Each player assumes the role of an Egyptian master builder. You will have 6 rounds to transport your stones to the various sites and to erect monuments in such a way that you earn the most points. Whenever your turn comes up, you will select one of the following 4 action options:

• Get new stones
• Place 1 stone on the ship
• Sail 1 ship to a site
• Play 1 blue market card

Delivering the stones gets you various points in various ways — sometimes more points, sometimes fewer; sometimes right away, sometimes at the end of a round, and sometimes at the end of the game. Whoever has the most points after 6 rounds is the winner.

• 120 wooden blocks, called “stones” (30 in each of the 4 game colors)
• 5 site boards
• 1 scoring track board
• 8 ship tokens
• 4 supply sled tokens (1 in each of the 4 game colors)
• 21 round cards
• 34 market cards

• Place the 5 site boards in the center of the table as shown in the illustration. All site boards have an A side and a B side. In your first few games, use the A side. You can use the B sides in later games as a variant to the standard game play. So be sure that the A sides of the boards are showing in your first game.
• Place the scoring track board to the right of the site boards. Use this to keep track of all players’ points.
• Have the 8 ship tokens ready above the boards.
• Separate the 21 round cards from the 34 market cards.
• Shuffle the 34 market cards and place them face down as a draw pile to the right of the "A) Market" board.
• There are 7 round cards for two, three, and four players. Pull out the 7 round cards corresponding to your number of players. You will not need the other 14 round cards. Place them back in the box. Since you will only be playing for 6 rounds, you must now pick one of your 7 round cards at random (without looking at it) and place it back in the box as well. Shuffle the remaining 6 round cards and place them face down in a single stack next to the 8 ship tokens.
• Each player chooses a color and gets a supply sled token in that color.
• With fewer than 4 players, the unused supply sled token(s) and stones of the unused color(s) go back in the box.
• All of the stones go in a pile to the right of the site boards, forming the stone quarry.
• Each player places 1 stone in his or her color on the "0/40" space of the scoring track.
• Decide who will be the player to start. The starting player gets 2 stones in his or her color from the stone quarry and places them on his or her supply sled token. The second player (who is the player to the left of the starting player) gets 3 stones for his or her supply sled token, the third player (the player to the left of the second player) gets 4 stones, and the fourth player gets 5 stones, each in their color.

The game is played over 6 rounds.

Each round proceeds as follows:

• At the start of the round, turn over the top round card. It will indicate which 4 ship tokens are available in this round. Arrange these tokens spaced not too closely together to the left of the site boards. There are ships with various amounts of space for stones:

Two boats have space for 4 stones, three have space for 3 stones, two have space for 2 stones, and one boat has space for 1 stone.

• Then turn over the top four market cards from the draw pile and place them face up on the market board.

If the draw pile is empty, shuffle the discard pile and create a new draw pile.

• Then all the players take their actions in turns, beginning with the starting player.

Each turn goes as follows:

The player whose turn it is must carry out exactly one of the following 4 actions:

Take 3 stones of your color from the stone quarry and place them on your supply sled token.

Note: Your supply sled token has enough space for a maximum of 5 stones!

If you already have 5 stones on your supply sled or there are no more stones of your color in the quarry, then you cannot take any more stones.

OR

Take 1 stone from your supply sled token and place it on any empty space on a ship that has not yet sailed to a site.

If you do not have any stones on your supply sled or there is no free space on any ship, then you cannot take this action.

OR

Slide 1 ship to a site board.

You must observe 2 conditions, however:

1. 
   The ship must already be loaded with at least the minimum required number of stones. The gray stone symbols at the bow of the ship indicate the minimum number for that ship. This number varies from ship to ship and is dependent to the ship size: 4-stone ships require at least 3 stones to sail, 3-stone ships require 2 stones, 2- and sigle stone ships require 1 stone.
2. The site to which the ship is sailing must still have an open dock. In other words, no other ship can have sailed to it in this round.

The ship’s stones are then unloaded by their owners (indicated by color) in order from front to back and delivered to the site — beginning with the stone placed closest to the front. Ignore any empty spaces on the ship.

If no ship is loaded with the minimum required number of stones, then you cannot take this action.

At each of the 5 sites, there are different rules for what the stone’s owner will receive for each stone delivered, and when they will receive it. The market and the pyramid are assessed immediately. The temple is assessed at the end of each round. The burial chamber and the obelisks are not assessed until the end of the game. Read the exact rules for each site in the “Explanations of the site sides” appendix.

Important: You are also permitted to sail a ship when you do not have a stone of your own on it. The only requirement is that both of the above conditions must be met.

