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Everytime I play this game the last person to go usually looses.
This is because his/her rugs are out on the board for less time and their very last turn does not result in any payment.

We try to give that last player an advantage.

If you are playing the version where the player turns Assam for the next player (the mean way) then we make the first player have to do 1 extra roll at the end.

Like this:
1. Player 4 takes their final turn
2. Player 4 turns Assam
3. Player 1 moves Assam and makes any necessary payment. Since they have no more rugs to lay the game ends.

*Depending on what printing you have the sizes may differ.

I have the second printing which has the DotR logo on the box cover in foil.

Hero Cards/Darkness Spreads:
88x64mm Standard Card Size
Quantity: 56 Darkness Spreads Cards + 96 Hero Cards

*Don’t forget – The Special Hero Cards are slightly longer than the other regular hero cards.

Quest Cards:
44x68mm Mini-euro size
Quantity: 24 Quest Cards

This games is about being the right place at the right time with the right cards.

Dr. Lucky moves along a set path and when he ends up in a room containing a player, that player takes the next turn. If you plan things right you can “lead him around” several rooms and get several turns in a row. This will let you pick up cards and hopefully land a killing blow.

Keep in mind that this strategy works best if you can lead him through multiple Named Rooms.

5 Player Rule Changes: The following changes to basic game rules should be used to keep the balance of a challenging game when adding a 5th Hero (player) to the game.

1. Remove all of the Darkness Spreads All Is Quiet cards from the deck. They will not be used in the game.

2. The choice of Hero Selection should be random – deal 1 Hero to each player.

3. Players start with 1 Hero cards rather than 2. Players will still gain 2 Hero Cards at the end of each turn, they are only restricted with this rule to starting with 1 Hero cards in hand.

4. Maximum Hand Size for Hero cards is now 8 rather than 10.

6 Player Rule Changes: The following changes to basic game rules should be used to keep the balance of a challenging game when adding a 6th Hero (player) to the game.

1. Remove all of the Darkness Spreads All Is Quiet cards from the deck. They will not be used in the game.

2. Shuffle all Special cards and remove 5 randomly – place them in the box without looking at them.

3. The choice of Hero Selection should be random – deal 1 Hero to each player.

4. Players start with no Hero cards rather than 2. Players will still gain 2 Hero Cards at the end of each turn, they are only restricted with this rule to starting with no Hero cards in hand.

Note: Players that want to really be challenged should restrict Hero cards gained at the end of each turn to 1 rather than 2, but this really restricts your ability to gain cards and forces the heroes to use the Rumor in the Inns to a greater degree if one or more Generals really charges toward Monarch City.

5. Maximum Hand Size for Hero cards is now 7 rather than 10.

Usually at some point towards the end, when things are getting really hairy, a darkness spreads card comes out that would normally cause you to lose. But, what happens is that someone realizes they have a special ability to stop this card….problem is, you already placed all the minions and the tainted crystals.

TIP:
To avoid confusion place the new minions on the board next to their location but not in the actual circle. That way if you have to remove them it is much easier.

Swap out the ships for Lego ones.
As you smash into asteroids parts of your ship get ripped off until there is nothing left.

This is similar to the game Get Bit!

Just try to stay alive.

You don’t have to use all you movements, just master using 3-4 and watch everyone else smash themselves into oblivion.

It was pointed out to me that if you get the Drill Upgrade (double drilling power) you have to get 4 Storage Bays.

When you drill twice in over 2 non-rock areas you will fill up both cargo bays at once. However if you have 3 bays, one of the elements you could be getting gets left behind.

Making a 2 ingredient recipe is super easy and you should be a able to quickly knock one out.

Pick “Spicy” as your first action card.
Here are the reasons why:
Since your first 3 ingredients were picked by someone else, they probably stink and have nothing to do with a recipe you need. Spicy allows you clear out your ingredients and get stuff you need.

With Spicy you shold be able to complete 2 recipes at once!
Or at least set yourself up to complete multiple recipes in a row.

Pick Wasabi towards the end
With Wasabi you get extra wasabi cubes and you clog up the board and force it to end faster.

