Origins: First Builders

About this board game

Origins: First Builders is a city-building board game for 1–4 players, with games lasting about 120 minutes. You take the role of an archon, guiding your citizens as they construct buildings and monuments under the watchful eyes of the Builders from beyond the skies.

Each player begins with a city containing only an Agora tile and a Palace tile. As the game develops, you add new building tiles to expand your city and increase its strength. Every building has a special ability that activates when it is first added to a city and again when a district is closed.

Your position on the military track determines the rewards you receive when you attack, as well as your chances of becoming first player. Along the way, you will influence construction, gather knowledge and resources, and guide your population through the challenges of culture, science, and warfare.

• Expand a city that begins with two building tiles.
• Use building abilities when tiles are added and districts are closed.
• Advance your zodiac disks across the sea, forest, and mountain temple tracks.
• Compete on the military track for attack rewards and first-player opportunities.

Origins: First Builders is played over a series of rounds. A round ends only after every player has passed, and play continues into a new round unless an end-game condition has been reached.

The game ends when, among other possibilities, at most three colors of tower disks remain in stock, no gold remains above a district card, no suitable citizen die can be added to the citizen offer, or a player has moved all three zodiac disks to the top of their temple tracks. You score only your two least-valued temples, and the player with the most victory points wins.