After a site has been sailed to, the now-empty ship remains at the site’s mooring area until the end of the round.

This way, you can see that no more ships can sail to that site during that same round. No more than one ship can sail to any given site per round.

OR

If you have one of these cards, you can play it and make use of its benefit.

The played card is then placed on the discard pile.

You can only play 1 blue market card per turn.

Each player takes action in turns and always performs exactly one action per turn.

Each player’s turn will come up several times per round.

The round does not end until all 4 ships have been sailed to the various sites.

Important: Since there are only 4 ships available per round, there will always be 1 of the 5 site boards that will not be sailed to in each round!

When all 4 ships have been sailed to the sites, the round ends immediately.

Now the temple is assessed. Each stone visible from above yields 1 point. In other words, stones covered by other stones no longer yield any points.

• Return the 4 ships to the pile of other ships.
• Gather up any market cards still remaining on the market board and place them on the discard pile.
• All stones already placed on site boards and supply sled tokens stay in place.

The next round begins.

Turn over the next round card from the pile, get the 4 ships indicated on the card, and place them to the left of the site boards.

Turn over 4 new market cards from the pile and place them on the market board.

The starting player for the new round is the player to the left of the player who sailed the fourth ship in the previous round.

The game ends after 6 rounds.

Then the final point assessment, or scoring, takes place.

Start by assessing the stones in the burial chamber.

Then it is time to assess the obelisks. Both sites scoring is explained in detail in the site appendix.

The decoration and statue market cards yield points in accordance with what is printed on them. The point assessment of the cards is explained in the card appendix.

Unused blue market cards yield an additional value of 1 point each.

The player with the most points is the winner.

In case of a tie: The player with the greater number of stones on his or her supply sled token is the winner.

If this is also a tie, the tied players share first place.

If you want to play with somewhat "harsher" rules, you can try the following rule variation:

You are punished if you fail to participate in the building of all four monuments.

Any player who has not delivered at least 1 stone to each of the four building sites — pyramid, temple, burial chamber, and obelisks — by the end of the game must have 5 points deducted from his or her score.

For each stone delivered here, the owner of the stone can immediately take any 1 face-up market card .

Explanations of the various market cards can be found in the card appendix.

Important: The delivered stones must be returned to the quarry after taking the card.

Drawn cards must be placed face up in front of you.

The red cards must be played immediately. These are then placed in the discard pile.

The blue market cards can be played exactly once as an action in a later turn of the player who draws it. The purple statue cards and the green decoration cards will earn you points at the end of the game.

For each stone delivered here, the owner of the stone earns points immediately. Place the stone on the next free space in the pyramid. Stones are placed column by column. Placement of the stones begins at the top left until the column is full. Continue to the center column, starting again at the top.

When the first level (3x3 stones) is full, continue building in the second level, as shown in the illustration.

In the second level, start once again at the top left. The second level only includes 2x2 stones, however.

When the second level is full, continue building in the third level, which only consists of one single stone.

Each stone that you place yields the number of points indicated on the space. The values of the spaces in the second and third levels are indicated on the right side of the board.

Once the pyramid is completely built, each additional stone delivered to the pyramid yields 1 point. Place these stones at the right edge of the pyramid board.

For each stone delivered here, the owner of the stone earns points at the end of the round if the stone is visible from above.

Place the stone on the next free space in the temple.

Placement of the stones begins from the left, until the first level is full. With 3 and 4 players, all 5 spaces of the temple are covered. With 2 players, just the first 4 spaces are covered.

When the first level is full, continue to the second level, beginning again from the left. The stones on the first level are covered over in the process, and so on with additional levels. There is no height limit.

For each stone delivered here, the owner of the stone earns points at the end of the game . Stones are placed column by column.

Placement of the stones begins at the top left until the column is full. Then continue to the next column, starting again from the top, and so on.

The burial chamber is unrestricted in the rightward direction . In other words, there can be as many columns as you like, even if you have to go to the end of the board.

At the end of the game, points are earned as follows: Each area consisting of one stone or more than one connected stones of a single color yields a certain number of points depending on the number of stones. Connected stones must be touching along at least one side. Stones touching only diagonally at corners are not connected.

In areas with more than 5 connected stones, each additional connected stone yields an additional 2 points.

Important: Each player can get points for more than one “field” of connected stones. So don’t just add up points for the largest field for one player!

