The Oracle of Delphi Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Components
• Game Overview
• Setup
  • Setup: Variable Game Board
  • Setup: General Supply
  • Setup: Individual Play Area
• Course of Play
  • 1. Check your Injury Cards
  • 2. Perform actions
  • 3. End your turn by Consulting the Oracle
• Game Components in Detail
  • 1. Zeus Tiles
  • 2. The Oracle
  • 3. Ship Tiles
  • 4. Shields
  • 5. Injury Cards
  • 6. Oracle Cards
  • 7. Shrines
  • 8. Favor Tokens
  • 9. Monsters
  • 10. Gods
  • 11. Companion Cards
  • 12. Equipment Cards
• Actions
  • a) Color-independent actions — can be performed with any Oracle Die
  • b) Color-dependent actions — hinge on the color of the Oracle Die
• End of the Game
• Game Variant: Shortened Game
• Credits

Game Components

• 12 Board Tiles
• 6 City Tiles
• 12 Island Tiles
• 34 Favor Tokens
• 48 Zeus Tiles (incl. Stickers)
• 8 Ship Tiles
• 4 Shields (incl. Stickers)
• 1 Zeus
• 24 Offerings
• 6 Temples
• 24 Monsters
• 18 Statues
• 24 Gods
• 12 Shrines
• 4 Ships
• 6 Oracle Dice
• 1 Titan's Die
• 1 Battle Die
• 42 Injury Cards
• 12 Oracle Cards
• 30 Equipment Cards
• 22 Companion Cards
• 4 Action Overviews
• 4 Player Boards

Game Overview

To win the game, you have to complete all 12 tasks given by Zeus as quickly as possible: build 3 Shrines, collect 3 Offerings and deliver them to their corresponding Temples, raise 3 Statues, and defeat 3 Monsters. The tasks are spread across the islands of the game board; some are even hidden, and will first need to be discovered.

In order to travel and to perform your tasks, you hold 3 Oracle Dice each, which you use for actions on every turn.

The first player to return to Zeus after completing all tasks wins the game.

For your first game, we have compiled and marked recommendations for the first game. These recommendations are not mandatory but facilitate access to the game.

Setup

The setup is divided into 3 parts:

• Variable game board
• General supply
• Individual play area

Setup: Variable Game Board

1. Create a playing area of water and island spaces out of the 12 Board Tiles, so that all water spaces form a single connected water area. Leaving "holes" in between tiles is allowed. These holes are called shallows and cannot be crossed with Ships during the game. Note: The front and back of the tiles are functionally identical. Use whichever side you prefer.

   Recommendation for the first game: We suggest setting up the game board as compact as possible and with a minimal amount of shallows. This reduces complexity and shortens the game. Arrange the 3 Board Tiles with a hole in the center in a triangle, then place the 3 largest Board Tiles, then the next 3 tiles, and finally the last 3 tiles.

2. Place the 6 City Tiles approximately equidistantly around the game board. All water spaces still have to be connected.

3. The central space of the tile showing 6 water spaces marks both the start and destination. Place Zeus on this space. You may only visit this space at the start and the end of the game. Throughout the game, treat it as a shallow.

4. Take as many Offering cubes of each color as players participating in the game. Distribute the Offerings evenly among the 6 respective island spaces, called Offering Islands, so that no color occurs twice on any island.

5. Place the 6 Temples on the 6 Temple Islands.

6. Take as many Monsters of each color as players participating in the game. Place any 2 different Monsters on the 3 marked Monster Islands. Distribute the remaining Monsters evenly among the remaining 6 Monster Islands, so that no color occurs twice on any island.

7. Place the 3 Statues of each color on the respective City Tiles.

8. Shuffle the Island Tiles face down, i.e. with the cloud side up, and place them face down on the island spaces with colored borders.

