Sierra Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Components
• Teams (4 to 8 players) - the original Sierra experience
  • First time playing?
  • Setup
  • Description of a round
  • End of the round
  • Travel Diary
  • Composing the Landscape
  • Mountain cards
  • End of the game
  • Individual Victory
  • Team Victory
• Campaign Mode (1 to 3 players)
  • Stage Card
  • Solo Backpacker - Solo Campaign (1 player)
  • Together all the way through - Cooperative Campaign (2 to 3 players)
• Competitive Mode (2 to 4 players)
• Game summary (Teams mode)
• Glossary
• FAQ
  • Order of play
  • Competitive mode

Game Components

• 64 Travel Diary cards (including 16 advanced cards)
• 84 Mountain cards
• 4 Destination cards
• 4 Role cards
• 7 Stage cards (for Campaign mode)
• 1 Scorepad

Game modes:

• Teams mode (4-8 players) - read first before learning other game modes
• Campaign mode - Solo (1 player)
• Campaign mode - Cooperative (2-3 players)
• Competitive mode (2-4 players)

Teams (4 to 8 players) - the original Sierra experience

In this game mode players travel in teams of two or three along the trails of the Andes. But not everyone wants to see the same things!

The game consists of 8 or 9 rounds in which players will arrange a Landscape from the Mountain parts that they have discovered. The goal is to earn the most points by pursuing your own objectives while also respecting those of your walking companions. Will you emerge victorious alone or as a part of a team? Do you believe that the journey is more significant than the destination?

• A Destination card is randomly drawn at the start of the game and will set a common goal for each team.
• Together, players from the same team create a Landscape which they will form with Mountain cards.
• Each player collects Travel Diary cards that will determine their own personal objectives for scoring points.

First time playing?

If this is your first Sierra game, during Setup:

• Remove the 16 Advanced cards (with the climbing axe icon) from the Travel Diary deck (Step 1).
• Only use the Side A of the Destination cards (Step 4).

Basic cards have no icons.

Setup

1. Shuffle the Travel Diary cards and form a face-down deck, at the centre of the table.
2. Do the same with the Mountain cards.
3. Players form teams of 2 people. If the number of players is odd, form one team of 3 people. Players in the same team sit side by side.
4. Each team takes a Destination card and places it in front of them with the side they want facing up (see Destination Cards).
5. In each team, the leftmost player takes the Role card matching the colour of their Destination card, and places it in front of them on the 2-player Team or 3-player Team side, depending on the number of players in their team.
6. Deal 2 Mountain cards face down in front of each team.

You're all set to go!

Example: There are 5 players in this game. Pierre and Audrey form a duo heading to Mount Fitzroy. Claude, David, and Salomé form a trio heading to Calilegua Park. Each team takes the corresponding Role and Destination cards.

Description of a round

In each round, all teams play simultaneously. Each player draws 2 cards and then performs an action.

The Role card determines which cards to draw and the action to take.

Within each team:

• The player that holds the Role card draws 2 Travel Diary cards, keeps 1 and discards the other.
• Each of the player's companions add 2 Mountain cards to the team's shared Landscape (see Composing the Landscape). This action varies depending on whether the team is formed of 2 or 3 players:

2-player team

• The player who does not have the Role card randomly takes the 2 Mountain cards placed in front of their team and draws 2 more cards so they have 4 cards in hand.
• This player places 2 cards in the shared Landscape of their team.
• Now this player has 2 cards left in their hand.

3-player team

• The 2 players who do not have the Role card randomly take 1 of the 2 Mountain cards placed in front of their team and draw 2 more cards so that they both have 3 cards in their hand.
• Each player places 1 card from their hand in the shared Landscape of their team.
• Each player discards 1 card from their hand.
• Now they each have 1 card left in their hand.

Important: All these actions take place simultaneously. Players within the same team can chat freely and show each other the cards they have in their hand before making their decision.

End of the round

When all the teams have completed their actions, it is the end of the round:

• Each team passes the 2 Mountain cards they have left in their hand and place them on the table, in front of the next team.
• Within each team, the Role card is handed over to the next player (or comes back to the first player of the team).

Travel Diary

The Travel Diary cards represent the memories and feelings that players bring back from their hike. This is the main way to score points in Sierra.

As the game progresses, players will collect more Travel Diary cards face up in front of them. Each card contains a rule for scoring points based on the layout of the team's shared Landscape.

