Yunnan (Second Edition) Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Standard Game Rules
  • Setup
  • Player Order
  • Bidding & Progress Phase
    • Place a Trader
    • Resolve the Buildings
  • Build & Travel Phase
    • Build Structures
    • Move Traders
    • A Visit by the Province Inspector
    • Receive Presents
    • Calculate Income
    • Adjust Turn Order
  • End of Round
    • Convert Income into Victory Points
    • Check for Game End
    • Prepare Next Round
  • End of Game Scoring
• Expert Game Rules
  • Setup
  • Bidding & Progress Phase
  • Build & Travel Phase
  • End of Round
• 2-Player Game Rules
  • Setup
  • Bidding & Progress Phase
  • Build & Travel Phase
  • End of Round
  • End of Game Scoring
• Important Rules
• Tactic Tips for Newcomers
• Sequence of Play
• Scoring

Components

Your Yunnan copy includes these components:

• 1 Game Board
• 5 Victory Point Markers (1 each in 5 player colors)
• 10 Trading Posts (2 each in 5 player colors)
• 5 Horses (1 each in 5 player colors)
• 10 Teahouses (2 each in 5 player colors)
• 5 Income Markers (1 each in 5 player colors)
• 5 100 VP Tokens (1 each in 5 player colors)
• 10 Progress Markers (2 each in 5 player colors)
• 1 Gorge Blocker
• 5 Turn Order Markers (1 each in 5 player colors)
• 1 Province Inspector
• 5 Guards Markers (1 each in 5 player colors)
• 14 Present Tokens
• 35 Traders (7 each in 5 player colors)
• 16 Dúlì Cards
• 10 Bridges (2 each in 5 player colors)
• 53 Coins (with values of 1, 3, 6 and 12)

Standard Game Rules

We first explain the standard game for 3 to 5 players.

A game of Yunnan is played over several game rounds. Each round consists of 3 successive phases: the Bidding & Progress Phase, the Build & Travel Phase, and the End of Round.

Setup

1. Place the game board on the table. It is surrounded by the Victory Points Track and shows the Provinces and the city of Pu'er with its buildings and the market. The notches in the Victory Points Track are the semicircular Income Spaces. Depicted at the top of the game board is the Sequence Board showing the blue Turn Order Track for the Bidding & Progress Phase and the gray Turn Order Track for the Build & Travel Phase. Additional icons at the sides of the two tracks depict the sequence of actions of a game round.

2. Each player chooses a color. The components of the selected colors are placed next to the game board to form the General Supply. If there are fewer than 5 players, any excess player material remains in the box.

3. Player order is determined by taking the Turn Order Markers of each color in one player's fist, then dropping them over the Sequence Board. The owner of the marker closest to the lightest colored hex space on the blue Track becomes the starting player (place the marker on that space) and the others follow in order of distance (place markers further away on the darker hex spaces).

   Note: Empty spaces on either of the two tracks are ignored; only the relative position of the markers to each other matters.

4. The Victory Point Markers are stacked on space 0 of the Victory Points Track in any order, and the Income Markers are placed next to them outside of the game board.

5. All players place their Progress Markers on the lowest levels of the Influence Track (valued 0 Influence) and Border Passes Track (valued 2 Border Passes).

6. The golden Province Inspector is placed on the space next to the Inspector's House. The silver Gorge Blocker is placed on the space next to the Dianmu Temple.

7. All players take 3 of their Traders into their Personal Supply.

8. Players receive Coins according to player order on the blue Turn Order Track:

   Player	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th
   Coins	9	9	12	12	15

   The rest of the Coins form the General Supply. The Coins of all players are always openly visible.

9. All players place their Horse in the Stables in the Yunnan Province.

10. All remaining player material (Bridges, Trading Posts, Teahouses, 100 VP Tokens, and remaining Traders) remains in the General Supply next to the game board.

11. Stack the following number of Present Tokens on the Presents Spaces in the four upper Provinces of the game board: Sichuan: 5, Kang: 4, Tibet: 3, Qinghai: 2.

