Hippocrates
Hippocrates Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 1 Game Board
- 30 Doctors (5 from each of the 6 regions: Macedonia, Alexandria, Carthage, Greece, Persia, Cyrene)
- 6 Welcome Dice
- 90 Medicine Vials (30 Potions, 30 Herbs, 30 Unguents)
- 72 Patients (12 from each of the 6 regions: Macedonia, Alexandria, Carthage, Greece, Persia, Cyrene)
- 30 Knowledge Tiles
- 60 Drachma Coins
- 12 Assistant Tokens (4 of each of the 3 types)
- 30 Medicine Kits
- 4 Player Boards*
- 4 Basic Doctors*
- 4 Welcome Pawns*
- 4 Option Tokens*
- 4 Reputation Markers*
- 4 Victory Point (VP) Markers*
*1 in each of the 4 player colors
Setup
Game Setup
- Lay out the game board in the middle of the table.
- Separate the doctors by region and shuffle each group separately to form 6 stacks of 5 doctors each. Place each stack facedown in a regional recruitment zone. Place them in the following order from left to right: a. Macedonia, b. Carthage, c. Persia, d. Alexandria, e. Greece, f. Cyrene.
- Draw 1 doctor from each stack and randomly place 1 doctor faceup in each of the 4 region-free doctor spaces on the top of the game board. Shuffle and place the remaining 2 extra doctors facedown in a stack next to the board.
- Separate the patients by region and shuffle each group separately to form 6 stacks of 12 patients each. Place each regional patient stack faceup at the bottom of the queue that matches the doctor's region in the recruitment zone above.
- Fill each queue with the first 3 patients of that region's stack, placing them faceup, one in each empty space.
- Shuffle the medicine kits and place a stack of 4 kits facedown on each of the 6 dedicated spaces. Flip the topmost medicine kit faceup on top of the stack. Return the 6 leftover tiles to the box.
- Shuffle the knowledge tiles and place a stack of 4 knowledge tiles faceup on each of the 6 dedicated spaces. Return the 6 leftover tiles to the box.
- The medicine vials and drachmas are placed on the board in the general supply.
Note: Components are not considered limited, so if you run out, use a suitable substitute.
The board also contains the Examination Room, the Emergency Room and the Hall of Hades (on the player boards).
Player Setup
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A. Each player chooses a color and takes the corresponding components: a player board, a basic doctor, an option token, a reputation marker, a welcome marker, and a victory point marker.
For Games with Fewer than 4 Players: Return leftover player boards, basic doctors, option tokens, VP markers of non-player colors (except in the solo game), and assistant tokens to the box.
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B. Put your player board on the table in front of you.
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C. Place your basic doctor and your option token beside your board.
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D. Take 1 of each type of assistant token and place them next to your player board. Choose 1 assistant token to place on your player board; it is now ready for use. Place the remaining two assistants above your board.
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E. Take 6 drachmas and place them next to your player board.
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F. Take 1 medicine vial of each of the 3 kinds and place them next to your player board.
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G. Place your victory point marker on space 0 of the victory point track.
For Solo Games: Add all 3 non-player VP markers to space 0 of the VP track.
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H. Randomly place all players' welcome markers from left to right on the top row of the welcome track.
For Games with Fewer than 4 Players: Place all of the non-player welcome markers randomly after the randomized player markers.
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I. The first player places their reputation marker on the starting space of the reputation track. The second, third, and fourth player place their reputation markers on top of the starting player's marker, in player order. This is the reputation track order. If 2 or more players are on the same space of the reputation track, the player on top is considered further ahead.
For Games with Fewer than 4 Players: Place a non-player reputation marker on each space marked with the 3-player symbol if playing with 3 players, the 2-player symbol if playing with 2 players, or the solo symbol if playing solo.
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J. Give the 6 dice to the first player.
Welcome Track: The order of the welcome markers on the welcome track from left to right is the welcome track order.
Game Overview
Following in the footsteps of Hippocrates, players will navigate the world of ancient medicine with a little bit of science and diagnostic knowledge to guide their practice. The game lasts 4 rounds and in each round players need to balance the treatment of patients with the cost of buying medicine and recruiting doctors. Efficiently healing the sick will bring great repute and success to you and your medical team.
