Zerzura: The Oasis of Marvels
Zerzura: The Oasis of Marvels Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Object of the Game
The players acquire Goods cards representing 1 to 3 Objects (genie's turban, alchemical zither, cursed peppers, magic ring, enchanted lamp). The value of each collection of Objects in terms of victory points varies according to the number of Objects (and not the number of cards) possessed.
At the end of the game, the player with the most victory points is the winner.
Contents
- 5 gameboards (front: Easy / back: Expert)
- 5 Bird silhouettes
- 1 Dromadary tile [sic; printed as "Dromadary" in the contents list, "Dromedary" in the setup text]
- 50 Goods cards
- 9 Command tiles
- 10 Character cards
- 5 x 5 cubes for keeping score of victory points during the game (Easy gameboard)
- 1 score pad
Setup
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Each player takes 1 Bird and the gameboard in the color associated with it. The players choose by common accord the side of the gameboards they will be playing on: Easy (you will then need the cubes: place 1 cube of the appropriate color on the Object at the beginning of each line) or Expert (put the cubes back in the box). This won't change the point scales, but the Expert side requires greater concentration in following the progression of each player during the course of the game.
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With 4 or 5 players, all the cards are used. With 2 or 3 players, some cards are removed at random and put back in the game box without being revealed. Remove 20 cards with 2 players, and 15 cards with 3 players. Shuffle all the remaining cards to create a stack of Goods and Character cards facing down called a "draw deck".
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Pick 4 Command tiles at random and place them face up so everyone can see them. The other Command tiles are put back in the box as they won't be used during this game.
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A player picked at random receives the Dromedary card. They take as many cards as there are players from the draw deck and place them face up at the center of table near the Command tiles. The space thereby created is called the Market. With 2 players, each round the player who has the Dromedary tile draws 4 cards to constitute the Market.
[The printed setup page shows a 4-player layout diagram here; the diagram is not transcribed.]
Playing the Game
The players take turns in a clockwise direction starting with the holder of the Dromedary tile. During their turn, each player must carry out 1 of the 3 following actions:
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Take 1 card from the Market and place it face up between their game board and the Market, and then put their Bird on top of the card recovered. In Easy mode, move along as many cubes as necessary to allow the other players to follow your progress.
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Exchange 1 face up card in their possession for 1 face up card belonging to another player, as long as the card does not have a Bird on top, then place their own Bird on the card recovered. In Easy mode, they then move along the cubes accordingly.
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Put into storage: Take up to 2 cards without a Bird on top from the area between the Market and their gameboard, and place them face down beneath the gameboard. By doing so, these cards can no longer be the target of the preceding action. When a player puts at least 1 card into storage, they then place their Bird on the Dromedary tile. If another player carries out this action later in the same round, they put their Bird on their gameboard instead.
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When a player recovers 1 card (thanks to one of the first two actions above), this card cannot be recovered by another player through an exchange until the next round because it is protected by a Bird.
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A player may look at any time at the cards placed beneath their gameboard.
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With 2 players, the two opponents take turns playing 1 action at a time. They play twice in the same turn.
End of a Round
At the end of each round of play:
a) The cards that have remained in the Market are put back in the game box. They will no longer be used by anyone;
b) If a player has placed their Bird on the Dromedary tile, they recover the tile. Otherwise, the tile passes to the player on the left of the player who possessed it at the start of the round;
c) A new round can then commence. The current holder of the Dromedary tile draws as many cards as there are players and places them face up in order to create a new Market. They will be the first player to in the new round of play.
Command Tiles
As soon as a player fulfils the condition indicated on one of the Command tiles available (whether this occurs with the cards in front of their gameboard and/or those stored beneath it), they can recover the tile in question. When they do so, they take the tile and place it underneath their gameboard. This does not count as 1 action. Once 1 tile is placed beneath 1 gameboard, it can no longer change owner.
Expert Variant
If you are playing in Expert mode, you cannot use the cubes to keep track of your victory points after each card play.
This means you need to memorize the gains of each player in order to have some idea of the game's outcome and play accordingly.
[Note: the Expert gameboard (back side) is not printed in this rulebook. The rules refer to the "Quantity (Q on the expert board)"; the point values for the Expert side are shown on that board, not in this text.]
End of the Game
When the draw deck is used up, the players end the current round. Then each player counts all the Objects included in their Goods cards, whether these are in front of or beneath their gameboard. Their Quantity (Q on the expert board) indicates how many victory points have been earned by their collection of Objects. In Easy mode, the players verify their totals to make sure no mistakes have been made.
Example: Romaric ends his game with a collection of 5 Lamps. These Lamps thus only earn 1 point. That's too bad, because one more Lamp would have won him 9 victory points!
In the same way, calculate how many victory points are earned by each type of Object. Then add the bonus points earned by the Character cards, and then those by the Command tiles recovered. The player with most victory points is the winner.
Scoring the Objects
Points for each Object type depend on the Quantity of that Object (Easy gameboard, front). Quantity 0 scores 0 points for every Object.
| Quantity | Genie's turban | Alchemical zither | Cursed peppers | Magic ring | Enchanted lamp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 4 | 7 |
| 2 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 5 |
| 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 5 |
| 4 |
The Object names are those given in the Object of the Game section. Each row is identified on the printed gameboard by its icon: the blue row is the genie's turban, the green row the alchemical zither, the red row the cursed peppers, the purple row the magic ring, and the orange row the enchanted lamp.
Scoring the Command Tiles and Character Cards
Each Command tile is worth +3 pts at the end of the game. The Command tiles (9 in the box) have these conditions:
- The number of cards facing up or put into storage must be equal to 12. Cannot be put into play with 5 players.
- The number of cards put into storage must be equal to 6.
- Have 2 Character cards.
- Have the matching number of Objects (printed on each tile): genie's turban x5 and magic ring x3; magic ring x7; genie's turban x3, alchemical zither x3 and enchanted lamp x3 (the tile shows the three icons with x3 each); cursed peppers x5; enchanted lamp x4 and alchemical zither x4; cursed peppers x5.
Character cards are recovered during play and alter the total of victory points at the end of the game:
- The Guard (3 cards: Q-1, Q+1, Q+2): Allows a player to reduce or increase the total Quantity of a type of Object present in their Goods cards, which may alter the number of victory points won.
- The Mage (5 cards): 1 extra victory point per batch of 2 or 3 Objects as specified in the cards. The batch size and Object type shown on each card are the card's own icons.
- The Sultan: 1 extra victory point for each set of 2 Goods cards.
- The Sultana: 1 extra victory point per Character card (including this one).
Note: the printed Character card section shows the Mage cards only as icon sets (lamp x3, cursed peppers x2, alchemical zither x2, magic ring x2, genie's turban x3). Their exact batch sizes are read from those icons.
Example Final Scores
The printed scoring example (score sheet with victory points per Object type, then bonus and total) for Gaëlle, Séb, Romaric and Manu:
| Object (points) | Gaëlle | Séb | Romaric | Manu |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Genie's turban | 6 | 4 | 0 | 1 |
| Alchemical zither | 4 | 5 | 4 | 7 |
| Cursed peppers | 6 | -3 | 0 | 3 |
| Magic ring | 0 | 8 | 4 | 8 |
| Enchanted lamp | 7 | 3 | 1 | 1 |
Example: Gaëlle who possesses at least 5 Turbans and 3 Rings can recover the tile below that will earn her 3 extra victory points at the end of the game.