Ancient Artifacts Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• The Atlas Board
• Your Career Sheet
• Setting Up the Game
• How to Play
• Taking Your Turn
  • Step 1: Draw
  • Step 2: Action
    • Action Bonus
    • Following
  • Step 3: Results
    • Locking Dice
    • Keeping Results
    • Continued Research
    • Completing Milestones
    • Busting
  • Step 4: Cleanup
• Game End
  • Final Scoring
• Solitaire Mode

Components

• 1 atlas board
• 1 pad of career sheets
• 1 cloth bag
• 9 action dice (3 orange, 3 blue, 3 green)
• 6 results dice (white)

The Atlas Board

1. Region Name → The atlas is divided into three regions, each distinguished by color and name.
2. Action Slot → Each region has two or three action slots, each marked by the outline of a die. Each action slot requires either a specific number or a specific color, but never both.
3. Bonus Chart → This chart indicates, for each region, which color/number combination will allow you to gain an action bonus.

Your Career Sheet

1. Renown Track → Each of the three renown tracks corresponds to a region of the atlas, and is subdivided into three or four separate sections.
2. Career Step → The label for each career step indicates which type of action is required in order to make progress in that renown track.
3. Requirements → These indicate what symbols you need to roll on the results dice in order to mark off a box. Research steps always require multiple results for one success and must be accomplished in a single turn, while Dig / Dive / Explore steps require only one result per success, but need several successes, which can be accomplished over several turns.
4. Starting Budget → You begin the game with a budget of $10. Each $1 can be spent (i.e., marked off) to reroll the dice or to follow another player's action.
5. Raider Indicator → In these indicators, you track the presence of raiders. When you have marked off all three boxes in one of these indicators, you can no longer take actions in that region.
6. Milestones → These lines run vertically. When you complete all the steps before a milestone, you automatically complete the milestone as well, which will earn you renown and sometimes money.
7. Follow Scorecard → In this section, you will track how many times the other players follow your actions. At the end of the game, the player who was followed the most will earn 3 extra renown.

Setting Up the Game

1. Give each player a career sheet and a pencil.
2. Place the atlas board in the center of the table, with the 6 results dice next to it.
3. Put the 9 action dice into the cloth bag, then shake the bag thoroughly.
4. Determine a random start player, and hand the bag to that player.

How to Play

In Ancient Artifacts, you will be attempting to progress through the steps on your career sheet, which is divided into three parallel renown tracks. (Think of your career sheet as a journal chronicling your globetrotting adventures as an archaeologist.) Each renown track corresponds to a region of the atlas board: desert, ocean, or jungle.

Each career step in a renown track corresponds to a specific action: Dig, Dive, Explore, or Research. Working from left to right, you must complete all of the career steps in a section before moving on the next section — though the steps within a section can generally be completed in any order (e.g., in the first section of the jungle career track, you may work on the Research and Explore steps in any order).

Note: In a 3- or 4-player game, each player should mark off, for each renown track, all the boxes up to and including the first milestone on their career sheet. (Also recommended for an introductory 2-player game.) With this change, you begin the game with 3 guaranteed renown and $2 extra in your budget!

In order to complete a career step, on your turn you must place an action die in the corresponding action slot on the atlas board. Then you roll and reroll the results dice, hoping for successes. Sometimes a step must be completed in a single turn, but other times it can be completed incrementally across several turns.

Taking Your Turn

Each player turn is composed of four distinct steps, which must be carried out in order:

1. Draw
2. Action
3. Results
4. Cleanup

Step 1: Draw

To begin your turn, if there is 1 action die in play — left over from the previous player's turn — draw 1 new action die from the bag so that you have 2 dice. Otherwise, draw 2 new dice instead.

Then roll your 2 action dice. If you do not like the results of this roll, you may spend $1 to draw and roll 2 new dice. If you do, set the first 2 dice aside until you've drawn the new dice, then return the first 2 dice back to the bag. In this way, you may pay for as many rerolls as you can afford.

Step 2: Action

Take 1 of the 2 action dice you just rolled and place it in the corresponding action slot on the atlas. Each action slot has a different requirement.

Research, in any region, requires a die of a specific color — orange for desert, blue for ocean, and green for jungle — but the die can be any number. Each of the other actions requires a die of a specific number — 1 or 2 for Dig (desert), 3 or 4 for Dive (ocean), and 5 or 6 for Explore (jungle) — but the die can be any color.

If you cannot place a die at all, you must mark off any raider box for an active renown track on your career sheet (i.e., one you haven't completed or been blocked out of), and your turn ends immediately.

