Copperdale
Copperdale Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
What You Will Need
- 1 deck of standard playing cards (Jokers removed)
- 1 writing utensil
- 1 printed sheet of the included game board
Set Up
Place the printed board in front of you. Remove any Jokers from the deck (they are not used in this game). Shuffle the deck. Remove the top 12 cards and place them in a face up Border Deck to the right side of the "3 - Growth" segment.
All remaining cards are placed in a face down Main Deck to the left of the "1 - Economy" segment.
Playing Copperdale
You're in charge of managing the growth and improvements of Copperdale and its inhabitants. You'll do this using the board, cards revealed from a deck of playing cards, and a writing utensil.
The board is split into three segments: 1 - Economy, 2 - Infrastructure, and 3 - Growth. In each segment there are various spaces that you will fill in (with either a Value or an X).
Copperdale is played over a series of 12 months (turns). Each month, you'll reveal and assign three cards to the three segments, allowing you to fill in spaces on the board. Filling in spaces may award Medals, unlock Skills, and/or narrow the options for filling in other spaces later in the game.
Note that each card revealed belongs to one of four Suits and has a Value.
Ace cards are always Value 1 in this game. Face cards are always Value 1 + their Suit's Population Level.
Months: Revealing & Assigning
At the beginning of each month, you will reveal and assign three cards (one at a time) from the Main Deck. Each revealed card is assigned (placed above and face up) to either the 1 - Economy, 2 - Infrastructure, or 3 - Growth segment of the board. Each month, one card will be assigned to each of the three segments.
Cards are revealed and assigned one at a time. You choose the order in which you assign cards. However, once a card has been assigned, it cannot be moved.
Months: Resolving
After assigning the three cards for the month, you resolve each segment by filling in the appropriate spaces based on the assigned card's Value and/or Suit. You must resolve each segment, even if the results would be not be to your advantage.
While you may choose the order in which you assign revealed cards, the order in which they are resolved is always the same: 1 - Economy, 2 - Infrastructure, 3 - Growth.
Once all three segments have been resolved, move the top card of the Border Deck and the three assigned cards to the discard pile (face up next to the Main Deck) and the month ends. If it was not the 12th month, a new month begins.
If it was the 12th month, the game ends and Medals are awarded.
Segments & Filling In Spaces
When cards are resolved, you will fill in spaces (with an X or a Value) of the appropriate segments on the board. Filling in a space may award Medals, unlock Skills, or allow you to fill in additional spaces elsewhere on the board.
A space can never be filled in more than once. A space can never be filled in with an incorrect Suit. Based on how you assign cards, you may not be able to fill in a space using the card you assigned.
Economy: Occupations & Prosperity
There are seven Occupations, and each has two spaces that must be correctly filled in (lower to higher) to unlock a Skill.
When you resolve Economy, the Value of the card you assign here is used to fill in one of an Occupation's spaces. To do that:
Choose one Occupation. Fill in that Occupation's leftmost space with the assigned card's Value. An Occupation with one filled in space is a started Occupation.
Or, you may instead choose to fill in the second space of a started Occupation. If you do, and the assigned card's Value is a higher Value than the previous filled in Value for that Occupation, you unlock that Occupation's associated Skill.
However, if you fill in the second space with a lower (or identical) Value in an already started Occupation, that Occupation's Skill is not unlocked. Draw a line through that Occupation's Skill.
Skills, once unlocked, are ongoing, and for the most part, happen every turn.
Example: Masons with spaces filled 2 then 9 - CORRECT! You unlocked a Skill. Masons with spaces filled 9 then 2 - You have not unlocked a Skill.
The Skills text on the game board is truncated. Below you will find a more thorough explanation of those Skills and how they affect the game.
- Merchants: If you unlock this Skill, add 20 to your final Prosperity Value at the end of the game.
- Philosophers: If you unlock this Skill, once each month, you may place one drawn card on the bottom of the deck and draw a new card to replace it. This happens before assigning the card.
- Surveyors: If you unlock this Skill, when you fill in a corresponding Border space as a result of filling in an Estates space, you fill in two Border spaces instead of one.
- Masons: If you unlock this Skill, you gain a Medal at the end of the game if all six Estates spaces are filled in.
- Farmers: If you unlock this Skill, any time you would fill in one Population space, for any reason, you may fill in two Population spaces instead.
- Artisans: If you unlock this Skill, Monuments only require three filled in spaces to complete, as opposed to the usual four.
