How to Play

The Pillars of the Earth

2-4 players 90-120 min 7.3 Board Game Geek Rating

Players compete as builders constructing a 13th-century English cathedral in this Ken Follett novel adaptation. Workers gather raw materials and gold while craftsmen convert resources into victory points. Three master builders per turn handle recruitment, trading, and scoring. Success requires balancing gold income for purchases against direct victory point accumulation through strategic resource management.

Published 2006

The Pillars of the Earth

Get Ready

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

1
Lay out the board
Place the main board in the center and choose a 1st player
2
Select player color
Each player chooses a color and takes their components
3
Take workers
Receive 7 small workers and 1 large worker (large equals 5 small workers)
4
Take Master Builders
Receive 3 Master Builders and place them in the black bag
5
Place scoring disks
Put one disk on space 2 of the score track and one on the money track at the bottom of the board
6
Receive starting coins
1st player gets 20 coins, 2nd gets 21, 3rd gets 22, 4th gets 23
7
Take starting Craftsmen
Receive 3 starting Craftsmen cards and lay them face-up in front of you (maximum 5 Craftsmen during game)
8
Place Cathedral pieces
Put the 6 wooden Cathedral pieces near the board as the round counter
9
Prepare Craftsmen deck
Sort 24 Craftsmen cards by backs, shuffle each stack, create deck in order 1/2/3/4/5/6 (top to bottom)
10
Prepare Privilege deck
Set aside 2 cards with special symbols, remove 4 cards from remaining deck without looking, shuffle remaining 10, place the 2 set-aside cards on bottom
11
Prepare Event cards
Shuffle 10 Event cards and place 6 face-down in the upper right board space, return remaining to box
12
Place resource cubes
Put Sand, Wood, and Stone cubes in their respective board areas; place Metal cubes off-board near lower left
13
Stock the market
Place 4 Sand, 4 Wood, and 4 Stone cubes in the market on their spaces
14
Place Metal at King's Court
Put 1 Metal cube on the tent at #9 King's Court
15
Place grey workers
Put 4 grey workers on #11 Shiring Castle; black worker stays beside board
16
Set Cost Track
Place black wooden disk on space 7 of the Cost Track

On Your Turn

What you can do during your turn.

1
Reveal Privilege cards
Flip top 2 cards face-up and place 1 in each space at #4 Kingsbridge
2
Set out Craftsmen
Take top 4 Craftsmen cards, place 2 at #10 Shiring and 2 below the board
3
Set out Resource cards
Randomly choose 7 of 9 Resource cards and place face-up below the board with the Craftsmen
4
Choose a card or pass
Starting with 1st player clockwise, each player either takes 1 Resource card, 1 Craftsmen card, or passes
5
Take a Resource card
Place card in your area and put the appropriate number of workers on the matching board location (Quarry/Forest/Gravel Pit)
6
Worker requirement
You cannot take a Resource card if you lack the required number of workers
7
Take a Craftsmen card
Pay the coin cost shown and add the card to your collection
8
Pass your turn
Place remaining workers at #3 Wool Mill; you cannot reenter this phase
9
End phase
Continue until all players pass or no cards remain
10
Draw from bag
1st player draws 1 Master Builder from the black bag
11
Pay or pass
Owner chooses to pay 7 coins to place on any empty silver space, or pass
12
Track the cost
After each draw, move black marker down one space on Cost Track (from 7 to 6, etc.)
13
Delayed placement
If passing, place that Master Builder on the current Cost Track space for later
14
Free placement
When marker reaches 0, continue drawing but owners place for free
15
Place remaining builders
Once bag is empty, place Master Builders on Cost Track spaces for free (from #7 down to 0)
16
1st player peek ability
Once per round when drawing, 1st player may look at a Master Builder and choose to return it and draw again
17
Placement restrictions
Must place on empty silver spaces; some locations have only 1 space; same player can occupy both spaces at #4, 5, and 10; only 1 Master Builder per player allowed at #9 and 12
18
#1 Events
Flip top event card and apply effects immediately
19
#2 Archbishop's Office
If placed here, either gain protection from negative Event or take 1 resource cube from market
20
#3 Wool Mill
Earn 1 coin per Worker placed here (maximum 30 coins total)
21
#4 Kingsbridge
Take the Privilege card next to your Master Builder
22
#5 Kingsbridge Priory
Earn VP shown next to your Master Builder
23
#6/7/8 Resource Collection
Take cubes owed from Resource cards and retrieve all your Workers
24
#9 King's Court
First player placed takes the Metal cube; then roll die and all players without a Master Builder here pay that many coins in taxes
25
#10 Shiring
Take the Craftsman next to your Master Builder for free (remember 5 Craftsman limit)
26
#11 Shiring Castle
Take 2 grey workers for use next round; return them at end of next round (no effect in final round)
27
#12 Kingsbridge Market
In Master Builder placement order, take turns performing one action or passing
28
#13 Craftsmen Work
In turn order, use Craftsmen to trade resource cubes for VP and coins as shown on cards
29
#14 Change Start Player
Player who placed here becomes new Start Player and takes the bag; if no one placed, bag passes clockwise
30
Restock market
Refill #12 resource market to full capacity
31
Replenish Metal
Place a Metal cube at #9 King's Court if empty
32
Return grey workers
Return grey workers used this round to #11 Castle (not newly obtained ones)
33
Reset Cost Track
Return black marker to #7 space
34
Refill bag
Place all Master Builders back in the black bag

Winning

How to claim victory.

1
Game length
The game is played over exactly 6 rounds
2
Track progress
Each Cathedral piece placed marks one completed round
3
Game end trigger
Placing the 6th Cathedral piece signals the end of the game (end of round 6)
4
Determine winner
The player with the most Victory Points wins
5
No final scoring
Only points earned during gameplay count
6
Tiebreaker
If tied, the player with the most coins wins

watch & Learn

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FULL rules

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

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