Kingdom Builder

To begin setup, each player selects a color and receives 40 corresponding settlements and a gold marker. Four game board sections are arranged to form the playing area. One unused game board is flipped over to reveal the score tracker, and each player places their gold marker on the black starting space. The four summary location tiles are placed next to the board as a reference. Two location tiles are placed on each corresponding location hex space on the board, except for castle hexes. Five terrain cards with green backs are shuffled and dealt face up in front of all players. Three Kingdom Builder cards with red backs are shuffled and dealt face up in front of all players. The oldest player receives the start player tile and begins the game.

The objective of Kingdom Builder is to accumulate the most gold by the end of the game. Gold is earned through various actions during gameplay and by meeting specific criteria outlined on the Kingdom Builder cards and castle adjacency. The player with the highest gold total at the end of the game is declared the winner. In case of a tie, tied players share the victory.

On a player's turn, they must perform a mandatory action: play one terrain card from their hand and then place three settlements on hexes that match the terrain type of the played card. Settlements must be placed adjacent to an existing settlement if possible. If a player cannot place adjacent to an existing settlement, they may place on any matching terrain hex. Settlements cannot be built on mountains, location hexes, or castle hexes. Sea hexes can only be built on if the player has the Harbor location tile. If a player cannot place any settlements, they remove the current terrain card from the game and draw a new one, repeating until a valid placement is possible. If a player builds a settlement next to a location hex space, they take one corresponding location tile. Extra action tiles collected from location hexes can be used once per turn, either before or after the mandatory action, but not on the same turn they were collected. If all settlements touching a location hex are moved away, the corresponding extra action tile is discarded from the game. Extra actions that allow placing new settlements must follow adjacency rules.

Players score gold at the end of the game based on two main criteria. First, players receive three gold for each castle they are adjacent to. This is a flat rate per castle, not per settlement adjacent to a castle. Second, players earn gold by fulfilling the conditions specified on the three face-up Kingdom Builder cards. These cards outline various objectives, such as building settlements in specific terrain types, creating large contiguous areas, or connecting different regions. Each player calculates their gold based on how well they met these criteria with their placed settlements.

The game concludes when any player places their last settlement. Once this occurs, the current round is completed to ensure that every player has had an equal number of turns. After all players have taken their final turn for that round, the game immediately ends. Players then proceed to calculate their final gold totals based on their castle adjacencies and the objectives met on the Kingdom Builder cards. The player with the highest gold count is the winner.