How to Play Gladiadores

Game Objective

In Gladiators, each player assumes the role of leader of a Gladiator House. The objective is to send your warriors into epic battles in the Colosseum, seeking fame and glory. Strategy in choosing weapons is crucial, as a damaged weapon or a confrontation with a powerful lion can compromise everything. The winner of the game is the player who has scored the most points in total at the end of the game.

Preparation (Setup)

1. Randomly determine a starting player, who will receive the first player card.
2. Each player chooses a color and takes all the cubes of that color (4 cubes per color: gray, orange, white, and yellow).
3. The organization of the deck and the distribution of cards to each player depend on the number of players:
   • For 3 players: Remove all number 2 and 3 cards of all suits, remove 1 lion card, and shuffle the rest. Deal 13 cards to each player.
   • For 4 players: All cards must be shuffled together. Deal 12 cards to each player.
4. After dealing the cards, 2 cards will remain and should be set aside for the round, face down.
5. Choose one side of the glory board to play (side A or side B).
   • If using side A: In the marked column (7th column), place one cube of each color in each track.
   • If using side B: Place one cube from each player in space 5.
6. Choose an area of the table to be the arena, where players will play cards.
7. Each player must designate a space in front of them to be their play area.

Game Flow

Gladiators is played in rounds, the number of which varies according to the number of players:

• 3 players - 3 rounds
• 4 players - 4 rounds

At the end of each round, partial points are counted. After the last round, the final score is checked.

Round Structure

Each round consists of battles that happen successively until players have only one card left in their hand (which will be discarded). At the end of a round, partial points are counted.

The player who won the battle starts the next one, playing a card from their hand. This will happen successively until all players have only one card left in their hand, which marks the end of the round. Everyone discards this remaining card and proceeds to the round scoring.

Battle Structure

Each battle has 4 stages:

1. Play cards into the arena
2. Check the battle winner
3. Apply effects of damaged weapon cards (if any)
4. Collect cards from the arena (winner)

Actions and How to Play

1 - Play cards into the arena

The first player plays a card from their hand into the arena. They can choose to play a combat card, a damaged weapon card, or a lion card.

• If they choose a combat card, its suit will be the leading suit in this battle.
• If starting with a damaged weapon card, the player must declare one of the card's suits as the leading suit (playing with the chosen suit facing the center of the arena).
• If they choose to start with a lion card, as it is a neutral suit, the first combat card or damaged weapon card played on the table by another player will determine the leading suit.

Then, in clockwise order and each in their turn, the other players must also play a card.

If the leading suit has already been determined, the options for cards to be played are:

• Combat card: The player must play a card of the leading suit, or, if they don't have one, they can play a card of any suit.
• Special card (lion or damaged weapon): The player can always play a damaged weapon card of any suit or a lion card, even if they have a card of the leading suit.

ATTENTION: The player must play a combat card of the leading suit if they have one in hand. If they do not, they can play a combat card of another suit. The player can choose not to play a combat card of the leading suit to play a special card (lion or damaged weapon).

2 - Check the battle winner

After all players have played a card, the winner of the battle is determined.

• If no lion card has been played, the player who played the highest card of the leading suit wins the battle.
  • ATTENTION: When cards 10 and 1 of the same suit are played in the same battle, card 1 will be considered the highest card of that suit.
• If any special card has been played, the following situations may occur:
  • A lion card was played: the lion card has a value of 11 and is considered a neutral suit. Thus, when played, it beats all other combat cards from 1 to 10.
  • More than one lion card was played: the player who played the last lion card in the arena wins the battle.
  • A damaged weapon card was played to determine the leading suit: if no lion card or combat card of the leading suit was played, the winner of the battle will be the last player who played a damaged weapon card declared of the leading suit. If no player has followed the leading suit in any way, the winner is the player who defined the leading suit by playing the first damaged weapon card.

3 - Apply effects of damaged weapon cards (if any)

Damaged weapon cards do not interfere with determining the battle winner (except in the situations described above). These cards have two sides/suits, and the player declares which one they are using when they play them, placing the defined side facing the center of the arena, and it is not mandatory to follow the leading suit. The chosen suit is always the suit represented highest on the card.

The damaged weapon card has the power to:

• Eliminate the lowest card of the chosen suit from the battle;
• Or, if that is not possible: Eliminate the lowest card of the chosen suit that is already in the battle winner's play area.

