Asara Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Idea and Object of the Game
• Game Contents and Set-Up Instructions
• How to Play
  • 1. Dispatch Buyers
  • 2. Execute Move
    • Buy Tower Sections
    • Build Tower
    • Extra Funds
    • Bribery
    • Caliph's Patronage
• End of a Year
  • End-of-Year Evaluation
  • Beginning of a New Year
• End of the Game
  • Final Evaluation
• Rules for the Professional Version
  • Recruit Buyers
  • House of the Lighted Windows
  • Example of Final Evaluation
• Expansion: The Gifts of the Caliph
  • Preparation
  • Execution
  • Professional Version
• Expansion: The House of the Bottle Genie
• Credits

Idea and Object of the Game

The players assume the roles of the rich building magnates Timanis, Mirar, Leiard and Faraiel, each of whom is seeking to boost his prestige within the Caliphate. The players compete with each other to see who can build the highest, the grandest and the largest number of towers within the space of 4 years. To do this, they dispatch their buyers to the marketplace to purchase the necessary building blocks. The players purchase different sections of the tower (base / trunk / window / turret) from each area of the market.

The sections are available in 5 different materials (in the colours brown, green, red, black and white). Some of them have gold decorations. The sections vary in price, but also in the amount of prestige they bring the player. Whoever is top of the prestige list at the end of the game is the winner.

Game Contents and Set-Up Instructions

Before reading the instructions for play, please begin by setting up ASARA as described below.

1. The board represents a marketplace divided into various areas. This must be assembled as shown. First put the 5 square parts together in a cross shape, so that the prestige bar progresses from 0-100. Then place the 4 triangles in the corners of the cross (see illustration). Arrange the two triangles with the wells so that the well side is showing, and the other two triangles so that the building side is showing.

2. Sort the 100 tiles depicting the tower sections according to shape and place them in 4 piles: 20 bases, 20 mid-sections, 25 windows, 20 turrets. (Leave the 15 "lit window" tiles with the red backs in the box – they are only required for the professional version.) Shuffle the 4 piles separately and place them face down in the correct spaces on the board.

3. Take from each of these piles as many tower sections as there are spaces to display them in the respective market areas. Place one tower section face up in each space. These tower sections constitute the market wares.

4. Each player selects one of the 4 counters (in their chosen colour) and places it on space 0 of the prestige bar.

5. Place the year counter on space 1 of the year bar.

6. Each player takes one of the 4 screens according to his chosen colour. The 52 Asari coins are separated into groups by value (25 ones, 16 fives, 11 tens) and placed in the kitty.

   The last player to have climbed a tower starts the game. They are granted the patronage of the Caliph and receive coins in the value of 20 Asari. All the other players receive 1 extra Asari each, progressing in a clockwise direction (i.e. 21, 22 and 23 Asari). The players place the coins behind their screens.

7. The 45 cards depict the buyers in 5 different colours. Shuffle all 45 buyers. Each player is allocated cards as follows:

   • 2 players: 9 buyers
   • 3 players: 8 buyers
   • 4 players: 7 buyers

   Hold your cards so that the other players cannot see them. The remaining buyers are placed face down in a pile.

8. For the professional game, flip the two triangles with the wells so that the building side is showing and place the 15 lit windows face down in a pile in the corresponding space.

How to Play

Distribute the game components as described in the crib sheet. The starting player begins. His turn consists of two actions:

1. Dispatch buyers (= lay card)
2. Execute move (e.g. choose and pay for tower section)

Play then continues in a clockwise direction with the person on his left, who performs the same two actions, and so on.

1. Dispatch Buyers

On his turn, each player lays one of the buyer cards in his hand face up on an empty space in one of the market areas.

The rules are as follows:

• If there are no other buyers in this area yet, the new buyer can be any colour (see example 1).
• If one or more buyers are already in the area, the new buyer must be the same colour as the others. Play must therefore always follow suit, i.e. colour.
• If a player wishes to place a buyer in a particular area, but is neither able nor willing to play the required colour, he can place any 2 buyer cards face down on one space instead (see example 2).

