Wisdom of Solomon Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Components and Sample Setup
• Setting Up the Game
• Initial Market Purchase
• Game Summary
• Action Spaces and Networks
• People and Areas to Visit
  • The Merchant
    • Buying and Selling
  • The Trader
  • The Levite
  • The Foreman
  • The Holy Place Bonuses
  • The Land of Israel
• End of Year
• End of Game
• Solo Mode
  • General Rules for Jeroboam
  • Setup
  • Initial Market Purchase
  • Game Turn
  • End of Year
  • End of Game
• Reference Section
  • Building Card Icons
  • Fortune Card FAQ

Game Components and Sample Setup

1. Board
2. 15 Shortage Tiles
3. 20 Temple Tiles
4. 6 Blue Exotic (Wild) Cubes
5. 7 Yellow Gold Cubes
6. 8 Orange Copper Cubes
7. 9 Grey Stone Cubes
8. 10 Brown Wood Cubes
9. 11 Green Food Cubes
10. 6 Resource Label Tokens
11. 15 Wooden Road Pieces
12. 26 Building Cards
13. 24 Fortune Cards
14. 5 50/100 Favor Tokens
15. 1 Starting Player Token
16. 5 Sets of Player Pieces Including:

• 6 Customs Houses
• 6 Worker Pawns
• 1 Favor Marker

17. 15 Solo Mode Tiles
18. Cloth Tile Bag
19. Rulebook

Setting Up the Game

1. Each player should take one set of Player Pieces and place their Favor Marker at the 10 spot on the Favor track. In a 3-player game, remove a Worker from each player's reserves. In a 4 or 5 player game, remove two Workers and a Customs House from each player's reserves.
2. Place the Resource Cubes next to the board, along with their Labels. From these piles, remove a Resource Cube for each player in the game less than 5. For example, in a 3-player game you will remove two Resource Cubes from each Resource Supply pile.
3. Shuffle the Shortage Tiles and draw:
   • 5 in a 2-player game
   • 4 in a 3-player game
   • 3 in a 4-player game
   • 2 in a 5-player game
4. Place these Shortage Tiles on the map in their matching Locations. These Locations will not produce Resources in this game as long as they have a Shortage Tile on them.
5. In a 2-3 player game, place a Resource Cube on the bottom two squares in each area of the Market. In a 4-5 player game, fill the bottom three squares in each area of the Market instead.
6. Shuffle the Temple Tiles face down and place a tile on each of the empty squares in the Temple area of the board until it is filled. Do not cover the spaces marked '3-5' unless playing a 3-5 player game, likewise do not cover the '4-5' spaces unless playing a 4-5 player game. Leftover Temple Tiles should be returned to the game box.
7. Shuffle the Building Cards and place one card face-up next to each bonus marker on the upper left side of the board. Then flip the top Building Card of the deck over and leave it on top of the deck. These five Building Cards are the structures available to acquire this game year.
8. Shuffle the Fortune Cards and hand out two cards to each player. Each player should look at the cards, take one, and discard the other card face-up next to the Fortune Card draw pile.
9. Determine the wisest player and give them the Starting Player Token. This player will place a Worker on the board first but will also have the last pick in the Initial Market Purchase (see below).

Initial Market Purchase

Starting with the player to the right of the Starting Player and going around the table counterclockwise, each player may purchase up to three Resources. Any Resources purchased must be spent by moving the player's Favor Marker back on the Favor Track the appropriate number of spaces. A player may never spend more Favor than they have during the game.

After a player has made their purchase from the Market, go to the next player counterclockwise and that player may do the same from what is leftover in the Market. After the first place player finally purchases their Resource(s), the game begins!

Game Summary

Wisdom of Solomon takes place over a series of years. Each year begins with the player holding the Starting Player Token and then proceeds to the left (clockwise). Players will take turns placing a Worker on a Worker Space on either the game board or on a Building Card they own. The player will then do that associated action earning Resources, gaining Favor, or a number of other benefits.

