Rules: Phase 3: Buy Resources


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Beginning with the Starting Player, each player can now carry out the following 3 actions in the indicated order: Buy and Use (1) Power Cards, (2) Farmers and (3) Building Stones. Each player carries out all of his desired actions, and then the next player takes their turn in a clockwise direction. A player can carry out less than 3 actions or forego carrying out any action if they wish.

The prices for items are always the same – 1 piece of any type (Card, Farmer or Stone) costs 1 Gold, 2 pieces cost 3 Gold, 3 pieces cost 6 Gold, etc.:

No. of Pieces123456789101112...
Cost136101521283645556678...

Example: Buying 2 Power Cards, 4 Farmers, and 3 Stones costs 3 + 10 + 6 = 19 Gold.

1) Buying and Using Power Cards

A player may buy Power Cards, which if applicable can be played immediately in this phase, or my be retained for later phases and rounds. How and when Power Cards can be used is explained in detail in the section 'Description of the Power Cards'.

A player may not buy more Power Cards than the highest Power Card purchase limit (the number Power Cards shown under the name of the Province) of any Province that he/she owns.

Example: In Round 3, Red owns MEMPHIS, AMARNA and AVARIS Provinces. He can buy up to 3 Power Cards, because MEMPHIS' card limit is 3, which is the highest.

Example: In Round 2, Blue owns BUTO and MENDES Provinces and therefore cannot buy any Power Cards, because no Power Cards are shown in the top margin of either Province (card limit = 0)

A player may hold as many Power Cards in his hand as he wishes. When played, a Power Card is put on a discard pile, face up near the face down Power Card draw pile. If the face down draw pile is exhausted, the discarded Power Cards are shuffled to form a new draw pile.

Players may sell Power Cards at any time during the game. For each Power Card sold (and returned to the discard pile), the player receives 1 Gold from the Bank.

2) Buying and Using Farmers

A player may buy Farmers which will bring him Income at Harvest. Farmers must be placed immediately in empty Cultivation Spaces in the Provinces he owns. The player may then distribute them as he wishes amongst his provinces.

Example: Red owns BAHARYA and BERENIKE Provinces. Two Farmers were placed in BAHARYA for free after it was bought at auction, and BERENIKE does not yet have any Farmers. He buys 2 Farmers, therefore pays 3 Gold to the Bank and places the 2 Farmers on BAHARYA. No Farmers can be placed in BERENIKE, as there are no Cultivation Spaces in this Province. Exception – if Red plays the 'Free Farmer' Power Card, he can put one on BERENIKE, placing it on the flat land.

Note: the 'Free Farmer' Power Card can be used here (see 'Description of the Power Cards) .

2) Buying and Using Building Stones

A player may buy Building Stones in order to build Pyramids, which score points in both Scoring Phases of the game. Building Stones must be placed immediately in the Provinces he owns. The player may then distribute them as he wishes amongst his provinces. Pyramids and Building Stones may not be moved from one Province to another.

After the player has placed the purchased Building Stones, each complete set of 3 Building Stones in a Province is converted into a Pyramid.

Example: In MEMPHIS there are two Building Stones and in MENDES there is one Pyramid and one Building Stone. Red buys 3 Building Stones (paying 6 Gold). He places one Building Stone in MEMPHIS and two Stones in MENDES. There are now 3 Building Stones in both MENDES and MEMPHIS – each of these sets of Stones are converted into Pyramids.

Note:The 'Master Builder' Power Card can be used here (see 'Description of the Power Cards' .)