Biblios

To set up, place the Scriptorium board in the center of the play area. Place one die of each color on its matching space on the Scriptorium, setting each die to a value of 3. Separate the cards into two piles: one for gold cards (values 1, 2, and 3) and one for all other cards. Based on the number of players, remove a certain number of gold cards from the game (2-player: two of each value; 3-player: one of each value; 4-player: none). Shuffle all remaining cards together to form the main deck. If playing with 2 players, randomly remove 21 cards unseen from the deck; for 3 players, remove 12 cards; for 4 players, remove 7 cards. Place the final shuffled deck face-down by the Scriptorium. Finally, pick a random person to be the first player.

In Biblios, players aim to assemble the most illustrious library by collecting various cards. These cards represent different resources and will contribute to their final score. Players also need to strategically manage their gold and influence the value of different card categories to gain the most points and ultimately win the game.

The game is played in two halves: the Gift Phase and the Auction Phase. In the Gift Phase, the active player draws a number of cards equal to the number of players plus one, one at a time. After drawing each card, the active player secretly examines it and must immediately allocate it to one of three places: to their hand (face-down, only one card can be allocated here per turn), to the public space (face-up, visible to all players), or to the auction pile (face-down, for the second phase of the game, exactly one card must be allocated here per turn). Once the active player has allocated all cards, starting with the player to their left and going clockwise, each opponent chooses one card from the public space to add to their hand. In the Auction Phase, the auction pile is shuffled and becomes the new draw deck. The player who was first in the Gift Phase is also the first active player in this phase. They reveal the top card of the deck, and players bid gold cards from their hand to acquire it. Bidding proceeds clockwise, with each player bidding higher than the previous bid or passing. The highest bidder pays their bid by discarding gold cards from their hand. If a player cannot or chooses not to pay, they are penalized. The winner takes the auctioned card into their hand. The active player's turn ends, and the deck is passed to the next player in clockwise order, who then reveals the next card for auction.

At the end of the game, players will go through all the cards they have collected and total the value they have in each of the five color categories (Holy Books, Manuscripts, Forbidden Tomes, Pigments, and Monks). For each category, the player with the highest total value wins points equal to the number showing on the matching die on the Scriptorium board. If there's a tie for the highest total in a category, the tied player with the most gold cards remaining in their hand wins. If there's still a tie, the tied player with the highest total value in Monk cards wins. If a tie persists, the tie-breaking letters on the Monk cards (A, B, C, D) are used, with the letter closest to 'A' winning. If still tied, use the next category in the Scriptorium to break the tie in the same way, and so on, until a winner is found.

The game ends when the original deck is empty, signifying the end of the Gift Phase. All cards allocated to the auction pile are then shuffled to form the Auction Phase deck. The Auction Phase continues until this deck is also exhausted, meaning all cards have been auctioned and acquired by players. At this point, final scoring occurs to determine the winner.