Cascadero
Cascadero Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 1 Main board (double sided)
- 4 Heralds
- 12 Seals
- 1 First Player marker
- 30 Envoys, 5 Cubes, 12 Flags, 1 Shield — in 4 player colors
- 24 Farmer tiles — for use with the Farmer board (see The Farmer Board)
Setup
Place the main board in the center of the table. The colored hexes are called towns. Place 1 Herald onto each of the 4 towns showing an education icon – these are El Cascadero's personal messengers.
The five tracks on the right of the board are called the Success Tracks. On the Success Tracks, place 1 Seal onto each darker folded space.
Game Variants
In later games, you can alternatively agree to place the 4 Heralds onto the 4 towns that depict either the trading or mining icons.
Player Materials
Each player chooses a color and receives the following materials:
- 1 Shield: Each player places their Shield onto the first space of the score track. In the course of the game, this Shield counts the Victory Points of the players.
- 5 Cubes: Each player places 1 of their cubes onto each of the starting spaces of the 5 colored success tracks of the book. In the course of the game, these cubes record the successes of the players in each area: Agriculture (yellow), Manufacturing (orange), Mining (blue), Trading (pink), and Education (white).
- 30 Envoys: Each player keeps the 30 Envoys of their color in front of them. In the course of the game, these Envoys are placed onto the hex map.
- 12 Flags: Each player keeps the 12 Flags of their color in front of them. In the course of the game, these Flags will be used to mark achievements that each player has completed.
Attention
The color chosen by a player is important in this one respect: To achieve victory, a player must have reached the top of the success track that matches the color of their cubes.
Play
Randomly select a player to start and give them the first player marker. Play then progresses clockwise.
On your turn, place 1 of your Envoys onto any empty field (empty hexes are called fields, colored hexes are towns). Envoys may not be placed onto towns – and of course not onto fields that are already occupied by an Envoy.
Placing your Envoy concludes your turn. However, the placing of your Envoy may trigger a town scoring which you then undertake.
To explain the town scoring, we need the following definition:
Group
2 or more Envoys of the same color form a group if all these Envoys are connected via neighboring fields. Single Envoys never form a group.
Example: The picture shows 2 pink groups and 2 blue groups. The yellow Envoys do not form any groups.
Town Scoring
When you place 1 of your Envoys onto a field next to a town, this triggers a town scoring if the following 2 conditions are satisfied:
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Group: The Envoy you placed is part of a group. If you place a single Envoy that is not part of a group next to a town, this does not trigger a town scoring (except for Envoys with seals – see Seals).
A turbulent history has made the population very careful. A single Envoy does not appear trustworthy to the town!
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First Contact: The group that exists after you placed your Envoy was not in contact with the town before you placed that Envoy. This means no other Envoy of the group was on any neighboring field of the town. (You can trigger more than 1 scoring of the same town, but you have to do this with distinct groups of your Envoys.)
Remember: Only the town you place your Envoy next to is able to score!
Example: Placing a blue Envoy into the first marked field triggers a town scoring. Placing the pink Envoy into the second marked field does not trigger a town scoring, as the resulting group (of 4 Envoys) has been in contact with the white (education) town before. Placing the pink Envoy into the third marked field will trigger a town scoring for the orange (manufacturing) town, but not for the white (education) town, as the newly placed Envoy must be directly next to a town to trigger its scoring.
Town Scoring Reference
There is a useful guide to town scoring printed on the main board to remind you during play. It shows the following information:
These situations do not result in a town scoring
- Placing a single Envoy that does not create or join a group.
- Placing an Envoy into a group that has already made contact with the town.
These situations do result in a town scoring
- Placing an Envoy into a group that has not already made contact with the town.
- As in the previous example, even if distinct groups (of any color) have previously made contact with the same town.
- Placing a single Envoy with a seal.
Record your Success
If the placement of your Envoy triggers a town scoring, advance your cube on the success track of the corresponding color. How many spaces you advance varies based on the following criteria:
First Envoy: If the Envoy you placed is the very first Envoy (of any color) on 1 of the neighboring fields of the town, advance your cube by 1 space.
Further markers: If there are already any Envoys on neighboring fields of the town, advance your cube by 2 spaces.
At first contact, a town is still cautious and thus initial progress is slow. After that, it becomes fully open and cooperative with El Cascadero's ministers — as long as those visiting ministers are part of a formal group or present an official seal.
Herald: If a Herald is in the town, advance your cube by 1 additional space, hence in total by 2 or 3 spaces.
If a cube has already reached the end of the success column, all further advances of this cube are ignored.
Your turn ends after the town scoring. However, advancing your cube can trigger various actions that you then undertake.
Success Reference
There is also a reference guide on the main board with this information, next to the town scoring reference.
Example: A blue Envoy is placed first, into the first marked field. The blue cube advances by 1 space on the white (education) success track. Then the pink Envoy is placed into the second marked field. The pink cube advances by 2 spaces on the white (education) success track.
