Nine-minute Kingdom
Nine-minute Kingdom Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Box Contents
- 54 Kingdom Cards
- 17 Edict Cards
- 20 Scoring Cards
- 12 Objective Cards for Solitaire Mode
The Goal of the Game
The goal of the game is to build a Kingdom that will earn you the most points. Players collect points in two ways: by completing the Edicts, and by expanding your Kingdom connecting zones of the same terrain type to create groups of different icons.
Kingdom
During the game, players build their own Kingdoms by playing Kingdom Cards. At the end of the game, all players will have 9 cards in their Kingdom, forming a 3x3 square.
The Kingdom Cards
Each of the Kingdom Cards is divided into 4 sections called "zones". Each zone contains one of four terrain types: mountains, forests, plains, or swamps. Zones are separated by roads (white lines). Zones can also contain an icon representing buildings, locations, or citizens. Adjacent zones of the same terrain type (on the same or different cards) form "territories".
Terrain types: There are four terrain types present on Kingdom Cards: Mountains, Plains, Swamps, Forest.
Symbols: There are eight different symbols on Kingdom Cards: Tavern, Knight, Town, Windmill, Sawmill, Castle, Mine, Church.
The Edict Cards
There are 17 different Edict Cards; they determine the unique scoring conditions that will be active during a game. The "Kingsroad" Edict is always used, and 6 others are drawn at random before the game begins.
Scoring Cards
- A - Number of points
- B - Number of dots is equal to the number of different icon types on this terrain type
- C - Symbols present on this terrain type
Setup
Give each player one Scoring card of each of the 4 colours. Players place these cards in front of them, with the "0" at the top.
Prepare Kingdom Cards. In a 5 player game use all 54 cards. In all other player counts remove 6 Kingdom Cards with 5TH written on them, put them in a box. Shuffle the Kingdom Cards, and deal 10 cards face-down to each player; this will be their starting hand.
Place the "Kingsroad" Edict Card face-up in the middle of the table. Shuffle the remaining Edict Cards and place 6 of them on the table face-up, next to the "Kingsroad" Edict Card. The rest of the Edict Cards will not be used in this game.
How to Play
The game is divided into 9 rounds, during which the players will perform actions simultaneously.
Each round consists of 3 actions, which must be performed in the following order:
- Choose a card from your hand.
- Play the card to extend your Kingdom.
- Pass the remaining cards to the player on your left.
1. Choose a Kingdom Card
Players look at their hand of cards, without showing them to the other players; they choose one card and place it face-down in the space of their choice in their Kingdom. The rest of the cards are placed on the table, face-down.
2. Play the card
When all players have chosen their card, they all reveal them simultaneously and add them to their Kingdoms.
When adding a card to your Kingdom, the following rules must be observed:
- The first card in a Kingdom can be placed anywhere, but every subsequent card must be placed adjacent (side-to-side) to another card that is already part of the Kingdom.
- The cards must form a 3x3 square at the end of the game; no card can be placed in such a way that this becomes impossible.
- Cards can be freely rotated before adding them to the Kingdom, but they cannot be moved or rotated once placed.
- Adjacent cards don't need to be connected by matching terrain zones and/or roads.
3. Pass the remaining cards
When all players have added their card to their Kingdom, they take the remaining cards from their hand and pass them to the player on their left. The cards they receive from the player to their right become their hand for the next round. This means that players will choose from a smaller hand each round, with only 2 cards to choose from in the final round.
The final 9th round
In the final round, players still perform the first two actions (choosing one of the two cards in their hand, and adding it to their Kingdom) but skip the last action; the last remaining unused card is discarded. Once the last card has been played, the game ends and players start the scoring phase.
Scoring
The scoring phase is divided into two steps: the Edict Step and the Kingdom Step.
Edict Step
Players first check for any completed Edict Cards on the table. Each Edict Card is worth 3 points, as shown on the card.
The "Kingsroad" Edict is calculated first. Each player counts the number of dots on their longest connected road; each dot is scored only once, but the road is allowed to cross itself. The player with the longest road is awarded the "Kingsroad" Edict Card. (Example: the longest road in the example Kingdom has 18 dots.)
Next, players determine who will be awarded the remaining 6 Edict Cards in play.
IMPORTANT: If there is a tie between two or more players for an Edict Card, no points are awarded and the Edict Card is discarded. This includes the Kingsroad Edict Card.
Edict Types
- Kingsroad Edict: present in every game. It is awarded to the player with the longest road.
- Edict Cards awarded to the player with the most copies of a given symbol in their Kingdom.
- Edict Cards awarded to the player with the largest territory of a given terrain type in their Kingdom.
- Edict Cards awarded to the player with the largest number of separate territories of a given terrain type in their Kingdom.
Kingdom Step
For each of the four terrain types (mountains, forests, plains, and swamps), players score points for the territory in their Kingdom which contains the largest number of different icon types. The points awarded are indicated on the Scoring Cards; players rotate each card depending on how many different icon types are present. When a player has 5 different icon types in the same territory, the Scoring Card is flipped to show 7 points.
Scoring:
- 2 different icon types in a single territory - 1 point
- 3 different icon types in a single territory - 2 points
- 4 different icon types in a single territory - 4 points
- 5 different icon types in a single territory - 7 points
Example: Player gets 7 points for 5 different symbols on plains, 2 points for 3 different symbols on mountains, 2 points for 3 different symbols on swamps and 1 point for 2 different symbols on forest.
The End of the Game
After all players have calculated their Kingdom points using their Scoring Cards, these points are added to the Edict Card points. The player with the highest score wins. In case of a tie, the player with the longest road in their Kingdom wins. If the score is still a tie, the players share the victory.
Source note: the PDF provided contains no solitaire mode text; the Solitaire Mode Objective Cards are listed in the box contents only.