Caral Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Contents
• Game Setup
  • 2nd, 3rd and 4th player
• Aim of the Game
• Gameplay
• A Year
• Movement
• Action
  • In the village
  • In the quarry
  • At the cult square
  • At the animal market
  • At your own building sites
• Building Rules
• Annual Ceremony
• The Blessing of the Gods
• End of Game
• Resource Cards
  • Special abilities of the resource cards
• 2-Player Rules
  • "Whim of the Gods" cards
• Optional Modules
  • Annual Tiles
  • Status Cards
  • Progress Tiles
  • Anaconda
  • Emissaries
• Icon Overview
  • Icons on the game board
  • Icons on resource cards
  • Icons on "Whim of the Gods" cards
  • Icons on annual tiles
  • Icons on progress tiles
  • Icons on the emissary tiles

Contents

• 1 Game board
• 1 Progress table
• 1 Fame scoreboard
• 1 Reference card
• 1 Architect die
• 1 Architect figure
• 5 Central pyramid levels
• 45 Pyramid levels in 5 sizes
• 4 Transport sleds
• 52 Resource cards
• 16 Stones
• Carali figures in 4 colors (12 each)
• Player figures in 4 colors (1 each)
• Fame trackers in 4 colors (2 each)
• Alpaca figures in 4 colors (8 each)

Optional modules:

• 12 Emissary tiles
• 1 Emissary board
• 1 Diplomacy token
• 7 Annual tiles
• 8 Progress tiles
• 1 Anaconda figure
• 9 Status cards
• 7 "Whim of the Gods" cards

Game Setup

1. The first level of the central pyramid is placed in the center of the board. The progress table is turned to the base side and the other levels of the central pyramid are placed next to the progress table.
2. The architect and the player figures of the player colors used are placed on the starting area.
3. The game material is laid out: the stones next to the quarry on the right, the shuffled face-down pile of resource cards next to the cult square at the bottom, the alpacas on the left next to the animal market, the carali next to the village at the top.
4. The pyramid levels are placed next to the game board.
5. Each player receives 1 alpaca and places it on the area indicating 4 movement points on their transport sled (which has space for up to 4 stones and 4 more alpaca figures).
6. The last player to see an alpaca becomes the first starting player. They receive the die and now place 1 carali of their player color from the supply on each quarry square. Then they put 1 carali next to a building site of their choice (brown square) and place a pyramid level of size 5 onto that building site. They also place 1 fame tracker on the "5" of the fame scoreboard. (The second tracker is not needed until players reach over 19 points.) The starting player receives 1 stone on his transport sled and 4 resource cards.

2nd, 3rd and 4th player

The 2nd player also performs all these steps, but they receive 2 stones and 4 resource cards. The 3rd player as well, but they receive 2 stones and 5 cards. The 4th player as well, but they receive 2 stones and 6 cards.

Aim of the Game

Become the most famous master builder of Caral by building pyramids, sacrificing to the gods and accumulating more fame than your competitors through various actions.

Gameplay

The players build up Caral by building pyramids. To do this, they must have workers in the quarries to have enough stones at all times. Likewise, they should neither neglect their movement range nor their amount of resource cards. For at the end of each year there is a great sacrificial ceremony, to which a player calls when they enter the central pyramid at the heart of Caral.

CARAL is played over several years, during which players take their actions one turn at a time. A year ends immediately with the annual ceremony as soon as a player enters the central pyramid.

A Year

The starting player remains the starting player for the entire year.

At the beginning of their turn (and at the beginning of each subsequent turn) they roll the architect die for the architect's movement. If the die shows a choice, the starting player chooses one of the indicated options.

They move the architect forward by the number of squares rolled or chosen. The architect figure moves along the spiral path towards the central pyramid. In doing so, it can only enter the action squares and does not count the players' pyramid building sites for its movement.

Then, beginning with the starting player, all players take their turn. Each turn always consists of 2 phases:

1. Movement
2. Action

Once a player has finished their turn, it is the next player's turn in clockwise order.

If it is the starting player's turn again, they roll the architect die and move the architect figure before taking their turn!

