Terra Pyramides Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components (Basic Version)
• Preparation
• Gameplay
  • Placing a Tile
  • Choosing, Populating and Activating
  • Draw a Tile
• Additional Actions
  • Building a Pyramid
  • Spending Gold
• End of the Game
• Final Scoring
• Variants
  • Symbol Variant
  • Open Stack Variant
  • Cooperative Variant / Solo Variant
• Turn Summary
• Horus and Grave Goods Expansion (Version 2, Envelope 1)
  • Additional Components
  • Adjustments for the Preparation
  • Changed Game Element: Eye of Horus
  • New Game Elements
    • Grave Goods
    • Completely Enclosed Foundations and Pyramids
  • End of the Game (Horus and Grave Goods)
    • Victory Points for Grave Goods at the End of the Game
    • Game End and Final Scoring
• The Nile and the Oases Expansion (Version 3, Envelope 2)
  • Additional Components
  • Adjustments for the Preparation
  • Changed Game Elements
    • Completely Enclosed Foundations and Pyramids
    • Oases
    • Nile Spaces
  • Victory Points for Oases
  • Victory Points for the Nile
  • Strategy Cards
  • Game End and Final Scoring (The Nile and the Oases)

Components (Basic Version)

• 1 Game Board (front side for the basic game; the back side is used for the Nile and the Oases expansion), showing 4 shaded spaces and the Horus Track
• 64 Workers in 4 colours
• 2 Tile Storages
• 2 Back Boards with information for the Tile Storages
• 4 Point Tokens (100/200)
• 22 Foundation Tiles
• 24 Gold
• 40 Tiles with Stairs, each showing a combination of Worker, Building Block, Eye of Horus and Stairs symbols
• 42 Pyramid Levels, in different colours and values
• 4 Player Boards
• 32 Building Blocks
• 2 Rulebooks (EN, DE, FR, NL)
• 2 Pyramid Finials per player

Preparation

1. Place the Game Board without the Nile River in the center of the table.
2. Sort the Pyramid Levels by colors and values and put them face up next to the Game Board.
3. Shuffle the Foundations and put them face down in a stack next to the Game Board.
4. Insert the Back Boards into the Tile Storages.
5. Shuffle all 40 Tiles with Stairs and put them into the Tile Storages face down in 8 stacks with 5 Tiles each, as shown on the Back Boards.
6. Take four random Tiles from different stacks and place them face down on the four shaded spaces on the Game Board. Once they are placed, reveal and adjust them so that the stairs on each Tile is oriented towards an adjacent building site.
7. For each of those building sites, draw one Foundation from the stack and place it face up on the building site.
8. Place the Gold and the Point Tokens (100/200) next to the Game Board.
9. Every person receives:
   • 1 Player Board
   • 1 Tile with Stairs from one of the 8 stacks
   • when playing with 2/3/4 players, 15/13/11 Workers each
   • their 2 Pyramid Finials
10. Every person puts one of their remaining Workers on the Horus Eye next to the score track.

Gameplay

The player to last see a pyramid starts the game. Players take turns clockwise after that.

On your turn you will place a Tile on the Game Board. After that you will choose, populate and activate a row. At the end of your turn you draw a new Tile from the Tile Storages. The game proceeds with the person to your left.

Placing a Tile

You may place your Tile on any free space on the Board with the exception of Oases and Building Sites. Oases will be visible throughout the whole game but can be part of an activated row (see "Choosing, Populating and Activating").

It is recommended to place your first Tile next to one that's already on the Board.

You have to follow 2 rules when placing Tiles:

1. You always have to place a Tile on the Board with the stairs on that Tile pointing towards a Building Site or a Pyramid.
2. If you build horizontally or vertically next to a Building Site, you have to place a Foundation on that site. Take the first Foundation from the stack and place it face up on the corresponding Building Site. You can only build one Foundation per turn.

Example: Alex places the Tile with one Worker on it and rotates it so the stairs are pointing towards an empty Building Site. Now he has to place a Foundation there, so Alex takes the topmost Foundation from the stack and places it on the Building Site.

Choosing, Populating and Activating

After placing a Tile on the Board you have to choose a row.

A row can be horizontal, vertical or diagonal and is limited by Building Sites, Foundations and Pyramids. That means a row can only consist of a maximum of 4 Tiles. It doesn't matter if there are empty spaces within the chosen row.

Important: The Tile you just placed this turn has to be part of the chosen row!

