SOLSTICE

the Dawn of Stonehenge

An abstract negotiating game for 2-5 players

Core concept:

Players are chiefs of neighbouring neolithic tribes who have come together at their ritual gathering-place in an empty plain, and have agreed to collaborate to build a magnificent stone circle (which one day will be called ‘Stonehenge’) in time for the next winter solstice.  In order to motivate their neighbours, players have agreed that whoever builds the most prestigious elements of the circle (i.e. scores the most points) will be the one to conduct the solstice ceremony (and win the game)

Illustration of completed stone circle

The individual ‘gateway’ shapes are known as trilithons:

Top stone is called a lintel        

Legs are called uprights

The Outer Circle consists of 18 trilithons built on the corresponding spaces on the board.  This is the primary focus of the builders, and the game is ended as soon as this circle is complete.

The Inner Circle consists of 5 trilithons built on the corresponding spaces in a horseshoe shape inside this.

In addition, an Altar stone may be laid on its side in the corresponding central location on the board.

2 players – see separate 2-player rules at the end of this rulebook.

Game End and Winner

The game ends as soon as either:

-the Outer Circle is completed. 

OR

-the last player has played in the final (Winter Solstice) month (round). 

The winner is the player with the most points.

SET UP

-Lay out the three ‘quarry’ stockpiles of 24 stones (blocks) in three colours next to the board

-Each player takes three stones of any ONE colour and places them in a personal supply 

-Each player then draws 1 shared objective card (cream colour) – these may be kept secret or revealed at a player’s discretion

-Each player places their meeple at the start of the scoring track

-lay out the skills cards next to the board: place a stack of two Master Builder cards face up, and then any three other cards next to them.  Place the deck to one side as a draw deck

-lay out the bag containing 40 tool tokens

-Choose a starting player – give that player the Sun marker – this identifies who begins each round (so you can remember when the round finishes!)

-Toss the moon (round direction) marker and place it on the START spot

PLAY

Round Sequence

During each round:

1.       Play begins with the starting player (holding the Sun marker), and proceeds in the direction indicated by the moon marker until each player has played once.

2.       On each turn, players must play a stone or stones into any legitimate position as described below.

3.       Players play in turn until the round is complete – you must play, there is no passing.  If you have no stones you must quarry stones and play, or play stones given to you by another player.  (only if no stones are available to you may you pass)

4.       Score any points as soon they are achieved – EXCEPT that points for the end game bonuses (no stones remaining bonus, tool tokens bonus, shared objective bonus) are ONLY scored at the end of the game

5.       Take care to ALWAYS conclude each round and set up the next

At the end of each round:

1.       Move the moon marker (round direction indicator) out of the current month indicator spot, onto the small dot mid-way between the current month indicator spot and the next.  This is to ritualistically show that one round is finished and the next round is being set up.

2.       Identify the player with current lowest score (if tied, the lowest scoring player who played last).

3.       That player CHOOSES who will be the starting player for the next round, hands the ‘first player’ Sun marker to that player (so that everyone can remember where the round began), and also chooses the direction of play for that round: sunwise (clockwise) or widdershins (anticlockwise). 

4.       Move the moon marker into the next month, showing the relevant side for the direction of play

Player turns

On their turn, players MAY first quarry new stones, and then MUST build at least one stone if they are able to.

Quarry:

-At the start of their turn, players MAY quarry (draw from a stockpile source) UP TO two stones of the same colour, and place them in their personal supply. 

-Players MAY NOT, however, have in their personal supply more than TWO colours at any one time (unless skills abilities - see below - permit a player to do otherwise)

-players are not obliged to quarry, and may quarry a single stone or no stones if preferred

-quarrying must only, however, be done at the start of a turn

Build:

If a player is able to, they must play one or more stones of any colour into any legitimate position, and score them accordingly

Legitimate positions are:

1.       As an upright, placed on the marked squares:

-in both Inner and Outer Circles construction begins at the central axis of the circle nearest the Winter Solstice (with a trilithon straddling the centreline).  Subsequent stones must be built adjacent to any stones currently in that circle (i.e. the circle builds out sideways from a starting-point in both directions). 

-in the Inner Circle the two tips of the horseshoe furthest from the start point DO NOT count as adjacent to each other

2.       as a lintel (top stone) completing any trilithon (gateway)

-In the Outer Circle, trilithons MUST be completed in a way which allows a complete circle, not leaving solo monoliths isolated between them (i.e. players can’t ‘miss one’).

