Home Boardgame
for 3–5 persons from the age of 12 years up
Author: Christiane Knepel Graphics:
Antje Graf
www.sternspieler.de
Die Sternspieler: Christiane Knepel, Nordring 61, D-24558 Henstedt-Ulzburg
GERMANY
In
Muscat, a little town in the Near East, snake-charmers, elephant trainers,
fire-eaters and pipers show their tricks on the marketplaces of the different
districts of the town. But the
pressure
of competition is very strong among the artists. They all have the same goal: to
belong to the royal house -hold of the sultan one day. But the way up to the
palace of Muscat is hard. Each artist career in Muscat starts on one of the five
marketplaces of the poorest district. Who is successful in the cycle of power,
will show his tricks in the richer districts soon. But only very few artists
have access to the palace of Muscat one day...
Aim
of the game:
To promote lots of own artists which means to get lots of points.
Material:
1 board
16 tokens in each colour (Piper,
Snake charmer , Elephant trainer, Fire
eater)
5 short rules
The
relationship among the artists:
There
are 4 different types of artists: snake-charmers, elephant trainers, fire eaters
and pipers. Each artist type threatens one of the other artist types and is
threatened by another artist type:
The
piper threatens the snake-charmer: “I
can hypnotize your snake with my pipe music and ou will not be able to show your
tricks“.
The
snake-charmer threatens the elephant trainer: “My snake can paralyse your
elephant with one single bite and your show will not take place“.
The
elephant trainer threatens the fire eater: “With a trunk full of water my
elephant can extinguish your fire and you are a Nobody on the marketplace“.
The
fire-eater threatens the piper: “with one single flame I could burn your pipe
and you can’t impress anybody by your music any more“.
This
cycle of power becomes obvious by the clockwise position of the fields on the
board and by the orange arrows on the tokens.
If
this cycle of power is interrupted because only three artists come together, one
of the artists is the strongest, because he is able to threaten one of the
others. Another of the three artists is the weakest, because he is threatened,
but cannot threaten anybody.
Before
you start the game:
Put the board in the middle of the table. If 5 players participate, you need all
5 market places on each level.
If
only 4 players participate, only 4 market places are used on each
level. The closed market places will be covered by tokens of a colour which is
not in use.
If
only 3 players participate, only 3 market places are used on each
level, the left and the
right
column are closed in this case.
Every
player gets one of the short rules, shuffles the tokens of his colour and places
them face down in a pile. One token will be placed face up beside the pile.
Every time the player is using a new token, he has the possibility to choose the
face up token or one face down token from the pile. If he decides for the face
up token, he will turn another token over when he has finished his move.
Start
position:
One start player is selected. It will be played clockwise. Each player takes one
token of his pile and puts it on one empty market place of the first level on
the corresponding field (a fire eater can only be placed on the field of a fire
eater etc.), so that every market place of the first level is provided with one
token.
Game
course:
Clockwise each player has the following possibilities:
•
to bring
a new token into action on a marketplace of the first level or
•
to
activate the cycle of power or
•
to
activate a never-do-well
•
to bring a new token into action
The
player puts his face up token or a face down token of the pile on any
marketplace of the first level on the corresponding field (fire eater on field
of fire-eater etc.). It doesn’t matter if there are tokens of the own or a
rival colour on this marketplace. On one marketplace not more than three
different artists can appear, at no time there will be all four artists.
When
3 artists are placed on one marketplace, the player can activate the cycle of
power. If he decides to do so, he is not allowed to bring a new token into
action. To activate the cycle of power is a separate action: Now the strongest
and the second strongest artist are promoted to the next level, the weakest
artist will go down to the street below this level. He can enter again this
level or he can be activated as never-do-well in one of the oncoming rounds of
the game. The strongest artist is the one starting the cycle of power: It is the
token starting the circle clockwise seen from the empty field. This artist
threatens one of the other artists, but nobody threatens him.
Example: On a marketplace of the first
level you can find a snake-charmer, an elephant trainer and a fire-eater. The
snake-charmer is the strongest artist: He threatens the elephant trainer, but
nobody threatens the snake-charmer as the piper is missing. The snake-charmer
climbs up to the next level. The elephant trainer is the second strongest artist
and climbs up as well. He is threatened by the snake-charmer, but he threatens
the fire-eater. The fire-eater has to go down to the street below and becomes a
never-do-well because he is the weakest artist. The elephant trainer threatens
him, but he can’t threaten anybody as the piper is missing.
When
the two strong artists climb up to the next level, first the player of the
strongest artist chooses a marketplace on the next level where the corresponding
field is still empty and places his artist there. Afterwards the second
strongest artist climbs up. He cannot enter the same marketplace and must choose
another one on this level. On which marketplace the token appears, is always
decided by the owner of the token. New tokens are always brought into action in
the lowest level. They are climbing up, when 3 artists are present and one
player activates the cycle of power. Step by step the marketplaces of the higher
levels are filled up this way. Here, the cycle of power can be activated the
same way when 3 artists are present
on
one marketplace. The artists can only climb up one level at the moment. To
overcome more levels in one step is only possible in the case of a career jump
which represents a special action in this game. As already mentioned: Who
activates the cycle of power is not allowed to bring a new token into action.
His move is finished.
