促织 (Cuzhi) Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Setup
• Game Overview
• Round Structure
  • Preparation Phase
  • Dispatch Phase
  • Resolution Phase
    • Area One: Resources
    • Area Two: Market
    • Area Three: Cultivation
    • Area Four: Tribute
    • Tribute Phase (in Area 4)
    • Area Five: Bustling Market
  • Cleanup Phase
  • End-Game Scoring
  • Phase Reference (from the final page of the rulebook)

Components

Page 02 of the rulebook.

• Tribute cards (30): Pay the resources shown on a tribute card to take it. Tribute cards give Virtue/Reputation rewards, one-time rewards, continuous abilities, or effects at game end.
• Cricket title cards (10): Each round, the first two crickets cultivated into royal crickets earn title cards. A title cricket has its own battle skill ("斗技") that helps the player win in the fighting ring. Additionally, when a title cricket is tributed, it gives an extra 1 Virtue or 1 Reputation.
• Bustling market cards (5): Three are drawn at random each game and placed in the Bustling Market area as special worker spaces. A player can resolve the card's effect by placing a village head on it.
• Rule reference cards (4): Show the game flow, area effects, cricket-fighting rules, and a reference for exchanging Sound indicators for coins and crickets.
• Village head meeples (20, 5 in each of 4 colours): Each player starts with three village heads; further village heads must be unlocked in the market.
• Player indicators (40, 10 in each of 4 colours): Used to mark, for each yamen, whether the player has tributed there.
• Virtue/Reputation score markers (8, 2 in each of 4 colours): Each player uses them to record their positions on the Virtue and Reputation tracks.
• Battle indicators (8, 2 in each of 4 colours): Placed on the battle board to show a cricket's grade.
• Dice (7): Six-sided: 2; eight-sided: 2; ten-sided: 2; twelve-sided: 1. Used when players fight crickets, according to the grade of the cricket.
• Used for market trades, cultivation upgrades and tribute. Most importantly, they are used to fight other players' crickets.

Setup

Page 03 and page 04 of the rulebook. The setup diagram is numbered 1 to 8 on the main board, with steps 9 to 11 listed on page 04.

1. Place the round indicator on round 1 of the round track.

2. Place each player's Virtue and Reputation score markers at the start of their tracks.

3. Sort the coins, grass, jars and crickets into four supply piles beside the main board.

4. Place the capture indicators in the blind bag, shuffle it, and set it beside the main board.

5. Shuffle the title cards and place them around Area 3.

6. Shuffle the tribute cards and place them around Area 4.

7. Draw three bustling market cards at random and place them on the corresponding spaces of Area 5. Return the remaining bustling market cards to the box; they are not used in this game.

8. Each player takes a player board, five village heads of their colour, two battle indicators and some small square player indicators. Each player places three village heads on their player board. The remaining two village heads go on the chairs in the Area 2 market, waiting to be unlocked. Each player keeps their other components beside their player board and takes one rule reference card.

9. Determine the first player at random. Then, going clockwise from the first player, each player takes the starting resources for their seat:

   • Seat 1: two crickets (ordinary crickets), five coins, one grass, one jar, and the starting player marker.
   • Seat 2: two crickets, six coins, one grass, one jar.
   • Seat 3: two crickets, five coins, two grass, one jar.
   • Seat 4: two crickets, six coins, two grass, one jar.

   In a three-player game, take the resources for seats 1 to 3. In a two-player game, take the resources for seats 1 and 2. Crickets taken this way are ordinary crickets and are placed in the matching position on the player board.

Note on player count (from the setup page): In a three-player game, spaces marked 4+ are not used in any area. In a two-player game, spaces marked 3+ and 4+ are not used in any area.

Game Overview

In Cuzhi, each player tries to collect, trade, cultivate and tribute crickets to raise their Virtue track and Reputation track. At the end of the game, the player with the highest total score wins. The total score is the product of Virtue and Reputation, plus any extra points.

Players capture crickets and harvest grass in the resource area, trade and buy or sell resources in the market area, hire village heads, upgrade the quality of their crickets in the cultivation area, and even gain title abilities. In the tribute area, players give crickets to officials to gain honours and rewards.

The game lasts five rounds. Each round has the following four phases:

• Preparation phase: Replenish the resources and cards on the main board. Players receive tribute indicators and income from cards.
• Dispatch phase: Starting with the first player, village heads are placed clockwise, one at a time, until all players have placed all of their village heads.
• Resolution phase: Resolve actions area by area, from Area 1 to Area 5. Within each area, resolve the spaces from left to right.
• Cleanup phase: Clear the resources left on the board. All players take back their village heads to prepare for the next round.

