How to Play

In the Hall of the Mountain King

2-5 players 90-90 min 7.5 Board Game Geek Rating

Trolls compete to rebuild their underground kingdom by digging tunnel networks and relocating ancestral statues. Players use polyomino tiles to create paths connecting resources, workshops, and toppled statues that must be transported to scoring locations. The innovative cascading production system activates multiple trolls simultaneously when hiring new ones, creating increasingly powerful resource gains. Victory goes to whoever earns the most honor through quality tunnel construction and strategic statue placement.

Published 2019

In the Hall of the Mountain King

Get Ready

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

1
Remove pedestals from level 2 trolls
Do not place pedestals on level 2 trolls in the horde; keep pedestals outside the bag in a supply near the horde (reminder tokens go on level 3 trolls as normal)
2
Return unused components
Put pedestal point markers, score markers, great halls, and coronation markers back in the box; these are not used
3
Place the prophecy board
Position the prophecy board near the game board
4
Prepare consecration tiles
Create a supply of tiles (1 fire, 1 ice, and 1 moon per player), return extras to the box, shuffle tiles face-down, then place them face-up on the prophecy board starting from the top row and working down, only filling spaces matching the player count
5
Add quake markers to bag
Place all 8 quake markers in the draw bag and mix thoroughly
6
Prepare curse deck
Shuffle all 20 curse cards, return 5 cards unseen to the box, place the remaining 15-card deck face-down near the prophecy board
7
Set up team warehouse
Place 1 team warehouse card beside the board; all players share this
8
Select trolls
Choose trolls normally, but starting resources go into the team warehouse; no player receives bonus starting resources based on turn order

On Your Turn

What you can do during your turn.

1
Follow the new phase order
Execute phases in this sequence: 1) Spells and workshops, 2) Recruit or dig, 3) Move statues, 4) Consecrate statues
2
Share resources
When gaining any resource that would go to your storage, place it in the team warehouse instead; spend resources from your troll council, team warehouse, or both
3
Connect networks
You may connect your tunnel network to other players' networks; treat the entire connected network as yours during your turn
4
Handle pedestal rewards
When recruiting a level 2 troll, receive no pedestal; when recruiting a level 3 troll, receive a pedestal of your choice that goes to the team warehouse; any player may place team warehouse pedestals using normal rules
5
Trigger curse penalty
If you cannot recruit a troll or dig a tunnel in phase 2, immediately add a curse to the curse row
6
Break curses with iron
When spending iron to dig a tunnel, place one spent iron on any curse in the curse row
7
Break curses with heartstone
When spending heartstone to dig a tunnel, place two spent heartstones on curses in the curse row (on one curse or split between two)
8
Check curse breaking
Before placing a tunnel on the mountain, if minerals on a curse equal or exceed the number of players, the curse breaks and is removed from the game; minerals return to the supply and curse effects end immediately
9
Consecrate statues
During phase 4, consecrate statues that match a remaining clan/level combination on the prophecy board and sit on an anchor or matching pedestal; place the matching tile from the prophecy board under the statue
10
Gain bonus consecration
If the consecrated statue sits on a matching pedestal, consecrate a second tile of the same clan from the same or lower level and place it under the statue
11
Draw a curse card
Before the starting player acts, draw 1 curse card and add it face-up to the curse row; the curse effect activates immediately and remains active while face-up
12
Suppress curses
When you clear an entire level of consecration tiles from the prophecy board, flip one curse face-down; suppressed curses ignore their effects but still count toward the 6-curse limit and can still be broken normally
13
Trigger quake level 1
When any player completes their first row of recruited trolls, quakes begin at level 1
14
Trigger quake level 2
When any player completes their second row of recruited trolls, quakes escalate to level 2
15
Trigger quake level 3
When any player completes their troll council, quakes escalate to level 3
16
Draw quake markers
After drawing the round's curse, draw quake markers equal to the current quake level; fully resolve each marker before drawing the next
17
Ignore X markers
If a drawn quake marker shows "X", nothing happens; the mountain is momentarily calm
18
Resolve numbered quakes
If a marker shows 2, 3, or 4, each player in turn order must either destroy a tunnel of that size from their network or spend a mineral to resist
19
Spend minerals to resist
Pay 1 stone (level 1), 1 iron (level 2), or 1 heartstone (level 3) from a troll in your council—not from the team warehouse
20
Handle destroyed tunnels
Destroyed tunnels return to the supply and may be reused; previously collected buried resources become available again, and rubble spaces must be hammered again
21
Protect tunnels
Tunnels containing consecrated statues or pedestals cannot be destroyed by quakes; size 5 tunnels are never affected since there are no "5" markers
22
Handle unconsecrated statues
If a tunnel with an unconsecrated statue is destroyed, the statue remains in place and becomes buried again
23
Reset quake bag
After resolving all quakes in a round, if 6 or more markers are outside the bag, return all markers to the bag and shuffle

Winning

How to claim victory.

1
Win by completing prophecies
When the last consecration tile is removed from the prophecy board, the ancient prophecies are fulfilled and the group wins the game
2
Lose by curse overflow
If a 7th curse (active or suppressed) would be placed in the curse row, all players immediately lose
3
Lose by empty curse deck
If you must add a curse to the row but no cards remain in the curse deck, all players immediately lose; you have at most 15 rounds to complete the prophecy

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