Neotopia Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Components
• Game Setup
• Player's Turn
  • Placement rules
  • Gaining Bonuses
  • Empty Factories
  • Building a Project card (and scoring it)
  • End of the turn
• Turn Example
• End Game
  • Element Tokens limit
• Final Scoring
  • Final Scoring example for the Blue player
• Player Aid
• Bonus Tokens
  • General rules
  • The four bonuses
• Credits

Introduction

1. Choose the Project you want to build.
2. Gather the various Elements in the right Region.
3. And earn points for each successful project... and clusters of your color.

At the end of the game, the player with the most points wins.

This rulebook covers the rules for 4 players. All exceptions to the rules for a game with 2 or 3 players are marked with the player-count symbol (a meeple with a question mark).

Components

• This rulebook
• Element tokens in 4 different types:
  • 25 Sustainable Energy (red)
  • 25 BioFarming (green)
  • 25 Technology (purple)
  • 25 Community (blue)
• 1 Game board
• 4 Character Cards (1 per player)
• 12 Production Tiles
• 56 Project Cards
• 1 First Player card
• 12 Scoring Markers (3 per player)
• 4 Action Markers (1 per player)
• 1 Scorepad
• 24 Bonus Tokens (6 of each type)

Game Setup

1. Place the game board in the center of the table.
2. Place all Element Tokens near the board. This will be the Reserve and is where the tokens for the new Production Tiles are taken from as needed.
3. The board has a City which is divided into 3 Regions. Between each two Regions there is a Factory. Place 1 Element token of each color on each Factory space.
4. Each player chooses a color and takes all its corresponding components: the Character card, the 3 Scoring Markers and the Action Marker, placing them in front of them.
5. Players place 1 Scoring marker of their color next to the first space of the scoring track of each Region.
6. Players place the Action Marker above their Character Card.
7. Shuffle all Bonus Tokens face down and randomly place 4 at the indicated places of each Region.
8. With the remaining bonus tiles, make 3 stacks of 4 tiles each and place them on the designated space on each of the 3 Regions.
9. Flip all Bonus Tiles face up including the stacks placed in step 8 (it is not allowed to see all of the bonuses in the pile, only what is on top).
10. The player who most recently dreamed about the future takes the 1st Player Card. This card will stay with this player until the end of the game. Players will play clockwise (so the second player is to the left of the first player and so on...).
11. Shuffle all the Project cards into a face down deck and place it near the board, where all players can reach it. Each player draws 3 cards to form their initial hands. Players should not show these cards to other players at the table.
12. Starting with the first player and going in clockwise order, each player takes an Element token of their color from the reserve and places it in the center of one empty Region OR in a space adjacent to another element previously placed by another player. This may result in some regions starting without any elements placed, which is okay.
13. Draw 4 cards from the top of the deck and place them face up in a line to the right of the draw deck. This is called the "The Offer".
14. Take the Production Tile that depicts the flag on the back and place it face up in the center of the board (between the 3 factories).
15. Shuffle the remaining 11 Production Tiles face up. Place them in a stack in the center of the board, on top of the tile that is already there. Place one Element Token of each type at the top of the pile (4 in total).

2 and 3 player games: In a 2 player game, remove from the game (place it in the box) 3 Production Tiles with the player-count symbol. In a 3 player game, remove from the game (place it in the box) 2 Production Tiles with the player-count symbol.

Player's Turn

The game is played over a set number of rounds based on player count. Starting with the First Player each round and proceeding in clockwise order, players take turns. On your turn, you MUST perform 3 actions. After that, your turn ends and the player to your left may begin their turn. Players will do this until the end of the game. There are 2 types of actions, and you may perform the same action more than once. The 2 possible actions are:

• Draw 1 Project card from the Offer OR from the top of the deck and add it to your hand. There is no limit to the number of cards you may have in your hand. If you draw cards from the Offer, do not replenish it yet.
• Move 1 Element available (any color) from one Factory into an adjacent Region. You CANNOT place an Element from a factory into a region that is not adjacent.

So that you don't lose track of how many actions you've taken on your turn, you may use your Action Marker around your Character Card to track how many actions you have left.

