Eight-Minute Empire Game Rules

Welcome! I’ll walk you through the rules of the fantastic game Eight-Minute Empire. Are you ready? Great! Let’s get started.

Set-Up

The game begins by setting up the board. Each player gets a set of cubes and a deck of cards. The cubes are used to claim territories on the board, and the cards are used to determine the actions you can take.

Goal

The goal of the game is to earn the most victory points. You can earn points by claiming territories, controlling continents, or fulfilling secret objectives.

Gameplay

On each turn, you play one card from your hand. The card has two parts: a number and an action. The number determines the turn order, and the action tells you what you can do.

When it’s your turn, you have three options:

1. Place a cube on a territory: You can place a cube on any unclaimed territory or on a territory where you already have cubes. You can only have one cube per territory.
2. Move cubes: You can move your cubes from one territory to an adjacent territory. The number on the card determines how many cubes you can move.
3. Do a special action: Some cards have special actions that allow you to do things like build a city or attack other players.

After you take your action, you draw a new card. Then, play passes to the next player.

End of the Game

The game ends when either all the cubes are on the board or a player runs out of cubes. At that point, players count up their victory points. The player with the most points wins!

And there you have it! Now you know the rules of Eight-Minute Empire. Grab your friends and start conquering the world!

• 1 Double Sided Game Board
• Rulebook
• 42 Cards
• 5 Sets of player pieces (3 discs and 14 cubes in red, blue, white, yellow and green)
• 44 Coin Tokens
• 10 Goods Tokens

Setting Up the Game

1. First, place the game board on the table.
2. If you’re going to play with 2, 3, or 4 players, you need to remove the five cards with the little number “5” in the top right corner, just below the scroll on which the good is displayed, from the deck. Shuffle the remaining cards and put them face down next to the board. Draw six cards and place them face up in a row along the top of the board.

Alright, let’s get started on this game! First things first, I need to choose a color for my army. I’ll go with blue – it’s my favorite color. Now, I place three of my armies in the starting region on the board. If there’s another player, they do the same with their chosen color. But since I’m playing alone today, I have the whole region to myself!

Next, I need to get some cities. Luckily, I already have three discs with my chosen color. I place one of them in the starting region, just like my armies. Now, I have two more cities that I can place in any region on the board. I’ll strategize and choose the best spots for them.

Now, let’s talk about coins. We need a supply of coins for the game, so I’ll set aside a pile of them next to the board. Each player gets a different number of coins, depending on how many of us are playing. Since I’m playing alone today, I get 14 coins to start with.

Alright, we’re all set! The armies are in place, the cities are set, and we’ve got our coins. Now, it’s time to start playing this exciting game!

How to Play the Game

To start the game, we need to determine who gets to go first. Each player picks up their coins and secretly decides how many they want to bid. Keep your fist closed and hold it out over the game board.

Once everyone is ready, we all reveal our bids at the same time. The player who bid the highest amount gets to go first and puts their coins into the supply. The other players don’t have to pay anything if they didn’t win the bid.

If two or more players have the same highest bid, the youngest player gets the chance to go first. They have to pay their bid amount. And if all players bid zero, the youngest player becomes the first player. Remember, there’s only one bid per game. The person who wins the bid gets to choose who will be the first player.

Okay, here’s the deal. I’m gonna explain how this game works, step by step. Ready? Let’s dive in!

First things first, we’ve got a bunch of cards laid out in a row, face up. You and the other players will take turns, starting with the first player and going clockwise. Got it so far? Great!

Now, when it’s your turn, you get to pick one of the face up cards. But here’s the catch: you gotta pay for it! Each card has a coin cost, and it varies depending on where the card is in the row. We’ve got six cards in total, with coin costs ranging from 0 to 3. The costs, from left to right, are: 0, 1, 1, 2, 2, and 3. So, for example, if you choose the third card from the left, you’ll have to cough up one coin. Don’t worry, though, you’ll have plenty of chances to collect more coins as we go!

