Overview

Aladdin’s Dragons is a bidding and area-control game set in a mythical Persian/Arabian land. Players place numbered tokens face-down on dragon caves, city locations, and palace rooms to compete for treasures, abilities, and artifacts. The player who collects the most artifacts when the last artifact is purchased wins.

Components

• 1 Board (3 levels: dragon caves, city, Caliph’s palace)
• 5 Player screens
• Treasures (5 types – crowns/red, pearls/white, gemstones/blue, trophies/black, gold bars): 5 large (worth 3 each), 14 small (worth 1 each) of each type
• 40 Tokens in 5 colors (8 per player, numbered 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
• 10 Palace guard tokens
• 1 Camel (starting player marker)
• 30 Artifacts (5 each of 6 types: Aladdin’s Lamp, Counterspell, Double, Flying Carpet, Key, Scroll)
• 45 Treasure cards (3 sets for 3/4/5 players, 15 each)
• 21 Magic spell cards
• 1 Rule summary sheet

Setup

1. Place board centrally. Each player takes a screen and 8 tokens of one color.
2. Shuffle 10 palace guard tokens face down near the board.
3. Place all treasures as a treasury (bank) near the board. Each player takes 3 small treasures of any kind behind their screen.
4. Youngest player takes the camel (starting player).
5. Shuffle artifacts face down, stack 6 per room. Use rooms = number of players (3 rooms for 3 players, etc.).
6. Take the treasure card set matching player count, shuffle face down.
7. Magic spell cards: return to box for basic game; use in magic version.

Turn Structure

Each round has two parts:

1. Placing Tokens

Starting with the starting player and going clockwise, each player places one token face down on any board space. Continue around until all players have placed all their tokens (or chosen to stop). A player may place multiple tokens in the same space.

Restrictions: Max 5 tokens per palace room. No tokens in empty dragon caves, Aladdin’s Tent, or Djinn’s House (basic game).

2. Tallying Token Strength

The vizier reveals tokens space by space in order: dragon caves (left to right), city, palace guard, palace rooms (left to right). Players sum their token values in each space. Ties broken by player sequence (starting from the starting player clockwise).

Actions

Dragon Caves

At the start of each round, the vizier reveals a treasure card and fills caves accordingly. Each cave may have 0-4 shelves of treasure (never more than players - 1). The player with the highest token strength takes treasure from the top shelf; second highest takes the next shelf, etc.

City Locations

Location	Ability
Market	Strongest player exchanges 1 small treasure for any 3 small from treasury
Caravanserai	Strongest player becomes the new starting player (takes the camel)
Aladdin’s Tent	(Magic version only) Draw 2 spell cards, keep 1
Djinn’s House	(Magic version only) Use 2 artifacts this round

Palace Guard

A palace guard token is revealed showing strength 1-10. To enter the palace, your token strength in the guard space must equal or exceed the guard’s strength. You may bribe the guard by paying treasures equal to the difference. If you fail to enter, all your tokens in palace rooms are removed (no artifacts this round). Players with NO tokens in the guard space cannot enter at all.

Palace Rooms

Only the strongest player in each room may buy the artifact. Payment rule: you must pay as many treasures as your total token points, using as many TYPES of treasure as you have separate tokens, matching each token’s number to that many treasures of one type.

Example: Tokens 7 and 1 = pay 7 of one treasure type + 1 of a different type.

If the strongest player cannot or will not pay, the opportunity passes to the next strongest, etc. Unsold artifacts carry over to the next round.

Scoring / Victory Conditions

The game ends immediately when the last artifact is bought. The player with the most artifacts wins.

Special Rules & Edge Cases

• Token set has no “3” – numbers are 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9.
• Large treasures = 3 small. Exchange 1 large for 3 small (same color) or vice versa at any time.
• Players’ treasures behind screens are secret.
• Token strength ties are broken by proximity to the starting player (clockwise).

Magic Version

• Each player starts with 1 Aladdin’s Lamp. Artifacts stacked in groups of 5.
• Each round, one artifact per room is revealed face up.
• Each player may invoke one artifact’s power per round.
• Aladdin’s Tent and Djinn’s House become active city locations.
• Magic spell cards add additional powers.

Player Reference

Round Flow: Fill caves from treasure card → Place tokens (one at a time, clockwise) → Tally caves → Tally city → Tally palace guard → Tally palace rooms → Return tokens.

Token Values: 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 (no 3).

Palace Purchase: Total treasure = total token points. Number of treasure types = number of tokens. Each token’s value = amount of that treasure type.