Note: The Guards Markers and Dúlì Cards are not used in the standard game.

Player Order

Player order is determined by the position of the players' Turn Order Markers on the two tracks shown in the Sequence Board. The blue Turn Order Track is used during the Bidding & Progress Phase. The gray Turn Order Track is used during the Build & Travel Phase and the End of Round Phase. On both tracks, the player order starts from the lightest colored space followed by the darker colored spaces.

When the Bidding & Progress Phase ends, the Turn Order Markers are shifted over to the gray track without changing their relative positions. This reverses the player turn order in the Build & Travel Phase compared to the Bidding & Progress Phase.

Bidding & Progress Phase

During this phase the players improve their tea business. Using their Traders, players bid in buildings that will provide them with progresses and advantages, if successful.

Place a Trader

Starting with the player on the lightest space and following in the order of the Turn Order Markers, you may either place 1 Trader in a building or pass.

Placing 1 Trader per turn in turn order continues until all players have passed. At this point all bids are resolved.

Note: If you want to place a Trader, you must take it from your Personal Supply or from a Province, never from a building or the Market in Pu'er.

You place a Trader in one of the Progress Buildings (Trading School, Customs Office, Horse Trader, Traders Guild, Building Yard) to bid for a Progress, in the Temple for an Advantage, in the Bank for a Cash Payout, or in the Market of Pu'er to later Travel to the Provinces.

1. Bid for Progress or Advantage

You may bid in any building, unless you are already present there (exception: see Expert Game Rules) or have reached the maximum progress of that building. You may bid on any empty space in a building. Exception: You may only bid on a small space (5 or 7 in the Progress Buildings, all spaces in the Temple) if your bid is the highest in that building. The number shown indicates the number of Coins you will have to pay later for a successful bid. When bidding, you must always have enough Coins to pay all your bids.

Note: You cannot bid on a large space if you already have a Trader on a small space even though you would have only one Trader left in the building afterwards. Note: A bid on a large space in a Progress Building does not block bids on lower valued large spaces! Note: You cannot remove a bid unless you are outbid or go to the Bank.

Outbidding: If your Trader is outbid on one of the small spaces, you immediately take it back in your Personal Supply. If you have already passed, immediately return your Turn Order Marker to its previous position on the blue Turn Order Track and rejoin the Bidding & Progress Phase as if you had never passed. However, the Traders you placed in the Market of Pu'er when you passed must stay there.

On all large spaces of a building (9 to 15 in the Progress Buildings, none in the Temple) your Traders are safe and do not get removed by higher bids.

Note: You do not pay for your bids yet! Remember: You may not place more than one Trader in the same building! (exception: see Expert Game Rules) Remember: You may only bid in a building if you make progress by doing so, i.e., you have not yet reached the top space in the Progress Buildings or have not yet taken all your structures from the General Supply! Important: You may never bid more than you can pay. This is especially important if you plan to go to the Bank but want to drive up the price of a progress beforehand. Therefore, as an aid to memory, you should place the Coins you need to pay for all your bids in front of you.

2. Go to the Bank

You place 1 Trader on an empty space of the Bank. Immediately afterwards you must move all your Traders in Progress Buildings, the Temple, and your Personal Supply to the Market of Pu'er and pass by shifting your Turn Order Marker to the beige space. The spaces in buildings thus freed are available again for other players to bid on, following the normal bidding rules.

3. Go to the Market of Pu'er

You place 1 Trader in the Market of Pu'er. The Market of Pu'er is the starting point of all trade routes, i.e., from here Traders will travel to the more distant Provinces. You may have any number of Traders here. Traders in the Market of Pu'er are protected from displacement and banishment but hardly earn any income.

Note: You may transfer Traders from distant Provinces to the Market of Pu'er, which can then be used to displace Traders of other players in your Build & Travel Phase.