Setup: General Supply

Place the following game material next to the game board:

1. Shuffle the Oracle Cards and place them face down as a draw pile. Leave some space for a face up discard pile.
2. Shuffle the Injury Cards and place them face down as a draw pile. Leave some space for a face up discard pile.
3. Lay out the Companion Cards as a face up stack. Their order is irrelevant, as the cards will be specifically selected during the game.
4. Shuffle the Equipment Cards and display 6 of them. Place the remaining cards next to the display as a face down draw pile. Leave some space for a face up discard pile.
5. Lay out the Favor Tokens.

Setup: Individual Play Area

Take the individual game pieces in a color of your choice: 1 Ship, 1 Shield, 12 Zeus Tiles, and 1 Player Board. Also take 1 of each God (6 in total), 3 Shrines, 3 Oracle Dice and 1 Action Overview.

1. Place the Player Board in front of you. Leave some space to the left and right for placing cards throughout the game.

2. Randomly determine a starting player. He receives 3 Favor Tokens. In clockwise order, each player receives 1 more Favor Token than the preceding player.

3. Choose 1 of the following variants to distribute the Ship Tiles:

   • Randomly: Take 1 randomly selected Ship Tile each. Place it on your Player Board.
   • Selected: Randomly select 1 more Ship Tile than players participating in the game and place them face up on the table. Starting with the last player of the round and in counterclockwise direction, choose 1 Ship Tile and place it on your Player Board.

   Put the remaining, unused tiles back in the box. They are no longer required for this game.

   Recommendation for the first game: Randomly distribute the 4 depicted Ship Tiles.

4. The last player of the round takes the Titan's Die and places it in the center of his oracle.

5. Roll your 3 Oracle Dice and place them on the corresponding symbols on your oracle. Note: This is called "Consulting the Oracle". You can place more than 1 die on each symbol.

6. Place the Shrines on the corresponding spaces.

7. Draw 1 Injury Card each, and place it face up next to the lower left of your Player Board.

8. Place your 6 Gods on the lowest row of the God Track. Advance the God in the color of the Injury Card you have just drawn to the row showing the number of players participating in the game.

9. Place your Shield on the first space ("0") of the Shield Track.

10. Place your Ship next to Zeus, on the starting space.

11. Sort your Zeus Tiles. 4 Zeus Tiles show colored Offerings on one side and colored Monsters on the other side. Have any player randomly select 2 of these tiles and place them with the Offerings side facing up. Adjust the tiles of each other player accordingly, so everyone has identical starting conditions with equal colors. To keep track of the Zeus Tiles, sort them in groups of three at the top of your Player Boards as shown: Shrines, Statues, Offerings, and Monsters.

    Recommendation for the first game: Use 8 Zeus Tiles instead of all 12. Return 1 "Shrine" and 1 "Statue" Zeus Tile, as well as a colored "Monster" and colored "Offering" tile back to the box (see Variants). Each player must return the same tiles.

12. Place your Action Overview next to your Player Boards.

Course of Play

The Oracle of Delphi is played in rounds, with each player taking 1 turn in clockwise order.

A turn consists of up to 3 phases that must be performed in the following order. The 1st and 3rd phases are usually very short. All actions are performed in phase 2.

1. Check your Injury Cards

3 outcomes are possible:

• a. You have 3 equally colored Injury Cards or 6 Injury Cards in total: Use your turn to Recover, discarding 3 Injury Cards of your choice and ending your turn without Consulting the Oracle.
• b. You have 0 Injury Cards: Take 1 Favor Token or advance 1 God by 1 step.
• c. Otherwise: Nothing happens. Note: This is the most common case.

2. Perform actions

Perform your actions in any order:

• Use your 3 Oracle Dice to perform actions. Put used Oracle Dice in the center of your oracle.
• You may use 1 Oracle Card per turn to perform an action. To indicate that you have used this option, place the Oracle Card next to the upper left of your Player Board, horizontally. Discard the Oracle Card at the end of your turn.
• You may use the Special Action of Gods which are on the topmost row of the God Track.

