Ptolemy
Ptolemy Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 1 game board
- 6 planet tokens
- 25 observation cards
- 2 reference cards
Game Setup
Place the game board between the two players.
Place the eclipse token on the daytime side (left) of the board on '4', and place the planet tokens near the board.
Shuffle all of the observation cards and deal 11 cards to each player, and set the remaining cards aside.
Game Play
The start player for the first round is determined randomly. In subsequent rounds, the winner of the previous round becomes the start player.
On your turn, you can either play a card or pass. (Note: the start player cannot pass on their first turn.) Starting with the start player, cards are played alternately until someone passes; this entire process is called "a rally".
When a card is played, the planet token that matches the planet on that card moves clockwise by the number on the card, meaning it goes up in the daytime side (left) and down in the nighttime side (right). If there are other tokens in its path, it jumps over them as it moves. If the token is not on the board, it starts its movement from numbered 1 space of the daytime side.
If you need to move beyond nighttime side '1', cycle back to daytime side '1' in clockwise direction.
Once you move the planet token, your turn ends and it becomes your opponent's turn.
After the start player's first turn, when anyone plays a card, they must play a card of a planet that has not been played in this rally. They must also move the planet they played to a higher or equal altitude compared to the planet that moved on the previous turn.
Example: If the previous planet moved was Saturn, you must play a card that makes you reach an altitude equal to or higher than Saturn's altitude. Also, the Saturn card cannot be played during this rally.
If you don't have any cards that meet the conditions, or if you don't want to play, you can decide to pass. If you pass, your opponent becomes the new start player and starts a new rally.
Special Cards
The cards with the letter E on them, one for every planet, represent an eclipse. These cards can only be played when the token for that planet is already on the board. When you play one of these cards, you swap the position of that planet's token and the eclipse token. The same requirements apply as for the regular planet cards described earlier. More than one eclipse card may be used in a rally.
End of the Game
As the rally goes on and on, if a player plays all of their cards, the round ends immediately and that player wins the round.
The player who wins two rounds becomes the winner of the game!
Advanced Rules
Make the following changes to the game setup. Shuffle the observation cards, excluding 5 'E' cards, and deal 8 to the start player and 7 to the other player. Shuffle the remaining 5 cards with the E cards you set aside to form a face-down deck and start.
Two new features are introduced in the Advanced Rules:
- When you pass, you draw a card from the deck before you end your turn. (If the deck is empty, skip this step.)
- After the first player's first turn, anyone can take an action called Intensive Investigation instead of playing a card according to the normal rules.
If you take this action, you play a planet card that is the same as the planet card your opponent just played. However, the requirement is that the planet's altitude after playing the card must be the same or lower than before. And from then on, both players must play cards of that planet until someone decides to pass.
Example: If you decide to do Intensive Investigation this turn, check the planet your opponent moved on the previous turn and play a card of the same planet to move the planet token to the same or lower altitude.
If a player decides to pass during the Intensive Investigation, the player must draw two cards from the deck instead of one. (If there is only one card in the deck, draw one card, and skip this step from then on.)