Aztec (2020) Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Contents
• Setup
• Goal of the Game
• Playing the Game
  • 1) Collect Jewels in the Temple
  • 2) Play Character Tokens
  • 3) Reveal Jewel Cards
  • Gaining an Artifact
  • 4) Apply Curses
  • 5) End of the Round
• End of the Game

Contents

• 42 Jewel cards
• 42 Artifact cards
• 3 Curse cards
• 120 jewels (40 blue, 40 yellow, 40 red)
• 40 cursed stones
• 6 Character sheets
• 6 Character tokens

Setup

1. Place the jewels in the middle of the table; they form the temple.
2. Shuffle the Artifact cards to form a face-down deck beside the temple.
3. Place the cursed stones beside the Artifact cards.
4. Place the 3 Curse cards around the temple.
5. Place a cursed stone on each of the Curse cards.
6. Give each player a Character sheet and the corresponding Character token.
7. Give each player 2 cursed stones.
8. Deal 5 Jewel cards to each player as their personal, face-down deck. Return the rest of the Jewel cards to the box.
9. The youngest player becomes the first player; the game can commence.

Goal of the Game

Everyone has 5 rounds to collect as many jewels as they can, and form color combinations to earn victory points. The player with the most victory points at the end of the 5th round wins the game.

Playing the Game

Each round comprises 5 steps:

1. Collect jewels in the temple.
2. Play Character tokens.
3. Reveal Jewel cards.
4. Apply Curses.
5. End of the round.

1) Collect Jewels in the Temple

Each player simultaneously draws the first card of their Jewel deck, and secretly looks at it. Then, each player collects the jewels indicated on their card, or bluffs by collecting the jewels of their choice. Place the jewels you collected on your Jewel card, keeping it concealed.

Example: Charly draws the first card from her Jewel deck, and it depicts 2 blue jewels and 1 yellow jewel. Because his character scores 1 victory point for each red-blue combo, he bluffs by taking 2 blue jewels and 1 red jewel.

Important: In order to bluff correctly, keep in mind that the Jewel cards all depict 2 - 4 jewels, and of no more than 2 colors. We suggest that you look at them before you play your first game!

2) Play Character Tokens

Simultaneously, each player places their Character token in front of the player of their choice. You can play your Character token in two different ways:

• Green side up means, "I believe you!" You think your opponent is telling the truth.
• Red side up means, "You lie!" You think your opponent is lying.

At the end of this step, one player might have several Character tokens in front of them, or possibly none.

3) Reveal Jewel Cards

Beginning with the first player, then going clockwise, each player reveals their Jewel card and applies the effects, according to the following three cases:

Case 1: You told the truth.

• You add the jewels to your stash.
• You give one of your cursed stones to each player who accused you of lying.
• If at least 2 players accused you of lying, you gain an Artifact (see "Gaining an Artifact").
• Each player who believed you discards 1 cursed stone to the supply.

Case 2: You lied, but no one accused you of lying.

• You add the jewels to your stash.
• You gain an Artifact (see "Gaining an Artifact").
• Each player who believed you takes a cursed stone from the supply.

Case 3: You lied, and at least 1 player accused you of lying.

• You discard the jewels to the temple, and instead take the ones indicated on your card.
• Each player who accused you of lying gives you one of their cursed stones.
• If at least 2 players accused you of lying, each of these players gains an Artifact (see "Gaining an Artifact").
• Each player who believed you takes a cursed stone from the supply.

Important: If you are ever supposed to give someone a cursed stone when you have none, give them one from the supply, instead.

Example 1: The player told the truth. Daryl reveals his Jewel card, which matches the jewels he collected from the temple (3 red jewels). He stashes his 3 red jewels, and gives one of his cursed stones to Elisa, who accused him of lying. Yukio, who believed him, discards a cursed stone to the supply.

Example 2: The player lied, but no one accused them. Nobody accused Charly of lying, so he adds the jewels to his stash, then gains an Artifact. Daryl takes a cursed stone from the supply, because he played his Character in front of Charly green side up ("I believe you!").

Example 3: The player lied, and at least 1 player accused them of lying. Elisa tried to lie, but Charly and Daryl have accused her. Julie discards the jewels, and collects the ones indicated on her card. Charly and Daryl each give her one of their cursed stones, and draw an Artifact card.

Gaining an Artifact

When you gain an Artifact, you draw the top 3 card of the Artifact deck, and choose 1 to keep. Then, tuck the other 2 under the Artifact deck in whichever order you like.

Important: You must play artifacts with the icon immediately, then tuck them under the Artifact deck.

4) Apply Curses

Each curse is associated with a jewel color. For each color, see which player has stashed the most jewels of this color. This player takes all of the cursed stones on the Curse card of that color.

Important: If several players are tied for the most, leave the cursed stones on the Curse card; the tied players do not take them!

5) End of the Round

Each player discard their Jewel card that they just used. Add 1 cursed stone to each Curse card from the supply.

End of the Game

At the end of the 5th round, each player counts their victory points to see who won.

Important: Each character has a duo of jewels depicted on their Character sheet, which gains them victory points.

• Score 1 victory point for each duo of jewels your character seeks.
• Score 2 victory points for each trio of blue, red, yellow.
• Score the victory points for your artifacts.
• Subtract the victory points for your cursed stones.

Example: At the end of the game, Charly has 6 blue jewels, 5 red jewels, 3 yellow jewels, 2 artifacts and 4 cursed stones.

• He scores 5 victory points for his red-blue duos.
• He scores 6 victory points for his blue-red-yellow trios.
• He scores 6 victory points for his 3-blue artifact.
• He scores 3 victory points for his yellow-red artifact.
• Because he has reached the -5 space with his 4 cursed stones, he subtracts 5 victory points from his total.

His final score is 5 + 6 + 6 + 3 - 5 = 15.

The player with the most victory points wins! If there is a tie, the tied player with fewest cursed stones wins. If it is still a tie, the tied players share the victory.