Game Objective

Welcome to Bora Bora, a fun strategy game where you and your friends become tribal leaders in search of Greatness, pleasing the Gods, and trading Goods! The main objective is simple: be the player with the most Victory Points (VPs) at the end of the sixth round. To do this, you will need to expand your tribe, build huts, perform ceremonies, complete tasks, and, of course, win the favor of the Gods to stand out among the rest!

Preparation (Setup)

Let's set up the table for our adventure in Bora Bora!

1. First, place 6 of the 10 God tokens in a stack on the corresponding temple space on the central board.
2. Shuffle the God cards and form a face-down draw pile. Then, reveal the top five cards and place them next to the pile.
3. Each player receives the following components in their chosen color:
   • 1 player board.
   • 12 huts, which should be placed on the 12 corresponding hut spaces on their player board.
   • 6 building tokens, with the die side facing up on the 6 corresponding spaces on their player board.
   • 1 God token, placed on the corresponding space on their player board.
   • 3 dice, placed next to their player board.
   • 4 priests, placed next to their player board.
   • 2 God cards, drawn from the pile and added to their hand (keep them secret!).
   • 2 offerings from the supply, placed next to their player board.
   • 1 turn order token (drawn randomly), placed next to their player board.
4. If playing with fewer than four players, return unused components (huts, priests, building tokens, dice, turn order tokens, and God tokens) to the game box.
5. Now, let's position the markers on the scoring and status track:
   • The player with turn order token #1 places one of their markers on the starting Victory Point space on the scoring track (marked "0/100") and the other marker on the status track, below space 0.
   • The second player places their first marker on Victory Point space 1 and their second marker below the starting player's marker on the status track.
   • The remaining players do the same, placing their first markers on Victory Point spaces 2/3 and their second markers below the previous player's marker on the status track.
6. To finalize the setup, in reverse turn order, each player:
   • Places one of their huts on an empty building space in one of the four regions next to a fish token 1 on the central board.
   • Receives the corresponding resource indicated for their region from the general supply (a building material like sand, wood, or stone, or an offering token).
   • Immediately places the building material on a free and matching ceremony space on their player board, or places the offering token next to their board.
   This process continues in reverse turn order for the next player and so on. Ignore the fish tokens in these regions for now.

The Game Turn

A round in Bora Bora is divided into phases, but the manual mainly focuses on the actions you can take and the evaluation phase. Let's understand the main actions you can perform:

Possible Actions

During the game, you will be able to perform various actions to develop your tribe. Many of these actions can have their effect amplified if you spend more resources or meet certain requirements. Options include:

• Building Materials: Take 1 (or 2, or even 3) building material of your choice from the supply and place it on a matching ceremony space on your player board. They can be of different types.
• Move Hut: Move 1 (or 2, or even 3) of your huts to the 12th space on your player board.
• Victory Points: Move your scoring marker 2 (or 4, or even 6) spaces forward on the scoring track.
• God Card: Take 1 (or 2, or even 3) God card and add it to your hand.
• Offering: Take 1 (or 2, or even 3) offering from the supply.
• Status: Move your status marker 1 (or 2, or even 3) step(s) forward on the status track.
• Shell: Take 1 (or 2, or even 3) shell from the supply.

Phase C: Evaluation

Phase C is the game's evaluation phase, where points are scored and the board is prepared for the next round. Always check the status track first, followed by the temple, then the jewel tokens, and finally the task tokens.

