Lost Cities: The Board Game – How to Play

Hello there! Welcome to the world of Lost Cities, a thrilling adventure where you get to become an explorer and uncover the mysteries of ancient civilizations. Are you ready to embark on this exciting journey? Let me guide you through the rules of this captivating board game.

Objective:

The goal of Lost Cities is to embark on expeditions and discover valuable artifacts from different lost cities. The more successful your expeditions are, the more points you’ll earn. The player with the most points at the end of the game is the winner.

Game Setup:

At the start, each player is dealt 8 cards. These cards represent different expeditions to the lost cities. The game board is divided into five different color-coded expeditions, each representing a different lost city. The cards have numbers ranging from 2 to 10, with higher numbers representing more valuable artifacts.

Gameplay:

On your turn, you have two options: either play a card or discard a card.

If you play a card, you must choose an expedition and place the card face-up on the corresponding color-coded path. The cards must be placed in ascending order from left to right. Once you play a card, you cannot take it back.

If you discard a card, you must choose one card from your hand and place it face-down in the corresponding discard pile. However, be careful! Once you discard a card, it becomes available for your opponents to pick up and use for their own expeditions.

Expediting and Scoring:

When an expedition is started, it must be embarked upon by playing a card. Once an expedition begins, additional cards of the same color can be played in ascending order to build up the expedition. However, be mindful that once you begin an expedition, you must score points equal to the value of the first card played to make any profit.

On each turn, you may also choose to invest in a future expedition by playing a wager card. The wager card doubles the value of any cards played in that expedition. But remember, this can be risky since you must double the negative points if you do not achieve a positive score.

Game End:

For each expedition, you’ll earn points based on the total value of the cards played in that expedition. However, if you did not have a positive score, you’ll earn negative points. Additionally, players receive points for each wager card played. Once all the cards have been played and the draw pile is empty, the game ends and final scores are calculated.

Conclusion:

Lost Cities provides an enthralling and strategic gameplay experience. As an explorer, you’ll have to make careful decisions about which expeditions to embark on and how to manage your resources effectively. The game offers a perfect blend of adventure and risk-taking, making it a favorite among board game enthusiasts. So grab your backpack and get ready to uncover the lost cities!

Let’s start by setting up the game. Put the game board in the middle of the table and make sure to have the victory point chips and artefact tiles nearby. Now, it’s time for each player to choose a color. Take your 5 figures in your chosen color and place them in front of you, creating your play area.

We need to make things interesting by adding some surprises. Take the 25 event tiles and shuffle them. Place them face-down on the designated spaces on the game board. Once they’re all in place, flip them over so that they’re face-up.

Now, let’s get everyone some cards. Shuffle the cards and deal 8 of them face-down to each player. The remaining cards should be placed face-down next to the board, forming the supply.

Note: Before we start playing, let’s remove 30 random cards from the deck and place them face-down back in the box.

Let’s Get Started!

We are about to embark on 3 exciting expeditions. At the end of each expedition, we will score our positions. And after the 3rd expedition, we will also score the artifacts we have collected along the way. Let’s choose a starting player to kick off the first expedition.

Now, let’s get into the game! We will take turns in a clockwise order. Each turn consists of two phases, which we will follow in the order given:

1. Play a card:
2. Place a face-up card in your play area to start a new path;
3. Put a face-up card on top of a card already in your play area to advance on a path you have already started;
4. Discard a card by putting it face-up on a discard pile.

I can select a card in one of three ways:

– From the face-down supply pile.

– From one of the face-up discard piles.

I. Play a card

I choose a card from my hand and do one of the following actions:

– Start searching for a path.

In this game, I get to make some choices. First, I look at the cards in my hand and choose one color. I take the card with the lowest number in that color and put it face-up in front of me. Only I can add more cards to that pile later on.

Next, I pick one of my figures and put it on the start space of the path that matches the color of the card I played. The start space is marked with a -20. That means my figure starts with 20 minus points.

Here’s something important to know: when it comes to scoring, the researcher earns me double points at the end of the game, whether they’re positive or negative points.

Oh, and I should mention that I can only start one search for each color. But other players can also have searches on the same path. For example, three players might all start searching on the blue path.

If I’m already on a path, I can move forward

• You get to choose which path you want to explore and move forward on.
• Select a card from your hand that matches the color of the path you’ve chosen and place it on top of a card of the same color that’s already in your play area. The new card must have the same value or a higher value than the card it is played on.
• Then, take a step forward on your chosen path.
• Keep in mind that if you land on a step with an event tile, you’ll encounter the event.

