Blue Moon City
Blue Moon City Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Game Components
- 21 Building tiles (double-sided)
- 1 Obelisk
- 80 Cards (10 for each of 8 peoples)
- 4 Player figures
- 40 Player markers (10 for each player)
- 40 Crystal tokens (12 of value 1, 28 of value 3)
- 15 Golden dragon scales
- 3 Dragon figures
Object of the Game
Contribute to the reconstruction of Blue Moon City to gain crystals. Impress the dragons to collect golden scales and convert these into crystals. Be the first to make enough offerings to the obelisk in the central courtyard to gain the leadership of the city and win the game.
During the game, the players move their figures to various building tiles, where they use cards to make contributions toward the reconstruction of buildings. When a player makes a contribution, he places one of his player markers (cubes) on one of the available spaces on the building tile. When the last available space is filled, the building is complete and players who made contributions toward its reconstruction receive rewards in the form of cards, dragon scales, and crystal tokens. Cards may be used to make future contributions, while dragon scales may be converted into more crystal tokens. Players use the crystal tokens to make offerings to the obelisk. The first player to make a certain number of offerings to the obelisk wins the game.
Game Setup
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Lay out the building tiles with the building sketches faceup in the following way: Place the courtyard in the center and place the three temples and the palace adjacent to it exactly as indicated in the illustration. Then shuffle the remaining building tiles and add them in a random order to complete the city shape.
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Place the obelisk next to the city.
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Place the crystal tokens faceup on one side of the obelisk.
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Place the golden scales on the other side of the obelisk: For four players use all 15 scales, for three players use 12, and for two players use 9 scales. Leave any remaining scales in the box.
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Place the three dragons next to the city.
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Each player chooses one color, then places the corresponding figure on the courtyard and the corresponding markers in front of him. Leave any remaining figures and markers in the box.
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Shuffle the cards, deal 8 to each player, and place the remaining cards as a facedown deck next to the city.
A Player's Turn
Select one player to start the game. Then play clockwise. On your turn, go through the following phases in the indicated order:
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Movement: You may move your figure up to two steps along adjacent building tiles. You may not move diagonally. You may change direction during the course of your move.
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Contribution: At the building tile on which you end your movement, you may use your cards to make one or more contributions to the reconstruction of the building, as described below. If you end your movement at the courtyard, you may make an offering to the obelisk during this phase, as described below.
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Discard and Draw Cards: To conclude your turn, discard zero, one, or two cards onto a faceup discard pile next to the facedown deck, then draw from the deck two more cards than you discarded. (When the deck is used up, reshuffle the discard pile.)
Card Powers: During your turn, you may discard cards from your hand to apply their powers, as indicated on the cards and as described on pages 4 and 5.
Reconstructing a Building
The sketch side of each building tile shows one, two, or three boxes with a colored number. These indicate the contributions required for the reconstruction of the building.
In order to make a contribution to the reconstruction of the building that your figure has reached, you must discard from your hand one or more cards of the corresponding color with a total equal to or greater than indicated in the box. Then place one of your player markers (cubes) on the box.
You may make any number of contributions, but you must make each one of them separately, with separate cards from your hand. Contributions to the four boxes of the royal palace can be made in any color. However, for each box you may only use one color.
Scoring a Completed Building
When you place a marker on the last open box of a building, the reconstruction of the building is complete, and the building is scored.
The player who has the most markers on the building (with ties being broken by the marker farther left) receives crystal tokens, cards, or golden scales as indicated in the upper left-hand corner of the building to the right of the asterisk.
Each player who made at least one contribution to the building (including the player who already received the "most markers" reward) receives crystal tokens, cards, or golden scales as indicated in the upper left-hand corner of the building tile underneath the asterisk.
Furthermore, each player who made at least one contribution to the building receives crystals, cards, and/or golden scales as depicted on all the orthogonally adjacent buildings that have already been completed. (The sketch side of each building tile shows its "neighborhood" reward in the upper-right hand corner, but this only becomes relevant after its completion.) Even if you made more than one contribution to the building, you score only once.
Place any golden scales and crystals you receive in front of you, keeping your crystal tokens facedown so that only you can consult their values. Place any cards you receive facedown in front of you without looking at them, and add them to your hand after your turn is completely over.
