Villagers - General game info
Villagers
1-5 players, 30-60 minutes, 10 years and older
AuthorHaakon Hoel Gaarder
IllustratorHaakon Hoel Gaarder
Published bySinister Fish Games
Online since 2021-06-27
Developed by (mortymaxwell)
Boardgamegeek241724
Complexity2,21/5
Yucata.de owns a license for the online version of this game. A big "thank you" to the copyright owners (publisher and/or author and illustrator) who make it possible to have this game for free online here!
Villagers - Rules
If you are reading these rules for the first time, ignore the text along the right hand side. These rules serve as a summary to help you quickly familiarize yourself with the game.

Show → summary only → detailed version only → both summary and detailed version

Villagers A card drafting and tableau building game for 1-5 players
BY HAAKON HOEL GAARDER

You are the founder of a new village during the middle ages, in the years after a great plague. The loss of so many people has created big problems for the survivors. Many of the people the villagers used to depend on for essential things like food, shelter and clothes are gone. Craftsmen find themselves without suppliers of raw materials, traders have lost their customers and many have lost their farms and workshops as they escaped the plague.

The roads are full of refugees seeking a new beginning. They come to you, hoping to settle down on your land and make a living. Your grain farm is the ideal starting point for a village, reliably providing food for many people. You must choose wisely who you allow to settle with you, as your food and resources are limited.

The people on the road have valuable and unique skills, but they all in turn rely on other people with very specific crafts to be able to work. Raw materials, tools and services must be provided by other people from the road.

If you manage to find people that can work together to make a profit, while increasing your food surplus and capacity for building new houses, your village will be prosperous.

Items with a EN appear in the English edition only.

5
Village Square cardsEN
5
Player Aid Cards
5
Founders
6
Starting Road Villagers
30
Basic Villagers: Lumberjacks, Miners and Hayers
94
Other villagers
2
Market Cards
1
First Player Card
1
End of Draft Phase Card
150
Coins
24
Event CardsEN
1
Countess CardEN
1
Jester CardEN
  1. Remove the Wool and Leather cards when playing with fewer than 4 players.
  2. Place the 6 Starting Road Villagers and the 3 stacks of Basic Villagers.
  3. Shuffle the Villagers cards and deal 6 stacks of cards above the Road, each with a number of cards equal to twice the number of players.
  4. Put the First Market Card under the second stack, and the Second Market Card under the sixth.
  5. Give each player 8 Gold, a Founders card in their Village, and 5 random cards face-down in their Hand.
  6. Place the remaining cards in a seventh stack called the Reserve.

Game setup 1 Find the 6 Starting Road Villagers marked with Sign symbol and place them face-up in a line in the centre of the table. This is the Road.

On Yucata.de, the starting villagers are not marked with Sign symbol.

2 Find the 10 Hayers, 10 Lumberjacks and 10 Miners and place them face-up in separate stacks.

Player setup 3 Give each player a Founders card and place it with the 2 Gold side facing up. The Founders card forms the start of each Village.

4 Give each player a Village Square and place it next to their Village.

5 Give each player 8 Gold*, this is their starting Supply. Place the rest of the Gold in an area next to the Road to form the Bank.

6 Give the First Player Card to the player who has lived in the same place the longest.

7 If it's a 2 or 3 player game: remove the cards marked with 4+, those are the Wool and Leather suits.

8 Shuffle the rest of the cards and form 6 face-down stacks each with twice as many cards as there are players in the game. In a 5 player game for example you would make 6 stacks with 10 cards in each. Line these stacks up above the Starting Road Villagers.

9 Add the First Market Card beneath the second stack, and the Second Market Card beneath the sixth stack. The Road is now complete.

10 From the remaining cards deal 5 cards face-down to each player. These are the Player Hands.

11 Place the rest of the cards in a stack next to the Road, this is called the Reserve.

Take note of the different rules for 2 players.

That's it, the game is now ready to be played.

* Gold is the collective term for the currency used in the game, no matter what colour the coins are.

Food Symbol
Builder Symbol
Suit Symbol
Card Stacking Hint
Production Chain Text
Villager Name
Gold Symbol
Banner
Padlock
Unlocking Symbol
Silver Formula
Keyring Symbol
Signpost Symbol
Card backs
Discard Symbol
Food Symbol: Each of these lets you draft an extra villager in the Draft Phase.
Builder Symbol: Each of these allows you to place an extra villager in the Build Phase.
Suit Symbol: Tells you which of the 9 suits this villager belongs to. Most villagers need to be placed on top of specific villagers of the same suit.
Card Stacking Hint: Shows how many villagers can be stacked on top of this one if any. In this case just one.
Production Chain Text: Tells you what villagers this one has to be placed on top of, and what villagers can be placed on top of this one, if any.
Villager Name: The occupation of the villager.
Gold Symbol: This tells you how much Gold this villager earns in the Market Phases. Gold is victory points in this game.
Banner: Tells you the name of the suit. Only villagers that can go straight onto the table with no other villagers underneath have banners.
Padlock: Shows you that this villager has a Padlock.
Unlocking Symbol: Names the villager that unlocks the Padlock on this one.
Silver Formula: Describes a conditional amount of points this villager will earn you in the Second Market Phase.
Keyring Symbol: Tells you how many other villagers this one can unlock with the Padlock Mechanic.
Signpost Symbol: Tells you this villager is one of the 6 villagers placed face-up on the Road at the beginning of the game. Only matters when setting up the game, and when packing up.
Card backs: These show what suit the villager belongs to. Useful when you draft face-down villagers or want to guess what the other players have in their hands.
Discard Symbol: Tells you this card is discarded after playing.
Each round consists of two phases, a Draft Phase and a Build Phase. Twice per game there will be a Market Phase, where players earn Gold. The second of these occurs at the end of the round in which all six face-down stacks of cards on the Road are emptied, after which the game ends. The player with the most Gold is the winner.
The game is played over several rounds until all the face-down stacks of villager cards on the Road A have been emptied. Each round is divided into 2 phases carried out in order:
  1. The Draft Phase: players draft villagers from the Road.
  2. The Build Phase: players play villagers from their hand into their Villages B.
In addition there are 2 Market Phases in the game, where players earn Gold. Whoever has the most Gold C at the end of the game is the winner.

Players take turns drafting villagers one at a time up to their Drafting Limit (2, plus 1 for each Food, max 5). Players must draft up to their Drafting Limit.

Each turn you will draft 1 card and put it into your Village Square. You may draft a face-up card from the Road, in which case you take any Gold placed on it, or you may draft a face-down card from any stack, in which case you reveal it when you put it in your Village Square. When you have cards in your Village Square equal to your Drafting Limit, you take them into your hand and sit out the rest of the Draft Phase.

Cards drafted from the face-up Road are immediately replaced by the top card of the leftmost stack.

Once a stack is emptied, it is no longer in the game.

The Reserve can only be drafted from when all other stacks are empty. Once all stacks including the Reserve are empty, cards drafted from the Road are no longer replaced.

In this phase players take turns to take (or "draft") villagers from the Road. They may draft any of the face-up villagers from the Road, or blindly draft the top card from any of the stacks.

You must draft 2 villagers, plus 1 for each Food Food symbol in your Village. This is called your Drafting Limit. If you have 1 Food for example, you must draft 3 villagers. You can never draft more than 5 villagers, even if you have 4 or more Food.

Draft one villager, then the next player in clockwise order drafts a villager. The player with the First Player Card goes first. The villagers you draft are placed face-up on your Village Square D. Keep drafting in rounds until you have as many villagers on your Village Card as your Drafting Limit, then take your new cards up to your hand. When all players have drafted up to their limit, continue with the next step, Updating The Road.