The game proceeds in this way round by round until any player reaches the central pyramid and places their player figure on top. That player immediately becomes the head priest of the annual ceremony.

(Note: If the architect reaches the central pyramid before the players, the starting player becomes the head priest of the annual ceremony!)

Movement

The player moves their player figure any number of squares up to the number of their currently available movement points (4 in the beginning) in one direction on the spiral path. The following movement rules apply:

• You can either go forward or backward, but never stay in place!
• Each action square counts as 1 square, but unlike the architect's movement, each started or completed pyramid (at least 1 pyramid level) also counts as 1 square for player movement, regardless of who owns that pyramid.
• Empty building sites are not counted.
• You can stop at your own empty building sites before reaching your movement limit if you want to build there.
• You can discard any number of resource cards to increase your maximum movement range by +1 per discarded card this turn.

Players may NEVER take an action if their player figure is located behind the architect! They must be at least on the same square or further ahead on the way to the central pyramid to take an action!

Action

There are 5 different actions. Which action you are allowed to perform depends solely on your current location.

In the village

You place 1 carali on the game board. There are 3 possibilities for this:

• As a worker - in one of the two quarries, to be able to pick up more stones there in the future.
• As a builder - at any unoccupied building site, to be able to build there later.
• As a priest - on top your completed 5-level pyramids to receive 1 fame at the end of each year. Priests may never be placed on 3-level pyramids!

In the quarry

You may load as many stones onto your transport sled as you have workers in this quarry. The limit for stones on the transport sled is 4. If you are allowed to receive more stones than your sled can carry, the surplus stones are forfeited.

At the cult square

You draw 2 resource cards from the face-down pile.

At the animal market

You get another alpaca as a draft animal for your transport sled (and thereby increase your available movement points by 1).

At your own building sites

If your player figure is located at a building site with one of your own builders, you may move your builder from the brown area onto the red arrow in front of the building site. Then you build there according to the building rules.

Building Rules

For each pyramid level you build, you pay 1 stone from your transport sled.

In principle, you may only build 1 pyramid level as your turn action. However, certain pairs of resource cards allow you to build additional levels (see Resource Cards).

When you start building, you immediately decide how large you want the pyramid to be. You can either build a small pyramid with 3 levels or a large one with 5 levels. You take the appropriate pyramid level (size 3 or 5) from the supply and place it onto your reserved building site after you have returned 1 stone from your transport sled to the general supply.

Move your builder from the building site onto the red arrow on the spiral path. Later you can build the next pyramid level onto it and so on.

Example: Patricia wants to build a 5-level pyramid. She pays 1 stone, then she places a pyramid level of size 5 onto her building site, moving her builder onto the red arrow on the spiral path.

Whenever any pyramid is completed, the completing player immediately receives the fame points listed on the progress table. For example, the first completed pyramid will score 3 fame points, but the third pyramid only 2.

Pyramid completed	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th
Fame points	3	3	2	2	2	1	1

When the second, fourth, sixth and seventh pyramids are completed, another level is added to the central pyramid. This increases the number of fame points awarded at each subsequent annual ceremony (initially to 4, then 5, 6 and 7). If the central pyramid is thus completed, the game ends immediately with one final annual ceremony.

Annual Ceremony

Each player, starting with the head priest (the player who reached the central pyramid first) must now sacrifice something (or lose the favor of the gods: -1 fame point)!

• The head priest chooses one resource type and places any number of resource cards of the chosen type face up in front of them as their sacrifice.
• The next player in clockwise order must offer their sacrifice next. They are free to choose any number of resource cards to be sacrificed, but the chosen cards must be of a single type and of a different type than the head priest's cards.
• The same applies to the 3rd and 4th players. Each of them can sacrifice any number of cards of a single type which has not been sacrificed by another player before them.

Then award the following points to each player:

• -1 fame point, if they did not sacrifice any card.
• +1 fame point, if they sacrificed card(s), but were not the highest bidder.
• +3/+4/+5/+6/+7 fame points (depending on the current number of levels of the central pyramid) for the highest bidder. In the event of a tie, the highest bidder is the player who laid out that number of cards first.

After that, the sacrificed cards are placed on the discard pile. The architect and player figures are placed on the starting square.

