In the year 1621, the first English emigrants, the Pilgrims, arrived in the New World and founded the first settlement - Plymouth. They called the region in which they settled "New England" - the name it still bears today. Players settle New England just as the Pilgrims did.
Earn the most victory points by effectively bidding on land (tiles), development (cards) of the land you own and dominating on colonial resources of barns, pilgrims and ships.
The server will randomly seat players and assign Family names to the player alphabetically. The first player is always the Annable Family and with three players, the Howland pieces are not used.
If you look at the bottom center of the screen you will see a tile with a letter representing your family name in a specific color (Annable, Howland, Palomer or Winslow). All of your tiles will be easily identified as they will have that same letter/color prominently displayed.
(Note: In the default settings for the game, the following step is skipped and a fixed setup is used instead. This can speed play of the game greatly)
The player to the right of the starting player begins the three starting/set-up rounds by placing one of their starter tiles blank side up so that it covers two open spaces on the board. The player to their right then does the same. When placing the starter tiles, the tiles may not touch each other horizontally or vertically but may touch diagonally. This continues counter-clockwise around the table until all starter tiles have been placed.
One round of play is made up of the following four phases:
The selection consists of a total of 9 land tiles and development cards, placed on the 9 selection spaces on the board. There must be between 3 and 6 development cards in the selection and the remaining 9 selection spaces will be land tiles. The starting player selects how many development cards they would like to place in the selection by clicking the“3 Development cards,” “4 Development Cards,” “5 Development Cards” or “6 Development Cards” buttons in the corresponding purchase track locations, left to right from the 3 to 6 spaces. Once the player clicks on one of the buttons, the all buttons disappear and 3-6 development cards are dealt onto the purchase track from the draw deck. The remaining 3-6 spaces are then filled with land tiles from the tile bag.
The starting player begins, followed by the other players in a clockwise order. During a player’s turn, they select one of the remaining bidding chips from the board. The number on the bidding chip plays a double role in the next phase by determining the turn order and the price a player must pay per land tile or development card if wish to make a purchase.
Buying
The player with the highest bidding chip begins. When it is a player’s turn, they may make 0, 1, or 2 purchases. After every purchase they must immediately settle. Players may only purchase land tiles that they can legally play on the board. Similarly, they may only purchase development cards that they are able to use immediately unless they own an empty barn which can store the card for future use.
Settling Land Tiles
If a player buys a land tile, they must immediately place the tile on an unoccupied space with the undeveloped side face up. This land tile must horizontally or vertically border the owning players matching land types. It may never horizontally or vertically border an opponent’s land tile of the same land type, since it would be impossible to determine the owners of the individual parcels. Two identical land types of opposing players may, however border each other diagonally.
If all the spaces surrounding a player’s group of a particular land type are either occupied by tiles, or are unoccupied but border tiles of another player with the same land type, then the player can no longer purchase a land tile of this type for the rest of the game. A player can only own one interconnected area of each type of land. Once a land tile has been placed, it can not be moved.
If a player buys a development card, they must play it immediately. There are two types of development cards: cards showing land tiles (settlement, farmland, or pasture) and cards showing a particular type of figure (pilgrim, barn, or ship).
Settling Land Development Cards
Land development cards represent the improvement of the land spaces to gain victory points. These cards can only be activated if the player has the land tiles available with the appropriate landform. The player requires the number of undeveloped parcels (this includes being free of pilgrim, barn, or ship figures) shown on the card, laid out exactly as depicted on the card although the card may be turned in any direction to allow different orientations of the required landform. Once the land development card is purchased, the buying player selects the tiles to be used to fulfill the prerequisites for the development card by clicking on the tiles. As each tile is selected a marking stone will be placed on the tile. If you want to change your tile selection, double clicking a selected tile will de-select it. When the selecting of legal tiles is complete they will be flipped over as developed and the development card goes to the owning player’s score pile. Starter tiles cover two spaces and both parcels of the tile must be developed at the same time. If both spaces are not needed half of the starter tile is wasted and is unavailable for further use.
Settling Figure Development Cards
If a player buys a figure development card, the card enables them to place a corresponding wooden figure on an undeveloped land tile. Only one figure may be placed per tile. Ship figures have the additional rule that they must be placed on a land tile directly bordering the sea. Pilgrim and ship figures can be moved to any other legal tile during the buying and settling phase. Once barns are placed they cannot be moved.
Each pilgrim a player owns adds an extra shilling of income when collecting income.