Gameplay
In all 4 rounds, players will perform actions in each of the following 5 phases:
- Welcome. Receive 3 new patients over 3 turns.
- Payment. Pay your doctors.
- Recruitment. Hire new doctors and purchase medicine.
- Treatment. Treat your patients.
- Score. Gain reputation and victory points.
1. Welcome (ἔρρωσθε/erosthe)
The reputation of Hippocrates and his protégé is renowned. Patients have arrived at the temple of Asclepios from around the western world to receive the best medical care available. The queues are long and doctors are few, so they have prepared offerings to increase the likelihood they'll be chosen for treatment.
Each player will take 3 turns during the welcome phase.
Perform the following steps each turn:
- A. Roll the Dice (1st player only)
- B. Welcome Patients & Take Assistants
Once all players finished their 3 turns, move on to step C:
- C. Collect the Offerings
A. Roll the Dice
At the start of each set of players' turns, the first player (i.e. the player whose marker is leftmost on the welcome track) rolls the 6 dice and places each one in the space matching both color and number. These dice will remain in place for all players this turn.
Each player then takes a turn to welcome a new patient.
The Patient Tile
- Name of patient.
- Number of patient (Referenced only in games with fewer than 4 players, for non-player turns).
- Offering the patient will make in drachmas.
- Combination of medicine required for treatment.
- VP awarded when healed.
B. Welcome Patients
There are two welcome track rows. The top, passive row, where your marker is standing before you welcome a new patient and the lower, active row, where you move your welcome marker to welcome a patient each turn.
In the welcome track order (going left to right, on the top row), players now each take a turn to welcome patients.
Note: The welcome track order may change with each turn of this phase.
Move your welcome marker from the passive row to an empty space in the active row and take a patient from that column's queue. You cannot choose the same space as another player, only you will take a patient from this column this turn.
You may only take the patient in that column that is located next to a die, unless you use an assistant token (see Assistants). Take and place that patient in the examination room of your player board.
Gain or lose any medicine, drachmas, reputation and VP as indicated below the space from which you took the patient. Also take any bribes present on the patient tile. You do not yet gain the drachmas offered by the patient. The die remains on the board, unchanged.
In some turns it is possible the spot next to the die will be empty. You may still choose this region and space, but instead of taking a patient tile you gain the bonus (drachmas/assistants) depicted in the empty space. You do NOT gain/lose the normal rewards as when taking a patient. You may use an assistant token (see Assistants) to move a die to welcome a patient as normal.
Note: If you cannot afford to pay the full amount of reputation or drachmas you cannot take that patient tile.
For Games with Fewer than 4 Players: When a non-player marker is next on the welcome track, identify the highest-numbered patient that is next to a die, in an empty column. Move the non-player marker to this column. Discard the patient back to the box. If there are any bribes on the patient (rounds 2-4), return the drachmas to the supply. The non-players do not take any medicine, VP, or drachmas, but will gain or lose reputation as indicated below the space where they removed the patient. If there is no available column with a patient next to a die, then the non-player marker is placed in the leftmost available column of the active row and their turn is over.
For Solo Games: In addition to losing or gaining reputation as indicated below the space where they removed the patient, the non-players will gain VP as indicated, if placed in column 1. The non-players also immediately score the VP that is depicted on the removed patient. We suggest that instead of discarding the patients and scoring immediately, to instead store the non-player's patients next to the unused option token of the corresponding color, and adding up all their points at the end of the round to score rather than scoring several times per round.
Assistants
After placing your welcome marker and taking your action in columns 2, 4, or 6, place the matching assistant token on your player board.
During your own future turns of the welcome phase, you are allowed to use that assistant token to affect which patient you may take in your chosen column. Any time you use a token it is returned above your player board and can be claimed again when you choose the appropriate column.
- The travelling assistant allows you to move a die from another region to your chosen column, while maintaining the die value.
- The charitable assistant allows you to move a die vertically within your chosen region to any die value. Leave the die at the current value, there's no need to change the value of the die.
- The scheduling assistant allows you to take the patient on top of the stack of the same region instead of the one next to the die. You still gain the items depicted below the space where the chosen die is currently located.