If the card you draft has a coin (placed, not printed) on it, take the coin to your Supply. When drafting from the face-up cards, immediately replace the card with the top card of the leftmost stack E.

Do not draft or move the Market Phase Cards F, these should remain in their place until the Market Phase. When a stack is emptied, the stack is no longer in the game.

Near the end of the game when all stacks are emptied, use cards from the Reserve instead to replace the face-up cards on the Road. Players may draft face-down cards from the top of the Reserve only when all other stacks are empty. If the Reserve and all stacks are empty, no cards are replaced.

Draft Phase Example

1 The player takes a villager from the Road to their Village Square. The coin on it goes to their Supply.

2 The villager is replaced with the top card of the leftmost stack. After this it's the next player’s turn to draft.

3 As the player has 1 food in their Village, their Drafting Limit is 3. When the player receives their third card, they must pick their new cards up to their hand and stop drafting.

Draft face-down
You can take a top card from one of the stacks instead of a face-up villager. Though you draft the card face-down you flip it over and place it face-up on your Village Square for everyone to see.
UPDATING THE ROAD - 3+ PLAYERS

With 3+ players

After all players are done drafting:

  1. Discard any villagers on the Road with coins on them.
  2. Deal new cards to replace them from the Reserve.
  3. Put 1 Gold on each of the face-up villagers on the Road.

After all players are done drafting do the following:

1 Discard any villagers on the Road with coins on them.

Discard villagers with coins

2 Deal new cards to replace the discarded Villagers from the Reserve. If the Reserve is empty, deal cards from the leftmost stack on the Road.

Cards dealt from the Reserve

3 Put 1 Gold on each of the face-up villagers on the Road.

Put 1 Gold on each face-up villager

4 Start the Build Phase.

With 2 players

After both players are done drafting:

  1. In reverse turn order, players may place 1 Gold on a face-up villager on the Road.
  2. Discard any villagers on the Road without coins on them.
  3. Deal new cards to replace them from the Reserve.

No other Gold is added to villagers during this step.

Cards with coins on them can stay several rounds, and coins can accumulate on the same villager.

After both players are done drafting do the following:

1 Each player in reverse turn order may choose to place 1 Gold from the Bank on a villager on the Road. You are allowed to place Gold on the same villager, or not place any Gold if you wish.

Each player may put 1 Gold on a face-up villager

2 Discard all face-up villagers on the Road with no coins on them.

Discard villagers without coins

3 Deal new cards to replace the discarded Villagers from the Reserve. If the Reserve is empty, deal cards from the leftmost stack on the Road.

Cards dealt from the Reserve

4 Start the Build Phase.

Cards with coins on them can stay several rounds, and coins can accumulate on the same villager.

Each player in turn does all their actions for the Build Phase:

  • Place villagers into their Villages up to their Build Limit (2, plus 1 for each Builder, max 5). Players may choose to play fewer villagers than their Build Limit if they wish. Padlocks must be unlocked.
  • Return villagers to the stacks on the Road in exchange for Basic Villagers (max 3).
  • Play Special villagers. Those that are discarded do not count towards the Build Limit.

At the end of the Build Phase, the First Player Card is passed clockwise to the next player.

Your Build Limit is set at the start of your turn.

In this phase players take turns placing villagers from their hands into their own Villages. Once a villager has been placed, you cannot pick it up again.

The players can by default place 2 villagers, plus one extra for each Builder Builder symbol in their Village at the beginning of the Build Phase. If you have 2 Builders in your Village for example you can place 4 villagers. This is called your Build Limit. You can never place more than 5 villagers, even if you have 4 or more Builders. You can play fewer villagers than your Build Limit if you wish.

Each player finishes all their actions in the Build Phase before passing to the next player.

At the beginning of your Build Phase, tell the other players how many Villagers you're allowed to place. Put all the villagers you intend to use on your Village Square card, before you place them in your Village. This makes it easy for everyone to keep track of how many villagers you’re placing, making sure you don’t go over your Build Limit.

PRODUCTION CHAINS

Each villager either forms the start of a Production Chain, or is placed on top of specific other villagers listed in its Production Chain Text, in the exact order listed.

Everything below the name of a villager is covered up when the next villager in the Production Chain is placed on top of it. Any symbols below the name of a covered villager are no longer in play.

You may build a Production Chain over multiple turns.

The cards in a Production Chain must be played in order, starting with the first card.

The first villager in a Production Chain can have up to 2 villagers on top of them. These can be the same or different.

You are allowed to have 2 or more of the same villager in your Village.

If a villager has a Production Chain Text A on top of the card, it must form part of a Production Chain when placed. Any villagers listed before the villager's own name must be placed beneath it in the order listed. A Cartwright for example, must be placed on top of a Lumberjack and Wheeler.

Cartwright's production chain: Lumberjack, Wheeler, Cartwright
A

When placing cards on top of each other, place them so that everything below the name of the card beneath is covered up. Once a card has been covered by another, the symbols below its Villager Name are no longer in play. If you cover your Founders with a Swineherd for example, you can no longer use the Food or Gold on the Founders.

The Production Chain does not have to be finished right away. You could for example place a Lumberjack and Wheeler in turn one, then place the Cartwright on top in a later turn. The cards have to be placed in order though, you have to play the first card in a chain first, then the second and so on.

The first villagers in a Production Chain can have up to 2 villagers on top of them, creating 2 branches in the same Production Chain. A Lumberjack for example can have a Carpenter and a Wheeler on top, and the Wheeler's Production Chain might later be extended with a Cartwright.

You are allowed to have 2 or more of the same villager in your village if you wish.

BUILD PHASE EXAMPLE

The player wants to play their Cartwright. As the Production Chain Text shows, it must be placed on top of a Lumberjack and a Wheeler.

Cartwright's production chain: Lumberjack, Wheeler, Cartwright
Selecting Wheeler, Cartwright, and Swineherd to be played

1 The player has a Wheeler in their hand, and a Lumberjack already placed in the Village, so getting the Cartwright out will not be a problem. They decide to play the Wheeler and Cartwright. As the player has one Builder in their Village, they may also play a third card. They decide to play the Swineherd, as it can be placed on top of the Founders already in the Village. The player places these 3 cards on their Village Square, to show the other players what is going on.

Placing the 3 cards in the Village

2 The player places the three cards into the Village. The Swineherd goes on top of the Founders as its Production Chain Text demands. The Wheeler goes on top of the Lumberjack already used by the Carpenter, they now share his lumber production. Finally the Cartwright goes on top of the Wheeler.

Villagers that form the start of a Production Chain like the Founders, Lumberjacks and Shepherds can have 2 villagers placed on top of them, branching out into two different (or identical) businesses.

GETTING BASIC VILLAGERS

Lumberjacks, Hayers, and Miners (the base villagers in the Wood, Hay and Ore suits) are called Basic Villagers and are acquired separately.

To get a Basic Villager, return a villager from your hand to one of the stacks on the Road. You can do this up to three times per Build Phase; it doesn't count toward your Build Limit.

In the Build Phase you can also get Basic Villagers. Those are Lumberjacks, Hayers and Miners. All the villagers in the Wood, Hay and Ore suits need to be placed on top of these. To get a Basic Villager, first return a villager from your hand to one of the stacks on the Road, then take a Basic Villager of your choice and place in your Village. You can do this up to three times per Build Phase. You don’t have to show the other players the fronts of the returned cards.

On Yucata.de, you first pick the Basic Villager, then choose a card in your hand to return to a stack.

If the stacks on the Road are all empty (as they will be in the last Build Phase), return villagers to the top of the Reserve instead. If that is empty as well, discard the returned villagers.

Basic Villagers do not count towards your Build Limit when placed in your Village, and neither do they count towards your maximum Build Limit of 5 villagers. They have nothing to do with your Build Limit!