4. Pass

If you cannot or do not want to place any more Traders, you pass and move your Turn Order Marker over to the beige area between the tracks. When you pass, you must place any remaining Traders in your Personal Supply in the Market of Pu'er. The Bidding & Progress Phase is over for you unless you are later outbid (see above).

Resolve the Buildings

Once all players have passed, you evaluate the Traders in the buildings.

1. The Bank

The Bank is the first building to be processed. If at least 1 Trader is placed here, the bids of all Traders in all buildings (Progress Buildings and the Temple) are added up. This sum is the Total Amount Bid by all players in this round. Look for that amount on the Victory Points Track. A Bank payout amount is displayed alongside the Victory Points Track, which applies to all adjacent bid amounts of the same color shading. (If the total payment is higher than 99, use the value of this area, i.e., 27.)

Each player with a Trader on a Bank space receives the number of Coins indicated. Take the Coins from the General Supply. Players then return their Traders from the Bank to their Personal Supply.

2. Progress Buildings and Temple

In turn order, players must now pay their bids, return their Traders, one by one, from a building to their Personal Supply, and take the building's progress.

• Dianmu Temple: Block a Gorge — Dianmu is the Chinese weather goddess of lightning and allows the successful bidder to make a single gorge inaccessible. You take the temple's Gorge Blocker and immediately place it across any Gorge on the game board. This Gorge is now blocked for all players in the upcoming Build & Travel Phase. If there are Bridges across the Gorge, they cannot be used in the Build & Travel Phase. Likewise, no new Bridges may be built across a blocked Gorge. The Gorge Blocker is returned to the Temple at the end of the round.
• Trading School: Get 1 additional Trader — Take a Trader of your color from the General Supply and place it in the Market of Pu'er. This Trader may already travel in this round!
• Customs Office: Get 1 additional Border Pass — Move your Progress Marker on the Border Pass Track one level higher. From now on you have one additional Border Pass available each round.
• Horse Trader: Gain access to the next higher Province — Move your Horse to the next higher Province along the Tea Horse Road - never along a side road across a Bridge. From now on, your Traders may travel up to this Province. In this Province you are now also allowed to build Structures. At the end of the game, you will receive Victory Points for the final position of your Horse.
• Traders Guild: Increase your Traders' Influence — Move your Progress Marker on the Influence Track one level higher. The new Influence level is effective immediately.
• Building Yard: Get 1 new Structure — Take a Structure (Trading Post, Bridge, Teahouse) of your color from the General Supply. You may place it immediately in a Province (see below) or take it into your Personal Supply from where you may build it in the coming or any later Build & Travel Phase. Structures in your Personal Supply may only be placed during the Build & Travel Phase. Remember that the Turn Order will then be reversed!
  • Trading Posts help build a connected trade route because they are protected from displacement and banishment.
  • Bridges are used as a shortcut across Gorges.
  • Teahouses protect against the Province Inspector and yield Victory Points at the end of the game.

Reminder: All Traders in Progress Buildings, the Temple, and the Bank are returned to the players' Personal Supply. These Traders do not travel this round!

Build & Travel Phase

Shift all Turn Order Markers from the beige area to the hex spaces on the gray Turn Order Track without changing their relative positions. The player on the hex space in the lightest color is now the first to go. Thus, the turn order has been reversed compared to the Bidding & Progress Phase.

On your turn, you may perform your actions in any order you like. You may build Structures from your Personal Supply, and move your Traders eligible for traveling. Once you have finished building and traveling and checked that you have a connected route, it is the next player's turn.

Build Structures

You may take any number of structures from your Personal Supply and place them on the game board at no cost.

Note: You may only build in Provinces that you have already reached or passed with your Horse. You do not have to build all the structures in your Personal Supply and may instead keep them for later rounds.

1. Trading Posts — Only 1 Trading Post per player may be built in a Province. Once placed, Trading Posts remain in their Province until the end of the game.

Note: Pu'er is not a Province thus Trading Posts may not be built there.