Play must always follow suit in all areas of the board (i.e. bank, building circle, market areas, etc.).

Example 1: Tina holds 6 buyer cards. She would like to buy a trunk section. She has a free choice, as there are no other buyers in that area yet. She places any one of the buyers in her hand on one of the 4 spaces in the trunk area of the market.

Example 2: Wolfgang also wants to buy a trunk section, but there is already a blue buyer in this area of the market. To follow suit, he would therefore have to lay a blue buyer card. Since he doesn't have a blue buyer card, he chooses any 2 buyers from his hand and places them face down on one space.

2. Execute Move

The player can execute one of several moves depending on the area in which he places his buyer. The possible moves are as follows:

Buy Tower Sections

There are 4 market areas where the players can buy the building blocks for their tower. Here they can find bases, trunks, windows and turrets.

If a player chooses the move "Buy tower sections", he can take any 1 of the tower sections lying face up in this market area and place it behind his screen. He then pays the required number of Asari into the kitty.

Tower sections of the same colour always cost the same amount. A red base costs exactly the same as a red trunk section, for example. The prices for each colour are indicated on the board, and on the inner right-hand side of the screens. A tower section with a gold decoration costs the same as an identical tower section without decoration.

N.B.: It is up to the players collectively to check that all payments are made!

Example: Tina wants to buy a trunk section. She lays the blue buyer card, takes the black tower section and places it behind her screen. For this, she pays 6 Asari to the kitty.

Build Tower

The players build their towers using the building circle. In the building circle there are 7 plots costing from 1 to 7 Asari. If a player lays a buyer card on a plot in the building circle, he must use the number of tower sections corresponding to the cost of that plot, either by assembling them into new towers or adding them to existing ones. He then pays the relevant number of Asari into the kitty.

The following rules apply:

1. Each tower may consist of one colour only.
2. Each tower consists of one base only and one turret only. It may have any number of trunk parts and windows.
3. On his turn, the player may build any number of towers simultaneously. These may be new or existing ones, and of the same or different colours.
4. Completed towers may be added to (i.e. by inserting any number of trunk parts and windows).
5. Parts may not be swapped between towers of the same colour.
6. At the end of his turn, the player should only have complete towers in front of his screen, i.e. they must have at least a base and a turret.

In reward, the player receives prestige points in proportion to the number of tower sections he has used during his turn.

Example: Philipp has 4 tower sections behind his screen. He lays a buyer card on plot 3 of the building circle, pays 3 Asari and starts building. The two white tower sections make up a complete tower. He inserts the black window into his existing black tower. He receives a total of 3 prestige points. He can't use the red trunk section as he doesn't yet have a red tower in which to put it.

Exception: If a player wants to build and the desired plot in the building circle is already occupied, he can place his buyer on the next highest vacant plot. He pays a higher price, but uses fewer tower sections. He only receives prestige points in proportion to the number of tower sections used.

Extra Funds

If a player places a buyer in a vacant space in the bank, he may take the corresponding number of Asari from the kitty.

Another way of raising funds is via the coloured building next to the bank. If a player places any buyer card face down on this building on his turn, he receives 5 Asari in return.

Important:

• Any number of buyer cards may be placed on top of each other on the coloured building space.
• In contrast to all the other areas, players do not have to follow suit in this space.

Bribery

If a player places a buyer card on the House of Spies, he first pays the required 3 or 5 Asari into the kitty and then selects one of the 4 piles of tower sections. He searches the pile and may take a tower section from it. He shows this card face up to all the other players, pays the required number of Asari for that section into the kitty and places it behind his screen. The pile is then shuffled and replaced on its space on the board.

Attention: the "bribery" option cannot be used to buy a tower section from the market stalls.

Example of "bribery": Philipp places a buyer card on space 3 of the House of Spies. He pays 3 Asari into the kitty and selects the pile containing the turrets. He chooses a black turret, shows it to the other players, pays a further 6 Asari into the kitty for it and places it behind his screen.

Caliph's Patronage

If a player places a buyer card on this space, he instantly takes the Caliph's patronage from the player currently in possession of the tile. He then becomes the starting player for the next year.