You may spend an assistant to move a die to an empty spot, so you may take drachmas instead of a patient, but you may not spend an assistant to move a die, simply to obstruct another player's options. The movement must benefit you directly.
Players may use multiple assistant tokens during one turn. You may use and then regain the same type of assistant token during the same turn.
Assistant tokens may also be spent whenever you need to pay medicine or drachmas. An assistant token counts as 1 medicine of the same color or 2 drachmas, this may only be done at the time of payment, not as a free exchange.
Example: Lydia welcomed a patient from column 4 on her last turn and so claimed a charitable assistant. Now Lydia wants to welcome a patient in column 1, but the die for that region is on an empty spot (1). Lydia moves her welcome marker to the active row in column 1 (2), spends her charitable assistant (3) and moves the die to the patient at the top of the queue (4). She takes the patient and gains 1 VP and 1 Reputation.
Once all markers have moved from the passive row to the active, move them back up to the passive row, maintaining the new left to right order. Now they are ready for the next turn. Players will take 2 more turns, beginning with the first player rolling the dice.
Note: Do not refill the queue of patients between turns, this is only done at the start of rounds 2 to 4.
After all players have taken 3 turns in this phase, move on to step C.
C. Collect the Offerings
Take the indicated drachmas from the bank as shown on each of the new patients in your examination room.
2. Payment (Μισθοδοσία/misthodosia)
Doctors under your supervision do not work for free; you must pay to keep them in your employ. If you let your reputation slip, you'll have to pay your doctors more to hold on to their services.
Each doctor you employ (those on the table in front of you, including the basic doctor) needs to be paid wages or they will leave. The amount you must pay depends on your position on the reputation track, each section of which shows a corresponding number of drachmas. The amount shown above the section where your reputation marker is determines the amount to be paid to each doctor in your employ.
If you do not have enough money, or choose not to pay, discard each doctor to whom you did not pay wages. You don't earn any points from a discarded doctor, even if they have already fulfilled some of their contracts. Discard any patients only associated with that doctor (see Phase 4. Treatment), their points have already been scored.
The Doctor Tile
- Name of the doctor.
- Identification number (Referenced only in games with fewer than 4 players, for non-player turns).
- Cost in drachmas to initially hire the doctor.
- The medicine the doctor is able to administer.
- Contracts. If the space shows medicine, it indicates 1 contract. The doctor will need to fulfill all contracts to score. Doctors have between 1-3 contracts. In this example, Leandros has two contracts that need fulfilling.
- Victory Points earned once the doctor has fulfilled all contracts.
3. Recruitment (Στελέχωσις/stelehosis)
With an influx of patients to the temple, you will need to hire new doctors to help with the workload. Hiring a doctor and shopping for a medicine kit at the same time can be an efficient way to yield some good bonuses.
Each recruitment phase offers you two chances to hire new doctors, after which the recruitment zone is reset for the following round. Perform the following steps:
- A. Option a Region-Free Doctor
- B. Hire New Doctors & Purchase Medicine Kits
- C. Reset the Recruitment Zone
A. Option a Region-Free Doctor
Based on the reputation track order, players take turns choosing whether or not they wish to take an option on a region-free doctor. These are the faceup doctors at the top of the board. Optioning now reserves this doctor for you to hire during your turn in step B. If you decide to reserve one of these doctors, pay 2 drachmas to the bank and then place your option token on the available (un-optioned) doctor of your choice.
Note: The reputation track order is determined right to left. Whoever is further to the right is considered ahead. If more than one marker is on the same space, the one on top is considered ahead.
Note: If you are at either end of the track, you can't move further in that direction (nor up a stack).
Only 1 option token may be on each tile. Should you end up hiring this doctor, your 2 drachmas will be deducted from the hiring cost. If you decide not to buy the optioned doctor, they will be lost. Continue in reputation track order until all players have had the opportunity to reserve a doctor.
For Games with Fewer than 4 Players: When a non-player marker is next on the reputation track, one of the region-free doctors is optioned, if any are still unclaimed. No option marker is used; instead, simply return the unoptioned doctor with the highest number to the box.
For Solo Games: A non-player immediately scores 1 VP for each contract on the doctor that they removed.