Each barn can hold one purchased development card. Instead of playing the card, a player may store it in an empty barn by dragging the purchased development card to the vacant barn development card. Stored development cards can be played at later turns during the Buying-Settling Phase by double-clicking the stored card or dragging it out of the barn to the open player area. Cards stored in a barn must be used and cannot be simply discarded. Barns can be used again after they have been emptied. Cards stored in barns are not considered in play for scoring purposes.
When it is a player’s turn to buy, and if he has the most ships on the board, he may draw an additional card from the deck or tile from the draw piles prior to his first purchase. To use this ability, click on the Use Ship button and then double click either the tile bag for an additional tile or the draw deck for an extra development card. Tiles and cards added to the selection this way are available for all players who have not had a turn already. All players tied for having the most ships may also use this ability. If the deck or bag is empty, those items may not be chosen by a player during this phase.
After finishing buying and settling, bidding chips return to the bidding track and the player receives 4 Shillings from the bank. For every pilgrim figure he has on the board, he receives one additional Shilling.
The game ends immediately if, in Phase 1, if the starting player chooses the selection and there is insufficient land tiles or development cards to complete the selection. Players intentionally do not know the number of remaining tiles or cards so that they cannot exactly determine the end of the game.
At the end of the game, each player adds the victory points they have on the development cards in their possession. Any development cards still in barns are now removed from the game. The player with the most figures of each type also receives bonus victory points: 4 for the most pilgrims, 3 for the most barns and 2 for the most ships. In the case of ties in figure counts for most figures in a category, all players involved in the tie receive the full number of points per category.
The player with the most points wins. Victory point ties are won by the player with the most money.
Bidding Chips
The bidding chips are marked from 1 to 10. They are located on the right side of the game map.
In Phase 3, a player's turn is determined by their bidding chip. A player with a higher bidding chip takes his turn before a player with a lower bidding chip. The number on the chip is also the price that the player pays per land tile or development card.
Land Tiles
With the help of the starter tiles and the land tiles, the players occupy the free spaces available on the board.
There are three different types of land tiles. They are distinguished by color. For each type there is a specific use.
Border (red-brown) - Settlement
Meadow (green) - Pasture
Farmland (black) - Field
Each player occupies only one interconnected area of each type of land; e.g. only one meadow per player. The owner of a group of land tiles can be determined by the starter tile. The first letter of the family name in the player's color is clearly depicted.
Starter Tiles
They are twice as big as the normal land tiles.
They count as one tile when a figure is placed on it, however they cover two board spaces. Both spaces can only be developed simultaneously to lay a field, meadow or a settlement.
Land Tiles
They are half the size of the starter tiles and show the same land types (this is starting to get redundant!).
Land tiles must border matching land tiles either horizontally or vertically but may not touch an opponents matching land tiles horizontally or vertically (they may only touch diagonally).
Development Cards
There are two types of development cards
The number on the card shows how many victory points the player receives at the end of the game.
A. Using land
Settlements, fields and pastures can only be placed on areas that border corresponding land types. The player needs the number of undeveloped tiles as depicted on the card. They must also be placed exactly as depicted on the card (card may be rotated).
When selecting development cards to purchase, the game will tell you if do not have a place to legally use the card - unless you have an open barn - in which case it will highlight the barn space as the only legal placement.
Once you purchase the development you will need to highlight the map sections that will be developed and then select "Done Placing."
If you are going to place the development in the barn you can drag it into the barn area (assuming that you have an open barn space) on the bottom right of the screen.
B. Placing a figure
A figure is always placed on one of a player's own undeveloped tiles.
Only one figure may be placed per tile.
When a figure is moved, it does not matter on which type of land the figure was previously placed.
When a player received income, he received one additional shilling per pilgrim.
Pilgrims may be moved.
At the end of the game, all players with the most pilgrims receive 4 additional victory points.
In each barn, a player can store one development card. Stored cards have no function and earn no points until played on the board.
During a player's turn in Phase 3, he can retreive and play a stored card.
A barn cannot be moved once played.
At the end of the game, all players with the most barns receive 3 additional victory points.
In Phase 3, a player having the most ships can reveal an additional selection during his turn (either a land or development card).
A ship can only be placed on an undeveloped tile which borders the sea.
Ships may be moved.
At the end of the game, all players with the most ships receive 2 additional victory points.
1 Game Board
60 Land tiles (1 plot tiles)
12 Starter tiles (two plots tiles)
58 Development cards
13 Pilgrim figures
11 Barn Figures
10 Ship figures
4 Marking Stones
10 Bidding chips from one to ten
3 Victory point cards for the Most Pilgrims, Most Barns, and Most Ships.
1 Starting player marker
60 Money Chips totaling 180 Shillings (30 White 1 Shilling chips and 30 5 Yellow Shilling chips)
[ close window ]