3.       laid down inside the Inner Circle as the Altar (if the Altar condition is met - see below)

All stones stay where they are

Once built, all stones stay in place (no removing or re-moving) – with the exception of the Altar (see below) (If you need to adjust the position of the playing pieces slightly for neatness then this is allowed!)

Build rate

Each player can erect one stone per turn of any colour from their personal supply in any legitimate position. 

OR – players may negotiate to collaborate and build exactly TWO of any other player’s stones (or one or three if skills abilities permit – see below):

In this scenario another player will freely give two stones from their own supply for the active player (the player whose turn it is) to immediately build.  Generally this will be done in order to meet a shared objective together – though players may lend stones to any other players for any reason.  The active player placing the borrowed stones scores any points generated from the building (lintels, altar etc).  The active player decides where to place these stones and is NOT obliged to respect any agreement with the lender.

A player may lend a single stone if they only have one stone in their supply.  Otherwise they must lend two stones (unless a skill permits otherwise).

Tool Tokens

Every time a player either builds a lintel, or meets an objective (jointly or individually – see below), they may draw a tool token from the bag (so a player placing the lintel which also meets an objective draws 2 tool tokens – one for the lintel AND one for the objective – see below).  If players collaborate to meet an objective together, both draw a token for the met objective.

These tokens have a face value of 0, 1, 2, or 3 dots.  These values should be kept secret.  At the end of the game they are revealed and each dot scores 1 point as an end-game bonus.

A player may only however hold 4 tool tokens at any one time (unless a skill allows otherwise).  If they already have the maximum number of tool tokens they may still draw from the bag as normal, but must immediately discard back down to the maximum.

In this way, as players select and keep the higher-value tool tokens, the proportion of low-scoring tokens in the bag increases throughout the game.

HOWEVER – even low-scoring tool tokens have utility, as they may be used to purchase skills (see below).

Skills

As the game progresses, players may acquire skills, allowing them to enhance their normal abilities.  Look at the four skills cards laid out next to the board (at the start of the game, there are two stacked Master Builder cards) – see Setup.

At any point on their turn, a player may buy one of these skills for a flat cost of 2 tool tokens.  The face value of the tool tokens is irrelevant (a player may buy one skill for 2 tool tokens of face value 0,1,2, or 3) – so buying skills is a useful way to derive utility from low-value tool tokens.

There are 10 different skills available.

Skills may be used as indicated on the card from the moment the card is acquired.  In other words, a card may be bought and then used on the same turn.

Scoring

There are SIX ways of scoring points, summarised here, and described in more detail below:

IN-GAME

1. Lintels (in Outer or Inner Circle) score 0 /1 /2 /3 points depending on the point in game

2. Altar Stone scores 2 /4 /6 points if the Altar condition is met

3. Shared Objectives score 2 points to EACH partner - or 2 points to the card holder if met solo 

AT GAME END 

4. Efficiency bonus scores 5 points if no stones remaining in hand / 3 points for 1 stone only

5. Shared Objectives bonus score 4 points per met objective in your SMALLEST shared pile ONLY

6. Tool tokens bonus scores the number of dots on your tool tokens

IN GAME SCORING – points are scored immediately:

1. Lintels – From the beginning of the game, any lintel completing any trilithon scores 0 points, but the player draws a tool token from the bag (see Tokens)

The value of the lintel increases by one point each time the year enters a new quarter (i.e. beginning at the spring equinox, lintels score 1 point, from the summer solstice they score 2 points, and from the autumn equinox they score 3 points. 

Every time a player places any lintel, they draw a tool token from the bag (see Tokens)

Uprights score 0 points

2. Altar:

Starting from the Summer Solstice round only (not before) [Spring Equinox?], if a player who is in last place places a lintel and is STILL in last place, that player may also immediately place a block of any colour from their supply as the Altar stone for 2 points.  If this happens a second time, a player may replace the Altar stone in a NEW colour for 4 points.  If this happens a third time, the Altar must be in the final (not-previously-used) colour, and the player scores 6 points.

When an Altar of a new colour is placed, the previous Altar stone is removed and placed to one side out of the game (or they may be stacked). 

3. Shared Objectives:

Shared objectives are a very important aspect of Solstice, and are what makes it a negotiating game.  Players should try to achieve as many as possible with both of their neighbours, since these will be handsomely rewarded in the end-game Shared  Objectives Bonus.