Placement rules

When moving an Element into a Region, it must be placed on an empty space, either in the center (if the region is empty) OR adjacent to at least one previously placed Element Token.

Gaining Bonuses

You may gain Bonus Tokens in 2 ways.

• In a region, when you cover a Bonus Token with an Element, gain that token and place it near your Character Card.
• In a Score Track, when your Score Marker reaches or passes by positions 7, 13 or 18, gain the token on top of the pile of the corresponding Region, if any.

See "Bonus Tokens" below for the effect of each bonus.

Empty Factories

Each time a Factory space is cleared (no more Elements on its space), the Factory produces new Elements immediately.

Move the Elements that are above the Production Tile into the factory that is empty. BEFORE you return that Production tile that was on top of the pile to the game box (it does not go back into the game), turn it over and see which 4 elements are shown. Place these 4 Elements (taken from the reserve) on top of the new Production Tile that is on top of the pile. When the last Production tile is discarded, the end of the game is triggered (see "End Game").

Take from the Reserve the Element Tokens shown on the back. Then place the Production Tile back in the game box.

It is common for a Factory to become empty in the middle of a player's turn. Immediately refill the Factory following the rules described above and continue the player's turn.

Building a Project card (and scoring it)

If, after you have moved Elements into a Region, you fulfill a pattern in that Region equal to a pattern depicted in one of the cards in your hand and it does not match the last card built there (see Diverse City rule below), you can build that card. Place that card in the region you build it, covering the last card built there (if any).

You can rotate the pattern. It does not matter its orientation in the Region, if you respect the shape depicted on the card.

Important: In order to complete a pattern, you must be the player placing at least the last Element that completes that pattern. And you can only complete ONE card with that move.

Diverse City rule: You cannot build a Project card in a region if the last card built there is of the same type (same illustration).

After building a card in a Region, score the points of the card in the Score Track of that same Region, advancing your score marker.

If you go over 20 points on the Score Track, turn your Score Marker to the back side (which shows 20) and place it at the beginning of the track, continuing to score your points.

There are Project Cards (with buildings) that have two possible scores, either 2 or 4 points. If you build a Project Card with a building of your player color, you earn 2 points. If you build a Project Card with a building of another player's color, you earn 4 points.

End of the turn

If there are less than 4 face up cards on the Offer, replenish it with cards taken from the top of the deck until there are again 4 cards available (face up).

Turn Example

It's Blue player's turn. They must perform 3 actions.

1. For the first action, they move the Technology Element token from the Factory into an adjacent Region, covering a space with a Bonus Token (New Building Permits) and takes the token.
2. The Factory was left empty, so it produces new Elements. They immediately move the Elements that are above the Production Tile into the Factory that is empty.
3. BEFORE they return the Production Tile that was on top of the pile to the game box, they turn it upside down and see which 4 Elements are shown and place these 4 Elements on top of the new Production Tile that is on top of the pile. (Discard the used tile to the box.)
4. Because the blue player placed the last Element Token that completed a pattern depicted on one of the cards in their hand, they score that card, advancing their Score Marker 4 spaces on that region.
5. This was their first action.
6. For their second and third action, the player draws 1 card from the Offer and another card from the top of the deck.

But the Blue player still has a Bonus Token in their possession. In this case the New Building Permits Bonus which gives them a FREE ACTION.

7. Although they could save it for a later turn, they decide to use immediately.
8. And that bonus allows them to place an Element at their choice from a Factory into an off map space and, like that, they manage to score another card from their hand. The Blue player ends their turn placing the scored card on that region and by advancing their score marker in that region (and possibly gaining a bonus from the score track).

End Game

The end of the game is triggered when the last Production Tile is turned over (which shows a end of race flag). Place in the center of the Factory (now, without any Production tiles) the 4 Element Tokens shown on the back of the tile. The player can still play till the end of their turn. The other players who still haven't played on that round can still perform their turns, and then a final round is played.

From the moment there are no more Production tiles, and players need to refill a Factory, they refill immediately with 1 Element Token of each type, as depicted on the space on the board reserved for the Production Tiles.

