The Square Circle, A Stonehenge Economic Game by J.C.Tsistinas
I've always enjoyed area control and commodity speculation games.. and while there exists a multitude of theories concerning Stonehenge.. the most simple in my opinion.. is the site was in fact a marketplace in which one could buy/sell goods.
Game Rules
Number of players: 2–5
Object of the game: The objective of the game is to collect the most valuable goods before the High Druid declares the square is closed.
Getting Started
Equipment: The game uses ALL of the standard pieces in the box.
Setup: Shuffle the cards (without the trilithon cards) and place the cards on any corner of the game board.
Place 2 white bars (Goods) on the box above the colored lines of the outer ring above each of the following numbers: 1-2-3-4-5. Place the White Trilithon card above the goods. (White Marketplace)
Place 2 blue bars (Goods) on the box above the colored lines of the outer ring above each of the following numbers: 7-8-9-10-11. Place the Blue Trilithon card above the goods. (Blue Marketplace)
Place 2 green bars (Goods) on the box above the colored lines of the outer ring above each of the following numbers: 13-14-15-16-17. Place the Green Trilithon card above the goods. (Green Marketplace)
Place 2 yellow bars (Goods) on the box above the colored lines of the outer ring above each of the following numbers: 19-20-21-22-23. Place the Yellow Trilithon card above the goods. (Yellow Marketplace)
Place 2 red bars (Goods) on the box above the color lines of the outer ring above each of the following numbers: 25-26-27-28-29. Place the Red Trilithon card above the goods. (Red Marketplace)
The disks (Merchants) are placed in the middle of the game board between the bluestones.
The neutral figure (High Druid) is placed at the altar in the center of the game board.
The colored figures are placed on 1 (1-30 is the Scoring Track) at the start of the game.
Playing the Game
Players choose a start player and play continues clockwise.
On a Turn
On the active player's turn he/she takes two cards off the top of the deck and places the cards face-up on the table.
The active player selects one of the face-up cards and exchanges the card for a merchant of the same color as the selected card. The selected card is removed the game.
The player must now place the merchant on one of small stones on the inner ring of game board. The remaining face-up card dictates the possible small stones on which the active player can place the merchant:
The merchant MUST be placed on a small day stone if the face-up card contains a day symbol OR a small night stone if the face-up card contains a night symbol.
The merchant MUST be placed on a small stone underneath the same color as on the face-up card. This includes a small stone located in the marketplace of the same color. EXAMPLE: If the face-up card is a day/white card.. the merchant can only be placed on a small day stone underneath 1-2-3-4-5-7-13-19-25.
The small stone CANNOT be previously occupied.
Once the active player has placed the merchant onto a small stone.. the active player takes ONE of the goods above the small stone and places the good in front of him/her on the table. The value of the color of the merchant is increased by one. (The colored figures are used to keep track of the respective values in the game.)
Play continues clockwise.
Neutral Cards
If the active player turns over a neutral card at the start of his/her turn.. the card is removed from the game. The High Druid is then moved forward two spaces on the path of bluestones. (The path starts at the top left stone on the game board.) The active player then turns over the next card of the deck until he/she turns over a non-neutral card. If any neutral cards are turned over in this process they're shuffled into the deck. The turn continues as normal.
Ending the Game
The game ends when the High Druid has moved all the way around the path of bluestones and has returned to the altar in the middle of the game board.
Scoring
At the end of the game.. each of the marketplaces are scored:
In each marketplace determine the color with the highest total of merchants located on the small stones. The color is awarded a number of points equal to the total number of ALL merchants located on the small stones.
Next determine the color with next highest total of merchants located on the small stones. The color is awarded a number of points equal to the number of merchants of the previous high total. Continue the process until all of the colors in the market have received points.
EXAMPLE: At the end of the game there are six merchants in the White Marketplace - 3x Blue 2x Red 1x Yellow. Blue is awarded 6 points. Red is awarded 3 points. Yellow is awarded 2 points.
(In the event of a tie.. all of the tied colors earn the same number of points.)
Once all five of the marketplaces have been scored.. determine the value of the goods the denoted by the figures on the scoring track:
The color with the highest value is worth four points per good.
The color with the second highest value is worth three points per good.
The color with the third highest value is worth two points per good.
The color with the fourth highest value is worth 1 point per good.
THE PLAYER WITH THE MOST POINTS IN GOODS IS THE WINNER OF THE GAME.
In the event of a tie.. the player who controls the most goods of the highest value color.. is the winner of the game. If all tied-players control the same goods.. no player wins the game.
J.C.Tsistinas was born in the United States in 1978 and has designed both board games and card games.
This rule set is for use with
Stonehenge: An
Anthology Board Game™ from Paizo Publishing.
Stonehenge may be purchased at
paizo.com
or at your favorite local game store. ©
2013
Paizo Publishing, LLC. Titanic Games, its logo, and Anthology Board Game are trademarks of Paizo Publishing, LLC in the U.S.A. and other countries.
All rights reserved. This contribution was made under the Anthology Board Game Library Agreement, whose conditions apply to the material in this document. For more free
Stonehenge
rule sets, visit the Stonehenge
Library at
paizo.com/stonehengelibrary.
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