Dragon Boats of the Four Seas Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Objective
• Components
  • 26 special ability cards
  • 20 Dragon Boat toppers
  • Other components
  • 4 player boards
  • 6 round tracker cards
• Game Setup
• Game Play
  • 1. The Bidding Phase
  • 2. The Payment Phase
    • Taking the Mountain Path or Boarding a Boat
  • 3. The Explore Phase
    • Taking the Mountain Path
    • Boat Departures
    • Arriving on Islands
    • Movement Notes
  • 4. The Storage Phase
• Game End
  • Hex Tile Sets
  • Farmer Groups
  • Bonus Cards
  • Resources
• Bonus Cards and Wisdom Tokens FAQ

Objective

Your objective as the leader of one of the noble houses of Zhong-Guo is to bid for goods in the marketplace and make offerings in the temples so that you can send your house members across the Four Dragon Seas to reclaim old farmland for the glory of the Empire.

The Four Dragon Seas were four bodies of water that symbolically made up the boundaries of ancient China, a sea for each of the four cardinal directions:

• A. Black Dragon - Leather (The North Sea / Lake Baikal)
• B. White Dragon - Tea (The West Sea / Qinghai Lake)
• C. Yellow Dragon - Gold (The Middle Kingdom / Zhong-Guo)
• D. Green Dragon - Jade (East China Sea)
• E. Red Dragon - Cinnabar (South China Sea)

2-4 players, 45 min, age 12+.

Components

26 special ability cards

1. Victory Points - Number of victory points at end of game
2. Card Title
3. Diagram - Visual reminder of card ability
4. Ability Text - Text explanation of card function
5. Card Type - One time use, end game, or permanent ability
6. Letter - Quick reference for FAQ (page 12)
7. Interactive Icon - Remove from cards with interactive icon if you don't want to play a "take that" style of game

20 Dragon Boat toppers

1. Minimum Number of Passengers - Number of Farmers needed for boat to launch
2. Beats - Boats leave docks in order of highest drum beat to low
3. Cost to Board - In order to place your Farmer on board, you need to pay the boat the number of Offerings required
4. Forward Position (Pacers) - Farmer in front of boat is first to depart when it reaches port space
5. Middle Position (Engine) - Costs one less Offering of players choice to sit in the middle
6. Rear Position (Steersperson) - Decides which island the boat will land on

Other components

• 4 Dragon Boats (3D punchboard)
• 2 cloth bags (1 for offering tiles, 1 for hexagonal farm tiles)
• 1 first player marker
• 1 game board
• 80 Offering tiles: black (pot), cinnabar, gold, jade, leather, tea
• 12 food cards
• 12 treasure cards
• 10 hexagonal wisdom tiles
• XX hexagonal farm tiles: poultry (1-4), fish (1-4), pork (1-4), rice (1-3), soy (1-3)
• 40 house members (10 in each player color)
• 16 bidding discs (4 in each player color)
• 4 money markers (1 in each player color)

4 player boards

1. Used Cards - Store used cards face down on the left side of the player board for end game scoring
2. Money Track - Use money marker to keep track of your available currency total (0-6)
3. Private Actions - During the Bid phase, a player may place a disc on an available space on their own board to take a private action immediately
4. Storage - A player may store up to 3 Offering items from round to round

The player board also lists the phases: A) Bidding, B) Payment, C) Explore, D) Storage.

6 round tracker cards

1. Restriction - Cannot place bidding disc on this card
2. Permanent - Always used in a game regardless of number of players
3. Game Round - Tracks the round of the game that's currently being played. Always place cards sequentially from low to high. In a 4 player game, if you want the game to be quicker, cards 2-5 are shuffled and two are removed, so if 3 and 5 were removed, card order would be 1, 2, 4, 6.
4. Starting Resources - Number of resources you receive at the start of the game. Each player chooses which starting resources they want and places one of their bidding discs on that card. They will not have access to this disc until it's that round of the game.

Starting resources on the cards:

• Card 2: 2 pot offerings, 3 money
• Card 3: 2 pot offerings, 4 money, 1 food card
• Card 4: 3 pot offerings, 4 money, 1 food card, 1 treasure card
• Card 5: 3 pot offerings, 5 money, 1 food card, 1 treasure card, 1 special ability card

Cards 1 and 6 are permanent and "Cannot be chosen." Card 6 also reads "All boats depart this round."

Note: When playing a short game one must use the four starter cards numbered 1, 4, 5, 6.