The current head priest (the player who started the annual ceremony) receives the architect die. They are the new starting player. A new year begins.

The Blessing of the Gods

At the beginning of the year:

1. Each player receives 1 fame point for each of their priests (carali on top of the 5-level pyramids).
2. Each player receives 1 resource card for each started or completed pyramid they have (at least 1 level).

Example: With 2 pyramids started and 1 completed, Isabell receives 3 cards from the face-down resource card pile. Reserved building sites without pyramid levels do not count.

End of Game

The game can end in two different ways:

1. After the annual ceremony of the 7th year if the central pyramid is not completed by then.
2. Once the 7th pyramid is completed and thus the final level of the central pyramid has been built. In the 2nd case the game ends with a final annual ceremony! All players immediately proceed to the central pyramid to celebrate. The active player becomes head priest and the players sacrifice resources one last time and receive fame as usual.

Independent of the way the game ended, all players receive the following points for their priests and pyramids:

• 2 fame points for each of their placed priests.
• For each of their completed pyramids: 5 fame points for each 3-level pyramid; 10 fame points for each 5-level pyramid.
• For unfinished pyramids each player receives 1 fame point per level built.

The player with the most fame wins the game.

If there is a tie for first place, then the tied players add up the number of their remaining stones, alpacas and resource cards to see who has a greater number. The player with the greater number wins the game. If their sum is also equal, all of the tied players win.

Resource Cards

Resource cards are not only essential for the annual ceremony, but have two other important functions:

Any one card can be discarded to increase the maximum movement range by 1 movement point this turn. This can also be done multiple times.

Example: To reach a quarry this turn, Inken wants to move 2 squares farther than her movement range of 5 would allow. She discards 2 resource cards and moves 7 squares ahead to the quarry.

Special abilities of the resource cards

Two identical cards (a pair) can be discarded to use the special ability of the discarded card type. Each card type may only be used once per turn this way.

Example: To use the special ability of the card type "clay", two cards of this type must be discarded.

• Stone cards: You may immediately build an additional pyramid level. But you still need to pay one stone per built level!
• Clay cards: You may immediately build an additional pyramid level. But you still need to pay one stone per built level!

(Thus it is possible to build up to 3 pyramid levels at once in one turn, if you have 3 stones and one pair each of stone cards and clay cards.)

• Fish cards: You may perform the action of the action square you are on again! (This way you can place 2 carali instead of 1, acquire 2 alpacas instead of 1, pick up twice the number of stones in a quarry, or draw 4 resource cards instead of 2.)
• Alpaca cards: After moving and taking your regular action, you move between 1-3 squares (in any direction) and may also take the action on the square you reached with your second movement.

2-Player Rules

The Carali believe in cooperation and pleasing the gods. To avoid dire consequences for yourself you need to work together during the annual ceremony, or you could save only yourself from the gods' wrath...

After the regular game setup, each player places 1 neutral pyramid level of size 5 on one of the first 12 building squares. Place a carali of an unused player color in front of these pyramid levels on the spiral path. These neutral pyramids count as 1 square for player movement just like player pyramids.

Before every annual ceremony, a random resource card is revealed from the resource deck. This type of resource may not be sacrificed by any player during this ceremony. The revealed card is placed into the discard pile (and it does not count towards the total number of sacrificed cards).

"Whim of the Gods" cards

The "Whim of the Gods" cards are shuffled face down. Then the entire pile is flipped on its back, creating an open pile revealing the front side of the top card. At the end of each year, the top card is slid under the pile so that a different card becomes visible for the next year.

These cards add an additional component to the annual ceremony. In addition to the individual scoring of the annual ceremony, there are now negative effects which may affect some players.

The outcome is determined by looking at the total number of resource cards which were sacrificed collectively by all players. If there were enough cards sacrificed (the required value varies with the number of players), nothing bad happens. If the total was too low, then, depending on the card, either all players who were tied for sacrificing the fewest cards or all players who weren't tied for sacrificing the most cards suffer a penalty from the gods. Those players lose the game objects specified on the bottom of the card.

Players may never remove a carali next to a started or completed pyramid, as they need them to mark their property. They must choose a different carali in case they have to remove one.