GETTING BASIC VILLAGERS EXAMPLE

Returning cards to the stacks to get Basic Villagers

1 The player returns 3 villagers to the stacks of their choice on the Road. Then they place 3 Basic Villagers of their choice into their Village.

2 The player then does their 3 Build Actions, placing a Blacksmith on the new Miner, a Grazier on one of the Hayers, and finally a Chandler. The Chandler is a Solitary Villager and so does not go on top of any other villager.

Using Build Actions to place cards on the Basic Villagers
PADLOCKS

A villager with a Padlock icon must be unlocked to be played.

To unlock it, you must do one of the following based on the Unlocking Villager:

  • If you have the Unlocking Villager in your own Village, take 2 Gold from the Bank to put on that villager.
  • If another player has the Unlocking Villager in their Village, pay 2 Gold from your Supply onto that villager.
  • If no one has the Unlocking Villager, pay 2 Gold from your Supply to the Bank.
When there are multiple copies of the Unlocking Villager, you may choose which to pay.

Unlocking Villagers have a Keyring icon showing how many total cards in a 4‑5 player game require paying them.

When playing a villager with a Padlock A, you must first unlock it. Check if you or any other player has the villager named next to the Unlocking Symbol in their Village. This is called the Unlocking Villager B.

Poulterer's Unlocking Villager is the Carpenter
A
B
  • If you have the Unlocking Villager in your own Village, place 2 Gold from the Bank on that villager.
  • If another player has the Unlocking Villager, place 2 Gold from your Supply on it.
  • If no one has the Unlocking Villager, you must pay 2 Gold to the Bank to unlock the villager you’re placing.

If several copies of the Unlocking Villager are available, you get to choose which one you pay. You cannot choose to pay the Bank if the Unlocking Villager is present in another player's Village. Also note that you could use a villager you just placed in the current Build Phase to unlock another villager you’re playing. See example below.

UNLOCKING PADLOCKS EXAMPLE

The player is going to place a Cooper, Brewer, and a Fisher in their Village. They all have Padlocks.

1 First the player places the Cooper. The Unlocking Villager on the Cooper is the Blacksmith, so the player pays another player’s Blacksmith 2 Gold.

Paying 2 Gold to the other player's Blacksmith

2 Next the player places the Brewer. This one is unlocked by the Cooper, so the player pays his own recently placed Cooper 2 Gold from the Bank.

The Bank pays 2 Gold to the player's Cooper

3 Finally the player places the Fisher, it requires that a Shipwright gets paid. There are no Shipwrights in any Village, so the player pays 2 Gold from their Supply to the Bank.

Paying 2 to the Bank

THE KEYRING SYMBOL

20
A

The number in the Keyring Symbol A tells you how many villagers there are in the game that have to pay this Villager gold to be unlocked.

The Blacksmith for example can potentially unlock 10 villagers and accumulate up to 20 Gold in this way.

PLAYING SPECIAL VILLAGERS

Special Villagers give you powerful special actions to play in the Build Phase. Their rules are printed on the cards.

Special Villagers with a Discard Symbol are discarded immediately after use instead of being placed into your Village, and do not count towards your Build Limit.

Special Villagers cannot be used to steal another player’s Founders.

You can also play the red Special villagers on your turn in the Build Phase. These give you powerful special actions. Their rules are printed on the cards.

Special Villagers that have a Discard Symbol A are discarded immediately after use, they do not count towards your Build Limit. You can play as many of them as you want!

A

Special Villagers that do not have the Discard Symbol, like the Monk, do count towards your Build Limit as they are placed in Villages when played.

Special Villagers cannot be used to steal another player’s Founders.

SPECIAL VILLAGERS EXAMPLE

The player will play a Monk and a Jeweler. This brings them to their Build Limit of 2 villagers. In addition they will play a Smuggler and a Tinner. These two will be discarded after use and so do not count towards the Build Limit.

Playing a Monk and a Jeweler as the 2 Build Actions; playing Smuggler and Tinner do not consume Build Actions

1 The Monk is kind of a “wild” villager in this game, so the player uses him to take the place of a Spelunker between the Seeker and Jeweler.

The Monk is a wildcard and can take the Spelunker's place, the Jeweler is placed on top of the Monk, the Tinner unlocks the Jeweler and Smuggler for free, and the Smuggler gains 10 Gold from the Jeweler.

2 Next he uses the Tinner to unlock the Padlock on the Jeweler, as it lets you unlock any Padlocks for free.

3 The player also plays the Smuggler to earn half the value of the Jeweler, immediately earning 10 gold. The Smuggler also has a Padlock, the player uses the Tinner to unlock it for free. Finally the player discards the Tinner and Smuggler.

END THE BUILD PHASE

At the end of any Build Phase, if you have no Food in your Village, flip your Founders Card over to the side with one Food. (It will never flip back to the side with Gold.)

The First Player Card passes to the left. Then start the next Draft Phase, unless a Market Phase has been triggered.

When all players are done with their Build Phase, check if any players have no Food in their Village. Players with no Food in their Village after the Build Phase have to flip their Founders Card A over to the other side that has one Food on it. Once flipped to that side, the Founders can never be flipped back to the side with Gold on it.

The Founders flip to the Food side if you have no other Food

The player has no Food in their Village, and must flip their Founders over to the Food side.

Finally the player with the First Player Card passes it to the player on their left, and the Build Phase is over. Start the next Draft Phase, unless a Market Phase is triggered.

When the two leftmost stacks on the Road are emptied, the First Market Phase will occur after the current round's Build Phase.

In the First Market Phase, players earn Gold from the Bank for Gold symbols printed on their villagers plus coins placed on them. Take this total amount from the Bank; the coins will remain on the villagers.

Silver Symbols do not pay out in the First Market Phase.

When the two first (leftmost) stacks on the Road are emptied, The First Market Phase happens after that turn's Build Phase. The First Market Phase Card B is a reminder of this.*

In the First Market Phase all players earn as much Gold as printed on the cards in their Village, plus as much as the coins placed on them. Do not pick up the coins placed on the cards, as they will be scored again in the Second Market Phase.

Only the top card of each Production Chain is included, Gold Symbols covered by other cards do not earn any Gold.

Each player in turn order takes the Gold they earned from the Bank and places it in their Supply. Silver Symbols do not give you any Gold in the First Market Phase. When all players are done earning their Gold, the First Market Phase is over. Discard the First Market Card and start the next Draft Phase.

Turn the First Market Phase sideways when the first two stacks are emptied to indicate it will happen this round

The first two stacks have been emptied, meaning there will be a Market Phase at the end of this round. The Market Card has been turned to the side to remind players not to place cards on it.

*Unless the players have played in a very unusual way (exclusively drafting face-down cards) the First Market Phase will happen in the round when the First Market Phase Card is revealed on the Road.

FIRST MARKET PHASE EXAMPLE

Collect Gold for Gold symbols and coins on your villagers

It’s the player’s turn in the Market Phase. All they have to do is add up the numbers on the visible Gold symbols in their Village, plus the coins on the villagers. They ignore the Freemason as his Silver Symbol only scores in the Second Market Phase. They earn a total of 23 Gold. They take 23 Gold from the Bank and add it to their Supply. Note that the coins on the villagers are not removed, as they will be scored again in the Second Market Phase.

SECOND MARKET PHASE

The Second Market Phase occurs once all stacks on the Road have been emptied.

Players score their villagers' printed Gold Symbols, printed Silver Symbols, and coins placed on them.

When all stacks on the Road have been emptied The Second Market Phase happens after that turn's Build Phase. It is resolved exactly like the First Market Phase, except this time Silver Symbols are also scored . In this final scoring phase, coins placed on villagers can be scored by simply moving them to each player’s Supply. But make sure to score the Silver Symbols before moving the coins as it can impact the scoring of cards like the Agent.