After scoring a building, the players retrieve their markers, the building tile is flipped over to show the completed building, and any figures or dragons present are placed back on the tile.
Dragons and Golden Scales
Dragons are moved in the city through the card powers described on pages 4 and 5. When dragons are present on the building tile where you make one or more contributions to the reconstruction of the building, then for each dragon present you receive one golden scale. Even if you make more than one contribution during your turn, you receive the golden scales only once.
Scoring the Golden Scales
There are two independent ways to receive golden scales: by making contributions in the presence of dragons or by scoring a completed building. When the last golden scale is taken during one of these actions, the golden scales are scored instantly. Any scales that could not be awarded because the scales had run out are still counted towards the respective players' totals.
If there is a single player with the most golden scales, he or she scores 6 crystals. If more than one player is tied for the most scales, they each score three crystals. All players who have at least 3 golden scales are guaranteed 3 crystals. Players who have fewer than 3 golden scales receive no crystals.
After the golden scales have been scored, players who have received crystals must return their golden scales to the supply. Players who have not received crystals keep their golden scales.
Example: You currently have 5 golden scales, and your two opponents have 4 and 2, respectively. Due to the presence of 2 dragons, you receive 2 golden scales for your contribution. Only 1 golden scale is available, therefore, you receive the last one, but an extra golden scale is still counted for you, bringing the number of your golden scales to 7. The golden scales are now scored: You have the most golden scales, so you receive 6 crystals; your opponent with 4 golden scales receives 3 crystals; and the other opponent with 2 golden scales receives no crystals but keeps his 2 golden scales. All other golden scales are then returned.
Note: The number of golden scales used in the game is limited, as indicated in the setup instructions. The number of player markers each player may place is limited by the components provided (10 per player). However, the number of crystals is not limited. If necessary, use extra tokens to reward each player with the appropriate number of crystals when scoring a building or the dragon scales.
Offering Crystals to the Obelisk
When your figure reaches the courtyard, you may make an offering to the obelisk.
The boxes on the obelisk are filled from the bottom up. If you spend the indicated number of crystals, you may place one of your markers on the corresponding box. (In the two-player game, do not use the two shaded "7" boxes at the base of the obelisk.)
It is possible to make two or more offerings to the obelisk in a single turn through the use of Pillar cards (see the explanation of card powers on pages 4 and 5).
Dragons on the courtyard have no effect. That is, you do not receive dragon scales for making an offering to the obelisk when dragons are present (as you would for making a contribution to a building when dragons are on the building tile).
Winning the Game
One player wins the game when he or she has made the following number of offerings to the obelisk:
- 2-player game: 6 offerings
- 3-player game: 5 offerings
- 4-player game: 4 offerings
It is possible (though unlikely) for every building in the city to be rebuilt without any player having enough crystals to make the required number of offerings to end the game. In this situation, play until every player has made as many offerings as he or she can, then the player who has made the most offerings to the obelisk wins. Ties go to the player who has the most remaining crystals. If this is also tied, the tied players share the victory.
It is also possible for all players to run out of player markers (by placing all 10 of their cubes on unfinished buildings and the obelisk). This is most likely to happen in a 2-player game. In this situation, the game ends in a draw.
Variant
For more variety, place the courtyard in the center and add all other building tiles in a random order to complete the city setup.
Example of Play
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You start your turn by moving your figure from the hospice to the university.
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You discard a blue card of value "1" from your hand and apply its power to fly the blue dragon to the university, as explained under "The Card Powers."
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Then you use a white "2" and a white "3" from your hand to make a contribution to the reconstruction of the university, placing your marker on the value 5 box.
Because there are two dragons (red and blue) on the university, you receive 2 golden scales.
Scoring the Building
Your contribution to the university also completes the reconstruction of the building. Therefore the university is now scored. Since you and your opponent both made one contribution to the university, but your marker is farther to the left, you receive the reward to the right of the asterisk: 1 golden scale.
Then you and your opponent both receive the reward underneath the asterisk – a crystal token of value 1 – for completing the university. Furthermore, both players receive 3 crystals for the fire temple's "neighborhood" reward and 2 cards for the market hall's "neighborhood" reward. The royal palace is not yet complete, so it does not bestow a "neighborhood" reward.
