Ilôs
Ilôs Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Contents
(A) 90 Action Cards
Action cards present the descriptions and the costs of Actions you can carry out.
Setup: Shuffle the Action cards into a face-down draw deck within reach of all players. Leave enough space next to it for discarded cards.
(B) 5 Screens (1 of Each Color) and 5 Production Boards
Use Screens to hide your stock of Resources from the other players.
Production Boards indicate the Resources produced by each player at the end of that player's turn.
Setup: Each player chooses a screen, and a Production Board. The Production Board is placed in front of the Screen.
(C) For Each Color: 5 Ships and 10 Pioneers
Use Ships to explore new territories, exploit islands, and deal in piracy.
Use Pioneers to put plantations, mines, and buildings (forts and trading posts) into play and to explore Temples. Playing your last Pioneer triggers the end of the game.
Setup: Take the 10 Pioneers and 5 Ships matching your screen's color. Pioneers and Ships constitute your Reserve and are placed where everyone can see them.
(D) The Exchange Rate Chart and 10 Price Increase Markers
Setup: Choose a 1st player and placed the Exchange Rate Chart close to him. Place 8 Price Increase Markers on their spaces on the right side of the Chart (extra markers will be used if you lose any).
The Chart carries one price track per Resource:
| Resource | Price track |
|---|---|
| Pigment | 1 → 2 → 3 → 4 → 5 |
| Spice | 1 → 2 → 3 → 4 → 5 |
| Ebony | 1 → 2 → 3 → 4 → 5 |
| Gold | 2 → 4 → 6 → 8 → 10 |
A Price Increase Marker covers the current price to reveal the next one to its right. You can't cover the last price on a line, so each Resource's price can only be increased four times.
(E) 20 Tiles
Tiles represent the islands of the Ilôs archipelago that you want to explore and exploit.
Setup: Make an exploration draw deck: Shuffle the tiles face down. Stack 4 tiles per player to form a face-down deck. Return the rest to the box without looking at them. Draw the first 3 tiles and put them face up in the exploration area. Draw and reveal a new tile from the exploration deck anytime a tile from the exploration area is played.
(F) 152 Resource Tokens (Ebony, Spices, Pigments, and Gold) and 10 Building Tokens
Each Resource comes in tokens of value 5 and value 10.
Setup: Place all tokens in a Reserve within reach of all players.
Goal of the Game
Your goal is to become the richest player. In order to do that, you need to collect Resources; but their trade values change during the game. At the end of the game, each Resource earns you as many points as its value on the Exchange Rate Chart.
First Islands (G)
Turn order is clockwise.
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Each player draws 5 cards (A) into hand and secretly looks at them.
Note: At the start of the game, if your are dissatisfied with your hand, you may discard any number of cards one time and draw back up to 5 cards.
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Whoever has been chosen as 1st player starts.
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Explore Ilôs' first islands: The 1st player chooses a tile from the exploration area, places it at the center of the table, and puts a Ship on one of its shores. Draw the first tile from the draw pile and put it in the exploration area. Following turn order, all the players do the same, connecting their tile to at least one of the tiles in play so as to enlarge at least one island.
4-player Setup Example:
- Orange is 1st player. He plays a tile and places one of his ships on the shore.
- Green is 2nd. She connects her tile to the first one, and decides to place her ship on the other island's shore.
- Black is 3rd. He connects his tile to the first one, and places his ship on another island's shore.
- Yellow is 4th. She connects her tile to the first and second one, and places her ship on the same island as Orange.
Tile Anatomy
- Special location: Ruins, Construction site, Pirate Hideout
- Island
- Sea
- Coast
- Resource location: Ebony, Pigment, Spice, Gold
Exploration Rule
When playing a tile, a player must apply the following rule:
Expand the islands: You must match at least one of the tile's land sides to the side of a tile already in play. You may connect it to more than one tile if all matches are valid. You must always make sure the whole picture fits. For example, you may not connect a sea-only side to an island.
Lexicon
Islands: Connected portions of islands make up an island. An island can be an isolated portion (on a single tile without any adjacent tiles), or extend over several tiles if multiple island portions are connected. A Ship that is on a shore has access to the whole island, no matter how many tiles it spans.
Ship: You may not build on an island to which none of your Ships are anchored (see Description of Action cards). A single Ship allows you to build on the whole island, no matter how many tiles it spans. Ships on the map also allow you to draw extra cards.
Piracy: A Ship you place on a Pirate Hideout is dedicated to piracy, and it no longer allows you to draw extra cards. The Ship's piracy affects the entirety of each island on its tile. If any opponents' pirate ships afflict an island, when you play a card to take an action on that island, you must pay the higher "piracy cost" instead of the normal cost… unless you have built a fort on the island to protect yourself (see Description of Action Cards).
Pioneer: Pioneers represent your Actions on the islands. When you play your 10th Pioneer, you trigger the end of the game. Once played, a Pioneer cannot be moved or removed; you benefit from it for the rest of the game. Locations occupied by Pioneers are no longer available to other players.
Vacant/free location: A location is vacant/free when not occupied by a Pioneer.
Playing the Game
Players take turns playing clockwise starting with the first player.
There are 3 steps to your turn:
1/ Play Actions (Optional)
Your cards represent your Actions. You can play as many Actions as you want and can (you can even opt to play none).
In order to play an Action, first discard the appropriate card and then pay its cost in cards or Resources for the market. Discarded cards are put face up next to the draw pile (see Description of Action cards).
