Ravensburger The Quest for EL DORADO User Manual
Displayed below is the user manual for The Quest for EL DORADO by Ravensburger which is a product in the Board & Card Games category. This manual has pages.
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Card name
Color/symbol
Purchase price
Power
Setup symbol
Expedition Card
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DESCRIPTION
HOW THE GAME WORKS
TURN STRUCTURE
For 2 to 4 brave expedition leaders. Ages 10+
Game Design: Reiner Knizia Editing: André Maack, Daniel Greiner lllustration: Franz Vohwinkel
Deep in the dense jungles of South America lies El Dorado, the city of gold. Unlimited treasure waits in this lost kingdom —
gold, jewels, and precious artifacts. You are a group of daring adventurers who embark on a search for the lost city.
Slip into the role of brave expedition leaders and guide your team to El Dorado. Assemble a team of experts for your
expedition, acquire valuable equipment, and plan your journey wisely. Whoever crosses the border into the golden city
first wins the game and claims all the treasure.
Before reading these instructions, please follow the assembly guide and set up the game as described.
Each player starts with a face-down deck of cards— his or her expedition —to draw from.
At the beginning of the game, your deck contains the following 8 cards: 1 Sailor, 3 Explorers,
and 4 Travelers. You start each turn with 4 cards in your hand. Use expedition cards to move
through the jungle or hire more people for your expedition.
Each player’s turn consists of 3 phases:
The player with the starting player hat token starts the race and completes all 3 phases.
Then the next player in turn order does the same. Your goal is El Dorado!
1 – Play cards
Draw cards until you have
4 cards in hand.
3 – Draw cards
Put all played cards on your
discard pile.
2 – Discard played cards
Play cards to move your expedition
or to buy a new card.
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Example: Sarah plays an Explorer
and moves 1 green space.
Then she plays a Scout and moves
2 spaces.
Finally, she plays a Trailblazer and
moves onto the 3-power space.
Phase 1 – Play cards
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Play any number of cards from your hand to (A) move your playing piece and/or (B) buy up to 1 new card
for your expedition.
Each card in your hand can only be used once per turn. First, play cards that you want to use for moving. Use the rest of
your cards to buy up to 1 new card.
A – Movement
The path to El Dorado leads through different types of terrain: landscape (green, yellow, blue), rubble (gray),
and base camp (red).
Each hex space shows the requirements you have to meet to move onto it. The more symbols depicted on the space, the
more difficult it is to move there. The number of symbols equals the space’s power.
Landscape spaces
Play one card from your hand and place it above your expedition board. Most cards have a power value. The power value
allows you to move 1 or more spaces of the same type adjacent to the position of your playing piece. Then, you may play
another card to make an additional move.
Any played card must meet 2 requirements:
1. The symbol on the card must match the color/symbol on the
space that you want to move to.
2. The power value of the card must be equal or higher than
the power of the space.
If both conditions are met, you can move onto that space.
If you have “leftover” power, you may use it to continue moving to the
next space. The same 2 requirements apply, but you first subtract the
power you already spent from the played card’s power value.
You can stop moving at any time. In that case, you lose any unspent
power immediately.
Important: You cannot combine multiple cards to move onto a
landscape space with high power value!
Special spaces
To move onto a rubble or base camp space, use any cards from your hand. The number of symbols
on the space indicates the number of cards you need to play. The identity of those cards is
irrelevant.
Cards you play to move onto a base camp space aren’t discarded. Instead, they are completely
removed from the game. They won’t be used again this game.
Hint: This is a great way to get rid of weak cards from your deck and keep your expedition “lean”. This makes it possible
for you to keep drawing your best cards with the highest power level.
Important: You can never move onto mountains (black) or spaces that are already
occupied by other playing pieces.
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Choose any one card from the
market (off board cards are allowed)
and place it on your discard pile.
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Phase 2 – Discard played cards
B – Buy new cards
You can buy up to 1 card per turn, whether you have moved this turn or not.
Cards with a coin symbol are worth their power. All other cards are worth ½ a coin each. Play any number of cards and
add their values together. This is the total amount of money you can spend on the new card.
Choose a card on the market board that you can afford and put it face up on your discard pile. You may neither use that
card during this turn, nor put it directly in your hand. The card will eventually be shuffled into your draw pile with the rest
of the discard pile.
Example: John decides not to move this turn. Instead, he plans a big purchase. First, he plays all the cards from his hand:
1 Traveler, 1 Photographer, 1 Explorer, and 1 Sailor. Then he adds up their coin values:
John can now afford any card from the market board that costs 4 or less coins. He chooses the Telegraph (purchase price
4 coins) and puts in on his discard pile.
How can I buy the rest of the expedition cards?
At the beginning of the game, you may choose from any of the 6 different expedition card piles on the market board. Once
all 3 cards of a pile have been sold, you gain access to the cards next to the market board.
