Lost Ruins of Arnak

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Details

Sourced from: https://jmo.name/games

Player Aid Author: Jarrod Moore

Description

Explore an island to find resources and discover the lost ruins of Arnak.

Expansions in Use

  • Expedition Leaders

  • Shuffle and/or place decks:
    • Artifacts (face down)
    • Items (face down)
    • Fear (face up)
  • Place moon staff under I icon
  • Deal 1 artifact to leftmost space on display
  • Deal 5 items to remaining 5 display spaces
  • Randomly place idol tiles on sites:
    • Level 1: 1 face-up idol
    • Level 2: 1 face-up idol, 1 face-down idol
  • 2P: Place blocking tiles on all 5 double boot spaces
  • 3P: Place blocking tiles on 3 random double boot spaces
  • Place temple tiles on marked spaces
  • Randomly place bonus tiles on marked space on research track
    • Last space gets one tile per player
    • Other spaces get one tile, depending on player count
  • Shuffle site tiles, guardian tiles and assistant tiles
  • Place assistant tiles in 3 even stacks of 5 tiles

  • Choose a leader to play with:
    • Take associated board, components and starting deck of cards
  • Take 1 tent tile and 2 archaelogists
  • Place 1 book and 1 magnifying glass on top of each other on space at bottom of research track:
    • Magnifying glass must be on top of book
  • Prepare starting hand:
    • Add 2 Fear cards to starting deck of cards
    • Shuffle deck and place near player board
  • Choose starting player:
    • Official method: Player who most recently travelled to a place they had never visited before
  • Starting Resources:
    • 1st player: 2 gold
    • 2nd player: 1 gold, 1 compass
    • 3rd player: 2 gold, 1 compass
    • 4th player: 1 gold, 2 compasses

Players may, as a free action:

  • Move an idol they have collected to a space on their player board:
    • This basically spends victory points to do a free action
    • You do not have to use these spaces in any particular order
    • Once an idol has been put into a slot, it cannot be moved
    • If you use a blue idol slot, you can do one of the unique blue slot actions shown on the player's board
  • Perform any action with a lightning bolt next to it

Round structure:

  • Draw up to 5 cards
  • Perform Actions
    • Each turn, you perform one main action and as many free actions as you want
  • Optionally, you can pass for the round:
    • Once you have passed, you are doine playing for the round
  • After all players have passed, set up for the next round
  • Move the moon staff
Paying Travel Costs

The travel hierarchy is:

  • 2 gold -> Plane -> Car/Boat -> Boots
  • Cars cannot pay for boats and vice versa
  • 2 gold can be spent to pay for a plane
Using Assistants

During the game, there are some actions that allow you to recruit an assistant:

  • Take one of the assistant tiles on top of a stack
  • Place it silver side up on your player board
  • When you upgrade it with a research action, flip it over to its gold side
  • Assistants can be used at any time for a benefit, after which you turn it on its side
  • The assistant must be refreshed before it can be used again
  • Assistants always refresh at the end of the round

  • Pay the travel cost
  • Move your archaeologiet from your player board to the space
  • Resolve the effect printed on the site

  • Discover the site and awaken the site's guardian:
    • Pay the printed cost in compasses:
      • Level 1 site: 3 compasses
      • Level 2 site: 6 compasses
    • Pay the travel cost to visit the site space
    • Move your archaeologist to the site space
    • Take the idol(s) on the site space
    • Place the top site tile on the stack for the level of site being discovered
    • Immediately receive the benefit printed on the bottom of the site tile
    • Draw the top guardian tile and place it face up on top of the site tile
  • You cannot overcome the guardian on the same turn it was awoken
  • If a player finishes the round on a site whose guardian has not been overcome, they will receive 1 fear card as a penalty:
    • You do not necessarily have to be the person to have awoken the guardian to be penalised in this way
  • You do not pay the compass cost every time you dig at the site, only when it is discovered

  • Pay the cost shown on the bottom of the guardian tile
  • Remove the guardian from the site and keep it near your player board

The guardians have a one-time use effect on it which can be used at any time:

  • Each guardian tile can only be used once for its effect
  • You still score victory points for the guardian even if you use its effect

  • When buying an item card:
    • Choose an item card from the display
    • Pay the gold cost
    • Put the card face down on the bottom of your deck
  • When buying an artifact card:
    • Choose an artifact card from the display
    • Pay the compasses cost
    • Move the artifact to your play area
    • Optionally, activate the card and resolve its effect immediately for free Refill the card display after the purchase is complete

  • Play the card from your hand face-up into your play area
  • Resolve the card's effect
    • If the effect has a lightning bolt icon on it, then it is a free action
  • If the card is an artifact, you must pay a tablet to resolve the effect on the card

  • Decide which token to move:
    • The row your notebook must never be higher than the row your magnifying glass is on
  • Choose the next space to move into and pay the space's cost
  • Gain the printed benefit on the new space
  • Gain the benefit printed at the end of the row based on the token moved

Once you reach the end of the research track:

  • Place your magnifying glass on the empty space worth the most points
  • Look through the stack of bonus tiles and choose one to keep:
    • Return the others to the space on the board
  • On later turns, you can explore the Lost Temple with research actions:
    • Temple tiles are worth victory points at the end of the game
    • To pay for temple tiles:
      • 2 points: Pay the coste directly underneath the tile
      • 6 points: Pay the two costs underneath the tile
      • 11 points: Pay all 3 costs

