NSKN Games Teotihuacan: City of Gods Small

Teotihuacan: City of Gods is a one to four player Rondel worker placement game. Players are trying to achieve the most victory points before the game ends. The game ends when the third eclipse occurs, or players manage to complete the pyramid.Setup for a 4 player game will begin with the main board being placed on the table (no randomization of action spaces). The calendar disks will be placed on the board with the light disc on the zero space and the dark disc on number twelve. Building row found below it will have buildings placed on it from right to left with the leftmost spot empty. Decoration tiles will be shuffled into a stack and placed on the Decoration action board with four flipped face up in the indicated spaces. Pyramid tiles are shuffled and three are placed face up on the Construction action board. The Pyramid grid will now be seeded with starting pyramid tiles. Discovery tiles will be shuffled and placed next to the board before placing 5 in worship spaces. 6 more will be drawn for the Avenue of the Dead, and placed in their designated areas by amount (3,2,1). The Temple tracks will have discovery tiles placed based on player count for each temple color (Blue, Red, Green). Discovery tiles give special one time benefits, or masks to collect. Players must pay the cost found on the top left corner of the Discovery tile in order to obtain it. Finally, player setup will have player discs distributed to the Pyramid track, Avenue of the Dead track, all three Temple tracks, and the zero space on the victory point track.Player setup will have the first player being determined as they will receive 1 cocoa along with the first player order token. The player to their right will receive 3 cocoa and the fourth player order token. The rest of the players will receive 2 cocoa along with their respective player order token based on their order from the first player. Players will now place one worker dice on the Ascension wheel with a number 3 showing. They will also receive 4 starting tiles and any tiles with a discovery tile icon will have one drawn with it. Players will simultaneously choose 2 starting tiles and receive the benefits printed on the 2 tiles. Each player will then place their starting workers with a power level 1 (1 pip die face) on each non-repeating number found on the start tiles.Player TurnsPlayers will take a normal turn or unlock all their locked worker. To unlock a worker dice a player must either spend 3 Cocoa and take their turn as normal, or spend their entire turn unlocking their dice and passing. A normal turn will have a player move an unlock worker die 1-3 spaces before choosing to do one of three actions on that space. They will either Collect Cocoa, Worship, or Perform Main Action.Collect Cocoa- players will gain Cocoa from an action board equal to the number of different colored die plus one. They do not count the die they moved into the space, but do count their own color die if one is already on the space. So if the player collects Cocoa on a space that has 2 red dice and 1 blue die, that player will receives 3 Cocoa.Worship- if a player places their worker on an action board that has a worship space (Palace, Forest, Stone Quarry, Gold Deposits, Decorations) then they may place that worker in the space. The Palace has three worship spaces (Royal tiles) to choose from while the rest only has one. If there is a worker die there already (not belonging to the player wishing to worship) then they must pay 1 Cocoa to unlock that worker die to place their own in that worship space. Then, the player worshiping may perform the worship ability, Claim the Discovery tile, or do both by paying 1 Cocoa. The Palace action board does not allow players to choose between the ability and the discovery. The player must perform the ability and then must pay 1 cocoa to obtain the Discovery tile. When a Discovery tile is taken a new one is placed. Finally, this is how worker dice get locked in the game.Perform Main Action- when a player chooses an action board they must pay Cocoa equal to the amount of different colored die their, but not the die they are moving into the space (players count their die color if it was present). So if there is 2 red dice and 1 blue die then the blue player moving his die onto the space will pay 2 Cocoa. Each board has a Main Action, except the Palace action board. The max amount of dice a player will count to perform an action is 3 dice. Players will always resolve all effects of a Main Action, they may not ignore any to power up their worker.Forest, Stone Quarry, and Gold Deposit action boards each give resources (wood, stone, gold). The amount given is based on the lowest number worker die, and how many die are in a space. After the action is taken, players will power up a worker to the next power level (level 1 to 2 for example). Having 1 or 2 die will always grant one power up while 3 dice will allow two.Alchemy action board allows players to pay gold in order to obtain a technology tile. There are two levels of technology with level one only chosen from when one die is placed, and level two is chosen when a player has two of their die in the space, or a power level of 4/5. Gold cost is found on the top right area of the technology tile. Players will obtain 3 victory points if someone chooses a technology they have already claimed. Also, a bonus move on the temple track is given when a technology is taken. Players will then power up a worker, unless they used a power level 4/5 worker die.Noble action board has players spend 2 wood to take a building from the building row, and place that building on one of the three rows located on the Noble action board. The row is based on how many worker dice a player has in the location, and the building is placed on the leftmost space. The player will score victory points based on the value covered and advance one space on the Avenue of the Dead track. If a row is filled a player cannot place their, but if it is a a 3 worker row they may placed on the second or first row. If it is a 2 worker row than the first row. If no spaces are available the player cannot take this action. Players will power up workers based on the number of die in the location.Decorations action board requires players to spend 3 gold (discount of 1 for each additional worker die) to choose an available Decoration tile. The tile will be placed on the pyramid space with the arrow on the Decoration tile pointing toward the center of the pyramid. The tiles are the steps of the pyramid and must be placed in order starting at the base of the pyramid space. Also, each layer of the pyramid must be built in order to build steps 3 and 4. Players will score victory points for each matching icon that is covered by the Decoration tile, and an additional 3 victory points. Any icon that are colored and matching will move a player up the matching temple track. Players will also power up one die.Construction action board will have players spending resources to build a pyramid tile on either the 1st, second, third, or fourth level of the pyramid. The amount of pyramid tiles that can be built is based on the number of dice the player has on this action board (1 die 1 built, 2 die 2 built, 3 die 3 built), but they must have the resources to spend. When placing a tile, a player will score victory points based on the level (1LV 1VP, 2LV 3VP, 3LV 5VP, 4LV 7VP), score a VP for matching icons, advance on temple track for color matching icons, and advance on the pyramid track. This is done for each tile built. Finally, power up worker die, or 2 if there are three dice belonging to the player. When a player is done new pyramid tiles are placed on the Construction action board.When a player is done with their normal action, or unlocking their locked workers, the next player in turn order will take their turn. If this was the 4th player, the light disc will advance one space on the Calendar track.Ascension is the term that is used when a player's die reaches level 6. The player will immediately advance one space on the Avenue of the Dead track, reduce the level 6 die to level 1 (represents a new worker) and place it on the Palace action board, select a reward (5 Victory Points, 5 Cocoa, Advance 1 space on a temple track, Pay 3 Cocoa to advance 2 spaces on a temple track, gain 4th worker and 2 Cocoa), and advance the light disc on the Calendar trackAn Eclipse triggers when the light disc reaches the dark disc space of the Calendar track. Players are first given a chance to prepare as they will finish the turn the light disc reached the dark disc space, and then take one more turn. If the light disc reached the dark disc path at the end of the 4th player's turn, then only one extra turn is taken before Eclipse scoring.Eclipse scoring begins with players checking the lowest level building on the Building row located beneath the Calendar track. Players on the Avenue of the Dead track will check the level of steps they reached on that track and receive VP equal to that step level times the lowest leveled building. The player, or players, furthest on the Pyramid track will receive 4 VP. Next players will receive additional VP on the Pyramid track that is the step level a player reached times 4VP for the first Eclipse, 3VP for the second, and 2VP for the third before resetting their player markers to 0 on the pyramid track. The last area scored is for each unique mask set a player acquired (1/2/3/4/5/6/7 for 1/3/6/10/15/21/28).After scoring players must now pay 1 Cocoa for each worker die they have, and an additional cocoa for each worker that is power level 4 and 5. Unable to, or unwilling, will have players suffer negative 3 VP for each Cocoa not paid. For the end of the first and second eclipse the Light disc is reset, and the Dark disc is move forward one space (11th and 10th space)End of Game- If this was the third Eclipse, or the final Pyramid tile was placed, the game ends and players will apply finale bonuses from the Temple track for each player that reached the Temple Bonus tile. Player with the most VP wins with ties be broken by most cocoa or the lowest player order token.Teotihuacan: City of Gods is a game that gives so many options that it could feel overwhelming. The option of how far to travel and what action to take is great as players will quickly find out that Cocoa is used a lot. This need to pay Cocoa makes player interaction very high as someone going to a location and increasing the cost of Cocoa can really affect someone's plan. The game does give a lot of options of how to score points, but players can try everything to find what they like to do. The variability of the game is very high as their are plenty of Discovery tiles that can change a players goal, and the type of starter tile they may draw at the start of the game. Then there are the additional action boards that can change the six locations of the action boards found on the main board. Adding to this is being able to change what technologies are available on the Alchemy action board, or the Palace royal tiles. Players could even change the end game bonuses that the Temple track gives. The toughest part of the game is needing to explain what each action board does and how scoring works during each eclipse. Even though it is overwhelming, players will quickly begin to understand what they are trying to accomplish in the game. This is a great euro game that gives players options for strategy and variability that will have them coming back for more.Teaching the Game: Begin with explaining the basics of the game like how Cocoa is gained and spent. You should also make it clear that Ascension is a good thing as it gives a bonus that a player could really use in the game. Try to keep an order of things when it comes to doing a Main Action as players can easily forget something that is supposed to score or change. There is a standard setup for each player instead of start tiles for the first game, but players will get a better feel for the game if they are all really different. If the starter tiles are chosen for the first game, emphasize resources and movement on the Temple track for the tiles each player receives.

