Lost Ruins of Arnak

Begin by placing the main game board in the center of the playing area. Separate the large deck of cards into four smaller decks: artifact cards, item cards, fear cards, and starting player cards. Shuffle the artifact cards and place the first one face-up on the designated space for artifact cards, then place the remaining deck face-down. Shuffle the item cards and place the first five face-up on their respective spaces, with the rest of the deck face-down. Place the fear card deck face-up on its designated spot. Shuffle the idol tokens and place eight of them face-up on the level one sites, and the remaining eight face-up and face-down in pairs on the level two sites. Place the monster tiles in their designated areas. Each player chooses a color and receives a player board, two archaeologists, two research tokens (magnifying glass and notebook), and their initial set of four starting cards (two 'Funding' and two 'Exploration') along with two 'Fear' cards. Place the moon staff on the round track to mark the first round. If playing with fewer than four players, block the indicated action spaces with the appropriate blocking tokens.

The primary objective of Lost Ruins of Arnak is to accumulate the highest number of victory points by the end of the fifth round. Points are earned through various activities such as advancing on the research track, collecting idol tokens from discovered sites, overcoming formidable guardians, and acquiring valuable artifact and item cards. Strategic planning and efficient resource management are crucial to maximizing your point total and outmaneuvering your opponents.

Each round, starting with the first player and proceeding clockwise, players take turns performing actions. A player's turn consists of one main action and any number of free actions. Main actions include excavating an archaeological site by placing an archaeologist, discovering a new site by paying compasses, overcoming a guardian by paying resources, buying an item or artifact card, playing a card for its effect, or researching by advancing tokens on the research track. Free actions are indicated by a lightning bolt symbol on cards or tiles and can be performed at any time during a player's turn. A player can choose to pass at any point, ending their main actions for the current round, though they may still perform free actions until all other players have passed. Once all players have passed, the round ends, and cleanup for the next round begins.

At the conclusion of the fifth round, players tally their victory points from several sources. Points are awarded for the position of their research tokens on the research track, the value of idol tokens collected from discovered sites, the points printed on guardian tiles they have overcome, and the victory points indicated on artifact and item cards they have acquired. Additionally, players lose one victory point for each 'Fear' card remaining in their hand or deck. The player with the highest cumulative score is declared the winner.

The game concludes after the fifth round, as indicated by the moon staff reaching the final space on the round track. After all players have completed their final actions and the end-game scoring is performed, the player who has accumulated the most victory points is declared the winner. In the event of a tie, the tied player who has advanced furthest on the research track wins. If there is still a tie, the player with the most remaining resources (gold, rubies, arrowheads, tablets, and compasses) wins.