Each player's Travel Diary cards are personal: they only earn points for the player who chose them, NOT for their Companions. So make sure to keep your Travel Diary cards separate!

Note: If the Travel Diary deck is exhausted, shuffle the discard pile and form a new deck.

Note: Players' cards should remain visible to everyone at all times.

Example for a 2-player team: In the 1st round, Audrey holds the Role card. She chooses a Travel Diary card while Pierre plays 2 Mountain cards. During the 2nd round, the Role card changes hands and it is the other way around: Pierre takes a Travel Diary card and Audrey plays 2 Mountain cards. In the 3rd round, it is again up to Audrey to add a card to her Travel Diary.

Example for a 3-player team: During the 1st round, Claude holds the Role card in his team. He chooses his Travel Diary card while David and Salomé each place a Mountain card in the Landscape. In the 2nd round, it is David's round to play a Travel Diary card. In the 3rd, it is Salomé's. Claude gets the Role card back on the 4th round.

Composing the Landscape

During each round, each team must place 2 Mountain cards in their shared Landscape. To do so, the following placement rules must be observed:

1. A Mountain card can be placed to the right or to the left of a card of the same colour.
2. It can be placed above or below a card of a different colour to form a new row, even if there are already rows of that same colour.

The following placements are not allowed:

1. You cannot form 2 rows of the same colour on top of each other.
2. You cannot leave spaces between 2 cards on the same row.
3. You cannot insert a card in between 2 adjacent rows.
4. You cannot place cards of different colours in the same row.

You cannot move the Mountain cards that were played in the previous rounds.

Mountain cards

There are 4 Mountain card colours in Sierra. Each card has one of the 6 different symbols. Colours and symbols are represented in equal number within the deck.

Symbols: Mammal, Bird, House, Ruins, River, Wind.

The River and Wind will earn 1 point for each player in the team who has these cards in their shared Landscape.

End of the game

A game lasts for 8 rounds. If there is a 3-player team in the game, this team gets one additional round (so they play 9 rounds instead of 8). Thus, at the end of the game:

• 2-player team: Each player has 4 Travel Diary cards and their shared Landscape contains 16 Mountain cards.
• 3-player team: Each player has 3 Travel Diary cards and their shared Landscape contains 18 Mountain cards.

When all teams have completed their last round, each player's points are tallied on the score pad:

1. All the members of a team score the points earned from the team's Destination card.
2. All the members of a team score 1 point per River and also 1 point per Wind card in their shared Landscape.
3. Each player counts the points they have earned individually with their Travel Diary cards.
4. The team of the player with the highest points total receives a bonus of 5/10 points in a 2-player/3-player team (see Team Victory).

Individual Victory

The player with the highest score wins the Individual Victory, no matter what.

Example: Here, David wins the game with a total of 62 points.

Score pad totals in the example: Audrey 55, Pierre 51, Claude 54 (+10 = 64), David 62, Salome 47 (+10 = 57).

In case of a tie: If players from different teams are tied for the Individual Victory, they all win. In this case, there will be NO Team Victory.

Team Victory

The Companion(s) of the player who won the Individual Victory each earn a bonus of 5 points for a 2-player team or 10 points for a 3-player team. If, with this bonus, they all have more points than their opponents in the other teams, they all win together as a team.

Example: With a bonus of 10 points, Claude and Salomé respectively reach the scores of 64 and 57 which allow them to surpass Audrey and Pierre's scores. Claude, David, and Salomé achieved the Team Victory. David still holds the Individual Victory.

Campaign Mode (1 to 3 players)

Stage Card

The Stage cards represent some of Pierre and Audrey's adventures in the Andes. They are only used in the "Together all the way through" and the "Solo Backpacker" game modes. Each sets the Destination card of the game and has its own rules to allow for a new experience.

We recommend you play them in chronological order: try to get at least 1 Sun for each Stage before moving on to the next. You can come back any time you want to the Stages you have already unlocked to improve your score.

• At the back of each card are special rules for this Stage.
• A results table indicates what score a player must exceed to win the Stage, depending on whether they are playing solo or in a team. One Sun is enough to win, but you can try to get more if you get a great score.

Note: On this card, you can mark the number of Suns you've reached to keep track of your achievements.

Solo Backpacker - Solo Campaign (1 player)

In this game mode, you are alone: no Companions, no rivals - just you and the mountains.

