How to Play

Tales of the Arabian Nights

2-6 players 120-120 min 7.2 Board Game Geek Rating

Players embark on Arabian adventure quests by moving across a board based on their wealth. Each turn ends with encounter cards that trigger story outcomes determined by dice rolls and character skills. Other players control your story encounters using the massive Book of Tales, creating a collaborative Choose Your Own Adventure experience. Victory goes to whoever completes their personal quest first.

Published 2009

Tales of the Arabian Nights

Get Ready

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

1
Optional Dumb Luck start
You may begin with a random Treasure but at "Beggar" wealth level
2
Prepare City Cards of Wonder
Separate City Encounter Cards from the rest of the Encounter deck
3
Set time marker
Place the time of day marker at the starting position

On Your Turn

What you can do during your turn.

1
Advance time marker
Before the first player's turn (except the very first turn), advance the time of day marker
2
Gain Life Experience
Every time the marker advances from "Night" to "Morning," all players with fewer than seven skills may either gain a new talent-level skill or gain mastery in an existing skill they used on a prior turn
3
Draw encounter cards
When you draw a City Card, keep the card and have no encounter this turn
4
Handle Terrain Cards
When drawing a Terrain Card (e.g., Barber, Magnetic Mountain), always roll the +/- fate die to alter the printed encounter matrix number
5
Use City Apothecaries
At end of turn in a city, spend 1 Wealth Level (free in Baghdad) to remove: Beast Form, Diseased, Insane, Lost, Ensorcelled, or Wounded
6
Manage Accursed status
Add one status die each time gained; roll all dice using lowest result during encounters
7
Manage Blessed status
Add one status die each time gained; roll all dice using highest result during encounters
8
Handle Crippled status
Land movement cannot exceed 2, gain +S1, cannot gain Appearance skills; lose if you gain Respected or Blessed
9
Apply Determined status
Gain +1 Movement for both sea and land
10
Manage Diseased status
Add status die each time gained; roll all dice (lowest result) when entering a city
11
Manage Fated status
Add status die each time gained; roll with every Encounter and total results; gain +D1; lose status die when using Master skill; lose when card empty or gaining Married
12
Handle Grief-Stricken status
Place half your skill tokens (round up) on card; covered skills cannot be used; remove one token at end of turn
13
Manage Imprisoned status
Cannot move or draw encounters; roll one die instead
14
Use Respected status
Add status die each time gained; once per turn substitute one status die result for a normal die; lose one die when gaining Scorned, Envious, Beast Form, or Enslaved
15
Gain Robe of Honor
Receive +1 Destiny, Respected, and Wisdom; may discard Robe of Honor and take -3S to lose any status at any time

Winning

How to claim victory.

1
Cannot win while Diseased
You must cure this status before claiming victory
2
Cannot win while Grief-Stricken
You must remove all tokens from this status card before claiming victory

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Quick look at Tales of the Arabian Nights

Quick look at Tales of the Arabian Nights

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Tales of Arabian Nights Runthrough

Tales of Arabian Nights Runthrough

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FULL rules

Looking for the full details? Grab the complete rulebook as a downloadable PDF.

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