Hey there! Let me explain the fun and exciting world of this card game. When you play this game, each card has a special ability that you can use right away. These abilities help you grow your empire and take over the game board. Let’s talk about some of the cool things you can do:

Put more armies on the board

When you play the game, you’ll notice that the number of armies displayed tells you how many you can put on the board.

Don’t worry, you can only put them in the starting area or in a region where you have a city. And here’s the cool part – you don’t have to put all your armies in one region. Spread them out if you want!

Moving Armies

When looking at the card, you can see how many armies it allows you to move. The number shown represents the amount of movement.

Let’s take an example. This card shows 3 armies, which means you have a few options for movement. You can move one army up to 3 times, or you can move 3 armies one time each. Another option is to move 1 army two times and another army one time.

It’s important to note that this action is specifically for land movement and does not grant you the ability to cross the dotted lines over oceans.

Moving over Land and/or Water

Hey there! Let’s talk about an exciting board game mechanic called “Move Armies.” It’s all about strategizing and moving your armies around the game board to gain an advantage over your opponents.

So, in this game, you have the ability to move your armies from one region to another. It’s pretty straightforward, but there’s a twist. Normally, you can only move your armies between adjacent regions, which means they have to be right next to each other on the game board.

But wait, there’s more! With “Move Armies,” you have a special power. You can also move your armies between two regions that are connected by a dotted line. Yes, you read that right – you can cross over water as if it were land!

Build a City

When it’s my turn, I can place one of my cities in any region where I have an army. It’s like staking my claim and showing that it’s under my control. But here’s the twist – a region can have multiple cities, not just from me, but from any player. It’s like a crowded neighborhood where everyone wants a piece of the action.

Bring on the Destruction

Have you ever been in a situation where you wished you could remove an army from the game board? Well, I have good news for you – now you can! You have the power to take out any player’s army from any location on the board. It’s like having a secret weapon up your sleeve!

Actions with “And/or”

If there are two choices on the card separated by “or,” you can pick which one to do. If there are two actions on the card separated by “and,” you can do both.

Remember: You have the option to take the card without doing the action.

Once you’ve taken your card and completed the action, slide the rest of the cards to the left to fill the gap. Draw a new card and put it in the right spot. Then it’s the next player’s turn.

Game Over

So here’s the deal: the game is all done and dusted when every player has a specific number of cards. The exact number of cards each player needs depends on how many people are playing this crazy game.

• If there are only two players, you each need 13 cards.
• If three people are in on the action, you’re looking at 10 cards each.
• Four players? Then you’ll need 8 cards each.
• And if there’s a full house of five players, 7 cards per player it is.

In my game, counting victory points has become a mental exercise. It’s like a puzzle, trying to figure out who controls what and how many points I can earn.

Let me break it down for you:

Regions: You get a victory point for every region you control. To control a region, you need to have more armies there than any other player. But be careful! Cities count as armies when determining control. If two or more players have the same number of armies in a region, nobody controls it.

Continents: Controlling continents also earns you victory points. For each continent you control, you get one victory point. To control a continent, you need to have more regions in that continent than anyone else. If there’s a tie in the number of regions controlled, nobody controls the continent.

So, the more regions and continents you have, the more victory points you’ll earn. It’s all about strategically positioning your armies and making sure you have the upper hand.

Goods: When playing this game, I earn victory points based on the sets of goods I have. But now, here’s the twist – I can use “Wild” cards to boost my collection. These special cards can be combined with any goods cards I already have, allowing me to earn extra points for each “Wild” card used.

The number of victory points I receive for each type of good depends on how many cards of that good I own. This information is conveniently listed in the middle of each card. Let’s take Crystals as an example – I earn 1 point for having one card, 2 points for two cards, 3 points for three cards, and a hefty 5 points for a collection of four cards.

So, here’s the goal – I want to rack up victory points by dominating not only in regions and continents but also in goods. The player with the highest total of victory points from all three categories can declare themselves the ruler of the most powerful empire and the winner! However, if there’s a tie, we’ll have to look at other factors. First, the player with the most coins will have the upper hand. But if that’s still not enough, we’ll consider the player with the most armies on the board. And if a tie still persists, the player with the most controlled regions will take the victory throne.

Variants