Actions
When you advance your cube on a success column, you may trigger one or more actions. Actions are indicated by icons on the purple banners to the sides of the success tracks. Note that the banners on the left side apply to all 4 of the player-color success tracks, while the banners on the right refer only to the white (education) success track.
If advancing your cube triggers more than 1 action, then undertake these in the order they are triggered (actions lower on the success track are performed earlier).
Victory points
You receive the Victory points indicated and advance your Shield on the score track accordingly.
Attention
If the space shows 2 numbers, only the first player whose cube reaches this space receives the higher number of Victory points. Any players who reach this space later receive the lower number of Victory points.
Place an Envoy
You immediately take another turn after the conclusion of this turn.
Advance a Success cube
You may immediately advance any 1 of your cubes on a success track by 1 space. This may trigger further actions.
Folded Spaces
Folded spaces on the success tracks work slightly differently. You gain the benefit of the action only if your cube stops on the folded space. Otherwise your cube continues up the success track without triggering the action. The banners for these actions are a different color to differentiate them from the others.
Take a seal
If you are the first player to reach this space, you must take the seal from it and place it in front of you.
Attention
If your counter advances by 2 or 3 spaces and thereby moves over the folded space with the seal, you may not take the seal.
Move an Envoy
If the seal on the folded space has already been claimed by another player, you may trigger this action. Note: The player who takes the seal does not trigger this action. You may move any one of your Envoys on the board to an adjacent empty field. If the envoy has a Seal beneath it, the Seal moves with the Envoy.
Attention
Moving an Envoy never triggers town scoring. If your cube advances by 2 or 3 spaces and thereby moves over the folded space, then you may not trigger this action.
Exception
Always perform the Place an Envoy action last, as this functions as another full turn after you resolve all other triggered actions.
Forbidden spaces
Spaces showing an 'X' are forbidden spaces. If your cube would advance onto any of these spaces, it must stop on the space below.
To advance beyond a forbidden space, your cube must advance by 2 or 3 spaces through a town scoring to jump over it. The first time your cube reaches the space below a forbidden space, this triggers the action on that space. (If the cube is already on the space below and is to advance by 1 space only, the cube remains on the space below and the action on that space is not triggered again.)
Seals
If you place a single Envoy that is not part of a group next to a town, this usually does not trigger a town scoring. However, if you own seals you may place 1 of your seals under this Envoy to upgrade it.
The upgraded Envoy then triggers a town scoring as if it were part of a group.
With a seal from El Cascadero, even single Envoys are trustworthy to the town.
Achievements
In the center of the board there are achievements that players may claim during the game. Once a player meets the criteria of any achievement during their turn, they may place one of their Flags onto the attached Flag space and claim the Victory point reward. Multiple achievements may be claimed during 1 turn, but a player may claim any single achievement only once during the game.
The following 6 achievements may be claimed only by the player who is the first to satisfy their conditions. That player advances their Shield on the score track by 3 Victory points.
- All 5 of your cubes reach the first achievement banner on the success tracks.
- You have 3 seals in front of you. (Seals that you have already placed under your Envoys do not count.)
- 3 of your cubes reach the second achievement banner on the success tracks.
- 1 of your Envoy groups in the land connects towns of all 5 colors.
- 1 of your cubes reaches the third achievement banner on any success track.
- 1 of your Envoy groups connects 3 towns of the same color.
The following 6 achievements (teal background) can be claimed by all players, but each achievement may be claimed only once per player. There is a flag reserved for each player in their color.
- If you connect 2 towns of the same color with 1 of your groups, claim the corresponding achievement and advance your Shield on the score track by 2 Victory points. Each player may collect 1 achievement of each color.
- If you have claimed an achievement for all 5 colors, you immediately also claim the above achievement and advance your Shield by a further 10 Victory points.
Game End
The game ends when the Shield of any 1 player has passed over the flower icon on the score track at the end of any turn. (This cube has advanced by at least 50 Victory points.)
The game also ends when a player is to place an Envoy but has no Envoys left.
Winner
Only those players whose cubes have reached the third achievement banner, on the last space of their color success track qualify for the victory. Amongst these players, the player with the most Victory points wins.
If no player has qualified for victory, then amongst all players the player with the most Victory points achieves a minor victory.
Any ties are broken in favor of the player who took their turn later in the first round of play.
Example: Only the Blue and Orange players qualify for victory, as neither the Yellow nor the Pink player have reached the last space on their Success tracks.
Advanced Variant
Play with only 2 instead of 4 Heralds. Place these 2 Heralds in the 2 white (education) towns that are close to the center of map. When you trigger a town scoring in a town with a Herald, you may then reposition the Herald into any neighboring town (which is exactly 3 fields away), but not into the town with the other Herald and not into a town that has no empty neighboring fields.