If more than one player plays a damaged weapon card, the resolution must happen in the order they were played. If in the current battle and in the battle winner's play area there are no combat cards of the suit chosen by the player who played the damaged weapon card, it has no effect.

Damaged weapon cards are always discarded after the battle resolution, as are the cards that were eliminated by the application of their effect.

ATTENTION: If the battle winner is the player who played the damaged weapon card and a card of that suit can be eliminated, the effect applies even if it is against themselves.

4 - Collect cards from the arena (winner)

After applying the effect of any damaged weapon cards that may have been played, the winner takes the cards according to the following situations:

• All combat cards played are of the leading suit: the winner takes all combat cards played in the arena and places them in their play area, forming a column with the values visible.
• One or more combat cards are of different suits than the leading suit: the winner takes, among the combat cards played in the arena, all of the leading suit, plus 1 combat card of their choice, forming, in their play area, columns separated by suits and with the values visible. If cards remain in the arena, they must be discarded in a face-down pile.
• There are lion cards in the arena: the battle winner takes all cards of the leading suit from the arena, plus 1 combat card of their choice (if any) and takes them to their play area, forming columns by suits and with the values visible, discarding all other remaining cards.
• The battle winner played a damaged weapon card: in this specific case, after applying the effect of each damaged weapon, the battle winner takes all remaining cards of the leading suit from the arena, plus 1 combat card of their choice (if any) and takes them to their play area forming columns by suits and with the values visible, discarding any other cards that may have remained.

ATTENTION: All cards discarded after the end of a battle must form a single face-down discard pile.

Preparation for the next round

The first player card must be passed to the player on the left. All cards in play must be shuffled (including those positioned in the players' play areas). Cards are dealt to players as explained in "Game Preparation," steps 2 and 3, and then the next round begins.

End of Game and Scoring

End of Game

The end of the game is triggered when:

• For 3-player games:
  • Any player reaches 15 points or more on the glory track; or
  • At the end of 3 rounds.
• For 4-player games:
  • Any player reaches 20 points or more on the glory track; or
  • At the end of 4 rounds.

Scoring (glory board side A)

End of round scoring:

At the end of the round, the following conditions are checked among players for each suit in their respective play areas:

• A) Highest quantity of cards among all players: advance the cube 1 space to the right.
• B) No cards: the cube remains where it is.
• C) At least 1 card and less than the player with the majority: check the difference between the quantity of cards of the player with the majority and the quantity you have.
  • Difference greater than or equal to 4: move the cube 2 spaces to the left.
  • Difference less than or equal to 3: move the cube 1 space to the left.

In case of ties, all tied players advance/retreat the same number of spaces following the rules above. This process is repeated for each of the 4 suits.

End of game scoring:

After the scoring of the last round, the final score is checked based on the position of each player's cubes on each of the glory tracks. The rightmost cube on the glory track of each suit scores 5 points, the next cube, 3 points, the next, 2 points, and the last, 1 point (in a 3-player game, the 1-point column is not used).

If there is a tie, players share the corresponding space and the next scoring space will be occupied by the next player. After this check, the points from the tracks of each suit are summed. The player with the highest score is the leader of the Gladiator House with the most overall glory and, therefore, the winner of the game!

In case of a tie for 1st place, compare positions on the final scoring tracks and the player who is ahead on more tracks wins. If the tie persists, the tied players share the victory!

Scoring (glory board side B)

End of round scoring:

At the end of the round, each player checks the quantity of cards of each suit they have in their play area and scores according to the criteria:

• A) Different quantities of cards of different suits in the play area: the player will take the suit with the largest quantity of cards as their best suit and the one with the smallest quantity of cards as their worst suit, ignoring suits they do not possess any cards of. The player must subtract the number of cards of their worst suit from the quantity of cards of their best suit and score according to the result. If the result is positive, the player advances on the glory track. If it is negative, the player retreats on the glory track. If the player has suits tied with the same quantity of cards, they also qualify as best suit or worst suit for scoring, and thus, the quantities of cards of all best suits and all worst suits must be summed before calculating the difference between them.
• B) Equal quantities of cards in all suits present in the play area: the player scores the sum of cards of all suits.
• C) Cards of only one suit present in the play area: the player scores equal to the number of cards of that suit.
• D) No cards in the play area: the player scores equal to the player who scored the most in that round.

End of game scoring:

Check the score of the last round and whoever has the most points at the end is the winner! If there is a tie, the one who advanced the most in the last round wins. If the tie persists, the players share the victory.

Tips for Winning

Consult the manual for details on this section.