The Quest for El Dorado
120 questions players ask about The Quest for El Dorado. Pick one for the answer. See also the full rulebook.
Updated 2026-11-04.
Setup and Components
- Where exactly do blockades go during setup?
- How many blockades go on a terrain strip?
- What does each player's starting deck contain?
- How many card piles are on the market board, and what about the others?
- What do the top and bottom numbers on an expedition card mean?
- Are the rules different between editions of El Dorado?
- Does the starting player token pass to another player each round?
Movement
- Can I combine several cards to pay for one hard space?
- Can leftover power from one card be used after I play another card?
- Can I use only part of a card's power, or play a card and not move at all?
- Can I move through or stop on a space occupied by another player's piece?
- Can any card, such as the Prop Plane, take me onto a mountain?
- Can a white joker like the Prop Plane or Adventurer cover two terrain types in one play?
- Can a card I used to move also help pay for a purchase?
- Can I buy a card and then move in the same turn?
- Can I use a non-coin card as half a coin to pay for movement?
- How do I enter a space that needs four symbols?
Blockades
- Can I remove a blockade without moving past it?
- Can a piece stop on a blockade to block opponents?
- After I remove a blockade, can I jump to any hex on the far side?
- Can one card remove a blockade and keep moving afterwards?
- Can I combine cards to meet a blockade's strength?
- Can the Native remove an adjacent blockade?
- Can leftover power carry on after I pay for a rubble blockade?
- Must I be able to move past a blockade the same turn I clear it?
Buying Cards and the Market
- How many coins is each card worth when buying?
- Can I spend a white joker (Prop Plane, Adventurer, Jack of All Trades) at its full coin value?
- How many cards can I buy per turn, and can I also move?
- Can I play a card on the turn I buy it?
- When a market spot is empty, which cards can I buy?
- Does taking a card with the Transmitter use up my one purchase?
- Does a Transmitter pickup move market piles or fill an empty spot?
- Can the Transmitter take a purple action card?
- Can a card I take with the Transmitter be drawn and played later the same turn?
Items and Action Cards
- Is the Treasure Chest removed from the game when I spend it for its 4 coins?
- Can I spend an item as half a coin and keep it for later?
- Can purple action cards be played at any time in my turn, including while buying?
- Can I spend a purple action card as half a coin?
- How do the Scientist and Travel Log work, and is the trashing mandatory?
- Does the Native let me enter a rubble or base camp space without paying its cost?
- Can the Native move me onto an occupied space or a mountain?
Rubble and Base Camps
Deck, Hand and Drawing
- Do cards I play go straight to my discard pile, or can I redraw them the same turn?
- When do I reshuffle my discard pile, and what if both piles are empty?
- Can I keep unplayed cards in my hand at the end of my turn?
- What if I hold four or more cards after discarding; do I draw?
- Can I take a turn without moving or buying?
- Are cards I spend to buy removed from the game?
- Can I look through my draw pile or discard pile?
End of the Game
- What happens when someone reaches El Dorado; do the others get a last turn?
- Do I need a special card to enter the finishing spaces, or pay to enter El Dorado?
- How is a tie for first settled if several players reach El Dorado?
- For the second tie-breaker, does a blockade's power mean its printed number or its symbol count?
- What if tied players have no blockades at all?
Two-Player Game
Caves Variant
- When do I take a cave token: only if I stop next to the cave?
- How do I take a second token from the same cave, and can I do it in one turn?
- If I stop next to two caves, do I take a token from each?
- Where do cave token piles go on the board?
- Can I move through a cave space once its tokens are gone?
- Can I spend a cave token as half a coin to buy a card?
- Can a cave token be discarded to pay for rubble, base camps or other discard costs?
- Can I combine a cave movement token with a card or another token for one move?
- When can I play cave tokens, and can I keep them?
- What does the cave token that lets me pass occupied spaces do?
The Quest for El Dorado: Heroes & HexesExpansion
- Do I need the Caves variant to play Heroes & Hexes?
- Can I use only some parts of Heroes & Hexes, such as heroes without curses?
- What happens when I stop on a Hero Tavern space?
- Are the two ends of a tunnel adjacent for Native-style moves?
- Does a Native or Geologist draw curses when moving onto a demon space?
- Can Nathan Cook enter rubble or base camp spaces that show one symbol?
- How are multiple curses drawn and resolved?
- Does the Shaman draw a curse for every demon space I pass?
- Can leftover movement carry me through an unoccupied demon space?
The Quest for El Dorado: Dangers & MuiscaExpansion
- How do temple artifacts work in Dangers & Muisca?
- Can I make the sacrifice at a shrine I stopped on in an earlier turn?
- Which cards can I offer at a shrine: Muisca, white, cave tokens?
- In a two-player game must each piece collect all artifacts?
- How do I enter a swamp space with crocodiles?
- Can Nathan Cook cross single-crocodile swamp spaces?
- Can I end my turn on a skull space?
- When does a stream's white arrow move me?
- What if a space has both a white arrow and a skull?
The Quest for El Dorado: Dragons, Treasures & MysteriesExpansion
- How do I lift a treasure, and what can I trash for it?
- Can I lift a treasure while a dragon is adjacent?
- When does a dormant dragon wake up?
- Who can move an awake dragon, and where can it go?
- How do dragons interact with tunnels and water vortexes?
- When does the purple dragon get its second move?
- Can a white card or Compass move a dragon, and is it removed?
- Do four Treasure tokens win the game, and what about two players?
- Can Lara O'Malley, Voodoo or Paralysis push a piece toward a dragon?