Gheos Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Components
• Game Terminology
  • Symbols
• Setup
• Gameplay
  • Place a Tile into Play
  • Replace a Tile That Is Already in Play
  • Temple Tiles
  • Start a New Civilization on an Unoccupied Continent
  • Take a Follower of an Existing Civilization
  • Play a Scoring Token (Optional)
  • Draw a New Tile from the Stacks
• Epoch Tiles and Epoch Scoring Rounds
• War
• Migration
• War & Migration
• Game End
• Credits

Game Components

• 60 triangular tiles
  • 8 Epoch tiles
  • 52 landscape tiles
• 12 circular scoring tokens
• 30 followers — small wooden cubes in 6 different colors
• 6 civilization markers — wooden discs in the same 6 colors as the followers
• 54 victory point chips — square markers of varying value used to keep track of player scores

Game Terminology

The game is played using triangular tiles that show sea, shores (a small strip of land along the edge of a tile) and landmasses (a larger chunk of land that connects more than one edge of a tile).

During a game, the tiles will be played from players' hands onto the table and laid adjacent to each other to form the gameboard.

Two shores adjacent to each other form an island.

A collection of adjacent landmasses and/or shores forms a continent. A continent contains at least one landmass and is composed of at least two tiles.

Symbols

• Wheat symbolizes a civilization's food. It is used during migrations and when a civilization is started.
• Cups symbolize a civilization's wealth. They are used in scoring rounds.
• Swords symbolize a civilization's military strength. They are used in wars to determine the winner.
• Pyramids symbolize a civilization's cultural advancement. They are used in Epoch Scoring Rounds.
• Temples symbolize a civilization's devoutness. Each temple is marked with Wheat, Cup, or Swords. (These markings do not count as normal Wheat/Cup/Swords symbols.) Temples score points when played.

Setup

Each player receives three Scoring Tokens. Remove any unused Scoring Tokens from the game.

Gather the victory point chips and place them all in a stockpile within reach of the players.

Place the specially-marked starting tile face-up in the middle of the table. (The starting tile is marked with a red star in the center.) Shuffle all other triangular tiles and put them in several facedown stacks around the table within reach of the players.

Sort the civilization markers and followers by color and set them aside.

Each player draws 2 triangular tiles from any stack they like. If a player draws one or more Epoch tiles in his starting hand, he shuffles them back into the piles and draws new tiles. Repeat this until no one has any Epoch tiles in hand. Players keep the tiles in their hands hidden from the other players.

The player who can refrain longest from laughing starts the game. Players take their turns in clockwise order.

Gameplay

During a player's turn he performs the following actions in this order:

1. Place a tile into play or Replace a tile that is already in play.
2. Start a new civilization on an unoccupied continent or Take a follower of an existing civilization.
3. (optional) Play a scoring token.
4. Draw a new tile from the stacks.

Then his turn is over and play passes to the player on his left.

Place a Tile into Play

Players place a tile by taking a tile from their hand and laying it on the table adjacent to a tile or tiles already in play.

Placing a tile can cause war. War will be explained later on.

Replace a Tile That Is Already in Play

Players replace a tile by removing a tile from the board and laying a tile from their hand in its place. Replaced tiles are removed from the game. Tiles with pyramids may not be replaced once in play.

Replacing a tile can cause war, or migration, or both. War and migration will be explained later on.

Tile Replacement Example Part 1: Remove the tile you are replacing. Tile Replacement Example Part 2: Lay a tile from your hand in the space left by the removed tile.

Temple Tiles

When a player puts a tile with a temple symbol into play, that player scores a number of points equal to the number of times that temple's symbol appears on the continent it is added to. The player only scores points if the temple is part of an occupied continent, after resolving any war or migration. The scoring player takes the appropriate value of victory point chips from the stockpile.

Temple Scoring Example: Eve adds a temple to a continent that is occupied by the yellow civilization. The temple's icon is swords. There are two swords symbols on the temple's continent. Eve scores 2 points, so she takes victory point chips worth 2 from the stockpile.

Start a New Civilization on an Unoccupied Continent

A player may start a new civilization on an unoccupied continent. An unoccupied continent is a continent that does not already have a civilization marker on it.

The player chooses a civilization marker of any remaining color from the supply and places it on the continent. Then the player takes a number of followers of the same color from the supply equal to the number of wheat symbols on the continent.

A player may start a new civilization only once per turn, even if there are multiple unoccupied continents. If all civilization markers are in play, the player cannot start a new civilization.

