Uxmal Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Object of the Game
• Contents
• Set-Up
• Game Phases
• Playing the Game
  • 1 - Place a Tile on the Board
    • Idol Cards
  • 2 - Place a Priest on One of the Pyramid Tiles
  • 3 - Move One of Your Priests
  • 4 - Honour or Curse an Idol
• Scoring at the End of Each Phase
• After Phases 1 and 2
• End of the Game
• Variations

Object of the Game

As priests, your job is to construct the city's pyramid. Decorate the pyramid with the most popular Idols to win status points!

At the end of the 3 phases when the pyramid is built, the player with the most points earned throughout the pyramid's entire construction wins the game.

Contents

• 1 Game board
• 1 Scoreboard
• 29 Pyramid tiles
• 5 Idol tiles
• 45 Idol cards (9 cards per Idol)
• 16 Priests (4 Priests per colour)
• 4 Player aids

Set-Up

Take all the contents out of the box.

1. Place the board showing the base of the pyramid onto the plastic insert inside the game box, and place this in the centre of the table.

2. Place the scoreboard on one side of the table. This board is made up of a score tracker, a popularity tracker with 5 squares numbered 1 to 5 and one status points pyramid.

3. Shuffle the 5 Idol tiles together and place these next to each other, face-up on the idols tracker of the scoreboard in the Idol squares marked 1 to 5. This section shows the popularity of Idols according to the decisions of the priests.

4. Separate the 45 cards by Idol into 5 piles, face-up next to the scoreboard.

5. Make a stock of Pyramid tiles, face-down, inside the lid of the box and place this close to all the players. Note: tiles are always divided into 4 sections: 3 different Idols and 1 empty space.

6. Each player chooses what colour to play and takes the 4 corresponding priests and 1 game helper which they place in front of them. 1 of your 4 priests will be used to track your status points. Place 1 priest on this one on the 0 square of the scoreboard.

Game Phases

The game is played over 3 phases:

Phase 1 - Build the base of the pyramid: Make a 4 x 4 grid (16 tiles) to create Level 1 by placing the tiles on the board. Phase 1 ends once Level 1 is completed.

Phase 2 - Continue building the pyramid: Make a 3 x 3 grid (9 tiles) to create Level 2. This level should be built above Level 1. Phase 2 ends once Level 2 is completed.

Phase 3 - Finish building the pyramid: Make a 2 x 2 grid (4 tiles). This level should be built above Level 2. Phase 3 ends once Level 3 is completed.

The youngest player starts and gameplay continues clockwise.

Playing the Game

On your turn, you must accomplish only 1 of the following 4 actions:

1. Place a tile on the board
2. Place a priest on one of the pyramid tiles
3. Move one of your priests
4. Honour or Curse an Idol

1 - Place a Tile on the Board

Take a tile from the stock and place it on the board. It can be placed wherever you like, as long as the following rules are respected:

Level 1 (4x4 base): The pyramid cannot be more than 4 tiles in length and breadth. The board is made up of 25 notches which allow the tiles to be properly fitted.

Higher levels (3x3, 2x2): A tile will fit into the notches of the lower level tiles.

NOTE: whatever construction level you are on, you cannot start building the level above this until the current level has been completed.

Idol Cards

Placing tiles will bring you Idol cards. Receive 1 or 2 Idol cards according to the following situations:

• If you match up 2 identical Idols next to each other, whether on the same or different levels, you get 1 of this Idol's cards.
• If you place 2 identical Idols one on top of another, you receive 2 cards.

IMPORTANT:

• In the same turn, it is possible for more than one of these situations to occur. However, you can only benefit from one situation of your choosing. You cannot therefore receive more than 2 cards, nor can you receive 2 cards for different Idols.
• If one of the piles of Idols only has one card left and you need to take 2, you can only take one. If one of the piles of Idols cards is empty and you need to take 1 or 2, you cannot take any.

2 - Place a Priest on One of the Pyramid Tiles

You can place 1 of your available priests on one of the pyramid tiles. Choose 1 of the 3 Idols on the tile and place your priest on it.

Exception: In the unlikely event that a tile were to cover one or several tiles occupied by priests, all priests concerned should be placed on the new tile in their corresponding spaces.

3 - Move One of Your Priests

To move a priest that is on the pyramid, you need to use the Idol cards. For each space the priest moves, you'll need to discard one card. You can only move one priest per turn.

All discarded cards are then replaced in their respective piles next to the scoreboard.

Priest movements:

• Priests can move forward, backward, left and right but not diagonally.
• They can move up and down the pyramid.
• Priests can jump over other priests. Occupied squares do not count as part of a movement. However, priests cannot stop on a square occupied by another priest.
• Only 1 priest can be moved per turn.

4 - Honour or Curse an Idol

You can influence the popularity of Idols by honouring or cursing them. If an Idol is honoured, increase their popularity rating on the scoreboard by moving them one space towards the 1. If they are cursed, they lose popularity and should be moved one space towards the 5. The level of worship for Idols is always between 1 and 5.

To move an Idol tile one or several squares, you must discard as many of this Idol's cards as squares you wish to move.

You can only move 1 Idol during your turn.

All discarded cards are then replaced in their respective piles next to the scoreboard.

Scoring at the End of Each Phase

After each phase, the number of accumulated status points for each player must be counted. Use the points pyramid on the scoreboard to count your status points.

Look at the 3 Idols on squares 1, 2 and 3 on the scoreboard:

All priests on these Idols in the pyramid win status points according to the level of the pyramid they are on.

Only the cards in your possession that correspond to Idols in squares 1 and 2 win 2 and 1 bonus points respectively per card. Put these back in their respective piles after counting your points. Keep the rest of your cards in hand.

Example: Lina, the pink player, wins 15 points thanks to her priests' place on the Snake Idol: each priests wins her 5 points on this level of the pyramid because the Snake is the 2nd most popular Idol. She has 2 Jaguar cards and 1 Snake card that she has to discard and which win her 5 more points (2 points per Jaguar card and 1 point per Snake card). She wins 20 points for this round and moves her pink priest onto square 32 of the scoreboard.

After Phases 1 and 2

IMPORTANT: After phases 1 and 2 have been completed and you've counted up your points, 2 events occur:

• The rejection of the favoured Idols: the 2 most popular Idols are suddenly rejected. The Idol tiles from squares 1 and 2 must move into squares 4 and 5 respectively. The other Idols see their popularity increase by 2.
• The priests' break: you must collect all the priests you have placed in the pyramid.

End of the Game

The game ends once phase 3 is complete. Carry out one last point scoring, respecting the rules above.

The player who has collected the most status points wins the game.

In the case of a tie, the player who has the most cards still in their possession wins the game. If a tie persists, the players involved share the victory.

Variations

VARIATION: No break for the priests

Leave the priests where they are after each phase of the pyramid's construction.

VARIATION: A forced break

The phases of the game stay the same but you no longer have the same number of priests at your disposal.

• In phase 1, you only have 3 priests at your disposal.
• In phase 2, you only have 2 priests at your disposal.
• In phase 3, you only have 1 priest at your disposal.

Before starting a new phase, gather your priests and only keep the number indicated above.