1. Status Track:
   • Each player scores a number of Victory Points corresponding to the space their status marker is on (between 0 and 15 points).
   • Then, all status markers are returned to the space below 0, ensuring that the player who was furthest behind is at the bottom and the player who was furthest ahead is at the top.
   • Finally, the turn order tokens are reorganized: the player at the top of the stack is the starting player and receives token "#1", and so on.
2. Temple:
   • Players score Victory Points for the priests they have in the temple. In the first two rounds, each priest is worth 1 VP; in the next two rounds, each priest is worth 2 VPs; and in the final two rounds, each priest is worth 3 VPs.
   • Then, the player with the most priests in the temple receives the God token from the top of the stack, adding it to their player board. In case of a tie, the God token goes to the tied player whose priest is furthest to the left.
   • If there are no priests in the temple, the corresponding God token is removed from the game.
3. Jewel Tokens:
   • In turn order, players can choose to buy a jewel token from the current round's column, paying for that jewel by returning shells to the supply as indicated on the chosen token.
   • Purchased jewel tokens are placed face down in the appropriate space on their player board; they will yield Victory Points at the end of the game.
   • If you cannot or do not want to buy a jewel token, your turn is skipped and any remaining jewel tokens from the current round are discarded.
4. Task Tokens:
   • In turn order, players one at a time complete one of their three task tokens.
   • If the player can complete the task without help, they score 6 VPs.
   • If the player needs the help of the Yellow God to complete the task, they score 4 VPs.
   • After the task is completed, the player places the token face down in the space with the green sign on their player board, where it remains until the end of the game.
   • If the player cannot complete any of their three tasks, they must choose one task token to get rid of, returning it to the game box. No points are scored.
   • Finally, in turn order, each player chooses a new task token from the board and adds it to the newly freed space on their player board (this is also required during round 6).

Preparation for the Next Round

After Phase C, the round ends. To prepare for the next round:

• Return the two unchosen task tokens and any remaining man or woman tokens to the game box.
• Add six new man tokens and six new woman tokens to the board, along with the new task tokens (count the number of players plus 2). Do this at the beginning of round 6 as well.
• Each player takes their three dice back from the action tokens. Now the next round can begin!

The Gods

The Gods are powerful allies in Bora Bora! To play any God card, you must discard an offering. If you do not have an offering, you cannot play the card. Used God cards and offerings are returned to their respective piles/supplies.

Tip: You can play two God cards of the same color, paying only one offering, to choose any God action you want!

• Blue God (Phase A): Allows you to add a die to an action token even if its value is the same as or greater than the lowest die value on that token. You must use one Blue God card per die with this condition.
• White God (Phase A): Allows you to add a die to an action token as if its value were 6. The actual die value does not change.
• Red God (Phases A and B): Can be played when expanding (placing a hut in a new region). It allows you to score Victory Points for the fish token adjacent to the new region. The fish token remains in place for other players to score. You can only score for each fish token once per region.
• Green God (Phase B): Allows one of the following actions:
  • Double the effect of the man or woman token you are currently using.
  • Activate a second different type of man or woman.

End of Game and Scoring

The game ends after round 6. Now it's time to tally the final Victory Points!

Each player completes their three remaining task tokens (each is completed at the end of individual rounds, worth 6 VPs if completed without help, 4 VPs with the help of the Yellow God, or 0 VPs if not completed).

The final score is calculated as follows:

• 2 Victory Points for each unused God token.
• 1-6 Victory Points for each fish token adjacent to a building space containing a hut of your color.
• 1-9 Victory Points for each of your jewel tokens.

Additionally, each player scores 6 Victory Points for each of the following situations they manage to complete:

• 9 complete task tokens.
• 6 claimed jewel tokens.
• All 12 ceremony spaces filled (regardless of whether filled with building materials and/or building tokens).
• All 6 building tokens built.
• Huts added to all 12 regions.
• All 12 man/woman spaces filled with man or woman tokens.

Remaining building materials, shells, offerings, or God cards are worth nothing.

The player with the most Victory Points is the winner! In case of a tie, the winner is the tied player who played first in turn order during the last Phase C.

Tips for Winning

1. Plan Your Tasks in Advance: Task tokens are a constant source of Victory Points. Look at the available tasks and try to plan your actions to meet the requirements. Remember that you can have more than required, but never less! Prioritize tasks that align with your other strategies.
2. Manage Your Offerings and God Cards: God cards are extremely powerful and can turn the game in your favor, but they require offerings. Keep a good stock of offerings and use God cards strategically to outmaneuver your opponents, whether to place a high-value die, score for fish, or double man/woman effects.
3. Don't Underestimate the Status Track and Temple: Scoring on the status track and having priests in the temple are consistent ways to earn Victory Points each round. Pay attention to turn order and priest scoring, which increases in later rounds. Good positioning in the temple can yield additional God tokens!