Action Bonus

Although Research only requires a specific color (i.e., can be any number) and Dig / Dive / Explore only requires a specific number (i.e., can be any color), you will gain an action bonus if you match both.

If you take the Research action with a die that also matches one of that region's two numbers, you can ignore all requirements in the colored boxes when rolling for results. If you take a Dig / Dive / Explore action with a die that also matches that region's color, your results are typically doubled. (Exception: You cannot gain a bonus of any kind for the final Dig step in the desert renown track.)

In each renown track, there is a step showing the [raider] icon. For these steps, the action bonus you gain is different, replacing the normal bonus. With this special bonus, you would not bust until you have rolled 4+ raider symbols, instead of the normal 3+. (The concept of "busting" is explained on p. X. Editor's note: the printed rulebook leaves this page number blank as "X"; the Busting rules appear under Step 3: Results below.)

Following

Once you have chosen your action, each other player may choose to follow your action. In order to follow, a player must spend $1 and must be able to take the same type of action, in the same renown track (e.g., if they are blocked out of their desert track, they cannot follow if you have chosen Dig or Desert Research as your action).

Any player who follows your action will duplicate all results of your roll with the results dice. If you have the action bonus, each following player also gains the action bonus (which may be a different bonus than yours, based on where they are in that renown track). For each player who follows, you immediately mark off a box in the follow scorecard on your career sheet.

Step 3: Results

In this step, you roll all six results dice. The career sheet shows which combination of symbols is needed to complete the current step in the renown track.

Locking Dice

After the first roll, you may choose to lock any number of dice, setting them aside. Raider results must always be locked. Any dice that are not locked can be rerolled again, although you can spend $1 to pick up all locked dice and start over. After rerolling, lock dice as before. Repeat this process until you either decide to stop (i.e., keep your results) or have rolled 3+ raider symbols.

Keeping Results

If you decide to stop and keep your results, mark off as many boxes as your results allow. For Research actions, you need to have all of the indicated symbols in a single turn — it is all or nothing. But the Dig / Dive / Explore actions let you make progress incrementally, over as many turns as needed.

Remember: Any players who chose to follow your action will duplicate your results!

Continued Research

The Research steps linked by arrows have special rules. These steps must be completed in order from left to right. After completing one Research step in the series and marking off the box, you may immediately attempt the next Research step, if you wish. To do so, you must pick up all of the dice not currently locked with raider symbols, and roll again. (However, you can spend $1 to unlock all locked dice and add them to this new roll, as normal.) With lucky rolls, you could complete an entire series of Research steps in a single turn!

Completing Milestones

In each renown track, there are several vertical lines, known as milestones. As soon as you have completed all the steps before a milestone, you immediately complete the milestone as well — mark off the corresponding box. Completing milestones earns you extra renown, and sometimes extra money you can spend for rerolls.

Busting

If you have rolled 3+ raider symbols, that is known as a bust — your turn immediately ends with no further progress and you (and any following players) must mark off one raider box in that renown track. If you bust three times in the same track, you have become blocked out of that region for the rest of the game and cannot complete further steps in that renown track.

Remember: Any players who chose to follow your action will duplicate your results. This means that following players will bust if you bust!

Step 4: Cleanup

If there is at least 1 action die placed in each region of the atlas, remove all dice from the atlas and put them back in the bag; otherwise, leave the dice on the atlas. Then, pass both the bag and the leftover action die to the next player in clockwise order.

Game End

At the start of a player's turn, if they can no longer make progress in their career tracks, the final round of the game has been triggered; each other player gets one final turn before the game ends. Then, tally up your final scores.

Final Scoring

The player with the most follows marked on their career sheet (in the follow scorecard) earns 3 extra renown. If multiple players are tied for the most follows, they each earn 3 extra renown.

Next, players count up all of the renown they earned by completing steps in the various renown tracks of their career sheet. Each player then adds together their renown and their leftover money to get their final score. Whoever has the highest score wins!

If there is a tie for highest score, the tied player with the most follows wins. If there is still a tie, the tied player with more renown wins. Beyond that, the tied players enjoy the shared victory.

Solitaire Mode

There are only two changes to the rules for solitaire play:

• Leftover Die - After you choose your action by placing an action die on the atlas, the leftover die must also be assigned immediately to an action slot on the atlas (but you will not take an action from this second die). The leftover die is assigned by color first; if there is not an open slot, assign by number instead; if there is still not an open slot, you must spend $1 for a reroll.
• Game End - The game ends immediately when you complete your third renown track, mark off the ninth raider box on your career sheet, or cannot place an action die on the atlas.