Card Anatomy
- Action
- Cost: Number of cards you need to discard.
- Piracy Cost: Number of cards you need to discard if the island has pirates.
- Condition: Number of Ships you need to have on the island in order to play this action.
- Cost in Resources
- Special effect
2/ Produce Resources
Collect as many Resources from the reserve as you have on your Production Board. Put the collected Resources behind your Screen.
Example: The player collects 2 Gold, 1 Pigment and 1 Spice, and puts them behind his screen.
3/ Draw Cards
There is no limit to the number of cards you can have in hand.
Your Ships and your Forts grant you a draw bonus.
Draw:
- 3 cards
- +1 card per Ship you have in play
- +1 card per Fort you have built
If the draw deck is empty, shuffle the discard pile into a new draw deck.
In the rare case that both the draw deck and discard pile are empty, randomly draw your cards from the hand of the player who has the most cards.
After drawing your cards, it is your left neighbor's turn to play.
Card Quantities
| Card | Quantity |
|---|---|
| Ship | 30x |
| Plantation | 20x |
| Gold mine | 10x |
| Building | 12x |
| Ruins | 6x |
| Market | 12x |
End of the Game
You trigger the end of the game when you play your tenth Pioneer. Finish the round, so all players have played the same number of turns in the game.
All players discard the Resources from their Production Board and reveal the Resources they have in stock. Each Resource is worth its Market price (see the Exchange Rate Chart).
The player with the highest total value wins the game. Ties are won by the player who has played the most Pioneers. If that doesn't break the tie, all tied players are considered to be winners.
Description of Action Cards
Ship
Cost: Discard 1 card
Condition: None
Effect: Add a Ship from your reserve or move one you have in play.
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Land on an island: Either place your Ship on the shore of any island already in play, or put a tile from the exploration area into play and place your Ship on a shore that is on the tile you've just played. You may immediately start building on this island by playing the appropriate card and paying its cost.
Remember: Your Ships anchored at an island each grant you a +1 Card Bonus during the draw phase.
Remember: The newly played tile must match the existing picture. Immediately draw a new tile and put it in the exploration area. When the draw deck is empty, keep using the tiles in the exploration area without replacing them until there are no more.
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Occupy a pirate Hideout: Place your Ship on an available pirate Hideout that is already in play. You cannot put a new tile into play with this Action. This pirate ship will afflict the entirety of all islands on this tile. From now on, other players must pay the Piracy Cost instead of the normal cost when playing Actions on these islands.
Note: You can build a Fort to protect you (and only you) from piracy on that island.
Example: Orange's Pirate only affects islands 1 and 2 because they have part of their shoreline on the same tile as the pirate Hideout. Other players must pay the Piracy Cost if they want to build anything on these islands. Islands 3 and 4 are safe.
Plantation
Cost: Discard 2 cards, 3 if there are Pirates.
Condition: 1 of your ships must be on the island's shore.
Effect: Place 1 Pioneer from your Reserve onto an available Ebony, Spice, or Pigment Resource icon on the island. Put a token of the appropriate Resource on your Production Board.
Gold Mine
Cost: Discard 5 cards, 7 if there are Pirates.
Condition: 2 of your ships must be on the island's shore.
Effect: Place 1 Pioneer from your Reserve onto an available Gold Resource on the island. Put a Gold Resource token on your Production Board.
Building
Cost: Discard 2 cards, 4 if there are Pirates.
Condition: 2 of your ships must be on the island's shore.
Effect: Place a Building token as either a Fort or a Trading Post on an available Construction Site on the island. Place 1 Pioneer from your Reserve onto the constructed Building.
- Fort: The Fort protects you against Pirates on this island. You no longer pay the Piracy Cost on this island. Your Forts each grant you a +1 card Bonus during the draw phase.
- Trading Post: The Trading Post enables you to copy one Resource (Ebony, Spice, or Pigment, but not Gold) from a Plantation on the same island that is already exploited by you or another player. Put a corresponding Resource token on your Trading Post and another on your Production Board.
Ruins
Cost: Discard 7 cards.
Condition: 1 of your ships must be on the island's shore.
Effect: Place 1 Pioneer from your Reserve onto the Ruins of a lost civilization. Immediately take 3 Gold tokens and put them behind your Screen. The Ruins do not provide any Resources at the end of each turn so you put nothing on your Production Board.
Market
Cost: Discard 1 Resource of your choice
Condition: You can play no more than one Market card per turn.
Effect: Increase the price of the discarded Resource, covering the old price with a Price Increase Marker. There are only 8 Price Increase Markers, so the Market action can only be played 8 times during the game. After the 8 increases have been played, the Market action is no longer available. It can still be discarded to pay the cost of another Action. You can't cover the last price on a line, so you can increase a Resource's price only four time.
Example: Price of Spice has increased to 2.
Credits
- Game designer: Frédéric Guérard
- Arts: Paul Mafayon
- Publishers: La Boite de Jeu & Origames
- Project manager: Benoit Bannier & Rodolphe Gilbart
- Art director: Igor Polouchine
- Rules & design: Guillaume Gille-Naves
- Packager: Origames
- Translation: Nathan Morse
Published by La Boite de jeu, 8 grande rue - 21310 Belleneuve France, and Origames, 52 avenue Pierre Sémard 94200 Ivry sur Seine. ©2017 La Boite de Jeu. ©2017 Origames.