Qin

Overview

Set during China’s Era of Warring States, Qin is a tile-laying territory game for 2-4 players. Players place domino-like tiles onto the board to found provinces, expand them, connect villages, and conquer rival territories. Each province you control is marked with your pagoda. The first player to place all of their pagodas wins.

Components

Component	Quantity
Double-sided game board (“Bird” / “Lion”)	1
Tiles (each showing 2 province spaces)	72
Pagodas (4 colors, 24 each)	96

Tile types (12 of each combination):

• Red-Red, Yellow-Yellow, Blue-Blue
• Red-Yellow, Red-Blue, Yellow-Blue

Setup

1. Place the game board in the center (either side; “Bird” recommended for first game).
2. Detach tiles from punch sheets (first game only).
3. Shuffle all tiles. Deal 3 face-down tiles to each player.
4. Place remaining tiles in several face-down piles beside the board.
5. Each player takes pagodas in one color:
   • 2 players: 24 pagodas each
   • 3 players: 19 pagodas each
   • 4 players: 15 pagodas each
6. Return unused pagodas to the box.
7. Youngest player starts; play clockwise.

Turn Structure

1. Place exactly one tile from your hand onto the board.
2. Resolve any triggered events (found provinces, expand, connect/conquer villages, absorb provinces).
3. Draw one tile from any available pile.

Actions

Tile Placement Rules

• Tiles may only be placed on grassland spaces (never on province spaces, villages, or water).
• At least one province space of the tile must share an edge with an existing province space of any color.
• Tiles may be rotated (horizontal or vertical orientation).
• Corner-only adjacency does not count.
• Villages are not considered province spaces for adjacency.

1. Found Province

A province is a contiguous area of 2 or more same-colored province spaces. When you create a new province, place one of your pagodas on it.

2. Expand Province

When at least one space of your placed tile is adjacent to an existing province of the same color, that province grows. No additional pagoda is placed for expansion.

3. Create Major Province

When a province reaches 5 or more province spaces, it becomes a major province. Mark it by stacking a second pagoda on the existing one (double pagoda). Major provinces can grow further but hold at most one double pagoda.

4. Connect Village

If a province or major province shares at least one edge with an unoccupied village, the province’s owner seizes the village by placing a pagoda on it. One pagoda maximum per village.

5. Conquer Village

If, in the provinces adjoining a village, any player has more pagodas than the current village owner, that player takes the village. The previous owner reclaims their pagoda; the new owner places one. Double pagodas count as 2 when determining majority. The pagoda on the village itself does not count. If two or more players are tied, the village is not seized/conquered.

6. Absorb Province

Joining separate provinces of the same color creates a single major province. The player with the most province spaces in the original provinces (not counting the connecting tile) seizes control. All displaced pagodas return to their owners.

Restrictions:

• You may NOT join provinces if two or more players would contribute the same number of spaces (no owner can be determined).
• Major provinces are safe – they can never be absorbed. You cannot combine two major provinces. However, a single major province may absorb smaller provinces.

Scoring / Victory Conditions

The game ends immediately when a player places their last pagoda on the board. That player wins.

Alternative ending: If all players run out of tiles or no legal placement remains, the player with the most pagodas on the board wins. Ties result in shared victory.

Series variant: Play multiple games (e.g., one per board side). Track remaining pagodas after each game. The player with the lowest total remaining pagodas across all games wins the series.

Special Rules & Edge Cases

• If no pile has tiles remaining, you cannot draw and must play from remaining hand tiles.
• You may place a tile that creates only single (unconnected) province spaces, but this is rarely advantageous.
• When a province is absorbed, the connecting tile’s spaces are not counted when determining the new owner.
• A village can change ownership multiple times as surrounding provinces grow.

Player Reference

Event	Pagoda Action
Found province (2+ same-color spaces)	Place 1 pagoda
Major province (5+ spaces)	Stack 2nd pagoda (double)
Connect village	Place 1 pagoda on village
Conquer village	Replace opponent’s pagoda with yours
Absorb province	Majority owner takes control; others reclaim pagodas

Player Count	Pagodas per Player
2	24
3	19
4	15