After every player has placed all of their Workers on the board the year ends and End of Year maintenance takes place (see below). Afterwards a new year begins unless the game has ended. This occurs when someone has either:

• Placed all of their Customs Houses on the map.

OR

• Acquired the last available Temple Tile, completing Solomon's Temple.

At the end of that year, players will reveal their Temple Tiles and add up all of their Favor. The player with the most Favor at the end of the game wins!

Action Spaces and Networks

There are six different people and areas on the game board that a player may send their Workers. By placing a Worker at these locations, the player gets to do an action. Once a Worker has been placed in a Worker Space, no one else may claim the space it is on. The people and areas that may be visited are:

• The Merchant
• The Trader
• The Levite
• The Foreman
• The Holy Place Bonuses
• The Land of Israel

Let's look at each area!

People and Areas to Visit

The Merchant

The Merchant controls the Market where there are five areas to either buy and/or sell Gold, Copper, Stone, Wood, or Food Resources. The cost to buy and/or sell a Resource is listed next to each space on its mat. When a player places a Worker on an open Worker Space by the Market, they may make up to three buy or sell transactions, or a mixture of the two.

Buying and Selling

To buy a Resource, deduct from your Favor Track the price of the Resource listed next to the Resource Cube, and add the Resource to your reserves. To sell a Resource, take the Resource you are selling and place it on any empty Resource spot of that Resource type and gain that many points of Favor. A player may sell the same Resource they bought that turn.

Throughout Wisdom of Solomon, Exotic Cubes act as Wild Cubes that can be used in place of any Resource. When selling an Exotic Good at the Market, the player may place the Cube on any empty spot in the Market.

After buying and/or selling up to three Resources in total, the player may then optionally play a Fortune Card from their hand. After doing so, place the Card in the Fortune Card discard pile next to the Fortune Card draw pile.

The Trader

The Trader space allows a player to trade any one of their own Resources for any two other Resources available in the Resource Supply piles excluding Exotic Goods. The Resource traded in must not be the same type as any of the Resources received.

After Trading, the player may play a Fortune Card from their hand. After doing so, place the used card in the Fortune Card discard pile.

The Levite

The Levite allows a player to build part of the Temple of Solomon by taking a Temple Tile. These Temple Tiles each have a hidden amount of Favor on them (between 6 and 10 points), a reward for helping to build the Temple. To take a Temple Tile and raise a section of the Temple, a player needs to either discard:

• A Gold and Copper Resource

OR

• A Stone, Wood, and Food Resource

In addition, the player must discard a Resource of their choice for each Worker already placed at the Levite space before this turn. The Levite rewards those who build early each year!

After paying the cost, the player may take a Temple Tile of their choice, look at it, and then keep it hidden until the end of the game when it will be revealed. In addition, a player may draw a Fortune Card and add it to their hand. This Fortune card can be played when visiting either the Merchant or Trader, or it can also be saved for game's end to receive 2 Favor.

If all of the Temple Tiles have been taken, the game will end that year and this area may no longer be used.

In an example where two Workers are already at the Levite space, placing a new Worker there would require either a Stone, Wood, and Food Resource or a Gold and Copper Resource IN ADDITION to two Resource Cubes of their choice since there are two Workers already there.

The Foreman

The Foreman space is where new Buildings can be purchased. Buildings can give a player new ways to acquire Favor, additional Resources, and do other things to make a player's life easier. They also allow a player to expand their network throughout Israel by building Customs Houses and Roads, making it easier to acquire Resources from across the nation.

After a player places their Worker at the Foreman space, the player may choose any face up Building, pay its Resource cost found in the bottom right corner of the Building Card, and then place that Building Card face-up in front of themselves. This Building and its bonuses are only available to the person who built it. The player then receives Favor equal to the number shown on the card, plus any additional Favor points shown next to the Building card on the map.