Example: This four-stone ship was sailed to the burial chamber. The stones are unloaded in order and placed on the burial chamber column by column starting from the top left.
Example: In a game with four players, the burial chamber could look as shown in the illustration above. The white player gets 3 points for her field consisting of 2 stones. Black gets 1 point for his 1-stone field. Brown gets 6 points for her field of 3 stones and 1 point for her 1-stone field. Gray gets 15 + 2 = 17 points for his field consisting of 6 stones.

For the stones delivered here, the players earn points at the end of the game. Place each stone delivered here on the space matching your color. In that way, you will create a stacked tower of your stones.

Each player will be building his or her own obelisk. Add up the points at the end of the game — with the tallest obelisk getting the most points, of course.

The following point assessment applies to a two-person game:

1. The player with the tallest obelisk gets 10 points.
2. The person with the second-tallest obelisk gets 1 point.

The following point assessment applies to a three-person game:

1. The player with the tallest obelisk gets 12 points.
2. The player with the second-tallest obelisk gets 6 points.
3. The player with the third-tallest obelisk gets 1 point.

The following point assessment applies to a four-person game:

1. The player with the tallest obelisk gets 15 points.
2. The player with the second-tallest obelisk gets 10 points.
3. The player with the third-tallest obelisk gets 5 points.
4. The player with the fourth-tallest obelisk gets 1 point.

Important:

• You must have delivered at least 1 stone to the obelisks to participate in this point assessment.
• In case of a tie, divide the total points among the number of players who tied. Every player involved in the tie shares in the divided-up point total rounded down to the nearest whole number.

Example: This three-stone ship was sailed to the obelisks. The stones are placed on the correspondingly-colored spaces and stacked into towers.

Example: In a four-person game, the black player ends up with an obelisk that is 3 stones tall. The white player has a 4-stone tower. The brown player has no stones at all. The gray player has 3 stones. That means that the white player gets 15 points. The black and gray players share second and third places. They both get (10 + 5) / 2 = 7.5 points, which when rounded down yields 7 points for each player. Brown gets no points, because he did not deliver any stones at all to the obelisks.

All site boards have an A side and a B side. You should always start playing with just the A sides. Later on, you can try the B sides.

You can also play with a mix of A and B sides. Why not try various combinations?

The B side works just like the A side, except for the following difference:

At the start of the round, place 2 cards face down on the card space at bottom right (instead of 1 face-up card).

For a stone delivered to the market, you can pick up both cards and look at them. Then, select 1 card to keep. Place the other card face up on the discard pile.

The B side works just like the A side, except for the following differences:

For a stone delivered to the pyramids, the owner of the stone gets to decide which of the 3 pyramids the stone is to be delivered to.

Some of the pyramids yield special bonuses:

	You get 1 point and can take the top market card from the draw pile.
	You get 1 point and can immediately take 3 stones from the quarry and place them on the supply sled token.
	You get 1 point and can place 1 stone from your supply sled token on any empty space of a ship that has not yet sailed to a site.

Each pyramid is started from the top left. Stones are placed column by column.

Each stone in the second level of a pyramid is worth 4 points. Once the pyramids are completed, each additional stone delivered to the pyramids yields 1 point.

Place these stones at the right edge of the pyramid board.

The B side works just like the A side, except for the following difference:

At the end of each round, there are various bonuses for each stone visible from above — depending on the temple space on which the stone is placed:

	You get 1 point or, if you prefer, you can take 2 stones from the quarry and place them on your supply sled token.
	You get 2 points.
	You get the top market card from the draw pile.

The B side works just like the A side, except for the following differences:

At the end of the game, the players earn points for having the greatest number of stones in the 3 rows of the burial chamber.

Each row is assessed individually.

Important:

• You must have at least 1 stone in a row in order to be involved in the point assessment for that row.
• The stones of any one color do not have to be adjacent.
• In case of a tie, add up the placement points and divide them among the number of tied players. Every player involved in the tie shares in the divided-up point total rounded down to the nearest whole number.

Example: The burial chamber point assessment is performed at the end of the game.
In the top row, the white player has the greatest number of stones (3). For that, she gets 8 points. With 1 stone each, the brown and gray players share second and third places. For that, they each get (4 + 2) / 2 = 3 points.
In the middle row, the black player has the greatest number of stones (3), and gets 8 points. White is in second place with 1 stone, and gets 4 points. Brown and gray have no stones in this row, so they get no points.
In the bottom row, gray has the greatest number (4), and gets 8 points. None of the other players are in the row, so they get no points.

The B side works just like the A side, except for the following differences:

Each stone delivered here is first placed on a space with the corresponding color .

When the third stone of any given color is delivered, these stones immediately have their value assessed. The 3 stones are stacked in a single tower on the free space with the highest point value. The owner of the stones immediately receives these points.

