How to Play Windmill Valley | Rules & Setup Guide

Get Ready

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

Place main board

Put the main board on the table

Prepare components

Place "X" tiles, Wheel Enhancement tiles, Farm Enhancement cards, Tulip Bulbs and Tool tokens near board within easy reach of all players

Assemble windmill boards

Each player assembles their windmill board using plastic pins (attach large wheel to left side, small wheel to right side matching red gear-tooth, rotate so red arrow and red spoke meet)

Shuffle wheel enhancements

Shuffle each type of Wheel Enhancement tiles separately forming stacks and place next to main board, then draw two Common, one Uncommon, and one Unique Enhancement and place in respective spaces on main board

Set up farm enhancement deck

Shuffle Farm Enhancement cards to form face-down deck, draw three cards and place face-up on respective spaces on main board

Place water markers

Place Floodgate marker and Water Level marker on lowest-numbered positions on their respective tracks on main board

Place foreign trade cards

Shuffle Foreign Trade cards and place in face-up stack on main board

Determine start player

Last person who bought flowers becomes starting player (turn order is clockwise)

Distribute player components

Give each player one Farm board, one Windmill board (randomly chosen), one player aid, one Tool token, and in their color: nine Windmill tokens and five player markers

Place player markers

Each player places big markers on "5" space of Victory Point track, starting position of Calendar track, and small marker on Guilder track on their Farm board on 4th/5th/6th/7th position if they are 1st/2nd/3rd/4th player (leave remaining small marker in player area for Queen's Wish)

Distribute starting farm enhancements

Display number of Starting Farm Enhancement cards equal to number of players plus 1 with Ability side facing up; in reverse turn order each player chooses one card and tucks it under top leftmost slot of Farm board showing ability; place remaining card on main board next to Calendar flipped to Queen's Wish side

Place player markers on market

In reverse turn order, each player places one marker on market area without another player marker; then place neutral markers (2-player: one in each of three areas; 3-player: one in each of two areas without first player's marker; 4-player: one in next area anti-clockwise from first player's marker)

Distribute starting tulip bulbs

First player receives 1 white Tulip Bulb in storage, second player yellow, third player red, fourth player violet

Place windmills in groups

Each player places their Windmills into groups in slots on left side of Farm board (top to bottom: 1/1/2/2/3)

Place calendar limit tile

When playing with less than 4 players, cover respective part of Calendar with Limit tile, leaving last column uncovered

On Your Turn

What you can do during your turn.

Floodgate adjustment (optional)

Choose to leave Floodgate marker in current position, close it (move down any number of steps for free, no Victory Points), or open it (move up any number of steps paying 1 Guilder for first step gaining 1 Victory Point, and 2 Guilder for second step gaining 3 Victory Points; cannot move in both directions same turn)

Water level adjustment

If current speed is 1, Water Level does not increase; if speed is 2, increase Water Level by 1; if speed is 3, increase Water Level by 2 (Water Level marker can never move beyond rightmost position; if at maximum at start of turn, must decrease water speed to 1)

Rotate action wheels

Move both Action Wheels together clockwise a number of steps equal to current water speed (can spend Tools to increase or decrease steps by one per Tool, but must move at least one step and no more than four)

Advance on calendar (when wheel completes rotation)

Whenever red spoke on Large Wheel aligns with or crosses red arrow, move marker one step right on Calendar track, receive common reward and select one available unique reward (mark as taken with "X" tile)

Perform one or both actions

Select one of two actions above interlocking cogs; if one action has double-action icon, may perform both actions in any order (if unable to perform any action, gain 2 Guilder instead)

Lower the Water Level

Gain rewards based on Water Level marker position and action strength (highest section: 2 Guilder or 2 Victory Points per strength; middle section: 1 Guilder or 1 Victory Point per strength; lowest section: 1 Guilder per strength), then move Water Level marker left by action's strength

Enhance the Wheels

Take Common Enhancement for free, pay 1 Guilder for Uncommon, or pay 2 Guilder for Unique; place Enhancement on any action space on either Wheel (may replace previously installed Enhancement); immediately refill empty space on main board (may spend 1 Guilder once before selecting to discard all Enhancements on display and replace with four new ones)

Gain a Farm Enhancement

May spend 1 Guilder once to discard all three cards and refill offer, then select up to one card to add as Helper (top slot, gain ability and Victory Points from space) or Contract (bottom slot, scores at game end); may replace existing card in full slots (no Victory Points bonus); immediately refill offer after action

Build a Windmill

Take Windmill from any group on Farm board, spend 0-4 Guilder based on cost, place on unoccupied space on main board connected to Market via uninterrupted path of Windmills; trace shortest path to Market (each other player's Windmill on path gives that player 1 Victory Point); receive all rewards from Fields adjacent to newly placed Windmill

Visit the Market

Pay red number cost in Guilder, move marker white number of spaces clockwise on Market, choose one reward from area next to marker and gain it (for each other marker in same area, may gain same reward again); may pay 1 Guilder once before moving to move neutral marker to different area your marker will move to; can pay 1 Guilder to another player to place marker on top of theirs

Plant Tulip Bulbs

Plant number of Tulip Bulbs indicated by multiplier (or one if no multiplier); for each bulb: select any Tulip Bulb from Storage, plant in leftmost available Tulip Patch of any row on Farm board, receive any covered printed reward immediately; slide remaining Storage bulbs left to close gaps

Conduct Foreign Trade

Either place Tulip Bulb onto Foreign Trade card (must be color not already present, receive rewards on two adjacent quarters, if four bulbs present return to supply and place card at bottom of stack) OR remove all Tulip Bulbs from card (place as many as desired into Storage, return rest to supply)

Fulfill Queen's Wish (during turn)

If you fulfill Queen's Wish card at any time during turn, immediately receive highest available Victory Points and cover value with your marker

Winning

How to claim victory.

Game end trigger

When one player reaches end of Calendar track, finish current round so each player gets same number of turns, then each player gets one more turn

Score contracts

Score each Contract card on your Farm board according to its condition

Score windmill groups

Each empty Windmill group scores Victory Points per matching color Tulip Bulb in your Patches (white: 1 VP each; yellow: 1 VP each; red: 2 VP each; violet: 2 VP each; black: 3 VP each)

Score patches

Complete rows

Score higher Victory Points if all Tulip Bulbs share same color, otherwise score lower number

Complete columns

Score Victory Points printed at top if all Tulip Bulbs are different colors, otherwise lose indicated Victory Points (applies to complete or incomplete columns with same-color bulbs)

Highest score wins

Player with most Victory Points wins. Tiebreakers in order: most Tulip Bulbs in Patches, most Tulip Bulbs in Storage, most Windmills on main board. If still tied, tied players share victory