Element Tokens limit

In the rare case that a certain type of tokens is not available in the Reserve, it is NOT replaced by any other. You just don't put that type of token in.

Final Scoring

Before calculating their final score on each Region, each player will gain 1 Point for each Element Token of their color on the biggest cluster of those Elements in each Region.

A cluster is a group of Elements of a certain color adjacent to each other.

Those points are added to the Score Track on the Region where each cluster was evaluated. When you score cluster points on the score tracks you CANNOT win any more Bonus tokens.

Use the enclosed scorepads to calculate each player's score. In each Region, players calculate their final score as follows:

• Add the points of the Region where they have their highest score. In case a player have the same highest score in more than one Region, choose one of the tied Regions to score;
• Add the points of the Region where they have their second highest score. In case a player have the same second highest score in more than one Region, choose one of the tied Regions to score;
• Multiply by 3 the score of the Region where they have their lowest score. In case a player have the same lowest score in more than one Region, choose one of the tied Regions to score;
• Score 3 Points for each Bonus Token that you have in your hand that you did not use.

Add all the points. The player with more points wins the game.

In case of a tie, the tied players check who has the most points earned in the Region where they have their lowest score before applying the multiplier. If there is still a tie, they check who has the most points earned in the Region where they have their second highest score and, if there is still a tie, they check who has the most points earned in the Region where they have their highest score. If the tie remains, play another game to know who is the real entrepreneur!

Final Scoring example for the Blue player

The game has ended, and players proceed to final scoring. The Blue player has scored during the game:

1. 18 Points on the Desert Region
2. 6 Points on the Water Region
3. 15 Points on the Forest Region

And ended up with 2 bonus tokens in their hand (because they didn't use them during the game).

The blue player starts by scoring their biggest cluster on each of the Regions.

4. In Desert Region, their biggest cluster consists of 4 Elements. So they add 4 Points to their score on the Desert Region, making a total 22 Points on that Region.
5. In Water Region their biggest cluster consists of 5 Elements. So they add 5 Points to their score on the Water Region, making a total 11 Points on that Region.
6. In Forest Region their biggest cluster consists of 4 Elements. So they add 4 Points to their score on the Forest Region, making a total 19 Points on that Region.

For their final score: of the 3 Regions that the Blue player scored, the Region where they scored least was the Water Region. So they multiply 11 x 3 for a score of 33. The other scores does not change: 22 and 19. 3 Points for each Bonus Token not used giving them 6 points.

Which gives to the blue player a final score of: 22 + 19 + 33 + 6 = 80.

Player Aid

On your turn, you must perform 3 actions. The 2 possible actions are:

• Draw 1 card from the Offer OR from the top of the deck and add it to your hand.
• Move 1 Element available (any color) from one Factory into an adjacent Region.

Bonus Tokens

General rules

Once you earn a Bonus Token, you may use it immediately at any time during your turn or save it in your hand for later turns. All the bonus are free actions, they don't count towards the limit of 3 actions you must do. But you can only use ONE bonus per turn.

Once used, discard the token to the game box. You cannot use it again. There is no limit to the number of bonus tokens you can have in your hand.

The four bonuses

• Government Subsidy — You can draw two cards from the Offer and/or the pile into your hand.
• Automatization — You can do ONE of the 2 regular actions.
• Private Initiative — You may pick any Element from the reserve and place it in any region, either in the center (if the region is empty) OR adjacent to another Element.
• New Building Permits — You may pick any available Element from a Factory and place it on a free outer space (marked with a semi circle) in an adjacent region. You must place it adjacent to another Element.

Credits

Author: André Santos & Orlando Sá. Illustrator: Tiago Lobo Pimentel. Graphic Designer: Gil d'Orey. English Proofreading: Robert Geistlinger & John Rogers. English Editing: Stevo Torres & Robert Geistlinger.

MEBO Games Lda. — Rua dos Bem Lembrados, 141 - Manique — 2645-471 Alcabideche, Portugal. © MEBO Games 2023. All rights reserved. Published in English by Arcane Wonders.