Century: Golem Edition
2017
Build trade routes, manage crystal cards, and fulfill demands in a race for the most victory points.
45
minutes
2 - 5
player(s)
8+
Medium Light
About this board game
Century: Golem Edition is a strategy game for 2–5 players, released in 2017, with a playing time of about 45 minutes. Set in the world of Caravania, it places players in the role of caravan leaders traveling the famed golem road.
Your goal is to deliver crystals to the far reaches of the world while building enough progress to claim victory point cards. Each turn, choose one of four actions, carefully balancing your available cards, crystals, and opportunities.
- Establish a trade route: Take a market card.
- Make a trade or harvest crystals: Play a card from your hand.
- Fulfill a demand: Meet the requirements of a victory point card and claim it.
- Rest: Return all the cards you have played to your hand.
Market cards shape how you trade or harvest crystals, while victory point cards present demands that must be met before they can be claimed. Resting lets you recover your played cards, creating an ongoing cycle of selecting actions, managing your hand, and preparing for future turns.
The final round begins as soon as one player claims their fifth victory point card. Once that round is complete, the player with the most victory points wins.
With its crystal-focused trading system and clear four-action structure, Century: Golem Edition offers a focused race in which every decision helps determine when you can satisfy demands and secure valuable victory points.
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Board Game Rules for
Century: Golem Edition
“Papa, where do crystal golems come from?”
“The great masters craft them using soul crystals.”
“Oh… but where do soul crystals come from?”
“From all over the world. They are very rare. Legend says, they are the souls of people who died long before the first humans came to Carvania.”
“Well, when I grow up, I’m going to be a crystal trader! I’ll travel the whole world and I’ll find the very best crystals and the masters will make great big powerful golems from them, like the Gatekeeper!”
To set up a game of Century, follow these steps in order:
- Shuffle the Point cards (Golem back) to form a deck A, then draw 5 cards and place them face up in a row to the left of that deck B.
- Place a pile of copper tokens equal to the number of players × 2 above the first (leftmost) Point card C. Then place a pile of silver tokens equal to the number of players × 2 above the second Point card D.
- Among the Merchant cards (Crystal back) E, there are 10 cards with a purple border on the face up side. These are the starting cards. Among them, each player gets one ‘Create 2’ and one ‘Upgrade 2’ card to form their starting hand, as shown here. Any remaining starting cards are returned into the box.
- Shuffle the remaining Merchant cards to form a deck E. Draw 6 cards and place them face up in a row to the left of that deck F.
- Separate the crystals by color and place them into their diamond-shaped bowls G.
Note: Make sure the order of the colored crystals matches the order shown above: Yellow > Green > Turquoise > Magenta. - Take a Caravan card (brown back) for each player in the game, being sure to include the card with the first player symbol on it , shuffle them and deal each player one card in front of them H. The player with the symbol on his Caravan card is the first player.
- Place yellow and green crystals according to the table below on each player’s Caravan card I:
- 1st player gets 3 yellow crystals
- 2nd player gets 4 yellow crystals
- 3rd player gets 4 yellow crystals
- 4th player gets 3 yellow crystals and 1 green crystal
- 5th player gets 3 yellow crystals and 1 green crystal
Century is played over a series of rounds. Each player will take one turn each round (starting with the first player and going clockwise).
On a player’s turn, he must perform 1 of the following actions:
- Play: Play a card from his hand
- Acquire: Acquire a Merchant card
- Rest: Take all previously played cards back to his hand
- Claim: Claim a Point card
Action 1: Play
To play a card from your hand, place the card face up in front of you and execute the card’s effect. There are 3 types of Merchant cards that can be played in this way:
Crystal Cards
When playing a Crystal card, take the number and color of crystal(s) shown on the card J from the diamond-shaped bowls and place them on your caravan. In this example, a player would place 1 green crystal and 1 yellow crystal on his caravan.
Upgrade Cards
When playing an ‘Upgrade 2’ card, you MAY upgrade a crystal on your caravan 1 level and then upgrade a crystal 1 level again. It is not mandatory to upgrade all crystals from an Upgrade card.
For example, you may upgrade a yellow crystal to a green crystal and then upgrade another yellow crystal to a green crystal, or you can upgrade a yellow crystal to a green crystal and then upgrade that green crystal to a turquoise crystal.
Trade Cards
When playing a Trade card, return the number and color of crystal(s) shown above the arrow K from your caravan to the diamond-shaped bowls, then take the number and color of crystal(s) shown below the arrow L from the bowls and add them to your caravan. A trade can be done any number of times in a row as long as you have the appropriate crystals available.