Game Setup

1. Place the game board in the middle of the table.
2. Place the 3D dragon boats on the 4 corner ports on the central island of the board.
3. Shuffle the boat toppers and make a face down stack next to game board.
4. Take 4 boat toppers from the stack and place one on top each of the 3D Dragon Boats at random.
5. Mix the wisdom hex tiles (yellow with a mountain on the back) and randomly distribute them on the 10 hex spaces of the central island. Then flip the tiles face up.
6. Mix the farm hex tiles (grey with mist on back) and randomly distribute 28 of them on the outer islands (7 hexes on each of the north, east, south and west islands). Then flip the tiles face up.
7. Players get a board, money marker, 4 bidding discs, and 10 house members in their color.
8. Each player places one of their bidding discs on the round tracker card of their choice (2-5) and then moves their money marker and receives goods based on the card they chose. This bidding disc will be returned to the player only after the round card they placed it on has been flipped during the course of play.
9. Mix the Offerings in the bag and randomly draw 3 tiles to add to each market (labelled with Roman Numerals I, II, III, IV) and place them on the square spaces face up.
10. If you are playing with 2 or 3 players, place bidding discs (of an unused player color) on the market stalls indicated by the 2/3 player illustrations. Example: the image reminds players that in a 2-player game they must place an unused bid token on that market stall (that stall will be more expensive to use).
11. Shuffle the Bonus Cards and reveal the top 2 cards placing them near the game board.
12. Place the treasure and food cards near the game board as well.
13. Give the first player marker to a random player.

(The 4-player setup diagram also shows each player's pieces: a player board, 10 house members and, after choosing starting resources, 3 bidding discs on the board; e.g. the Orange player's setup shows 3 pot offerings, 1 food card and 1 treasure card received from the chosen round card, money marker moved to the matching space on the money track.)

Game Play

The game is played over 6 rounds. Each round has 4 phases, played in order:

1. Bidding
2. Payment
3. Explore
4. Storage

1. The Bidding Phase

Starting with the first player and going clockwise, each player places 1 of their bidding discs on one of the Market Stalls (I, II, III, IV or V spaces on the central island) or on a private action on their personal player board.

When placing a disc on a Market Stall, the player may place it on an open space or on top of discs that have previously been placed there. Players who place their discs on top of others will have to pay more for their good during the Payment Phase, but they will also have more options to choose from. (see Example A)

When placing a disc on a private action, it must be placed on an open space. (see Example B)

After everyone has placed all of their discs, the Payment phase begins.

Reminder: Some players will gain access to their fourth bidding disc before others, based on which card they placed it on during setup.

Example A: The Orange player places their disc on an open Market Stall II space. The Blue player places their disc on top of the Orange player's disc. If nothing else changes, the Blue player will have the first pick of the 3 available goods, but will have to pay 2 Money. The Orange player will have a choice from what remains, but will pay only 1 Money.

Example B: The Orange board shows the player has 1 Offering in storage (Tea) and 3 money. On their turn, they place a disc on a private action space and move their money tracker up to 2 spaces.

2. The Payment Phase

Resolve each Market Stall, one at a time, going from I through V.

Turn order and cost of goods are determined by the bidding discs at each Market Stall. The top disc goes first and the cost is the number of discs in the stack. (see Example C)

Purchasing is optional. If a player does not wish to buy a good from that Market Stall, they may simply remove their disc to get 1 money instead.

A player may only buy 1 Offering tile per bidding disc. The tile chosen must be from the same Market Stall as the bidding disc. Both the Offering tile and the bidding disc are then removed and placed in front of the player.

The 5th Market Stall has 2 options. A player may do either or both options. The first option allows the player to pay any one good for a random good from the bag plus 1 food card. The other option allows a player to pay 1 treasure for 1 bonus card. They may choose 1 of the 2 face up cards on display or from the top of the deck.

Example C: The Blue player pays 2 Money, selects an Offering of their choice, and removes their bidding disc. The Orange player pays 1 and selects from the remaining two Offering tiles. A stack can be more than three bidding discs high.

Taking the Mountain Path or Boarding a Boat

Any time during a players turn, they may board a boat or take one of the two Mountain Paths, if they have the goods necessary. The Offerings necessary to enter a boat are listed on the bottom of the boat, while each Mountain Path needs any 3 Offerings.

Players may take any empty space on a boat.

The middle space provides a discount of 1 good to board. (see Example D)

Players may board multiple boats or mountain paths if the offering conditions are met.

The mountain paths cost any 3 goods. When a player pays the offerings, they place a house members on either the left (A) or right (B) mountain path.

Example D: The Pink player boards onto the middle space on a boat and pays 1 less good, either 1 Jade OR 1 Gold Offering.

After locations I through V have been resolved the Exploration Phase begins.

3. The Explore Phase

Taking the Mountain Path

The two Mountain Paths are resolved first going from left (A) to right (B).

The player taking the Mountain Path may move 3 spaces up the mountain, going up on the road or land spaces. A player may move 1 extra space per food spent.

As soon as a player enters a land space, they take the hex tile on it and their house member remains on that space (for end of game scoring).

No two house members may share a land space.

Boat Departures

1. Boats depart if they have at least as many passengers as the minimum number indicated.
2. If more than one boat is ready to depart, the boat with the highest beats leaves first (and arrives at its destination fastest).
3. A boat may only go on one of the two locations shown by the dotted track on the board. The player farthest back in the boat steers the boat and decides which island it will go to.

All boats with fewer passengers than required will stay until a future round.

Last Round Exception: on the last round ALL boats depart.

Arriving on Islands

The player at the front of the boat may move up to 3 spaces away from the boat. They may move one extra space for every food they spend. (see Example E)

The first step must always be on the port space (the space where the boat lands).

