Learn The Great Library

Build the Great Library

You are a scholar in Alexandria. Your goal is to earn Renown by translating works and placing them in the shared Great Library. You also score from your personal Pinax pattern, trained Scribes, invited Scholars and leftover resources. Each player starts with a Workshop shelf, a Request, a translated Manuscript and a plan for building their engine.

Remember: an item on your shelf is not yet in the shared Library. You must fulfill a King’s Request to donate it and score from the current Head Librarian.

Read the Boards

The main board has seven locations: Navigation, Harbor, Palace, School, Scriptorium, Garden and Academy. The Time & Pinakes board provides Time actions, turn order and public Pinax tiles. Your Workshop tracks your shelf, fleet, location tiles, invited Scholars, supplies and private Pinax.

The central Great Library grid is shared. A King’s Request lets you place qualifying works there; the Head Librarian changes which placements earn extra Renown. Set the boards to the 1–2 or 3–4 side for your player count.

Plan a Generation

Each Generation has Planning, Execution and End of Generation phases. During Planning, place two Local Scholars in reverse turn order and gain Time based on the chosen Generation tiles. In a two-player game, placing beneath your opponent costs 2 Time.

During Execution, take turns. You may take up to two different Executive actions, then one Main action. Before that Main action, pay Time for players who have already Read; they receive that Time. Read passes you for the rest of the Generation, takes a turn-order benefit and costs no Time.

At Generation end, retrieve scholars, advance tiles and Events as triggered, return location scholars, replace the Head Librarian and refresh the rulebook-specified components.

Use the Seven Locations

Use Navigation to gather resources and Crafts; Harbor to expand your fleet; Palace for King’s Requests and Grace; School to recruit and train Scribes; Scriptorium to translate Manuscripts; Garden to invite Scholars; and Academy to research, improve your Workshop and gain Great Works.

You can reach a location with a Main action using a Location tile, a Time die, or an available Scholar. Check the printed space for the exact cost and effect. The order matters: gather what you need, translate the work, then fulfill the Request that places it in the shared Library.

Finish and Score

The game ends after the second Event or when two or fewer Library spaces remain empty. The second Event gives each player one final turn; the Library threshold means finish the current round. Then score your Pinax seal pattern, School Scribes, invited Scholars and remaining supplies, plus Renown earned during play.

Pinax scores 3/6/10/15 for one to four matching seals, using each Library tile at most once. Leftover sets of three combined Crates, Grace and Research score 1 Renown; each Translation Stone scores 2. Use the current rulebook for tiebreak order and solo scoring.