Prospect for Silver

The Tiletum expansion Prospect for Silver: Silver, Mines and Prospectors on three Underground maps, Technologies, the Prospector Action Wheel, Stone Tablets, scoring changes and the Cardinal of Silver solo rules.

Short tag: [Silver]

The 2024 expansion adds Silver, a new currency you dig out of Mines with Prospectors on three Underground maps beside the board, and spend on Technologies that bend the rules in your favour. It needs the base game.

What it adds

• 3 double-sided Underground maps (sides A and B for maps I, II, III).
• A Main board overlay with a new King track and two Action Wheels, and a double-sided Scoring overlay.
• A Technology board and 9 Technology tiles (Action-bonus spaces on the back).
• 28 Silver tokens, 15 “X” tiles, 27 Underground Bonus tiles, 6 Silver and Gold Construction Cost tiles, 14 Underground Cathedral tiles.
• New base-game tiles: 14 Bonus tiles, 9 Character tiles, 4 Contract tiles, 3 Fair tiles, 4 Resource Bonus tiles.
• Per player: 3 Prospectors, 6 Mines, 1 extra Pillar, 3 Technology markers, 2 Bonus Action Point markers (+3 and +4).
• 27 solo cards: 11 Decrees, 4 Challenges, 12 King’s Surprises.

Every new tile, card and board is pictured in Cards & Components.

Setup changes

Before the base setup: add the new Character, Bonus and Fair tiles to their pools and remove the King track Fair tile (the one scoring your King position). Then:

1. Lay the overlay on the board’s Action Wheel and King track.
2. Put the 3 Underground maps beside the board, each on a random side (A sides for a first game).
3. Remove Underground Bonus tiles marked 4 (3 players) or 3+ and 4 (2 players), shuffle the rest and fill the maps’ Bonus tile spaces.
4. Shuffle the Silver and the Gold Construction Cost tiles separately; each Underground Cathedral spot takes the type its icon shows. Sort the Underground Cathedral tiles of the maps in play, lowest at the bottom; return the rest.
5. Put the Technology board out and draw 3 Technology tiles for it (first game: Architect, Joker and Character). With the Resource Technology, put the 4 Resource Bonus tiles on its lowest step.
6. Put Silver tokens and “X” tiles in the supply.
7. Put the Scoring overlay on the board’s scoring reminder, random side up.

Then do the base setup. After it, each player:

• a. takes 1 Silver — except the first player;
• b. takes the new pieces in their colour;
• c. puts a Technology marker on the darker start space beside each Technology;
• d. puts 1 Prospector and 1 Mine on the starting Underground map (map I, no cost on its start);
• e. keeps 2 Mines and 2 Prospectors in their supply;
• f. puts the other 3 Mines beside the King track;
• g. puts the extra Pillar on the last Contract space of their board;
• h. takes an unused Technology tile, face down beside their board, to track Action bonuses;
• i. returns the new Bonus Action Point markers to the box unless the Character Technology is in play.

Silver

Silver is not a Resource: you cannot buy it with 2 Gold, exchange it with the Contract Action, or use it where a Resource is asked. You spend it on Technologies, on Underground Cathedrals with a Silver cost and on new Prospectors. Every 2 Silver left at the end is worth 1 .

Technologies

As a Task, pay 1 / 2 / 3 Silver to move your marker up to tier I / II / III of a Technology. The tier your marker is on and every tier below it are active for the rest of the game. “Taking an Action” on a Technology means the main Action of a die, not a Helper or Character bonus. Each Technology is in Cards & Components.

Underground maps

The maps work like the main map: Towns with House and Pillar spaces, Cathedrals and Bonus tiles, plus Mine spaces and Stone Tablets. Houses and Pillars underground follow the usual rules and count for every scoring; any effect that places a House or Pillar may place it underground, where your Prospector stands.

New Prospector (Task): pay the Silver printed on the start space of a map where you have no Prospector yet, and put a Prospector there. Maps can be opened in any order.

Stone Tablets

The first Prospector to cross a Stone Tablet resolves it, then covers it with an “X” tile. The eight Tablets are pictured in Cards & Components.