2. Bridges — There are 4 Province borders on the game board where Bridges may be built to cross a Gorge on a side road. You may only place a Bridge across a Gorge if your Horse has reached or passed both of the two Provinces to be connected and the Gorge is currently not blocked by the Gorge Blocker. Several players may build a Bridge across the same Gorge. When traveling, Traders may only use their own Bridges. Crossing a Province border via a Bridge requires a Border Pass, the same as with borders along the main Tea Horse Road.

3. Teahouses — A Teahouse is placed on the designated square in a Province. Only one Teahouse may be placed in each Province, regardless of its owner. A Teahouse protects its owner's Traders from being banished from that Province by the Province Inspector. Victory Points for Teahouses will be awarded at the end of the game.

Move Traders

You may move any number of your Traders from their current Province in any direction to a destination Province, crossing any number of Province borders - provided you have enough Border Passes. However, you may only travel through or into those Provinces that your Horse has already reached or passed.

You may only move on the Tea Horse Road or via side roads using your own Bridges. From the Market in Pu'er, a Trader always moves to Yunnan first.

Note: A Trader may enter each Province only once while traveling!

1. Border Passes — Each crossing of a Province border by a Trader requires the possession of a Border Pass. At the beginning of the Build & Travel Phase, you have as many Border Passes as indicated in the Customs Office, up to a maximum of 6. Border Passes may be distributed among your Traders as you wish. You do not have to use all the passes you own.

Important: Border Passes are not consumed, i.e., the Progress Marker in the Customs Office is not moved during the Build & Travel Phase.

2. Displacement — Once your Trader ends its journey in a Province, you may displace 1 Trader of an opponent with lower Influence from that Province. Only Traders that traveled may displace other Traders. A displaced Trader is moved along the Tea Horse Road to the next lower Province - never across a side road using a Bridge. The displaced Trader may not displace other Traders in the Province it is displaced to. A displaced Trader may be displaced again by a different Trader of any player.

Note: A previously displaced Trader may travel normally in its Build & Travel Phase and thus may displace a Trader at its destination. You cannot displace Trading Posts!

3. Check Connected Route — Once you have finished traveling, each of your Traders must be able to use a route to Pu'er that passes exclusively through Provinces where you have Traders and/or Trading Posts. This route may use the Tea Horse Road and/or side roads with your own Bridges. You may use a route from a lower to a higher Province to be able to use a Bridge from this higher Province.

If any of your Traders does not have a connected route to Pu'er, it is deemed isolated and must be placed in the Market of Pu'er immediately. Isolated Trading Posts stay where they are.

If your connected route is interrupted by displacement or banishment after you have finished your Traders' movement, any now isolated Traders remain where they are and are not moved back to the Market of Pu'er. They will later incur transportation costs.

Note: Pu'er itself is not a Province, but a city in Yunnan. Yunnan is thus always connected to Pu'er. Therefore, it is not necessary to have Traders present in the Market of Pu'er to have a connected route.

A Visit by the Province Inspector

Once all players have completed their Build & Travel Phase, the Province Inspector is placed in the Province that will pay out the highest Province Revenue (see Calculate Income below) in this round, disregarding any transportation costs due to possible gaps in a transport network. The Province Revenue is the sum of the incomes of all Traders and all Trading Posts in that Province. If there is a tie between Provinces, the Province Inspector moves to the tied Province furthest away from Pu'er following the Tea Horse Road. From the Province thus determined, the Province Inspector banishes 1 Trader, if possible, back to the Market of Pu'er.

If you own a Tea House in this Province, your Traders are always immune to banishment, likewise all Traders with an Influence of 4.

Among the remaining Traders present in the Province, the Province Inspector chooses the one with the highest Influence. If there is a tie, the Inspector banishes one of the tied Traders of the player earlier in sequence on the gray Turn Order Track (i.e., on the lighter space).

The Province Inspector is then returned to its place at the bottom of the board.