Round Structure

Preparation Phase

In the preparation phase, players mainly replenish the resources and cards on the board, and receive some income at the start of the round. Carry out the following steps in order:

1. In Area 1, under the wild crickets space (野外蟋蟀), replenish eight cricket indicators. In a three-player game, replenish seven. In a two-player game, replenish five.

2. In Area 3 (cultivation area), place two new title cards. If there are old title cards, discard them first.

3. Replenish the tribute cards for all of the yamen in Area 4 (see the tribute rules on page 9):

   • If a yamen has no tribute cards, replenish it to one card.
   • If a yamen has one tribute card, replenish it to two cards.
   • If a yamen already has two tribute cards, do not replenish it.

4. Each player gains stipend (俸禄) according to the number of their tribute indicators in Area 4. (See the tribute rules on page 9.)

   Tip: Each yamen allows only one tribute indicator per player, so a player's stipend is capped at six coins.

5. Some tribute cards give income at the start of the round. Collect that income now.

Dispatch Phase

In the dispatch phase, starting with the first player and proceeding clockwise, each player places one village head on an empty space in Areas 1 to 5, until all village heads have been placed.

• Each time, a player places one of their village heads on any empty space in Areas 1 to 5. Spaces do not have to be filled from left to right.
• A player may place more than one village head in the same area.
• The effect of a space is not resolved immediately; it resolves in the resolution phase.
• Some spaces depend on the player count. Spaces marked 3+ are used in three- and four-player games. Spaces marked 4+ are used only in four-player games.
• Some spaces in Areas 4 and 5 unlock as the rounds progress. Such a space shows a round number in its upper-right corner, and it opens in that round. For example, a space showing 4 does not open until round 4.
• Players who have unlocked more village heads may place more of them. When one player has placed all of their village heads, they skip the remaining turns, and the other players continue until all village heads are placed.

Resolution Phase

In the resolution phase, resolve each area in order from Area 1 to Area 5. Within each area, resolve the village heads from left to right.

Each worker space may show the following information:

• Upper left: In Area 1, the first worker space gives the starting player marker.
• Centre: This space only opens in a four-player game (4+).
• Upper right: The round in which the space opens.
• Lower right: The number of actions this space provides.
• Bottom: The resource reward given by this space.

Area One: Resources

This area is the main source of crickets, grass, jars and other resources. Each resource action draws one capture indicator from the blind bag and immediately exchanges it according to its icon.

The spaces in Area 1:

• Space 1 (leftmost): Gain the starting player marker, one jar, and one resource action.
• Space 2: One jar and two resource actions.
• Space 3: One coin and three resource actions.
• Space 4: Four resource actions.

Each resource action works as follows: the player draws one capture indicator from the blind bag and, in that same action, exchanges it according to its icon:

• Grass: Take one grass from the supply.
• Cricket: Take one cricket from the wild crickets (野外蟋蟀) space and place it on the matching grade position on the player board. Ordinary crickets are placed in the ordinary position.
• Cricket or grass: The player may choose either option.
• Sound (辨声, "discern sound"): The player hears a loud cricket call but has not caught the cricket yet. The player may sell this information immediately for one coin, or keep the indicator and use it later to catch a stronger cricket.

Once a capture indicator has been used, set it aside beside the bag. If the bag runs out while drawing, return all the set-aside capture indicators to the bag and shuffle.

Sound indicators, once kept, may be exchanged as follows:

• One Sound for one coin.
• Two Sounds for one third-grade cricket (三品).
• Three Sounds for one second-grade cricket (二品).

A cricket gained from a Sound is taken from the wild crickets space and placed on the matching grade position on the player board, just like any other captured cricket. A Sound can only be exchanged in a round in which the player has placed a village head in Area 1 that is resolved.

After Area 1 has been resolved, any wild crickets left on the wild crickets space are considered caught by passers-by. Move them, from left to right, onto the cricket sales positions in the Area 2 market.

Area Two: Market

In this area, a player gains a number of trade actions according to the position they have placed in. Each trade action can perform one of the following trades; details are given below:

• Buy or sell one grass.
• Buy or sell one jar.
• Buy or sell one cricket.
• Hire one village head, if the market still has available village heads.

The spaces in Area 2:

• Two trade actions, plus one coin.
• Three trade actions.
• Three trade actions, plus one coin.
• Three trade actions, plus two coins.

Each trade action may be used for only one of the above. Each worker space's trade action can be used for hiring at most once.

Grass:

• One coin buys one grass, or one grass sells for one coin.
• Four coins buy three grass, or three grass sell for four coins.

