Dragon Parade
Dragon Parade Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
1 Game Board — featuring the "Forbidden City" space, the path, the red City Gate, the red side of the city, the yellow side of the city, and the yellow City Gate.
36 Cards — 18 yellow and 18 red.
30 Coins — Twenty small coins worth 1. Ten large coins, each worth 5 small coins.
15 Street Sellers — 3 each of 5 different colors.
1 Dragon
Setup
- Place the board in the middle of the table.
- Place the dragon on the Forbidden City space.
- Place the coins in a pile next to the board.
- Each player takes three street sellers ("sellers") of one color. Remaining seller pawns are not used.
- Shuffle the cards and deal each player a hand of six cards. Players keep their cards concealed. The remaining cards are not used.
- Determine a start player. Play begins with that player and progresses clockwise.
The Game
1. Three Placement Rounds
On your turn, play one card from your hand onto a discard pile and move the dragon accordingly. (For example, if you play a "5" card, you must move the dragon 5 spaces.) Red cards move the dragon along the path towards the red City Gate, and yellow cards move the dragon along the path towards the yellow City Gate. The Forbidden City and both City Gates count as spaces along the path.
Example: The dragon is on space 12 in the red side of the city. You play a RED 4 card, and must move the dragon 4 spaces towards the red City Gate. The dragon ends up on space 16 in the red side of the city.
Example: The dragon is on space 3 in the red side of the city. You play a YELLOW 5 card, and must move the dragon 5 spaces towards the yellow City Gate. The dragon ends up on space 2 in the yellow side of the city. Remember to count the Forbidden City itself as a space.
Instant Game End: If at any time during the game the dragon reaches one of the City Gates, the dragon stops there and the game ends immediately. Apply Scoring Case 2 as described in the GAME END & SCORING section.
Instant Game End example: The dragon is on space 14 in the yellow side of the city. You play a YELLOW 8 card and must move the dragon 8 spaces towards the yellow City Gate. The dragon reaches the yellow City Gate on the sixth step of its move, so it stops there, and the game immediately ends. Scoring Case 2 is applied.
When you are done moving the dragon (without causing an Instant Game End), place one of your sellers onto any empty space on the board. A seller may not be placed in the Forbidden City or onto either of the two City Gates. A seller may not be placed onto a space that is surrounded. (A space is surrounded if the neighboring spaces (one on each side) are both already occupied by sellers.)
Example: We are using only a small section of the board for this example. It is blue's turn to place a seller. Blue may not place on an already-occupied space, or on any of the spaces marked with an "X" (the Forbidden City, and spaces that are surrounded). That leaves only the spaces marked with checkmarks as legal spaces where blue might choose to place the seller. (Note: The Forbidden City counts as a non-occupied space, which is why the empty space beside it is not considered surrounded.)
After placing your seller, your turn ends. Proceed clockwise taking turns in this fashion until three full rounds have passed and each player has placed all of their sellers.
2. Discard Two Cards
Each player at this point must discard two of their cards face-down.
3. Final Movement Round
Each player should have one card in their hand and no sellers remaining. In clockwise order beginning with the start player, each player reveals his or her final card and moves the dragon accordingly.
Game End & Scoring
The game ends when all players have no cards in their hand and the dragon has reached its final position. (Or upon an Instant Game End, as described above.) Determine which Scoring Case applies, and collect coins as instructed.
Scoring Case 1: A player has a seller on the same space as the dragon.
That seller gains 5 coins (take a large coin valued 5, or 5 small coins valued 1 each). All other sellers that are in the same "chain" of sellers gain 3 coins. (A chain is a group of 1 or more sellers with no empty spaces separating them.) All other sellers in the same city side (red or yellow) as the dragon gain 1 coin. Sellers in the wrong city side never gain any coins.
Scoring Case 2: No player has a seller on the same space as the dragon.
If the Dragon is on the Forbidden City, no sellers gain coins. Otherwise:
All sellers that are in the first chain of sellers to the left and to the right of the dragon gain 3 coins. All other sellers in the same city side (red or yellow) as the dragon gain 1 coin. Sellers in the wrong city side never gain any coins.
Play as many games as there are players, with each player starting once. (At the start of each new game, reset the game as in the SETUP instructions, except that all players keep the coins they have gained.) When all games have been played, the player that has accumulated the greatest value of coins wins!
Game Variant
Play as normal, but complete the DISCARD TWO CARDS phase before the THREE PLACEMENT ROUNDS phase, instead of after it.