Teotihucan is a mid weight euro game that is quickly becoming one of my favorite new games. The design is really clean and there are plenty of videos to teach you how to play (the back of the box has a QR code for reviews and how to play videos). What is great is there are many modules so the game has great replayability and scales well with 2 - 4 players (cannot speak for solo mode). Only criticism is that the resources are very basic and the highest player count is 4, but what a great game for the price.

This is a deep game, not because the rules are complex. The rules are actually fairly straightforward and repetitive but because there is so many ways to win. Iconography is a bit overwhelming, I have to constantly refer to the manual to check but I think this will get better once I have played this game a couple more times. Great game. Very recommended if you are into Euro games. Setup is a chore, about 15-20 minutes.

The game came in perfect condition and on time. Love this game and we play it a lot. It takes a lot of strategies but we like that! Love how you build a pyramid in the center of the game board too. Highly recommend this game to all. Thank you.

This game has a lot going on, and there are a lot of pieces to set up (my least favorite part), but it's one of my favorite games to play. I would say that it's on the heavier side of mid-weight games.The first time you play it will probably feel a bit daunting, as there are a lot of things to keep track of, and a lot of strategic options, but overall the rules are fairly simple and you'll get the hang of it after a couple of rounds.

I've played a few times and enjoyed it. I have not tried the solo mode. I used the basic board, not the 6 randomized action boards, though I will start adding that in. I'm looking forward to the expansion.

My family played this game together (ages 21 to 58) and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Deep and complex game with a variety of things to do