Civilization markers may only be played onto continents.

Civilization Starting Example: Noah places the red civilization marker on the unoccupied continent and (since there is 1 wheat symbol on the continent) takes 1 red follower. He may not place the civilization marker on the other continent, because it is already occupied by the blue civilization.

Take a Follower of an Existing Civilization

The player takes a follower from the supply and puts it in front of him. Players may only take a follower from colors that have their civilization marker in play. Players cannot choose to take a follower of a color of which there are no followers left in the supply.

Play a Scoring Token (Optional)

A player can score points by playing a scoring token. After scoring, the scoring token is removed from the game. Only the current player scores points when a scoring token is played.

Each follower of a civilization is worth points equal to the number of cups on that civilization's continent. The player adds up the points for each follower in front of him, and takes the equivalent value of victory point chips from the stockpile.

Scoring Token Example: Adam plays a Scoring Token. Adam has these followers in front of him: 2 red and 3 blue. The red civilization has one cup on its continent and is worth 1 point per follower. The blue civilization has two cups on its continent and is worth 2 points per follower. The yellow civilization has three cups on its continent and is worth 3 points per follower. Adam scores 8 points (1 + 1 + 2 + 2 + 2). Note that Adam does not score any points for the valuable yellow civilization, since he does not have any yellow followers. Adam takes victory point chips worth 8 from the stockpile.

Draw a New Tile from the Stacks

At the end of his turn, the player refills his hand to 2 tiles by drawing a tile from the facedown stacks. His turn is over and play passes to the player on the left.

Epoch Tiles and Epoch Scoring Rounds

Whenever a player draws an Epoch tile during the Draw A New Tile phase, he shows it to the other players and sets it aside, face-up near any other Epoch tiles that have been revealed during the game. Then there is an Epoch Scoring Round (see below). Finally, the player draws a replacement tile. If this replacement tile is also an Epoch tile, there is immediately another Epoch Scoring Round, and so forth, until the player draws a normal landscape tile.

During an Epoch Scoring Round, each follower of a civilization is worth a number of points equal to the number of pyramids on that civilization's continent. The players all add up their points for each follower, and each takes the appropriate value of victory point chips from the stockpile.

Epoch Tile Example: An Epoch tile is drawn. The players have these followers in front of them — Adam: blue, red, red. Eve: red, blue. Noah: blue, blue. The red civilization is worth 2 points per follower, because it has two pyramids on its continent. The blue civilization is worth 1 point per follower because it has a single pyramid on its continent. Adam scores 5 points (1 + 2 + 2). Eve scores 3 points (2 + 1). Noah scores 2 points (1 + 1).

War

Whenever two or three occupied continents merge, through the placement or replacement of a tile in play, a war between the involved civilizations occurs. The current player pays for starting a war by losing one follower of the color of his choice and returning it to the supply. If a player has no followers, he may not place or replace a tile in such a way that a war occurs.

The civilization with the most swords on the remaining shores and landmasses of its "old" continent wins the war. Any swords symbols on the new tile (and in the case of a replacement, the replaced tile as well) are not counted toward the number of swords. In the case of a tie for most swords, the current player decides which of the civilizations wins the war.

The losing civilization's marker is removed from the board and returned to the supply. All players lose their followers of that civilization - they are returned to the supply. In the case that three civilizations fought a war, the civilization markers of both losing civilizations are removed from the board, and all players' followers of both losing civilizations are lost.

War Example 1: Adam decides to play a tile from his hand that will merge two occupied continents. The players have these followers in front of them — Adam: blue, red, red, yellow. Eve: yellow, yellow, red, blue. Noah: blue, yellow, red. The placement of this tile results in the red and yellow civilizations occupying the same continent. This triggers war between the two civilizations, so Adam must pay for starting it by losing one of his followers. Adam chooses to lose a yellow follower. The war is then resolved.

The red civilization has one swords symbol on the shores and landmasses of its "old" continent. The yellow civilization has no swords at all. The red civilization wins. The yellow civilization marker is removed from the board. All players lose all of their yellow followers. (Note that since Adam foresaw that yellow would lose the war and that all yellow followers would be lost, he wisely chose to lose his sole yellow follower as payment for starting it.)

War Example 2: Before. In this example there are two continents. One is occupied by the blue civilization, the other by the yellow civilization. Presently, the yellow civilization has two swords symbols and the blue civilization has one swords symbol. Noah is the current player and decides to replace the middle tile with one that merges both continents. Since this causes war, he loses one follower of the color of his choice.