Example: In a 4-player game all players collectively would need to sacrifice 8 or more resource cards to avoid the penalty. In this case the penalty would affect all players except the players who sacrificed the most cards. The penalty would cause the affected players to return 1 of their placed carali back to the supply.

Optional Modules

CARAL is a game whose complexity can be gradually increased. The following modules serve this purpose. Each module can be added to the base game individually or in combination with other modules.

This allows everyone to join in, slowly getting used to a more complex game, and to create exactly the game experience they like. Each module expands and changes the gameplay of CARAL in interesting ways. When using all modules at once, you will experience a complexity level usually found in connoisseur and expert games.

Annual Tiles

"Each year bears different fruit and each path is worth exploring at least once." - The architect

At the start of the game the annual tiles are shuffled facedown. Then they are laid out face up in a random order as a year sequence. After an annual ceremony, the respective annual bonus of the leftmost tile is awarded. These bonuses are only given to the player with the highest and second highest value in the respective category shown on the annual tile.

However, if several players share first place, all of them will receive the fame points for first place and the fame point for second place will not be awarded. If only one player receives the fame points for first place, then any number of players can share second place.

The bottom half of the annual tiles defines who will be the starting player in the upcoming year. The new starting player will be the player who scored the lowest in the bonus category.

If 2 or more players are tied, then move the architect die away from the current starting player clockwise until you reach a player who is in the tie. That player becomes the new starting player.

Ignore the base game rule which states that the player who initiated the annual ceremony always becomes the starting player when you use the Annual Tiles module.

Turn the leftmost faceup annual tile facedown when a year ends.

Example: The player with the most empty reserved building sites will score 3 fame points. The player with the 2nd most will score 1 fame point. The player with the least empty reserved building sites will be next starting player.

Status Cards

Word of mouth travels fast in a small village like Caral. Whether your deeds were positive or negative, you will definitely be known for them.

At the start of the game all status cards are shuffled facedown. Then 5 random status cards are revealed and placed near the board. The remaining status cards are not used in this game.

All status cards state a condition. The first player fulfilling the condition of a status card places that card in front of them and immediately receives the corresponding fame points. No other player can receive the fame points of this status card, even if they fulfill that condition later.

Example: The first player to have 4 stones on their sled takes the Stonemason card and receives 2 fame points.

Progress Tiles

Standstill means downfall for the Carali. Progress on the other hand is their key to achieving greatness.

The progress tiles allow players to upgrade the actions they can take on the action squares during the game.

When using this module, turn the progress table over to the progress module side, showing the night sky.

At the start of the game all progress tiles are shuffled facedown. 3 random tiles are placed on the designated areas on the progress table. Then those tiles are revealed.

The players who complete the first, third and fifth pyramids of the game place the corresponding progress tile on one of the squares in the appropriate area. By doing so, they cover up the previous action of the square and replace it with a new action. This action is immediately available to all players ending their movement on that square.

Anaconda

The Carali live in peaceful coexistence with a giant anaconda, but the anaconda causes trouble sometimes by blocking the use of certain places.

At the start of the game place the anaconda start square tile onto the start square on the game board. It just serves as a reminder to move the anaconda at the beginning of each year.

The anaconda figure comes into play at the beginning of the second year. The starting player of the second year places the anaconda on an action square of their choice (not on a player's building site). The anaconda blocks the use of this square as follows:

• Each player may still move to that action square, but may not perform any action there.
• Each player may still use the action of the blocked square by sacrificing 1 of their already placed alpacas (the alpaca figure ends up back in the player's supply next to the board). In this case, they perform the action of the square normally and move the anaconda to any other action square of their choice.
• Instead of 1 alpaca a player can sacrifice 1 stone to drive away the anaconda, but in this case the player loses -1 fame point.

At the beginning of each subsequent year, the starting player moves the anaconda to a different action square of their choice.

Emissaries

Good relations with the inhabitants of the surrounding villages are important and helpful. You send out your emissaries to establish trade relations and increase your fame.