-Shared Objectives may be met in either the Inner or Outer Circle

-at the start of the game, each player draws one (cream-coloured) shared objective card which they may keep secret or reveal to others at their discretion

-players may collaborate with a neighbour to meet these objectives together.  The objective is met when a stone is placed which completes the picture on the card (i.e. build a trilithon with colour combination as indicated)

-when two neighbours have collaborated in any way to meet an objective, they BOTH score 2 points and place the met objective card onto a shared pile of met objectives between them

-in addition to scoring the points, they also may each draw 1 tool token from the bag.

-There are various ways in which collaboration can take place (e.g. my turn my card your stones; my turn your card your stones; you play this on your turn, I play that on my turn  -etc).  Collaboration has taken place if neighbours have worked together in ANY conscious and deliberate way to meet the objective together: both neighbours score and draw a token

-when achieved, the card is revealed, checked, scored, and the player declaring it draws a new objective card

-place the completed objective card in a pile between you and the neighbour with whom you have collaborated.  Any of your neighbour’s own objectives which they have also shared with you will be placed on the SAME PILE – in other words, there should be the same number of piles of completed shared objectives as there are players, and each player has a shared pile on their left and their right.

-If players have cooperated to meet an objective, both partners always score the shared objective bonus, no exceptions – including if none of one partner’s stones have been used!

-objectives may also be met and claimed individually at any time EITHER if a player is able to meet their objective on their turn without collaborating OR if at any time the picture on a card they hold is completed unknowingly by another player. 

-Objective cards met individually in this way are still placed on one or the other of the piles shared with neighbours, but only the card-holder scores the 2 points and draws a tool token.

PLEASE NOTE:

-at least one new stone must be placed to complete each objective

-objectives must be claimed and scored at the moment they are achieved – they may not be claimed retrospectively

END GAME SCORING

4. Efficiency Bonus

At the game end, any players with no stones remaining in hand score 5 points.  Any player with only one stone remaining scores 3 points.  Any players with two or more stones remaining score nothing.

5. Shared Objective Bonus

-At the game end, players will count the two piles of shared objectives achieved with each of their neighbours.

-each player IGNORES whichever of their two piles is the LARGER, and scores 4 points per card in whichever pile is SMALLER

-it will be noted that for this reason players are advised to collaborate equally with their neighbours on each side, and try to not let the pile on one side be radically different to the pile on the other.

-note that my smallest pile may be my neighbour’s largest pile, and vice versa

6. Tool Tokens Bonus

At the game end, reveal the number of dots on your tokens, and score this number of points.

Winner:

When all end-game bonuses have been awarded, the player with the most points is the winner.

Tie Breaker:

In the event of the final score being a tie, the player with the highest Tool Tokens Bonus is the winner.

*

2-Player Version

Because the core game of Solstice is a negotiating game, the 2-player variant is slightly different:

-remove from the deck of skills cards the following cards: Green Shaman, White Shaman, Quarry Master

-the game is played as a 4-player game

-The two human players sit opposite each other, and each take 12 gold (wood colour) blocks

-On each side of them sits a dummy player.  One of the dummies is given ALL 24 white blocks, the other is given ALL the green blocks.

-These dummies act as quarry operators who also offer assistance as building contractors – so they are both the source of quarrying their respective coloured blocks AND sometimes ‘players’ in the game.

-Only human players may quarry stone from their dummy neighbours (the dummies do not quarry stone from humans, nor from the other dummy).  As normal, players may only hold two colours of stone in hand at one time – so starting with 12 gold blocks in hand, this means they may only quarry and hold one of the two other colours at a time (for as long as they have gold).  As normal though, a player may collaborate with a neighbour(ing dummy) and build their stones, even if they hold the quarried blocks of the other dummy.

-A human player holding more of one dummy’s coloured blocks than the other player ‘controls’ that dummy.  In this case, they control the dummy’s turn in the normal turn sequence, and also control their actions when it is not the dummy turn (e.g. the controlled dummy may refuse help to their other human neighbour).

-controlled dummies may not refuse to supply stone from their quarry during the ‘quarry’ action at the beginning of a player’s turn, but they may refuse to cooperate in a shared building objective.

-a dummy not controlled by a human player (i.e. the players have an equal amount of that dummy’s coloured blocks, including zero) will always offer assistance as required to either human player (for meeting objectives etc).  Non-controlled dummies do not take their turn.

-Only the human players have a score counter, and only the human players score points.  If a human player controls a dummy and the dummy scores points – the human player DOES NOT score the points: the dummy’s points are ignored, but any points (and tokens) earned by the human player in the same action are scored as normal.

-Consequently, only the human players will decide the setup of each successive round.  The round may, however, begin with a dummy player.

-Dummies do not draw tool tokens, and so may not acquire skills.

-All other rules and gameplay as per the multi-player game.