ALTIPLANO

I am thriving in the mountains of South America, and let me tell you, it’s not easy. Finding goods and resources is becoming more difficult by the day, and our stores are running low. But I’m not one to give up easily. I’m determined to find new ways to make money, build roads to connect with the outside world, and store our precious supplies in the warehouse. With a little cunning and adaptability, I know I can not only survive but thrive in these harsh conditions!

SETUP

Now, before we get started, let’s set up the game. First, we need to decide how many goods and cards we’ll use. Take a look at the chart below. Shuffle the order cards and make sure to remove six random cards if there are two or three of us playing. If there are four or five of us, we only need to remove four cards. Got it? Good, let’s get ready to embark on this exciting adventure!

Let’s get started by placing the location tiles randomly. Make sure that each location is connected to two others, forming a circle in the middle of the table. This will create the plateau where the game will take place. Don’t forget to place all the food tiles and coins in the center to create the supply.

Next, let’s organize each specific location. At the Market, put the order cards and glass tiles. For the Farm, arrange the alpaca tiles, cloth tiles, and wood tiles. At the Mine, place the stone tiles, ore tiles, and silver tiles. The Forest should have wood tiles and cacao tiles. On the Harbor, set up the fish tiles and boat cards. The Road will have the corn tiles, and finally, in the Village, lay out the house cards and cards.

Before we begin, let me explain how to set up the game. First, remove any extensions that you don’t need for the number of players you have. Keep them safe in the box. Now, take the remaining extensions and divide them into four stacks. Place each stack face down, making sure they match the backs of the cards. Shuffle each stack individually. Once that’s done, create a single large stack by placing the D stack on the bottom, followed by C, then B, and finally A on top. You’ll also need to place the extension strip on the table, and position the top five extensions in the five slots on the right side of the strip.

Getting Ready to Play

Now that we have everything set up, let’s get prepared. Start by choosing your color. Once you’ve chosen, you’ll receive one action board, one warehouse, one player pawn, one road marker, one container, one cart, and one cloth bag. Place your road marker on the top space of the road. Your cart will go on your action board in the designated space. Finally, the youngest player will get the start player marker.

Alright, let’s get started! First, we need to assign roles to each player. Here’s what we’ll do: we’ll shuffle these seven role tiles and make sure that everyone gets one. Each role has specific instructions on what tiles and coins to grab, so follow those. Put the good and food tiles into the bag and keep the coins on the side of the action board.

GAMEPLAY

Now, let me explain how the gameplay works. It’s divided into several rounds, and each round has four phases.

Phase One: Drawing

When it’s time for all of us to move to the next phase, we all do it together. Instead of picking tiles from our bag, we can gather tiles that were already placed on our action spaces and put them on empty planning spaces. You can also take back any coins that you haven’t used from your extensions. But you can’t take tiles from your warehouse or orders and put them on planning spaces.

If you decide to draw tiles from your bag, you have to do it randomly. Each time, you’ll draw as many tiles as you have empty planning spaces. At the beginning of the game, you can only occupy planning spaces one, two, three, and four.

If you don’t have enough tiles in your bag to plan for empty spaces, draw the tiles you have left, and then add them back to your bag for a fresh start. Then draw the tiles you need to complete your turn.

Phase Two: Planning

During this phase, all players can simultaneously place tiles from their planning spaces onto unoccupied action spaces. Each action space has specific tile requirements that need to be met in order to take the action. You don’t have to use all of the tiles in your planning spaces.

When playing the game, you can only place one tile on each action space. Once you place a tile, you can’t move it again until you either take the action or retrieve the tile. After each player has finished planning, we move on to phase three. Once you declare planning complete, you can no longer move your tiles.

Phase Three: Actions

The start player begins the game. Each turn, you can take one action. You keep taking actions until you have to pass and can’t take any more actions.

During your turn, you have the choice to take one action as long as you meet the requirements and have the right location tile on the plateau. However, you don’t have to take any actions if you don’t want to.

When it comes to playing the game, you have the option to move your pawn either before or after taking your action. Moving your pawn can be done in two ways: on foot, where you can move one space at a time, or by cart, where you can move three spaces at a time.

If you choose to move on foot, you’ll need to use one food from a movement action space to take one small step to an adjacent location. On the other hand, if you prefer to move by cart, you can move three steps to adjacent locations without using any food. However, keep in mind that you can only use your cart once per round.

When it comes to filling your warehouse, there are some rules to follow. First, you must start filling from the bottom of the warehouse and work your way up. Second, you should fill from left to right, ensuring that each row contains only one type of good. Additionally, you’re only allowed to have one incomplete row for each type of good. It’s important to note that food tiles cannot be stored in your warehouse. Finally, corn has a special role. It must be stored immediately, as it can act as a substitute for other goods. Corn holds higher priority, so make sure to keep that in mind.

When you play the game, you can collect tiles to fill up your container. These tiles are earned when you take certain actions. But there’s something interesting about the coins in the game – when you spend them, they go right back into the supply. So don’t worry about keeping them in your container or bag! Just keep them on the side of your action board. And once everyone has passed, we can move on to the final phase of the round.

Let’s talk about the different actions you can take in each location.

When you’re on the Farm, you have three options: you can produce food, produce wool, or produce cloth. It’s up to you to decide which one you want to do.

If you find yourself in the Forest, there are two actions you can choose from: producing wood or trading cacao. Take your pick!

Next up is the Mine. Here, you have the opportunity to produce silver or produce stone. The choice is yours.

The Harbor offers a few different actions. You can construct a boat, trade fish, or produce food. Think about what you need and choose accordingly.

Lastly, let’s talk about the Village. When you’re in the Village, you can construct a house, store goods, or purchase a cart. It’s important to consider what you need and what will benefit you the most.

When you’re in the Market, you have the opportunity to buy and sell goods, get an order, and even deliver goods. It’s a bustling place where business happens.

When you’re out on the road, you can do more than just travel. You can also build a road of your own, adding to the infrastructure of the game.

Phase Four: Cleanup

Cleanup is an important step in getting ready for the next round of gameplay. In this phase, the start player marker is passed on to the next player, going clockwise. All the cards that were used in the previous round are moved back to the left side. If anyone bought extensions during the last round, these are shifted downward to fill any gaps. If no extensions were lost, there’s no need to remove any. They stay where they are.

END OF GAME

So, here’s the deal. The game is winding down when a location runs out of items or there aren’t enough extensions left to fill the extension trips. At that point, we finish up the round and then have one final round before we start tallying up the scores.

Okay, now let’s talk about scoring. First things first, we need to clear out all the tiles from everywhere except for our warehouse and order cards. Once we’ve done that, we’ll group them by type. Now, for Wood, Stone, or Cacao, you get one point. Wool or Ore will get you two points, Cloth and Silver are worth three points each, and Glass is the big winner with four points per tile.

So, here’s the deal: boat cards are worth two points, while house cards are worth four points. Now, hold on – it gets even more interesting! If you have goods tiles that match the types of goods listed on the house card, you score an additional point for each matching tile. Keep an eye out for completed orders as well – the listed points for those will be added to your total. And don’t forget about your warehouse! Each completed row there earns you points too. Oh, and let’s not leave out the mission cards – you’ll score points for each one you complete. Count ’em all up, and the player with the highest score wins the game!