Atlantis Rising (Second Edition)

To set up Atlantis Rising, each player selects a clan and takes their player board, placing their Atlantean meeples (including a larger Chief Atlantean) in their reserve. The modular island board, representing Atlantis, is assembled with six peninsula tiles surrounding a central core tile. Various resource tokens (crystals, gold, ore, Atlantium), calamity cards, library cards (artifacts and instant effects), and the cosmic gate components are placed in their designated areas around the board. The wrath of the gods track is set to its starting position.

The primary objective in Atlantis Rising is for all players to cooperatively construct a cosmic gate, allowing the Atlantean people to escape the sinking island. This involves building nine outer components of the gate, and then finally constructing the central core of the gate, all before Atlantis is completely submerged by the rising waters or all Atlanteans are lost.

A round in Atlantis Rising consists of four phases. First, the Mobilization Phase: players simultaneously and secretly choose where to place their Atlanteans on available action spaces on the island districts or the cosmic gate. Each space can typically hold one Atlantean, or two for double actions. Second, the Calamity Phase: calamity cards are revealed, which can submerge specific island districts, removing any Atlanteans on them back to their owners' reserves. Third, the Action Phase: starting from the outermost districts and moving inward, players resolve the actions of their placed Atlanteans, which often involves rolling dice to gather resources or activate special abilities. Fourth, the Wrath of the Gods Phase: the wrath track advances, potentially triggering more district submergences, and players can use mystical energy to mitigate these effects or drain submerged tiles.

Atlantis Rising is a fully cooperative game, meaning there is no individual scoring. All players either collectively achieve victory by successfully building the cosmic gate and escaping Atlantis, or they collectively suffer defeat if the island is completely submerged or their Atlantean population is wiped out.

The game concludes in one of two ways. Players achieve victory if they successfully construct all nine outer components of the cosmic gate and then collectively contribute resources to build the central core of the gate. If they manage this, the Atlantean people are saved. Players lose the game if the central core island tile is submerged, if all Atlanteans from all players are lost (meaning no Atlanteans are left in reserves or on the board), or if the wrath of the gods track reaches its maximum level, indicating the complete destruction of Atlantis.