Teach the Game

A script to read aloud: how you win Tiletum, the boards, a round, the end, every way to score and what each resource and piece is for.

How you win

“We are merchants of the early Renaissance, travelling from Tiletum — today’s Tielt in Belgium — to Venice. Over 4 rounds we draft dice: each die gives Resources of its colour and an Action, and the fewer Resources it gives, the stronger the Action. We take Contracts, build Houses and Cathedral Pillars, house famous Characters and win noble Crests. Most points after the fourth Fair wins — 60 to 100 minutes.”

• You need: points at the four Fairs, fulfilled Contracts, Cathedral tiles, and at the end lots of Houses × Pillars on the map and Completed Buildings on your board.
• You get them by: drafting three dice a round from the Action Wheel — low dice for big Actions, high dice for Resources — and chaining free Tasks and Bonus tiles around them.

The boards

1. Score track — you start on 10.
2. Action Wheel — dice sit by value; each segment is an Action, with a Bonus tile.
3. Fair display — the four Fair Towns and their scoring tiles, round by round.
4. Final scoring reminder — Completed Buildings, Houses × Pillars, Resources.
5. Cathedral — its tile stack and Construction Cost tile; Pillar spaces beside it.
6. Turn Order track — set by the King track every round.
7. Character offer — five Characters to hire.
8. The map — Towns with House spaces, road spaces, Bonus tiles.
9. Contract offer — five Contracts, each costing the AP shown under it.
10. King track — red spaces lose points, blue spaces gain them; Corruption drags you down.
11. King’s Bonus tile — for whoever is highest on the King track.

1. Roof spaces — a full Building releases its House.
2. Contract spaces — each fulfilled Contract releases a Pillar and scores the space.
3. Bonus Action Points reminder — Characters + Crest = extra AP for that Action.
4. Floors 1–3 — placing a Character costs 1, 2 or 3 AP.
5. Buildings — one type of Character per Building.
6. Storehouse — four spaces; every tile passes through here.
7. The pre-printed Building — already full; it gives no Action bonus.
8. Crest spaces — pay Food, take the bonus.
9. Die spaces — your three dice of the round.

A round

Each of the 4 rounds (full rules):

1. Preparation — roll 8 / 11 / 14 dice (2 / 3 / 4 players) onto the Action Wheel by value.
2. Action — three laps; on your turn take a die, its Resources (number = value, type = colour) and its Action with 7 minus the value Action Points. Pay 2 Gold per +1/−1 to change a die first. Do free Tasks whenever you like. The first player flips a Corruption token at the start of each lap.
3. King — the top of the King track takes the Bonus tile; everyone scores their space; new turn order; red markers go back to 0.
4. Fair — whoever has a House or the Merchant in the Fair Town scores (board + tile) × condition.
5. Cleanup — refill wheel Bonus tiles, new Corruption tokens, turn the wheel one step clockwise.

The six Actions: Architect (move, Pillars, tiles), Merchant (move, Houses, tiles), Character (hire and house Characters), Contract (take Contracts, swap Resources), King (climb the King track), Joker (any one of these). The Tasks: buy Resources with Gold, fulfil Contracts, place Crests, build Cathedrals, use Helpers (Actions and Tasks).

How the game ends

• After the fourth Fair (details).
• Then: Houses × Pillars on the map; Completed Buildings (3 / 4 / 5 / 6 = 5 / 10 / 20 / 30); 1 per 4 Resources left.
• Ties: the tied player earlier in turn order wins.

Ways to score

Source	How and when
Fairs	Each round: (board number + Fair tile number) × times you meet the tile’s condition, with a House or your Merchant in the Fair Town
King track	Each King phase: your space’s value (blue gains, red loses); the leader takes a Bonus tile, or 4 in round 4
Contracts	When fulfilled: the tile’s plus the Contract space’s 0–12
Cathedrals	When built: Construction Cost tile + Cathedral tile
Houses	Some House spaces print
Crests	The 2-Food Crest space gives 5
Characters and Helpers	Some give when placed or used
Houses × Pillars	End: Houses on the map times Pillars on the map
Completed Buildings	End: 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 of them = 5 / 10 / 20 / 30
Leftover Resources	End: 1 per 4
Losses	Red King track spaces at each King phase; Fair tile 4 can cost points

[Silver] Mines, Silver and Technology tiers add points, and the Scoring overlay changes Houses × Pillars (Prospect for Silver).

What each resource is for

Resource	Why you need it	How you get it	How you use it
Gold	Flexibility	Yellow dice, Helpers, Characters	2 Gold = any Resource, or ±1 on a die; “any” in Contracts
Wool and Iron	Contracts	Light grey and blue dice, Characters	Pay Contracts
Stone	Cathedrals	Dark grey dice, Characters	Build a Cathedral where you have a Pillar
Food	Crests	Pink dice, Characters	Place a Crest under a Building (2–6 Food)
Dice	Your three turns a round	The Action Wheel	Low = strong Action; high = many Resources
Bonus tiles	Free extras	The wheel (free), the map (1 AP), the King track	Helpers once; Crests and Contracts as tiles
Characters	Bonuses, Houses, AP bonuses	Character Action	Fill a Building: release its House; with a Crest, extra AP forever
Houses	Fairs, House × Pillar	Roofs of full Buildings	Merchant Action, Crest space
Pillars	Cathedrals, House × Pillar	Fulfilled Contracts release them	Architect Action, Crest space
Crests	Complete Buildings, Crest bonuses	Bonus tiles, Contract offer	Pay Food to place one
King track	Turn order, points, a Bonus tile	King Action	Stay out of the red part

Teaching tips

• Teach the die first: “value = Resources, 7 − value = Action Points”, and show it on the wheel.
• Then the player board left to right: Characters fill Buildings, Buildings release Houses, Contracts release Pillars — that is where Houses × Pillars comes from.
• Point at the four Fair Towns before the first die is taken: everyone should plan to be there.
• Stress that Tasks are free and can interrupt your Action, and that tiles always pass through the four-space Storehouse.

Rehearse four Action Points

Use Blue’s Architect example: take a value-3 die from the Architect Action. Gain three Resources of its colour and take four Action Point counters. Starting in Frankfurt, spend one to reach Nurnberg, one to collect its Bonus tile into an empty Storehouse space, one to reach Prague and one to place an available Pillar there. Prague must have an empty Pillar space and none of your Pillars already present.

Ask: ‘Have I built the Cathedral?’ No. Placing the Pillar and paying to build the Cathedral are separate steps.