3. End your turn by Consulting the Oracle

Announce the resulting colors: All other players check if at least 1 of their Gods which is not on the lowest row of the God Track matches 1 of these colors. They may advance 1 of these Gods by 1 step.

Important: YOU may not advance any Gods, only the other players may do so!

Note: After Consulting the Oracle, you know which colors are available to you next turn. Use the other player's turns to plan ahead. This saves a lot of time!

The last player of the round rolls the Titan's Die together with his Oracle Dice to determine the Titan's strength. Then, the Titan attacks all players simultaneously:

• If the Titan's strength is 6, each player draws 2 Injury Cards.
• Otherwise, compare your Shield's strength to the Titan's strength: If your strength is lower, draw 1 Injury Card.

Game Components in Detail

1. Zeus Tiles

The Zeus Tiles represent the 12 tasks required to finish and win the game. The upper half of the tile shows the task, the lower half shows the reward for achieving the task. Return completed tasks to the box, so it is always apparent who still has to complete which and how many tasks.

There are 4 different types of tasks and you have to complete 3 of each:

• Shrine: Build 3 Shrines on the depicted Island Tiles. The respective Island Tiles are initially face down and have to be explored during the game (see Actions "Explore an Island" and "Build a Shrine"). Reward: Advance any 1 God by 1 Step.
• Statue: Raise 3 Statues in different colors. Load Statues from City Tiles on your Ship and deliver them to Statue Islands with building sites of the respective color (see Actions "Load a Statue" and "Raise a Statue"). Reward: Take a Companion Card of your choice from the General Supply that matches the color of the raised Statue.
• Offering: Load 1 Offering of each depicted color on your Ship and deliver it to a Temple of the respective color (see Actions "Load an Offering" and "Make an Offering"). Reward: Take 3 Favor Tokens.
• Monster: Defeat 1 Monster of each depicted color (see Action "Fighting a Monster"). Reward: Take 1 Equipment Card from the display.

White component icons, as seen on the Zeus Tiles "Statue", "Offering", and "Monster", indicates "a color of your choice". No color can be chosen twice for a certain task.

A reward is only given when a Zeus Tile is returned to the box. Thus, it is unwise to complete tasks which are not depicted on your Zeus Tiles.

2. The Oracle

The most prominent part of your Player Board is the circular oracle.

Note: Pythia, the priestess at the Oracle of Delphi is shown in the center of the oracle. Rolling the dice represents consulting the oracle. The results represent her divinations.

• After Consulting the Oracle, place the Oracle Dice on the corresponding symbols on your oracle. Use these dice for actions on your next turn.
• Before using a die for an action, you may "recolor" it, i.e. moving it by 1 or more steps (symbols) along the oracle in a clockwise direction, paying 1 Favor Token per step.
• After using a die for an action, move it to Pythia. You cannot use it again this turn.

3. Ship Tiles

Your Ship Tiles represent the individual properties of your Ship. The lower half of the tile shows your Ship's storage capacity, i.e. the maximum number of Offerings and/or Statues you can transport at any given time, usually 2.

The following list shows the function of all Ship Tiles in detail:

• At the start of the game, move your Shield 2 steps to the right.
• Your Ship's range is increased by 2 (see Action "Move your Ship").
• Advance all your Gods on the God Track to the row showing the number of players participating in the game. After using a Special Action of a God, return it to that row instead of the lowest row.
• Whenever you take 1 or more Favor Tokens, take 1 more. This also applies to the starting Favor Tokens.
• Return a Zeus Tile of your choice to the box. You do not receive its reward. You require 11 completed tasks to win the game instead of 12.
• At the start of the game, take 1 Equipment Card from the display and draw 1 Oracle Card.
• Your cost for "recoloring" Oracle Dice is reduced by 1.
• You can also "recolor" Oracle Dice in counterclockwise direction. Additionally, your storage capacity is increased by 2.

4. Shields

The number next to your Shield indicates its current strength. The Shield is used as a defense against the Titan's attack and when Fighting a Monster (see Action "Fighting a Monster").