Once you have chosen a row, you have to populate it. Place Workers and Building Blocks on all Tiles in the row that show the corresponding symbols. Building Blocks are taken from the general supply, Workers are taken from your personal supply.

Afterwards you activate the whole row. The activation of the Tiles follows this order:

• Oasis: Take 1 Gold from the supply and place it on your Player Board.
• Eye of Horus: Take 1 Gold from the supply and place it on your Player Board.

Important: You may only have 4 Gold at the end of your turn. If you have more, you have to buy Building Blocks and/or Workers.

• Building Block: Take the Building Blocks that were placed when you were populating the Tiles and place them on the matching colored spaces on your Player Board.

Important: You may only have 7 Building Blocks at the end of your turn. If you have more, you have to exchange any 2 Blocks for 1 white Block.

• Worker: Draw the Workers that were placed while populating the Tiles horizontally, vertically or diagonally onto a newly placed Foundation, an already existing free Foundation or one of your own Pyramids.

You can choose the target for each Worker individually or draw multiple Workers onto the same location. Workers may not move over free spaces, Pyramids and Foundations on the Game Board and they may not land on empty Building Sites.

Important: There can never be more than 3 Workers on a Foundation or Pyramid! On your very first turn of the game you are only allowed to draw Workers onto a single Foundation.

Example: The example shows which Foundations can be used as valid targets. Since you are only allowed to draw your Workers onto a single Foundation during your first turn of the game, Alex decides to draw them onto the Foundation with the value 3.

You are always allowed to take your own Workers back to your personal supply. If there are Workers you can't draw onto Foundations or Pyramids, you have to take them back to your supply.

In the earlier example: the vertical row is activated. Alex populates his placed Tile and the bottommost Tile of the activated row with 1 Worker each. One "blue" Building Block is placed on the Tile with the blue Building Block. (He could have also chosen the horizontal row with the grey Building Block or the diagonal row with 1 Eye of Horus and 1 Worker.) Afterwards he activates the Tiles. For the 2 Eyes of Horus he receives 2 Gold from the supply.

Draw a Tile

At the end of your turn you draw a new Tile from the Tile Storages. By paying 1 Gold you are allowed to search one stack from the Tile Storage for a specific Tile (see "Spending Gold").

Additional Actions

You must carry out the actions described above on each of your turns. You can perform the actions described below during your turn, some of which are inevitably triggered in certain situations. You can do as many additional actions as you like and have the resources for.

Building a Pyramid

If there are 3 of your Workers on a Foundation or a Pyramid, you can build the next Pyramid Level. For that you have to return Building Blocks from your Player Board back to the supply and take back all but 1 Worker from the Foundation or Pyramid back to your personal supply.

Initial Tile	Required Workers	Required Blocks	New Tile	Value
Foundation	3	1	Pyramid Level 1	5
Pyramid Level 1	3	2	Pyramid Level 2	10
Pyramid Level 2	3	3	Pyramid Level 3	20
Pyramid Level 3	3	4	Pyramid Level 4	35
Pyramid Level 4	3	5	Pyramid Level 5	60

Keep in mind:

• There will always be 1 Worker on a Pyramid to show ownership.
• By building the first Pyramid Level (value 5) you also have free choice over the color of the Pyramid. (It is recommended to choose a color of which you own the most Building Blocks.)
• From now on you have to use Building Blocks of that color for each additional Level you want to build of that Pyramid.
• White Building Blocks are considered wilds and can always be used.
• If you have 3 Workers on a Pyramid but you don't own the required amount of Building Blocks and you are not able to buy additional Building Blocks (see "Spending Gold"), you are not allowed to build the next Level. Workers just stay on the Pyramid.

Spending Gold

You receive Gold by activating Oases and Eyes of Horus in your chosen row. As already mentioned you are not allowed to have more than 4 Gold at the end of your turn. If you have more than 4 Gold you have to spend the excess in one of two ways:

• By spending 1 Gold you are allowed to take one of the stacks from the Tile Storage, look through it and place it back in the order of your choosing.
• By spending 3 Gold you can buy a Worker or a Building Block.
  • A Worker bought that way has to be placed on a Pyramid or Foundation you own. It is also allowed to place the Worker on a free Foundation.
  • A Building Block bought this way has to be placed on the white space of your Player Board.

End of the Game

The Back Boards of the Tile Storages show when a stack of Tiles is completely removed from the game. When playing with 2 players, it gets removed when there is only 1 Tile left in the stack. Remove that Tile from the game without looking at it. No Tiles get removed when playing a 3 or 4 player game.