When buying, take the grass from the supply. When selling, return the grass to the supply.

Jar: The price of a jar depends on the number of crickets currently on the market:

• With 0 to 3 crickets on the market, a jar costs or sells for 2 coins.
• With 4 or 5 crickets on the market, a jar costs or sells for 3 coins.
• With 6 to 8 crickets on the market, a jar costs or sells for 4 coins.

Crickets: Buy or sell one cricket.

• Sell a cricket: Place one of your crickets on the leftmost empty space of the market's cricket sales positions, and gain coins equal to that space's price.
• Buy a cricket: Take the rightmost cricket on the market and pay the coins for its space's price.
• Note: If there are no crickets on the market, no cricket can be bought. Likewise, if the cricket sales positions are full, no further cricket can be sold.

The market's cricket sales positions are in three columns of three slots. The price shown under each column is x3 coins, x2 coins, and one coin, from left to right. (The source example: the orange slot in the left column sells or buys for 3 coins, and the jar price in that stall is 2 coins. In the second example, the orange slot in the middle column is 2 coins and the jar is 3 coins.)

Hiring a village head: A player may spend six coins to hire one village head. Take the village head from this area back to your player board, so it can be used as one more village head in the next round.

When hiring, select one available hire space and place one player indicator of your colour on it. This shows that the village head there has been hired. Then gain the resource reward printed under that space.

• The hire spaces are marked with a round number in their upper right corner. A hire space becomes available in that round. In round 1, no village head can be hired. New hireable village heads unlock in rounds 2, 3 and 4.
• Hire spaces are not taken in left-to-right order; the player may choose any available space.
• The village head limit for a player is five.
• At setup, each player places two village heads on the chairs in this area, waiting to be unlocked.
• The eight hire spaces are shown in two rows. Top row, left to right: round 2 (one grass), round 2 (one grass), round 3 (one ordinary cricket), round 3 (one ordinary cricket). Bottom row, left to right: round 3 (one third-grade cricket), round 4 (one third-grade cricket), round 4 (one second-grade cricket), round 4 (one second-grade cricket). (The reward for each space is read from the icons on the page.)
• If a player has already reached the village head limit, the hire action cannot be taken.

Area Three: Cultivation

This area upgrades your crickets. The spaces in Area 3 give the following:

• One grass, plus one cultivation action.
• Two cultivation actions.
• Two cultivation actions, plus one coin.
• Three cultivation actions.

One cultivation action: choose one cricket and upgrade it one grade (move the cricket indicator one step in the direction of the arrow). One cultivation may use at most one grass, so the cricket in that cultivation can be upgraded one further grade.

Grade track: ordinary (普通) → third (三品) → second (二品) → first (一品) → royal (皇家).

• Upgrading a first-grade cricket to royal requires an extra cost of three coins and one jar. Royal crickets need a finer jar.
• When a cricket is upgraded to royal, the player may choose a reward of one Virtue or one Reputation.

Title cards: Each round, two title cards are available here for players to choose from. The first two crickets that a player cultivates to royal in each round may take one of these two title cards. Move the royal cricket from the royal area of the player board onto the title card.

• If no title card is left in this round, no title can be gained; the royal cricket is then used as an ordinary royal cricket.
• A title cricket has its own special battle skill, which gives the player an advantage during the cricket fight. When it is tributed in Area 4, the title cricket gives an extra one Virtue or one Reputation reward. The reward is shown by the icon at the lower left of the title card.

Example title cards shown in the rulebook:

• Tuo Du Huang (拖肚黄): Each move advances one additional step. Tuo Du Huang cannot use grass.
• Qing Ma Tou (青麻头): A dice roll of 4+ makes it excited. When this title is obtained, gain two coins.

Area Four: Tribute

Before the worker-space actions in Area 4 are resolved, if a player's village head sits on the space at the bottom of an arrow and another player's village head sits on the space at the top of the same arrow, a tribute challenge happens first. A player can use this to compete for the order of tribute.

Tribute challenge: Left to right, the player whose village head is on the lower space decides whether to challenge. There can be at most three challenges per round.

Example from the rulebook: the red player's village head on the lower space may challenge the blue player above. If the red player wins, the two players swap tribute order (right side of the diagram).

Tribute challenge rules:

1. A player cannot challenge themselves.
2. Ordinary crickets cannot fight; only third-grade crickets and above can. Each cricket may join only one challenge per round.
3. A challenger must have a cricket eligible to fight in order to challenge.
4. If the defender has no eligible cricket, skip the tribute challenge and simply swap tribute order.