End of a Year

A year ends when all players have placed all their buyer cards on the board. Some players may have already distributed all their buyers if they were unable to follow suit and therefore had to lay 2 random buyer cards in one space. If so, the players without cards skip their turn until all players have placed their buyers.

End-of-Year Evaluation

After each of the 4 years, an evaluation is performed and the number of prestige points earned by each player is recorded on the prestige bar using the counters.

• Each tower constructed so far - of whatever colour or height – earns 1 prestige point.
• Each gold-decorated section in each tower constructed so far earns 1 prestige point.
• The Caliph's patronage earns 1 prestige point.

Tip: Since the tower sections with gold decorations earn new prestige points every year, it is a good idea to buy these where possible.

Example: Wolfgang has 2 towers, 2 gold decorations and the Caliph's patronage. This earns him (2+2+1)=5 prestige points.

After the end-of-year evaluation, the next year begins.

Beginning of a New Year

• Remove all buyer cards from the board.
• Shuffle all 45 buyer cards and re-distribute them according to the number of players.
• Fill the empty spaces in the market areas with tower sections from the respective top-up piles. If a top-up pile is used up, this means that not all the spaces can be filled.
• Distribute 20 Asari to each player; there is no sliding scale as at the beginning of the game.
• Keep the money and unused tower sections from previous years behind the screen.
• Move the year counter on 1 space.
• The player with the Caliph's patronage begins.

Each of the 4 years follows the same pattern.

End of the Game

The game ends after the fourth year. The 4th end-of-year evaluation is now performed. This is followed immediately by the final evaluation.

Final Evaluation

In the final evaluation, the players are awarded prestige points for their towers.

• For each tower colour, determine which player has built the highest and second highest tower (in terms of the number of tower sections). The players then receive prestige points as illustrated below.

Highest / second highest tower (per colour):

Brown	Green	Red	Black	White
4 / 2	6 / 3	8 / 4	10 / 5	12 / 6

Points are awarded as follows:

• [number missing in original] and 4 prestige points respectively for the highest or second highest tower overall (in terms of the number of tower sections), regardless of colour.
• 12 and 6 prestige points respectively for the largest or second largest number of towers overall.
• 1 prestige point for every 10 Asari.

In the event of a tie, the following rules apply:

• If there is a tie for 1st place, the prestige points earned by the two highest-scoring players are added together. This amount is divided by the number of towers involved (rounding up if necessary). The result is then credited to the players for each tower in question. In this case there is no 2nd place.
• If there is a tie for 2nd place, the prestige points of the second highest-scoring players are shared out proportionately between the players as above.
• Largest number of towers: in this case, the points are not divided by the number of towers, but the number of players involved.

Gold decorations and the Caliph's patronage do not earn any points in the final evaluation. The player with the most prestige points after the final evaluation wins the game. In the event of a tie, there will be more than one winner.

Rules for the Professional Version

The professional version of the game is played according to the same basic rules, but with the addition of two new elements: "Recruit buyers" and "House of the lighted windows". It is set up as described under point 8 on the crib sheet.

Recruit Buyers

Before placing a buyer on a space on the board, the player must first pay the amount printed on that space into the kitty. He is then entitled to take 2 buyer cards from the top-up pile.

House of the Lighted Windows

If a player places a buyer on a vacant space in the house of the lighted windows, he must either:

• pay 4 Asari and take the top 3 lighted windows from the stack. He then secretly selects 1 of these and places it behind his screen

or

• pay 10 Asari and take the top 5 lighted windows from the stack. He then secretly selects 2 of these and places them behind his screen.

The colour of the cards has no bearing on the price in either case. The discarded windows are placed face down at the bottom of the pile in any order.

The colour of the chosen lighted window is important. For tower building purposes, the lighted window is counted as normal among the number of sections. However, it can only be placed on an existing closed window of the same colour, and does not increase the height of the tower. Consequently, it does not count as a separate tower section, but earns the player 1 prestige point in the normal way.

At each end-of-year evaluation, the players receive 1 prestige point for each lighted window they have used, as in the case of gold decorations. If a gold decoration is covered by a lighted window, it is cancelled out.