Individual stones that do not make it into an obelisk earn 1 point each at the end of the game.

In this section, you will find an overview of all of the market cards and a more detailed description of the way they work. Wait to read these explanations until a given market card comes into play.

When you get a market card like this, immediately place 1 of your stones from the quarry on the corresponding site . The stone is placed on the next available space, following the normal rules of building on that site. The card is then placed on the discard pile.

When you get a market card like this, it remains face up in front of you until the end of the game. At the end of the game, you earn 1 point for every 3 stones (your own stones plus others’ stones added together) found at the corresponding site.
Example: In the burial chamber, there are 13 stones at the end of the game. That means that there would be 4 points granted for the burial chamber decoration card.

When you get a market card like this, it remains face up in front of you until the end of the game. At the end of the game, you count up the number of statue cards you have and receive points in accordance with the following table. Additional cards past 5 are worth 2 points each.

Example: One player has 3 statue cards at the end of the game. For those, she gets 6 points.

You can only use exactly 1 blue market card per turn. The use of a blue market card is not in addition to, but instead of, the use of one of the three other action possibilities: "Get new stones," "Place 1 stone on a ship," or "Sail 1 ship to a site." There are four different types of blue market cards:

When you get this market card, it remains face up in front of you until you use it. In a later turn, you can perform the following action a single time: Sail 1 ship to a site. Decide for yourself what sequence to follow when unloading the stones. As always, of course, both conditions for sailing a ship must have been met. After play, the card is placed on the discard pile. If you have not used the card by the end of the game, you will get 1 point for it.

When you get the market card, it remains face up in front of you until you use it. In a later turn, you can perform the following action a single time: Take 3 stones from the quarry and place them on your supply sled token. Then, place 1 stone from your supply sled token on 1 ship. After play, the card is placed on the discard pile. If you have not used the card by the end of the game, you will get 1 point for it.

When you get this market card, it remains face up in front of you until you use it. In a later turn, you can perform the following action a single time: Place 1 stone on 1 ship and sail this ship to a site. As always, of course, both conditions for sailing a ship must have been met. After play, the card is placed on the discard pile. If you have not used the card by the end of the game, you will get 1 point for it.

When you get this market card, it remains face up in front of you until you use it. In a later turn, you can perform the following action a single time: Place 2 stones on 1 ship or 1 stone on each of 2 ships. After play, the card is placed on the discard pile. If you have not used the card by the end of the game, you will get 1 point for it.

Contains 4 ship tokens.

Each player takes a private ship token in their color.

Once per game, a player may take 1 stone from their supply sled token and place it on their private ship and sail the ship to a site board immediately (all this is 1 action).

You may sail your private ship to a site board even if there is already a normal ship at that site board. Only 1 normal ship and 1 private ship may sail to the same site board in a round. A normal ship may sail to the same site board even if the private ship sailed there first.

At the end of the round, used private ship tokens are returned to the game box.

If you don't use your private ship till the end of the game, you get 1 point instead.

If a private ship sails to the market board before a normal boat, the now empty card space on the market board is immediately replenished with a new market card from the draw pile.

Place the expansion card next to the game. In a game for two or three players, only the left betting field under each of the four places is available. In a game of four both betting fields are available.

With this expansion each player can exactly once per game perform the following action:

Put 1 of your stones from the quarry(!) on an empty bet field on the card.

This is one action! With this action you bet that at the end of the game, the site you have placed your stone on will have received the most stones.

Each player may put only one stone on any bet. But it is also possible that he will place no bets for the whole game.

At the end of the game count the stones on each of the building sites. The stone colour does not matter, it is about the total number of the stones only.

• For the site with the most stones, points are awarded:
  5 points for the player who has a stone on the left betting field of that site,
  3 points for the right betting field.
• Points are also awarded for the site with the second most stones:
  3 points for the player who has a stone on the left betting field of the site,
  but 0 points for the right betting field.
• If there are several sites with the most stones, they all award 3 points to the players who have bet on their left field and 0 points for the right field.
  In this case, the site(s) with the second most stones reward 0 points.
• If there is only one site with the most stones, but several sites with the second most stones, then the sites with the second most stones award 0 points.

When setting up the game, place the card on the table in reach of all players. On your turn, instead of taking any other action, you may perform a special action listed on this card. First, place a stone of your color from the quarry (not from your sled) on any empty space on the card. Then perform the action listed below that space. Once a player has used a special action it may not be used again by any player. Each player may only use the card once per game. The actions are described in detail below.