The game ends as soon as the last Tile taken from the Tile Storages gets placed on the Board and the turn of that player is finished. All players have played the same amount of turns.

The Back Board legend shows: the number of players, the amount of Tiles per player, the total amount of Tiles per Tile Storage, and the amount of Tiles per stack. Remove the remaining stack of Tiles when the dark brown line on the Back Board for 2 Players becomes visible. Otherwise, remove the stack of Tiles once its amount reaches the shown value.

Final Scoring

1. Foundations: Count the values of all Foundations you own at the end of the game and move your Point Marker forward according to the total value on the Horus Track on the Board. Take your Workers on those Foundations back to your personal supply.
2. Pyramids: Count the values of all Pyramids you own at the end of the game and move your Point Marker forward according to the total value on the Horus Track on the Board. Take your Workers on those Pyramids back to your personal supply.
3. Resources: You get 1 point for each Building Block and each Gold you own at the end of the game.

If you score more than 100 points you get a 100 Points Marker. If you score more than 200 points you flip that Marker to show the 200 points side.

If you scored the most points you win Terra Pyramides! If there is a tie it's a shared victory.

Important: The small symbols (Sphinx and Scarab) on the Game Board don't have any meaning in the basic version of the game and are only used in the symbol variant.

Variants

Symbol Variant

Place the filled Tile Storages according to their printed symbol on the Sphinx side of the Board or the Scarab side of the Board.

• If you take a Tile from the Tile Storage of the Sphinx you have to place that Tile on a space with a Sphinx printed on it.
• If you take a Tile from the Tile Storage of the Scarab you have to place that Tile on a space with a Scarab printed on it.

To remember which side of the Board you have to place your Tile on, you can place your Tile on the side of your Player Board that shows the corresponding symbol.

By spending 1 Gold you are allowed to place your Tile without sticking to the symbol.

Open Stack Variant

4 of the 8 stacks with Tiles are placed face up. You may choose from which kind of stack you draw a Tile from at the end of your turn. Taking a Tile from an open stack allows you to see what you get.

Cooperative Variant / Solo Variant

This variant is a good way to get to know the game. All players work together to complete a mission.

Rules of the basic version apply for all three missions: all players play with one player color, one Player Board, 12 Workers. There are 8 stacks with Tiles with 5 Tiles each. The last Tile of each stack gets placed back in the box.

• Mission 1 — Goal: Build 4 Pyramids with a value of 60. Since there are only 2 Finials of each player color, use another player color Finial for the 3rd and 4th Pyramid.
• Mission 2 — Goal: Score more than 275 points. Since there are only 2 Finials of each player color, use also the other player color Finials.
• Mission 3 — Goal: Build 6 Pyramids in 6 different colors and all Pyramids with a value of 35. When the 4th Level of a Pyramid has been built, you don't place a Worker on it. You can not build another Level on that Pyramid.

Turn Summary

On your turn:

1. Place a Tile. If an empty Building Site is adjacent, draw and place a Foundation Tile on that Building Site.
2. Choose a Row. The placed Tile must be part of the row.
3. Populate the Row. Put items on Tiles: Gold and Building Blocks out of the general supply, Workers out of your personal supply.
4. Activate the Row. Gather Gold and Building Blocks to your personal supply. Move Workers onto Foundations (empty or owned by you).
5. Build a Pyramid, if possible.
6. Draw a new Tile. Check resource limits.

Additional actions available on your turn:

• Spend 3 Gold to buy 1 Worker.
• Spend 3 Gold to buy 1 white Building Block.
• Spend 1 Gold to look through 1 stack of Tiles.
• Change any 2 Building Blocks for 1 white Building Block.
• Build a Pyramid (see the table under "Building a Pyramid").

Horus and Grave Goods Expansion (Version 2, Envelope 1)

All rules of the basic version apply.

Additional Components

• 16 Tiles with Stairs
• 1 Grave Goods Scoreboard
• 2 Back Boards with information for Tile Storages
• 8 Score Markers in 4 colours

Important: Shuffle the 16 Tiles with Stairs with the 40 Tiles from the basic version. Place the new Back Board that matches your player count in the Tile Storages.

Adjustments for the Preparation

• Shuffle all 56 Tiles with Stairs and put them into the Tile Storages face down in 8 stacks with 7 Tiles each, as shown on the Back Boards.
• Flip your Player Board. On the top right corner you will find two new ways of spending Gold. For this expansion, ignore the symbol on the very right.
• All players place one additional Worker on the Eye of Horus at the start of the Horus Track as a Victory Point Token.

