AI-friendly board game rules summaries — use with Claude, ChatGPT, or any AI assistant
Gheos is a tile-laying civilization game for 2-4 players in which players act as gods shaping the world by placing triangular tiles depicting land and water. As continents form, civilizations arise, expand, and sometimes go to war. Players collect followers of different colored civilizations and use three scoring tokens at strategic moments to score points based on their followers multiplied by the civilizations’ achievements. Nine Epoch tiles mixed into the draw pile punctuate the game with automatic scoring. When the eighth Epoch tile is drawn, the game ends with a final scoring round.
On your turn:
Place one tile from your hand adjacent to any existing tile on the board. Tiles are triangular and create land masses (continents) and sea areas.
Depending on what the placed tile creates:
At any point during your turn, you may spend one of your 3 scoring tokens to score one civilization. You earn points equal to your followers of that color multiplied by the number of cup symbols in territories that civilization controls.
Draw a tile from the face-down draw pile. If an Epoch tile is drawn, resolve it immediately (see Epoch Scoring), then draw another tile.
Unlike most tile-laying games, Gheos is not edge-matching. Tiles can go in any valid position adjacent to existing tiles.
When a continent grows without creating a new one, players choose to take a follower of any existing civilization. Building up a large stock of followers in a strong civilization is key to high-scoring opportunities.
When two continents with different civilizations merge through tile placement, war may occur. The civilization with more sword symbols in its territory survives; the other is destroyed. Players with followers of the destroyed civilization lose those followers.
Each player has exactly 3 scoring tokens for the entire game. When spent, the player scores: (number of their followers in chosen civilization) x (number of cup symbols in that civilization’s territory). Timing is critical – score too early and miss growth; score too late and risk the civilization being destroyed.
When an Epoch tile is drawn from the draw pile, every player scores 1 point per pyramid symbol on the board. The Epoch tile is set aside and a new tile is drawn. When the 8th Epoch tile is drawn, the game ends immediately.
During the Game:
Game End (8th Epoch tile): All remaining civilizations score one final time. Each player scores points for each civilization based on followers held multiplied by cup symbols.
Winner: The player with the most total points wins.
When war eliminates a civilization, all followers of that color held by all players are lost. This can dramatically shift the game’s balance.
With only 3 scoring tokens per game, deciding when and which civilization to score is the game’s central strategic challenge. Spent tokens cannot be recovered.
If tile placement splits a continent, the civilization may divide. The disc stays with the larger portion, and a new civilization is formed on the smaller portion.
There is a limited supply of follower cubes for each color. If a color runs out, no more followers of that civilization can be collected.
The 9th Epoch tile triggers the final scoring if the 8th has already been drawn. The game can end at varying points depending on when Epoch tiles appear.
Turn: Place 1 tile -> Resolve effects -> Optionally spend scoring token -> Draw 1 tile
Scoring Token: Your followers x cup symbols of chosen civilization
Epoch Tile: All players score 1 pt per pyramid. 8th Epoch = game ends.
Key Numbers: | Item | Value | |——|——-| | Players | 2-4 | | Scoring tokens per player | 3 (for entire game) | | Epoch tiles | 9 (8th triggers end) | | Starting hand | 2 tiles | | Game length | ~45 min |