Hello everyone !
Today we're going to talk about Ceylon!
Skilled farmers, for 2 to 4 players, ages 10 and up, for 60 minutes, cultivate your land to harvest the finest tea!
In Ceylon, players take on the roles of tea producers on the island of Ceylon. They must build plantations in several districts at different altitudes, produce tea, and try to sell it to major export companies.
To help them in this task, they must consult with the advisor in each district and develop the necessary technology to gain a competitive edge. At the end of the game, players score points based on the number of plantations in each district, the variety of contracts completed, their level of technological development, and the money earned. The player with the most points at the end of the game is declared the winner. Play proceeds clockwise, starting with the first player. The game ends when a player manages to place all their tea leaves on the map or when the Action card deck is exhausted.
On their turn, a player must:
Play an Action card. The player whose turn it is, as well as all other players, perform an action related to the card that was played (mandatory). Before or after performing their card's action, the active player may use a token.
Draw an Action card to replenish their hand (mandatory). All Action cards consist of two main actions and two alternative actions. When a card is played, it must be placed on the discard pile space on the game board so that one main action faces sideways and the other main action faces sideways.
A card can therefore be played in either direction. First, the active player will perform the main action facing sideways or one of the two alternative actions. Then, proceeding clockwise, the other players will perform the main action facing sideways or one of the alternative actions. After this round, it will be the next player's turn, always proceeding clockwise. A Technology token allows you to perform an additional action (paying the cost if applicable), but you can only use it when you are the active player.
After returning the Technology token to the supply, you can perform any main or alternative action, regardless of the card you played, except for the "Develop Technology" action, before or after performing your card's action.
You can collect as many Technology tokens as you like, but you can only use one per turn. If you retrieve it during your turn, you can use it immediately. Technology tokens can be retrieved by advancing along the Technology Track.
The five main actions are represented on the Action cards. Some of these actions have a rupee cost, which must be paid to perform the action. The money spent always goes into the supply. If a player doesn't have enough money to perform the corresponding action, doesn't meet the requirements, or simply doesn't want to perform it, they must choose one of the two alternative actions.
Plant. This action allows the player to build a plantation. It costs 5 rupees and involves placing a Plantation token on the hex where your pawn is located, and on that token, the leftmost tea leaf from your individual player board.
The hex in question must not be covered by another plantation, but there may be other pawns present. District Bonus tokens are obtained by building at least one plantation in each district in play. Once you have fulfilled this condition, take the top District Bonus token from the stack and score the corresponding points.
The first player to take a token scores 10 points, the second 6 points, the third 3 points, and the fourth 1 point. Each player receives only one of these tokens during the game.
Harvest. With this action, you can harvest tea from plantations located on the hex where your pawn is located and/or on adjacent hexes. You can take one crate of tea from the reserve for each plantation within your reach.
Trade. This action allows you to fulfill one of the export company contracts displayed on the train cars on the board, earning you money or points. The action involves delivering the three crates of tea listed on one of the contracts to the reserve in order to claim it.
When you fulfill a contract, you must place it on an available contract space on your individual board, with the side displaying the company number facing up. Contracts from the same company are stacked on top of each other. Thus, each company will always occupy only one space.
You can only fulfill a contract from a company if you have space on your board, meaning a space that is either empty of tea leaves or already contains contracts from the same company. In this case, you place the new contract on top of the others. Planting tea leaves will allow you to harvest them and free up space to fulfill contracts with new companies. The more plantations you build, the more tea you can deliver to different companies. Finally, you must decide which reward you wish to receive from the contract: rupees, which you draw from your reserve, or points, which you score immediately. You cannot receive both, nor a combination of the two.
At the end of the game, you will score bonus points based on the number of different companies you traded with. Empty train cars are filled with new contracts from the deck only after the active player has completed their hand.
Hiring an Advisor. Each district has an advisor that players can hire to benefit from their special ability. This action costs 5 rupees and involves placing one of your colored discs on an empty space next to the advisor in the district where your pawn is located.
Each player has one disc for each advisor and can only hire them if their pawn is in their district. Once this action is performed, the advisor's special ability can be used by the player for the rest of the game. At the end of the game, you will score majority points for your plantations only in the districts where you have hired the corresponding advisor.
Developing Technology. This action corresponds to the technological development of the tea industry in Ceylon. The action costs 5 rupees and consists of advancing your disc one space on the Technology Track and collecting a Technology token, which you place in its designated space on your player board.
All other players take 1 rupee from the supply (technology development benefits the entire community). When you reach a space marked "+5" on the left, you score 5 points. In addition to providing Technology tokens and points, the Technology Track is used to break ties during scoring, giving the advantage to the players further along.
When a player reaches a space where there are already one or more discs belonging to other players, they must place their disc on top of the stack. The top token is considered more advanced than the one below it. If you reach the last space on the Technology Track, you can no longer perform this action. The active player, as well as the other players, may choose to forgo their main action if they cannot or do not wish to perform it. Instead, they must choose one of two alternative actions: move or take 2 rupees from the supply.
If a player places their last tea leaf on the game board or draws the last Action card from the deck, they trigger the end of the game. The game continues until each player has played the same number of turns, and then the final scoring takes place. The final scoring is performed in the following order. The winner is the player with the most points.
Good day and good game ;)
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