On Yucata.de, the coins will remain visually on the cards in the finished game state.
SILVER SYMBOLS

Silver Symbols include a conditional amount of Gold to be earned, as described on the cards. Only your own villagers are taken into account when scoring these.

Food, Builders and Gold Symbols covered by other cards are not included in the Silver scoring, while Suit Symbols and Padlocks (which appear on the tops of the cards) are included.

Some cards have Silver Symbols A on them and a description of a conditional amount of Gold to be earned. The rules for each of these villagers are written on the cards. Only your own villagers are taken into account when scoring these. A Grocer for example only scores Food Symbols in your own Village.

A

The reason these have Silver instead of Gold Symbols is because some card effects only affect Gold and not Silver. A Wood Carver for example scores the value of the Shipwright's Gold Symbol, but it does not score the value of the Log Rafter's Silver Symbol.

Food, Builders and Gold Symbols covered by other cards are not included in the Silver scoring. The Suit Symbols and Padlocks on top of the cards are always included for scoring purposes though, even when not on the top cards of Production Chains.

Some Special and Silver scoring villagers also specify that they earn as much as the printed Gold value, this is to tell you not to include any coins placed on the villagers when you calculate it. For example a Wood Carver used to score a Cartwright will not score more than 9 Gold, even though the Cartwright can have up to an additional 4 Gold in coins placed on it.

Whenever the value of a Silver Symbol is referred to (in Solo Mode Events and some expansion cards for example), use the full calculated value of the Silver Symbol formula on the card as you would when scoring it in the Second Market Phase.

SECOND MARKET PHASE WITH SILVER SCORING EXAMPLE

Silver Scoring includes Silver Symbols, Gold Symbols, and the coins on the Villagers

The player has 2 Grocers. Each of them earns 3 Gold for each Food symbol in the Village. So they earn 9 Gold each. In addition there are 4 Gold printed on the villager cards in the Village. The player takes a total of 22 Gold from the Bank (9+9+4). Finally the coins on the Carpenter are moved to the Supply to be included in the final scoring.

Now all that remains is to count up the Gold in the Supply and compare the score with the other players to determine the winner of the game.

After the Second Market Phase has been resolved, the game is over. The winner is the player with the most Gold in their Supply. If two or more players are tied for the win the player with the fewest villagers in their Village is the winner.

A game against The Countess is set up like a 2-player game, except:

  1. Remove all cards from the Special suit.
  2. Each stack on the road starts with 5 instead of 4 cards.
  3. The player gets one Jester card.
  4. The Countess starts with her own card in play instead of a Founders.
  5. The Countess starts with 1 Gold, and has no hand of cards.
  6. Shuffle the Winter Events and the Summer Events in separate stacks and deal one Summer Event face-up next to the Road.

The Countess is the last living relative of the oppressive Royal Family that used to rule the land. Using her vast fortune and army of soldiers she seeks to restore the nobility to their former glory days, with herself as Queen. She will use everything in her arsenal to stop the local villagers from organizing on their own. What she lacks in goodwill from the people and economic skills she makes up for with bribery, dirty tricks and violence.

The Solo Mode is a way of playing Villagers with just one player. It uses two decks of events and some simple rules changes to simulate playing against an evil Countess. Though you have the advantage of controlling what villagers will end up in each Village, you must react to disastrous Events every round, adapting your strategy around them.

Set up the game like a 2 player game, except:

  1. Remove all cards from the Special suit.
  2. There are 5 cards in each stack on the road instead of 4.
  3. Place the Jester card next to your Village Square.
  4. Shuffle the Winter Events and the Summer Events in separate stacks and place them face-down on the table. Deal the top Summer Event face-up next to the Road. This Event card will be in play the first round of the game.
  5. Replace one player with The Countess:
    • The Countess Card forms the start of her Village instead of a Founders card. Place it with the side showing 4 Gold facing up.
    • The Countess has 1 gold in her Supply.
    • The Countess does not have a hand of cards.

Game setup Solo Mode

SOLO MODE RULES

The Solo Mode follows the same rules as a 2 player game, but as there is only one player playing there are some additional rules for each phase:

DRAFT PHASE

Whenever you draft a card from the Road, also place a face-up villager of your choice from the Road into the Countess Village. This is done before dealing new face-up cards to the Road from the Stacks.

The Countess places all villagers individually, ignores the Padlock mechanic when placing, and does not put Gold on the Road at the end of the Draft Phase.

You are still required to pay her villagers to unlock your own Padlocks, as per normal rules.

Whenever you draft a card from the Road, also place a face-up villager of your choice from the Road into the Countess Village (The Countess builds in the Draft Phase!). This is done before dealing new face-up cards to the Road from the Stacks.

The villagers placed into the Countess Village ignore the rules for Production Chains, every villager is placed separately.

The Countess ignores the Padlock mechanic when villagers are placed into her Village. You still have to pay her villagers to unlock any villagers you play with Padlocks, as per the normal rules for Padlocks. She counts as another player in that regard.

Resolve the End of Draft Phase as you would in a 2-player game, except The Countess does not place Gold on any villager on the Road. If The Countess for any reason gets a villager you placed Gold on during the end of a Draft Phase, she gets the coin(s) placed on it to her Supply.

EVENT PHASE

After the Build Phase and before any Market Phases, resolve the Event Phase.

In any order, resolve all the face-up Events and discard them. Some Events affect other phases instead of being resolved in the Event Phase; they are simply discarded in this phase.

After all Events have been resolved, The Countess takes the top card of the Reserve into her village.

Then deal a number of new Event cards face-up based on the Gold/Silver value of that villager:

  • 1, if the villager has a value of 10 Gold or more
  • 2, if the villager has a value between 1 and 9 Gold
  • 3, if the villager is worth 0 Gold

After finishing the Build Phase, resolve the Event Phase. If there is a Market Phase in the current round, it is resolved after the Event Phase. Carry out the following steps in order:

  1. Resolve all the face-up Events. Carry out the effects stated on the cards. You can resolve them in any order you like. Discard the Events as you resolve them. Some Events have rules that apply in a specific phase of the game instead of being resolved in the Event Phase. These cards are also discarded in this phase.
  2. When all Events have been resolved, The Countess takes the top card of the Reserve and places it in her village. This is done just like in the Draft Phase, ignoring the normal rules for Production Chains and Padlocks.
    Depending on the Gold/Silver value of this villager, a number of new Event cards will be dealt:
    • If the villager has a value of 10 Gold or more, deal 1 Event card.
    • If the villager has a value between 1 and 9 Gold, deal 2 Event cards.
    • If the villager is worth 0 gold, deal 3 Event cards.
    If the villager has a Silver Symbol, calculate its current Gold value and deal Event cards according to the rules above. Example: If the villager is an Ore Muler that is currently worth 9 Gold because The Countess has 6 Ore Symbols in her village, you deal 2 Event cards.

SOLO DRAFT PHASE EXAMPLE

The player drafts a villager, then places a face-up villager from the Road into the Countess Village. After this, two new cards will be dealt from the leftmost stack on the Road. As the player has 1 Food, this process must be done 3 times this round.

Draft one card and place one card into the Countess village

END OF EVENT PHASE EXAMPLE

Dealing event cards

The Countess gets a Truffler at the end of the Event Phase. It’s worth 8 Gold, so 2 new Event cards are dealt.

SWITCHING FROM SUMMER TO WINTER EVENTS

Events are dealt face-up from the Summer Events deck until the First Market Phase has been resolved. In the rounds after it has been resolved, they're dealt from the Winter Events deck.

