Coloma: New Prospects

Expansion for Coloma

Coloma: New Prospects Rulebook

Table of Contents

Setup

Set the game up as normal, with the following modifications:

Add 1 extra Outlaw to the supply (so there are 16).
Remove the 3 Signpost Barrels from the game.
Remove the River tiles and place 3 face-up Waterfall tiles where the Rivers would normally go. Set aside the remaining Waterfalls in a nearby supply, face down.
Remove the "Rivers x VP" Bridges from the game; set up and use the other Bridges, as usual.
Attach a Waterfall board to each player board. You may use either side of the player board to vary the rewards. Place an X token on the leftmost space of the Waterfall Trail.
Remove the 16 original player cards in each color, and use the 20 new cards instead. Shuffle and place them on the player boards, with a starting hand of 4 (after discarding 2, as usual).
Shuffle the 4 Boomtown tiles and place one face up on each of the four outer Boomtown spaces on the Frontier Map (i.e., do not place a tile on Coloma).
Place the new Barker tile on the magnetic Wheel in place of the original. Then attach the Bust X magnetic tile to the top, as usual. Note: The new Barker tile has no Signpost; it has another Barrel icon instead. (The cost to gain Horses / Tents is now $3 for two of either, and you may only do said trade one time per visit.)
Place Buster on the Site that is clockwise from the Barker. For example, if the Barker is on Site 1, place Buster on Site 2. Buster will occupy one Site every turn. (In a 2-player game, use any non-player-color Pioneer).
Use one new Shootout tile and place it on top of the printed Shootout chart, 1848 side up. Note: You will use the 1848 side for the first round, then the 1849 side of the same tile for the second.

Playing the Game

The game is played as usual, with the following changes.

Events

Each Event is mandatory. If you can participate in a given Event, you must. For example, you must gain Dudes, gain Gold, draw cards, gain Bucks, and—most importantly—if you have Gold during the fifth Event of each round, you must spend it for 3VP (or 2 Gold for 6VP if you have a Tent on this Event space and at least 2 Gold in your supply).

Town Card Activation

Town cards are no longer triggered by visiting specific Sites on the Wheel; they are instead triggered by matching icons (shown where the numbers used to be on each Town card). For example, you may trigger a Wagon card if you visit Site 4, as usual—or you may activate it if you gain a Wagon action via a Barrel, your player board, or any other means.

At the end of the Rules is a Glossary containing an explanation of all the new card effects.

Buster's Delight

Everyone's favorite pioneer, Buster, makes him home now on the central wheel. The Buster Meeple always stays one space clockwise ahead of the current Barker tile position. This puts increased pressure on this space to Bust.

As the wheel rotates, so does Buster.

Busting!

Whenever you Bust, whether by Busting on the Wheel—or gaining a Bust effect from a card, tile, or token—you may advance all of your X markers one space to the right. For example, if you Bust, you may advance your markers on your Horse Ranch, Toll House, Saloon, Express Office, and Poker Hall. All of them!

In addition, you may advance your X marker along your Waterfall Trail one space each time you Bust. It may be possible to move your marker into multiple spaces, in this case, the decision is up to the player.

Since Busting now advances all of your X markers, it is important to understand how to best time when to do so. For example, if you Bust at Site 4 and you have the Horse Ranch card, you may want to activate the Bust effect (advancing all of your X markers one space to the right) before activating the Wagon part of the Site. This will allow you to use the Horse Ranch to gain an extra Horse before you begin moving on the Frontier Map. Likewise, you may time your Bust actions to happen after you Survey a Waterfall tile so that you may advance your X marker onto the new tile and trigger its effects (rather than say taking the lower path and losing a Dude to a Grave space where an angry bear lives, etc.)

The rule still holds true that you must perform all of one action before initiating another, such as performing all of your Shovel actions before or after performing all of your Wheelbarrow (or Bust) actions.

Waterfall Trail

When your X marker passes over a Grave space on your Waterfall Trail, you must place a Dude from your general supply/Lodge on the space. This Dude is now Dead (a casualty of the dangerous trek into the wilderness). You will lose points for each Dead Dude on your Waterfall Trail during final scoring, as with your standard Grave spaces.