————
Basically this game is about coming our strong and dominating, I don’t think I have ever seen a “come back” win.

This is a variation to the game that I made up for a holiday party. It’s a way to have a “white elephant” gift party but with a little more excitement and press your luck. It turned out to be a big hit.

The Rules:
Set up a standard Incan Gold game. Add all of the treasures into the deck immediately. When a treasure is won, that treasure is actually a present. The winner of the treasure gets a gift from the pile. They can chose to open the gift or leave it wrapped. That treasure card is placed back into the deck (so there are many chances to get presents).

When the next treasure is won, that person can take a new present or steal one.

The gems are not worthless, they are still counted like in the regular game. The first and second place winners (based on highest gem count) get the final present steal or get the final presents.

———————
You may have to say that the 15 and 17 gems cards represent treasure if you have a lot of presents/players.

When playing with 2 players a variation is to have each player use (2) colors. This is somewhat like one of the 2 Player Blokus variations.

This adds a dynamic element to the meeples, because you have 2 colors scoring points for you but do not get “double” the meeple’s power.
——————————————
For example:
Player 1 - Red and Yellow
Player 2 - Blue and Green

A completed 10 point Castle with (3) meeples.
(1)Red – (scores 10 points)
(1)Yellow – (scores 10 points)
(1)Blue – (scores 10 points)
Player 1 scores 20 points
Player 2 scores 10 points

A completed 10 point Castle with (4) meeples.
(2) Red – (scores 10 points)
(1) Yellow
(1)Blue
Player 1 scores 10 points

Some characters do not get to make use of the treasure chest. One of my favorite parts of DND is getting treasure.

This is my treasure rule:

Spend an action point on a treasure location and on a certain dice roll player may gain an extra hero card.

-or-

If you kill a minion(s) on a location with treasure you can do a free roll to get some extra treasure. But the space must be clear of minions.

(Variation: You can allow the character pick up an extra Quest Card instead of a Hero card.)

Some people paint their miniatures I paint my wooden tile holders.
I can’t wait to see how many mark this as unhelpful simply because they hate the idea of altering their game components, meh.

I have a personalized collection and ones for each of my friends who likes to play the game. They are themed and decorated but mostly serve to taunt the competition.

My favorite one reads: You Will Lose.
Honestly that one is more a kindness because when that holder comes out it means no Scrabble mercy will be shown and don’t get your hopes up of beating me muahahaha.

There are (2) different Two Letter Word Lists

TWL: Fourth Edition
American Tournament Play

AA AB AD AE AG AH AI AL AM AN AR AS AT AW AX AY

BA BE BI BO BY
DE DO
ED EF EH EL EM EN ER ES ET EX
FA FE

GO

HA HE HI HM HO

ID IF IN IS IT

JO

KA KI

LA LI LO

MA ME MI MM MO MU MY

NA NE NO NU

OD OE OF OH OI OM ON OP OR OS OW OX OY

PA PE PI

QI

RE

SH SI SO

TA TI TO

UH UM UN UP US UT

WE WO

XI XU

YA YE YO

ZA


Learn the two letter words and you will significantly increase your score by playing tiles so that you create multiple words each turn. An example of this would be the words ATOM and ROSE, like so:

AR
TO
OS
ME >> this combo makes 6 words: atom, rose, ar, to, os, me.


Take it a step further with the 3 Letter word lists:
ATOM, ROSE, TEEN:

ART
TOE
OSE
MEN >> this combo contains: atom, rose, teen, art, tor, ose, men.


Compared to some of the other Ticket to Rides this map really tends to bottle neck in the center, this is because players avoid the Southern route because they have tunnels.

Most people will want to pass through Zurich, Zug, Schwyz, Luzern.
If you can get an early lead in blocking others out you will frustrate them and force them to built more difficult indirect route to make their connections.

A basic Poison deck is fairly easy to build without having to spend tons of money.

In particular if you pair that deck with Regeneration or something allows to you continually infest the playing field with small poisonous creatures.