- Diplomats: If you unlock this Skill, Face cards count as matches for resolving Borders. It does not change the Suit or Value of the assigned card for filling in Population or Borders spaces.
Below the seven Occupations is your Prosperity. At the end of the game, you will add together all of the numbers you used to fill in the Occupation spaces. You gain a Medal for each Prosperity Level you reach (60, 80, 100, 120).
Infrastructure: Districts, Estates, & Monuments
When you resolve Infrastructure, the card you assign here is used to fill in two different spaces of your choice: one in Districts, one in Estates, or one in Monuments. You may not choose the same type of space twice in a single month.
Districts
Each of the four Districts have two spaces.
If you choose to fill in a District space, fill in one District space with the Value of the assigned card.
To complete a District, its two spaces must include identical numbers. Completed Districts are worth a Medal.
Example: 3 and 3 - Completed! 8 and 9 - Not Completed!
When you complete a District, you immediately fill in one Population Icon of your choice. A District with two different numbers in its spaces is not completed.
Estates
There are six Estates spaces. Each Estates space corresponds to two of the game's Suits. While each Estates space features two Suits, it is a single space, and can only be filled in once.
If you choose to fill in an Estates space, you fill in one Estates space that has the assigned card's Suit. You cannot fill in an Estates space with an incorrect assigned Suit.
When you fill in an Estates space, you also fill in a corresponding space in your Borders. The filled in Borders space may be of either of the filled in Estates space's Suits.
Filling in this Estates space allows you to fill in either of these Borders spaces.
Monuments
There are four Monuments, each with four spaces tied to the four Suits. Each Monument, when its four spaces are filled in, is completed, and offers a bonus at the end of the game based on other spaces filled in. Each completed Monument offers a maximum of four Medals.
If you choose to fill in a Monument's space, fill in one space of the assigned card's Suit. You cannot fill in a Monuments space with an incorrect assigned Suit.
Growth: Borders & Population
When you resolve Growth, the card you assign here always increases the Population of the assigned card's Suit, and possibly expands your Borders.
There are 36 Population spaces, each tied to one the four Suits. The number of filled in spaces of a Suit is that Suit's Population Level. If all nine of a Suit's Population spaces are filled in, you gain one Medal.
When you resolve Growth, fill in one Population space of the assigned card's Suit.
There are 20 Border spaces, each tied to one of the four Suits.
After filling in a Population space, if the card assigned here matches the Border card for the month (either Suit and/or Value), fill in one Border space of the assigned card's Suit.
If you fill in all five of a Suit's Border spaces, you gain one Medal.
Months: Ending the Month
Once all three segments have been resolved, move the top card of the Border Deck, and the three assigned cards, to the discard pile (face up next to the Main Deck), and the month ends.
If it was not the 12th month, start a new month. If it was the 12th month, the game ends and Medals are awarded.
Ending the Game
At the end of the 12th month, the game ends and Medals are awarded.
There are a total of 33 available Medals. The following is a list of all available Medals:
- Up to 1 for Masons Skill (requires all 6 filled in Estates spaces)
- Up to 4 for Prosperity (requires a value of 120+ in occupations)
- Up to 4 for Districts (1 for each completed District)
- Up to 4 for Fountains (1 for each Prosperity Level)
- Up to 4 for Arches (1 for each completed District)
- Up to 4 for Statues (1 for each unique Population Suit filled in)
- Up to 4 for Gardens (1 for each unique Border Suit filled in)
- Up to 4 for Borders (1 for each completely filled in Border Suit)
- Up to 4 for Population (1 for each completely filled in Population Suit)
Results:
- 10 or fewer Medals: You'll do better next time!
- 15 or fewer Medals: Good job! Think you could get higher?
- 18 or fewer Medals: That's pretty great, can you hit 20?
- 20 or more Medals: Phenomenal! Can you do it again?
Things to Remember
- A game of Copperdale is always 12 months.
- You assign a card when you reveal it, you do not have a hand.
- You will assign three cards each month: one to Economy, one to Infrastructure, one to Growth.
- You cannot move a card once it has been assigned to one of the three segments.
- You choose the order you assign cards. But, the order they are resolved is always the same.
- You must resolve each card you assign, even if the outcome is not what you'd like.
- Looking at cards in the discard is discouraged.
- Ace cards are always Value 1.
- Face cards are always Value 1 plus their Suit's Population Level.
- A District filled in with two different Values is not completed.
- An Occupation filled in with two, non-graduating Values does not unlock its Skill.
- Occupation Skills are active the month they are unlocked.