Reminder: If a connected route is interrupted by the Province Inspector's banishment, isolated Traders remain where they are and are not returned to the Market of Pu'er (but they will later incur transportation costs). Note: If all Traders present in the Province either have an influence of 4 or own a Teahouse there, the Province Inspector does not banish anyone (nor moves to a different Province). Important: Trading Posts are never banished.

Receive Presents

If there are Present Tokens available in a Province, each Trader in this Province now receives one of them. If there are fewer Presents in the Province than there are Traders, the Traders with higher Influence have priority.

Important: Each Trader receives a maximum of 1 Present. Note: Majority of Traders in a Province does not matter. Note: Victory Points for Presents are granted at game end only.

Ties in Influence are resolved in turn order. A Trader of the first player in sequence receives 1 Present, then a Trader of the next player etc. Then, if Presents are still available, players receive Presents for additional Traders of that Influence level, if any.

Calculate Income

In turn order (lightest space on gray Turn Order Track goes first), players calculate the revenue for the tea they sell with their Traders and Trading Posts in the Provinces.

Each of your Traders and Trading Posts in a Province earns the amount indicated on the game board. At the Market of Pu'er, you will receive only 3 Coins in total if you have at least one merchant there.

However, for each Province in the route of your Trader or Trading Post to Pu'er, which does not have at least one of your Traders or your Trading Post, transportation costs are incurred: For each such gap in a Trader's route to Pu'er you must deduct 3 Coins transportation costs from their revenue and any gap in a route of a Trading Post reduces their revenue to 0.

You may use your Bridges as a shortcut for your tea transport or to bypass gaps. You do not have to take the shortest possible route to Pu'er.

Reminder: Trading Posts with gaps in their route yield no income! Reminder: Transport costs for gaps in a Trader's route are 3 Coins per gap! Reminder: You do not need Traders in the Market of Pu'er to have a connected route. Reminder: Unlike in the Provinces where you receive income for each Trader, you only receive a total of 3 Coins for all your Traders in the Market of Pu'er.

The sum of all your Traders' and Trading Posts' revenue minus any transportation costs incurred is your Round Income. Place your Income Marker in the corresponding notch inside the Victory Points Track. If there is already a marker of another player, place your marker on top. The income is not paid out yet!

Adjust Turn Order

Move the Turn Order Marker of the player with the highest Round Income, as indicated by the Income Markers, to the first place of the gray Turn Order Track (= the space in the lightest color), followed by those of the other players in descending order of Round Income. In the event of a tie, the stack of Income Markers is worked through from top to bottom. The new turn order takes effect immediately.

End of Round

Convert Income into Victory Points

In the new turn order, players may now convert any amount of their Round Income into Victory Points at a ratio of 1:1. Players advance their Victory Point Marker on the Victory Point Track accordingly and receive the remaining amount as Coins from the General Supply. Take the 100 VP Token when you exceed the 99 victory point mark on the track. Return all Income Markers next to the game board.

Reminder: Players may freely decide whether to convert all, part, or none of their Round Income into Victory Points. Important: Players may only convert their income of the current round into Victory Points.

Check for Game End

Check if a Game End Condition has been triggered:

• Any player's score has reached 80 or more Victory Points, and/or
• no Present Tokens are left on the game board.

If so, the game ends immediately with End of Game Scoring (see below).

Prepare Next Round

If the game end has not been reached, all players take their Traders from the Market in Pu'er back into their Personal Supply. Return the Gorge Blocker, if in play, to the Temple. All players shift their Turn Order Marker onto the blue Turn Order Track without changing their relative position (the turn order is thus reversed again!) and the next round starts with the Bidding & Progress Phase.

End of Game Scoring

At the end of the game, players receive 1 Victory Point for every 3 Coins in their possession plus 3 Victory Points for each Present Token they hold.