  • Take all archaeologists back to player boards
  • For each card still in your hand, you can choose to discard it to your play area or keep it for the next round
  • Each player shuffles the card in their play area and puts them on the bottom of their deck
  • Refresh your assistants
  • Pass the starting player token to the left
  • Remove 2 cards on each side of the moon staff
  • Move the moon staff one space to the right
  • Refill all card spaces to the left of the staff with artifacts:
    • Slide cards towards the middle to fill gaps
  • Refill all card spaces to the right of the staff with items:
    • Slide cards towards the middle to fill gaps

End of the game is triggered when all players have passed in round 5

Players all score the following categories:

  • Points based on the location of your research tokens
  • Points from collected temple tiles
  • Points for each idol you have collected, as well as for idol slot left empty
  • Points for each guardian you overcame
  • Points for each item and artifact card you have
    • This includes your hand, the play area and your deck
  • Fear cards score -1 point each, fear tiles score -2 each

The player with the most points wins Tiebreakers are:

  • Player who reached the Lost Temple first
  • Player with the highest research score

If there is still a tie, the tied players share the victory

This leader has a 3rd archaeologist that the can place like any other:

  • Once it has been placed, no effect or action in the game can move it
  • Can only be used once per round
  • Using it counts as your main action for the turn
  • Take it back to your player board at the end of the round

When playing the Transmission card:

  • No placed archaeologists => the card has no effect
  • 1 placed archaeologist => you can take 1 gold
  • 2 placed archaeologists => you can take 1 gold or 1 compass
  • 3 placed archaeologists => you can take 1 gold, 1 compass or 1 tablet

Place the eagle token on the first space of the eagle track

When playing the Animal Bond card:

  • 0 guardians overcome => gain 1 gold
  • 1 or 2 guardians overcome => you may take gain 1 gold or exile one card from your hand
  • 3+ guardians overcome => you may gain one of the following:
    • 1 gold
    • Exile one card from your hand
    • Take 1 gold and move your eagle token one space forward

On your turn, you may use the effect shown on the eagle token's current space:

  • After using the effect, place the eagle token on the first space of the eagle track

Place 1 gold on spaces II, III, IV and V above the card row

Your starting hand consists of the Special Delivery card and 4 more random cards for a starting hand of 5 cards

When playing the Resourcefulness card:

  • 0 item cards currently played in your play area => gain 1 gold
  • 1 or 2 item cards currently played in your play area => gain 1 gold or gain 1 compass
  • 3+ item cards currently played in your play area => gain 1 gold, 1 compass or refresh one used assistant

At the start of every round, starting from round II, pick up the gold coin on the corresponding space on your player board

You will always start every round with the Special Delivery card in your hand:

  • Even if it was exiled
  • You can play this card when you buy an item to put the item straight into your hand instead of into your discard pile

Place the following near your player board:

  • Suitcase token
  • The top 3 cards from the artifacts deck (your archive)

When you buy an artifact, you may choose to either buy it from the board as normal or buy a card from your archive:

  • The first time your archive is empty:
    • Place 1 compass on your suitcase
    • Refill your archive with another 3 cards from the artifacts deck
  • After the first time, you do not refill the archive

Place the following tokens on spaces above the card row:

  • II space: 1 compass
  • III space: 1 tablet
  • IV space: 1 compass
  • V space: 1 tablet At the beginning of the corresponding round, place the token on your suitcase

Some actions require you to place resources on your suitcase:

  • Compasses on your suitcase can only be used to buy artifacts
  • Tablets on your suitcase can only be used to pay the cost to play an artifact from your hand
    • You cannot upgrade these tokens to arrowheads

When playing the Linguistics card:

  • 0 artifact cards currently played in your play area => gain 1 gold
  • 1 artifact card currently played in your play area => gain 1 gold or place 1 compass on your suitcase
  • 2+ artifact cards currently played in your play area => gain one of the following:
    • 1 gold
    • Place 1 compass on your suitcase
    • Place 1 compass and 1 tablet on your suitcase
  • Any artifact card in your play area counts towards this count
  • Artifacts still in your archive do not count

Take 3 snack tokens:

  • Place the compass one on space III above the card row
  • Place the other two tokens on the spaces on the player board
  • Snack tokens can be used in any order
  • Your snack tokens return to your player board at the end of the round

Use only one archaeologist with this leader:

  • If the archaeologist is on a site:
    • Take a snack token from your board and flip it over
    • Place the token on the site the archaelogist is currently on
    • Move the archaeologist to another site that does not have a snack token on it
    • If you use a snack token to leave a site with a guardian on it, you do not gain fear

Two cards have effects that are paid for with a snack token:

  • Pay the cost written on the token (if any)
  • If the token is used in this way, it cannot then be used to move the archaeologist this round
  • The token remains in your play area even if the card is exiled

Whenever you exile fear cards, you place them into the ritual pile:

  • Place them on the marked space on your board
  • Cards on this space do not give you negative points at the end of the game
  • Cards from this pile can be spent to perform rituals

Each of your starting cards can be used to perform a ritual:

  • Performing a ritual counts as your main action
  • Available rituals:
    • Remove 2 cards from the ritual pile to gain 1 gold and 1 compass
    • Remove 3 cards from the ritual pile to buy an artifact with a discount of 3 compasses
    • Remove 4 cards to overcome a guardian on a site you occupy without paying the cost

After you draw up to a full hand at the start of a round, add a fear card from the fear deck to your hand:

  • If the fear deck is empty, ignore this instruction

Thumbnail courtesy of BoardGameGeek and the respective publisher.