THE JESTER

The Jester can be played at any time to discard an Event (that has not begun to be resolved), but can only be used once.

The Jester belongs to the player and can be played at any time. As described on his card, he allows you to immediately discard an Event. He cannot be used to discard an Event that has already been resolved or is in the middle of being resolved (when The Countess gets a face-down card from the Conscription event for example, you cannot discard the Event after looking at the card!). He is discarded after use, so can only be used once. The Jester is not in the player's hand, and so cannot be traded in for a Basic Villager.

MARKET PHASES

The Countess scores exactly like a player in the Market Phases (including Silver Symbols in the Second Market Phase). The Gold on the Countess Card is included in the scoring.

THE FINAL ROUND

In the final round, when the Second Market Phase (and the end of the game) has been triggered, the Countess does not place the top card of the Reserve into her Village.

WINNING THE GAME

You win if you have more Gold than The Countess in your Supply at the end of the game.

BEGINNER MODE

For a more forgiving game (recommended if playing for the first time!), make the following changes:

  1. Only deal 1 Event each round, regardless of what villager The Countess gets at the end of the Event Phase.
  2. Flip the Countess Card over to the side that has no Gold on it.
  3. Remove the "-It Was You!" Event card from the Winter Events.

HARD MODE

For a more challenging game, make the following changes:

  1. Deal 2 Event cards at the beginning of the game instead of 1.
  2. Remove the Jester from the game.
  3. Remove the "-It Was You!" Event from the Winter Events.
  4. Give The Countess 10 starting Gold instead of 1.

ADDITIONAL SOLO MODE RULES

If you want to get a solo game going quickly, you can skip reading the rules on this page and just start playing, then look things up here while playing.

RUNNING OUT OF EVENTS

If you manage to run out of Events in a deck (Summer or Winter), shuffle the discarded Events and create a new stack from them.

EVENTS IN OTHER PHASES

Most events do nothing until they are resolved in the Event Phase. The text on these events all start with the word Event in bold letters. Other events affect specific phases of the game, specified in bold letters on the cards. These events have an effect that will remain in play during the specified phase of the upcoming round. The Rats event for example will affect the upcoming Draft Phase. If you get an event like this at the beginning of the game, it will be in play during the first round.

EVENTS AFFECTING THE ROAD

Some Events let The Countess take villagers from the Road. If it's a face-up card, replace it with one from the leftmost Stack as you would in the Draft Phase. Cards being acquired from The Road in the Event Phase can trigger the Market Phases (and the end of the game!).

EMPTY RESERVE

If you need to draw a villager from the Reserve after it has run out, if you have the Conscription event in the final round for example, shuffle the Discard Pile to create a new Reserve from it.

VILLAGERS WITH COINS

Sometimes The Countess will steal villagers from your Village. If they have any coins placed on them, they will go to your Supply.

THE FOUNDERS

Your Founders cannot be removed from your Village by Events.

RUNNING OUT OF GOLD

Many events make you pay gold to the Bank or The Countess. If you don't have enough Gold to pay, you simply pay as much as you can. If you run completely out of Gold you don't have to pay anything.

KICKSTARTER EXPANSION PACK

The expansions in the Kickstarter Expansion Pack are not recommended for use with this solo mode, as they’re not balanced for it. Having said that, it can be fun to houserule and add parts of the expansions anyway. Perhaps you want an easier game and give yourself a Scoundrel and a Saint. And maybe try to compete with The Countess for a Development or two?

Villagers
Villagers
KICKSTARTER EXPANSION PACK

This pack contains 4 expansions that can be used separately or together.

Heart symbol SAINTS EXPANSION
Most villagers work hard. Others work wonders.

This expansion contains 5 Special Villagers with a heart symbol in their bottom right corner.

When playing with the Saints, deal each player one villager from the expansion at the start of the game, in addition to the 5 villagers players normally start with in their hand. Return any remaining Saints villagers to the box. The villagers in this expansion work just like other Special Villagers.

Moon symbol SCOUNDRELS EXPANSION
Most villagers are honest hard working people. Some are just hard working.
Note: Scoundrels is not available in the German edition. The card images are thus only in English.
Yucata does not implement the card Courier, so Scoundrels can only be played with at most 4 players.

This expansion contains 9 Special Villagers with a moon symbol in their bottom right corner. If playing with 3 or fewer players, the two Thieves and Sheriffs are not included in the game.

When playing with the Scoundrels shuffle the Sheriffs and Thieves into the main stack of villagers before dealing starting hands and setting up the Road. Deal each player one of the remaining Scoundrels villagers, in addition to the 5 villagers they normally start with in their hands. Return any remaining Scoundrels villagers to the box. The villagers in this expansion work just like other Special Villagers.

This expansion is not recommended for players who dislike interfering with each other’s villages.

Draft Phase: Some of these new Special Villagers are used in the Draft Phase instead of the Build Phase.

Money pouch symbol PROFITEERS EXPANSION
Don't worry, I just need one gold. A day.

This expansion contains 8 villagers with a money pouch symbol in their bottom right corner.

When playing with the Profiteers, mix the 8 Profiteers villagers into the main stack of villagers before dealing starting hands and setting up the Road.

Bronze symbol BRONZE SYMBOLS

This expansion introduces a new mechanic: bronze symbols. They work just like the Silver Symbols scoring you an amount of gold depending on what you have in your village. But instead of only scoring in the Second Market Phase, the Bronze Symbols score at the end of every Build Phase. This includes the round when the villager with the symbol was built. You're only allowed to score 1 Bronze Symbol each round.

On Yucata.de, the largest value is automatically chosen.

Per the designer, each player scores 1 Bronze Symbol at the end of their turn in the Build Phase. Older games on Yucata that score Bronze symbols at the end of the Build Phase instead will continue to do that to be consistent throughout.

DEVELOPMENTS EXPANSION

The Developments Expansion contains 3 Development Suits each with 4 cards.

Setup: Draw one random Development from each suit and place them face up next to the Road along with their respective Development Tokens.

A Development Phase occurs after every Build Phase (and before any Market Phase), in which the following occurs:

  1. Determine the winners of each Development according to the conditions on the cards, and distribute the tokens to the winners. If there is a tie for a Development, there is no winner.
  2. Players take their rewards in turn order. (Food and Builder rewards are taken the following turn.)

Scattered across the land are abandoned buildings and places that used to be important institutions. As the land is rebuilding itself with the new villages, some people are restoring the developments of the old golden age, and already starting to make a living of them. The villages that provide the most business to these developments will get rewarded for being good customers.

This expansion contains 12 Development Cards divided into 3 suits: Technology, Mercantile and Community. There are also 3 Development Tokens, one matching each Development Suit.

Setup

Setup: When using the Developments, draw one random Development from each suit and place them face up next to the Road, so that you have 1 Technology, 1 Mercantile and 1 Community Development. Place the corresponding Development Tokens next to these cards, the Windmill next to the Technology card, the Market Stall next to the Mercantile card and the Tavern next to the Community card.

DEVELOPMENT PHASE

After every Build Phase, before any Market Phases, there is now also a Development Phase. In this phase players check which player wins each Development. There is a win condition on each Development, and a reward that will be given to the winner. The Marketplace for example gives 5 Gold to the player who has the most Food. If players are tied for the win condition, no one gets the reward.

Resolve the Development Phase in the following order:

  1. Determine who won each Development in any order, and give each winner the corresponding Development Token. If there is a tie for a token, return it to its card.
  2. Each winner takes their reward. Gold is paid out from the Bank immediately. Rewards that give you a villager are also taken immediately. Food and Builder rewards can be used in the following round, though you may not exceed the maximum cap of 5 Build or Draft Actions.

This method of determining who won all the developments before taking the rewards prevents players from using their reward to affect the results of other Developments (some Developments let you get an extra villager for example).