The poison count really sneaks up on people who are focused on a drawn out strategy. You can also use your small 1/1 poison creatures as a “meat shield” to absorb damage.

The first few Unique Treasures are not worth that much, do not get side-tracked when they come up and let other players worry about them.
(Make a big deal when they come up, this makes people think that they shouldn’t risk letting you have it to yourself and will get them to leave the temple early).

Why is this important:
You want to go for the “big money” in the earlier rounds as most players who had bad scores will be going for glory in the latter rounds which means you will have to share with them or die with them.

You need to assume the other player has a “Just Say No” card.
(One way to know they have one is when you see them holding this one card off on the side or if they have 3 cards in their hand but only play 2)

Before you lay out some devastating attack on an opponent try to flush out their “Just Say No” card by asserting a weaker attack, but do it with gusto as if that move is going to win you the game. This may trick them into playing that “Just Say No” card to stop you. After you feel certain it’s gone then steal all their properties or charge that exorbitant rent.

Two House Rules if you’re craving a bit more strategy/complexity:

1. Each player draws 3 tiles and holds them like in Scrabble, Dominoes, or Wassabi. You have the pool of tiles faceup for real brainiac gamer types.

Players play from their hand of tiles and get a new one each turn.
OR they can choose to swap out a tile instead of play it.

2. Beef up the game with this second House Rule. Next to Carcassonne have an area called the Carcass-Zone. Pile this area with slabs of meat, for each point scored along the way you take a bite. Fun if you’re a meat eater, terrifying if you’re vegetarian….lol.

The Carcass-Zone Expansion can include delicious side dishes and dipping sauces.

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If some one leaves the game, leave their body in their last location to be looted. Or if a monster goes there you get a +1 to sneak past it if you let it feast on the absent character’s carcass (you can’t loot them then).

We used to have this rule that when you yelled uno you had to do it a different way each time and you couldn’t copy someone else’s “uno”.

So we had variations like
Eeeewe-no you didn’t!
Oooh no no (like ooh la la)

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So that everyone knows a supply pile has run out, place one of the blank white cards in the empty space.

This way all players can see that the game might be close to an end.

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This is a special mechanic my friends and I came up with, I like to call it “trash picker”.

You set the trash card out as an 11th action card and you pick a value for the card. A player can purchase that card and when it comes up in their hand they choose to go through the trash and get whatever card they want. Once they have used the trash card it must return to the supply pile and is available to be purchased again. (in essence only one player at a time can be the trash picker)

You can make up your own rules as to the card’s cost. Or you can set certain conditions to buy the card like, you have a hand with 3 or more green/purple cards.

Sometimes you have games where gold and even provinces end up in the trash. You can also play where the trash picker has the option to give a trashed card (like a curse) to another player or return a card to the supply.

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One way to to help keep track of your orange duration cards is to use a MTG mechanic and tap your card when you have used it once.

That way you and everyone else can see what is going on.

I feel like Tactician is the single most powerful card in this set.
You get 10 cards to work with!

When you first pick ingredients for people try to pick stuff that doesn’t go together and definitely do not give them mako nor rice.

You might consider giving them stuff that commonly matches with ingredients the other player gave you so that you are more likely to make a recipe.

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IMO you don’t need the mountain chits, they are pointless and sometimes they cover up those portals or wizard diamonds.

It’s hard to get the race token out of the little black slots.

It might be best to just get one of those clear boxes with separators (the ones they sell at hardware and hobby stores). I have also read that you can put a piece of paper with a tab that hangs out under the chits, then you pull the paper up and the tokens all pop up.

It takes forever to put the cards away unless you make labels similar to the ones in the Dominion boxes.

When playing with a lot of players Halicarnassus is the bomb because there are tons of cards being discarded. You can also trash/cash in a card you really want but know you will not be able to build and then pick it up later when you build your wonder.

Make your own cards!

Even if you’re a bad artist it is super funny to see the wacky creations that come out.
Have all the players make as many as they can and then randomly deal them out. Save the best cards for future use or just for a good laugh.
It works best if you use index cards to keep it consistent.

-WhataWhale