If there is at least one vacant spot on the market board, you may choose any expedition card that you can afford, even if
they aren’t on the market board. If the chosen card is from one of the piles next to the market board, place its pile on the
vacant spot. Each time there is a vacant spot on the market board, you have access to all remaining expedition cards.
Special cards: Items
These cards are marked by a crossed-out card symbol . Item cards can only be played once per
game. After an item card is used, remove it from the game (put back into the box). Do not place it on
your discard pile!
Exception: If you play an item card without using its function (e.g. to pass a rubble space, or to spend it
as ½ a coin), place it above the expedition board after you played it, then put it on your discard pile.
You can find an overview over all expedition cards in the glossary on page 8.
At the end of your turn, put all cards you placed above your expedition board during phase 1
(i.e. all the cards you
played excluding any cards that were completely removed from the game)
face up on your discard pile.
If you still have cards in your hand (experts or items), you can now choose to keep them in your hand for your next turn,
or discard them as well. You may decide for each card individually.
1 coin + Purchase price: 4 coins 2 coins + 1/2 a coin + 1/2 a coin = 4 coins
5
Phase 3 – Draw cards
Finally, draw cards from your draw pile until you have 4 cards in your hand.
Your draw pile is empty? If your draw pile doesn’t contain enough cards to draw for your next turn, draw as many as
possible. Then, shuffle your discard pile to form your new draw pile, then draw the rest of the cards you need.
Pass the turn to the next player in turn order.
Blockades
Blockades are obstacles on your path. The first player who wants to pass a blockade must
overcome it by fulfilling its power requirement (number of symbols on the blockade). To do that, he
or she plays cards just like he or she would for movement. That player gets to keep the blockade.
Use them as tie breakers at the end of the game. After a blockade has been removed, all players
may now freely enter the previously blocked spaces.
Blockades work exactly like other spaces.
For example, you can use a Discoverer (machete 3) to meet the machete
1 requirement, then continue moving onto an adjacent green field (if there is one).
When a player reaches one of the 3 finishing spaces, this triggers the final round
(they will then place their playing piece on El Dorado to free up the finishing
space). Each player left in that round will now play their final turn. Once the round
is completed, the game is over.
If the last player of a round reaches one of the finishing spaces first, the game
immediately ends.
What happens if the game is tied?
If the final round ends up with multiple players reaching El Dorado, the player who has collected the most blockades wins
the game. If there is still a tie, the player with the highest power blockade wins.
Assemble the game as usual. The rules for movement, market, and discarding are unchanged. Each player gets a second
playing piece in their color. The starting player places their playing pieces on starting spaces #1 and #3, the other player on
#2 and #4. To win, you must reach El Dorado first with both of your pieces. If both players manage to reach El Dorado with
their second playing piece during the final turn, use the normal tie-breaker rules.
When moving on your turn, for each card you play, choose which playing piece that card applies to. Move that playing
piece, then choose again for your next card.
You cannot use a card for both of your playing pieces by splitting up its power. Additionally, all playing pieces still function
as barriers — you can’t move onto a space that is already occupied by another playing piece — even if it is yours.
END OF THE GAME
RULES FOR 2 PLAYERS
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Draw 2 cards
from your draw pile.
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Move your playing piece
onto an adjacent space.
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Move your playing piece
onto an adjacent space.
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Anne has these 4 cards in her hand:
Phase 1 – Play cards
• First, Anne plays the Cartographer
and draws 2 additional cards from
her draw pile.
a) Next, Anne starts moving. She plays the Pioneer and moves 3 spaces
(machete 1 + machete 2 + machete 2).
b) Then, she moves onto the adjacent base camp.
To do that, she must remove one card from her hand. She chooses the Traveler and removes it from the game.
c) To continue moving, Anne plays the Prop Plane as “paddle”.
She uses it to move across the 2 adjacent river spaces (paddle 2 + paddle 1).
Since she can’t use the remaining 1 power of her Prop Plane, it goes unspent. She must remove the
Prop Plane from the game, and retuns it to the box.
d) Next, she plays the Native and moves her piece onto the rubble space. The Native allows her to
ignore a space’s requirements, which means she doesn’t have to play 3 cards from her hand.
• Anne uses her final card to buy a new card. She plays the Journalist to gain 3 coins.
• Since there is a vacant spot on the market board, she can purchase any expedition card she likes. She chooses the
Compass (2 coins) and puts it on her discard pile. Since it is only possible to buy 1 card per turn, her final coin goes
unspent.
• Finally, she puts the remaining cards from the Compass pile on the vacant spot on the market board.
Phase 2 and Phase 3
Anne puts all cards that she played this turn and placed above her expedition board on her discard pile and
draws 4 cards from her draw pile.
