The Downfall of Pompeii

Vesuvius is erupting, run for your lives!

From BGG:
The year is AD 79. Pompeii, sitting at the foot of Vesuvius, is at the high point in its development. People come to the city from far and wide to try to make their luck in the city. So far nobody has dreamed of the danger that will bury all of their dreams under mountains of ash just ten years later. Who will survive the eruption of Vesuvius unscathed? The simple rules make it easy to get started with The Downfall of Pompeii, a game in which a lot of tactical know-how is required – along with a little luck – in order to bring your pieces out of the city at the right time. The game falls into two halves: before and after the eruption of Vesuvius. Before the eruption, players play cards to place their pieces in buildings. After the first eruption, they can also place as many relatives as the number of pieces already in the building they placed their piece in. When Omen cards are drawn, the player can take any opponent's piece and throw it into the erupting volcano. In this manner, players try to get as many pieces onto the board as close to the exits from the city as possible. After the second eruption, the game changes. Now each player places a lava tile, which kills any pieces on that square and may block exits from the city. Then they move two pieces toward the exits, moving them a number of squares equal to the pieces on the square from which they started. The player who gets the most pieces out of the city wins. ••• The 2013 second edition of The Downfall of Pompeii includes three dual vent tiles and a new "Dual Vent" variant.

Setup

- Each player chooses a color and gets all pieces of their color (4P: discard 5 pieces).
- Shuffle the Pompeii cards and deal out 7 piles of 4 cards each.
- Shuffle the remaining Pompeii cards and all 7 Omens together to create stack A.
- Draw a pile of 10 cards from stack A (2P/3P: 15 cards) to create stack B. Remainder are stack A.
- Shuffle 1 of the AD 79 cards into stack B.
- Place stack A on top of stack B.
- Place the remaining AD 79 card on top of stack A.
- Place 2 of the 7 4-card piles on top of the stack.
- Each player takes 1 of the unused 4-card piles. The rest are discarded without looking.
- Choose a starting player.

Gameplay

- Play starts with the starting player and continues clockwise.
Phase 1 - New Citizens Move to Pompeii
- - Each player must take the following 3 actions in their described order.
  - Play 1 of the cards from your hand. If all spaces within the building are occupied, treat this card as a wild card and place in any building. Playing as a wild card does not trigger the Relatives rule.
  - Place 1 of your pieces on an open space in a building whose number matches that on the card you played.
  - Draw a card from the deck.
- First AD 79 Card - Vesuvius Seethes
  - - Immediately draw another card to replace this one when you draw it.
    - Relatives rule is now in effect.
- Omen Cards
  - - Immediately place this card in the discard pile.
    - Throw any piece on the board into the volcano.
    - Draw another card.
- Relatives Rule
  - - If you add a piece to a building that already contains 1 or more pieces, regardless of colour, you may choose to put additional pieces (relatives) in different buildings as part of your move.
    - You get a number of relatives equal to the number of pieces that are in the same part of the building you just placed in, not including the piece you just placed.
    - Each relative must be placed into either:
      
      A different building of the same colour.
      
      Another part of the same building (if it has multiple parts).
      
      A neutral (beige, non-numbered) building.
    - You many only put 1 relative into any building (regardless of number of parts) in any given turn.
    - Placing relatives does not trigger the Relatives rule again.
    - Cannot place relatives if there are no valid spots.
- Second AD 79 Card - Vesuvius Erupts!
  - - All players immediately discard all of their cards and return all remaining pieces to the box (not volcano).
    - Starting with the next player clockwise from the person that triggered the eruption, perform these steps until there are 6 lava tiles on the board:
      
      Draw a lava tile from the bag and place it onto the board.
      
      If you drew a dual vent tile (symbol on both sides), choose which symbol to use.
      
      If this is the first tile for a symbol, place it on the symbol’s starting space.
      
      Subsequent tiles of a symbol must be placed orthogonally adjacent to another tile with a matching symbol.
      
      If a tile is placed on a space that contains pieces, the pieces are thrown into the volcano.
    - After 6 lava tiles are draw, move on to Phase 2.
Phase 2 - Run for Your Lives!
- - Begins with the next player clockwise from the person who placed the sixth lava tile and continues clockwise.
  - Each player must perform the 2 steps in order.
- Draw a Lava Tile
  - - Draw a lava tile from the bag and place it orthogonally adjacent to another tile with the same symbol.
      
      If this is the first tile of a symbol, place it on the symbol’s starting space.
      
      If you drew a dual vent tile (symbol on both sides), choose which symbol to use.
    - If a tile is placed on a space that contains pieces, the pieces are thrown in the volcano.
    - Throw pieces into the volcano if they are blocked from exiting the city by lava tiles, even if they can still move.
- Move Your Pieces
  - - Move up to 2 different pieces of your colour.
    - Total number of pieces in a square determines how many spaces that piece can move.
    - May move fewer spaces if desired. Pieces may only move orthogonally but cannot move back-and-forth.
    - No limit to the number of pieces that can be in any square.
    - Moving through a gate costs 1 point of movement and saves the piece, placing it in front of yourself.
    - If a player only has 1 piece left in the city, they may use both of their movements to move the same piece twice.
    - If a piece is alone in its square at the start of your turn, you may move that piece twice instead of moving 2 different pieces. It will move only 1 space on the first turn; second turn is determined by number of pieces in the space it starts the second movement in.
    - If you have no pieces left in the city, you skip the Move your Pieces step.

End of the Game

- Game ends when the last lava tile is drawn from the bag or no pieces remain on the board. Finish your turn then end the game.
- All pieces remaining on the board are thrown into the volcano.
- Winner is the person who saved the most pieces of their colour.
- Break ties with fewest pieces in the volcano.

How to Play Videos 📹

Credit:	Keith Rudolph
Version:	1.0