Cascadito Rulebook

Table of Contents

Components
Setup
The Play Sheets
- Main Areas
- Secondary Areas
Play
Town Scoring
Actions
Rivers
Achievements
Game End
Scoring
- Winner
Solo Play
The Play Sheets
Credits

Components

6 identical dice
4 pencils with erasers
1 pad with 50 double-sided sheets, each of play sheet 1, 2, 3, and 4

Setup

Decide which play sheet you want to use and give each player a copy of the same sheet. We recommend starting with play sheet 1, then continuing with play sheets 2, 3 and 4 in this order.

Place the 6 dice within easy reach of all players, and give each player a pencil.

The Play Sheets

Main Areas

Kingdom: The Kingdom shows towns in 5 different colors and empty fields, and sometimes includes a river. The colors represent different types of towns.

Your objective is to help rule the Kingdom successfully and bring prosperity to its people.
Success Tracks: These tracks allow you to record your successes. There is 1 success track in each of the 5 colors.

Exception: Play sheet 1 does not show a white column.

All success tracks are filled from the bottom up.
Achievements: These achievements can be claimed during the game for extra Victory points or actions.

The Achievements for each play sheet are explained further below in these rules.

Secondary Areas

Dice area: This is where players place their selected die each turn.
River: Most sheets have a river, which works differently from other areas in the Kingdom (see the Rivers section below).
Solo track: The line of circles showing dice at the bottom of each sheet is used only in the solo game (see the Solo Play section below).

Play

The game is played over many turns. Randomly select a first player for the opening round.

Each player marks their home castle above a success track. This represents their unique scoring opportunity for this game. Beginning with the first player and proceeding clockwise around the table, players in turn mark the blue castle (first player), followed by the yellow, orange, and finally the pink castles.

Example: The first player marks the castle at the top of the first (blue) success track.

Roll all 6 dice

The first player rolls all 6 dice and places them in the middle of the table. This is called the dice pool. They immediately remove all dice showing a forbidden color (indicated at the top left of each sheet). For most sheets the forbidden color is black, showing no icon.

Exception: On play sheet 1, the white face is also forbidden.

Select a die

The first player then selects 1 of the remaining dice from the dice pool, announces its color and places the die at the top of their sheet. There is a reminder in this area about which color dice are forbidden.

Mark a field

The player then marks 1 empty field in the Kingdom which neighbors a town corresponding to the die color they chose.

Example: A player selects a die showing the pink (trading) icon and marks an empty field next to a pink town.

If the player cannot or does not want to use their selected die, they simply end their turn without doing anything.

Marking the field concludes the player's turn, unless...

Check for town scoring

Marking a field may trigger a town scoring, which is then immediately undertaken – see the Town Scoring section below.

Continue clockwise

After the first player has concluded their turn, the next player in clockwise order then takes their turn in a similar way: selecting 1 of the dice remaining in the dice pool, marking a field, and checking for a possible town scoring.

Play continues turn after turn. If there are no dice remaining in the dice pool at the start of a player's turn, that player gathers up all of the dice and rerolls them to refresh the dice pool, again removing any dice showing a forbidden color. Play continues in this manner until the end of the game is triggered (see Game End below).

Example: First you select a yellow die and mark the field. This does not trigger a town scoring, as you have only created a single marked field...

Town Scoring

When you mark a field next to a town, this triggers a town scoring if the following 2 conditions are both satisfied:

Group

The new field you marked is part of a group. (A group consists of 2 or more marked fields which are all connected via neighboring marked fields.)

Single marked fields are not a group and do not trigger a town scoring.

First contact

The new or enlarged group, was not in contact with the town before you marked the new field. This means that no other field in this group is neighboring the town.

Example (cont'd): Later, you select a pink die and mark the field. This triggers a town scoring, as you newly connected the pink town to the group of 2 fields...

Example (cont'd): Even later, you select an orange die and mark the field. This does not trigger a town scoring, as the group of now 6 fields had previously connected to the orange town before.

During the game, you can trigger more than 1 town scoring at the same town, but you must do this with distinct groups of marked fields.

If you have triggered a town scoring, mark the next space (from the bottom up) of the success track of the corresponding color.

Example: After triggering an orange (manufacturing) town scoring, you mark the lowest empty space on the orange success track.

If you have already crossed out all the spaces of a success track, further town scorings in this color have no effect.

Crossing out the space concludes the turn, unless this triggers additional actions, which you immediately undertake.

Actions

When you mark a space on 1 of the success tracks showing any of the following action icons, that action is immediately triggered:

Mark the next space on any success track: Immediately mark a space in any 1 of the success tracks. This may trigger another action.
Mark a field in the Kingdom: Immediately mark any 1 empty field in the Kingdom. This may trigger another town scoring. This action may also be used to mark a space on the river.
Mark a space on the River: Immediately mark the next space on the river. This may trigger another action.