Changed Game Element: Eye of Horus

The Horus Track works differently from now on. Every time you activate an Eye of Horus you move your Victory Point Token forward 1 space. You don't receive any Gold for Eyes of Horus anymore!

Whenever you reach or pass a Gold coin on the Horus Track with your Victory Point Marker you receive 2 Gold that you place in your personal supply as usual. You are still only allowed to keep a maximum of 4 Gold at the end of your turn.

Steps on the Horus Track are Victory Points at the end of the game. Points made during the final scoring will be added on top of those, but you don't receive any Gold when reaching or passing a Gold coin.

New Game Elements

Grave Goods

When you activate one or more Tiles with Grave Goods on them you move 1 step on the Grave Goods Track.

Tiles that show a Grave Good and a Building Block give you a white Building Block in addition to the Grave Good.

New Gold Action: By spending 1 Gold you can move 1 step on the Grave Goods Track. This action is now depicted on the Player Board.

Completely Enclosed Foundations and Pyramids

As of now, whenever you completely enclose a Foundation or Pyramid with your workers on it, you receive all Eyes of Horus, Grave Goods and Gold coins found on the 8 Tiles surrounding the now enclosed Tile as an additional bonus. This also applies when another player completely encloses one of your Foundations or Pyramids.

Example: Alex (orange) receives 7 Eyes of Horus and 1 Gold. Enclosing also works at the border. See blue's foundation: Bodo (blue) receives 9 Eyes of Horus.

End of the Game (Horus and Grave Goods)

Victory Points for Grave Goods at the End of the Game

During final scoring you receive victory points for your Grave Goods. You score 1 victory point for each Grave Good you have. In addition to that you score points according to the difference in Grave Goods to each player who has less Grave Goods than you.

Example 1: Alex has 20 Grave Goods, Bodo 15, Chris 8 and Didi 2. Didi receives 2 points, Chris 8 + 6 = 14, Bodo 15 + 7 + 13 = 35 and Alex 20 + 5 + 12 + 18 = 55 VP.

Example 2: Alex and Bodo each have 20 Grave Goods, Chris and Didi each have 2. Chris and Didi receive 2 points each, Alex and Bodo receive 20 + 18 + 18 = 56 VP each.

Add those victory points to the ones already scored on the Horus Track.

Game End and Final Scoring

The game ends as soon as all 8 stacks with Tiles are removed. The Back Boards in the Tile Storages show you when to remove a stack. In a 2 player game you remove the rest of a stack when there are only 3 Tiles left. In a 3 to 4 player game you remove the rest of a stack when there are only 2 Tiles left.

Proceed with final scoring, including the points for Foundations, Pyramids, Grave Goods, Building Blocks and Gold. If you scored the most points you win!

The Nile and the Oases Expansion (Version 3, Envelope 2)

All rules from previous versions still apply.

Additional Components

• 8 Tiles with Stairs

• 4 Ships

• 2 Back Boards with information for Tile Storages

• 8 Score Markers in 4 colours

• 6 Strategy Cards

• 1 Oases Scoreboard

• Game Board: Play on the back side of the Game Board.

• Ships: You receive 1 Ship of your color. Place it on the starting space of the Nile (showing ships on it).

• Player Boards: In this version you can spend 2 Gold to move your Ship 1 space along the Nile. This can be important for final scoring.

• Shuffle the 8 Tiles with Stairs with the 56 Tiles from the previous versions.

Adjustments for the Preparation

• Shuffle all 64 Tiles with Stairs and put them into the Tile Storages face down in 8 stacks with 8 Tiles each, as shown on the Back Boards.
• Just like before, draw 4 Tiles and place them on the marked spaces, rotating the Tiles so that the Stairs face the building site. Draw and place 1 Foundation for each of those building sites.
• All building sites located next to the Nile on the Game Board already show Stairs next to them. Draw and place 1 Foundation for each of those building sites.
• Put the 6 Strategy Cards face up next to the Game Board.

Changed Game Elements

Completely Enclosed Foundations and Pyramids

In addition to Eyes of Horus, Grave Goods and Gold coins you will also activate Oases and Nile spaces when completely enclosing a Foundation or a Pyramid.

Oases

When you activate a Tile with an Oasis you move 1 step on the Oases Track. You also receive whatever is depicted together with the Oasis.

