AI-friendly board game rules summaries — use with Claude, ChatGPT, or any AI assistant
A deck-building race game for 2-4 players (ages 10+). Players lead expeditions through the jungles of South America toward the legendary city of gold. By playing cards from a personal deck, you move across terrain tiles and purchase better cards to improve your expedition. The first player to reach El Dorado wins.
Modular hex board tiles, expedition cards (market), player decks (8 starting cards each), playing pieces, starting player hat token, blockade tokens, cave tokens (variant).
Assemble the modular board as directed. Each player starts with a deck of 8 cards: 1 Sailor, 3 Explorers, 4 Travelers. Place 6 expedition card piles on the market board. Draw 4 cards into your starting hand.
Each turn has 3 phases:
The board has terrain types: landscape (green/yellow/blue), rubble (gray), base camp (red), mountains (black, impassable).
Landscape spaces: Play 1 card matching the space’s color/symbol. The card’s power must be equal to or greater than the space’s power (number of symbols). Leftover power can continue movement onto adjacent same-type spaces (subtract power spent). You cannot combine multiple cards for one high-power space.
Rubble spaces: Play any cards equal in number to the symbols on the space. Card identity is irrelevant.
Base camp spaces (red): Play cards equal to the number of symbols. These cards are removed from the game permanently (good for deck thinning).
Restrictions:
Buy up to 1 card per turn. Cards with a coin symbol are worth their power in coins. All other cards are worth 1/2 coin each. Play cards, add coin values, and purchase a card from the market you can afford. Place the new card on your discard pile.
When a market pile is empty, its spot becomes vacant. With at least one vacant spot, you may purchase any expedition card (including those beside the market board).
Item cards (crossed-out card symbol): Single use – removed from game after use. Exception: if played without using the function (e.g., for rubble or as 1/2 coin), it goes to the discard pile instead.
Action cards (purple): Played anytime during your turn.
The first player to reach a blockade must meet its power requirement (play cards as for movement). That player keeps the blockade token (tiebreaker). After removal, all players may freely pass through.
When a player reaches one of the 3 finishing spaces, they move to El Dorado and trigger the final round. Each remaining player gets one more turn. If multiple players reach El Dorado, the player with the most blockade tokens wins. If still tied, the player with the highest-power blockade wins.
If the last player in a round reaches a finishing space first, the game ends immediately.
Each player controls 2 playing pieces on starting spaces 1+3 and 2+4. Must reach El Dorado with both pieces to win. Each card played applies to only one piece. All pieces (including your own) are barriers.
Shuffle 36 cave tokens into piles of 4 on mountain cave spaces. When your piece stops adjacent to a cave, take the top token. Tokens provide one-time powers (movement, drawing, purchasing, deck thinning). Must move away and return to explore same cave again.
| Terrain | How to Enter |
|---|---|
| Landscape (green/yellow/blue) | Play matching card with sufficient power |
| Rubble (gray) | Play any cards equal to symbol count |
| Base Camp (red) | Play any cards equal to symbol count; cards removed from game |
| Mountain (black) | Impassable |
| Blockade | Meet power requirement; claim blockade token |
| Card Color | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Green (machete) | Jungle movement |
| Yellow (coin) | Village movement / purchasing |
| Blue (paddle) | River movement |
| White | Joker (any of 3 symbols) |
| Purple | Action cards (special effects) |