EXAMPLE OF A COMPLETE TURN
a) b) c)
d)
7
Play machete, coin, or
paddle tokens to move onto
same-colored spaces.
Alternatively, you can use
coin tokens to buy a card.
These tokens allow you to draw an additional card
from your draw pile. Just like the Cartographer, this
token allows you to play that card in the same turn
you drew it.
Play these tokens to remove any card in your hand
from the game.
These tokens allow you to replace the cards in your
hand. When you play the token, play up to 4 cards
from your hand above your expedition board, then
draw that many cards from your draw pile.
Play this token immediately after using an item
card. Instead of removing that item from the
game, put it on your discard pile during phase 2
or your turn.
After playing this token, you are allowed to move
onto or past an occupied space for the rest of
your turn. Mountains are still off-limits.
This token works just like the Native. Use this
token to move onto any adjacent space, ignoring
its requirements. You can’t use this token to
move onto an occupied space or a mountain.
Play this token to change the symbol of the next
card you play. For example, you can use a
Trailblazer (machete 3) as a coin 3 or paddle 3.
Once you have proven your exploration prowess by playing a few games, try the caves variant. Your goal is still
to be the first expedition to reach El Dorado, but additionally you have the option to explore caves on the way.
Within those caves you find tokens that give you an additional advantage.
During setup, shuffle all 36 cave tokens. Create face-down piles of 4 tokens each, and place one pile on every mountain
space that shows a cave.
If your playing piece comes to a stop next to a cave, explore it. (Your piece must stop there, you can’t explore while
passing a cave.) To explore the cave, take the top cave token from the pile and put it face up in front of you. You can own
as many cave tokens as you like and play them during your turn.
Note: To explore the same cave again, you first need to move away from the cave, stopping on a space that is not adjacent
to the cave. Then you can move your piece to a space next to the cave again. You can’t move “alongside” a cave to get
multiple tokens!
Once you have collected a cave token, you can play it any time during your current turn, or during any of your later turns.
Played cave tiles are removed from the game. Return them to the box after use.
Example: Julian plays a Scientist and moves his piece onto the jungle space next to the cave.
He takes the top cave token and places it face up in front of him. Julian immediately uses
the cave token to move to the next space. That space is also next to the cave, but since he
moved from one adjacent space to the next, he won’t get another cave token. Optionally,
Julian could have saved his cave token for a later movement or to purchase a card.
The game contains the following cave tokens:
CAVES VARIANT
2x
3x
2x
4x
2x
2x
2x
2x
4x
3x
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Draw 1 card from your draw pile.
Then choose up to 1 card in your hand
and remove it from the game.
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Choose any one card from the
market (off board cards ar e allowed)
and place it on your discard pile.
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Draw 2 cards from your draw pile.
Then choose up to 2 cards in your hand
and remove them from the game.
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Draw 3 cards
from your draw pile.
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Move your playing piece
onto an adjacent space.
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Draw 2 cards
from your draw pile.
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Expedition cards
Green cards help
you clear a path
through the jungle.
Yellow cards give
you coins to travel
through villages
or hire new team
members.
Blue cards give you paddles to
move across rivers.
White jokers allow you to choose
one of the three symbols
whenever you play them: machete,
paddle, or coin.
GLOSSARY
Action cards
Purple action cards can be played at any time during
your turn, either while moving or while buying. Follow the
card’s instructions and then continue playing. Don’t forget
to remove cards with the symbol from the game after
using them!
When you play the
Transmitter
you may take
any expedition card without paying for it.
Choose any card on the market board or next
to it. Put the new card on your discard pile, as
usual. Remember to remove the Transmitter
from the game after using it.
The
Cartographer
allows you to draw 2 cards
from your draw pile and play them this turn.
If your draw pile is empty, first shuffle your
discard pile as usual, then draw.
The
Compass
allows you to draw 3 cards, but
you must remove it from the game after use.
Use the
Scientist
to optimize your expedition.
She allows you to immediately draw an
additional card and then, if you want to, you
may remove any card in your hand from the
game.
The
Travel Log
lets you draw 2 cards and
then remove up to 2 cards in your hand from
the game. Unfortunately, the Travel Log then
removes itself from the game.
The
Native
knows the lay of the land and
always lets you move one space when
played. Ignore that space’s requirements and
just place your piece on it. The Native can
also tear down blockades, but you can’t use
it to move to an occupied space or onto a
mountain space.
© 2017 Ravensburger Spieleverlag
Ravensburger North America, Inc.
Distribution Center
1 Puzzle Lane, Newton, NH 03858
www.ravensburger.com
235315
Credits: Reiner Knizia thanks all test players who helped develop El Dorado,
especially Iain Adams, Sebastian Bleasdale, Drak, Martin Higham, Ross Inglis,
Kevin Jacklin, Chris Lawson and Dave Spring.