Sneferu Rulebook v4.6-web-campaignpdf
Sneferu Rulebook v4.6-web-campaignpdf
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  1. 1RULEBOOK
  2. 2SNEFERU: BUILDERS OF THE PYRAMIDSA game of pyramid building for 1–4 players with a playtime of about 45 minutes.Sneferu was an Egyptian pharaoh who reigned circa between 2543 and 2510 BC. He was the only pharaoh who had built 3 pyramids. The first attempt to build a pyramid in his lifetime was in Meidum, but the structure collapsed. The second attempt, later known as the Bent Pyramid, had came to be known as the Bent Pyramid, had its original angle of inclination changed during construction, resulting in an unmistakable shape. Finally, there is the Red Pyramid. The first successful attempt at constructing a smooth-sided pyramid heralded a new era of pyramid building and became the precursor to the famed Pyramids of Giza.In the game, you become one of the Egyptian architects that Sneferu called upon after the two failed attempts. The pharaoh is wary of his inevitable demise and there is no room for error anymore. You must build a pyramid that will carry the legacy of the great ruler. But only the pyramid matching Sneferu’s greatness shall be chosen as the pharaoh’s final resting place. The builder of such a pyramid will be showered with gold and undying fame. And those who fail? They shall be trapped in the pyramids of their own making as they are torn down on their heads. Well... so much for your motivation. Now chop chop, get building!GOAL OF THE GAMEGather materials (basalt, Tura limestone , Mokattam limestone , granite , gold ) and build the tallest pyramid possible as you travel up and down the Nile river!
  3. 3100 stone blocks (10 different types, 10 blocks of each)The stone block supply is limited. If you run out of the stone blocks, do not replace them by other tokens.4 player boards4 builder tiles(in 4 different colors)4 boat pieces(in 4 different colors)1 game board15 quarry bonus tokens1 stone block offer board1 cloth bag40 food tokens (25 × 1, 15 × 5)Food supply is unlimited. If you run out of tokens, use an appropriate replacement.COMPONENTS
  4. SETUP1 Place the game board in the middle of the play area.2 Shuffle 15 quarry bonus tokens and randomly distribute them on the square bonus spaces on the game board along the river track. Place 4 quarry bonus tokens with the eye of Horus icon on the back randomly face up on the first 4 bonus spaces on the game board (also marked by the eye of Horus icon ). Place remaining quarry bonus tokens randomly face up on the other bonus spaces.3 Give each player a pyramid-shaped player board.4 Each player chooses a color. They take the builder tile and the boat piece in the chosen color.5 Give each player 6 food. Players place the food tokens in their personal supply.6 Each player places their boat piece on the starting space of the river track (blue space). The position of the boats on the individual slots of the starting space should be random.7 Put all 100 stone blocks to the bag.8 Place all the leftover food tokens in a common supply within reach of all players.9 Place the stone block offer board next to the game board. Fill up the offer board with 28 stone tiles drawn randomly from the bag.1 23 4 5 6 789135Setup for 4 players.
  5. 5GAMEPLAYPlayers take turns traveling up and down the Nile, visiting ancient Egyptian sites, where they exchange food for stone blocks (bread and beer was commonly used as currency during that Ancient Egypt period). The players use these stone blocks to make their pyramids as large as possible, as quickly as possible.The turn order is determined by the position of the boats on the river track. The active player is always the one with their boat furthest back on the river track. If multiple boats occupy the space furthest back, the player who reached that space first (meaning their boat is on the innermost slot of the space, closest to the Nile River ) will take their turn. Players gain food by placing stone blocks on depicted breadsymbols on their pyramids or by creating areas of matching symbols and closing off these areas. NOTE: Player may take multiple turns in a row, if their boat is still furthest back on the board.When it is your turn, always resolve these steps in the following order:1. Choose a stone block from the offer.2. Pay by food and time for the chosen stone block.3. Place the chosen stone block in your pyramid.4.Gainfood for placing the stone block in your pyramid (from depicted bread symbols and/or enclosed areas).5. Refill the stone block offer from the bag.1. Choose a stone block from the offerChoose any stone block from the offer. The stone blocks in the offer are divided into 4 columns. The base cost of all stone blocks in each column is determined by the cost depicted at the bottom of said column A. Most of the stone blocks also have an extra cost depicted on the left of each columnB. To determine the total cost of a specific stone block, add up its base cost and any extra costs. The total cost shows how much food and time you will have to pay for taking this particular stone block in Step 2. You cannotchoose a stone block that you cannot afford (i.e., you cannot choose it if you do not have enough food and/or time in Step 2). EXAMPLE: It is Blue’s turn, as he is furthest back on the path and closest to the river. After he moves forward, it will be Green’s turn, as she will be the furthest back on theboard. Setup for 4 players.
