Welcome to Pergamon Variant Rules!

Hey there! When you’re playing a 2-player game, we’ve got a special addition for you: the tomb raider. This sneaky character will shake things up by blocking one of the research fund spaces each round and, on top of that, they’ll grab any cool finds and research funds they come across. Watch out!

Now, let’s get into the juicy stuff. Below, you’ll find all the changes you need to know in order to play with the tomb raider. Pay close attention!

Phase 2: Distributing research funds

Once you’ve put out the two research fund cards, the next step is to choose a research fund space for the tomb raider to block. They’ll be occupying that space, so keep an eye out!

If you draw 2 cards with money bags on them, you get to move the tomb raider to the space with 2 money bags. If you draw 1 card with a money bag and 1 card with a chest, you place the tomb raider on the space with 1 money bag and 1 chest. And if you draw 2 cards with chests on them, the tomb raider goes to the space with 2 chests.

Now onto phase 3: Excavating, exhibiting, storing finds. This is where the players and the tomb raider get to do their actions based on where they are on the research fund spaces, from right to left. When it’s the tomb raider’s turn, he digs in the most expensive gallery he can afford, and it has to be a gallery where he can actually do an excavation with his research funds space.

When you play the game, you need to return any coins you have to the stock and put any looted finds back in the box. But here’s the tricky part: you can only take finds from a gallery that still has some left. If there aren’t any finds left in the gallery you’re looking at, you’ll have to move on to the next highest one that still has some.

Now, here’s something interesting. If you don’t have to use all of your coins, you get to keep the ones you didn’t spend! You can save them up and use them during your next turn. It’s like having a little treasure stashed away.

Let me give you an example. Imagine you’re the tomb raider and you’re on research funds space number 7. You receive 3 coins for your turn. According to where you are, the deepest gallery you can dig in is gallery III. So, you decide to spend 3 of your coins to loot the finds in that gallery. You take the looted finds, remove them from the game, and put them back in the box.

Now, let’s talk about what happens when everyone has placed their figures on the free research funds spaces. Both the tomb raider and the players get to collect research funds based on where they are positioned, from right to left. This means that the players who are more towards the right get to collect their funds first.

A New Turn

When it comes to playing a game, like the one we’re talking about here, the order in which players take their turns is pretty important. But how do we determine who goes first? Well, it’s a simple rule, really. The player who did something last in the previous turn gets to be the first player in the new turn.

Now, there’s this character called the tomb raider, and they have a special rule. No matter what happened in the last turn, the tomb raider always gets to go first when it comes to placing their figure on the research funds space. After the tomb raider, then the first player gets to take their turn.

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Adding More Strategies for a Deeper Experience

If you’re eager to enhance the tactical elements of the game, I have a couple of variations that you might find intriguing. Give one or both of these a try to bring some fresh depth to your gameplay.

Variation 1: Shuffling Player Order (for 3 and 4 Players)

I finished my turn, and now it’s time to switch things up. I return the two research funds cards back to the box, ready for the next player to use.

Next, I move my player figures from the research funds spaces to the order spaces on the right side of the game board. Starting from the left, the first figure goes on space 1, the next figure goes on space 2, and so on.

Now, it’s time to determine who goes first in this new round. The player who last found something during an excavation, and whose figure is now sitting on space 1, becomes the new first player. This lucky player gets to lay out the new finds in the first phase and also gets to choose a new research funds space in the second phase. The rest of us will choose our spaces in clockwise order.

Variant 2: Sorting Finds

In phase 1, when the first player lays out the 5 tiles, they are neatly sorted by century from 1 to 5. This way, everything is organized and easy to manage.