Rules: Phase 2: Province Auction


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Each Player acquires exactly one Province through an auction. This is carried out as follows:

The Starting Player places a bid on any one of the Provinces selected for auction. The other players follow in turn. Each bid must be placed on a vacant bid value. If bid is made for a Province for which other players have already bid, then it must be placed on a higher value space than the existing bid(s).

Players may not bid higher than they can afford to pay. Players may bid higher than their available Gold balance if they have sufficient Power Cards to sell (at 1 Gold per card) should their bid be successful, however they do not need to sell these cards until the bidding is complete.

After each player has placed their bids, players check to see if any player has been out-bid. If this is not the case, then the bidding phase ends and each player takes possession of their Province. However, if at least one player was outbid, then the bidding phase continues. Beginning with the Starting Player and proceeding in turn, each player that was outbid places a new bid on a different Province, as before. The bid may not be placed on the Province that the player was just outbid on. Players who have not been overbid do not change their bid. This continues until there is only one bid for each Province, after which each player takes possession of the Province and the amount of their bid is subtracted from their Gold balance.

If there is a Free Power Card or Free Gold symbol in the Province, the player takes these into his hand, as indicated. If there are Free Building Stone or Farmer symbols, the stones or farmers are placed in the Province.

Note: In Phase 2, the Power Cards 'Bid Blockade' and 'Outbid in the Same Province' can be played. See 'Description of the Power Cards'.

Example: In the first bidding round, Red began and bid '3' for ABYDOS. Black chose to bid '1' for SAWU. Blue outbid Red by bidding '6' for ABYDOS. White outbid Blue by bidding '10' for ABYDOS.

In the second bidding round it is now Red's turn, and he must bid on a different Province. He bids '0' for DAKHLA. Now it is Blue's turn, and he bids '6' for SAWU, outbidding Black.

In the third bidding round, Black has been overbid, and thus must bid on a different Province than SAWU. Black bids '0' for BAHARYA. Now there is only one bid on each Province so the bidding phase is over. White pays 10 Gold, Blue pays 6 Gold, Red and Black pay nothing.