How to Play

Gùgōng

1-5 players 60-90 min 7.4 Board Game Geek Rating

In Ming Dynasty China, players represent powerful families bribing corrupt officials through strategic gift exchanges. Each turn, you must offer higher-value gifts than those received, creating tough tactical decisions. Navigate the empire, trade jade, build the Great Wall, and manipulate politics to earn an imperial audience and victory.

Published 2018

Gùgōng

Get Ready

Setup the game with these step-by-step instructions before diving into your turn.

1
Place the game board
Position the board in the center of the table, using the side corresponding to your player count (shown in the bottom left corner)
2
Determine starting player
Use any random method to select the first player, then give them the Starting Player Marker
3
Place day tracker
Put the Day Tracker marker on the first space of the day track
4
Place VP marker
Position each player's Victory Point marker on the "0" space of the VP track
5
Roll Fate Dice
Roll all 3 Fate Dice and place them in their designated spaces on the board
6
Distribute Travel Tokens
Shuffle all Travel Tokens and randomly place 1 face-up on each city in the Travel location, then stack remaining tokens into 2 equal face-down draw piles in designated locations
7
Place Jade
Put 1 Jade on each marked spot and place remaining Jade in the general Jade supply in the Jade location square
8
Set up Decree tiles
Sort Decree tiles by level (1, 2, 3 shown on backs), shuffle each separately, draw 2 from each deck face-up onto the board, and return unused tiles to the box
9
Place Travelers
Set all players' Travelers beside the board
10
Place Envoys
Place all players' Envoys on the starting space of the Palace of Heavenly Purity
11
Place Ships
Each player places their 3 Grand Canal Ships beside their Player Board
12
Set up Intrigue markers
Stack all players' Intrigue markers on the Intrigue Path starting space, with the starting player's marker on bottom, continuing clockwise upward
13
Place Next Starting Player Medal
Position the medal in the designated area near the Intrigue Path card location
14
Distribute Servants
Each player places 6 Servants (cubes) in their Player Board's Servant Pool and 6 beside their board as general supply
15
Place Double Servant
Each player places their Double Servant tile on the designated area of their Player Board
16
Prepare Gift Cards for board
Place the 7 Gift Cards marked with the flag symbol face-up randomly on the 7 Gift Card locations
17
Prepare Gift Card deck
Shuffle cards marked with the circle symbol and place face-down near the board as a draw deck
18
Distribute starting hands
Each player receives 4 Gift Cards based on the fan symbol: starting player gets cards with 1 filled section, player to their left gets cards with 2 filled sections, and so on

On Your Turn

What you can do during your turn.

1
Exchange a Gift Card
At the start of your turn, you must exchange 1 Gift Card from your hand with a Gift Card on the board
2
Perform actions
After exchanging, you may perform the Gift Card action (if any), the location action, both actions (card action first), or neither action
3
Travel
Move your Traveler once to collect 1 Travel Token and optionally use its benefit, OR remove 2 Servants to move twice and collect 2 tokens
4
Great Wall
Place 1 Servant from Pool onto the wall, OR remove 1 Servant to place up to 2 Servants
5
Jade
Remove the indicated number of Servants from Pool to purchase 1 Jade from a house
6
Intrigue
Advance Intrigue marker 1 step (first player choosing this also takes Next Starting Player Medal), OR remove 1 Servant to advance 3 steps
7
Palace of Heavenly Purity
Advance Envoy 1 step on Palace Path, OR remove 2 Servants to advance 2 steps AND advance Intrigue marker 1 step
8
Decrees
Remove Servants equal to base cost plus 1 extra per opponent's Servant already on that Decree, then place 1 Servant on it
9
Grand Canal
Place 1 Servant from Pool onto one of your Ships AND optionally move 1 Ship one step to the next empty Harbor, OR remove 1 Servant to place 2 Servants on 1-2 Ships
10
Gain 1 Servant
Add 1 Servant from general supply to your Pool
11
Gain 2 Servants
Add 2 Servants from general supply to your Pool
12
Card exchange
Exchange 1 card from hand or discard pile with a board card (if from discard, new card goes to discard)
13
Unlock Double Servant
Obtain through Grand Canal Harbor reward
14
Use as 1 or 2 Servants
When placing Servants, Double Servant can occupy 2 spaces
15
Recover Double Servant
When gaining 1 Servant to Pool, you may take your Double Servant from general supply instead
16
Remove as 2 Servants
When removing 2 Servants from Pool, you may remove Double Servant instead
17
Restriction
Cannot use Double Servant to place on Decrees or mark Harbor rewards
18
1 step = 1 Servant
Lower Intrigue marker 1 step to gain 1 Servant to Pool
19
3 steps = 2 Servants
Lower marker 3 steps to gain 2 Servants to Pool
20
5 steps = change die
Lower marker 5 steps to turn 1 Fate Die to any face
21
7 steps = 1 Jade
Lower marker 7 steps to gain 1 Jade from supply
22
Check Fate Dice matches
All players simultaneously compare discarded Gift Card values to Fate Dice values
23
Award Fate Dice bonus
Player with most matches gains 3 VP and advances Envoy 1 step toward Palace
24
Move all Ships
Advance all Ships on Grand Canal 1 step forward
25
Determine starting player
Player with Next Starting Player Medal becomes new starting player and returns medal to board
26
Refill map
Place Travel Tokens on all empty cities from draw piles
27
Roll Fate Dice
Roll all 3 dice and place in designated spaces
28
Apply Decree advantages
Players with Servants on Morning symbol Decrees (Level 1) receive their benefits in player order
29
Gain new Servants
Move Day Tracker and add indicated number of Servants from general supply to Pool

Winning

How to claim victory.

1
Reach the Palace
Players who fail to get their Envoy into the Palace of Heavenly Purity by the end of Day 4 cannot win and their VP markers are removed from the track
2
Final Great Wall scoring
If Servants remain on Great Wall, score normally (no Intrigue Advantages)
3
Score Level 3 Decrees
Players gain VP from any Level 3 Decrees they claimed
4
Score Palace arrival
Gain VP based on your Envoy's position in the Palace (7, 5, 3, 2, or 1 VP)
5
Score Jade collection
Gain VP based on Jade owned: 1/2/3/4/5 Jade = 1/3/6/10/15 VP; each additional Jade beyond 5 = 2 VP
6
Determine winner
Player with the most Victory Points wins

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FULL rules

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