  6. 62. Pay the chosen stone block with food and timeThe bottom stone block in each column will be the cheapest (it might have no extra cost at all, meaning you will only pay the base cost). You can choose a stone block higher up the column, but you will also have to pay the extra cost for this stone, plus the base cost (see the illustration). The cost will be a combination of food and time units. To pay the food cost , return food tokens from your personal supply to the common supply. Time units are represented by your boat moving forward along the river track where 1 space = 1 time unit . To pay the time cost , move your boat by the required number of spaces forward along the river track. EXAMPLE:If the time cost is 3, you move your boat 3 spaces forward. You must also pay the food cost by returning 2 food tokens to the common supply.Ship Movement The order of your boats along the river track and on each individual space is crucial! Each space along the river is divided into slots to accommodate multiple boats. When moving your boat to a new space, always place it in the innermost empty slot (closest to the Nile River ). This allows you to keep track of who entered a space first in case there are multiple boats on the same space (see illustration).NOTE: If paying time units would move your boat beyond the very last space of the river track, you cannot buy this stone block.
  7. 73. Place the chosen stone block in your pyramidYou can flip the stone block you’ve acquired in the previous step in any way and place it in an empty space on your player board. You can place the stone block in the bottomlevel of the pyramid, or on a higher level. However, if you want to place the stone block on a higher level, both halves of the newly placed stone block must be “supported” by the previously placed stone blocks in the level below it. 4. Gain food for placing the stone block in your pyramidSome spaces of your player board (pyramid) show food icons . When you cover up a food icon with a stone block, immediately gain the food depicted on the covered icon.When placing blocks, you attempt to create and expand contiguous areas of adjacent matching symbols (symbols are adjacent if their halves of the stone blocks touch orthogonally, never diagonally). Each symbol also has a unique color associated with it. Once you place a stone block in such a way that an area of matching symbols is enclosed (meaning: it is surrounded by other symbols and/or the edge of the pyramid, so it' s not possible to expand further), you immediately gain an amount of food based on the size of the enclosed area (see the chart below). Note that you may gain food for each area only once throughout the game. If you are unable to enclose an area by the end of the game, you don’t gain any food at all for that area.The same chart can also be found on the game board:xjEXAMPLE:A player just placed the brown and white stone A, enclos-ing two areas: They get 7 food for the enclosed area of 4 green spacesB, and no food for the enclosed area of 1 white spaceC.CABxNumber of symbols1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11Food gained0 2 4 7 9 12 14 17 19 22 24
  8. 85. Refill the stone block offer from the bagIn the column from which you took the stone block, slide all the stone blocks above the now empty space down. Then draw a random stone block from the bag and place it in the topmost position of that column. NOTE: If the bag is empty, the stone block offer will not be refilled. In the rare case when there is no stone left in the bag and one column in the offer is empty, any player may move the topmost stone from another column on the bottom space of the empty column before taking their turn.Quarry bonusIf one of the two colors on the chosen stone block matches the color of the space where your boat was located at the start of your turn(before paying any time units ), you may gain the quarry bonus depicted on the bonus tile next to this space (see illustration). Player can choose not to gain the quarry bonus.The bonuses:Take 1 food (on 3 tiles, one of which has the eye of Horus icon )You cannot use this food to pay for this stone block.Take 2 food (on 3 tiles, one of which has the eye of Horus icon )You cannot use this food to pay for this stone block.You do not pay the extra cost of the chosen stone block (on 3 tiles, one of which has the eye of Horus icon )If you gain this bonus, then in Step 2, you can ignore the extra cost depicted next to the columns. You will only pay the base cost depicted below the column where the stone block is located.Save 1 time unit (on 2 tiles, one of which has the eye of Horus icon )If you gain this bonus, then in Step 2, you get a discount of 1 time unit(you will move the boat 1 space less). The time costcan be 0, meaning you will not move at all. In that case, you will take another turn immediately after finishing this one. It is possible to chain multiple turns together in this way.Spend 1 time unit to gain 3 food (on 2 tiles) You can choose to spend 1 time unit immediately (move your boat 1 space forward) to gain 3 food . You cannot use this food to pay for this stone block.Storehouse (on 2 tiles). After you pay for the chosen stone block in Step 2 this turn, you can place the stone block next toyour pyramid, rather than directly in it (meaning you will forego Step 4). You can place this stone block in your pyramid for free before or after any of your future turns and execute Step 4.
