Quartz
Quartz Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 84 Coin tokens
- 6 Experience tokens (only 5 used)
- 55 Mining cards
- 5 Chest cards
- 68 plastic Crystals
- 1 Day marker
- 1 Main Board
- 5 Player boards (Mine Carts)
- 1 cloth bag (Mine Bag)
- 1 rulebook
Objective
Win the dwarven wager by accumulating the most riches after working the mine for 5 days (5 game rounds).
Setup
- Place the Main Board in the center of the table, with the Day Marker on the 1st day.
- Place the Coins and Experience Tokens beside the Main Board.
- Put all the Crystals in the cloth Mine Bag, representing the mine.
- Each player starts with one Mine Cart and one Chest Card. Mine Carts should have the side with the Crystals and their values facing up. Chest Cards should have the chest side facing up.
- Shuffle all Mining Cards, and deal 5 to each player. Players may check their hands, but should hide them from the other players.
- Place the remaining Mining Cards near the Main Board to form the Mining Deck.
The player with the longest beard is the first player. If no one has a beard, then the shortest player starts.
How to Play
A game of Quartz consists of five days of work (5 game rounds). At the beginning of each day, the Main Board is filled with Mining Cards and Coins.
Cards are taken from the Mining Deck and placed on the Main Board card spaces (one card per space). Some of these card spaces require Coins to be placed on them.
The number of cards to be placed is equal to the number of players minus one. Example: for 4 players, place 3 cards.
Place the number of Coins indicated by the Card Spaces onto those cards. These Coins are taken from the Bank. These cards and Coins are for the Bravery Bonus (see "Bravery Bonus").
Each day of work in the mine allows the dwarves several actions, and ends when there's only one dwarf remaining in the mine.
We're now ready to begin. Starting with the first player, and then in clockwise order, players take turns performing one of these three actions:
- Mine a Crystal (draw one random Crystal from the Mine Bag)
- Play an Action Card (cards with a blue background)
- Leave the mine (flip your Mine Cart board over to its back side)
Actions
Mine a Crystal (draw one random Crystal from the Mine Bag)
A player choosing to mine draws a random Crystal from the Mine Bag, identifies it and places it on their Mine Cart in the appropriate row. Many Crystals are valuable.
Valuable Crystals
At the end of the day, Crystals are sold for Coins, or saved in that dwarf's chest. (See "Selling Crystals".) Valuable Crystals are Quartz (clear), Amethyst (purple), Emerald (green), Sapphire (blue), Ruby (red), and Amber (orange).
Obsidian
Obsidian is considered by dwarves to be very undesirable. It breaks easily and it is very sharp, cutting both hands and gem bags. Therefore, as part of the wager, mining Obsidian has terrible consequences. Drawing the first Obsidian is safe, but when a second one is added to the Mine Cart, the Obsidian shatters and causes an Accident. This results in the dwarf losing their entire cartful of crystals mined that day and ending that player's round. That dwarf is then removed from the mine, and will spend the rest of the day recovering, returning to work the next day. (See "Accidents".)
Play an Action Card (cards with a blue background)
During their turn, a player may play an Action Card for its effect. After a card is played and its effect resolved, the card is placed beside the Mining Deck, face-up, forming a Discard Pile.
Cards with a blue background are Action Cards. Every card has its value marked on the top-left corner. At the end of the fifth day, all unused cards are sold back to the shop for that value.
A card's name is always written on the left side, and its effect specified in the lower box.
Cards with a purple background are Reaction Cards. They are used for defense, and may only be used when targeted by an Action Card played during an opponent's turn.
The name of the Action Card that the Reaction Card defends against is written at the top, to the right of the card value.
Check the appendix at the end of this booklet for more details of each Mining Card.
Leave the Mine (flip your Mine Cart board over to its back side)
Players can decide to leave the mine at the beginning of their turn, by flipping their Mine Cart over and setting their crystals aside to be sold at the end of the day.
If a player leaves the mine while at least two other dwarves are still inside, that player receives a Bravery Bonus. (See "Bravery Bonus".)
After leaving the mine, a dwarf is not allowed to return to the mine until the next day.
Remember: One action at a time! If you choose to either mine or use an Action Card, you cannot leave the mine until your next turn.