Afterwards all players receive Victory Points for progress made according to the following table:

Border Passes	2	3	4	5	6
Influence	0	1	2	3	4
Victory Points	0	1	4	9	16

Finally, all players receive Victory Points for the location of their Teahouses and Horses:

	Yunnan	Sichuan	Kang	Tibet	Qinghai
Teahouse	1	3	6	10	15
Horse	0	1	4	9	16

The player with the most Victory Points wins the game. In the event of a tie, follow the same procedure as for Present Tokens: The tied player with the most Influence wins, if still tied, the tied player earlier in the current turn order wins the game.

Expert Game Rules

It is strongly recommended to play this version only after all players have gained sufficient experience with the Standard Game Rules. The Expert Game Rules add two new elements to the game: double bidding and Guards.

• Double bidding allows players to bid a second time on a Progress Building to receive that progress twice if successful.
• Guards allow players to protect their Traders in a Province once per game from being displaced by other players.

Both elements are independent of each other and may be used in combination or separately at the discretion of the players. In addition, the game end triggers have been reduced from two to one.

The Expert Game Rules follow the Standard Rules with the following changes:

Setup

When playing with Guards, place the players' Guards Markers in the General Supply together with the other structures.

Bidding & Progress Phase

Double Bidding — During bidding, you may bid on a Progress Building, unless there are already two of your Traders or there are no additional empty bidding spaces in the building. If both bids are successful, you get the progress of the building twice. This means that you either get 2 Traders or Border Passes, move your Horse to the next but one Province, increase your Influence by 2 levels or acquire 2 structures at once (this can be 2 of the same or 2 different structures). Normal bidding rules apply, i.e., any Trader on a small square must be removed if outbid, even if you outbid yourself. And you may only bid twice if you can take the progress twice.

Guards — If you successfully bid on the Building Yard, you may take your Guards Marker instead of a structure. In this case you must immediately place this marker in any Province.

Build & Travel Phase

Build Structures — You cannot place a Guards Marker in this phase. They are placed immediately after they are acquired.

Displacement — Having your Guards Marker in a Province protects your Traders in that Province from being displaced in the current round. Guards Markers of several players may reside in a Province at the same time. Dúlì (in a 2-player game, see below) never uses her Guards Marker.

A Visit by the Province Inspector — Guards Markers offer no protection from the Province Inspector.

End of Round

At the end of a round, all Guards Markers in Provinces are removed and returned to the game box. Guards protect your Traders from displacement only once per game!

Victory Points no longer trigger the end of the game! The game ends when there are no more Present Tokens on the game board at the end of a round.

2-Player Game Rules

In a 2-player game, a bot player (Dúlì = "The Independent") is used as a third player. Dúlì's actions are performed using the 16 Dúlì Cards.

Each card shows how Dúlì bids in the Bidding & Progress Phase (upper part) and how Dúlì distributes her Traders and builds Teahouses in the Build & Travel Phase (lower part). Dúlì always uses all of her 7 Traders in the Build & Travel Phase, if possible - regardless of how many she has used for bidding. Thus, she deviates significantly from the normal rules of the game.

The game may be played either by the Standard Game Rules or by the Expert Game Rules, at the discretion of the players. The same rules as in a 3- to 5-player game are used, with the following modifications:

Setup

• Select a player color for Dúlì.
• Dúlì has all 7 Traders available in her Personal Supply right from the start of the game.
• Only Dúlì's Progress Marker for the Traders Guild (Influence) is used. It is placed on the lowest space just like the markers of the two players. Return the Progress Marker for the Customs Office to the game box; it is not used.
• Place both of Dúlì's Trading Posts on the game board, one in Yunnan, the other one in Sichuan. They will stay there throughout the game.
• Dúlì's Turn Order Marker is always placed in 3rd place on the blue Turn Order Track, i.e., Dúlì always bids last (except in the first round) and travels first.
• Place Dúlì's Income Marker on one of the Bank spaces as an indication that only 1 Bank space is available for the players.
• Shuffle the 16 Dúlì Cards and place them face down as a draw pile next to the game board.
• Place 1 of Dúlì's Traders on the "9" space of the Trading School. This is Dúlì's initial bid before the Bidding & Progress Phase begins.
• Return Dúlì's Bridges, her Guards Marker, her Horse, her Victory Point Marker, and her 100 VP Token to the game box. They are not used in the game.