Nile Spaces

Just like spaces with an Oasis on the Game Board, Nile spaces are considered not empty. They are also taken into account when activating a row or moving Workers. That means you can move a Worker across the Nile onto a Foundation or Pyramid.

Example: Alex places a Tile with a Worker and a red Building Block at the upper part of the Nile. He could now activate the row horizontally and activate 3 spaces (Worker with red Building Block and 2 Nile spaces) or he could activate the row diagonally and activate 5 spaces (Worker with red Building Block and 4 Nile spaces). The Worker can be moved onto the Foundation adjacent at the bottom of the Tile, horizontally onto the Foundation next to the Nile or even diagonally onto the Foundation that's 4 spaces away, since all of those Tiles are considered not empty.

Whenever you activate a Nile space during your turn, move your Ship one space along the Nile.

Example: Alex placed the Tile with the grey Building Block. He activates the diagonal row and receives 1 Eye of Horus, 1 red and 1 grey Building Block, 1 Worker and 2 steps on the Nile since the activated row contains 2 Nile spaces.

Victory Points for Oases

At the end of the game you receive victory points for Oases that are calculated like this: Number of Oases multiplied by your highest Pyramid Level.

Remember:

• A Pyramid worth 5 points consists of 1 Pyramid Level.
• A Pyramid worth 10 points consists of 2 Pyramid Levels.
• A Pyramid worth 20 points consists of 3 Pyramid Levels.
• A Pyramid worth 35 points consists of 4 Pyramid Levels.
• A Pyramid worth 60 points consists of 5 Pyramid Levels.

Example: Your highest Pyramid is worth 35 points, it consists of 4 Pyramid Levels. You also have 8 Oases, so you receive 4x8 = 32 victory points for the Oases. Add those points to the ones already scored on the Horus Track.

Victory Points for the Nile

At the end of the game you receive victory points for the Nile that are calculated like this: Number of your Pyramids and Foundations multiplied by the number of palm trees you reached with your Ship.

Example: Orange has 6 Pyramids and reached 7 palm trees = 42 VP. Blue has 5 Pyramids and reached 5 palm trees = 25 VP. Green has 4 Pyramids and reached 5 palm trees = 20 VP. Purple has 3 Pyramids and reached 0 palm trees = 0 VP.

Strategy Cards

Strategy Cards show tasks you can accomplish. It is allowed to accomplish multiple tasks and you will receive additional victory points at the end of the game. It is irrelevant if the corresponding Strategy Card is owned by you or not.

If you own a Strategy Card at the end of the game and you accomplish the task on that card, you score 20 victory points. If the card is still next to the Game Board or owned by another player, you score 10 victory points. You don't get any victory points for tasks that you didn't accomplish. If there is a tie between players, no one receives victory points.

Here are the available tasks:

• Grave Goods: Have the most Grave Goods at the end of the game.
• Eyes of Horus: Have the most Eyes of Horus at the end of the game.
• Oases: Have the most Oases at the end of the game.
• Nile: If your ship traveled the longest distance on the Nile, you accomplish this task. If there are multiple ships on the same space, you accomplish the task by being there first. The Nile ends on the last space of the river. (Arrange ships one after another on Nile spaces to see the order of arrival.)
• Highest Pyramid: Have the highest Pyramid at the end of the game. If there is a tie, compare your second highest Pyramid. If still tied, your third highest Pyramid decides. If there is still a tie, no one receives the points.
• Most Pyramids: Have the most Pyramids and Foundations at the end of the game.

Once during the whole game and only if you already have more than 4 points on the Horus Track you can buy 1 Strategy Card by spending Gold. For each Gold space on the Horus Track that you reached or passed (steps of 5) you have to pay 1 Gold.

Example: You already scored 13 points on the Horus Track. To buy a Strategy Card you need to pay 2 Gold.

Remember: All Strategy Cards will be scored at the end of the game, even the ones still next to the Game Board. If you accomplish one of those tasks, you score 10 victory points.

Game End and Final Scoring (The Nile and the Oases)

The game ends as soon as all 8 stacks with Tiles are removed. The Back Boards in the Tile Storages show you when to remove a stack. In a 2 player game you remove the rest of a stack when there are only 4 Tiles left. In a 3 to 4 player game you remove the rest of a stack when there are only 3 Tiles left.

Proceed with final scoring, including the points for Foundations, Pyramids, Grave Goods, Oases, the Nile, Strategy Cards, Building Blocks and Gold.

If you scored the most points you win!