Go West
Go West Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 4 map boards (across 2 double-sided game boards)
- 98 building cards
- 4 counting house cards
- 24 order cards
- 24 solo cards (for the solo variant)
- 126 building tiles
- 4 vaults, in player colors
- 135 money tiles
- 120 player markers, as small houses in 4 colors
- 1 starting player marker
- 1 $ track board
- 4 drafting boards (double-sided)
- 4 player aids
Setup
Choose one of the map boards according to the number of players:
- 2 players → small map (21 x 21 fields)
- 3 players → medium map (23 x 23 fields)
- 4 players → large map (25 x 25 fields)
You may also choose a different map if you prefer a wider or narrower playing field, giving you more freedom or more confrontation.
Place the map (A) in the middle of the table. Shuffle the order cards (B), form a face-down draw pile, and reserve space for a discard pile next to it.
Shuffle the building cards (C), form a face-down draw pile, and reserve space for a discard pile next to it.
Everyone receives 1 vault (D) and the player markers (E) in one color.
Place one drafting board (F) between each two of you with the "1/3" side face up.
Place the $ track board (G) on the other side of the map, opposite the draw piles.
Place the money tiles next to the playing field by the $ track board (H), and place 1 player marker (I) each on any starting field of the $ track board.
Hand cards
Everyone now receives, face down, three order cards and three building cards each. From these you discard three cards of your choice. Among the discarded cards there must be at least one order card. Now everyone holds exactly three cards in hand. These form your "reserve" and are kept face down.
The reserve lets you have alternatives when playing cards, and lets you save some of them for later.
Your counting house
Everyone receives one random counting house card (light blue back). Whoever received the counting house with the "1" in the upper right corner gets the starting player marker.
Starting with the person holding the starting player marker, everyone now places their counting house tile (blue, 2x2) on the map.
Now, and also later: when building a building, the player places one of their player markers in it to mark whose building it is.
Note the following:
- The counting house may only be built on steppe fields.
- Also, the counting house may not be built within radius 3 of another counting house. The term "radius" is explained in the next section.
Key Game Concepts
Buildings
Every building, order, and counting house card represents exactly one building in Go West. It does not matter what name it carries. So all cards count as buildings, including the apple orchard, the gold panner, the steamboat, or the barbed wire.
There are six different building types, described in detail further below. A building card basically looks like this:
- Name of the building
- Color of the card (here blue)
- Symbol of the building type
- Build bonus or farm symbol
- Terrain type
- Shape of the associated tile
- Function of the building
Every building always has, in addition to a card, a tile of a certain shape and color with which it can be built on the map.
Radius
A building lies within radius X of another building if fewer than X fields lie between the two buildings (also diagonally) — i.e., the building can be "reached" via at most X fields.
It is enough for one field of the building to be within the radius. The building does not have to lie completely within the radius.
Example:
- Within radius 2 of building A is only building B.
- Within radius 3 of building A are buildings B and C.
- Within radius 4 of building A are buildings B, C, and D.
Game Flow
At this point the flow of the game is explained. The next section then covers the building rules in detail when constructing buildings. And after that follows a section in which each building type is explained in detail.
The game is played over 4 rounds.
Sequence of a round
At the start of each round you place a face-down stack of building cards on each of the drafting boards. The number of cards depends on the number of players:
- 4 players – 5 building cards
- 3 players – 6 building cards
- 2 players – 7 building cards
Should the building card draw pile run out, shuffle the discard pile into a new draw pile.
In rounds 1 and 3 you pass the building cards on as shown on the drafting board, clockwise; in rounds 2 and 4, counterclockwise. To do this, simply flip the drafting board to its other side. The small arrows on the drafting board indicate which side must face the center, i.e. the map.
You now play turns until only one building card remains on each drafting board.
Sequence of a turn
Choosing a building card
All of you now simultaneously take the card stack from the drafting board whose arrow points toward you, and choose a building card to add to your hand cards. You place the remaining card stack on the drafting board whose arrow points away from you.
Playing a building card
Starting with the starting player marker, clockwise, all of you now play one card from your hand cards - a building card or an order card. The card is placed face up in front of you. Then you place the associated building tile on the map (see "Building Rules" on p. 6 and "Building Types" from p. 8). Then you mark the $ you have received with your player marker on the $ track board. Every time you thereby reach or pass a 10-$ field, you may place a money tile into your vault.
For the very unlikely case that you cannot play a card, you discard a card instead.
End of a round
If, at the end of the turn, only one building card remains on each drafting board, place it on the discard pile and the round ends.
After rounds 1-3:
- Pass the starting player marker clockwise.
- Only after round 2 – Everyone receives three new order cards each, of which you choose one and add it to your hand cards. Afterward everyone discards one card from their hand.
- Now you may discard as many cards as you like from your hand and draw the same number of new building cards (but no order cards) from the pile.
- Flip the drafting boards to their other side and the next round starts.
After round 4 the game ends.