You can strengthen your Shield by collecting certain Companion Cards, i.e. the Heroes, or by exploring Island Tiles (see Action "Explore an Island").

5. Injury Cards

You draw Injury Cards when the Titan's strength exceeds your Shield's strength during its attack and when you roll "0" while Fighting a Monster (see Action "Fighting a Monster").

You can get rid of Injury Cards by discarding them as an action (see Action "Discard Injury Cards"), by using the Special Action of the red Goddess, Aphrodite, and by the ability of certain Companion Cards, the Heroes.

If you have too many Injury Cards at the beginning of your turn, you will have to Recover (see Course of Play, section 1a).

6. Oracle Cards

Oracle Cards can be used like Oracle Dice, but are limited to 1 per turn. Indicate its use by horizontally placing the Oracle Card next to the upper left of your Player Board. Discard it at the end of your turn.

7. Shrines

Shrines have to be built on the Island Tiles depicted on the corresponding Zeus Tiles. The Greek letters on your Player Board indicate the reward awarded for uncovering an Island Tile with the respective symbol (see Action "Explore an Island").

8. Favor Tokens

The Favor Tokens can be used …

• … to "recolor" Oracle Dice before using them (1 Favor Token per step on the oracle, see "The Oracle").
• … to increase the range of your Ship (1 Favor Token per space, see Action "Move your Ship").
• … to Fight a Monster (1 Favor Token per additional round, see Action "Fighting a Monster").

9. Monsters

Place defeated Monsters on your Player Board (see Action "Fighting a Monster").

10. Gods

Advancing a God during your turn

Whenever you encounter the God symbol, you may advance a God. The number of arrows indicates the amount of steps, i.e. rows. When you receive more than 1 step, you may distribute them among 1 or more Gods.

When advancing a God from the lowest row, place it on the row showing the number of players participating in the game. Otherwise advance it by 1 row.

Advancing a God during another player's turn

Whenever another player rolls the color of at least 1 of your Gods that is not on the lowest row when Consulting the Oracle, you may advance 1 of them by 1 step.

Special Actions of the Gods

During your turn, if 1 or more of your Gods are on the topmost row of the God Track, you may use their Special Actions. After using the Special Action, return the God back to the lowest row of the God Track.

Note: You never need an Oracle Die for the Special Action of the Gods!

• Poseidon: Place your Ship on a water space of your choice.
• Apollon: Draw 1 Oracle Card. This turn, you may use your Oracle Dice and Oracle Card as if they were any color.
• Artemis: Uncover a face down Island Tile. Take the corresponding reward (see Action "Explore an Island").
• Aphrodite: Discard all your Injury Cards.
• Ares: If your Ship is adjacent to a Monster: Defeat the Monster without rolling the Battle Die. Take the reward of your corresponding Zeus Tile and discard it.
• Hermes: If your Ship is adjacent to a City Tile: Take a Statue from any City Tile and store it in your Ship.

Instead of performing their Special Action, you may return the God back to the lowest row of the God Track and draw 1 Oracle Card.

11. Companion Cards

You receive Companion Cards as a reward for Raising Statues (see Action "Raise a Statue"). There are 3 different Companion Cards in each color, each with an individual, permanent ability:

Heroes:

• When acquiring a Hero, increase your Shield's strength by 2.
• From now on, you may discard any Injury Cards of the Hero's color.

Demigods:

• When acquiring a Demigod, draw 1 Oracle Card.
• You may use Oracle Dice in the Demigod's color as if it was a color of your choice.

Creatures:

• When Moving your Ship with an Oracle Die of the Creature's color, your Ship's range is increased by 3. You may end your movement on a water space of any color (see Action "Move your Ship").

12. Equipment Cards

You receive Equipment Cards as a reward for defeating a Monster (see Action "Fighting a Monster"). Equipment Cards grant permanent or one-time actions or abilities. Some of them override basic rules.

One-time actions show a flash symbol and are carried out immediately after receiving the Equipment Card.

