Tectonic Tribes
Tectonic Tribes Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 80 Terrain cards
- 5 Order cards
- 25 Tribe cards (5 per color)
Goal of the Game
Place your tribe and terrain cards strategically to create areas where your tribe has the largest presence. Each area that you claim with a majority scores you points at the end of the game. The player with the most points wins!
Setup
- Each player selects one tribe and takes the five corresponding tribe cards. Place these cards with the terrain facing down (closed) in front of you or hold them in your hand. Other players can always see how many tribe cards you have left, but not which ones. Return any unused tribes to the box.
- Shuffle the terrain cards to form a face-down draw pile.
- Take as many order cards as there are players, returning any extra to the box. Shuffle the order cards and then have each player draw one, placing it face-up in front of them.
- Starting with the player holding order card 1, and continuing in ascending order, each player draws a terrain card from the pile and places it in the middle of the table. The first player simply lays the card down, while the other players must follow the placement rules explained later. This creates the starting terrain.
- Gather the order cards and place them next to the draw pile.
- Deal each player a starting hand of terrain cards; the number depends on the number of players (see table).
| Players | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cards | 10 | 12 | 10 | 8 |
Short Game Overview
This game is played in rounds where all players simultaneously discard one terrain card from their hand and play one face down. Once all the Terrain cards are played, you flip them all face-up. The number on the card determines the order in which players must place their terrain card or play a tribe card. This way, players create more and larger areas that they can try to claim with their tribe cards.
Game Round
Each round consists of four steps:
- Discard and play terrain cards
- Determine the order
- Place terrain or tribe cards
- Pass hand cards
Step 1) Discard and play terrain cards
All players discard one terrain card from their hand to the common discard pile and play one terrain card face down in front of them. After that, all played terrain cards are revealed.
Step 2) Determine the order
Based on the numbers on the terrain cards, the order cards are distributed: the highest number (closest to 80) gets order card 1, the second highest gets 2, and so on. The order card indicates when a player may place a terrain or tribe card, with the player holding order card 1 going first.
Example: Kevin, René and Samantha show their terrain card at the same time. Kevin has played the highest card and receives order card 1. He may play his terrain card first this round. René receives order card 2 and Samantha order card 3.
Step 3) Place terrain or tribe cards
The player with order card 1 starts by placing their terrain card in the growing world of Joldu. The following placement rules apply:
- You may rotate a card. Cards can be played both in portrait or landscape orientation.
- Each card has six squares; at least one square must overlap with a card that is already part of Joldu, but no more than five squares may overlap with existing cards.
- You may not slide a card under another; always place a card on top.
- You may not place a card over a lava area.
- You may not place a card over another tribe's tent. However, you may place a terrain or tribe card over one (or more) of your own tents.
Illustrated examples: a card that does not overlap with another card is an incorrectly placed card; a card that overlaps with a lava area is an incorrectly placed card.
Playing a tribe card
Instead of placing your terrain card, you may choose to play one of your own tribe cards. Tribe cards follow the same placement rules as terrain cards. After playing a tribe card, you must discard either a) your played Terrain card or b) the Terrain card of an opponent who hasn't yet placed a Terrain/Tribe card this round. If you discard an opponent's card, they receive your terrain card in return. If you are the last player of the round, you automatically discard your own terrain card.
Example: Kevin (red) decides to place a tribe card on the forest area in his turn. This borders 4 of his tents to the area. Which means he now has the majority (Samantha (blue) only has 3 tents on the area).
Step 4) Pass hand cards
After all players have taken their turn in a round, they pass their remaining terrain cards to the player to their left.
These four steps repeat until all hand cards are played. Then, each player receives a new starting hand of cards, the same amount as in the setup. If the draw pile runs out of terrain cards, shuffle the discard pile to replenish it.
Formation of Areas
Areas are created by placing terrain cards. Areas consist of squares of the same terrain type, and even a single square is considered an area. Squares in this game are connected when they are horizontally or vertically adjacent. At the end of the game, you score one point for each square of a terrain type (excluding grass) in an area you control. This can be increased by a "+1" point or "+2" points on a square of a terrain type, or even a "x2" which doubles the points for the entire area of that terrain type. Grass scores no points.
Illustrated examples: areas of 1 and 2 squares, and an area of 5 with a +1 (worth 6 points). Grass never scores points.
End Game & Scoring
The game can end in two ways:
- A player has played all five of their tribe cards, you do finish the current round.
- All players have emptied their hands twice. In a two-player game, this happens after the third empty hand.
When the game ends, count each player's points. Players score areas that horizontally or vertically border the tents on their tribe cards, as long as they have the most tents bordering that area. For each area adjacent to your tent, count the number of squares in that area. Each square is worth one point (except for +1, +2, and x2 squares which score more).
Note: 1) Grass terrain scores no points. 2) If two or more players have an equal number of tents bordering the same area (tie), no one scores points for that area.
The tribe with the most points becomes the new chief tribe of Joldu and wins the game! If there is a tie, the player who used the fewest tribe cards wins. If there is still a tie, the players share the victory.
Scoring Example for Samantha (blue)
- This forest area of 2 squares scores 0 points because Kevin has more tents bordering it.
- This water area scores 12 points: (5+1)x2=12.
- This forest area of 5 squares scores 0 points; Kevin has more tents bordering it.
- This diamond mine area scores Samantha 8 points (7+1=8).
- This forest area scores Samantha 1 point.
Samantha's final score is 21 points, winning the game! Kevin (red) scores 14 points (1+2+5+1+5=14) and René (yellow) scores 5 points (2+3=5).
Advanced Game
If you're familiar with the game, you can play an advanced version where the game doesn't end after a player has used all five tribe cards. The game only ends when hands are emptied three times (or four times for two players). This requires more caution with playing tribe cards, and Joldu will grow larger.