The Gold on the Developments are not scored in the Market Phases, and the symbols on the Developments are not included when scoring the Silver and Bronze Symbols in your Village.

SUITS

Wood Wood, Hay Hay, Ore Ore: All villagers in these suits are parts of production chains starting with the Basic Villagers. These make up almost half the villagers on the Road. Tip: focus on one of these suits.

Grapes Grapes, Wool Wool and Leather Leather: There are just a few villagers in each of these suits, and instead of starting with Basic Villagers the first cards in their production chains must be drafted from the Road. Tip: if you’ve started collecting these, draft more of them face-down.

Grains Grains: These villagers form production chains starting with the Founders. Remember you can only have 2 villagers on top of the Founders! Tip: all of these provide Food.

Solitary Solitary: These villagers do not form Production Chains, instead they can be placed on their own.

Special Special: These have special rules. Remember that those that are discarded don’t cost any build actions to use. Tip: if you don’t know what to draft from the Road, draft a face-down Special, it will probably be useful.

CLARIFICATIONS

Top Villagers: Some Special villagers and Solo Mode Events refer to Top Villagers. A Top Villager is a villager in your Village with no other villagers placed on top of it. This includes any villagers with no cards beneath them, like Solitary villagers for example.

Horse Trader, Log Rafter, Priest: These include their own Suit Symbols when scored. Some villagers have two Suit Symbols, this makes them more valuable when scoring these.

Ox Crane, Windmill, Sawmill (Developments): As the Development Tokens don't change hands until the Development Phase, you get to keep and use the extra Food/Builder until that phase, even if another player has beaten you for the condition to get it before then.

Villagers Base Set Cards

Each card appears exactly twice, with the exception of Founders (1 per player) and the Basic Villagers (10 each).
Founders Founders

Founders

Founders start the Grain suit Production Chain.

Founders are double-sided. Each player starts with a Founders in their Village, the 2-Gold side face up. It will turn to the Food side if a player has no Food at the end of the Build Phase.

Each player has a different illustration for their Founders. There are no functional differences between them.

Lumberjack Lumberjack

Lumberjack

Lumberjacks are Basic Villagers that start the Wood suit Production Chains.

Basic Villagers are double-sided with different illustrations (male and female). You can choose which side is shown for all Basic Villagers in Preferences.

Hayer Hayer

Hayer

Hayers are Basic Villagers that start the Hay suit Production Chains.

Basic Villagers are double-sided with different illustrations (male and female). You can choose which side is shown for all Basic Villagers in Preferences.

Miner Miner

Miner

Miners are Basic Villagers that start the Ore suit Production Chains.

Basic Villagers are double-sided with different illustrations (male and female). You can choose which side is shown for all Basic Villagers in Preferences.

Brewer

Brewer

1 Food, 1 Builder

Played on: Founders

Unlocked by: Cooper

Unlocks: Freemason

Poulterer

Poulterer

1 Food, 3 Gold

Played on: Founders

Unlocked by: Carpenter

Swineherd

Swineherd

1 Food, 2 Gold

Played on: Founders

Precedes: Truffler

Truffler

Truffler

1 Food, 8 Gold

Played on: Swineherd

Unlocked by: Hunter

Carpenter

Carpenter

1 Builder

Played on: Lumberjack

Unlocks: Bed Builder, Beekeeper, Poulterer, Weaver (4p+)

Cartwright

Cartwright

9 Gold

Played on: Wheeler

Unlocks: Peddler

Cooper

Cooper

4 Gold

Played on: Lumberjack

Unlocked by: Blacksmith

Unlocks: Brewer, Milk Maid, Vintner

Log Rafter

Log Rafter

2 Wood Symbols

Silver scoring: 1 Gold per Wood Symbol

Played on: Lumberjack

Shipwright

Shipwright

1 Builder, 2 Gold

Played on: Lumberjack

Unlocks: Fisher, Smuggler

Wheeler

Wheeler

3 Gold

Played on: Lumberjack

Precedes: Cartwright

Wood Carver

Wood Carver

Silver scoring: Sum of all Gold symbols printed on your Wood villagers

Played on: Lumberjack

Clarification: The Wood Carver scores the total value of all Gold Symbols on your Wood Villagers. If you have 1 Cartwright and a Cooper for example your Wood Carver will earn 13 Gold.

Bed Builder

Bed Builder

4 Gold, 2 Hay Symbols

Played on: Hayer

Unlocked by: Carpenter

Fromager

Fromager

1 Food, 15 Gold

Played on: Milk Maid

Grazier

Grazier

1 Food

Played on: Hayer

Precedes: Milk Maid

Horse Trader

Horse Trader

Silver scoring: 3 Gold for every 2 Hay Symbols (rounded down)

Played on: Hayer

Milk Maid

Milk Maid

2 Food

Played on: Grazier

Precedes: Fromager

Unlocked by: Cooper

Ore Muler

Ore Muler

Silver scoring: 3 Gold for every 2 Ore symbols (rounded down)

Played on: Hayer

Peddler

Peddler

Silver scoring: 3 Gold for every 2 Gold symbols (rounded down)

Played on: Hayer

Unlocked by: Cartwright

Clarification: The Peddler gives you 3 gold for every 2 Gold Symbols, not every 2 Gold. If for example the only Gold Symbols in your Village are on two Jewelers, each giving 20 Gold, a Peddler will score just 3 Gold.

Thatcher

Thatcher

1 Builder, 2 Gold

Played on: Hayer

Blacksmith

Blacksmith

2 Gold

Played on: Miner

Unlocks: Cooper, Glass Blower, Jeweler, Locksmith, Cobbler (4p+)

Glass Blower

Glass Blower

4 Gold, 2 Ore Symbols

Played on: Miner

Unlocked by: Blacksmith

Unlocks: Wine Trader

Jeweler

Jeweler

20 Gold

Played on: Spelunker

Unlocked by: Blacksmith

Locksmith

Locksmith

Silver scoring: 2 Gold for each Padlock Symbol

Played on: Miner

Unlocked by: Blacksmith

Mason

Mason

1 Builder, 2 Gold

Played on: Miner

Seeker

Seeker

Precedes: Spelunker

Played on: Miner

Spelunker

Spelunker

10 Gold

Played on: Seeker

Precedes: Jeweler

Unlocked by: Chandler

Graper

Graper

1 Food

Starts the Grape suit Production Chain

Vintner

Vintner

5 Gold

Played on: Graper

Precedes: Wine Trader

Unlocked by: Cooper

Wine Trader

Wine Trader

14 Gold

Played on: Vintner

Unlocked by: Glass Blower

Shepherd

Shepherd

1 Food

Starts the Wool suit Production Chain

Spinner

Spinner

4 Gold

Played on: Shepherd

Precedes: Weaver

Tailor

Tailor

24 Gold

Played on: Weaver

Weaver

Weaver

12 Gold

Played on: Spinner

Precedes: Tailor

Unlocked by: Carpenter

Cobbler

Cobbler

6 Gold

Played on: Tanner

Unlocked by: Blacksmith

Saddler

Saddler

5 Gold

Played on: Tanner

Tanner

Tanner

2 Gold

Starts the Leather suit Production Chain

Agent

Agent

Silver scoring: Gold equal to the value of coins placed on one villager

Clarification: The Agent scores as much as the Gold value of the coins placed on one of your villagers. You choose which one.

On Yucata.de, the largest value is automatically chosen.

