How to Play

Mexica

2-4 players 90-90 min 7.2 Board Game Geek Rating

Players develop ancient Tenochtitlan by building canals and structures while creating districts through strategic placement. The main mechanic involves using action points to construct buildings and bridges, with canals enabling efficient movement across the island city. Victory comes from accumulating the most points through district formation and achieving building dominance during two scoring phases.

Published 2002

Get Ready

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

Prepare district tokens

Shuffle the 15 District Tokens and randomly place 8 face-up in right corner spaces, ordering by the yellow number. Set the other 7 tokens aside face-down

Place initial canals

Put 2 two-space canal tiles on the canal spaces printed on the board and place remaining canal tiles close by

Distribute player components

Each player receives the Pilli Mexica (Noble), 18 temples, 1 VP marker, and a Player Aid in their chosen color

Set VP markers

Place all VP markers on space "0" on the Prestige Track

Position starting nobles

Pick a start player, then clockwise each player places their Noble on a space around the Emperor's Palace

Separate temples for 1st Period

Take the 9 temples for the first period (3x1 level, 3x2 levels, 2x3 levels, 1x4 levels) as shown on Player Aid and set other 9 aside

Flip Player Aid

Turn the Player Aid to see the Action Point table

On Your Turn

What you can do during your turn.

Spend action points

You have 6 Action Points (AP) to spend on your turn in any combination; unused points are wasted

Construct a canal (1 AP)

Place a single or double canal tile on any empty land spaces, but not in a founded district or on Palace squares

Construct a bridge (1 AP)

Place a bridge where both ends face land spaces (empty or occupied)

Move Noble on foot (1 AP)

Move 1 space orthogonally, never diagonal

Move by boat (1 AP)

Move from one bridge to another unoccupied bridge along canals and/or the lake

Teleport (5 AP)

Move to any unoccupied land space or bridge space

Build temple (1-4 AP)

Build on an empty land space (not Palace) with your Noble present in the district

Take AP token (1 AP)

Take maximum 2 tokens per turn, 1 AP per token if available

Spend AP token (0 AP)

Return as many tokens as you wish to supply to gain 1 AP each

Found a district (0 AP)

Place token matching the number of enclosed spaces into any empty space in the district

First round restriction

In the 1st round of the 1st period, you cannot trap an opponent's Noble by building around it

Winning

How to claim victory.

End of 1st Period

Occurs when all 8 Emperor's Command tokens have been placed AND at least 1 player has placed all 9 initial temples; finish the round for equal turns

Intermediate scoring

For each founded district, player with most total temple levels scores yellow number VP, 2nd most scores blue number, 3rd most scores white number

Begin 2nd Period

Add remaining 9 temples to any unplaced temples; flip scored tokens back over; place remaining 7 tokens on board in order

End of 2nd Period

Occurs when all 8 tokens have been placed or discarded AND at least 1 player has placed all temples; finish the round for equal turns

Final scoring of founded districts

Score the same as intermediate scoring plus +5 VP for Nobles on Palace spaces

Final scoring of unfounded districts

Player with most temple levels scores VP equal to total spaces in district; 2nd most scores half the spaces (round up); 3rd most scores half of 2nd place points (round up)

Handle ties

In case of tie, each tied player gets full value for that place; eliminate scoring for next lower place(s)

Determine winner

Most VP wins; if tied, player with most Action Point tokens remaining wins