Finally, the players retrieve their markers, the university is flipped over to show its completed side, and the two dragons and the purple player figure are placed back on the university tile.
You conclude your turn by discarding 2 cards from your hand and drawing 4 new ones.
The Card Powers
The cards have values ranging from 1 to 3, and these values represent your contribution to the reconstruction of buildings. In addition, the cards with values 1 and 2 have powers that you can use instead of contributing them as normal, as described below.
Black (Vulca)
The Vulca revere Lika the Fire Dragon.
During your Movement phase:
- Vulca (black) card of value 1: Discard to fly the red dragon to any space (the dragon may be inside or outside the city).
- Vulca (black) card of value 2: Discard to move the red dragon up to three spaces (if the dragon is already in the city).
Red (Terrah)
The Terrah revere Doran the Earth Dragon.
During your Movement phase:
- Terrah (red) card of value 1: Discard to fly the green dragon to any space (the dragon may be inside or outside the city).
- Terrah (red) card of value 2: Discard to move the green dragon up to three spaces (if the dragon is already in the city).
Blue (Aqua)
The Aqua revere Sesha the Water Dragon.
During your Movement phase:
- Aqua (blue) card of value 1: Discard to fly the blue dragon to any space (the dragon may be inside or outside the city).
- Aqua (blue) card of value 2: Discard to move the blue dragon up to three spaces (if the dragon is already in the city).
Gray (Flit)
The bird-like Flit transport the players.
During your Movement phase:
- Flit (grey) card of value 1: Discard to move your figure to any space.
- Flit (grey) card of value 2: Discard to move your figure up to two additional spaces.
Note: Since the power of the Flit can only be used during your movement phase, it is not possible to use a Flit card to make a contribution at one building tile and then move your figure to another tile.
Green (Khind)
The childlike Khind may be used as any color card.
During your Contribution phase:
- Any Khind (green) card: All Khind cards are wild cards of value 1 and can be used as or added to any color to make one contribution.
Brown (Mimix)
The nature-connected Mimix can make a contribution of any color, but only when two of them are used in combination.
During your Contribution phase:
- Any Mimix (brown) card of value 1 or 2: Any two Mimix cards of values 1 or 2 count as one wild card of value 3 and can be used as or added to any color to make one contribution. (Two brown 1s, two brown 2s, or a brown 1 and a brown 2 may be discarded together to form a wild card of value 3.)
White (Hoax)
The sophisticated Hoax can convert colors.
During your Contribution phase:
- Hoax (white) card of value 1: Discard to change the color of up to four cards of one color into another color for the purpose of making one contribution. (You cannot "recolor" the card powers.)
- Hoax (white) card of value 2: Discard to change the color of one of your cards to make one contribution. (You cannot "recolor" the card powers.)
Yellow (Pillar)
The Pillar enable you to make multiple offerings to the obelisk in a single turn.
During your Contribution phase:
- Pillar (yellow) card of value 1: After you have made an offering to the obelisk, you may discard this card to make one additional offering to the obelisk. However, you must spend 1 additional crystal in order to do so (e.g., to place a cube in the "8" space on the obelisk you would have to discard 9 crystals).
- Pillar (yellow) card of value 2: After you have made an offering to the obelisk, you may discard this card to make one additional offering to the obelisk. However, you must spend 2 additional crystals in order to do so.
Credits
The Author: Reiner Knizia is one of the world's most famous and successful game designers. He has designed over 200 games, published in many languages and countries. In particular, his "Lord of the Rings" fantasy games are played all over the world.
Reiner Knizia expresses his special gratitude to David Farquhar and Kevin Jacklin for their contributions to the development of the Blue Moon world. Many thanks go to the numerous playtesters, in particular Iain Adams, Jon Blackwell, Sebastian Bleasdale, Chris Bowyer, John Christian, Chris Dearlove, Martin Higham, Ross Inglis, Kevin Jacklin, and Andy Parsons.
© 2006 Kosmos Verlag, Stuttgart. Original Title: Blue Moon City. Published in the English Language exclusively by Fantasy Flight Games.