At the final evaluation, the lighted windows decide the winner in the event of a tie. The player with the most lighted windows in the tower in question is placed higher in the ranking. In the event of a further tie, the points are shared out as usual.

This rule applies to:

• the evaluation for each colour (whereby only the lighted towers in the relevant tower are counted)
• the highest tower overall (whereby only the lighted towers in the relevant tower are counted)
• the number of towers (whereby all the player's lighted windows are counted)

Example of Final Evaluation

This is the status of the players' towers at the end of the game. Wolfgang and Philipp have each built 5 towers.

Scoring for the largest number of towers overall: Wolfgang and Philipp are tied for 1st place (2 players). Since largest-number-of-towers ties are divided by the number of players involved rather than the number of towers, there is no 2nd place awarded.

Scoring for the highest tower overall: The black towers contain the same number of sections for Tina and Philipp, who are tied for 2nd place.

Evaluation for brown towers: Tina takes 1st place, Wolfgang takes 2nd place.

Evaluation for green towers: Tina takes 1st place, Wolfgang takes 2nd place.

Evaluation for red towers: All red towers contain the same number of sections — Wolfgang and Philipp are tied for 1st place (3 towers involved), with no 2nd place awarded.

Evaluation for black towers: The black towers belonging to Philipp and Tina contain the same number of sections — Wolfgang takes 1st place, and Philipp and Tina are tied for 2nd place (2 towers involved, rounded up).

Evaluation for white towers: The white towers belonging to Philipp and Tina contain the same number of sections — Wolfgang takes 1st place, and Philipp and Tina are tied for 2nd place (2 towers involved).

Expansion: The Gifts of the Caliph

This expansion "The Gifts of the Caliph" can be used with the basic game of Asara, and also may be combined with the professional version of the game.

Preparation

Place golden treasures on the five market spaces shown below. For the basic game, remove the four Gift cards with the lighted windows and use the remaining twenty Gift cards.

• The middle space of the Window area
• 2 spaces of the Midsection area
• The "1" space of the Building circle
• The "8" space of the Bank

Shuffle the Gift cards and put them in a face-down pile next to the board. At the beginning of the game and at the start of each new year, randomly distribute the top five Gift cards face-up to the spaces marked with treasure chests on the board.

Execution

During the game, when a player places a buyer on a space with a Gift card, they get the card. The player will first execute the action of the card and then the normal action from the space. At the end of the year, if Gift cards remain on the board, they stay in place, and another Gift is added to the space.

The Gift cards are as follows:

• The player must immediately select a buyer from the deck, add it to their hand, and reshuffle the deck.
• The player takes the number of Asari shown from the stock.
• The player must purchase part of a tower from the corresponding area.
• The player immediately gains 2 prestige points.

Professional Version

For the Professional version of the game, add the four Gift cards with the lighted windows to the other cards. Add an additional treasure chest to a space in the "House of Lighted Windows". Each year, six Gifts are randomly placed on the spaces with the treasure chests.

The additional Gift card for the professional version reads: The player must purchase a lighted window for 4 Asari; choose from the stack, put it behind their screen, and reshuffle.

Expansion: The House of the Bottle Genie

The "House of the Bottle Genie" expansion is played together with the rules for the professional version of ASARA. The new board is simply placed touching any side of the playing area after set-up. No existing rules are changed.

Players may receive a wish in the House of the Bottle Genie. If a player places a buyer on a vacant space, he first pays the required 3, 5 or 7 Asari into the kitty. Afterwards he may wish to use any one move of any area (except for the Caliph's patronage!), i.e. buy tower sections, build tower, extra funds, recruit buyers, etc. It is not relevant whether the associated space is empty or not.

Example: The Player pays the required 3, 5 or 7 Asari, chooses a move, i.e.:

• Build tower, and pays the additional cost of the chosen space. He then executes the move as usual.
• Extra funds, and selects the space with +12. He then takes 12 Asari from the kitty.
• Bribery, and pays 3 additional Asari for the House of Spies. He then completes the rest of the bribery move as usual.

Credits

© 2010 Ravensburger Spieleverlag

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