When your X marker lands on a space following a Grave space, immediately trigger the effect shown on your player board (if there is one). For example, if you move your marker to a space showing a Barrel, immediately gain a Barrel, following the usual rules.

When your X marker moves onto a silver star, immediately score the points shown.

Waterfall Tiles

When you Survey (Build) a Waterfall tile, you must place it in a vacant Canyon space on your Waterfall board. Waterfall tiles create new, safer Trails to follow. Note: As with Rivers, you may choose any vacant space, not necessarily the leftmost. After you Survey (Build) a Waterfall tile, immediately refill the vacant space in the display with a random Waterfall from the supply.

For each Waterfall you Survey, you will gain the VP shown below it (in the golden star on your player board) during final scoring. Note: This is similar to how you score Rivers in the base game. However, in order to gain the benefits printed on your player board, you must move your X marker onto the space it connects to (i.e., onto the space with a Grave beside it).

When your X marker lands on a Waterfall tile, immediately gain the benefit/perform the action shown.

If your X marker reaches or passes the rightmost upper corner space, you will score 3VP per Bridge you have during final scoring. Note: Bridges fit over Waterfalls as they do with Rivers from the original game, and you must have a Waterfall tile in play before you can add a Bridge above the given Canyon space.

If your X marker reaches or passes a space showing "Flip a Waterfall," you may immediately flip one Waterfall from its face-up side to its face-down side. Each face-down Waterfall tile that you have scores points during final scoring (1VP per Waterfall tile you have on your board, face up or down). For example, if you ended the game with two face-down Waterfall tiles and two face-up tiles, you would gain 8VP (4VP x 2).

New Shootout Rules

Compared to the original game, there are new rules for resolving the Shootouts.

Starting with the closest row of Gunmen to the Outlaws, each Gunman Shoots one Outlaw (laying it flat on the table) and immediately scores 1VP for the player who owns it. This is done until there are either no Outlaws standing or until each Gunman has Shot once.

If there are no Outlaws standing, the Gunmen win the Shootout and use the left side of the Shootout tile. Note: In the original game the Gunmen had to outnumber the Outlaws to win; now, they only have to equal their quantity.

If there are any Outlaws standing after all of the Gunmen have Shot, the Gunmen lose the Shootout and players resolve the right side of the Shootout tile instead of the left.

Sheriff's Badge: New Tie-Breaking Rules

The winner of the top reward on the Shootout tile no longer takes the Sheriff's Badge. It is instead passed around more frequently each round...

Player order matters much more when playing with the New Prospects expansion because more combos cross systems and more contested resources. For example, a player may place a worker on an Outhouse card at Site 5 that lets them Build a Bridge or Survey a Waterfall. It is not recommended to play simultaneously unless the active player says their action will have no bearing on what the next player may do (e.g., drawing cards).

When a Site with more than one Pioneer would be resolved, first pass the Sheriff's Badge one space clockwise.

Note: It does not matter if these players had Pioneers involved in the Site that triggered passing the Badge.

When more than one Pioneer is on the same Site on the Wheel, the players perform their actions in order, starting with the Sheriff and proceeding clockwise around the table among the tied players.

Glossary of New Components

Boomtown Tiles

Boomtown tiles replace the effects of the Boomtown it covers on the Frontier Map.

When your Wagon passes over the tile without stopping, simply gain the number of Dudes shown (4 on the front, 2 on the back).

If you stop your Wagon movement on a face-up Boomtown tile, you may either gain the 4 Dudes or use the effect shown on the right. If you choose the right-side effect, flip the tile over. It will remain face-down for the rest of the game.

If you stop your Wagon movement on a face-down Boomtown tile, you may either gain the 2 Dudes or use the effect shown on the right (Place Tents).

Tile diagram captions: Front: The front side of this Boomtown tile either gains you 4 Dudes or lets you Build using a Hammer cost (any Town card, Hotel, Hoedown, Waterfall, or Bridge). Back: The back side either gains you 2 Dudes or lets you Place Tents (in any legal way, as usual).