A tribute challenge consists of the following four steps:

1. Dispatch (派遣): The challenger dispatches one cricket that has not fought this round. The defender then dispatches one cricket that has not fought this round. Each side places its battle indicator at one end of the battle board to show the cricket's grade, and takes the die matching the number of faces for that grade. The rulebook's example: a royal cricket takes a ten-sided die; a second-grade cricket takes an eight-sided die.
2. Betting (押注): Players not taking part in the challenge may bet one coin on the predicted winner by placing a personal indicator on the coin on the battle board's half for that cricket. If the bet succeeds, the player collects two coins. If it fails, the bet is lost.
3. Excitement phase (兴奋阶段): Both fighting players roll dice in turn, each round simultaneously, until one player rolls 6 or higher (6 included), and then the next phase begins.
   • Rolling 6+ means the cricket is excited and may begin to move.
   • If both players roll 6+ at the same time, the higher roll is considered to have become excited first. If they tie, the defending cricket becomes excited first.
   • One grass may be used to add points to the roll: second grade +1, first grade +2, royal +3.
   • Tip: In the excitement phase, ask the challenger first whether they will use grass, then ask the defender.
4. Fight phase (斗争阶段): Starting with the owner of the cricket that became excited first, players take turns rolling dice and advance along the fight board according to the step table (if a player's cricket has not yet become excited, that player must first roll 6+ to become excited; it may advance by the table only from the next round). A side wins when its cricket catches up with or passes the other side's cricket. After each roll, one grass may be used to add points (second grade +1, first grade +2, royal +3). The points added by grass are capped at 12.

Battle board (斗争版图) reference (printed at the foot of the battle board):

• Grade and grass: third grade cannot use grass; second grade gains +1 point; first grade gains +2 points; royal gains +3 points.
• Roll table for movement: 1–2: stop (停). 3/4/5: advance one step (进一步). 6/7/8: advance two steps (进二步). 9/10/11: advance three steps (进三步). 12: advance four steps (进四步). 6+ at the excitement phase: excited (兴奋). Reward settlement (5):

1. The winning cricket may move up one grade (only the cricket that fought) or gain two coins. If the winning player was in a lower position, they move to the upper position, representing a move forward in tribute order.
2. The owner of the brave cricket (the cricket that crossed the line first) gains one Reputation.
3. A successful bettor gains two coins. A failed bettor returns the bet coin to the supply.

Once all tribute challenges have been settled, move on to the tribute phase.

Tribute Phase (in Area 4)

Hint: A four-player game uses all six yamen, a three-player game uses five, and a two-player game uses four. The yamen are identified by the player-count icons on the board.

Players' village heads are resolved in Area 4 in order: row 1 then row 2, from left to right. Each Area 4 space gives one tribute action.

One tribute action: The player chooses one yamen and completes one or two of its tribute cards, in this order:

1. Choose one tribute card on that yamen.
2. Pay the resources the tribute card requires and return them to the supply.
3. Gain the Virtue or Reputation reward on the card, and advance the matching track by that value.
4. Take the card back beside the player board. Gain its one-time reward written on the card, or use its ongoing effect later.
5. If this is the first tribute the player has completed at this yamen, also place one player indicator on the highest-value lantern space of that yamen. This gives extra points at game end, and it provides one coin of stipend (俸禄) at the start of each round.
6. If the yamen still has another tribute card, the player may repeat the process to complete it.

Hints: Each card is settled separately, so the player may complete card 1 first and then use card 1's reward resources to complete card 2. Players may use a higher-grade cricket to replace a lower-grade cricket for tribute.

Each yamen allows only one tribute indicator per player, so the stipend from tributes is capped at six coins.

Example (page 9): The blue player tributes to the West An yamen (西安府), which has two tribute cards. The blue player pays one ordinary cricket and one third-grade cricket to complete the "Arena Boss" card (斗场老板). The card gives one Virtue, so the blue player advances the Virtue track one step. The blue player then places an indicator on the highest-value lantern at West An (3 points). The blue player may also try to complete the other card there, but does not place another indicator.

Normal tribute (普通进贡): A player may choose not to tribute to a yamen, and instead make a normal tribute: pay one third-grade or higher cricket to gain one Virtue or one Reputation. This is normally used as a compensating action when the player cannot complete any yamen tribute card. Tip: One village head can perform only one normal tribute.

Title cricket tribute: When tributing a title cricket, the player pays the title cricket back to the supply, turns the title card face down, and gains an extra one Virtue or one Reputation shown at the lower left of the title card. This is the extra reward for tributing a title cricket.

