Dice Manor Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Credits
• Components
• Setup
  • Game Boards
  • Room Tiles
  • Player Setup
• How to Play
  • Overview
  • Playing a Round
  • Inspiration Tokens
• Phase 1: Bid!
  • Die Locations
  • Location: Blueprint Spaces
  • Location: Advertising
  • Location: Manor Tours
  • Manor Tour Rewards
  • Placing on Special Tiles
• Phase 2: Collect!
  • 1. Blueprints
  • 2. Advertising
  • Claiming a Bonus Die
  • 3. Manor Tours
• Phase 3: Build!
• Phase 4: Reset!
• Grand Opening Tour
• End of the Game
  • Color Majority
  • Magic Rooms (Purple)
  • Manor Diversity
  • Leftover Inspiration
  • Largest Manor
  • Winning the Game
  • Tiebreakers
• Optional Rules
  • Rolling at the End of Your Turn

Credits

©2022 Arcane Wonders®, LLC.

Game Design: Garrett Herdter Development: Walter Barber, Jeff Fraser, Alex Cutler Illustration: Roomie Gontaruk, Damien Mammoliti Graphic Design: Damien Mammoliti Rulebook Design: Kris Aubin Rules Editing: Jeff Fraser

Special thanks to Tom Vasel, Gabriel Herdter, Beth Herdter, Mat Sejas and everyone at UNPUB!

Not suitable for children under 3 years of age due to small parts. This product is not a toy. Not intended for persons under the recommended age requirement. Made in China.

Components

• 37 Room tiles:
  • 10 Office tiles
  • 10 Bathroom tiles
  • 5 Small Bedroom tiles
  • 4 Large Bedroom tiles
  • 4 Dining & Kitchen tiles
  • 4 Library tiles
• 1 Project board
• 1 Prestige board
• 1 First Player marker
• 32 Inspiration tokens
• 4 Player Aid cards
• 4 '100' Prestige tokens
• 4 Prestige markers
• 4 Entrance tiles
• 36 Player dice (9 per player)
• 4 Advertising markers
• 1 Round marker

Setup

Game Boards

1. Place the Project board and the Prestige board in the center of the play area.
2. Place the Round marker on Round 1.
3. Place the Inspiration tokens and 100 Prestige tokens to create a supply near the Project board.

Room Tiles

4. Separate the room tiles by type (icon on the back) into 6 stacks. Shuffle each stack of tiles and place them beside the Project board with the gray side faceup.
5. Flip over 1 tile from each stack and place each revealed tile under the Blueprint space with the matching icon on the board.

Player Setup

6. Each player chooses a color and takes the 9 dice and Entrance tile of the matching color.
7. Each player places the Advertising marker (house) of their color at the start of the matching Advertising track on the Project board, and places 2 of their 9 dice on the last 2 spaces at the end of that track.
8. Each player places the Prestige marker (cube) of their color in the matching colored slot at the left of the Prestige board.
9. Each player takes a Player Aid card and places it in front of themselves.
10. Each player takes 2 Inspiration tokens.
11. The owner of the game decides who will get the First Player marker. If they can't decide, give it to the player who most recently moved into a new home.

How to Play

Overview

The game is made up of 4 rounds. At the end of the 4th round, players hold their final Grand Opening Tour. After that, the player with the highest Prestige score is the winner!

Playing a Round

Each round has 4 phases. Refer to the following sections for details on each phase.

1. BID! Players take turns rolling dice and allocating them to compete for Blueprints, earn Advertising space, collect Inspiration tokens, and gain Prestige from tours of their Manor.
2. COLLECT! Players gather their hard-earned rewards from the Bid Phase.
3. BUILD! Each player adds the room tiles they acquired to their Manor.
4. RESET! Advance the Round marker, refresh the Project board, and prepare for a new round.

Important! Since players may place a different number of dice each turn, some players may end up taking more turns than others (but everyone always gets to place all of their dice).

Inspiration Tokens

After rolling your dice (but before choosing a die number), you may spend any number of Inspiration tokens you have collected to change the results of your dice. Return each token you spend to the supply. Each time you use a token, choose one of the following options:

• Choose a single die you rolled and increase or reduce its number by 1. You may change a 6 to a 1 or vice versa this way.
• Choose any number of dice you rolled and reroll them all at once.

IMPORTANT! You may use multiple Inspiration tokens to adjust the same die in a single turn.

Phase 1: Bid!

During this phase, players take turns clockwise around the table, starting with the First Player, and continuing until all players have placed all their dice.

