Bazaars of Ubar
Bazaars of Ubar Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 60 Trade Route Tiles
- 100 Goods Tiles
- 1 Time Track
- 4 Player Markers
- 30 1-Value Silver Coins
- 20 5-Value Gold Coins
- 20 Market Cards
- 4 Ship Boards
Setup
- Each player chooses a color. Give each player their corresponding ship board, one designated start tile (marked starter on the back of the tile), and one of each non-scarab good. Each player should place the goods on the ship and the starter tile off to the side.
- Place each pile of goods so they're accessible to all players.
- Place the time track on the table. Randomly line up each player's time marker on the start spot. The player furthest back will go first. Shuffle the market cards and place three face up on the right side of the time track.
- Randomize the trade route tiles, then create a center grid of trade routes. The size of this grid is different based on player count, as shown in the chart below. Take any remaining tiles and put them off to the side.
| 2 Players | 3 Players | 4 Players |
|---|---|---|
| 4 x 3 grid | 4 x 4 grid | 5 x 4 grid |
Trade Route Tile Drafting
A turn in Bazaars of Ubar consists of drafting a trade route tile from the center grid, executing the tile's actions, and triggering tradewinds.
Each tile in the center grid costs time to draft. The base amount of time a tile costs is equal to the number of purple time symbols on that tile. Tiles also cost an additional time for each time symbol from neighboring tiles that is 'touching' the tile in question (see example).
Example: The bottom tile costs 1 more time because one of the top tile's time symbols is 'touching' the bottom tile (cost 2).
Tiles in the center grid aren't replaced during the round, so as the round goes on there will be more holes in the grid. Since adjacent tiles can increase tile costs, many tiles will get cheaper as the round continues and as adjacent tiles are drafted.
In the left example, the middle tile would cost 4 time to draft. As the round continues, adjacent tiles may be drafted as to reduce the middle tile's cost. In the right example, the middle tile now costs 2 time.
Time Track
Whenever taking and/or executing a tile costs time, move that player's time marker that many spaces forward on the time track.
Turn order in this game is not clockwise but instead is dictated by who is furthest back on the time track. This means that players who take tiles with higher time costs may take fewer turns than other players.
If two or more players land on the same space, stack the tokens on that space. Order those markers so the player who first got to that space is on the bottom and the most recent player addition is on the top (the first person to land on a space will be the first person to take a turn from that space).
If a player's actions would put them past one of the 'round ends', continue to move that pawn the right number of spaces. If a player's actions would put them past the final 'round ends' marker, just move that player to the final 'round ends' space. They suffer no penalties for going past the final space on the time track.
Execute Trade Route
Most trade route tiles have an action. All actions in Bazaars of Ubar are exchanges either trading goods for other goods or trading time for goods. When a player drafts a tile, they must execute that tile's action if possible.
Example: This tile's action is to trade 1 Potion for two Chests.
Tableau Placement
When a tile is drafted, it must be added to that player's tableau. Tableaus start with the one starter tile and additional tiles must be placed orthogonally adjacent to an existing tile. All tiles must be oriented such that the airship is upright.
Tradewinds
In addition to an action, all trade route tiles have a tradewind. Tradewinds are a bonus that allows players to re-trigger actions on their tableaus based on where the new tile is placed.
Example: In this example, this player will not only get to trade a Potion for a Scarab, but then will also do the two actions to the right. These trade routes chain well together, netting that player a Potion and a Carpet.
Tradewinds trigger after the new tile executes its action. If multiple tiles' actions are triggered from a tradewind, they must be triggered in the order designated by the tradewind (see symbols below). A tile's tradewinds are only triggered when it is initially played and never re-trigger (only actions re-trigger).
Tradewind Symbols
- Activate the tile below. (Tradewinds of this type can have arrows pointing up, right, down, or left and should reactivate tiles in the corresponding direction.)
- Activate the 2 tiles below, starting with the closest.
- Activate the 3 tiles below, starting with the closest and ending with the farthest.
- Activate any other tile in the tableau, regardless of proximity.
- Activate all orthogonally adjacent tiles, starting with the top tile and rotating clockwise.
- Activate all diagonally adjacent tiles, starting with the top-right tile and rotating clockwise.
Space Management
Players have a finite amount of space to store goods on their ship. Each ship tile has 28 spaces laid out in a 7x4 grid. When a player acquires a new good, they must immediately add that good to the grid of their boat tile.
Goods cannot stack and must fit on the ship grid. If at any time (even in the middle of a turn between actions) a player does not enough space to fit all of their goods, they must throw goods overboard until everything is either on the grid or dumped. Goods on the boat can be dumped at any time.
Players may rearrange goods on their ship at any time.
Each good (Carpet, Chest, Potion, Lamp, Scarab) has its own size and shape.
End of Round & End of Game
The end of round occurs once all players' time markers are on or past the shaded 'End of Round' space (current player finishes their turn before the round end actions begin).
At the end of a round, players have the opportunity to sell any, all, or none of the goods they currently have on their ship. Players will receive coins from the goods they sell based on the current round's market card. Players have the option to abstain from selling in a round or holding some goods back.
Once all players have sold goods, discard the used market card.
Each market card has one good that is undervalued and one good that is overvalued.
Next refill the middle draft grid so it has the same number of tiles as it did at the beginning of the game.
Once goods are sold and the draft grid is refilled, play continues as normal, with the player furthest back taking the next turn.
If players triggered the third and final round end, then end the game after all players have sold their goods. The player with the most coins is declared the winner.