B. Hire New Doctors & Purchase Medicine Kits
Turn the top tile faceup in each of the regional doctors' stacks. Based again on the reputation track order, players can choose one of the following options:
- a. Hire a Regional Doctor
- b. Purchase a Medicine Kit
- c. Buy a Bundle
- d. Pass
a. Hire a Regional Doctor. To hire a regional doctor, choose an available doctor (one that is faceup in a column with a faceup medicine kit) in the regional recruitment zone. Pay the hiring cost to the bank and then take the doctor into your supply. Doctors are placed faceup in front of you. They are now ready to treat patients.
For Games with Fewer than 4 Players: On a non-player turn, return the highest-numbered doctor available in the regional recruitment zone to the box.
For Solo Games: A non-player immediately scores 1 VP for each contract on the doctor that they removed.
b. Purchase a Medicine Kit. To purchase an available medicine kit, one that is faceup in a column with a faceup regional doctor, pay its cost to the bank. Take the corresponding medicine vials into your personal supply and discard the medicine tile.
Note: You may not take a doctor in a column where the medicine kit has already been claimed and likewise you may not take a medicine kit in a column where the doctor has already been claimed.
c. Buy a Bundle. You can purchase an available doctor and a medicine kit simultaneously if they are in the same region. Doing so also gives you a knowledge tile as a reward. Choose a region and pay the combined cost to hire the doctor and to purchase the medicine kit in that region. Take the doctor and the corresponding medicine vials into your supply and discard the medicine tile. Also take the knowledge tile from that same region, thus completing the bundle.
Knowledge tiles are all 1x use. Some may be saved in hand and used when appropriate, but some must be used immediately if indicated by the lightning symbol. Any tile once used is discarded back to the box. A knowledge tile, of any type, may be saved and discarded in place of any single medicine when treating a patient in phase 4.
Note: If not used immediately, knowledge tiles with the lightning symbol may be kept in your supply, but only for use as substitute medicine when treating a patient. In this case, flip it facedown. Knowledge tiles are further explained on the last page of this rulebook (see Appendix).
d. Pass. You are not required to take an action here and may choose to pass.
Hiring Your Optioned Doctors
After performing action a, b, c, or d, you may also decide whether or not to hire the doctor you optioned earlier. If you wish to do so, pay that doctor's hiring cost to the bank, minus the 2 drachmas that were paid earlier. Take your option token back and place the optioned doctor faceup in your supply. The doctor is now ready to treat patients. If you did not option a doctor earlier, you may not hire a region-free doctor at this time.
C. Reset the Recruitment Zone
Perform the following steps:
- Remove all option tokens remaining on the region-free doctors, if any.
- Shift all of the faceup doctors remaining in the region-free zone to the right to close any gaps.
- Any faceup doctors still present in the regional recruitment zone are moved clockwise, starting from the left, to the rightmost open spot in the region-free doctor zone.
- If there are more regional doctors left faceup than there are spaces in the region-free zone, discard the doctor in the rightmost space of the region-free zone, slide all doctors in the region-free zone to the right and place the next remaining regional doctor in the now open space of the region-free zone.
- Repeat as necessary until all remaining faceup regional doctors are in the region-free zone and all piles in the regional zone are facedown.
- Alternatively, if there are not enough regional doctors to fill all of the spaces in the region-free zone, add doctors from the extra doctors' stack until all of the spaces are full. If there are not enough doctors to fill the region-free zone, there will be fewer than 4 region-free doctors in the following round.
Example: It is the end of phase 3 (Recruitment). There are two doctors left in the region-free zone: Philoxenos and Lacydes. The yellow player chose not to hire Philoxenos, so they reclaim their option token, and Philoxenos moves right, to be next to Lacydes.
Next, Aristophanes (the leftmost doctor in the regional recruitment zone) moves to the rightmost available spot in the region-free zone.
Continue to move the doctors clockwise: Ashkan moves to fill up the last region-free spaces. Since Althaia is still faceup in the recruitment zone, Lacydes will have to be discarded. Discard Lacydes as he is the rightmost doctor. Once removed, slide all other doctors to the right. Finally, Althaia is moved from the recruitment zone to the leftmost spot in the region-free zone. All piles in the regional zone are now facedown.