Immediately after taking an Equipment Card, refill the display to 6 cards from the draw pile.

The Equipment Cards include:

• Your Ship's range is increased by 1.
• Your Ship may cross shallows. A shallow does not count as a space!
• Whenever you receive a reward for Making an Offering, Raising a Statue or Fighting a Monster, advance 1 God by 1 step.
• Your storage capacity is increased by 1. One-time: Increase your Shield's strength by 1.
• You may Fight a Monster, Explore an Island and Build a Shrine from a distance of 1 water space from the respective Island Tiles.
• You may Load a Statue and Raise a Statue from a distance of 1 water space from the respective City Tile or Island Tile.
• You may use an Oracle Die of the depicted color as an action to take 1 Favor Token, draw 1 Oracle Card, and advance the God of the respective color by 1 step.
• You may Load an Offering and Make an Offering from a distance of 1 water space from the respective Island Tile.
• When checking your Injury Cards (see Course of Play, section 1a), you have to Recover due to 4 equally colored Injury Cards or 8 Injury Cards, in total instead of 3 and 6, respectively.
• Once per turn, you may spend 3 Favor Tokens to perform an additional action of any color.
• When you Consult the Oracle and at least 1 of the dice shows the depicted color, take 2 Favor Tokens.
• One-time: Take 1 of the depicted Statues from the corresponding City Tile and store it in your Ship.
• One-time: Advance 1 of the depicted Gods to the topmost row of the God Track.
• One-time: Take 1 of the depicted Offerings from any Island Tile and store it in your Ship.
• One-time: Look at 2 face down Island Tiles and put 1 back. Uncover the other and take the corresponding reward (see Action "Explore an Island"). If there are less than 2 face down Island Tiles, this card cannot be used.
• One-time: Take 3 Favor Tokens, draw 1 Oracle Card, and advance 1 or 2 Gods by a total of 2 steps combined.

Actions

You have several options how to use your Oracle Dice for actions. Most actions depend on the color of the dice. We have grouped the actions according to their color dependence or independence.

Each action must be completed before starting the next.

Example: It is not allowed to "Take 2 Favor Tokens" while "Fighting a Monster" to prolong the fight.

a) Color-independent actions — can be performed with any Oracle Die

Draw 1 Oracle Card Draw 1 Oracle Card and place it face up next to the lower left of your Player Board, vertically. You can have any number of Oracle Cards, but you can only play 1 per turn.

Take 2 Favor Tokens

Look at 2 Island Tiles Look at 2 face down Island Tiles. Return them to their respective island spaces, face down.

b) Color-dependent actions — hinge on the color of the Oracle Die

General rules:

• You can "recolor" Oracle Dice by paying Favor Tokens (see "The Oracle"), prior to any action.
• To perform an action referring to an island space, your Ship must be located adjacent to that space.
• The color of the Oracle Die has to match the chosen action, e.g. a red die can be used for a red Offering, the red God, red Injury Cards, or red Island Tiles.

Move your Ship Move your Ship up to 3 water spaces. End your movement on a space matching the color of your used Oracle Die. You may not cross or stop on island spaces or shallows. You can increase your Ship's range, i.e. move additional spaces, by paying 1 Favor Token per additional space. The color of your destination space must still correspond to the used Oracle Die. Certain Ship Tiles, Companion Cards and Equipment Cards can also increase your Ship's range. Each water space can be occupied by any number of Ships.

Fight a Monster Each fight consists of 1 or more rounds and ends when you defeat the Monster or when you surrender.

Each Monster starts the fight with a strength of 9. Decrease that value by your Shield's strength.

Course of a round: Roll the Battle Die (numbers 0 to 9):

• You have rolled a number equal or higher than the Monster's current strength: You have defeated the Monster. Take the reward of your corresponding Zeus Tile and discard the Zeus Tile. Place the Monster on the bottom right of your Player Board.
• You have rolled less than the Monster's current strength: You have lost the round. If you have rolled a 0, draw 1 Injury Card. To continue the fight, pay 1 Favor Token. Reduce the Monster's strength by 1 and continue with another round of fighting. If you cannot or do not want to pay 1 Favor Token, you surrender the fight without further adverse effects. In the next fight, the Monster's full strength is restored.