On your turn, follow these steps in order:

1. ROLL: Roll all of your unplaced dice.
2. CHOOSE: Sort your results by die number, then choose a number you rolled on at least 1 die.
3. PLACE: Place all of your dice with the chosen number. You may divide them up however you like between locations on the Project board and your Manor.

If you have no more dice to place at the start of your turn, your turn is skipped until the end of the Bid Phase. The Bid Phase ends once all players have placed all their dice.

Example: On their turn, Orange rolls 7 dice and sorts them by die number. They then choose whether to place two 1s, three 4s, one 5, OR one 6.

Die Locations

Once you've decided which die number to place, you must place ALL of your dice with that number. You may divide up your dice however you like between different locations.

IMPORTANT! You must place all of your dice with the chosen number. For example, if you roll 2, 2, 2 and choose the die number 2, you must place all 3 matching dice – you can split them up however you like, but you can't keep any of them for your next turn.

Location: Blueprint Spaces

Place 1 or more dice under the Blueprint space with the matching die number to bid on the room tile there. The number of dice you place is how much you bid to acquire that tile.

Example: Teal rolls 3, 3, 3. They decide to bid two 3s on the Small Bedroom tile under Blueprint space #3 (and place their other 3 elsewhere).

If other players already have dice under a Blueprint, place your bid above each player who bid fewer dice than you, and below each player who bid the same amount of dice or more.

Note: "Above" means "closest to the Prestige board."

Example: Orange rolls two 3s and decides to bid both on the Small Bedroom. Since they have the same number of dice as Teal, they place their bid underneath Teal's.

If you already have dice under a Blueprint, you may add to your bid by placing additional dice with the matching die number. If this causes your bid to exceed another player's bid on that Blueprint, move your bid above theirs. (If you are only able to match another player's bid, do not move your bid above theirs.)

Example: On a later turn, Orange decides to add another 3 to increase their bid. Because they now have more dice than Teal, they move their bid above Teal's. Teal must now place at least 2 more dice to move back above Orange.

Location: Advertising

Place 1 or more dice under the Advertising track to advertise your Manor and gain Prestige (as well as potentially earn bonus dice).

Just like on Blueprint spaces, the number of dice you place is how much you bid on the Advertising track. The first time you place dice on the Advertising track each round, you may place dice with whichever die number you've chosen that turn. However, once you have dice on the Advertising track, you may only add to your bid with dice that have the same number.

There are 3 spaces under the Advertising track. The "1st" and "2nd" space can each only contain 1 player's dice, but the final space can contain any number of players' dice. If you are the first player to bid on Advertising during the round, place your dice on the "1st" space.

Example: Beige places an opening bid of one 2 on the Advertising track, claiming the 1st space.

If other players have already bid on Advertising, place your bid ahead of each player who bid fewer dice than you, and behind each player who bid the same amount of dice or more. If you place ahead of any player(s), move their bid(s) to the right (no further than the final space). If you are below the player in the "2nd" space, place your bid in the final space, even if another player has dice there.

Example: Black decides to place two 3s on Advertising, bumping Beige to 2nd.

If you later add to your bid by placing additional matching dice, move your bid ahead of each bid with fewer dice than yours.

Example: Beige increases their bid by two 2s, retaking the 1st space and bumping Black down.

Note: The number of dice you place matters most. For example, three 1s is a higher bid than two 6s.

However, if players are tied for the same number of dice, the higher value bid moves ahead. For example, three 6s is a higher bid than three 1s.

If you are only able to match another player's bid with the same number of dice of the same value, do not move your bid above theirs.

Location: Manor Tours

Place 1 or more dice along a path in your under-construction Manor to conduct an early tour and gain Prestige.

Each room has 1 or 2 die slots that can hold a single die with the matching number. To run a tour, place your dice along a path of connected rooms (rooms that share a door) that each have an available die slot that matches the die number you've chosen to place.

The first time you run a tour each round, you must start at your Entrance tile. If you run additional tours later in the same round, you may start each of them from any room that is connected to at least 1 other room where you previously placed a die.

Example: Teal rolls four 4s and decides to place 3 of them in their Manor to run a tour. On a later turn, Teal rolls two 3s and decides to place 1 of them in their Manor, next to one of the 4s they placed last time.

Teal gains 5 Prestige at the end of their first tour. On their second tour, they gain 1 Inspiration token.

Manor Tour Rewards

After you place dice in your Manor, immediately gain a reward based on the number of dice you placed.

