Century: Golem Edition

Edition and setup: This entry follows the Plan B Games / Next Move base-game rulebook for Century: Golem Edition, for 2–5 players. Reveal five Point cards in a row. Put a stack of copper coins equal to twice the player count above the leftmost card, and the same number of silver coins above the second card. Each player takes one Create 2 and one Upgrade 2 starting Merchant card. Reveal six Merchant cards beside the deck and sort the four crystal supplies in yellow, green, turquoise, and magenta order. Shuffle the Caravan cards, including the first-player card, to determine turn order. Starting crystals depend on seating: first gets three yellow; second and third get four yellow; fourth and fifth get three yellow and one green.

Round and turn: Play proceeds in rounds, with each player taking one turn clockwise from the first player. On a turn, choose exactly one action: play one Merchant card from hand, acquire one Merchant card from the market, Rest to return every card you have played, or Claim one Point card. Resolve that action before the next player acts. Cards do not return to hand automatically after they are played, and buying a card does not grant an extra action, so the timing of a Rest and a Claim matters as the market changes.

Crystal cards: When you play a Crystal card, take the shown colors and quantities from their bowls and add them to your Caravan. Yellow, green, turquoise, and magenta are distinct levels of resource; a lower color does not count as a higher one when paying for an order. The crystal supply is unlimited for rules purposes. If the physical pieces of a color run out, use substitute markers and continue tracking that color and quantity.

Upgrade cards: Upgrade 2 allows up to two separate one-level upgrades, following the order yellow to green to turquoise to magenta. You may apply those steps to two different crystals or upgrade one crystal twice in sequence, such as yellow to green and then green to turquoise. You are not required to use every available upgrade. Each step can only move a crystal to the adjacent level, and magenta cannot be upgraded further.

Trade cards: Return the input crystals shown above the arrow to their bowls, then take the output crystals shown below it. You may repeat the complete exchange on the same card as many times as you can pay its input cost. Each repetition requires the full set of input crystals and gives the corresponding output; you may stop after any repetition. The card does not require you to trade away every matching crystal in your Caravan.

Acquire a Merchant card: Choose a face-up card in the Merchant row. Place one crystal of any color from your Caravan on every card to its left; those crystals are the cost of acquiring it. The leftmost card is free because it has no cards before it. Take the chosen card into your hand, then return every crystal on that chosen card itself to your Caravan. Crystals placed on the cards to its left remain there. Slide the row left and refill the empty space from the Merchant deck. An acquired card is not played immediately: acquiring it uses the turn’s one action.

Rest and hand building: Choose Rest to take all your previously played Merchant cards back into your hand. There is no additional crystal cost and no limit on the number of cards returned, but Rest uses the whole action. You cannot Rest and play another card on the same turn. As the hand grows, a player can prepare stronger sequences of production and conversion after a Rest, but must decide when the lost action is worth recovering those cards. Your personal cards are not a shuffled draw deck: unplayed cards remain in hand, and only played cards need to be recovered by resting.

Claim a Point card: You may take any face-up Point card for which your Caravan contains all colors and quantities shown. Return the required crystals to the bowls and place the claimed card face down in front of you; extra crystals that were not required remain in your Caravan. Slide the Point row left and refill it from the deck. If the card is currently in the leftmost or second-leftmost position, take the copper or silver coin above that space. When the last copper coin is taken, move the silver pile above the leftmost Point card.

Caravan limit and supply: A Caravan holds up to ten crystals. At the end of a player’s turn, if it contains more than ten, that player chooses which excess crystals to return to their bowls. Resolve the action first, then apply this end-of-turn limit. The supply itself has no quantity cap; substitute pieces may be used whenever the physical supply of a color is exhausted. These substitutes only track the resource and do not change its color or level.

End and scoring: The game-end trigger is the fifth Point card claimed by any player, or the sixth in a two- or three-player game. Finish the current round so every player takes the turn due in that round. Then add the values printed on Point cards, three points per copper coin, one per silver coin, and one point for each remaining non-yellow crystal. Yellow crystals are worth no end-game points. The highest total wins; if players tie, the tied player who acted later in the current round wins.