CURIOS

Hey there! Welcome to Curios, a thrilling adventure where you join me in the search for lost treasures around the world. I’m an archaeologist, and together we’ll travel to different places, uncover ancient artifacts, and discover their hidden value. Exciting, right?

SETUP

First things first, let’s prepare for our adventure! Each of us will need five Archaeologists that match in color. To decide who goes first, we’ll pick someone randomly and give them the starting player token. Now, imagine a vibrant playing area in front of us. That’s where we’ll find the treasure sites, each with its own matching artifacts.

Oh wait, let me give you a quick rundown of what artifacts are where. The yellow gems are stored in the Pyramid, the green gems are in the Colosseum, the blue gems can be found in the Shipwreck, and finally, the red gems are held in the Temple. Got it? Great!

So, here’s the deal: the number of Artifacts you’ll get depends on how many players are in the game. It’s a simple equation. Two players get eight Artifacts each, three players get ten, four players get twelve, and five players get fourteen. That’s the way the cookie crumbles.

Now, let’s talk Treasure Market. A random card is drawn and placed right above the matching Treasure Site. It’s like setting the stage for an epic adventure.

Now, it’s time to distribute the cards. Grab a deck and shuffle it up. If there are two or three players, each person gets four cards. Four players? They get three cards each. And if you’ve got a party of five, well, you’ll just have to make do with two cards each.

With everyone having their hands full, we’re ready to jump into the action. Let the game begin!

GAMEPLAY

When we play the game, we go through a number of rounds. Each round has two phases: the Search for Treasure phase and the Recruit Archaeologists phase. In the Search for Treasure phase, we use our pawns to get artifacts from different sites. We take turns, starting with the first player and going clockwise around the group. We choose a Treasure Site and put our pawns in the empty column next to it.

If we manage to fill the column with our pawns, we get to take one artifact from that site. But if all the columns in a Treasure Site are already full, we can’t put any more pawns there. After we collect our artifact, it’s the next player’s turn.

Hey there, once we’re done with our treasure hunt, it’s time to gather our Archaeologists and move on to the Recruiting round. This is where things get really interesting! Starting with me, each player gets a chance to recruit another member to their team. To do that, I have to play a Market card from my hand and show it to everyone. If I don’t want to reveal anything about my hand, I can choose to pass. It’s all about strategy and keeping your cards close to your chest!

Time to Wrap It Up

When two or more Treasure Sites run out of artifacts, that’s when the game comes to an end. We finish up the round we’re playing, and then it’s time for scoring. The value of the artifacts we’ve collected is determined by the Market cards above the Treasure Sites. We tally up our points, and the player with the highest score wins the whole game! Exciting, isn’t it?

By the way, my name is Ellie! I live in Northeast Tennessee and I’m a big fan of animals, fantasy books, and spending time outdoors. I’m lucky to have an amazing husband and two adorable fur babies. And let me tell you, being part of this wonderful community is absolutely fantastic!