Rivers

On play sheets 1 and 2, there is a separate river at the bottom of the Kingdom.

After selecting a die on your turn, you may alternatively use the die to mark the next space on the river. You always have this alternative, irrespective of which color the selected die shows.

Start by marking the river hexagon furthest to the left, and progress to the right.

Exception: Play Sheet 3 has 2 rivers, which behave differently (see Play Sheet 3 below).

Similarly to the success tracks, if you mark a river space that shows an action icon, that action is immediately triggered.

Example: You can use any die to mark the next river space, in this case triggering an action allowing you to mark an empty field in the Kingdom.

Achievements

On their turn, a player may claim any Achievements whose criteria they have met.

The top row of Achievements (next to the icon) can only be claimed by 1 player during the game. When a player claims 1 of these Achievements, they mark the corresponding box, and announce it to the other players, who mark the corresponding lock symbol. This will remind the other players that this Achievement is no longer available to be claimed.

Exception: Play Sheet 4 allows the other players to still claim the top row of Achievements, but for a smaller reward (see Play Sheet 4 below).

Example: You (left) claim an Achievement on your turn, so you mark the space directly beneath it. All other players mark the corresponding lock to signify that this Achievement is no longer available.

The bottom row of achievements may be claimed by all players during the game. Simply mark the corresponding box when you claim 1 of these Achievements.

The effect of claiming an Achievement varies between different game sheets. Some grant additional Victory points at the end of the game, while some trigger immediate actions (just like crossing off an action on the success tracks or a river).

Details of the criteria required to claim each achievement can be found later in the Play Sheet breakdowns.

Achievement banners

A common criterion is to require a player to reach a particular Achievement banner on the specified number of success tracks. These are the green banners to the left of the success tracks showing one or more fleur-de-lis icons.

Game End

On play sheets 1, 2 and 3, the game ends when 1 of the following 2 situations occurs:

Between all players, every Achievement on the top row has been claimed, or
1 player has claimed every Achievement on the bottom row.

Exception: On play sheet 4, the game ends when 1 player has crossed out at least 4 spaces in each of the success tracks, or when 1 player has completed all of the top row achievements.

The game always ends instantly. Any remaining dice in the middle are ignored.

Scoring

At the game end, use the boxes on the right of the sheet to record the subtotals of the individual scores for each of the following:

For each Achievement claimed on the top row, you score the Victory points indicated on the right.
On play sheets 3 and 4, for each Achievement claimed on the bottom row, score the indicated number of Victory points.
For each success track, score Victory points as indicated next to the highest space you have marked. If you crossed out the last space on the success track of your chosen color (with your home castle marked at the top), you score the higher Victory points indicated. Otherwise, the top space scores the lower number of Victory points.
On play sheets 1 and 3, you receive additional Victory points as indicated if you crossed out at least 3 spaces in each of the success tracks.
On play sheets 1 and 2, you score the highest point score your marked spaces have reached on the river. On play sheet 3, you score the indicated 10 Victory points for each ship that has reached the end of the river at the low bridge.

Finally, total all your Victory points and record your total score in the box on the bottom right.

Winner

The player with the most Victory points is the winner.

Ties are broken in favor of the player whose home castle is furthest to the right.

Solo Play

When you play the game as a solo player, the dice boxes at the bottom of each sheet are used.

Play 1 turn after another. As usual, start each round by rolling all 6 dice into the pool. (If you roll too many forbidden colors, leaving only 1 or no dice remaining in the pool, repeat the roll.)

Then take 2 consecutive turns, 1 after the other, in the same manner as taking your turn in the multiplayer game (select a die from the pool and mark a field adjacent to a corresponding town). On concluding your first turn, immediately take your second.

The line of dice icons is the timer for the solo game: To conclude the round, return the 2 selected dice to the pool and mark the next dice box, from left to right. Then start the next round. The game ends when you mark the last dice box. Disregard any other game end conditions.

At the game end, score the game as usual. How many points can you achieve?

For a greater challenge, mark the first 2 dice boxes before you start the game. These are slightly separated as a reminder.

The Play Sheets

This section describes specific features of the individual play sheets.

Play Sheet 1 — Rural Beginnings

You already know all the rules to play this sheet. Remember to also remove all the dice showing the white face after each roll.

Achievements

Top row, left to right:

Reach the first Achievement banner in all 4 success tracks. 5 Victory points.
Reach the second Achievement banner with any 2 success tracks. 5 Victory points.
Create a group that neighbors 3 towns of any 1 color. 5 Victory points.
Create a group that neighbors towns of all 5 colors. 5 Victory points.
Mark the last river space. 5 Victory points.

Bottom row, left to right:

Create a group that neighbors 2 towns of the indicated color. – Each time you accomplish 1 of these achievements that you have not previously accomplished, mark the space below and immediately take the action indicated (mark the next space on any 1 success track).