You must choose any 2 face-up cards and immediately take them from the market board. If you take multiple red cards, resolve them in the order you choose. After taking the cards, the market is refilled with 2 face-up cards from the draw pile.

You may place a stone from your sled on any ship that has not yet sailed to a site. Then you must fill every empty space on your sled with stones of your color from the quarry.

Choose a ship that has not yet sailed to a site. You may place 1 stone from your sled on it. Then you may change the order of the stones on that ship by putting each stone on any space on the ship. If the ship has the minimum required number of stones on it, you must sail the ship.

Choose a ship that has not yet sailed to a site. You may place up to 2 stones from your sled on it. If the ship has the minimum required number of stones on it, you must sail the ship.

You may place up to 3 stones from your sled on any ships that have not yet sailed to a site. You may place these stones on 1, 2, or 3 different ships.

• 5 two-sided Site tables
• 4 Chariot figures
• 1 Imhotep figure
• 14 new Market cards
• 7 God Prophecy cards
• 4 Obelisk cards
• 24 Crypt tiles
• 15 Obelisk tiles
• 8 Coin tiles
• 8 Scarab tiles
• 5 framed Pyramid tiles

This expansion brings 5 new two-sided Site tables in the game.

For each Site (Market, Pyramids, Temple, Burial Chamber, Obelisks) now there are 4 different sides (A, B, C and D).

You can choose in each game any of the site sides to play.

In addition to that there are 14 new Market cards, you can easily mix in the original cards deck.

The 7 God Prophecy cards are an Expansion module. You can play with or without it.

When nothing else is stated, the original game rules apply unchanged!

Immediate Market cards (red) are not put in the discard pile after use. Players should keep them open in front of them. That's important when the "Amun" prophecy card is in play when players need to keep track how many red cards they have played.

When in a 2-player game the stones in the quarry are not enough, then you can use a second - previously unused - colour to play. Consider those two colours as one colour.

You can play with or without the God Prophecies module.

When you use them, mix the 7 God Prophecy cards and pick randomly three of them.

Place the 3 chosen cards open below the Sites and put the rest 4 cards back into the box.

Additionally each player picks up both Scarab tiles of his colour.

Twice during the game can each player make a Prophecy that he will achieve an accomplishment by the end of the game.

To do this place one of you Scarab tiles on the appropriate field. Depending on the round in which the Prophecy was made, you earn in the game end more points if you have achieved your objective. You will also be punished with a higher penalty though if you fail.

Each player is allowed to place only 1 Scarab tile per Prophecy. On each Prophecy field though there's enough room for a Scarab from all Players. Every Player can make only 1 Prophecy for "Rounds 1 or 2", "Rounds 3 or 4" and "Rounds 5 or 6".

Unused Scarab tiles have no value at the end of the game.

When you get this market card, it remains face up in front of you until you. For the rest of the game, your supply sled can hold 2 extra stones. If you get 1 Cargo Sled card, you can hold up to 7 stones at once. If you get 2 Cargo Sled cards, you can hold up to 9 stones at once.

When you get this market card, you immediately earn 1 point and (up to) 3 Stones from the quarry, that you can place in your supply sled. Then you keep the card face down in front of you for the rest of the game. This applies to all immediate (red) cards of the main game, when you play using the expansion.

When you get this market card, it remains face up in front of you. At the end of the game, you get 1 point for each stone that you have in your supply sled. Should you also have Cargo Sled cards in front of you, each stone on the cards also gives you 1 Point.

These 4 Statue cards are identical to the ones in the main game. They are added to the market card deck to retain the ratio of the Statue cards number to the number of the rest of the cards.

When you get this market card, it remains face up in front of you until you use it. In a later turn, you can perform the following action a single time: Return 2 stones from your supply sled back in the quarry. Then place 1 stone from your supply sled directly to any destination and occupy the next allowed field. Attention: In order to use this card, you need to have at least 3 stones on your supply sled! If you have not used the card by the end of the game, you will get 1 point for it.

When you get this market card, it remains face up in front of you until you use it. In a later turn, you can perform the following action a single time: Return 1 stone from your supply sled back in the quarry. Sail subsequently 1 ship, which contains at least 1 of your stones, towards a destination, where 1 other ship has already sailed this round. Since no other rule change is implied, the sailing ship needs to have the minimal number of stones on it before the card is used. Attention: In order to use this card, you need to have at least 1 stone on your supply sled! If you have not used the card by the end of the game, you will get 1 point for it.

If you want the game to be a little less predictable, you can try the following variant: Keep all Market cards you get face down.

Do not reveal the 1x Action cards (blue) until you use them. Only by game end uncover all your remaining Market cards.