Game Objective

In Glass Road, you are tasked with producing glass over four building periods. To succeed, you must produce glass, bricks, and collect wood and clay to construct various buildings. The ultimate goal is to accumulate the highest score, which is determined exclusively by the value of your buildings. To achieve this, you will employ a variety of specialists to provide goods, Landscape tiles, and construction services.

Setup

Follow these steps to prepare the game:

• Boards and Wheels: Each player receives a Landscape board and a Production board. Assemble the Production wheels (Glassworks wheel in green and Brickworks wheel in red) by attaching the dials and cardboard rings using the plugs. Rotate both wheels so the longer pointer points upwards.
• Tokens: Attach stickers to the wooden discs. Place the Quartz sand token in brown sector 0, Food in sector 1, Charcoal in sector 2, Water in sector 3, and Wood in sector 4 on the Glassworks wheel. On the Brickworks wheel, place Clay in sector 1 and Food in sector 2.
• Landscape: Place 6 Forest tiles, 2 Pits, 2 Groves, and 2 Ponds on your Landscape board as depicted.
• Building Board: Use the side of the Building board corresponding to the number of players (1-3 players or 4 players). Sort Building tiles into three stacks based on their back symbols (arrow, hour glass, and purse) and shuffle them. Place about half of each stack face-down to the left of the board. Draw 4 tiles from each stack (5 if playing with 4 players) and place them on the spaces next to the stacks.
• Cards and Start Player: Each player takes a set of 15 Specialist cards of one color. Randomly determine who receives the Start player goblet.

Game Flow

The game is played over four building periods. Each building period consists of three card rounds. A card round follows this sequence:

1. Selection: Each player picks 1 Specialist card from their hand and places it face-down.
2. Revelation: Starting with the player holding the Start player goblet, players reveal their cards in clockwise order.
3. Resolution: Cards are resolved immediately in clockwise order. If a player reveals a card and other players have a copy of that same card in their hand, those players must play their copy immediately, placing it in one of the two indentations on the right of their Landscape board.

At the end of a building period:

• Refill empty spaces on the Building board from the stacks.
• Pass the Start player goblet to the next player in clockwise order. (Note: In a 3-player game, at the end of the third period, the goblet goes to the player with the fewest buildings).

Actions and How to Play

Using Specialist Cards

Each Specialist card has two abilities. The number of abilities you can use depends on who else played the card:

• Solo Resolution: If you are the only player to resolve a specific Specialist card, you may use both of its abilities in any order.
• Shared Resolution: If at least one other player plays a copy of the same card, each involved player may only use one of the two abilities.

Important Rules:

• Entry Fees: Some cards require an entry fee paid before using any ability. If you cannot pay, you cannot use the card, but it is still considered "played," affecting opponents' efficiency.
• Hand Limit: You can only play two cards from your hand outside your turn (via the indentations). Once these are full, you cannot play cards on opponents' turns.
• Card Selection: At the start of each building period, secretly choose 5 Specialist cards from your set of 15.

Production and Wheel Rotation

Production wheels track your goods. When gaining goods, move the token clockwise; when paying, move it counter-clockwise. Basic goods cannot move past sector 7.

Wheel Rotation: A wheel must be rotated clockwise when the brown sector 0 is empty. If both brown sectors (sector 0 in the large area and sector 3 in the small area) are empty simultaneously, the wheel must be rotated immediately. This represents the production of a refined good (Glass or Bricks).

Building and Upgrading

When a card allows you to build, pay the costs in Wood, Glass, Clay, or Bricks. There are three types of buildings:

• Processing buildings: Provide a trade ability that can be used as an anytime-action.
• Immediate buildings: Provide a one-time effect upon construction.
• Bonus buildings: Provide points at the end of the game.

Placement: Buildings with a wooden structure icon are placed on empty Landscape board spaces. Buildings with a brick pattern are upgrades and must be placed on top of a specific Start building.

Anytime-actions

These can be performed at any time, even outside your turn:

• Using the trade ability of a Processing building.
• Removing Landscape tiles (Pits, Groves, Ponds) to create empty space.

End of Game and Scoring

The game ends after four building periods. Before scoring, players may use their Processing buildings any number of times.

Scoring: Add up the values of all your buildings.

• Bonus buildings: Points depend on specific requirements (e.g., the Glassmaker’s Colony is worth 0.5 points per Quartz sand).
• Upgrades: If a Start building was upgraded, you only score points for the upgrade, not the original building.

The player with the highest score wins. In case of a tie, there are multiple winners.

Tips for Winning

• Wheel Stoppers: Consider intentionally leaving Food or Charcoal on 0 to act as a "wheel stopper," preventing a rotation that might cause you to lose a newly gained good.
• Early Game Focus: Prioritize Processing buildings early on; their repeatable abilities are critical for jump-starting your economy.
• Strategic Card Selection: Anticipate your opponents' choices. Choose cards you think others won't pick to ensure you can use both abilities, but also pick cards others are likely to play to benefit from their forced plays.