Example: Chris has 6 yellow crystals and plays a Trade card that allows him to trade 2 yellow crystals for 1 blue crystal. Chris may trade 2, 4, or 6 yellow crystals for 1, 2, or 3 blue crystals.
Action 2: Acquire
To acquire a Merchant card, first pay for it by placing ANY crystals from your caravan on each Merchant card to the left of the card you are acquiring and then take that Merchant card into your hand.
Note: When acquiring the leftmost Merchant card, no crystals are placed. The card is for free.
Example above: Chris wants to acquire the fourth Merchant card in the row M, so he places 1 crystal on each of the 3 cards to the left of it N.
When acquiring a Merchant card and placing it in your hand, any crystals that were on that card are placed on your caravan. After acquiring a Merchant card, fill the empty slot by sliding the cards to the left, creating an empty slot just to the left of the merchant deck; then draw a card from the deck to fill that empty slot.
Action 3: Rest
To rest, take all of the cards you played face up in front of you back into your hand. This allows players to build their Merchant cards hand as the game evolves; a mechanism called “hand-building”.
Action 4: Claim
To claim a Point card, you must have all of the crystals shown on the Point card in your caravan. Return those crystals to the diamond-shaped bowls. Take the Point card and place it face down in front of you. After claiming a Point card, fill the empty slot by sliding the cards to the left, creating an empty slot just to the left of the point deck; then draw a card from the deck to fill that empty slot. If you claim the leftmost or second leftmost Point card, take one copper or silver token from above that card. If you take the last copper token, slide the pile of silver tokens so it is now above the leftmost Point card.
Caravan Limit
A player’s caravan can hold up to 10 crystals.
At the end of a player’s turn, if that player has more than 10 crystals on his caravan, he must return the exceeding crystals of his choice to the diamond-shaped bowls.
Crystal Limit
The crystal supply is not limited. If a supply is exhausted, use a substitute material (e.g. players run out of yellow crystals and use candy to track additional yellow crystals).
Once a player has taken his fifth Point card (or sixth in a 2-3 player game), the game will end after players finish out the current round of play. At that point, each player counts all his points on his Point cards, his copper/silver tokens, and the remaining crystals on his caravan.
- Each copper token is worth 3 points.
- Each silver token is worth 1 point.
- Each non-yellow crystal is worth 1 point.
The player with the most points wins. If there is a tie, the last player to take a turn wins the tie.
- Game Designer: Emerson Matsuuchi
- Producer: Sophie Gravel
- Art Direction: Philippe Guérin
- Illustrations: Justin Chan & Chris Quilliams
- Graphic Designer: Philippe Guérin & Karla Ron
- Coordination: Geneviève Blouin
- Foreign Affairs: Andrea Ahlers & Katja Wienicke
- Editing: Sophie Gravel
- Communications: Lyne Bouthillette
- Marketing: Martin Bouchard
© 2017 Plan B Games Inc.
No part of this product may be reproduced without specific permission.
19 rue de la Coopérative, Rigaud, QC. J0P 1P0, Canada.
Made in China.
Setup
“Papa, where do crystal golems come from?”
“The great masters craft them using soul crystals.”
“Oh… but where do soul crystals come from?”
“From all over the world. They are very rare. Legend says, they are the souls of people who died long before the first humans came to Carvania.”
“Well, when I grow up, I’m going to be a crystal trader! I’ll travel the whole world and I’ll find the very best crystals and the masters will make great big powerful golems from them, like the Gatekeeper!”
To set up a game of Century, follow these steps in order:
- Shuffle the Point cards (Golem back) to form a deck A, then draw 5 cards and place them face up in a row to the left of that deck B.
- Place a pile of copper tokens equal to the number of players × 2 above the first (leftmost) Point card C. Then place a pile of silver tokens equal to the number of players × 2 above the second Point card D.
- Among the Merchant cards (Crystal back) E, there are 10 cards with a purple border on the face up side. These are the starting cards. Among them, each player gets one ‘Create 2’ and one ‘Upgrade 2’ card to form their starting hand, as shown here. Any remaining starting cards are returned into the box.
- Shuffle the remaining Merchant cards to form a deck E. Draw 6 cards and place them face up in a row to the left of that deck F.
- Separate the crystals by color and place them into their diamond-shaped bowls G.
Note: Make sure the order of the colored crystals matches the order shown above: Yellow > Green > Turquoise > Magenta. - Take a Caravan card (brown back) for each player in the game, being sure to include the card with the first player symbol on it , shuffle them and deal each player one card in front of them H. The player with the symbol on his Caravan card is the first player.