Explore an Island To perform the action, the color of your Oracle Die has to match the hexagon on the island space. Uncover the Island Tile, place it face up on the island space and receive the corresponding reward:

• If the image matches 1 of your Zeus Tiles, place 1 of your Shrines on the Island Tile. Take the reward of your corresponding Zeus Tile and discard the Zeus Tile.
• If the image doesn't match 1 of your Zeus Tiles, take a reward based on the depicted Greek letter:
  • Take 4 Favor Tokens.
  • Draw 2 Oracle Cards.
  • Advance 1 or more Gods by a total of 3 steps.
  • Discard all your Injury Cards of a color of your choice and increase your Shield's strength by 1.

Note: If another player uncovers an Island Tile matching 1 of your Zeus Tiles, place a Shrine on the respective Zeus Tile to remember.

Build a Shrine To perform the action, the color of your Oracle Die has to match the hexagon on the island space. Place a Shrine on the Island Tile, whose image matches 1 of your Zeus Tiles. Take the reward of your corresponding Zeus Tile and discard the Zeus Tile.

Load an Offering Take an Offering of the color of your Oracle Die from the adjacent Offering Island and store it in your Ship. If your storage is full, you cannot perform this action.

Make an Offering Place an Offering of the color of your Oracle Die from your ship onto a matching adjacent Temple Island. Take the reward of your corresponding Zeus Tile and discard the Zeus Tile.

Load a Statue Take a Statue of the color of your Oracle Die from an adjacent City Tile and store it in your Ship. If your storage is full, you cannot perform this action.

Raise a Statue Place a Statue of the color of your Oracle Die on a matching site on an adjacent Statue Island. Take the reward of your corresponding Zeus Tile and discard the Zeus Tile.

Note: 3 Statues of different colors can be built on each Statue Island.

Discard Injury Cards Discard all your Injury Cards matching the color of your Oracle Die.

Advance a God Advance the God of the matching color by 1 step. As long as a God is on the topmost row, its Special Action is available. You may use it during any of your turns, now or later. After using a Special Action, return the God to the lowest row (see "Gods").

End of the Game

After completing all of Zeus' tasks, i.e. discarding all Zeus Tiles, you have to return to Zeus using normal movement rules. Use an Oracle Die of any color or the Special Action of the blue God, Poseidon, to move onto his space.

The first player to do so triggers the End of the Game. The current round is finished, then the game ends.

If only 1 player successfully returns to Zeus, he wins the game.

If more than 1 player successfully returns, the player with the most remaining Oracle Cards among them wins.

If these players are still tied, the player with the most remaining Favor Tokens among them wins.

If these players are still tied, they share the victory.

Notes:

• After reaching Zeus, unused Oracle Dice and Special Actions of Gods should be used to "Draw 1 Oracle Card" as Oracle Cards break the tie for first place.
• Gods reaching the topmost row after your last turn cannot be used anymore.

Game Variant: Shortened Game

At the start of the game, you can decide to return up to 4 of the depicted Zeus Tiles each to the box to reduce playing time. The more tiles you return, the shorter the game. If you discard less than 4 tiles, return them to the box in the following order:

1. 1 Tile "Statue"
2. 1 Shrine and 1 Tile "Shrine"
3. 1 colored Tile "Monster" (same tile for all players)
4. 1 colored Tile "Offering" (same tile for all players)

Credits

Designer: Stefan Feld. Illustrations and Graphics: Dennis Lohausen. Layout and 3-D Shots: Andreas Resch. Realization: Ralph Bruhn. Translation: Martin Zeeb. © 2016 Hall Games / Ralph Bruhn. Distribution: Pegasus Spiele GmbH.