Next, the player places one of their Customs House pieces anywhere there is an open space on the map, ignoring spaces reserved for a higher number of players. If there is a Road piece available, the player may then place a Road next to any of their placed Buildings and connect it to any adjacent Location to which a road is not already connected.

To find out more on how networks work in Wisdom of Solomon, see the "The Land of Israel" section.

The Holy Place Bonuses

The Holy Place bonus area contains four powerful areas to place Workers. These spaces are different from normal spaces in that a player must place ALL OF THEIR REMAINING Workers there to do its action, whether it be one Worker or many more. This will end the year for the player, who must then wait for the rest of the players to finish placing their Workers.

These spaces may no longer be used once there is only one person left placing Workers that year. In addition, the first player to place a Worker(s) in this area receives the Starting Player token and gets to go first the next year.

These are the four areas that may be claimed, going from left to right:

• Ark of the Covenant – Draw 3 Fortune Cards.
• Menorah – Any opponent with 7 or more Resources must give the player half of their Resources, rounded down. The player's opponents may choose which of their Resources to give.
• Altar of Incense – Take 1 Exotic Good (if available), and gain 8 Favor.
• Table of the Presence – Take 1 Gold, 1 Copper, 1 Stone, 1 Wood, and 1 Food Resource (if available).

Like normal Worker spaces, once an area has been claimed by a player no one else may place a Worker in that space that year.

The Land of Israel

On the right side of the board is the Land of Israel with its Locations and neighbors. Each Location on the board produces a different type of Resource. In the Locations within Israel there is a place where one or more Customs Houses may be built.

During their turn, a player may place a Worker on any open Worker Space that either:

• Contains one of their own Customs Houses

OR

• Does not contain an opponent's Customs House

After placing their Worker, the player receives that Resource (or Resources) from the reserve pile. Locations with a Shortage Tile do not provide Resources.

If a player places a Worker on a Location with one of their Customs Houses, that player collects Resources from that Location and any Locations networked to it. A network includes all Locations connected via Road to the starting Location, that:

• Contains one of their own Customs Houses

OR

• Does not contain an opponent's Customs House

Special Rule: A player NEVER receives Resources from Locations with a Worker already in it.

For more details about building Customs Houses and Roads, see "The Foreman" section of the rulebook.

In an example network, if the Black player placed a Worker on Gilead, they would collect Resources from Gilead, Judah, and Geshur. The player would not collect from Ammon since the Red player has a Customs House there, not from Bashan since a Worker is already there, and not from Jezreel since a Shortage Tile is on that Location.

In the same example, if the Red player placed a Worker on Geshur, they would only collect from Geshur since Bashan already has a Worker and the lone Black Customs House in Gilead would stop Red's network from going any further.

End of Year

A year of Wisdom of Solomon ends when all players have placed all of their Workers on the board. Another year begins unless the end of the game is triggered if either:

• A player placed all of their Customs Houses on the map.

OR

• The last available Temple Tile was acquired, completing Solomon's Temple.

If either event occurs, proceed to game end scoring. Otherwise:

1. Give the Starting Player Token to the player who first placed a Worker(s) at a Holy Place Bonus space.
2. Return all of the Workers on the board or on Building Cards to their owners.
3. Slide the Resources in the Market down to their lowest positions.
4. If Resources are available, fill in the bottom two spaces on each mat in the Market if the spaces are empty. If there are no Resources left of that type to fill the space, use Exotic goods instead, if possible, starting with Gold, then Copper, Stone, Wood, and finally the Food Resource spaces.
5. Slide any remaining Building Cards down, filling up any empty spaces next to the map. Draw Building Cards to fill up the newly vacant positions and finally flip over the top Building Card of the Building Card deck.
6. Begin a new year.

End of Game

At the end of the game, each player adds any additional Favor points they might have to their Favor Marker. This includes receiving:

• 2 Favor for every unplayed Fortune Card
• Favor points equal to value shown on each Temple Tile collected

If a player goes over 50 or 100 Favor and loops the Favor track, use a 50/100 Favor token to show the additional points. Whoever has the most Favor at game end wins! If there is a tie, the player with the most leftover Resources is the victor.

