Solo Mode: Zotikós

Publisher solo rules for playing The Great Library against the automated scholar Zotikós.

Solo is played with one human and Zotikós, the King’s favored librarian. Use the official solo booklet together with the core rules. This page summarizes the setup and decision order; the booklet’s diagrams, action priorities and difficulty rules control exact resolution.

Setup

Set up the human player and shared game as for two players. Zotikós uses a non-player color and does not take an Inauguration turn. Set its Starting Request face up in the rightmost indicated Workshop space, then place the matching specialty Starting Manuscript on shelf space 1 with a Seal. Give it two face-down Pinax tiles and a Time die set to 1. Set its Starting Scribe Knowledge die to 2; place its other two Knowledge dice normally.

Prepare the Zotikós Workshop as shown in the booklet: shuffle the Ship Location, Harbor and Study tiles into separate face-down stacks; set out four Captain tokens; shuffle the Generation and Action decks; remove the top Action card from play without revealing it for Generation 1; prepare the invited Scholar Location stack and Scholars; place its two Local Scholars and remaining Seals beside the Workshop.

The human completes Inauguration and receives 7 or 9 Time according to two-player turn order. Zotikós does not. During Planning, use its Generation cards to determine Local Scholar placements. If the indicated Generation tile has no open space, reveal another card. You pay 2 Time when placing under Zotikós; if Zotikós places under your Scholar, you gain 2 Time. Shuffle its Generation deck after Planning.

Zotikós turn order

On each Zotikós turn, resolve the first applicable step:

1. Fulfill a Request: If it can meet a King’s Request from its shelf, it fulfills the leftmost eligible Request and ends its turn.
2. Perform an action: Before you Read, reveal and resolve the top Action card if any remain. After you Read, or when its Action deck is empty, use its leftmost Local Scholar on the Generation track if one remains.
3. Read: If neither an Action card nor a Local Scholar remains, Zotikós Reads and chooses first turn order if available.

If its chosen action cannot be performed, it takes the Navigation fallback. Zotikós does not gain or pay Time, Crates (except from Navigation), Research, Translation Stones or King’s Grace. If you have Read this Generation, you gain 2 Time whenever Zotikós fulfills a Request or performs an action.

Fulfilling Requests

Zotikós uses the required shelf tiles in ascending numbered order. For each tile, it checks Great Library spaces column by column, from left to right and top to bottom, and chooses the first space that earns Renown under the current Head Librarian. If no space scores, it uses the last available Library space. A Craft or Great Work placed over a Library Location tile goes into Zotikós’ Ship Location stack. If Zotikós earns Renown for your orthogonally adjacent Library tiles, you gain the usual Library token for each. Zotikós ignores the Request’s Time cost and printed rewards. Afterward, slide its remaining shelf tiles left to close gaps.

Action cards and Local Scholars

Action cards can direct Zotikós to a Generation action, a Location tile or a Time die. For a Generation action it uses a Local Scholar below the matching Generation tile, places that Scholar in the first open space at the indicated location and advances the Generation tile if it was the last Scholar there. For a Location tile it reveals the top tile and attempts the leftmost printed action, then the rightmost if available; a revealed invited-Scholar tile first sends the matching Scholar to the first empty Scholar space and is then discarded. For a Time die it chooses the topmost unused die in preference order 1 or 6, then 2 or 5, then 3 or 4. Values 1–3 target the top location, 4–6 the bottom location, and the bottommost die can target Navigation.

When using a Local Scholar, take its leftmost Scholar from the Generation track and attempt the action of the tile below which it stood. Place it in the first empty Scholar space at that location, or beside the Workshop if the location has none. If the action is unavailable, use Navigation instead. If that Scholar was the last one below its Generation tile, advance the tile normally.

Difficulty

Choose one difficulty before setup and use all of its modifiers:

• Apprentice Scribe (Easy): Zotikós stores gained Crafts below its Workshop. When its Fleet returns to Alexandria, move each Craft to the lowest-numbered empty shelf space, place a Seal and score 3 Renown per Craft.
• Chief Librarian (Medium): Place each gained Craft immediately on the lowest-numbered empty shelf space with a Seal and score 3 Renown. When its Fleet returns, score 2 Renown per Crate below its Workshop.
• Keeper of the Lost Knowledge (Medium+): Use Chief Librarian rules. When Zotikós places a Craft on its lowest-numbered empty shelf space, it may immediately fulfill one King’s Request: take the top-left Request from the Palace, place it on its board, then refill the space.
• River of Wisdom (Hard): Use Keeper of the Lost Knowledge rules. When Zotikós’ Fleet returns to Alexandria, increase the Knowledge value on each Scribe already in its School by 2.

Zotikós ignores Scribe age. Each of its Scribes starts at Knowledge 2 and gains 2 when increased, up to 6. Knowledge on its Young Scribes is not doubled.

Solo scoring

Score the human player using the core rules. Zotikós scores 1 Renown per 2 Knowledge on its School Scribes, then reveals Pinax tiles and scores them for as much Renown as possible, removing each Seal used so that tile cannot score another Pinax. It also scores the values on its invited Scholar cards. At Keeper of the Lost Knowledge or River of Wisdom, it scores 2 Renown per Crate below its Workshop. Apply any other difficulty-specific adjustments from the solo booklet.

Sources

• Official English solo rules v07b, all 12 pages.
• Official English core rules v15.1c for shared rules.