How to Play

Yspahan

2-4 players 45-60 min 7.0 Board Game Geek Rating

Merchants compete for wealth in 16th-century Persia's capital city. Players draft actions based on dice rolls, placing goods in shops, sending traders via caravan, and constructing beneficial buildings. Points are earned through shop placement, caravan trading, and infrastructure development. Scoring occurs every seven turns over three weeks, with the highest-scoring merchant winning.

Published 2006

Yspahan

Get Ready

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

1
Place the game boards
Arrange the City Map, Tower board, and Caravan board as shown in the rulebook diagrams
2
Position the Supervisor
Place the white Supervisor pawn on the central space of the street on the City Map
3
Set the time trackers
Place the week marker on space 1 of the week track and the day marker on space 1 of the day track
4
Prepare dice
Place the 9 white dice and 3 yellow dice near the Tower board
5
Create the general reserve
Divide Gold coins and Camels into a shared supply accessible to all players
6
Shuffle and place cards
Shuffle the 18 cards and place them face down in an accessible location
7
Distribute player components
Each player chooses a color and takes their matching cubes and individual player board
8
Set up scoring
Each player places one of their cubes on space 0 of the scoring track
9
Give starting resources
Each player receives 2 Gold coins
10
Determine first player
The oldest player takes the black "first player" pawn
11
Adjust for 3 players
The first camel of each line on the Caravan board is not used (lighter colored ones)

On Your Turn

What you can do during your turn.

1
Roll the dice
The first player takes the 9 white dice and may pay 1 Gold per yellow die to add them
2
Sort dice by value
Group all dice showing the same number together regardless of color
3
Place dice on Tower
Fill the Tower board from bottom to top, placing the lowest value group on the Camel space
4
Place highest group on Gold
The highest value dice group always goes on the Gold space at the top, potentially leaving middle spaces empty
5
Remove yellow dice
After the first player's action, remove yellow dice from the Tower so only they benefit from them
6
Select a dice group (mandatory)
Remove one group of dice from the Tower; that group becomes unavailable to other players
7
Choose one action from the selected space
Each Tower space offers three action options
8
Take Camels
Take Camels from the general reserve equal to the number of dice in the group
9
Move the Supervisor
Move the Supervisor along the street a number of spaces equal to the dice value
10
Draw a card
Take one card from the deck regardless of dice number or value
11
Take Gold
Take Gold coins from the general reserve equal to the number of dice in the group
12
Move the Supervisor
Move the Supervisor along the street a number of spaces equal to the dice value
13
Draw a card
Take one card from the deck
14
Supply shops
Take cubes from your reserve equal to the dice count and place them in shops of the corresponding quarter
15
Move the Supervisor
Move the Supervisor a number of spaces equal to the dice value
16
Draw a card
Take one card from the deck
17
One cube per shop
You may only place one cube in each shop
18
Respect opponent's souks
You cannot place cubes in a souk where another player already has cubes
19
Complete before starting new
You cannot place cubes in a new souk if you have an incomplete souk in the same quarter
20
No obligation to finish
You may finish one souk and start another in the same turn
21
Lose excess cubes
If the dice allow more cubes than available shops, excess cubes return to your reserve
22
Pay to modify movement
Spend Gold to increase or reduce movement by one space per Gold spent
23
Stop completely
You may reduce movement to zero by paying Gold
24
No backtracking
The Supervisor cannot move back and forth on the same space during one movement
25
Trigger cube shipping
If the Supervisor stops adjacent to shops containing cubes, those cubes are sent to the Caravan
26
Choose shipping order
The player who moved the Supervisor decides the order cubes are shipped
27
Save cubes with Camels
Discard a Camel to keep your cube in the shop and send a cube from your reserve to the Caravan instead
28
Fill in order
Place cubes on camels starting from the bottom left, filling each camel in sequence
29
Score immediately
Earn 2 points for bottom row, 1 point for middle row, 0 points for top row when placing
30
Empty when full
When all 12 camel spaces are filled, score the Caravan and return cubes to players
31
Pay the cost
Spend the required Gold and Camels to construct a building on your player board
32
Mark construction
Place a cube on the building space on your player board
33
Earn victory points
First two buildings give 0 points; third, fourth, and fifth give 5 points each; sixth gives 10 points
34
Build in any order
You are not required to build in the order shown on your board
35
Build each once
Each building type can only be constructed once
36
The Enclosure (2 Camels)
Gain 1 extra Camel when taking Camels from the Tower
37
The Shop (2 Camels, 2 Gold)
Gain 2 extra Gold when taking Gold from the Tower
38
The Hammam (2 Camels, 2 Gold)
Modify Supervisor movement up to 3 spaces for free when choosing that action
39
The Caravanserai (3 Camels, 3 Gold)
Draw a card whenever one of your cubes is sent to the Caravan
40
The Bazaar (4 Camels, 4 Gold)
Earn 2 bonus points per completed souk at week's end
41
The Crane (4 Camels, 4 Gold)
Place 1 extra cube for free when supplying shops in a quarter
42
Discard during dice selection
Discard one card to gain one additional die's worth of resources or cubes
43
Play for effect anytime
Use cards during your turn for their printed effects with no limit on number played
44
Reshuffle when empty
If the deck runs out, shuffle discards to form a new deck
45
Draw a card
If no dice groups remain, draw the top card from the deck without removing any dice
46
Clear the Tower
Remove all remaining dice from the Tower board
47
Advance the day
Move the day marker forward one space
48
Pass first player
The player to the left of the current first player becomes the new first player
49
Score quarters
Each player earns points for each completed souk based on its printed value
50
Apply Bazaar bonus
Players with the Bazaar earn 2 additional points per completed souk
51
No points for incomplete
Incomplete souks score nothing
52
Clear quarters
Return all cubes from shops to players' reserves
53
Score Caravan
Multiply your cube count by the value of the highest row containing your cube
54
Keep Caravan cubes
The Caravan is not emptied at week's end
55
Reset for new week
Advance week marker, reset day marker to 1, place Supervisor in central space
56
New first player
The player to the left of the current first player starts the new week
57
Reverse order on final day
On day 7 of week 3, play proceeds from lowest to highest score instead of normal turn order
58
Break ties by distance
If scores are tied, the player furthest clockwise from day 6's first player goes first

Winning

How to claim victory.

1
Complete three weeks
The game ends after the third week is fully played (21 total days)
2
Highest score wins
The player with the most victory points on the scoring track wins the game
3
Share victory on tie
If players are tied for the highest score, they share the victory

watch & Learn

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FULL rules

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