End of the Game
Once round 4 has ended, you now receive $ for the order cards you have played over the course of the game. Then you empty your vaults and count your money tiles. Each money tile is worth 10 $. Finally, add the $ shown by your player marker on the $ track board.
Whoever has the most $ wins the game. In case of a tie, victory is shared.
Building Rules
Building a building
To build a building, place the card face up in front of you. Then take the corresponding building tile and place it on the map according to the building rules. You may rotate and flip the building tile as you like.
Then place one of your player markers into the recess of the building tile to mark whose building it is.
When building, you must consider:
- Must the building be built adjacent?
- Is the building standing on suitable terrain?
Building adjacently
Buildings must be placed adjacent to a building of your own.
A building is adjacent if it shares a common edge; diagonal does not count here.
Example: Buildings B and E are adjacent to building A. Buildings C and D are not adjacent to building A.
Covered-wagon symbol
An exception are buildings with a covered-wagon symbol; these do not need to be placed adjacent to your own buildings.
Example: The lumberjack has a covered-wagon symbol on the card and therefore does not need to be built adjacent to your own buildings.
Suitable terrain
The fields of the map each show one of four terrain types:
- Steppe
- Forest
- Mountains
- River
Buildings must be built completely on fields with the suitable terrain. The suitable terrain is noted in the center of the card.
Example: The saloon must be built completely on steppe.
Some buildings impose additional requirements when placing. A ✱ symbol next to the suitable terrain indicates this and is explained in the card text.
Example: The apple orchard requires at least one adjacent forest field.
If the number of terrain fields is not specified, one terrain field is enough. Already-built-over terrain fields do not count here. If terrain is built over later, however, this does not affect buildings that already exist.
Building Areas
Building areas are buildings that are adjacent to one another. Even a single building is already a building area.
City-building areas, mine areas, and so on are special building areas made up of buildings of the same building type (regardless of which person owns them).
Your own building areas are your own buildings that are adjacent to one another.
The size of a building area corresponds to the number of building tiles.
Example 1: A city-building area of size 5 (only adjacent city buildings from all players).
Example 2: An own city-building area belonging to the person playing the mint-green color (only adjacent city buildings belonging to that player).
Example 3: An own building area belonging to the person playing the mint-green color (all buildings adjacent to that player's buildings).
Forest Areas
Forest areas are forest fields that are adjacent to one another. Forest areas always keep their original shape and are never made smaller or split by buildings.
Example below: The building does not split the forest area into two forest areas.
Building Types
The color and symbol of the building and order cards shows their building type and helps you easily recognize the building types when choosing cards, when building, and when scoring.
There are 6 types of buildings, now explained in detail:
Lumberjacks (green)
Lumberjacks may only be built on forest fields.
Lumberjacks bring $ depending on their size and position.
Special effect: The entire forest area on which the lumberjack building stands may be built on by the player who owns the lumberjack building as if it were steppe. This applies only to fields on which something is built, and not to adjacent fields (i.e. not for ✱ requirements).
Example: After building the lumberjack, the same person can now also build a house in this forest area, even though the house actually requires steppe.
Mines (gray)
Mines may only be built on mountain fields.
Mines bring $ for covering gold and silver deposits.
Farm buildings (yellow)
Farm buildings must, with few exceptions, be placed on steppe fields.
Farm buildings possess a farm symbol in the upper right corner. Different farm symbols are grouped into sets. These bring $ depending on how large the set is to which they were added.
| # | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $ | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 10 | 12 | 15 |
A set may contain a maximum of 7 different farm symbols. Further or duplicate farm symbols start a new set.
Example 1: Person A has, after building a farm, a set with 4 farm symbols and therefore receives 8 $ for the farm.
Example 2: Person B has, after building a farm, a second set with 3 farm symbols and therefore receives 7 $ for the farm.
Production buildings (red)
Production buildings may only be built on steppe fields.
Production buildings require other types of buildings within their radius in order to generate $. Opposing buildings count here too. A set is one building of each required type.
Example 1: The blacksmith has 3 mines and 1 city building within radius 3. That gives only 1 set and therefore only 5 $.
Example 2: The blacksmith has 3 mines and 2 city buildings within radius 3. That gives 2 sets and therefore 10 $.
City buildings (blue)
City buildings may only be built on steppe fields.
City buildings mostly bring $ depending on the city-building area in which they stand.
With every additional city building, the city-building area becomes larger and stronger. Don't forget that opposing city buildings also count toward the city-building area!
Example: Building bank A creates a larger city-building area that is adjacent to 2 mines.
You may of course also build onto opposing city-building areas, if the other building rules allow it.
Example: The bank can only be built there in scenario B (right), since the bank has no covered-wagon symbol and therefore must still be adjacent to one of its owner's own buildings.
Order cards (beige)
Order cards place a special building on the map. They have more difficult building requirements, but in return offer strategic goals worth many $.
Order cards bring the playing person a new $ condition, which is scored at the end of the game.
Note that many of the order cards refer only to your own buildings.
Example: The canals bring no $ for opposing steamboats that are adjacent to river.