- Place yellow and green crystals according to the table below on each player’s Caravan card I:
- 1st player gets 3 yellow crystals
- 2nd player gets 4 yellow crystals
- 3rd player gets 4 yellow crystals
- 4th player gets 3 yellow crystals and 1 green crystal
- 5th player gets 3 yellow crystals and 1 green crystal
How to Play
Century is played over a series of rounds. Each player will take one turn each round (starting with the first player and going clockwise).
On a player’s turn, he must perform 1 of the following actions:
- Play: Play a card from his hand
- Acquire: Acquire a Merchant card
- Rest: Take all previously played cards back to his hand
- Claim: Claim a Point card
Action 1: Play
To play a card from your hand, place the card face up in front of you and execute the card’s effect. There are 3 types of Merchant cards that can be played in this way:
Crystal Cards
When playing a Crystal card, take the number and color of crystal(s) shown on the card J from the diamond-shaped bowls and place them on your caravan. In this example, a player would place 1 green crystal and 1 yellow crystal on his caravan.
Upgrade Cards
When playing an ‘Upgrade 2’ card, you MAY upgrade a crystal on your caravan 1 level and then upgrade a crystal 1 level again. It is not mandatory to upgrade all crystals from an Upgrade card.
For example, you may upgrade a yellow crystal to a green crystal and then upgrade another yellow crystal to a green crystal, or you can upgrade a yellow crystal to a green crystal and then upgrade that green crystal to a turquoise crystal.
Trade Cards
When playing a Trade card, return the number and color of crystal(s) shown above the arrow K from your caravan to the diamond-shaped bowls, then take the number and color of crystal(s) shown below the arrow L from the bowls and add them to your caravan. A trade can be done any number of times in a row as long as you have the appropriate crystals available.
Example: Chris has 6 yellow crystals and plays a Trade card that allows him to trade 2 yellow crystals for 1 blue crystal. Chris may trade 2, 4, or 6 yellow crystals for 1, 2, or 3 blue crystals.
Action 2: Acquire
To acquire a Merchant card, first pay for it by placing ANY crystals from your caravan on each Merchant card to the left of the card you are acquiring and then take that Merchant card into your hand.
Note: When acquiring the leftmost Merchant card, no crystals are placed. The card is for free.
Example above: Chris wants to acquire the fourth Merchant card in the row M, so he places 1 crystal on each of the 3 cards to the left of it N.
When acquiring a Merchant card and placing it in your hand, any crystals that were on that card are placed on your caravan. After acquiring a Merchant card, fill the empty slot by sliding the cards to the left, creating an empty slot just to the left of the merchant deck; then draw a card from the deck to fill that empty slot.
Action 3: Rest
To rest, take all of the cards you played face up in front of you back into your hand. This allows players to build their Merchant cards hand as the game evolves; a mechanism called “hand-building”.
Action 4: Claim
To claim a Point card, you must have all of the crystals shown on the Point card in your caravan. Return those crystals to the diamond-shaped bowls. Take the Point card and place it face down in front of you. After claiming a Point card, fill the empty slot by sliding the cards to the left, creating an empty slot just to the left of the point deck; then draw a card from the deck to fill that empty slot. If you claim the leftmost or second leftmost Point card, take one copper or silver token from above that card. If you take the last copper token, slide the pile of silver tokens so it is now above the leftmost Point card.
Caravan & Crystal Limits
Caravan Limit
A player’s caravan can hold up to 10 crystals.
At the end of a player’s turn, if that player has more than 10 crystals on his caravan, he must return the exceeding crystals of his choice to the diamond-shaped bowls.
Crystal Limit
The crystal supply is not limited. If a supply is exhausted, use a substitute material (e.g. players run out of yellow crystals and use candy to track additional yellow crystals).
End of Game & Scoring
Once a player has taken his fifth Point card (or sixth in a 2-3 player game), the game will end after players finish out the current round of play. At that point, each player counts all his points on his Point cards, his copper/silver tokens, and the remaining crystals on his caravan.
- Each copper token is worth 3 points.
- Each silver token is worth 1 point.
- Each non-yellow crystal is worth 1 point.
The player with the most points wins. If there is a tie, the last player to take a turn wins the tie.
Credits
- Game Designer: Emerson Matsuuchi
- Producer: Sophie Gravel
- Art Direction: Philippe Guérin
- Illustrations: Justin Chan & Chris Quilliams
- Graphic Designer: Philippe Guérin & Karla Ron
- Coordination: Geneviève Blouin
- Foreign Affairs: Andrea Ahlers & Katja Wienicke
- Editing: Sophie Gravel
- Communications: Lyne Bouthillette
- Marketing: Martin Bouchard
© 2017 Plan B Games Inc.
No part of this product may be reproduced without specific permission.
19 rue de la Coopérative, Rigaud, QC. J0P 1P0, Canada.
Made in China.