Example 2: At the end of the round, only 1 doctor remained in the region-free zone, who was then discarded. Only 2 doctors remain faceup in the regional recruitment zone. These are both moved as far as they can, clockwise, into the region-free zone. As there are still 2 empty spaces and no more regional doctors, players add the last doctor from the extra doctors' stack. As there are no more extra doctors, the last region-free space remains empty. There will only be 3 doctors to option next round.
4. Treatment (Θεραπεία/therapeia)
Patients are waiting in your examination room to be seen and treated by a doctor. With your careful recruitment you should be able to treat everyone, but if a patient has to wait more than one round for treatment, you may find their condition worsened.
While player order is not important, it may be helpful to treat your patients in turn order for your first few games. Experienced players may treat patients simultaneously.
Each patient needs specific medicine that can only be administered by specific doctors.
Perform the following steps:
A. Match Patients with Doctors
Match a patient from your examination or emergency room with 1 or more doctors that can match the specific medicine they need administered. If a patient's needs are being fully met by one doctor, another doctor cannot be attached to that patient. This means that you may not attach a doctor to a patient simply to fulfill that doctor's contract.
B. Administer Medicine
Add the required dose of medicine to the patient's tile.
If either of these conditions (A and B) cannot be fully met, you cannot treat this patient at this time and they remain on your player board.
Note: Individual medicine vials can be bought or sold at any time. Buying 1 medicine costs 3 drachmas, selling 1 medicine earns 2 drachmas. Remember, assistant tokens can be spent in place of 2 drachmas during a payment. There are visual reminders of this on the assistant tokens and player boards.
Note: A knowledge tile can be substituted for a single vial of any medicine when treating a patient. An assistant token can be substituted for a single vial of the matching color medicine when treating a patient. More than 1 knowledge tile or assistant token may be used at a time.
The doctors and patients obtained this round may be freely arranged and oriented into groups (that is a cluster of doctors and patients). Some groups of doctors and patients may remain from previous rounds (See phase 5. Score); these existing groups may not be reorganized. However, these existing groups may be connected to new patients, doctors and/or other existing groups.
Example: Galen has 2 patients in his examination room. One needs a doctor that can administer potions and unguents, the other needs a doctor that can administer herbs and unguents.
He has a doctor (with a free contract) that can administer potions and unguents, so Galen places the potions/unguents patient on this contract, and adds the required medicine onto the patient's tile from his personal supply.
The other patient will need to be treated by two different doctors as he has one new doctor that can only administer herbs and 1 older doctor that can only administer unguents. He is able to add on to the older doctor this new patient and the doctor that can administer herbs can be placed freely on the other side of the patient. Galen then fills up the patient tile with the amount of medicine required from his personal supply.
5. Score (Βαθμολόγησις/vathmologesis)
If left untreated, patients' conditions may turn into emergencies and if these are left for too long the patients will die, bringing dishonor to your hospital. However, well-treated patients will spread news of your skills across the land, bringing you and your team much repute in the world of medicine!
All players simultaneously perform the following steps in order:
- A. Move your Patients
- B. Earn Reputation
- C. Discharge Patients
- D. Retire Doctors
A. Move your Patients
If there are patients left in your emergency room, they have not been treated and enter the afterlife. Place all untreated patients in your emergency room facedown on the bottom section of your player board. They are doomed to wander the halls of Hades until the end of the game.
The conditions of any patients left in your examination room worsen and they are moved to your emergency room.
B. Earn Reputation
In reputation track order, count the number of patients you treated this round, (those still faceup next to doctors) and gain that many reputation points.
C. Discharge Patients
For each patient treated this turn, earn the VP shown on their tile and return their medicine to the supply.
Discharge the patient by flipping their tile facedown. It will no longer be counted or scored, but the patient tile itself remains attached to the doctor(s) to indicate that 1 of that doctor's contracts has been fulfilled.
D. Retire Doctors
For each doctor that has a tile attached to all of their contract spaces, score the VP shown on their tile and then retire that doctor by returning the tile to the box. Any patients now no longer attached to a doctor are also returned to the box.
Example: Philoxenos filled all his contract spaces, so Athena now scores the VP on the tile and that doctor tile is discarded. Tedros and Oribase doctor still have outstanding contract spaces that need to be filled, so those doctors remain.
