Teach the Game
A family’s work, reputation and changing generations.
How you win
“Lead a family through village life. Work, trade, travel and earn influence, but remember that actions consume time. When a generation dies, its profession may earn a place in the chronicle. Most prestige wins.”
This guide uses Village: Big Box, including its revised rules and optional expansions.
The board
- A Market — exchange goods for customers.
- B Crafts — produce goods or money.
- C Travel — visit towns.
- D Council — privileges and final points.
- E Graveyard — villagers with no suitable chronicle space.
- F Church — Mass and final points.
- G Family — new generations or recall.
- H Well — pay cubes instead of taking one.
- I Harvest — grain, up to your storage limit.
A round
- Use the correct setup card to draw and distribute influence and plague cubes.
- On your turn take one cube, then optionally use that area’s action. Market is mandatory.
- Pay time as required. Crossing your farm’s quill causes a death.
- When all action cubes are gone, hold Mass, then prepare another round.
Round details. [Marriage] A wedding follows Mass except at game end (Marriage).
How the game ends
Filling the last available chronicle or graveyard space starts the final turns. Finish with a final Mass and scoring. [Port] Filling the last sea-burial space also triggers the end (Port).
Ways to score
| Source | Timing |
|---|---|
| Town rewards and council coin conversion | During play |
| Church majority | Two points at each Mass |
| Visited towns | Game end, base travel |
| Church and council villagers | Game end |
| Served customer tiles | Game end |
| Villagers in the chronicle | Game end |
| Unspent coins | One point each at game end |
| [Inn] Character cards | As the character specifies (Inn) |
| [Port] Islands and imported goods | During play (Port) |
| [Goals] Fulfilled Life Goals | When revealed (Goals) |
What each resource is for
| Resource | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Villagers | Staff careers, then possibly enter the chronicle |
| Time | Pays for actions and advances generations |
| Orange / pink / brown / green influence | Skill / knowledge / faith / persuasion costs |
| Grain | Harvest, crafts, market and church advancement |
| Goods | Market orders, travel and discounts to action costs |
| Coins | Influence substitutes, secured church draws, council points |
Teaching tips
- Demonstrate taking a black cube: return it and spend two time before the area’s action.
- Explain the oldest-generation rule before placing anyone in a profession.
- Run a market with two customers to show the extra green cube and time costs.
- Show the difference between a villager in the church building, in the bag and on the church track.