Note: Dúlì receives no Coins as she does not use them.

Bidding & Progress Phase

When it is Dúlì's turn, she bids only if the other two players have not yet both passed, i.e., the Turn Order Marker of at least one player is still on the blue Turn Order Track. If both players have passed, Dúlì also passes and, unlike the players, keeps any remaining Traders in her supply (i.e., does not place them in the Market of Pu'er).

When Dúlì bids, the top Dúlì Card of the draw pile is turned over and executed. If the draw pile is exhausted, shuffle all Dúlì Cards and place them face down as the new draw pile. In the upper area of the card, the symbol furthest to the left shows in which Progress Building Dúlì places a Trader. She always bids on the cheapest permissible space. If Dúlì can no longer bid in this building - either because she already has one Trader there or there are no more empty spaces left - Dúlì bids in the next Progress Building shown in the symbol list of the Dúlì Card (left to right). Dúlì never bids in a building if she already has a Trader there, even if the Expert Game Rules are in force.

Dúlì will never go to the Bank and only bids in Progress Buildings, never in the Temple.

Resolve the Buildings — Dúlì's bids are included when calculating the total sum bid for a Bank payout. When evaluating the Progress Buildings, Dúlì's bids are ignored except in the Traders Guild. If Dúlì has successfully bid on the Traders Guild, her Influence is increased by 1. Dúlì does not pay for bids. Remove Dúlì's Traders from all Progress Buildings once all buildings have been resolved.

Build & Travel Phase

Dúlì always travels first. Unlike the players, Dúlì has no Traders present in the Provinces from the previous round and places her Traders card-controlled in the Provinces anew every round. To do this, turn over the next Dúlì Card. If the draw pile is exhausted, shuffle all Dúlì Cards and place them face down as the new draw pile. The lower area of the card drawn shows how Dúlì distributes her Traders in the Provinces in this round.

Building a Teahouse — If the Dúlì Card shows a Teahouse, Dúlì places one from her supply in the Province that is farthest away from Pu'er and occupied by player Traders. If there is already a Teahouse there, she places it in the next lower Province without a Teahouse. If this is not possible, or if Dúlì has already placed 2 Teahouses, she ignores the Teahouse on the card.

Move Traders — Dúlì places the number of Traders in each Province as indicated on the card. She follows the Tea Horse Road beginning in Yunnan and going up to the farthest Province already reached by a player's Horse.

Note: Dúlì never places Traders in Provinces not yet reached by either of the two player's Horses.

1. Displacement — When placing Traders in a Province, Dúlì displaces other player's Traders following these rules:

• Dúlì displaces only Traders with lower influence than she has (according to normal rules).
• Dúlì displaces a maximum of 1 Trader, irrespective of the number of Traders she places in a Province.
• If both players have Traders with lower Influence than Dúlì in the respective Province, Dúlì displaces the Trader with the lower Influence.
• If both players have the same Influence, Dúlì displaces a Trader from the player with more Traders in the respective Province.
• If both players have the same Influence and the same number of Traders in the respective Province, Dúlì displaces no Trader.

Players may displace Dúlì's Traders following the normal rules. This may be used to manipulate the destination of the Province Inspector in this round.

2. Check for Connected Route — The Dúlì Cards are created in such a way that she always has a connected trade route at the end of her Build & Travel Phase.

A Visit by the Province Inspector — Dúlì will be treated as a normal player by the Province Inspector and may be banished.

Receive Presents — Dúlì will only receive Presents if at least one other player also has Traders in the Province in question. The distribution of Present Tokens is then done according to the usual rules.

Calculate income — Dúlì does not generate income and therefore is not included in the calculation.

Adjust Turn Order — Dúlì is ignored when determining the new player order. She always occupies the 1st place of the gray Turn Order Track.