# of Dice	Reward
1	1 Inspiration Token
2	2 Prestige
3	5 Prestige
4	9 Prestige
5	11 Prestige
6	13 Prestige
7	15 Prestige
8	17 Prestige
9	19 Prestige

Note: You can split your tour in different directions in your Manor, as long as each die placed is connected to a room with a previously placed die. The reward for each path is scored separately.

Example: 5 dice placed along a single path in your Manor will earn a reward of 11 Prestige. If you instead placed 3 dice in one direction and 2 dice in a different direction, the total reward is 7 Prestige.

Placing on Special Tiles

Entrance: Your Entrance tile can hold a die of any number. Your first tour each round must start here.

Dining Rooms: Dining Room tiles have 2 separate rooms, each with its own die slot. These are treated the same as 2 separate tiles during tours.

Bedrooms: Small and Large Bedrooms have dice slots with a "/". These can hold 1 die with either number.

Libraries: Like Entrance tiles, a Library can hold a die of any number. Use this to extend your tours and score more Prestige.

Phase 2: Collect!

Resolve each location where dice were placed, in the following order:

1. Blueprints

Resolve the bid on each Blueprint space one at a time, from the lowest Blueprint number to the highest. Follow these steps to resolve each space:

1. The player with the highest bid on this Blueprint (their bid is above all other players) takes the room tile and places it in front of themself (but does not add it to their Manor yet). They then take back all dice they bid.
2. All other players who bid at least 1 die on this space gain 1 Inspiration token and take back all dice they bid.

If any Blueprint space has no bids on it, discard the room tile under it by placing it at the bottom of the matching-numbered stack.

IMPORTANT! The player whose bid is highest (closest to the board) always takes the tile, even if a player below them has the same number of dice. (This means that ties go to the player who bid the most dice first.)

Example: During the Collect Phase, Orange claims this Small Bedroom and takes their 3 dice back. Teal gains 1 Inspiration token and takes their dice back.

2. Advertising

Bids on the Advertising track are resolved in 2 steps:

1. Advance Markers: Players move their Advertising markers forward based on their ranking in the bid.
   • The player in the 1st space moves their marker 2 spaces and gains the Prestige on BOTH spaces.
   • The player in the 2nd space moves their marker 1 space and gains the Prestige on that space.
   • Players in the final space each gain 1 Inspiration token, but do not advance their markers.
2. Move Dice: Each player moves their closest bonus die 1 space towards their Advertising marker for each die they bid, then takes back all dice they bid.

IMPORTANT! You always get to move your bonus dice 1 space per die you bid on Advertising, even if you did not rank 1st or 2nd. Moving a bonus die does not gain you any Prestige.

Claiming a Bonus Die

There are 2 bonus dice at the end of your Advertising track. While your Advertising marker moves up the track to gain you Prestige, your bonus dice move down the track (one at a time) to eventually meet your Advertising marker. This is how you unlock extra dice.

If at any time during the Collect Phase your bonus die is in the same space as your Advertising marker, you get to immediately claim that die and add it to the dice you'll roll for the following round.

Once you've claimed your 1st bonus die, you can start moving your 2nd bonus die. If you claim your 1st bonus die, and you have leftover movement from your Advertising bid, you can use the remaining movement to start moving your 2nd die.

Once you've claimed both dice, you no longer move dice during the Collect Phase (but can still advance your Advertising marker to gain Prestige).

NOTE: Your 2nd bonus die is 1 space further away than your 1st bonus die. When moving your 2nd bonus die, it must cross the space that held your first bonus die. Advertising markers treat these spaces as normal when moving and collecting Prestige.

Example: (A) Beige has the highest bid, so their Advertising marker advances 2 spaces. They gain a total of 9 Prestige (4 + 5), and claim their 1st bonus die.

(B) Black is 2nd, so they advance 1 space and gain 3 Prestige.

(C) Orange and Teal are on the final bid space, so they do not move their markers, but they each gain 1 Inspiration token.

Next, all players move their bonus dice 1 space per die they bid. Black now claims their 1st bonus die as well.

3. Manor Tours

Each player gains 1 Prestige per die in their Manor, then takes back all dice in their Manor.

Example: Teal gains 4 Prestige.

Phase 3: Build!

In this phase, all players simultaneously decide how to add the new room tiles they acquired to their Manor.

If you acquired multiple new tiles during the round, you may place them in any order. Each time you place a new tile, you must respect the following building restrictions:

• You may rotate a room however you like when placing it.
• You must place each room door to door with at least one other room.
• You may not place a room such that a door and a wall meet one another.
• You may not place a room directly adjacent to the front door at the bottom of your Entrance tile. This space must be kept empty so guests can enter and exit.

Note: The color of a room only matters for end-game bonuses (see End of the Game).