Play Sheet 2 — Raiding Bandits

On Rural Beginnings, the towns were sufficiently distant from each other that you could trigger a town scoring only with a die showing the town's color. This now changes: From Raiding Bandits onwards, some towns are so close to each other, you can mark a field next to a town of 1 color whilst triggering a town scoring at a town of a different color.

Example: Selecting an orange or a pink die will allow you to mark the highlighted field and trigger a town scoring at the pink town. The orange town will not score as it has already been scored using the same group.

Raiding bandits

9 of the empty fields show raiding bandits. The more of these fields you mark during the game, the better. When you mark a field with a raiding bandit icon, also cross off the next space on the raiding bandit track next to the success tracks. Start at the bottom and continue upwards as you cross off more throughout the game. At the game end, you will score the Victory points shown next to the highest space you have marked on the raiding bandit track.

New Achievements

Top row, left to right:

Reach the first Achievement banner in all 5 success tracks. 5 Victory points.
Reach the second Achievement banner on the success track corresponding to your home castle. 5 Victory points.
Reach the second Achievement banner on the white (education) success track (there is a icon on the white success track to remind you of this). 5 Victory points.
Create 4 separate groups of marked fields that are not connected. Remember that each group must consist of at least 2 marked fields. After accomplishing this achievement, you may seek to connect the groups. 5 Victory points.
Mark the 6th river hexagon, which indicates a final score of 10 points (there is a icon on the river to remind you of this). 5 Victory points.
Mark at least 6 raiding bandits so that no more than 3 of the bandits are visible (there is a icon on the raiding bandits track to remind you of this). 5 Victory points.

Bottom row, left to right:

Create a group that neighbors 3 towns of the indicated colour. Each time you accomplish 1 of these achievements that you have not previously accomplished, mark the space below and immediately take the action indicated (mark the next space on any 1 success track).
Create a group that neighbors 4 white towns. – When you accomplish this achievement, immediately take the action indicated (mark the next space on any 1 success track).

Play Sheet 3 — 2 Rivers

There is 1 new feature on 2 Rivers. Some of the empty fields in the land now show an action. When you mark one of these fields, immediately take the action indicated and mark a space in any 1 of the success tracks.

As previously mentioned, the 2 rivers behave differently: Remember that 1 river starts on the left, progressing to the right, the other river starts on the right, progressing to the left. A die of any color can be used to mark a river space. The rivers intersect at a low bridge in the center of the Kingdom, where the ships cannot progress any further. If both ships reach the end of the rivers at the low bridge, the rivers connect. Marked river spaces are treated exactly like marked fields when considering groups and town scoring.

The white (education) Success track features actions that allow you to immediately fill in the next river space. You can choose either of the 2 rivers.

New Achievements

Top row, left to right:

Reach the Achievement banner on any 1 success track. 5 Victory points.
Mark all 4 river spaces showing an action. 5 Victory points.
Create a group that neighbors 4 white (education) towns. 5 Victory points.
Create a group that neighbors 5 towns of any 1 color. 5 Victory points.
Mark all 4 fields showing an action above the rivers. 5 Victory points.
Mark all 4 fields showing an action below the rivers. 5 Victory points.

Play Sheet 4 — Trade and Defense

Stars: Many of the fields show stars. When you mark a field showing a star, immediately mark another field neighboring the field you just marked. This can trigger a small cascade of town scorings and actions.

Trade Goods: Some of the fields show trade goods. There are 6 different trade goods, and each trade good is shown in 2 different fields. The fields showing trade goods have no neighboring towns, therefore they can be marked only after marking a field showing a star or after triggering an action that allows you to mark any 1 empty field in the Kingdom.

Crowns: Some of the fields show crowns. There are crowns in 5 different colors, and each crown appears in 2 different fields. Note that there is no river on this sheet.

New Achievements

Top row, left to right:

Create a group that contains the 2 fields with the crowns of the indicated color. 8 Victory points for the first player who claims this Achievement, 5 Victory points for all later players who claim it.

Bottom row, left to right:

Mark the 2 fields showing the indicated trade good. The 2 marked spaces can be separate and do not need to be in 1 group. 5 Victory points.

Game End

Remember that the game on Trade and Defense play sheet ends only when 1 player has crossed out at least 4 spaces in each of the 5 success tracks (the 4th row of spaces is highlighted as a reminder), or when 1 player has completed all of the top row achievements. In either case, the game ends immediately at the end of this player's turn. If the player completed all of the top row achievements, then they also gain 5 bonus points.

Ignore all previous game end conditions.

Credits

Reiner Knizia thanks all the playtesters who contributed to the development of this game, in particular Andi Stamer, Stefan Willkofer, Peter Wimmer, Philipp Winter and Vroni Winter.

Artwork by Ian O'Toole

Published by Nick Murray & Kyle Spackman

Edited by Jon Healey