Cinderisle
Overview & Objective
Cinderisle is a game for two to four players, set on a young volcanic island of nineteen hexagonal tiles. Each tile grows one kind of resource. You settle the island's corners, link them with causeways, and collect what the tiles pay out when their number comes up. Spend it on building, on venture cards, and on trades.
The first player to reach 11 renown on their own turn wins.
Components
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The island: nineteen hex tiles, with a corner at each of a tile's six points and an edge along each of its six sides. One tile is the Ash Caldera, which grows nothing. Every other tile carries a yield number from 2 to 12 (never 7) and a row of ember dots: the nearer the number is to 7, the more dots.
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Resource cards (20 of each, kept in the Supply): Pine, Basalt, Kelp, Millet and Copper.
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Player pieces (per player): 6 hearths, 3 beacons and 14 causeways, in your lantern colour. Each seat also carries a shape mark: Coral a circle, Saffron a square, Lagoon a triangle, Moss a diamond.
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Two dice, or the optional Tide deck of 36 cards.
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24 venture cards: 12 Wardens, 6 Landmarks, 2 Surveyors, 2 Bountiful Tides and 2 Embargoes.
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The Ashcloud, a marker that sits on one tile at a time.
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Eight jetties, marked by flags on coastal edges.
The Island
Tiles are named by row and position: row A is the top three tiles, row E the bottom three, and rows B, C and D have four, five and four. A resource card names the terrain: Pine from the high slopes, Basalt from black cliffs, Kelp from the shallows, Millet from the fields, Copper from the red seams.
The fixed beginner island, Landfall, is laid out like this:
Tiles (terrain and yield number)
Basalt 11, Pine 8, Millet 4
Copper 6, Basalt 3, Copper 11, Pine 8
Kelp 12, Kelp 5, Ash Caldera, Millet 10, Millet 5
Millet 4, Millet 6, Pine 2, Pine 9
Kelp 9, Copper 3, Basalt 10
Landfall's jetties:
A table may instead play a generated island. The game deals the terrain, the yield numbers and the jetties from a seed number, and every island it deals passes six fairness rules:
1.
No two touching tiles both carry a 6 or an 8.
2.
No two touching tiles share a yield number.
4.
No connected group of three tiles shares a terrain.
5.
Each resource holds within 3 ember dots of its even share of the island's 58 dots.
6.
No corner touches more than 12 ember dots.
Type the same seed number to replay an island; leave it at 0 for a fresh one.
Setup
1.
Lay out the island and the Supply. Shuffle the venture deck (and the Tide deck, if used).
2.
A random seat goes first. Each seat in turn founds one hearth on an open corner, then lays one causeway on an edge of that hearth.
3.
Placement then runs back the other way: each seat founds a second hearth and a second causeway, last seat first.
4.
Your second hearth pays out at once: you take one card from each touching tile that grows something.
5.
The Ashcloud starts on the Ash Caldera.
A corner is open when no hearth or beacon stands on it or on a corner next to it. Spacing is the same all game.
Turn
A turn has three parts. You may do the second and third in any order and as many times as you can afford, except where noted.
1.
Roll. Roll both dice and add them, or flip the next Tide card. A Warden may be played first (see Venture Cards). Every tile showing that number pays out: each hearth on its corners takes 1 card of its resource, and each beacon takes 2. The Ashcloud's tile pays nothing.
2.
Act. Build, buy, trade and play a venture card.
If the Supply cannot cover everything owed of one resource, those cards are dealt one at a time round the table, starting from the seat on turn, until the Supply is empty.
The Tide deck
With the Tide deck on, nobody rolls. The Tide cards match the chances of two dice exactly, so a 7 is six times as likely as a 2. When five cards remain, the discards and the remaining cards are shuffled together before the next draw.
Building Costs
On a free edge touching one of your hearths, beacons, or causeways. It may not pass through an opponent's hearth, beacon or camp.
2 Pine, 1 Basalt, 1 Millet
On an open corner touching one of your causeways.
Raised on one of your own hearths; the hearth returns to your pool.
1 Kelp, 1 Millet, 1 Copper
Draw the top card of the venture deck. You may not play it on the turn you bought it.
To build, press Causeway, Hearth or Beacon in the build tray, then press a glowing site on the island. Only one kind of site is pressable at a time, so a finger never has to choose between a corner and an edge.