  9. 9GAME ENDThe game ends when all players’ boats reach the last space of the river track.If a player cannot buy a stone block from the offer (they do not have enough food and/or time, or their pyramid is finished) they must immediately move their boat to the last space of the river track. They gain 5 food for each space moved this way. Determining the WinnerThe player whose pyramid is made up of the most stone blocks is the winner. In case of a tie, the tied player with the most leftover food wins. If still tied, the tied player with the single largest enclosed areaof the matching symbols wins. If still tied, compare the second largest enclosed area of the matching symbols and so on. If still tied, the players share the victory.VARIABLE BUILDER POWERSOnce you are familiar with Sneferu, you can use the Variable Builder Powers variant, which gives each builder a unique special power. When using this variant, your boats start on the third space of the river track (see illustration). This means you will have 2 time units fewer to use during the game.Each player chooses their builder, takes the appropriate builder tile and a boat of the matching color. You can also assign the builders randomly. Place your starting food (depicted on your builder tile) in your personal supply. When playing with this variant, all rules of the standard game apply. HIEROGLYPH MEANINGSBasalt(hieroglyph for “ruler”; green was considered to be a royal color)Time(Is a hieroglyph for “sun” or “day”. It represents the time it takes to move on the game map.)Gold (hieroglyph for “gold”)Mokattan Limestone(hieroglyph for “stone”)Tura Limestone(hieroglyph for “white”)Granite (hieroglyph for “statue”; granite was a popular material for construction of statues)
  10. 10Lateef He takes good care of his workers. They do all the work, after all. He likes to host feasts in their honour and in honour of all the finished monuments.Once per game, you can gain two food for each level of your pyramid with at least one stone. You start the game with 4 food.Heba She is known for her charm and she knows the right people in the right places all across Egypt.Once per game, right before or after placing a stone block in your pyramid, you can move your boat 2 spaces back on the river track. Once you use this ability, flip your builder tile to the other side. You start the game with 5 food.Tsekani He is an extravagant and daring builder, willing to use the most novel – even unproven – building techniques.Every time you place a stone in between two other stones so that it is adjacent to another stone on the right and on the left, you gain 1 extra food (during the “Gain food for placing the stone block in your pyramid” step of your turn). You start the game with 6 food.Aya She mesmerises admirers with her creative choices of interior decorations and materials. Enclosed areas of size 1 give you 1 food, instead of the usual 0 food. You start the game with 4 food.
  11. 11SOLO MODEIn the solo mode, you will face the Ptah, who will act as an opponent, collecting stone blocks like a human player would. During setup, take one player board for yourself and one player board for the Pyrabot. The goal of the game is to build a pyramid with more stone blocks than the Ptah. Place your boat on the starting space of the river track. Ptah does not have a boat on the game board.The solo mode follows the same rules as the multiplayer game, with the following changes:Every time your boat leaves or passes a quarry (a colored space with a quarry bonus tile) on the river track (after performing the “Pay the chosen stone block with food and time for the chosen stone block” step of your turn) look at the lowest-placed stone blocks from every column of the offer, except for the column from which you had just taken your stone block. The Ptah will only take a stone from a column if at least one of its materials matches the color of the quarry you had just left or passed. Place these blocks on the Ptah’s player board. Refill the offer by placing new stone blocks in the columns from which you and the Ptah have taken stone blocks.The order of stone blocks on the Ptah’s player board is irrelevant. He does not gain food and not does it care about areas of matching materials. The number of stone blocks is the only determining factor. If, at the end of the game, once your boat moves to the final space of the track, you have more stone blocks in your pyramid, you win. Otherwise, you lose.If at any point the Ptah finishes its pyramid (by placing all 21 stone blocks), it immediately wins the game.If you win, you can calculate your score: you gain 3 points for every stone block in your pyramid, 1 point for every 3 food left in your supply, and you lose 1 point for each stone block in the Ptah’s pyramid. Compare your score with the following table to see how well you did:HowsuccessfulHaveyoubeen?<30anoobis31–40acleo-patontHeback41–45Good, quarryon!46–50pHara-oHyeaH!51+topoftHepyramid!
  12. 12CREDITSTLAMA games – Miroslav TlamichaPrague, Czech Republicwww.tlamagames.com© 2024, TLAMA games. All rights reseerved.Designer: Adam ŠpanělProject Manager: Miroslav TlamichaIllustrations: The MicoGraphic design: Michal HubáčekRulebook Draft: Adam ŠpanělEnglish Version: Ondřej PolákProofreading: Kateřina Sikorová, Daniela Vacíková, Pavel SkalickýConsulting Egyptologist: Marie Peterková HlouchováThe story of this game is long, and many people were involved along the years. I would like to thank the Ludum Dare community (where this game started as a videogame prototype back in 2019) for their enthusiasm, passion, positivity and kindness.Thank you to all the testers who helped test the early versions of the board game at Brnohraní, Deskohraní, Žižcon, Geekárna, TLAMA games, Severské Hraní, CGE and many more. I won' t attempt to list all of you, as I would inevitably forget someone. It' s been a while, but you know who you are!I would like to thank Vlaada for his constructive feedback that led to a key change in the way the pieces are obtained, giving me the courage to revert a year of testing and design.Many thanks to Marie Peterková Hlouchová for the invaluable historical consultations.Big thanks to reddit user Ryan Abt for coming up with the name for the game and the main story of the game.And finally, thank you Mirek for deciding to publish the game, and your ideas in the final stages of design process regarding the assymetric player powers and solo game.HISTORICAL NOTENorthern FayiumTurathe primary limestone quarry in Egypt. Currently part of Cairo.The locations and materials of the quarries in the game roughly correspond to historical sites used for gathering the materials for the pyramids.Nubian Desert(does not fit on the map. Gold was transported over vast distances, as represented by the caravanas)Mons ClaudianusRoman quarry of granite.Aswansite best known for the discovery of many famous obelisks.El AmarnaBeni HasanBir el-KanayisAbydosWadi HammamatGebelein
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