Setup

• Take a Stage card along with the associated Destination card.
• You do not need a Role card, nor do you need to place 2 Mountain cards in front of you before the first round.
• The rest of the set-up is the same as with the "In team" mode.

Game round

• Draw 2 Travel Diary cards and keep 1.
• Draw 4 Mountain cards, play 2 and discard the other 2.

End of the game

• The game ends on the 8th round: you should have 8 Travel Diary cards and 16 Mountain cards in front of you.
• Compare your score to the results table on your Stage card to see how many Suns you have earned.

Together all the way through - Cooperative Campaign (2 to 3 players)

In this game mode, there is only 1 team of 2 or 3 inseparable companions.

Setup

• The team takes a Stage card along with the associated Destination card.
• The rest of the set-up is the same as with the "In team" mode.

Game round

• As for a normal game, the Role card determines who plays Travel Diary cards and who plays Mountain cards (see Teams mode P.4).
• At the end of the round, all unplayed cards are discarded. Draw a new hand of Mountain cards at the beginning of each round.

End of the game

• The game ends on the 8th or 9th round, depending on the size of the team.
• Only the lowest score in the team is taken into account. There are no points for their Companions.
• Compare your score to the results table on your Stage card to see how many Suns you have earned.

Competitive Mode (2 to 4 players)

In this mode, each player travels on their own: they compose their own Landscape and try to get a greater score than their opponents.

Setup

• Each player takes a Destination card.
• Players do not need a Role card.
• The rest of the set-up is the same as with the "In team" mode.

Game round

• Each player draws 2 Travel Diary cards and keeps 1.
• Each player plays 2 Mountain cards and passes 2 to the next player.

End of the game

• At the end of the 8th round, each player should have 8 Travel Diary cards and 16 Mountain cards in their Landscape.
• In this mode, there is no Team Victory, only an individual victory.

Game summary (Teams mode)

2-player team

Game round

• Each player gets the Role card every other round.
• Whoever has the Role card draws 2 Travel Diary cards, keeps 1 and discards the other.
• The other player receives 2 Mountain cards and draws 2 more (a total of 4). Then this player has to:
  • Place 2 Mountain cards in their shared Landscape.
  • Pass 2 Mountain cards to the next team (for the next round).

End of the game

• The team plays 8 rounds
• Each player has 4 Travel Diary cards
• The Landscape contains 16 cards
• Companion Bonus: +5 points

3-player team

Game round

• Each player gets the Role card every 3 rounds.
• Whoever has the Role card draws 2 Travel Diary cards, keeps 1 and discards the other.
• The other 2 players receive 1 Mountain card and draw 2 more (a total of 3 cards per player). Then each of these players has to:
  • Place 1 Mountain card in their shared Landscape.
  • Discard 1 Mountain card.
  • Pass 1 Mountain card to the next team (for the next round).

End of the game

• The team plays 9 rounds
• Each player has 3 Travel Diary cards
• The Landscape contains 18 cards
• Companion Bonus: +10 points

Glossary

• Row: A series of Mountain cards of the same colour aligned horizontally, side by side.
• Column: A series of Mountain cards vertically aligned, with or without interruption.
• Adjacent: Two cards are adjacent if 1 directly touches the other vertically or horizontally, but NOT diagonally. Note: if 2 cards are separated by a space in a column in between, they are NOT adjacent even if they seem close.
• Around: One of the 8 cards touching the card (vertically, horizontally, or diagonally).
• On each side: One card to the right and 1 card to the left of the card.
• Pair: A set of 2 cards, anywhere in the Landscape (not necessarily next to one another).
• Triplet: A set of 3 cards, anywhere in the Landscape (not necessarily next to one another).

FAQ

Official FAQ 1.0 published by the publisher (BLAM!).

Order of play

In Sierra, groups play simultaneously. However, it is forbidden to deliberately wait until certain groups have played before making a choice. This means you can't look at the cards being passed to you before choosing your own cards. If this poses a problem during your games, we invite you to play in Competitive mode instead.

Competitive mode

This mode ensures that all groups play with the same information, and that Mountain cards are not always given to the same group. However, it does reduce the flow of the game.

In this game mode, to ensure that all groups always play on an equal way, the cards chosen during a round (Mountain or Travel Diary cards) are first placed face-down in front of each group. Once all groups have made their choices, they are revealed simultaneously (and, of course, you can't change your mind). After the 4th game turn, switch sides to pass your Mountain cards at the end of the turn.