Career
jump:
During the game it may happen that the fitting fields on the next level already
are occupied on all marketplaces or that it is not possible to put the token
there because already 3 other artists occupy the marketplace. If this already
happens on the first level when the player brings a new token into action, the
artist has to wait as never-do-well in the street below the first level. Does it
happen from the second level onwards, that an artist (climbing up due to the
cycle of power) does not find an empty field, the artist is allowed to do a
career jump. He misses out the occupied level and climbs up to the next
following level. Should it happen that the artist does not find here an empty
field either, he will miss out this level as well and takes the next. Even the
palace-level could be reached by a career jump.
Example: A snake-charmer climbs up
from level 2to level 3, but here all snake-charmer-fields are occupied. He then
takes the next unoccupied field on level 4.
Only
a few artists will reach the palace of Muscat. The cycle of power is activated
on the 4th level, representing the richest district, in the same way as before.
The two strongest artists climb up to the palace and are placed there in no
particular order. The weakest artist goes down to the street below as
never-do-well. The artists who have reached the palace, are safe. They will stay
here until the end of the game.
The
artists waiting in the streets swear vengeance. A never-do-well has the
following possibilities:
A. Re-employment
B. Change of place
C. Expulsion
D. Transformation
When
this action has been completed, no further actions can be done. The players turn
is over and the next player continues the game.
The
never-do-well can be placed again on a marketplace of the according level if a
fitting field is empty. The cycle of power is not activated by this action. It
is comparable to a new token brought into action. The cycle of power is
activated automatically by the 3 following never-do-well-actions:
The
player is allowed to remove any of his own tokens from one marketplace and to
transfer it to another marketplace of the same level under the condition, that
he unites 3 artists on the new marketplace. The cycle of power is activated
automatically afterwards.
Example:
The snake-charmer of player „grey“ is the only artist on the marketplace. On
another marketplace of the same level an elephant trainer and a fire-eater are
placed. This means a good opportunity for player “grey“. He transfers his
snake charmer to this marketplace. Now, 3 artists are present here, the
snake-charmer of player “grey“ is the strongest one. The cycle of power is
activated.
Afterwards,
the player removes any own never-do-well from any street (it has not to be the
street directly below this level). After this successful vengeance, he goes out
of the game and will not come in again.
The
player is allowed to exchange an own token against a rival token on the same
level if it is the same artist type. A piper can only be exchanged against
another piper.
Example:
Here, player „Red“ is wicked to player “Blue“. The fire-eater of player
“Red“ on the marketplace on the left is in a very bad position. He is Never-do-well
the weakest artist
and will go down to the street as soon as one of the other players will activate
the cycle of power. On the marketplace on the right the fire-eater of player
“blue“ is still in a lucky position. He is in the strongest position. Player
“Red“ exchanges the two fire-eaters, so that now the fire eater of player
“blue“ is in the weakest position and the fire-eater of player “Red“ is
in the strongest position on the other marketplace. The cycle of power is
activated automatically.
Only
for one of the market places the cycle of power is activated at the moment. If
there are 3 artists on both marketplaces, the player chooses one marketplace for
the cycle of power. After this action as well, the player removes any own
never-do-well from any street. This token goes out of the game.
The
strongest vengeance a never-do-well can take, is the transformation. If there
are 3 artists on one marketplace and the artist of the player taking his turn is
in the weakest position, the player can remove his weak artist and replace it by
the artist type whose field has been empty. The artist type who will do the
replacement has to be available as never-do-well in one of the streets (only
tokens of the own colour can be taken).
Example: The snake-charmer of player “Red“is in a bad position. As soon as one of the other players activates the cycle of power, he will go down to the street below as never-do-well. The field of the elephant trainer is empty. Player “Red“ has good luck: In one of the streets, one of his elephant trainers is waiting as never-do-well for his vengeance. Player “Red“ removes his snake-charmer from the marketplace and replaces him by his elephant trainer coming out of the street.
Now
a new situation occurs on this marketplace: The elephant trainer of player
“Red“ is now in the strongest position. The piper, who has been the second
strongest artist before, is now the weakest artist. The removed red
snake-charmer goes out of the game. The cycle of power is activated
automatically with the new combination of artists.
These
special actions are only possible if a never-do-well is available in one of the
streets. For the special actions “Change of place“ and “expulsion“, it
does not matter which artist type takes the function of the never-do-well. For
the “Transformation“ it has to be the artist type which is needed for the
empty field.
End
of the game:
When 3 players participate: As soon as six tokens have reached the palace, the
current round will
still be finished. Afterwards the game is over.
When
4 or 5 players participate: As soon as eight tokens have reached the palace, the
current round will still be finished. Afterwards the game is over.
Players,
whose turn it is in the last round, can try to move up further tokens to the
palace.
The
game ends immediately, if a player cannot bring a new token into action any more
and if he cannot re-employ a never-do-well from the street either.
Winner:
Each token counts so many points as shown on the scale on the right. The tokens
waiting as never-do-well in the streets count negative points, because the
sultan does not appreciate people hanging around in the streets.
The
player with the highest number of points is the winner of the game. If two
players have the same result, the one who has more tokens on the board is the
winner.
Example:
This is the final position of the artists of player “Blue“:
- three reached the palace 3 x 10 points
- two reached the 4th level 2 x 8 points
- one on level 3 6 points
- one on level 2 4 points
-one on level 1 + 2
points
58 points
The
points of the never-do-wells in the streets are deducted:
- one token in street 1 1 point
- one token in street 3 3 points
54 points
Player “Blue“ gets 54 points.
This site is created and maintained by: Carl-Gustaf Samuelsson