Beekeeper

Beekeeper

4 Gold

Unlocked by: Carpenter

Chandler

Chandler

3 Gold, 2 Solitary Symbols

Unlocks: Priest, Spelunker

Fisher

Fisher

1 Food, 3 Gold

Unlocked by: Shipwright

Freemason

Freemason

Silver scoring: 3 Gold for each Builder

Unlocked by: Brewer

Grocer

Grocer

Silver scoring: 3 Gold for each Food

Unlocked by: Harvester

Harvester

Harvester

1 Food

Unlocks: Grocer

Hunter

Hunter

1 Food

Unlocks: Truffler

Priest

Priest

Silver scoring: 3 Gold for every 2 Solitary Symbols (rounded down)

Unlocked by: Chandler

Wattler

Wattler

1 Builder

Apprentice

Apprentice

Replace any non-Top villager in any village with the Apprentice, then place the replaced villager in your Village.

Clarification: The Apprentice can swap places with any villager in any Village that is covered by another card in its Production Chain. He can be used in other player's Villages, or in your own. The card he swaps places with must then be placed in your Village immediately, following the normal rules for placing Villagers. Using the Apprentice only uses up one build action, not two. Though the Apprentice cannot be used to steal another player's Founders (as stated in the rules for Special Villagers), he can be used on your own Founders, if they have at least one card placed on top of them. If you do you can choose which side of them you place face-up.

Monk

Monk

The Monk can be used as any one villager in a Production Chain. The Monk can't be the top (last) villager of a Production Chain.

Clarification: The Monk can be used as any villager, as long as you don't make him the top card of a Production Chain. This means he will always be placed at the same time as another villager, with the Monk below the other, taking the role as one of the villagers in the Production Chain. The Production Chain he is used in must have all the other cards in correct order. 2 Monks can be used in the same Production Chain.

Monks and Apprentices: These do not act as the cards they are replacing, they are simply villagers with no symbols printed on them, except their Suit Symbol, they belong to the Special suit. Their purpose is to be placed below other villagers. The next villager in the Production Chain must always be on top of the Monk or Apprentice. If for any reason, a Monk or an Apprentice becomes the top card of a Production Chain, it returns back to the hand of the player whose village it was in.

If an Apprentice or Monk is the bottom card of a Production Chain, it can have 2 cards on top. They must be of the same suit.

Smuggler

Smuggler

Earn half the printed Gold value of a villager in your Village, rounding up.

Discarded after use

Unlocked by: Shipwright

Tinner

Tinner

Unlock any Padlocks on any villagers played together with the Tinner for free.

Discarded after use

Clarification: The Tinner can unlock several cards even if they have different unlockers. It does not matter if you or some other player has the Unlocking Villagers, they can be unlocked for free by the Tinner as long as they’re played in the same Build Phase. Players are allowed to mix and match, unlocking some villagers with the Tinner and some without her (to place coins on your own villagers for example).

Saints Cards

There are 5 cards in Saints, each appearing exactly once. Each player receives one in their hand at the start of the game; any left over are unused.
Benefactor

Benefactor

Play during the Draft Phase

Play a villager from your hand into your village. It cannot be a Special villager.

Discarded after use

Clarification: You cannot trade in a card from your hand to get a Basic Villager when using the Benefactor, that action must be taken in the Build Phase.

Nun

Nun

At the end of the game, awards an amount of Gold equal to the Silver value of a villager that you have exactly one of in your Village.

On Yucata.de, the largest value is automatically chosen.

Pigeoneer

Pigeoneer

Look at the top 6 cards of the Reserve and take 1 of them to your hand. Then return the rest in any order.

Discarded after use

Clarification: After taking the chosen villager to your hand, return the other villagers to the top of the Reserve in any order.

Prophet

Prophet

Play during the Draft Phase

Look through a stack on the Road and draft a villager from it. Return the rest of the stack in any order.

Discarded after use

Clarification: The Prophet counts as your Draft for the turn.

The Prophet cannot look through the Reserve, the Pigeoneer does that. Return the stack to its place on the Road after drafting, placing the cards in any order in the stack.

Recruiter

Recruiter

In every Draft Phase turn, you may pay 1 Gold to draft 2 villagers. Your Food Limit still applies.

Clarification: When using the Recruiter, replace the face-up card you drafted on the Road before picking your next card.

On Yucata.de, you decide whether to use the Recruiter at the start of your turn, before your first draft.

On Yucata.de this card is not available in Solo Mode.

Scoundrels Cards

There are 7 cards in Scoundrels—Sheriff and Thief appear twice and are shuffled into the main deck in games of 4 players or more. The other five are randomly distributed, 1 to each player, at the start of the game; any left over are unused.
Barbarian

Barbarian

Play during the Draft Phase

Discard all villagers on the Road, taking the coins into your Supply. Replace the villagers with villagers from the Reserve.

Discarded after use

Courier

Courier

Play before another player's turn in the Draft Phase.

Take a villager from the road directly to your hand.

Discarded after use

Clarification: You must use the Courier before the currently playing player has picked up a card from the Road. Replace the card on the Road with a new one from the leftmost stack as when drafting.

This card is not implemented on Yucata.de; players will never receive it.

Flaker

Flaker

Play during the Draft Phase

Take a villager from any player's Village Square directly to your hand.

Discarded after use

Clarification: You can also use the Flaker on your own Village Square (this allows you to draft an extra villager as it frees up one Draft Action!)

Noble

Noble

Look through another player's hand and steal one villager from that hand. It cannot be a special villager.

Discarded after use

Clarification: When using the Noble, you do get to look at both sides of the other player's cards.

On Yucata.de this card is not available in Solo Mode.

Schemer

Schemer

Steal a Top Villager from any Village. Any coins on it go to the owner's Supply. It cannot be a Special villager.

Discarded after use

Clarification: Coins on a villager stolen by the Schemer go to the Supply of the player stolen from. You can also use the Schemer to take one of your own villagers back to your hand. If it's a villager with coins on it, the coins go to your Supply.

Sheriff

Sheriff

Discard a Thief belonging to any player. Take its coins to your Supply.

Discarded after use

Clarification: You can also use a Sheriff on your own Thief to get the coins to your own Supply.

Thief

Thief

In every Build Phase, take 3 Gold from another player's Supply and place them on the Thief.

Clarification: Coins on the Thief can be scored by other villagers such as the Agent and the Arkwright. The coins on the Thief are scored in the Market Phases just like other coins on villagers. You cannot steal coins from a player with less than 3 Gold in their Supply. You can only steal from another player's Supply, not from Gold placed on their villagers.

Profiteers Cards

There are 6 cards in Profiteers. Freelancer and Wholesaler appear twice, while the others appear exactly once. All are shuffled into the deck.
Alchemist

Alchemist

Bronze scoring: Half the value of one of your Silver villagers, rounding down.

Played on: Miner

On Yucata.de, the largest value is automatically chosen.

Arkwright

Arkwright

Bronze scoring: 2 Gold for each Villager with any coins placed on it.

Played on: Lumberjack

Captain

Captain

Bronze scoring: 1 Gold for each Gold Symbol.

The Captain scores 1 Gold for each printed Gold Symbol in your Village (he does not score for all your Gold or your coins!).

Carter

Carter

Bronze scoring: 1 Gold for each Production Chain with 3 or more Villagers.

Played on: Hayer

The Carter scores 1 Gold for each Production Chain you have with at least 3 cards. For example a Miner with two Blacksmiths on top will score 1 Gold with the Carter. Similarly, a Lumberjack with a Wheeler and Cartwright on top will also score 1 Gold.

Freelancer

Freelancer

Any player may place 1 Gold on a Freelancer at the start of their Build Phase to get an extra Build Action.

You can also pay your own Freelancer to get an extra Build Action. Each player can only pay each Freelancer once in each Build Phase. If both Freelancers are present, a player may choose to pay both, to get 2 extra Build Actions. The maximum of 5 Build Actions still applies.