To send an emissary, you need to place carali and/or alpacas on the emissary board. Each player can reach up to 5 different emissary levels by filling the steps on the emissary board with the shown figures, working their way up from the lowest level. You can only place figures on the next higher level if you have completed the level before. You can never remove a figure from a completed level, but you may remove figures from incomplete levels to pay a cost or when an effect tells you to.

The action squares of the village and animal market are used to place carali and alpacas on the emissary board as follows: in the village, you now have the fourth option to place 1 carali on the emissary board. At the animal market, you can now choose to place your newly acquired alpaca on the emissary board instead of putting it in front of your transport sled.

As soon as a player completes an emissary level, they receive the respective reward printed next to that level.

When you complete an emissary level, you also get an emissary tile of that level. These tiles give you ongoing options or recurring bonuses. You can only have one emissary tile at a time and that is always going to be the one that corresponds to your current emissary level. Flip your tile over to the other side (to level 2) or discard it and take the next tile (level 3), when you reach a new emissary level.

Additional fame points are awarded to the best diplomat: The first player to reach the highest number of emissary levels achieved so far receives the diplomacy token. The diplomacy token is worth another 4 fame points at the end of the game.

Example: Anna is the first to send an emmisary. She receives the level 1 reward (1 fame, 1 stone and the level 1 tile) and the diplomacy marker. The diplomacy marker remains with Anna when Bernd and Claudia also send their first emissary (to get the level 1 reward). However, when Claudia completes her second emissary level before anyone else, she receives the diplomacy token (from Anna) until further notice.

Icon Overview

Icons on the game board

• Place a carali / place an alpaca
• Draw 2 resource cards
• Gain 1 stone per worker on this quarry
• Draw 1 resource card per started (at least 1 level) or completed pyramid
• Gain 1 fame point per priest on 5-level pyramids
• Icons to identify which progress tiles can be placed where (optional module only)
• The highest bidder receives a number of fame points based on the current height of the central pyramid
• If you were not the highest bidder you either receive 1 or -1 fame points depending on whether you sacrificed at least 1 resource card

Icons on resource cards

• Discard a resource card to increase your maximum movement range by 1
• Discard 2 stone cards to build an additional pyramid layer
• Discard 2 fish cards to perform the action of the action square you are on again
• Discard 2 alpaca cards to move 1-3 squares and take the action on the square you reached with your second movement

Icons on "Whim of the Gods" cards

• The total number of resource cards you need to sacrifice to avoid negative consequences (depending on player count)
• All players but the players who are tied for sacrificing the most resource cards (would be affected by negative consequences)
• All players who are tied for sacrificing the fewest resource cards (would be affected by negative consequences)
• Return 1 of your placed carali back to the supply (you may not chose a carali next to a started or completed pyramid)
• Return 1 of your placed alpacas back to the supply
• Discard a resource card

Icons on annual tiles

• Most / Fewest placed carali (including those on the emissary board)
• Most / Fewest resource cards in hand
• Most / Fewest stones on the sled
• Most / Fewest empty reserved building sites
• Most / Fewest placed alpacas (including those on the emissary board)
• Most / Fewest workers in quarries
• Furthest ahead / behind on the spiral path
• Starting player

Icons on progress tiles

• Draw 3 resource cards, then discard 1 resource card
• Discard 2 resource cards to draw 4 resource cards
• Place 1 carali, then draw 1 resource card
• Place 1 carali, then move 1 carali to a different spot (you may not move a carali away from a started or completed pyramid)
• Place 1 alpaca, then gain 1 stone
• Gain 1 stone per worker, then move 1 carali to a different spot (you may not move a carali away from a started or completed pyramid)
• Place 1 alpaca, or discard a placed alpaca to add 3 resource cards of your choice from the discard pile to your hand
• Gain 1 stone per worker, or discard 1 stone to build 1 pyramid level at one of your pyramids

Icons on the emissary tiles

• Draw 1 resource card every time you place an alpaca
• Discard 2 resource cards to put 2 stone on your sled
• Your sacrifice in the annual ceremony counts as if you sacrificed 1 more card
• You may use 1 stone card instead of 1 clay card (1 fish card instead of 1 alpaca card) or vice versa when discarding 2 cards to get the effect of a pair. Use this only once on your own turn (not during the annual ceremony)