Cromlet Board Game Instructions

PLAYERS

Recommended for 2 to 5 players, ages 8 to Adult. Accommodates individual players or two teams of two.

Game Board
105 Playing Cards (representing each of the 100 Coin quantities on the game board plus five “Wild” cards)
126 Colored Crowns for game play (33 blue, 33 red, 20 yellow, 20 green, 20 orange)
One Game Instruction Booklet with Color Illustrations
One Score Pad

OBJECT

Cromlets are ancient Coins of very high value made from a variety of precious metals. There are twenty different Coins on the game board, each with a unique name and design. Each Coin has three to seven different quantities available to claim.

Players compete for high score by claiming Coins at strategic times during the game. Players attempt to claim the highest quantity of each Coin in order to maximize their total number of Coins. The player with the greatest quantity of Coins at the end of the game wins.

PREPARATION

Each player chooses their Crown color based on the number of players:

2 Players – use blue and red Crowns

3 or more players – use any Crown color.

Each player selects a card from the deck of cards. The player selecting the card with the highest quantity is the dealer. Play begins to the left of the dealer and rotates clockwise. Dealer will shuffle the playing cards and deal seven cards, one at a time to each player. Place the remaining deck of cards face down on the “Cromlet Deck” square on the game board.

CLAIMING CROMLETS

Each Coin is claimed only once during the game. Players may not claim multiple quantities of the same Coin. Once a Coin is claimed, it is “closed” and unavailable for play. Coins may be claimed when a player plays either the card matching a Coin quantity or a “Wild” card.

A Coin quantity may only be claimed when all LOWER quantities for that Coin have been closed (covered by Crowns) from previous play.

For example, the “Kir” Coin contains three quantities of Coins: 4, 7 and 10.
Since Kir 4 is the lowest quantity, it may be claimed immediately by the player who plays the Kir 4 playing card. But a quantity of 4 is so low it is not likely to be claimed by this player.

The player playing the Kir 7 card may claim the Kir Coin for 7 Coins if Kir 4 was previously played.

The player playing the Kir 10 card may claim the Kir Coin for 10 Coins if Kir 4 and Kir 7 were both previously played.

Players are limited to the number of different Coins they may claim during the game (of the twenty on the game board), as follows:

2 Players - maximum of 10 different Coins per player.
3 Players - maximum of 7 different Coins per player – the last player to claim their Coins can only claim six.
4 Players - maximum of 5 different Coins per player.
5 Players - maximum of 4 different Coins per player.

The timing of a player’s decision as to when to claim a Coin is a key strategy of the game. If players claim a Coin too soon, they collect a lower Coin quantity. If players wait too long, another player may steal the Coin they intended to claim.

When a player plays a Crown on the last open quantity for an unclaimed Coin, they must claim that Coin and score that last open quantity.

GAME RULES

For each turn, play a card by laying it down in front of the player on a discard pile, face up. Each player maintains their own discard pile.

The order that players may play their cards is as follows:

First, if a player holds a card representing the lowest open quantity (those without a Crown covering them) of any of the twenty Coins, they must play that card. If they have more than one card representing the lowest open quantity of a Coin, they may play any of those cards, but they must play one of them.
If a player does not hold any cards matching the lowest open quantity of any of the twenty different Coins, they may play any card from their hand on any open quantity of an unclaimed Coin.
There are five “Wild” Cards. They may be played during a turn at any time, but are never required to be played. A “Wild” Card may be played on any “open” quantity (those without a Crown covering them) of any unclaimed Coin.

Place a Crown on the quantity of the Coin matching the playing card. At this time, the player will decide whether to claim the Coin. Remember, a Coin quantity may only be claimed when all LOWER quantities of that Coin have been closed (covered by Crowns) from previous play. Players generally do not claim Coins until later in the game when they can score higher quantities.

The player will then draw a new card from the deck. Players should hold seven cards at all times throughout the game until the deck is gone. If a player forgets to draw a card during their turn, they may draw a card immediately upon realizing their missing card.

A player may claim the Coin and score the quantity of the card they play immediately after playing their card, as long as all lower quantities of that Coin are covered from previous play.

When a player claims a Coin, they will score the quantity stated on the card they played, and will place one of their Crowns on the Large Coin in the center of the game board. This will signify that the player claimed that specific Coin and it is “closed” to further play. The player will then return all other Crowns on that Coin to the appropriate players. Once claimed, a Coin should only contain the Crown of the player who claimed the Coin, placed on the Large Coin in the center of the game board.

Once a player has claimed their limit of different Coins, they must still play the game as normal, but they may not claim additional Coins. If this player does happen to play a Crown on the last open quantity of a Coin, no points are scored since this player has already claimed their limit of different Coins.

“Dead” Card(s) trade-in option

When a Coin is claimed, all un-played cards for that Coin become “dead” cards. This situation will occur frequently during play. These “dead” cards may no longer be played.

When a player has “dead” cards in their hand, they may forfeit one of their turns in order to replace up to two “dead” cards with new card(s) from the deck. They will place the “dead” card(s) they are trading onto their discard pile, face up.

A player may exercise the “dead” card trade-in option only if they do not hold any cards matching the lowest open quantity of any unclaimed Coin. They may, however, exercise this trade-in option even though they hold a “Wild” card. When forfeiting a turn to exercise the trade-in option, no other action is taken by this player. Play moves onto the next player.

END OF GAME

The game ends when a player can no longer play a card following the rules above. This will occur only after all cards in the deck have been drawn by the players. When a player runs out of cards, or has only “dead” cards remaining in their hand, the game ends immediately.

The player with the highest quantity of Coins wins!

GAME STRATEGIES

Several strategies to consider during the game are as follows:

Strategy #1: Don’t claim a Coin too soon and collect a lower quantity than if you waited to claim a higher quantity later in the game. Remember, you are limited as to the total number of different Coins you can claim during the game, so be patient and selective.

Strategy #2: Don’t wait too long to claim a Coin. If you wait too long, another player may claim the Coin during their turn using a different quantity card or a “Wild” card. Also, when it gets near to the end of the game and the deck of cards is nearly gone, players will want to start claiming the remaining unclaimed Coins before the game is ended by a player who can no longer play any cards.

Strategy #3: When a player does not hold any cards representing the lowest open quantity of any remaining unclaimed Coins, they may play anywhere on the game board. Players should either play their lower quantity cards or their highest quantity cards such as 15 and 16 since it is likely that the Coins will be claimed by other players before the player can play these high quantity cards.

TEAM PLAY

Cromlet is a great game to play with two teams of two players. Each team can claim a maximum of ten different Coins during play. Players may try to execute some great strategical moves with partners, provided the other team doesn’t ruin their strategy. There should be no discussion about strategy between team members during play.