Reaching the last step

When one of your figures reaches the final step, which is the ninth step, and you play a valid card for that path, you have the option to move any of your other figures one step forward on their respective paths.

Discarding a card

When I play this game, I get to choose a card from my hand and place it face up next to the board. Throughout the game, I might end up discarding a lot of cards. To keep things organized, I separate the discarded cards by color. Each color can have up to five stacks of cards, and only the last discarded card of each color is visible.

Here’s something to keep in mind: as the game goes on, I might end up collecting cards that I can’t use. In that case, I can discard them. For example, let’s say I played a red 4 and a red 7, and then I draw a red 3. I might not need that card, so I’ll want to discard it. But I might also want to wait until no one else can use that card, just to be strategic.

Once I’m done with this phase, I move on to the next step: drawing a card. This is how I end my turn, and I have two options:

1. I can draw the top card from the supply of face-down cards.

2. Or, I can draw the top card from the discard stack.

Rules of the Game

In this game, each player starts with 8 cards in their hand. The goal is to be the first to collect all the treasure artefacts.

How to Play

On your turn, you have two options: play a card or discard a card.

• To play a card, you can either place it on one of the face-up discard piles or on top of a treasure pile.
• To discard a card, you place it face-up on one of the discard piles.

After playing or discarding a card, you draw the top card from one of the face-up discard piles, adding it to your hand.

Once your turn is over, the next player takes their turn in clockwise order.

Event Tiles

If your figure lands on a space with an event tile, you must perform the action indicated:

Artefact Tile: Take the artefact tile from the board and keep it in your play area. The tile space will be empty.



Let’s talk about victory point tiles, shall we?

When you want to rack up some victory points, these tiles come in handy. They have a value printed on them, which tells you how many victory point chips you can take. Take these chips and place them face-down in your playing area. But here’s the thing: researchers don’t get double points when they take these chips. Don’t worry, the points chips are always placed face-down, so no one knows how many you’ve got. And remember, the tile stays face-up on the space, so everyone can see what’s up.



When I’m playing this game, I can move any of my figures that are on a path. All I have to do is move them one step forward. Easy enough, right? But here’s the catch: if the figure I move ends up on a space with an event tile, I have to do whatever action is indicated on that tile. And it doesn’t stop there – the tile stays face-up on that space.

Now let’s talk about what happens at the end of an expedition and how scoring works.

An expedition ends as soon as five figures, in total, pass a bridge. So it’s not about passing every single bridge on every path – it’s just about reaching that magic number of five. And here’s the interesting part: it’s entirely possible that on one path, two players pass the bridge, while on another path, none of the players manage to pass it.



When you come across a space that marks the end of your journey and it has an event tile, you don’t have to do what the tile tells you.




Your expedition also comes to an end when you draw the last card from the face-down supply.




Earning points for your expedition




Every figure on the board will give you victory points:



• As I venture through this game, I get points based on where my adventurer stands. If I have a researcher, I get double the points. It’s a thrill to see those points add up!
• I receive my points using victory point chips. But beware, if a space has negative points, I have to give up that many points in chips. Thankfully, I can never have fewer than zero points.
• Now it’s time to gather up my figures. I want to make sure I have them all for the next round.
• If I have any artifact tiles, I have to return them. Each tile gets me a square artifact chip, which I proudly display in my play area.

Our Next Adventure

Once we’ve finished scoring, we’ll mix up all 25 event tiles, just like when we started the game. Then, we’ll randomly place them on the board, flipping them over as we go.

The cards are shuffled and dealt face-down. Each of us will receive 8 cards. The remaining cards will be placed face-down next to the board, ready to be used.

We get to keep our victory point chips and artifact chips from the previous expedition. Now, it’s time for a new adventure to begin! The player to the left of the one who played last in the last expedition will be the first to go this time.



Game Over

The game comes to an end once the third expedition is scored.

Now it’s time to tally up your artefact chips. On the game board, you’ll find a comprehensive scoring table that shows the number of points you’ll earn for each artefact chip. Keep in mind that if you have fewer than 6 chips, you’ll actually lose victory points.



Now, it’s time for all of us to add up our victory point chips. The person who has the most points will be the winner. But what happens if two or more of us have the same number of points? In that case, the person with the most artefact chips will be declared the winner. And that’s how we determine the victor!