October 2005 - Eras Academia

Since BGDF has moved over to a new server, they will eventually lose all of their old postings...possibly. So now I have to keep a record of my showdown entries somewhere else.

ERAS ACADEMIA

GOAL: The player with the best school at the end of the game wins.

Components and Information:
There are four studies: Green: Natural Science, Blue: Social Science, Red: Humanities, Yellow: Arts.

-- Each player has a School Map for building Campuses, and for Graduates. Map and Campuses can be licensed properties.



-- Graduate Counters in the four colors.

-- Fund counters.

-- Small marbles in the four colors.

-- One deck of Action cards for each color. Flavor text on cards can provide facts and trivia about the licensed school.



-- One cardboard Era Guide, which describes the amount of marbles placed in the Clock, with cutouts to hold marbles.



-An Era Pawn that indicates the current Era on the Era Guide. Pawn starts in Era 1.

-- Large plastic opaque Clock Tower with a door on top that can be used to load up to 40 marbles. When shaken, the marbles are secretly mixed up; when stood up on the table, the marbles randomly form a hidden straight line down the shaft of the clock. A button releases the bottom marble from the stack. Also, there are small doors in the shaft which a player can open and look at a color of a single marble. The Clock is filled with marbles as shown (8 green, 7 blue, 9 yellow, 6 red) in Era 1 on the Era Guide. The Clock is passed to the next player every round. All player actions start with the owner of the Clock. All ties are broken by who sits closest to the Clock.


-- A Pool of wood blocks for players to build buildings on Campuses. Blocks come in square "1-Story" and pyramid "Roof" shapes. 1-Story Blocks are always available. There are only 2 Roof Blocks available per Era.

All players start with a 1-Story Block on their Administration Campus, and 5 Funds. A random player starts with the Clock.


A PLAYER'S TURN in order:
1) Graduates his class.
A player gets one Graduate Counter for each 1-Story Block in a Study Campus (not the Admin Campus). The Graduates are of the same color of as the Study that the Block is in. (A player with two 1-Story Blocks and 1 Roof Block in the Art Campus will get 2 yellow Graduates). A player places his Graduates in his Graduate circles. He may place 1 in a circle, or place multiples of the same color in circles to create Superior Graduates.

2) Spends Funds on:
-- Building His Campus.
Buy any available Block with funds equal to the amount of Blocks on the Administration Campus and place it in a chosen Study Campus square, stacking upon any previously played 1-Story Block in that Campus.
A Study Campus cannot exceed the amount of Blocks that the Administration Campus has.
Once a Roof Block is placed on top of a building in a Campus, a player cannot build any more Blocks on that Campus.

-- Analyzing the Future. A player may spend 2 funds to look in any window on the Clock Tower or 4 Funds to look at a top card on any deck. The player should be careful not to reveal this information to the other players.

CLOCK ACTION:
After all players go, the button on the Clock is pressed to release the bottom marble. The marble is placed on the appropriate spot on the Era Guide. Draw the top card of the matching colored deck. This card indicates this year's "culture" of which Graduates are needed. Cards are generally happier towards their color (Yellow cards will generally need more Art graduates than others).

Some Cards can have Clock Effects.

Players take turns "hiring out" appropriate Graduates for Endowments (Funds), starting with the Most Superior Graduates (most counters) and working down to the least Superior (Graduates with 1 counter). In case of a tie, the order is determined starting with the player closest to the Clock.

All unused Graduates are removed.

ERA CHECK:
If an Era has four of one color marble that has been released from the Clock Tower, Advance the Era Token on the Era Guide. Empty out the Clock, and fill the Clock with the new marble distribution as shown on the Era Guide. Make sure there are two Roof Blocks on the Era Guide to start the new Era.

The clock moves to the next player.

GAME ENDS:
The game is over when 4 Eras have been played, or when all 1-Story Blocks have been bought out. A building's point value is determined by 1 point per 1-Story Block, and 5 points per Roof Block. A player's score is determined by taking the highest point scoring Study Campus building they have and multiplying that number by the lowest point scoring Study Campus Building.