Solo Mode

In the Wisdom of Solomon Solo Mode, it is man versus machine-made cloth bag! A single player will be taking on the bag, referred to as Jeroboam, in a battle of Favor. When it is your turn, you will proceed as normal. When it is Jeroboam's turn, you will draw a tile, or multiple tiles, from the bag to see what he does on his turn.

The game ends under normal conditions, at the end of the year when either:

• A player has placed all of their Customs Houses on the map.

OR

• The last available Temple Tile was acquired, completing Solomon's Temple.

General Rules for Jeroboam

• When given the option, Jeroboam will want to acquire Resources he does not have starting with the cheapest option.
• Jeroboam ranks the Resources in value from most valuable to least: Exotic, Gold, Copper, Stone, Wood, and Food. If there is an option to get two of a Resource over one of any Resource, he will always choose the two Resource option.
• If there are multiple options for Jeroboam, pick the one that will give him the most Favor. If that is not applicable, or there is a tie in Favor, make the decision yourself.
• If ever a Shortage Tile should come off the game board, it will go directly into Jeroboam's bag.

Setup

Follow normal setup for a 2-player game except place 6 Shortage Tiles on the board. Any Shortage Tiles not used should be put back in the bag along with all of the Solo tiles. This is the bag that will decide what Jeroboam does.

Give only one secret Fortune Card to Jeroboam, he will only use Fortune Cards for points. Give Jeroboam the First Player token and then proceed with the Initial Market Purchase.

Initial Market Purchase

When it is Jeroboam's turn to purchase, he will always buy the cheapest Resources he does not have. If two different Resources cost the same amount, he will take the one that is more valuable. Jeroboam will always buy three Resources for the Initial Market Purchase.

Game Turn

When it is Jeroboam's turn, draw a tile from the bag and do that action. If the tile drawn would not accomplish anything, such as Jeroboam wants to place a Worker in a location where only you have a Customs House, set aside that tile and draw a new one. Otherwise, here are the special rules for each tile:

Trader Icon: Place Jeroboam's Worker in the Trader area and discard a Resource of which Jeroboam has more than one of, choosing the least valuable Resource if there is more than one option. If he does not have multiples of anything, then select his least valuable Resource.

Special: Jeroboam may trade for Exotic goods when using this space. If there are not enough Exotic goods, then trade for the Resources he does not have, most valuable first. If he has one of each Resource, trade for the most valuable Resources available.

Special: In addition, if Jeroboam has a Fortune Card discard it and give him 5 Favor. He does not actually play the card.

Market Icon: Place Jeroboam's Worker in the Market space. With his three buy/sell transactions, begin by buying any Resources that Jeroboam does not have, starting with the cheapest and working his way up. If there is a tie in price, buy the most valuable Resource.

Once Jeroboam has at least one of each Resource, begin selling his duplicate Resources starting with the Resource that will give him the most Favor, then working down as needed (if a tie in price, sell the least valuable Resource). If he is out of duplicate Resources then proceed to sell his other Resources starting with the one that gives him the most Favor, then working down as needed (if a tie in price, sell the least valuable).

Special: In addition, if Jeroboam has a Fortune Card discard it and give him 5 Favor. He does not actually play the card.

Temple Icon: Place Jeroboam's Worker in the Levite space and acquire a Temple tile and Fortune card. If Jeroboam can acquire the items either way, he will use the Gold and Copper option instead of the Stone, Wood, and Food option.

Special: Jeroboam does not have to discard Resources for every Worker there before he placed his Worker.

Foreman Icon: Place Jeroboam's Worker in the Foreman space and buy the Building Card furthest down that he can afford.

Special: Jeroboam gets to pay one less Resource of his choice. He will always pay one less of the most valuable Resource he needs when doing so.

