SILK ROAD

INTRODUCTION
Board game for 2-4+ players. 
Players are caravan merchants carrying goods back and 
Forth between China and Arabia. 

VICTORY
The first player to accumulate 25 coins is the winner. 

COINS
Money in the game is counted in units of coins. 

THE DECK
Players share a common deck. 
There four main types of cards: 
Imports (Goods from Arabia)
Exports (Goods from China)
Road (Terrain along the Silk Road)
Special (Obstacles and Opportunities)

THE BOARD
The board consists of a track 9 spaces long. 
The leftmost space is Arabia. 
The rightmost space is China. 
Arabia and China are referred to as destination spaces. 
The 7 intervening spaces are called road spaces. 





PAWNS & CARAVANS
Each player has a unique pawn representing their caravan. 
Note: A Caravan can carry a max of 5 Goods (cards). 
These goods are not part of your hand. 
Goods can be played onto a caravan when it is at 
The destination that matches the type of goods. 
(Imports for Arabia and Exports for China)

SETUP
Players pawns start in China. 
Each player starts with 10 Coins. 
Each player is dealt 5 cards from the deck. 
The player with the most Trade cards goes first. 
If tied, the player with the most Guard cards goes first. 
If still tied, flip a coin. Play proceeds clockwise. 

FREE TRADE RULE
Players at any time may trade cards from their hands with each other. 

TURN SEQUENCE
Players take turns. 
Each turn has 6 Phases: 
1. Draw Phase
2. Buy Phase
3. Travel Phase
4. Bandit Phase
5. Sell Phase
6. End Phase

DRAW PHASE
Draw 3 cards and put them into your hand. 
If the deck runs out, shuffle the discard and draw from it. 

BUY PHASE
Note: A Caravan can carry a max of 5 Goods (cards). 
If you are in Arabia, you may place Import cards of 
One type (Gold, Silver, or Gems) onto your Caravan. 
If you are in China, you may place Export cards of 
One type (Silk, Tea, or Spices) onto your Caravan. 
Each card of goods costs 1 Coin to buy. 
Note: You can have different types of goods on 
Your caravan, but you can only buy one type per turn. 
If at a destination, you may discard a Trade card to draw 3 cards. 

TRAVEL PHASE
You may play (discard) a Road card to move 1 Space on the track. 
You may play multiple road cards, but they must all be of one type. 
For example: You may play 3 Deserts, but not a Desert and a Mountain. 
Caravans that share the same space may trade goods. 
You may discard a Guard card to move 1 extra space. 

BANDIT PHASE
The player to your left may play (discard) a Bandit card on you. 
You may play (discard) a Guard card to negate this. 
If you do not negate it, you must discard 1 of the goods cards on 
your Caravan of your choice. 

SELL PHASE
If you are in Arabia, you may sell all the Export goods on your Caravan. 
If you are in China, you may sell all the Import goods on your Caravan. 
You get 2 Coins per good card sold. 
Get an extra coin if you sold 2 types of goods. 
Get 2 extra coins if you sold all 3 types of goods. 
You may play (discard) a Trade card to earn an extra coin for each 
good you sell of 1 type. 
Sold goods cards are discarded. 

END PHASE
Max hand size is 7 cards. 
Discard excess cards. 

CARD LIST NOTATION
I = Import
X = Export
R = Road
S = Special
# = Number of copies of that card in the deck

CARD LIST
Name		Type	#	
Silver		I	6
Gold		I	5	
Gems		I	4
Steppes		R	12
Desert		R	10
Mountains	R	8
Tea		X	6
Spices		X	5
Silk		X	4
Bandits		S	5
Guards		S	5
Trade		S	5





OPTIONAL RULE --- PERSONALITIES
Make up a card for each personality. 
At the beginning of the game, each player gets to draw 1 personality card. 
Personality:		Notes: 
Guide			You may draw 1 extra card in Draw phase if you are on a Road
Trader			Your hand size is +2
Merchant		All your Goods earn 1 extra coin when sold
Caravan Master		Your Caravan can hold up to 3 extra goods
Captain of the Guard	You are immune to Bandits