Tikal

Players and objective: The classic Rio Grande Games rules support 2–4 players, ages 10 and up. Each player chooses a color and takes an expedition leader, workers, and two camps. Players expand a jungle map, compete for valuable temples, and recover matching treasure sets. Three volcano-triggered scoring rounds and a final scoring round determine the winner. This is the standard draw version: terrain tiles are taken from the ordered stack, with no auction procedure.

Turn and terrain placement: On a turn, draw a terrain tile, place it beside the explored map, and then spend up to 10 action points (AP). A tile must be adjacent to existing terrain and provide at least one connecting stone path that lets an expedition enter; the path may be printed on the new tile, the neighboring tile, or both. A volcano tile does not need a passable path because expedition members may not enter or cross a volcano space. Jungle tiles can hold camps, temple tiles can be excavated, and treasure tiles receive the number of wafers shown by their masks.

Action points and expedition members: A player can combine actions in any order, but unused AP are lost at the end of the turn. One AP places a worker or leader from the supply at the base camp or one of that player’s camps. One AP also moves a member between the player’s own camps. Moving across the map costs one AP for each path stone crossed, and a single move from one hex to another must be completed in the same turn. A player cannot spend AP now to cross part of a path and finish that move on a later turn.

Excavating temples: A member must be present in a temple hex to uncover it. Each level costs 2 AP and requires one expedition member in the hex; a player may uncover at most two levels of the same temple in one turn. Temple tiles must be added in numeric order, so a missing next value cannot be skipped. The number on the top tile is the temple’s value at scoring. If AP allow, a player may excavate several different temples in a turn, while weighing the risk that a rival may later take control of a more valuable site.

Treasure and exchanges: A player may recover a treasure wafer by paying 3 AP and having one of that player’s members at the site for each wafer taken. A hex may yield at most two wafers to the same player in a turn. Matching treasures score as a set: a single wafer is worth 1 point, a pair is worth 3, and a triplet is worth 6. For 3 AP, a player may exchange one single treasure with a single treasure belonging to another player. The other player cannot refuse, but an existing pair or triplet cannot be split apart.

Camps and temple guards: For 5 AP, a player may establish a camp on any jungle hex or empty treasure hex, even without a member there; each player may build at most two camps. That player’s camps are connected to one another and to the base camp, and members can be deployed to them for 1 AP each. A player with greater expedition strength than any single rival in a temple may pay 5 AP to place a guard there, up to two guards per player. A leader counts as three workers and each worker as one. Placing a guard removes the player’s other members from that hex, fixes control for later scoring, and freezes that temple’s value.

Volcano scoring rounds: Drawing a volcano immediately interrupts the normal turn. Set the tile aside; the player who drew it first gets 10 AP to explore and then scores temples and treasure. Each other player, in clockwise order, also gets 10 AP before scoring. A temple without a guard scores for the player whose strength is greater than every single rival’s; a tie for the highest strength means no one scores that temple. A guard secures the temple for its owner. Once everyone has scored, the drawing player places the volcano tile and continues with the normal 10-AP exploration turn.

End of game: Each of the three volcano tiles causes a scoring round. After the final terrain tile has been placed and its player finishes the 10-AP turn, all players take one final 10-AP exploration and score again. Add each player’s temple and treasure points to the running total at every scoring round. Temple control may change as expeditions move, unless a guard has fixed ownership; this makes route planning, scoring timing, and the remaining volcano order relevant throughout the game. The player with the highest total after final scoring wins.