Gamehelpchinagold

A Tactical Dice Game by Günter Cornett for 2 players of 8 years and up (Original Translation: Ben Baldanza)

What China Gold is about: Both players are searching for gold, one in the mountains and the other in the rivers. If all the gold of a prospecting area of a mountain or a river is found, the mountain or river player can claim the gold. But note that every prospecting area is at the same moment part of a mountain and part of a river. Thus the players are racing to see who can collect the gold first from each area.

The Game Board: 12 mountains, 12 rivers and 61 Prospecting Areas are shown on the game board. The Prospecting Areas are represented both as mountains (brown planes) and as rivers (blue lines).

Game Play: On each turn, the sum of the random discs indicates how many Prospecting Area Markers may be turned face up. The Prospecting Area Markers to be turned MUST lie side by side in a straight line, without a gap or previously discovered lumps of gold in between.

Instead of turning the thrown number of Prospecting Area Markers face up, the player may hide exactly one nugget again by turning one Prospecting Area Marker face down.

When the last marker in one of the player's areas (mountain or river) is turned face up, all of the gold in this area can be claimed. If the last Prospecting Area Marker in one of the opponent's areas is turned face up at the same time, the opponent then claims the gold in this area.

Small Disc Reduction: Five not yet turned Prospecting Area Markers in a straight line make two different possibilities to turn four Prospecting Area Markers face up. When there is at most one straight line of five Prospecting Area Markers neighboring in straight line that could be turned face up, the small disc 0/1 is returned to the box. For the remainder of the game, small discs 0/2 and 1/2 will be used so that only numbers from 1 to 4 will be available.

Four not yet turned Prospecting Area Markers in a straight line make two different possibilities to turn three Prospecting Area Markers face up. When there is at most one straight line of four Prospecting Area Markers neighboring in straight line that could be turned face up, the small disc 0/2 is replaced with the small disc 0/1 from the box so that only numbers from 1 to 3 will be available.

When there is at most one straight line of three Prospecting Area Markers neighboring in straight line that could be turned face up, all small discs are returned to the box. From now on the players may choose between turning a single or two neighbouring Prospecting Area Markers face up.

If turning back a Prospecting Area Marker creates a situation with more possibilities to turn free Prospecting Area Markers in straight line face up, the appropriate number of small discs is used.

Game End: When all Prospecting Areas are cleared, the player who collected the most gold is the winner !