Bravery Bonus
The Cards and Coins placed on the Main Board at the beginning of each day (game round) are awarded to dwarves as a Bravery Bonus.
The distribution of this bonus depends on these conditions:
- Cards, and the Coins on them, are claimed from left to right. One bonus per player per day.
- If a dwarf suffers an Accident, both the card and Coins of the next Bravery Bonus are discarded. (See the "Accidents" section for more details.)
- This bonus is collected by dwarves who choose to leave the mine while there are still at least two other dwarves mining inside.
- If there are only 2 dwarves left inside the mine and one of them suffers an Accident, the other dwarf receives the last Bravery Bonus (card and Coins). Reckless dwarves aren't rewarded.
Accidents
When a player places a second Obsidian in their Mine Cart, an accident occurs, and that player is removed from the mine for the rest of that day. All the Crystals being held in that player's cart are returned to the Mine Bag, including the Obsidian. The eliminated player then flips their Mine Cart over to indicate that they're out of the mine.
Players that suffer an Accident receive an Experience Token.
Experience Token
After suffering an Accident, a dwarf receives an Experience Token (also called "Mining for Oafs"). This token may be discarded to remove an Obsidian from that dwarf's Mine Cart. That Obsidian is then returned to the Mine Bag.
An Experience Token may be used by its owner at any time. For example, the token could be used to discard a second Obsidian, even if it is received on another player's turn.
Players may keep a maximum of one Experience Token at a time, and a token must be used before a new one can be gained. Tokens remaining at the end of the fifth day are sold for $3 each.
All in a Day's Work
The workday continues with each player taking turns, performing actions of their choice. Dwarves who leave the mine or suffer Accidents may not return until the next day. The others keep on mining until there is only one dwarf left in the mine. The final dwarf receives the last Bravery Bonus (card and Coins) from the Main Board, and that day (game round) is finished.
"What a Thrill" Variant
The last dwarf in the mine can keep mining by himself.
In this variant, the last player remaining in the round may forfeit their Bravery Bonus to continue drawing Crystals. The Bravery Bonus card is discarded, and its Coins are returned to the bank. This player may then draw Crystals, one at a time, until deciding to end the round. Up to four Crystals may be drawn in this way.
Drawing a second Obsidian will still cause an Accident!
Selling Crystals
At the end of each day, the dwarves make a trip to the city to sell their daily yield. Before selling their Crystals, each dwarf may save up to two Crystals inside their chest (on their Chest Card). The rest of the Crystals must be sold for the prices indicated on the Mine Cart. Combinations of Crystals are worth the following bonuses:
A. When selling 3 Crystals of the same color, a player may double the selling value of a second color of Crystal they sell that round.
Example: After selling 3 Quartz Crystals, a player sells 2 Sapphire Crystals for $8 each. The Quartz Crystals are sold at their normal value ($1 each). [$1+$1+$1] + [$(4x2)+$(4x2)] = $19
B. When selling 4 Crystals of the same color, a player may double the selling value of 2 other colors of Crystals they sell that round.
Example: After selling 4 Emerald Crystals, a player sells 2 Sapphire Crystals for $8 each and 1 Quartz Crystal for $2. The Emerald Crystals are sold at their normal value ($3 each). [$3+$3+$3+$3] + [$(4x2)+$(4x2)] + [$(1x2)] = $30
C. When selling 5 Crystals of different colors, a player receives an additional $8.
[$1+$2+$3+$4+$6] + $8 = $24
D. When selling 6 Crystals of different colors, a player receives an additional $12.
[$1+$2+$3+$4+$6+$8] + $12 = $36
Remember: Each player can use only one of these bonuses per day, and may choose to use the Chest Card to save Crystals for a better bonus on another day.
The Next Morning
When all players are done selling, all sold Crystals are returned to the Mine Bag (only Crystals stored in chests are kept) and the Day Marker advances to the next day on the Main Board.
Each player draws one new Mining Card. (If the deck is depleted, shuffle the discard pile to reform the Mining Deck.)
New cards and Coins are added to the Main Board, creating the Bravery Bonus for the next day.
Players flip their Mine Carts face-up.
The last player to leave the mine on the previous day will be the first player.