E. Add Bribes & Refill the Queues
Place 1 drachma on each patient's tile remaining in the queue. This is to bribe players to take these previously unclaimed patients. Then fill the empty spaces in each queue with new patients from the top of the column's corresponding stack. Finally, discard any leftover faceup medicine kits and flip each topmost tile faceup.
Game End
The game ends after 4 rounds.
You may treat any patient(s) remaining in your emergency room without the use of a doctor, to the extent you still have available medicine. You do not score VP for these self-treated patients and they are returned to the box. For each untreated patient now remaining in your emergency room you lose 1 VP.
You lose 3 VP for each patient wandering the halls of Hades on the bottom of your player board.
The player with the most VP has truly lived up to the teachings of Hippocrates and is declared the victor! In case of a tie, whoever is furthest ahead (right) on the reputation track, wins.
For Solo Games: Your placement is based on the VP markers of the non-player colors. Compare your score to these markers. Will you come in last? Third? Only if you pass them all can you declare yourself the victor! Tip: if you want to make it more challenging, add 2 VP to a non-player every time they take a patient from a column with an assistant (2, 4, 6).
Appendix
Iconography
GENERAL RULE: Black numbers indicate you gain something. Example: you gain 3 VP. Red numbers indicate you lose something. Example: you lose 3 VP.
Note: the rulebook's icon column is purely pictorial; the "Icon" descriptions below are short verbal identifications of the printed symbols, while the meanings are the rulebook's own wording.
| Icon | Meaning |
|---|---|
| VP token | Gain the indicated amount of VP (victory points). |
| Drachma coin | Gain the indicated amount of drachmas. |
| Reputation column | Gain the indicated amount of reputation. |
| Blue vial | Gain the indicated amount of potions. |
| Green vial | Gain the indicated amount of herbs. |
| Purple vial | Gain the indicated amount of unguents. |
| Sunburst medallion | Region of Macedonia. |
| Figure medallion | Region of Carthage. |
| Winged figure medallion | Region of Persia. |
| Ankh medallion | Region of Alexandria. |
| Owl medallion | Region of Greece. |
| Silphium medallion | Region of Cyrene. |
| Open book | Knowledge tile. |
Knowledge Tiles
Knowledge tiles are all 1x use. Some may be saved in hand and used when appropriate, but some must be used immediately if indicated by the lightning symbol. Any tile once used is discarded back to the box. A knowledge tile of any type may be saved and discarded in place of any single medicine when treating a patient in phase 4.
- Patient knowledge tiles. These knowledge tiles are patients that you can treat as other patients, however they are not stored on your player board. They will never enter your emergency room, and they will not give you negative points if left untreated at the end of the game.
- Doctor knowledge tiles. These knowledge tiles are doctors that can be held in hand and used when appropriate. They do not need to be paid wages. They will be discarded after they have been used.
- Double offering. At the end of phase 1 (Welcome), when you collect the offerings from your patients, you may double the amount of drachmas you receive from 1 patient of the indicated region.
- Macedonia. When you welcome a patient from Macedonia, you gain 2 VP and 2 Reputation.
- Carthage. When you welcome a patient from Carthage, you gain 3 potions.
- Persia. When you welcome a patient from Persia, you gain 7 drachmas.
- Alexandria. When you welcome a patient from Alexandria, you gain 3 herbs.
- Greece. When you welcome a patient from Greece, you gain 4 reputation.
- Cyrene. When you welcome a patient from Cyrene, you gain 3 unguents.
- Immediate bonus. You immediately gain the indicated bonus (reputation, medicine, drachmas).
Credits
- GAME DESIGN: Alain Orban
- ARTWORK: Laura Bevon
- PROJECT MANAGER: Rudy Seuntjens
- GAME DEVELOPMENT: Seb Van Deun
- ART DIRECTION: Rafaël Theunis
- INSERT DESIGN: Meeplemaker
- EDITOR: Amanda Erven (with special thanks to the Επιτραπαιζουμε Board Games Community)
- PROOFREADERS: Ori Avtalion, Dave Moser, Christine Gijbels
- QUALITY CONTROL: Eefje Gielis
- LOGISTICS: Wim Goossens
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