End-of-game tribute cards: Some tribute cards show a "game end" effect instead of an immediate effect. These are resolved in the end-game scoring (see below).

Area Five: Bustling Market

• Space 2 (opens in round 2): One bustling market action.
• Space 3 (opens in round 3): One bustling market action, plus one coin.
• Space 4 (opens in round 4): One bustling market action, plus two coins.

Each bustling market card can be executed only once per round. When a player takes a bustling market action, they choose one bustling market card effect that has not yet been executed by any player this round, and execute it.

(In the source, the first Area 5 space on the board is printed with the number 2, and the other two with 3 and 4. The round a space opens is the number shown in its upper-right corner.)

Cleanup Phase

In round 5, skip this phase and go directly to end-game scoring.

1. All players take back their village heads and return them to their player boards.
2. Return all crickets in the market area to the supply.
3. Move the round indicator to the next round, and return to the preparation phase to continue the game.

End-Game Scoring

After five rounds, the game ends. Scoring comes from the following sources:

1. End-of-game tribute cards: Each player first settles any extra Virtue or Reputation from the end-game scoring tribute cards in their hand. For example, a 郑和 card reads: at game end, may pay 3/5/8 coins to gain 1/2/3 Virtue. In the example, the blue player holds this card, had six coins at game end, and paid five coins to gain two Virtue.

2. Virtue × Reputation: Each player scores the product of their Virtue and Reputation values. If an indicator stops on a lantern space of its track, the player gains that lantern's extra points as well. Example: The blue player's Reputation indicator is on 6 and Virtue is on 7, so the product is 6 × 7 = 42. The Virtue indicator stopped on a lantern space worth 2 points, so the blue player gains 2 extra points, for 44 in total.

3. Area 4 tribute points: Each player scores the points on the lantern spaces where they have indicators on the yamen. Example: The blue player has an indicator on the 3-point lantern at West An and on the 2-point lantern at Wuchang. This scores 5 points. Added to the 44 from step 2, the total is 49.

4. Resources: Convert the player's resources into coins at the following rates, and gain 1 point for every 4 coins:

   • Grass = 1 coin.
   • Jar = 2 coins.
   • Ordinary cricket = 1 coin.
   • Third-grade cricket = 2 coins.
   • Second-grade cricket = 3 coins.
   • First-grade cricket = 4 coins.
   • Royal cricket = 5 coins.

   Example: The blue player has one grass, one ordinary cricket, one third-grade cricket, two second-grade crickets and one first-grade cricket. Total coins: 1 + 1 + 2 + 3×2 + 4 = 14 coins. This gives 14 ÷ 4 = 3 bonus points. Added to the 49 already scored, the final score is 49 + 3 = 52.

The player with the highest total score wins.

Phase Reference (from the final page of the rulebook)

• Preparation phase: Replenish the resources and cards on the board. Players gain income.
• Dispatch phase: Starting with the first player, place village heads clockwise.
• Resolution phase: Resolve each area's worker-space effects from left to right.
  • Area 1: Draw capture indicators equal to the number of resource actions. Sound indicators may be kept and exchanged later. After Area 1 resolves, the remaining wild crickets move to the Area 2 market.
  • Area 2: Each trade action may buy or sell crickets, grass or jars, or hire a village head. Village heads can be hired from round 2. One space may hire only once.
  • Area 3: Gain a number of cultivation actions. The first two crickets to become royal each round may also gain a title.
  • Area 4: A tribute challenge happens first, where the winner may choose to swap positions. Then, in order, complete one or two tribute cards of one yamen. The first completed tribute at a yamen also places an indicator on the highest lantern, which gives 1 coin of stipend at the start of each later round.
  • Area 5: Execute one bustling market card action not yet executed this round.
• Cleanup phase: Clear the resources in the market area. Each player takes back their village heads.

Tribute challenge summary (from the same page):

• Dispatch: The challenger dispatches one cricket and the defender dispatches one cricket. Each takes the die matching its grade's face count (royal = ten-sided and second grade = eight-sided in the rulebook's example).
• Betting: Players not in the challenge may bet one coin.
• Excitement (may use grass): Both sides roll in turn, each round simultaneously, until one player rolls 6 or higher. If both roll 6+, the higher roll is excited first; on a tie, the defender is excited first.
• Fight (may use grass): Starting with the player whose cricket became excited first, players roll and advance along the fight board. The side whose cricket catches up with or passes the other side's cricket wins.
• Reward: The winner gains one grade or two coins, and may swap tribute positions. The brave cricket (first to cross the line) gains one Reputation. A successful bet gains two coins; a failed bet loses the coin.