The steps thereafter may follow the road spaces or move onto a land space with a hex tile. As soon as a player enters a land space and takes the hex token on it, the house member remains on that space as a farmer for the rest of the game (farmers score at the end of the game).

If a player travels over a space with a reward symbol (treasure, money, food, Offering tile or Bonus Cards) they take the reward shown.

Once a boat is empty, the next boat with the highest beats leaves next and this continues until all the boats with the minimum number of passengers have left the central island.

Example E: The Orange player is first off the boat. They walk 3 spaces on the path and collect 1 random Offering and 1 treasure along the way. Now they may decide to return their piece back to their supply or spend 1 food to move an extra space onto a land tile and then take the hex and leave a farmer on that spot for end game scoring.

Movement Notes

• The same piece may never revisit the same space twice.
• The same piece may never visit a land space that already has a farmer on it.
• If a player is unable to reach an available location within their 3 free moves (or more if they paid food) they return home to the player's supply.

4. The Storage Phase

The Players now look at their remaining goods and place them in storage. They may keep 3 goods for the next round. Any additional offering tiles must be sold immediately for 1 money per tile. No player may store more than 3 tiles unless they have a special ability.

Note: Treasure and food cards do not count as goods that need to be stored.

Players may sell extra Offering tiles for 1 Money each and/or sell treasures for 2 money each. Offering tiles are returned the bag while treasure cards are returned to the supply.

At the end of the Storage phase, players prepare the game for the next round:

• Return the Dragon Boats to the central island ports and add new toppers to the Dragon Boats that have been returned.
• Refill the Market Stalls to 3 Offering tiles.
• Flip the round tracker card for the next round. If there are any bidding discs on it, distribute them to the appropriate players.
• Pass the first player token to the player on the left.

Game End

The game ends after the 6th Round. (Optional - for a quicker 4P game - play only 4 rounds) At the end of the 6th round, all boats leave regardless of how many passengers have boarded.

Add the Points from Hex Tile Sets + Farmer Groups + Bonus Cards + Resources:

Hex Tile Sets

Points range depending on the number of each kind (also listed on the tiles).

Soy and Rice (1-3):

Number of Hexagons	Points
1	1
2	4 (2 points each)
3	9 (3 points each)
4	10 (3 points each for set of 3 + 1 point for the single hexagon)
5	13 (3 points each for set of 3 + 4 points for set of two hexagons)
...	...

Poultry / Fish / Pork (1-4):

Number of Hexagons	Points
1	1
2	4 (2 points each)
3	9 (3 points each)
4	16 (4 points each for set of 4)
4*	17 (4 points each for set of 4 plus *1 point from Special Ability Card)

Bonus Cards add to the Hex Tile Set Scoring. The 1-4 Cards count as an extra Hex for the set, while the +1 Cards increases the Set size of the Set. In the above example having the +1 Poultry Card would allow 4 Poultry Hexes to Score 4 points each (16 Total)

Farmer Groups

Each Farmer scores Points according to the number of adjacent farmers in their player color. Example: A group of 3 adjacent Red farmers scores 9 Points (3 Points each). (see Example F)

Example F - Farmer Groups: A group of 3 adjacent Orange farmers scores 9 Points (3 Points each). A group of 2 adjacent Orange farmers scores 4 Points (2 Points each). The single Pink farmer scores 1 Point.

Bonus Cards

Add the points from the Bonus Cards you collected (used or not used).

Resources

Score an additional 1 point for every remaining resource and 1 point per treasure you collected.

Money and food are worth no points (unless you have the wisdom tile or card to score them).

The player with the most points is the winner

In case of a tie the player with the most money is the winner.

Bonus Cards and Wisdom Tokens FAQ

• A. Steer (One Time) - Steer a boat to any of the 8 locations (i.e. you do not need to follow the white lines). You do not need to have one of your house members on the boat to use the card. The location you are heading to needs to be unoccupied.
• B. Re-arrange Boat (One Time) - Move any house members on one boat to different locations on that boat. You don't need to have one of your house members on that boat to perform the action.
• C. Cut in Line (One Time) - Move one of your house members off the boat first in the Explore Phase, no matter their location in the boat.
• D. Swap Discs (One Time) - In the Bidding Phase you may swap around any or all discs in one stack. Note: This card may not be played in the Payment Phase, once players start removing discs.
• E. Storage (Permanent) - A permanent ability of storing an extra Offering tile into the next round for free. Keep card next to your player board.
• F. Forced Trade (One Time) - Choose another player to trade an offering item with. You get the item of your choice, but your opponent does not. You must have at least 1 item in storage to play the card.
• G. Switch Boats (One Time) - Move your house member onto an empty space on a different boat. You may move your house member onto a boat that has already left the docks or from a boat on an island back onto a boat that has not left the docks.
• H. First Boat (One Time) - Move your boat before any others ignoring the beats on your boat.
• I. Jump Ship (One Time) - Swap any two house members that are on different boats. The house members need not be of your color.