The Farmer Board
Setup
The main board now shows the land with fewer towns but with some fields depicting helpful farmers.
Set up the game as usual.
Action tiles
In addition, shuffle the 24 hexagonal Farmer tiles and place 1 face up onto each space depicting a farmer.
Play
Play the game as usual.
Farmer tiles
Farmer tiles are fields, so Envoys may be placed onto them. However, Farmer tiles are locked at the start of the game, and inaccessible to Envoys.
In order to unlock a Farmer tile, you must place an Envoy of your color onto a field next to that Farmer tile. This unlocks the Farmer tile for you only, not all players. Once the Farmer tile is unlocked, you may place 1 of your Envoys onto that Farmer tile just as with a normal empty field on a subsequent turn.
Farmer Reference
There is a reference on the main board to help you remember when a Farmer tile is locked or unlocked.
Attention
When taking a Move an Envoy action, you may move an Envoy onto an adjacent Farmer tile (thus triggering the action on that tile). The Envoy must have already been adjacent to the Farmer tile before moving it. This is allowed even if you no longer have an Envoy adjacent to the Farmer tile after this movement.
There is a reminder of this next to the Move an Envoy icon on the success tracks.
Farmer tile actions
Whenever you place or move 1 of your Envoys onto a field containing a Farmer tile, you undertake the corresponding action immediately.
Note: If you Move an Envoy off a Farmer tile, it is possible to activate that Farmer tile again by placing or moving an Envoy back onto the tile.
There are 5 different Farmer tiles:
- Victory points: You receive 2 or 3 Victory points and advance your Shield on the score track accordingly.
- Advance a Success cube: Advance your cube on any 1 success track by 1 space.
- Place an Envoy: You immediately take another turn after the conclusion of this turn.
- Move a Herald: You may reposition any 1 Herald into any town, but not into a town with another Herald and not into a town that has no empty neighboring fields.
Reference
Town Scoring
These situations do not result in a town scoring
- Placing a single Envoy that does not create or join a group.
- Placing an Envoy into a group that has already made contact with the town.
These situations do result in a town scoring
- Placing an Envoy into a group that has not already made contact with the town.
- As in the previous example, even if distinct groups (of any color) have previously made contact with the same town.
- Placing a single Envoy with a seal.
Success Track Advances
- If the Envoy placed to trigger town scoring is the very first to be placed next to that town, advance 1 space.
- If the Envoy placed to trigger town scoring is NOT the very first to be placed next to that town, advance 2 spaces.
- In both cases, if the town has a Herald, advance 1 extra space.
Success Track Actions
- Gain the larger number of Victory points if you are the first player to trigger this action. Otherwise, gain the smaller number of Victory points.
Folded Space Actions
- Advance any 1 of your cubes 1 space on a success track.
- If there is a seal on the space, claim that seal.
- At the end of this turn, take another turn by placing another Envoy.
- If there is NOT a seal on the space, move an Envoy to an adjacent empty field. DO NOT trigger a town scoring.
Achievements
Score 3 Victory points for claiming any of these 6 achievements.
- All your 5 cubes reach the first achievement banner on the success tracks.
- You have 3 seals in front of you. (Seals that you have already placed under your Envoys do not count.)
- 3 of your cubes reach the second achievement banner on the success tracks.
- 1 of your Envoy groups in the land connects towns of all 5 colors.
- 1 of your cubes reaches the third achievement banner on any success track.
- 1 of your Envoy groups connects 3 towns of the same color.
Plus:
- If you connect 2 towns of the same color with 1 of your groups, claim the corresponding achievement and score 2 Victory points. Each player may collect 1 achievement of each color.
- If you have claimed an achievement for all 5 colors, you immediately also claim the above achievement and score a further 10 Victory points.
Farmers
- A Farmer tile without one of your Envoys next to it is locked.
- A Farmer tile with one of your Envoys next to it is unlocked.
- You may move an Envoy that is already adjacent to a Farmer tile onto that Farmer tile, even if you no longer have any Envoys adjacent to that farmer tile after the movement.
Farmer tile actions: Gain the Victory points indicated. Advance your cube on any 1 success track by 1 space. At the end of this turn, take another turn by placing another Envoy. Move any 1 Herald to any town without a Herald and with empty neighboring fields.
Credits
Reiner Knizia thanks all the playtesters who contributed to the development of this game, in particular Sebastian Bleasdale, Sebastian Gieger, Dorette Peters, Vroni Sigl, Andi Stamer, Michael Wang, Stefan Willkofer, Peter Wimmer, and Philipp Winter.
Illustration and Graphic Design: Ian O'Toole
Edited by Jon Healey
Development contributions by Nick Murray
Published by Nick Murray & Kyle Spackman
© 2023 Dr. Reiner Knizia. All rights reserved.
© 2023 Bitewing Games LLC. All rights reserved.