Ofrendados, the road to Mictlán Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Objective
• Setup
• Overview
• The Round
• The Round in Detail
  • 1) Start the fun
  • 2) Let the draft begin!
  • 3) Time to get creative
  • 4) Do I get my Calaverita?
  • 5) The night advances (end of the round)
• End of the Game
• Scoring

Components

• 1 central board (the Path / Camino)
• 100 offering sheets (hojas de ofrenda)
• 4 yellow dice
• 4 orange dice
• 4 purple dice
• 30 market cards (Calaveritas)
• 84 flower tokens (21 flowers per player)
• 4 pencils
• 1 round marker
• 4 reference sheets

Objective

Build the most beautiful offering and lay a path of flowers from Mictlán to it, connecting it with your loved one, and score the most points.

Setup

1. Place the Path (central board) and the dice in the middle of the table, according to the number of players:
   • 2-3 players: 3 dice of each colour
   • 4 players: 4 dice of each colour
2. Each player takes an offering sheet, the flower tokens of their chosen colour, 1 pencil, and 1 reference card.
3. Shuffle the Calaveritas cards and place them in the middle.
4. Identify the first player: the player who most recently ate pan de muerto.

Overview

The game is played over 5 rounds, during the night of the Day of the Dead. In each round the players roll the dice and, based on the results, decide whether to draw elements on their offering or advance along the flower path. Afterwards they move on to the Calaveritas purchase phase to gain bonuses.

The Round

The simplified sequence of play is as follows:

1. Start the fun. Open 3 Calaveritas. If you are the active player, roll the dice and separate them by colour.
2. Let the draft begin! Choose your dice and build the path to victory. Will it be a drawing, a flower or money?
3. Time to get creative. Draw in your offering, or advance and colour the path with your flower items.
4. Do I get my Calaverita? Buy Calaveritas and gain bonuses.
5. The night advances. Move the round marker.

The Round in Detail

1) Start the fun

Open the 3 Calaveritas and place them where everyone can see them.

The starting player rolls all the dice. Afterwards, they separate them by colour and place each one on its corresponding figure on the central board. According to its colour and number, each die corresponds to an object to draw on the offering, a flower for the Path, or money.

2) Let the draft begin!

The competition to choose the best die for your game begins. The purple dice are for general use, so the players select from the orange and yellow dice the ones that best suit their strategy, in the following order:

• Starting with the first player and going clockwise, each player selects one die (orange or yellow). When the last player has chosen, the selection is repeated in reverse. That is, the last player takes a new die, and so on until the starting player is reached.
• In 2-player games, the process is repeated, and the selection goes around a third time, clockwise.

3) Time to get creative

Starting from the dice you have selected, and adding the purple dice:

A - Draw in your offering. Draw the elements you have selected. The different elements in your offering score at the end of the game according to their position or quantity (see Scoring). Use the reference card to make the best decisions.

You may place the elements in any order and position you like in your offering, as long as each object has a base. That is, you cannot place objects floating; they must rest on another object.

B - Advance on the flower path. On the central board you must guide the spirit of your loved one from Mictlán to the land of the living by building a path of flowers. For this you will use the 3 types of Cempasúchil flower (A, B and C).

Placing your flowers on the path: When you choose a flower from the dice, place one of your tokens on the central board, on the nearest flower of the selected type (skipping over flowers of other types that lie between your previous token and the new one). If you have more than one flower in the round, you may choose the order in which you place your tokens.

Some flowers also have bonuses that can be exchanged in the same round. Think carefully about which flower to start with, whether to maximise your advance or to gain more rewards.

• * Stepping on flower A also gives you 1 candle (velita) for your offering.

Example: Player A obtained, from their dice, 1 flower A, 1 flower B and 1 flower C.

• Scenario 1: The player placed the pieces in the order A, B and C, reaching the third flower on the path and also gaining one peso.
• Scenario 2: The player placed the pieces in the order C, A and B, reaching the seventh flower on the path and also gaining 1 candle for their offering.
• Scenario 3: The player placed the pieces in the order C, B and A, reaching the ninth flower on the path. In this case they did not get a bonus.

Reaching the land of the living: Regardless of your strategy, to be able to score at the end of the game, the most important thing is to build a path of flowers that connects your loved one with your offering. That is, you must have at least 1 flower in the land of the living (on the flowers on a white background, crossing the head of Quetzalcóatl).

C - Collect money. Mark on the central board the dice exchanged for money. This can help you buy Calaveritas in the next action. At the end of the game, the money you have saved will help you add points (see Scoring).

4) Do I get my Calaverita?

In the market you can buy Calaveritas cards with the money you collect from your dice in the current round or in previous rounds. Calaveritas are cards with effects that help improve your score. They may have immediate effects or effects for future turns, depending on their colour:

• Orange: immediate effects (advantages on your offering or advancement on the path)
• Purple: modify what you have already drawn on your offering, or your dice selection in later rounds
• Pink: cards that score for the offerings of your neighbours

Buying Calaveritas: The first player takes the first purchase, and the turn passes clockwise. If a player takes one of the three Calaveritas in the market, they reveal a new card, so that all players always have a choice among three Calaveritas. All cards not used in the round are discarded.

Note from the publisher: every Calaverita comes with a literary calaverita that describes the card's effect and sets the scene for the Day of the Dead. The publisher suggests reading them before starting the draft round.

5) The night advances (end of the round)

At the end of the round, move the round marker to the next position. The role of first player now passes to the next player.

End of the Game

The game ends together with the night of the Day of the Dead, when the candles have gone out and the spirits have returned to Mictlán. After the fifth round of play, all players count their points with the help of their offering sheet.

Scoring

Each player who has reached the crossing to the land of the living by the flower path scores according to four elements: the Path, the Offering, the Calaveritas and the saved Money.

Use your offering sheet to do the count. Follow the numbers and the arrows.

(The scoring diagram on the sheet is pictorial; the numbered steps below follow it.)

1. The Path. The Path scores points for the quantity and the majority of flowers of each type. If you reach the end of the route, you get an extra bonus of 10 points.

   1. 1.1. Count the total of each of your flowers and write them on your offering sheet.
   2. 1.2. Place the sum of the flowers on the head of Quetzalcóatl.
   3. 1.3. For each type of flower, add the points you obtained for majority: 10 points for first place, 6 points for second and 2 points for third.

2. The Offering. The elements of the offering score by position or by quantity. In addition, if you completed any row of the offering, you get extra points.

   1. 2.1. Write the points for each element on your offering sheet.
   2. 2.2. Add up the points obtained and write the total on the Calaverita on the first step of the offering.

   By position:

   • The candle gives you 1 point for each piece of papel picado or candle that surrounds it (orthogonally).
   • The papel picado gives you 2 points for each element that is beneath it.
   • The pan de muerto gives you 1 point for each element that is beside it (continuously) and beneath it.

   By quantity:

   • Food: points per set.
   • Portrait: each portrait gives you 5 points. Portraits may only be placed starting from the 4th row.
   • Calaverita: points by majority. Whoever has the most Calaveritas takes 10 points, second place 6 points and last place 2 points. In case of a tie, the points are divided.

Add up all the points and that is it. The player with the highest score wins. In case of a tie, the player who has left fewer empty spaces in their offering wins.