles have multiple icons, be sure to count all of them. It does not matter if the emotions are in a network or match the region.
The player with the most emotions of any kind is considered in 1st place. The player with the second most emotions is in 2nd place, and the third most is 3rd.
Only players with a claim token in that region are eligible to score the points shown in that region. In the event of a tie, the player whose claim marker was placed in the region earlier (further left), wins the tie.
Even if a player did not place a claim token they still may be in 1st, 2nd, or 3rd place. If a player without a claim token is in 1st place they score no VP, but they are still in 1st place, so the 2nd place player with a claim token will only score the value of 2nd place.
Example: Geneva, Debra, and Charley placed emotion tiles in the blue region. Geneva has 2 emotions, Debra has 3, and Charley has 4. Charley claims first place, but because he did not place his serenity claim token in this region, he scores no points. Debra claims 2nd place and takes 4VP. Geneva is in 3rd place and so takes 2VP.
After all 7 regions are scored, the player with the most VP wins.
In the event of a tie, whoever has the most coins remaining wins. If there is still a tie all the players rejoice in a shared victory.
Variants
The Changing Circumstances Variant
Each time you move your mood marker past the circumstance token you not only need to pay the cost, but you also take the marker along to the next lotus flower that you travel to.
Players are not allowed to move in a full circle, ending up where they started. They need to move to a different lotus than the one they came from.
All other rules still apply (needing to be on the same lotus as the circumstance token to place in the center area, etc).
The VP Tiles Variant
At the beginning of the game, randomly place one VP token on each of the scoring locations of each region. At the end of the game, you score the 7 color regions according to these tiles.