Wholesaler

Wholesaler

Silver scoring: 3 Gold for each set of 1 Ore, 1 Hay and 1 Wood Symbol.

Developments Cards

Only one card from each Development Suit (Community, Mercantile, and Technology) is used in each game.

As with all scoring in this game, Gold, Food and Builders covered by other villagers are not included when checking who won each development. Padlocks and Suit Symbols are included even if covered. Symbols on other Developments are not included.

Church

Church

Condition: the most Villagers

Reward: 3 Gold, and one face-down card taken from any stack or the Reserve into your hand

Clarification: The winner is the player with the most villagers in their Village. So you count the number of villagers, not the Suit Symbols. You may take the top face-down villager from any stack including the Reserve to your hand. You do not need to reveal what you got.

On Yucata.de this card is not available in Solo Mode.

Inn

Inn

Condition: the most Special Villagers in hand

Reward: 5 Gold

Clarification: When checking who won this, show the other players the backs of the villagers in your hand to show how many Special villagers you have. It is not necessary to show the fronts.

On Yucata.de this card is not available in Solo Mode.

Tavern

Tavern

Condition: the most Solitary Symbols

Reward: 3 Gold, and take a Basic Villager into your Village

You can take any one Basic Villager, either a Miner, Lumberjack or Hayer. Place the chosen Basic Villager in your Village immediately.

Town Hall

Town Hall

Condition: the most Gold Symbols

Reward: 5 Gold

Bank

Bank

Condition: the most Villagers with coins on them

Reward: 5 Gold

Guildhall

Guildhall

Condition: the most Padlock Symbols

Reward: 5 Gold

Lighthouse

Lighthouse

Condition: the most valuable Silver Symbol

Reward: 5 Gold

Marketplace

Marketplace

Condition: the most Food Symbols

Reward: 5 Gold

Gold Mine

Gold Mine

Condition: the most Ore Symbols

Reward: 5 Gold

Ox Crane

Ox Crane

Condition: the most Hay Symbols

Reward: 2 Gold, 1 Builder

Sawmill

Sawmill

Condition: the most Wood Symbols

Reward: 2 Gold, 1 Builder

Windmill

Windmill

Condition: the most Production Chains

Reward: 2 Gold, 1 Food

A Production Chain must have at least 2 cards to count as one. So the Solitary villagers for example are not included when checking who won the Windmill.

On Yucata.de this card is not available in Solo Mode.

Solo Mode Cards

These cards are only used in the Solo Mode.

Countess Countess (Gold side)

Countess

The Countess village begins with this card instead of a Founders.

4 Gold (except in Beginner Mode)

Jester

Jester

Once per game, The Jester allows you to discard one Event Card of your choice.

The Summer Events deck consists of 12 Event Cards that are used before the First Market Phase.
Betrayer

Betrayer

Event: Take a top villager from your village and move it to the Countess village. It cannot be a Basic villager.

Black Market

Black Market

Event: You and the Countess score the Silver villagers in your villages.

Bribes

Bribes

Event: The Countess adds Gold from the Bank to a villager with a keyring in her village. Add as much Gold as the number in the keyring.

Customs

Customs

Event: Pay the Countess 1 Gold for each villager of the suit you have the most of.

Guild Conspiracy

Guild Conspiracy

Event: The Countess adds 2 Gold from the Bank to each villager with a keyring in her village.

Land Claim

Land Claim

Event: Pay the Countess 2 Gold for each Basic villager in your village.

Mood Swing

Mood Swing

Event: Discard this Event, then deal a new Event from the same deck to replace it. Resolve the new Event immediately.

Serfdom

Serfdom

In the Build Phase: Getting a Basic villager requires you to place a villager in the Countess village instead of returning it to the Road.

Sinister Banquet

Sinister Banquet

Event: The Countess earns 2 Gold for each Food in her village.

Temporary Employment

Temporary Employment

Event: The Countess earns 2 Gold for each different suit present in your hand.

The Countess Bank

The Countess Bank

In the Build Phase: Unlocking by paying the Bank costs 3 Gold.

Value Added Tax

Value Added Tax

Event: Pay the Countess 1 Gold for each Gold symbol in your village.

The Winter Events deck consists of 12 Event Cards that are used after the First Market Phase.
Abduction

Abduction

Event: Discard a villager from your hand.

Arrest

Arrest

Event: Discard a top villager in your village. It cannot be a Basic villager.

Arson

Arson

In the Build Phase: 1 less Build action or pay 3 Gold to the Bank.

Blackmail

Blackmail

Event: The Countess scores the highest printed Gold value on a villager in your village.

Conscription

Conscription

Event: The Countess takes an extra villager from a face-down stack on the Road or the Reserve.

Dark Mood

Dark Mood

Immediately when revealed: Discard this event and deal two new events to replace it.

-It Was You!

-It Was You!

The Jester must be played before the end of this round.

Protection Money

Protection Money

Event: Pay the Countess Gold equal to the value of the coins placed on one of your villagers.

Rats

Rats

In the Draft Phase: Draft 1 less card or pay 3 Gold to the Bank.

Spy Network

Spy Network

Event: The Countess earns the value of one of your Silver symbols.

Trade Network

Trade Network

Event: The Countess scores the value of a Silver symbol in her village.

Tribute

Tribute

Event: Pay the Countess 1 Gold for each villager in your hand.

PLAYER INFO

  • First player denotes the starting player.
  • The basic player info tabs can be clicked on to switch the main view to that player.
  • The left side of the village view (above the Village Square) consists of additional, more-commonly relevant player stats, like the amount of Food, Builders, and counts of the four most common symbols.
  • The gold/silver coins can be clicked to view the player's current score info.
  • When playing with Developments, a player's current score info will show the number of things that count toward each Development. The reward for that card is only shown on the player who would win it right now.
  • The tokens from Developments will appear in the basic info of the player who won that token in the previous round, or next to the Development cards.

ACTIONS

  • Drafting cannot be undone. You confirm the card you want to draft by clicking the "Draft this card" button at the bottom of the screen.
  • Cards drafted are public, even the face-down cards, and all are put into your Village Square until you have finished drafting for the round.
  • To gain a basic villager, first choose which basic villager you want. Note upon doing this that all the cards in your hand will become active.
  • To return a card from your hand to a stack, select which card to return, then select the stack. You can undo your initial selection by clicking it again.

SPECIAL CARDS

  • The Apprentice can replace any non-Top Villager in any village; click the basic player info blocks in the corner panel to switch views.
  • As Monks cannot be left as Top Villagers, Yucata.de will not permit you to play an Apprentice or Monk if you do not have enough builds available to play on top of the Monks. In most cases you will be able to undo previous builds.
  • Play the Tinner before any villagers you wish to unlock with her. You will still have the option of earning on your own unlocking Villager. You will never have the option to pay the Bank, it can only happen automatically.

HIDDEN INFORMATION

  • Yucata.de only tracks your knowledge of cards you've seen return to hidden areas. It may be possible for you to derive more on your own.
  • Cards you take into hand after drafting are known to all.
  • The game will remember cards you return to a face-down stack. If other players knew what that card was, and you had no other, distinct cards from that suit in hand, they will know it as well.
  • If a player has multiple cards in a suit, either 2 different cards or at least one being hidden, placing any of them on face-down on a stack will hide the others from other players.

CLICKABLE TARGETS

  • The small deck icons labeled '?' and 'X' can be clicked. The '?' shows all hidden cards that may be in play. The 'X' shows the contents of discard pile.
  • Each villager has a '?' icon that can be clicked to view the rules and information about that card.
  • The Market Phase cards can be clicked to view larger.
  • The Developments cards can be clicked anywhere to view the rules and information about the card.

MISCELLANEOUS

  • Automatic actions are marked by .
 
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