Phase 4: Reset!

1. Advance Round Marker: Advance the Round marker 1 space on the Round track.
2. Pass First Player: Pass the First Player marker to the next player clockwise.
3. Refresh Blueprints: Refill each Blueprint space with a new room tile. (Remember to discard any leftover tiles first.)

Grand Opening Tour

When the Round marker advances to the star at the end of the track, immediately move on to the Grand Opening Tour.

During the Grand Opening Tour, players will roll and place dice as they would during a normal round, except they all play simultaneously and can only use dice to tour their Manors. They will also gain extra Prestige for each die in their Manor at the end of the round. During the Grand Opening Tour, all players follow the steps below simultaneously; however, players still learning the game may choose to take individual Grand Opening Tours one at a time instead.

1. Roll: Roll all of your unplaced dice (and use Inspiration tokens if desired).
2. Choose: Sort your results by die number, then choose a number you rolled at least once. (You may use Inspiration tokens, just like in earlier rounds.)
3. Place: Place ALL dice with the chosen die number in your Manor, following all rules for Manor Tours (see Location: Manor Tours). Immediately earn the rewards for each tour you run. If there are not enough slots for you to place all your dice with the chosen number, place each die you can't place in the empty space next to your Entrance tile as an Unhappy Guest. Unhappy Guests do not count for immediate rewards, and may not be rolled or placed for the rest of your Grand Opening Tour.
4. Repeat: If you have any unplaced dice remaining, repeat from step 1.
5. Scoring Bonus: Once you have no dice left, gain an additional 3 Prestige per die in your Manor. Do not score any Prestige for Unhappy Guests.

IMPORTANT! After you roll (and optionally use Inspiration tokens), if none of your dice match any rooms in your Manor, you must still choose a die number and place all dice with that number as Unhappy Guests.

End of the Game

After the Grand Opening Tour, each player scores additional Prestige for the following end-game bonuses:

• Color Majority
• Manor Diversity
• Leftover Inspiration
• Largest Manor

Color Majority

Each player counts the number of rooms they have of each color. For each color, the player who has the most rooms of that color gains 12 Prestige. The player with the second most rooms of that color gains 6 Prestige.

If 2 or more players are tied for first, they each gain 8 Prestige and no second place bonus is awarded. If 2 or more players are tied for second, they each gain 4 Prestige.

Magic Rooms (Purple)

Each Magic Room in your Manor counts as 1 room of each different color room connected to it.

Example: This Magic Room counts as 1 red room and 1 green room when scoring Color Majority.

Manor Diversity

All players gain bonus Prestige based on the number of different room types in their Manor. Each Room's type is shown in the bottom corner of the die slot (and on the back) of the tile. Do not include Entrance tiles towards Manor Diversity.

Leftover Inspiration

Each player gains 1 Prestige for every 2 leftover Inspiration tokens they have (rounded down).

Largest Manor

Each player counts the total number of rooms in their Manor (excluding their Entrance tile). The player with the most rooms gains 12 Prestige. The player with the second most rooms gains 6 Prestige.

If 2 or more players are tied for first, they each gain 8 Prestige and no second place bonus is awarded. If 2 or more players are tied for second, they each gain 4 Prestige.

Example: At the end of the game, Beige does not have the most total rooms, but they do have the most blue rooms of any player at the table, earning them 12 Prestige. With their Magic room counting as an extra red, they ended with the second most red rooms, earning 6 additional Prestige. Beige earns another 4 Prestige for having 4 different room types in their Manor and 1 Prestige for her leftover Inspiration tokens. This gives them a total of 23 Prestige from end-game bonuses.

Winning the Game

After scoring the Grand Opening Tour and end-game bonuses, the player with the most Prestige is declared the winner!

Note: If a player would exceed 100 on the Prestige board, they receive a 100 Prestige Token and continue moving their marker forward from 1 on the track.

Tiebreakers

In the case of a tie, the tied player with the most rooms in their Manor is the winner. If there is still a tie, the player with the fewest Unhappy Guests during the Grand Opening is the winner. If there is still a tie, the tied players share victory.

Optional Rules

Rolling at the End of Your Turn

Groups who are familiar with the game and wish to play faster may choose to roll their remaining dice at the end of each turn, rather than at the start of each turn. This allows players to think about where to place their dice while their opponents are acting.

The group should decide beforehand whether players must hide their rolls behind a hand or piece of paper, or allow all rolls to be public information (which adds to the complexity of the game). If the group chooses to hide rolls, each player should lay down their hand or paper once they have no dice remaining to signify they are finished.