Objective of the Game

Centuries ago, the spice trade was the most important market in the world, establishing and destroying empires, and compelling man to explore the far corners of the earth. In Century: Spice Road, you find yourself leading your caravan across the eastern lands to the Mediterranean Sea in search of wealth and fortune. As a caravan leader, your journey begins on the Spice Road.

Your goal is to become the most renowned spice merchant! You'll do this by collecting Point cards, along with valuable gold and silver tokens, and the remaining spices in your caravan. The player with the most points at the end of the game wins!

Preparation (Setup)

Let's get those caravans ready! Here’s how to set up your game of Century: Spice Road:

1. Shuffle the Point cards (orange back) to form a deck. Draw 5 cards and place them face up in a row to the left of the deck.
2. Place a pile of gold tokens (equal to the number of players x2) above the first (leftmost) Point card. Then, place a pile of silver tokens (equal to the number of players x2) above the second Point card.
3. Among the Merchant cards (purple back), find the 10 cards with a purple border. These are the starting cards. Each player receives one 'Create 2' and one 'Upgrade 2' card to form their starting hand. Any remaining starting cards are returned to the box.
4. Shuffle the remaining Merchant cards to form a deck. Draw 6 cards and place them face up in a row to the left of that deck.
5. Separate the spice cubes by color and place them into their bowls. The order of the colored cubes should be: Yellow (Turmeric), Red (Saffron), Green (Cardamom), Brown (Cinnamon).
6. Take a Caravan card (grey back) for each player, ensuring you include the card with the first player symbol. Shuffle them and deal one card face up in front of each player. The player with the first player symbol on their Caravan card is the first player.
7. Place yellow and red cubes on each player’s Caravan card according to the following:
   • 1st player gets 3 yellow cubes
   • 2nd player gets 4 yellow cubes
   • 3rd player gets 4 yellow cubes
   • 4th player gets 3 yellow and 1 red cube
   • 5th player gets 3 yellow and 1 red cube

Taking a Turn

Century: Spice Road is played over a series of rounds. Each player takes one turn per round, starting with the first player and proceeding clockwise. On your turn, you must perform one of the following four actions:

1. Play a Card

To play a card from your hand, place it face up in front of you and execute its effect. There are three types of Merchant cards you can play:

• Spice Cards: Take the number and color of cube(s) shown on the card from the bowls and add them to your caravan. For example, a card showing "1 Red, 1 Yellow" means you take one red and one yellow cube.
• Upgrade Cards: When playing an 'Upgrade 2' card, you may upgrade a cube on your caravan one level, and then upgrade a cube one level again. You don't have to use both upgrades. The upgrade levels are: Yellow (Turmeric) → Red (Saffron) → Green (Cardamom) → Brown (Cinnamon). You can upgrade the same cube twice (e.g., yellow to green) or two different cubes once (e.g., yellow to red, and another yellow to red).
• Trade Cards: Return the number and color of cube(s) shown above the arrow from your caravan to the bowls. Then, take the number and color of cube(s) shown below the arrow from the supply and add them to your caravan. A trade can be done any number of times in a row as long as you have the appropriate cubes available. For instance, if a card allows you to trade 2 yellow for 1 green, and you have 6 yellow cubes, you can trade for 1, 2, or 3 green cubes.

2. Acquire a Merchant Card

To acquire a Merchant card from the row, you first pay for it. Place any cube from your caravan on each Merchant card to the left of the card you want to acquire. Then, take the desired Merchant card into your hand. If you acquire the leftmost Merchant card, it's free – no cubes are placed!

Any cubes that were already on the acquired card are placed on your caravan. After acquiring, slide the remaining cards to the left to fill the empty slot, then draw a new card from the Merchant deck to fill the leftmost empty slot.

3. Rest

To rest, simply take all of the cards you've played face up in front of you back into your hand. This is how you "reset" your hand to use your powerful cards again!

4. Claim a Point Card

To claim a Point card, you must have all of the cubes shown on that card in your caravan. Return those cubes to the bowls. Take the Point card and place it face down in front of you.

After claiming, slide the remaining Point cards to the left to fill the empty slot, then draw a new card from the Point deck to fill the leftmost empty slot. If you claim the leftmost or second leftmost Point card, take one gold or silver token from above that card. If you take the last gold token, slide the pile of silver tokens so it is now above the leftmost Point card.

Caravan Limit

At the end of your turn, if you have more than 10 cubes on your caravan, you must return cubes of your choice to the bowls until you are at your limit of 10.

Cube Limit

The cube supply is not limited. If a supply is exhausted, use a substitute material.

End of Game and Scoring

The game ends once a player has taken their fifth Point card (or sixth in a 2-3 player game). Players then finish out the current round of play.

At that point, each player counts up all of their points:

• Points from their collected Point cards.
• Each gold token is worth 3 points.
• Each silver token is worth 1 point.
• Each non-yellow cube remaining in their caravan is worth 1 point.

The player with the most points wins! If there's a tie, the last player to take a turn wins the tie.

Tips for Winning

To become a master spice merchant, keep these tips in mind:

1. Efficiently Acquire Merchant Cards: Don't be afraid to pay a cube or two to get a powerful Merchant card earlier. The cards you acquire can significantly boost your production and trade capabilities. Sometimes paying a "tax" is worth it for a better engine!
2. Balance Production and Upgrading: You'll need a good mix of Spice cards to generate raw materials and Upgrade cards to refine them into more valuable spices. Don't focus too heavily on just one type of card early on.
3. Watch the Point Cards: Keep an eye on the available Point cards and the spices they require. Plan your turns to collect the necessary cubes, especially for the leftmost cards that grant valuable gold and silver tokens. Sometimes it's worth rushing a cheaper Point card for the bonus tokens!