New Shootout Tiles

Each game only uses one Shootout tile. Use the 1848 side for the first round, and the 1849 reverse-side for the second. For the third round, score points based on the pre-printed criteria on the main board (in addition to the new Shootout scoring rules below).

Beat the Outlaws: The player with the most Gunmen may perform Shovel actions as well as drawing 2 cards and scoring 6VP. The player with the second most draws 2 cards and scores 3VP. The rest of the players—who have at least one Gunman in the Shootout—each advance all of their X markers one space to the right and score 1VP.

New Town Building Cards

Each card below is named as printed. The lower panel of each card shows its trigger icon (the Barker, Shovel, Hammer, Saw, Wagon, Wheelbarrow, or Place Dudes icon). Costs and benefits that are shown only as icons are described in brackets; the sheet's text does not spell them out.

Drift Mine (6 VP)

Trigger: Barker (megaphone icon).

When you visit the Barker, you may either perform the action on the left (for free) or perform the action on the right by paying the cost shown (once per turn).

[Left: gain 1 Gold. Right: pay a Barrel marked with a red X, then gain 2 Gold.]

Stables (6 VP)

Trigger: Shovel.

[Left: gain 1 Horse. Right: pay 1 Tent, then gain 2 Horses.]

Boarding House (6 VP) and Telegraph Office (6 VP)

Trigger: Boarding House, Hammer. Telegraph Office, Saw.

When you Build with a Hammer or Saw action (respectively), you may perform the trade shown (once per turn).

Note: You do not need to be at Site 2 or 3 to use these cards; you may activate them any time you perform a Hammer or Saw Building action (respectively). For example, you may use the Boarding House card when you Build with a Hammer at Site 2 or 3, or via a Barrel with a Hammer icon, etc.

[Boarding House trade: pay 1 Buck, then gain 2 Dudes. Telegraph Office trade: pay the 1 card shown (card icon), then gain 2 Dudes.]

Horse Ranch (6 VP)

Trigger: Wagon.

When you trigger these kinds of cards with a Shovel (from Site 1 or any other means), you may either perform the action on the left (for free) or perform the action on the right by paying the cost shown (once per turn). When you first Build one of these cards, place an X marker on the leftmost space on the track. Each time you Bust, advance the marker to the rightmost space. If you trigger the card while the marker is in the leftmost position, simply gain the $1 benefit shown. If you trigger the card when the marker is in the rightmost space, first gain the $1, then you may perform the trade shown on the right (once). After using the trade effect, reset the marker to the leftmost position.

[Track: the leftmost position is a plain space and the rightmost is marked with a red X. Lower panel: a $1 benefit, then a $1 trade with an arrow to a Horse.]

Transcriber's notes: the printed text box for this card runs two sentences together ("once per turnWhen you first Build"); a paragraph break is restored above. The box also begins with the Shovel sentence, although this card's trigger icon is a Wagon; it is transcribed as printed.

Poker Hall (6 VP)

Trigger: Wheelbarrow.

When you first Build one of these cards, place an X marker on the leftmost space on the track. Each time you Bust, advance the marker one space to the right. If you trigger the card while the marker is in the leftmost position, simply gain the benefit shown in the first column. If you trigger the card while the marker is in the middle position, gain the middle benefit and the leftmost benefit, then reset the marker to the leftmost space. If you trigger the card when the marker is on the rightmost space, gain all three benefits, and then reset the marker to the leftmost position.

[Track: three positions. Benefits from left to right: $1, $1, $2.]

Foundry (6 VP)

Trigger: Place Dudes (Dude with a red down arrow icon).

When you use a Place Dudes action (at Site 5 or by any other means), you may place a Dude from your Tavern onto the vacant Outhouse space on the card, then perform the action shown to the right. You may place one Dude on each card with an Outhouse, including on multiple Outhouses in the same turn.

For example, when your Pioneer is at Site 5, you may place Dudes on the Shootout spaces, on vacant Hotel spaces, and/or on vacant Outhouse spaces.

[Action shown to the right: a Shovel icon and a Wheelbarrow icon, shown together on the card panel; the sheet's text does not say whether these are alternatives.]