Don't forget: Own building areas consist only of your own buildings (see p. 7).
Two special cases:
- Canals – Three of the building's fields count as river, but cannot be built over by the bridge or the steamboat.
- Bridge – The middle field of the bridge must be built over a river field.
Build Bonus
Production buildings and city buildings have "build bonus" symbols in the upper right corner, which you possess as soon as the building has been built.
When building a building, you generally receive 1 $ for every build-bonus symbol of the same building type in your display as the building you are currently building.
Symbols on buildings that are currently being built do not count for themselves, but only for subsequent buildings.
The idea behind this is that building these buildings improves the life of your settlers. For example, the blacksmith produces the tools for farms and lumberjacks.
You should lay out production buildings and city buildings with build-bonus symbols in front of you so that all build-bonus symbols are clearly visible.
Build-bonus symbols bring no $ for buildings already built.
Example: You have built a bank, an equipment shop, and a bakery. If you now build a mine, you receive three additional $, since you have three build-bonus symbols of this type. For every city building you now build, you receive two additional $.
Team Variant (2 vs 2)
In the team variant, two of you play as a team against two other people.
Your team's buildings count as your own buildings for both team members. This applies to all areas, e.g. building rules, scoring conditions, and also order cards.
The farm symbols, the lumberjack special effect, and the build bonuses of city and production buildings also count for both team members. The team therefore acts as one person.
Setup
Sit diagonally opposite your teammate, so that you are not seated directly one after another in turn order. Otherwise set up the game as with four players.
There is a small change in choosing the three hand cards. Here, as a team, you draw three order cards and six building cards together. Everyone keeps one order card and two building cards as reserve.
Game Flow
- Only after round 2, you draw three new order cards together as a team and each keep one of them. Then everyone discards any one card, to get back to three hand cards.
- After round 1/2/3, you may show your hand cards to each other within the team and jointly decide which cards to discard in order to draw new ones. After discarding, you may also exchange hand cards.
During a round you may not show each other cards from the draft or from your hand. When choosing the card to take and play on your turn, you may not consult within the team.
When placing a building, the teammate may respectfully suggest small improvements.
During the game, each of you takes the points for the buildings you play. At the end of the game, the teammates' points are added together.
Solo Variant
The boldest pioneers set out alone into the unknown.
In the solo variant, your goal is to reach a high score and to build three order cards. If you fail to play all three order cards, the game counts as lost.
Setup
Setup proceeds exactly as in the normal game. Use the special map for solo mode (20 x 20 fields). You may alternatively also use the map for two players (21 x 21 fields) (somewhat easier).
Additionally shuffle the stack of solo cards (black back) and place it face down, ready.
Game Flow
At the start of each of the 4 rounds, you draw a solo card and lay it face up. Take the depicted buildings and build them as one area onto the map. It does not need to be the same configuration as on the solo card. You do not need to build the first building of the area adjacently. Place a player marker of a different player color to indicate that these buildings do not belong to you.
When building, make sure to place mines on mountains, lumberjacks on forest, and other buildings on steppe as usual. If a lumberjack is part of the area, then forest also counts here alternatively as steppe.
Example: You (black) have built the buildings from the solo card "Dr. McDowell" as one area on the map (outlined in purple and red). In doing so you connected the city buildings with your own city and also with the lumberjack, since you have a market and a carpenter's shop in hand.
So there are now buildings belonging to other people on the map, from which you can profit. But they will also hinder you. Each solo card thus has an effect – shown on the right in the text box – that applies for this round and will limit your options and make you rethink, just like real opponents would.
Should you draw a solo card that you already have as an order card, or that you can no longer fit onto the map, then discard the solo card and draw a new one.
Should you draw an order card between round 2 and round 3 that is already laid out as a solo card, then discard the order card and draw a new one.
It can rarely happen that you run out of building tiles in the solo variant. If this happens with a solo card, take a building tile of a different shape of the same type instead. If this happens with one of your building cards, then you can no longer play that card.
Sequence of a round
For the draft, you build 3 stacks in a row each round, with 7, 6, and 5 building cards respectively. On your 1st turn you take the stack of 7 cards, choose a card, then shuffle the stack face down and discard two cards face down. Place the stack (which now has four cards) behind the stack of five cards. Now you play the rest of your turn.
On the next turn you take the stack of six cards and proceed in the same way. After 6 rounds done this way, only one card will remain face down in a stack in front of you. Discard this last card as well.
Evaluating your settlement
3 order cards not built:
- failed
All 3 order cards built and:
- < 100 $: failed
- 100-149 $: poor
- 150-199 $: modest
- 200-249 $: successful
- 250-299 $: prosperous
- ≥ 300 $: flourishing
Reference
Building types: lumberjacks, mines, farm buildings, production buildings, city buildings, order cards.
Terrain types: steppe, mountains, forest, river.
Mines, in the mountains: gold, silver.
Farm symbols: hide, fish, potato, apple, grapes, cattle, spice, salt, coffee, wheat.