Who Wins the Wager
At the end of the fifth day, all Crystals are sold.
After selling their Crystals, players also sell any Mining Cards they possess. These cards are sold for the value shown in the upper left corner. Each player then counts the full sum of their riches.
The richest dwarf wins the wager and becomes the new owner of the mine. In case of equal riches, the dwarf that earned the most money from the sale of Mining Cards wins.
Appendix: Mining Cards
There are two types of Mining Cards, identified by their background color: Action Cards that can be used during your turn (blue background), and Reaction Cards used for defense (purple background).
All Mining Cards are discarded immediately after use.
Action Cards (Blue Background)
Here we go (10) — Mine three Crystals, all at once. If any of them are Obsidian, return them to the Mine Bag. You may keep any or all of the Crystals and place them in your Mine Cart.
EUREKA! (3) — Mine seven Crystals. You may replace one of the Crystals in your Mine Cart with one of the Crystals drawn. The other six crystals, and the one from your Mine Cart that was replaced, are returned to the Mine Bag. Only the new Crystal is kept, and Obsidian may not be replaced in this way.
Come Closer (3) — Trade one Crystal from your Mine Cart with one Crystal from the Mine Cart of a dwarf who is still inside the Mine. Trading Obsidian in this way is not allowed.
Out of my Waaaay (3) — All other dwarves still in the mine must discard one random valuable Crystal (not Obsidian) from their Mine Carts. The discarded Crystals are returned to the Mine Bag.
Crystal? What Crystal? (3) — Place this card beside your Mine Cart. At the end of this turn, you may take one Crystal from your Mine Cart and place it on this card. That Crystal is now protected against all Action Card effects and Accidents. At the end of the day, return any Crystals on this card to your Mine Cart and discard this card.
Gimme a hand here (8) — Choose another dwarf who must mine two Crystals. You may choose one of those Crystals and place it on your Mine Cart. The miner must keep the remaining Crystal, even if it is Obsidian. If both Crystals mined are Obsidian, the miner takes one, and the other is returned to the Mine Bag.
these don't belong to you (8) — Steal two valuable Crystals from another dwarf's Mine Cart. Obsidian cannot be stolen in this way.
This isn't mine (8) — Take one Obsidian from your cart and give it to any other dwarf that is still in the mine. If the dwarf receiving the Obsidian already has an Obsidian in their Mine Cart, they will suffer an Accident immediately.
Reaction Cards (Purple Background)
These are defensive cards that may be played when other dwarves target you with Action Cards (cards with a blue background).
Not mine either! (3) — When someone gives you an Obsidian with the "This Isn't Mine" action, you may play this card and send that Obsidian to any other dwarf still in the mine. (However, the Obsidian cannot be sent back to the dwarf who gave it to you.) If no other dwarves are available, the Obsidian is returned to the Mine Bag.
Thievery? Unacceptable! (3) — If someone tries to steal two Crystals from you with the "These Don't Belong To You" Action Card, you may play this card to block that action. Instead, take one Crystal from their Mine Cart.
Nope. I'm on my break (3) — Play this card to prevent another dwarf from forcing you to mine two Crystals with the "Gimme A Hand Here" Action Card.
Appendix: Crystals
In Quartz, there are six different colors of valuable Crystals in the mine, plus the undesirable Obsidian. Check their prices, names and rarities below:
| Value | Crystal | Quantity |
|---|---|---|
| $1 | Quartz | 15 |
| $2 | Amethyst | 12 |
| $3 | Emerald | 10 |
| $4 | Sapphire | 7 |
| $6 | Ruby | 4 |
| $8 | Amber | 2 |
| — | Obsidian | 18 |
Credits
Game Design: Sergio Halaban & André Zatz
Illustrations: Max Grecke
Graphic Design: Luis Francisco and Chaz Marler
Editing: Rob Merickel, Todd Walden and Chaz Marler
Thanks: The authors would like to thank everyone that helped test and balance the game, especially the members of the Monday playtesting sessions Mauricio Gibrin, Ernane Guimarães Neto, Fagner Lima, Anderson Piffer, Flavio Hara, Ivan Garde and Gustavo Thron.
©2016 Passport Game Studios. All Rights Reserved.