War Example 2: After. After the old tile is replaced, both civilizations have one swords symbol on the remaining shores and landmasses of their "old" continents. (Swords symbols on the replaced tile or the new tile are not counted.) Since this would be a tie, it is up to Noah to decide which civilization should win. Noah chooses the blue civilization as the winner of the war. The yellow civilization marker is removed from the board and returned to the supply. All yellow followers of all players are lost.

Migration

When the replacement of a tile causes an occupied continent to be divided into multiple continents, and/or islands, it causes a migration. The current player pays for starting a migration by losing one follower of the color of his choice and returning it to the supply. If the player does not have any followers, he may not replace a tile in such a way that a migration occurs.

The civilization marker on the split continent must be moved to one of the remaining portions of the original continent. Only continents and islands that still have some part of the original continent in their makeup are considered eligible portions. The migrating civilization marker moves (migrates) to the portion with the most wheat symbols. Wheat symbols on the newly placed tile are counted when determining this.

If there is a tie for most wheat symbols, the current player chooses to which portion the civilization migrates. If a player can choose between moving the civilization to a continent or to an island, he must move it to a continent.

If a civilization marker moves to an island, the civilization becomes too insignificant and is removed from the board and returned to the supply. All players lose their followers of that color - they are returned to the supply.

Migration Example 1: Before. Red currently has a healthy civilization, but Eve is about to let disaster strike... Eve replaces the middle tile with a tile that splits the continent.

Migration Example 1: After. Since this causes a migration, Eve loses a follower of her choice. The red civilization marker is moved to the lower left continent, because it now contains the most wheat symbols.

Migration Example 2: Before. It's Adam's turn and he replaces the middle tile with a tile that breaks up the occupied continent, causing the yellow civilization to migrate. Adam loses a follower of his choice.

Migration Example 2: After. The resulting island and continent each have one wheat symbol on them. (Note that the shore fragment at the top is not an eligible portion, because it has no remaining part of the original continent in its makeup.) Yellow moves to the continent, since a civilization always migrates to a continent when an island and a continent are tied for the most wheat symbols.

War & Migration

In some cases it is possible that the replacement of a tile causes a civilization to migrate to an occupied continent. This causes a war which the migrating civilization automatically loses, regardless of the number of swords symbols on the shores and landmasses of its "old" continent. In this case, the current player loses a follower like normal for causing the migration, but does not lose another follower for triggering the war.

War & Migration Example: Before. In the current situation, the blue and red civilizations occupy different continents. It is Noah's turn, and he is about to replace the center tile...

War & Migration Example: After. The new tile splits the continent that blue occupies. This forces the blue civilization to migrate according to the normal rules, which in this case takes it to the continent on the right. (Since it now has the most wheat symbols.) Noah loses one follower of his choice for causing the migration. Unfortunately for the blue civilization, the red civilization already occupies this continent. War is triggered (Noah does not lose an additional follower), and blue (the migrating civilization) automatically loses the war. Blue is removed from the board and all blue followers of all players are lost.

Game End

The game ends when all players have used all of their scoring tokens, or when a certain number of Epoch tiles (as explained below) have been drawn. (The last Epoch Scoring Round is still carried out in that case.)

• A 2-player game ends when the sixth Epoch tile is drawn.
• A 3-player game ends when the seventh Epoch tile is drawn.
• A 4-player game ends when the eighth Epoch tile is drawn.

Final Scoring Round. At the end of the game, each player scores again for his followers, as if he had played a scoring token.

Each player adds up the value of their victory point chips. The player with the highest total of points wins the game. In the case of a tie for most points, the tied player with the most followers wins the game. In the case of a further tie for most followers, the game ends in a tie.

Credits

Gheos Game Design by René Wiersma

The designer would like to thank the following critical and enthusiastic bunch of people for playtesting the game in its many incarnations, and for reviewing and revising the rules: Bruno de Vries, Franke Scheper, Hotze van der Meulen, Jan Tuitman, Marcel Sagel, Marieke Heling, Matthew Frederick and Seth Jaffee. Also many thanks to Michael Daugherty and the rest of the gang at the Board Game Designers Forum (www.bgdf.com) for the many inspired discussions, and to Josh Cappel and Zev Shlasinger for making this game come alive.

Graphic Design and Illustration by Joshua Cappel. Box Cover Painting by Allan Bednar.

Published by Z-Man Games Inc., 6 Alan Drive, Mahopac, NY 10541.