You may not build a piece when your pool of that piece is empty.
Trading
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Supply. Return 4 cards of one resource to the Supply to take 1 card of any other.
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Jetties. A seat with a hearth or beacon on a jetty's corner trades at a better rate: at an open jetty, 3 cards for 1; at a resource's own jetty, 2 cards of that resource for 1.
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Exchange Board. On your turn, draft an offer: the cards you give, and up to four of each kind that you want, then Post offer. You may post three offers a turn. Every other player can Accept, Counter once, or Pass, and the window closes after 20 seconds. If any player answered, you then have 10 seconds to Confirm one of them. One deal only: no one can be dealt with twice. While an offer is open nothing else in the game can be done. AI seats accept an offer that gives them at least as many cards as it takes from an offerer with 8 renown or fewer, and never post one.
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Embargo. A played Embargo names one resource; until your next turn no other player may trade that resource with the Supply, a jetty, the Barge, or on the Exchange Board.
Rolling a 7
A 7 pays out nothing.
1.
Discard. Every player holding more than 8 cards discards half of their hand, rounded down, all at the same time. Each player chooses what to return. After 30 seconds, anyone still to discard returns cards from their largest stack automatically, ties going Pine, Basalt, Kelp, Millet, Copper.
2.
Move the Ashcloud. The roller moves the Ashcloud to a different tile. A tile that cannot take the Ashcloud is sheltered: every player with a hearth or beacon on it has 2 renown or fewer. A sheltered tile may not receive the Ashcloud.
3.
Steal. The roller takes one random card from a player with a hearth or beacon on the Ashcloud's tile, if that player has more than 2 renown. If more than one qualifies, the roller picks.
The roller then continues the turn.
Venture Cards
Only one venture card may be played in a turn, and not one bought that turn, except Landmarks, which are never "played".
Move the Ashcloud as for a 7, with no discards. It stays face up in front of you. May be played before or after rolling. Instead of moving the Ashcloud you may calm it: it goes back to the Ash Caldera and nobody is robbed.
Worth 1 renown. Hold it hidden, or turn it face up on your own turn, before or after rolling; every Landmark you hold is counted when you check for a win.
Lay two causeways this turn for nothing; each further causeway this turn costs only 1 Basalt.
Name a number from 2 to 12 other than 7: only you collect that number's harvest this turn.
Bonus Titles
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Grand Causeway (2 renown). The player with the longest unbroken trail of at least 6 of their own causeways. A trail may end at a corner an opponent holds, but may not pass through it. A tie leaves the title where it is; if the holder is overtaken by two equals at once, the title is set aside.
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Steadfast Watch (2 renown). The first player to show 4 Wardens. It moves only to a player who shows strictly more.
Scoring
Your renown is made of:
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1 for each hearth on the island.
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2 for each beacon (a beacon replaces its hearth, so it is worth 2 in all).
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2 for each bonus title you hold.
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1 for each Landmark you have turned face up. A Landmark you still hold hidden counts only when you check for a win.
Other players see your public renown beside your name at all times, and the number of cards in your hand, never their identity.
Special Cases
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A shortage. When the Supply holds fewer cards of a resource than are owed, cards are dealt one at a time round the table from the seat on turn, until the Supply is empty.
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An empty hand. A steal from a player with no cards does nothing.
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A Caldera roll. The Caldera never pays, whatever the dice show.
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Nothing can take the Ashcloud. If every other tile is sheltered, the Ashcloud stays where it is.
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An unfinished trail. A causeway's trail may not pass through an opponent's hearth, beacon, or a Wayfarer camp.
End of Game
At the start of your own turn, and again whenever your renown changes during it, check your total: public renown plus any hidden Landmarks. At 11 or more you reveal your Landmarks and win on the spot. Nobody can win on another player's turn: you must wait for yours.
Two-Player Variant
With two players the island is too roomy, so the game adds:
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Two Wayfarer camps. After placement, two neutral camps are set on the best open corners (most ember dots first). Each gets a neutral causeway on its nearest free edge. Camps block building as an opponent's piece would, and nobody owns them.
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The Barge. Once on each of your turns you may return 2 cards of one resource to the Supply and take 1 card of another.