Then when it is time to place his Customs House, draw tiles from the bag until you draw a Shortage Tile Location that has a spot for a Customs House, setting aside all other tiles. Place the Customs House at that location, returning that tile and any tiles you just set aside back in the bag.

After placing the Customs House, place a Road from that location to another of his adjacent Customs House locations that are not already part of that network. If that is not possible, connect it to an adjacent location without one of your (the player's) Custom Houses, connecting to the most valuable location available.

Shortage Tile Location: When a Shortage Tile location is drawn, place a Worker on that location and collect the applicable Resources including any from Jeroboam's network. If that Shortage Tile is a location that cannot have a Customs House in it, Aram for example, collect the Resources and remove that tile from the game. Jeroboam will no longer visit that space.

Circle Icon: Place a Worker on a Building Card Jeroboam has, processing that action. If there is more than one Building option, pick the Building that will give Jeroboam the most Favor. If there is a tie, pick the Building that will give him the most Resources. If that is also a tie, make the decision yourself.

Holy Place Icons: The first time a Holy Place Icon is drawn, set it aside and draw a new tile. The second time a Holy Place Icon is drawn that year, Jeroboam will place all of his remaining Workers at that placement spot unless you, the player, have seven or more Resources. In that case he will instead go to the Menorah.

End of Year

At the end of the year, proceed to do normal End of Year steps. In addition, place all of Jeroboam's used and set aside tiles back into his bag. Proceed with the next round unless the end of game has been triggered.

End of Game

At game end give Jeroboam 1 Favor for every 2 Resources he has left over, rounding down, then finish scoring Favor normally. Whoever has the most Favor wins!

Reference Section

Building Card Icons

• To use this Building Card, the player must place a Worker on this space as their action for this turn.
• If a player discards the Resources on the left, they receive the Favor points on the right. The player may do this up to two times using just one Worker.
• Respectively discard either a Fortune Card or a Resource to gain the bonus on the right side of the card.
• Any time the player places a Worker in the region type shown, they receive the additional Resource(s) shown. Placing a Worker in a network that is connected to a region of that type will not generate the extra Resource(s).
• The player receives an additional 2 points every time they use a Foreman space.
• Discard a Shortage Tile from the Land of Israel to draw a Fortune Card and to place a Road next to a Customs House you own.
• Pay one less Resource of your choice when using the action shown.
• The player draws an extra Fortune Card when acquiring a Temple Tile, then discard a Fortune Card of their choice from their hand.
• When selling a Resource at the Market the player receives an additional Favor for each Resource sold.
• When buying a Resource at the Market the player pays one less Favor for each Resource purchased, never paying less than 1 Favor for a Resource.
• The player may make a fourth transaction when visiting a Merchant.
• When the player visits this Merchant, prior to buying and/or selling at the Market the player may move one Resource down to the lowest empty space on its mat.
• Receive a third Resource when visiting a Trader.
• The player may also trade for up to two Exotic Resources when visiting this Trader.

Fortune Card FAQ

Dwell in Unity – When played, the player may collect up to three Resources from locations adjacent to a Worker they placed this Year. This includes receiving Resources from Locations with an opposing player's Workers or Customs Houses.

Found Wisdom – When played, the player resolves one of their Workers on the board as if they had just played it. If selecting a Worker at the Levite location, the player must also pay for all of the other Workers there when buying a Temple Tile.

Given Desires – This card allows a player to collect Exotic Resources instead of normal Resources from any Worker placed later that year. This can be from either the Israel map side or the Jerusalem side of the board. If there are not enough Exotic Resources when collecting, the player may collect the rest as their normal Resources.

Inherit the Land – The player may either place their Worker at a Customs House location of another player, or on a special Building that player has in front of themselves.

Rain Sent – This is a permanent ability given to the player for the rest of the game. It is not discarded.

Stronghold – This card will also double the number of Resources the player receives from their network.