Rio Grande Games 233 manual Contents, Preparation

who wishes to retain power must be willing to share it.

A tactical game of power in China for 2 – 4 players, aged 12 and up

By the mid-14th century, the Chinese people had succeeded in freeing themselves from Mongolian domination. With Tai-tsu’s accession to the throne as emperor, a new and independent China emerged. In this game, each player takes on the role of an imperial prince who, with the aid of his royal family members, attempts to acquire more and more wealth and influence for the Chinese people of the Ming Dynasty.

Contents

1 game board

4 princes (1 each in 4 colors)

108 province tiles (18 each in 6 colors)

18 dragon cards (jokers)

1 round marker

4 game summaries

124 family members (31 each in 4 colors)

16 return cards (4 each in 4 colors)

54 movement cards

6 50/100 tiles

1 start player figure

The game board has 6 provinces in different colors. Each province is divided into 3 districts. In the center of each province is a city

return cards and each district has a monastery. Each province is assigned a corresponding province space at the edge of the game board.

	round indicator with round marker
front	scoring track	start player
and		figure
back
sides

prince

summary

movement card display

discards

movement card supply

dragon cards

50/100 tiles

Preparation province tiles

6province spaces (one color matching each

province) family members

Place the game board in the middle of the table.

Shuffle the movement cards, and turn up a movement card next to each of the province spaces to form a face up display. Place the remaining movement cards nearby in a face down supply stack.

Place the dragon cards in a face up supply stack next to the board.

Sort the province tiles by color and place them next to the board as a general supply. Set the round marker on space “1” of the round track.

Each player chooses 1 of the 4 colors and takes the following pieces in that color:

-1 prince

-all 31 family members

-4 return cards

-1 dragon card, which he takes into his hand, and

-1 rule summary

Each player places 1 of his family members on the “0” space of the scoring track. The remaining 30 make up each player’s personal supply, which he places in front of him (his play area).

The players choose a starting player, who takes the starting player figure and begins the game.

The starting player places his prince in the district of his choosing and takes a province tile of the matching color. The other players do the same, in clockwise order, placing their princes in a district that no other player has chosen and taking a corresponding province tile.