Prospector Action Wheel

The overlay’s second wheel adds the Prospector Action to two die values and, on another segment, a Prospector movement point.

Prospector Action

A die from a segment showing both the Prospector Action and another Action does one of them, with all its AP — and only that Action’s Bonus tile. The Joker can be a Prospector Action. Each option costs 1 AP:

• Move one Prospector to an adjacent space (each AP may move a different Prospector); crossing an uncovered Stone Tablet resolves it.
• Take an Underground Bonus tile from your Prospector’s Town.
• Build a Mine from your supply in your Prospector’s Town (empty Mine space, none of yours there): gain 1 Silver at once, plus the Gold printed by the space.
• Build a Pillar there (empty space, none of yours).
• Build a House there (empty space, none of yours), taking any Building Bonus.

Prospector movement point

When your die comes from the segment aligned with the movement icon, you may move one Prospector one space as a Task.

King phase changes

Before Step 1, each Mine you have built pays 1 Silver. Then in Step 1:

• If your marker is on 0 or higher, move one Mine from beside the King track to your supply.
• Gain any Silver shown on the ribbon of your King track space.

Cleanup phase

• Also refill the Prospector Action’s Bonus tile (Underground Bonus tiles are never refilled).
• After turning the Action Wheel clockwise, turn the Prospector wheel one step counterclockwise.

Final scoring changes

1. Completed Buildings: 0/0/5/10/20/30 as usual.
2. The Scoring overlay side in play replaces Houses × Pillars: either (Houses or Mines) × Pillars or (Pillars or Mines) × Houses — you choose which of the two counts, Underground maps included.
3. 1 per 4 Resources left.
4. 1 per 2 Silver left.
5. Each Technology tier you unlocked scores its cost: tier I = 1, II = 2, III = 3 .

Solo: Cardinal of Silver

The Cardinalbot gains Silver and Mines but ignores Technologies.

Solo setup

1. Set up core and expansion as usual.
2. Swap these Decree cards for their expansion versions: Glorious Spires, Proud Pillars, Noblesse Oblige, Mercantile Empire, Buildings are Forever, Church Communities. Add the three new Decrees (Mothers of Invention, Provincial Prosperity, Riches Below) and the 4 new Challenges to the pools.
3. Use Houses of Destiny or Pillars of History — matching the Scoring overlay — instead of Everlasting Fame.
4. Shuffle the 12 King’s Surprise cards face down by its board.
5. Its Prospector and a Mine go on the starting map; its other 2 Prospectors and 5 Mines stay by its board. No Technology markers.
6. On hard difficulty it also takes 1 Silver and starts at 30 .

Flow changes

• Preparation: in round 2 its second Prospector goes free on the 1-Silver start space; in round 3 its third on the 2-Silver start space.
• King phase: it gets Mine income and ribbon Silver like you but no Mines from the track. In rounds 1–3, afterwards, it spends 1 / 3 / 5 Silver to draw 1 / 2 / 3 King’s Surprise cards, resolves them (skipping what it cannot do) and tucks them under its board.
• Fairs: one new Fair tile counts its tucked King’s Surprise cards.
• Its turn: unchanged, but it ignores the Prospector movement icon and Technologies, and pays Gold or Silver for Underground Cathedrals that ask for it. When a Decree ties between Actions, it chooses the Prospector Action.

Cardinalbot Prospector action

1. Find a Town with an empty Mine / Pillar / House space (as the Decree names, in priority order) within reach of its Prospector. Ties: a map where you also have a Prospector, a space with a printed bonus, the higher map (III > II > I). Extend reach as little as needed.
2. On that map, take the best Bonus tile within reach (no move, no AP).
3. Move there by the shortest route (preferring more uncovered Stone Tablets, which it covers but does not resolve).
4. Build there (free): a Mine gives Silver and printed Gold; a House only printed .
5. If it cannot prospect at all, it draws and resolves one King’s Surprise instead.

Solo final scoring

It scores as in the base solo rules, counting Mines instead of Pillars or Houses when it has more of them; no Technology points; after its last Contract attempt, 1 per Silver (you score 1 per 2).