End of Round

Dúlì does not score any Victory Points, so is ignored when checking the end-of-game trigger. Remove all Dúlì Traders from the game board and place them in their supply. Put all Dúlì Cards from this round on a discard pile.

End of Game Scoring

Dúlì is ignored when determining Victory Points and the winner.

Important Rules

• A Trader either bids for progress or travels to earn income. Therefore, after acquiring a progress, you return the Trader you used for the bid to your supply. Only Traders in the Market of Pu'er and the Provinces are allowed to travel.
• You may take a Trader from the Provinces to bid with, but never from the Market in Pu'er.
• At the end of a round, you take all Traders from the Market in Pu'er back into your Personal Supply.
• Never place 2 of your Traders in the same building (exception: Expert Game Rules).
• If you bid on a small 5 or 7 space of a building, you must leave on a higher bid! The Dianmu Temple has only small spaces!
• Connected Route to Pu'er: After completing the movement of your Traders, all of them must have a gapless route to Pu'er (via the Tea Horse Road or your Bridges) through Provinces in which either your own Traders or your own Trading Posts are present. A Teahouse does not count! Move all of your Traders that do not have a connected route back to the Market of Pu'er.
• Gaps in the route to Pu'er may occur later, when a Trader is displaced by an opponent or banished by the Province Inspector. Each gap in your route reduces a Trader's revenue by 3 Coins per Trader who needs to cross that Province. Trading Posts that have gaps in their route do not yield any revenue!
• Trading Posts are immovable once placed.
• In the Market of Pu'er revenue is low: only one of your Traders in this location receives 3 Coins, and Trading Posts may not be placed there at all.
• The Teahouse protects your Traders from the Province Inspector, but not from your fellow players!

Tactic Tips for Newcomers

• Pay attention to what your opponents are doing and try to deduce their plans.
• Progress is important - but if you are not present in the Provinces, you will not earn income.
• Do not convert income into Victory Points too early.
• If you are short on cash, go to the Bank. But you can win the game without ever having been to the Bank.
• Without your Horse progressing, the other advances are of little use. But you can win the game without ever having reached the most distant Provinces.
• If you are the only player with the lowest Influence, you risk frequent displacement. If you lead in Influence, you can use your displacement potential well if you also have enough Traders and Border Passes. However, you often may fall victim to the Province Inspector.
• It may be worthwhile to move several Traders only one Province instead of one Trader several Provinces. This allows displacing more Traders of the other players, provided you have a higher Influence.
• If your Traders are already in an excellent position, you may still displace by moving one Trader from e.g., Sichuan to Yunnan and another Trader from Yunnan to Sichuan.
• Also pay attention to the player order and don't forget that it reverses when the phases change. If you earn the highest income, you bid last and travel first. Use this to your advantage.

Sequence of Play

1. Bidding & Progress Phase (blue Turn Order Track)
   • Place a Trader (in turn order, repeat until all players have passed)
   • Resolve the buildings (in turn order)
2. Build & Travel Phase (gray Turn Order Track)
   • Build structures & move Traders (in turn order)
   • A Visit by the Province Inspector
   • Receive Presents (highest Influence first)
   • Calculate income (in turn order)
   • Adjust turn order (highest to lowest income, on gray Turn Order Track)
3. End of Round (gray Turn Order Track)
   • Convert income into Victory Points (in turn order)
   • Check for game end (any player has reached 80 Victory Points and/or no Present Tokens left)
   • Prepare next round

Scoring

Your total score is calculated as follows:

Add to the number of Victory Points as shown by the Victory Points Marker on the Victory Point Track:

• 1 point for each set of 3 Coins
• 3 points for each Present
• The Victory Points for your progress in Influence
• The Victory Points for your progress in Border Passes
• The Victory Points for the location of your Tea Houses
• The Victory Points for the progress of your Horse

The player with the most Victory Points wins. In case of a tie, the tied player with the highest Influence wins, if still tied, the tied player earlier in the current turn order wins the game.