How to Play

Mosaic: A Story of Civilization

2-6 players 120-120 min 7.5 Board Game Geek Rating

Players develop civilizations by selecting actions and acquiring pillars representing aspects like science, culture, and military. These pillars unlock technologies and enable specialized "Golden Ages." Victory comes from scoring points through territorial control, constructed buildings, achievements, and matching your civilization's unique pillar combinations across multiple scoring rounds.

Published 2022

Get Ready

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

Place the game board

Put the board in the center of the table and place all currency tokens nearby as supply

Assign player boards

Each player takes a player board, sets population to 5, and sets all production tracks to their starting values

Seed the map

Place fish tiles

Put one Fish tile face up on each port hex

Place cache tiles

Shuffle Cache tiles face down, place one on each valid hex, then flip face up and remove any X tiles

Place trade goods tiles

Shuffle Trade Goods tiles face down, place one on each valid hex, flip face up, and remove any X tiles

Prepare technology deck

Deal starting technologies

Shuffle Starting Technology cards and deal 5 to each player

Form technology deck

Shuffle remaining Starting Technologies with Technology cards, insert an Empire Scoring card into the deck based on player count, place deck on board, and reveal 5 cards in the offer

Prepare build deck

Shuffle Build cards, insert an Empire Scoring card into the bottom half, place deck on board, and reveal 5 cards

Prepare population deck

Create the Population deck based on player count, insert the Empire Scoring card into the bottom half, place deck on board, and reveal 2 cards

Prepare tax & tariff deck

Create the Tax & Tariff deck based on player count, insert the Empire Scoring card into the bottom half, place deck on board, and reveal 2 cards

Adjust regions for player count

Remove Hispania (3P) or Hispania and Gaul (2P) from play

Place tiles

Put Wonder, Golden Age, Government, and selected Civilization Achievement tiles near the board

Select leaders

Draft Leader cards counter-clockwise starting with the player right of the Starting Player

Draft starting technologies

Players draft their 5 Starting Technology cards clockwise, keeping all drafted cards

Place starting cities

Starting with the Starting Player, each player places one City, gains the Cache or Trade Good on that hex, and applies Leader and playable Technology benefits

Determine starting player

Give the Starting Player token to the chosen player

On Your Turn

What you can do during your turn.

Turn structure

Starting with the Starting Player, each player takes one action clockwise to complete a round

Available actions

On your turn, perform exactly one of the following actions

Work

Produce Stone, Food, or Ideas equal to Population plus that production value

Population

Take a Population card, pay its Food cost, and increase Population by the shown amount

Build

Build a City, Port City, Town, or Project by paying the required cost and gaining listed benefits

City

Pay Stone and Population, place a City, gain the hex’s Trade Good or Cache benefit

Port City

Pay Stone and Population, place on a port hex, gain Fish and Food production

Town

Place a Farm or Manufactory Town adjacent to one of your Cities and gain its benefit

Project

Pay Stone and Ideas and score based on owned Pillar symbols at game end

Wonder

Pay increasing Stone and Food costs, place a Wonder in a valid region, and gain its end-game scoring ability

Technology

Pay Ideas, take a Technology card, and play it face up if prerequisites are met or face down for later

Tax & Tariff

Take a Tax or Tariff card, gain Money based on Population or Trade Goods, and accumulate Unrest

Military

Recruit military units by paying Money and/or move units between adjacent regions

Government

Take a Government tile, pay its cost, replace any existing government, and gain its effects

Free claims

Claim Golden Ages or Civilization Achievements for free when requirements are met

Empire scoring

When an Empire Scoring card is revealed, score regions based on Influence from Cities, Wonders, Towns, and Military

Winning

How to claim victory.

Game end trigger

The game ends after the third Empire Scoring or when 2 of the 3 tile categories (Wonders, Golden Ages, Achievements) are fully claimed, followed by final rounds

Final scoring

Players score Victory Points from

Regions

Points earned during Empire Scoring rounds

Cities and towns

Cities score 2 VP each, Towns score 1 VP each

Wonders

Score as shown on Wonder tiles

Golden Ages and achievements

Score printed VP values

Projects and technologies

Score based on Pillars or icons shown