How to Play Saltfjord

Game Objective

In Saltfjord, players are confronted with the constant dilemma of expanding their village or activating the buildings they already own. The game takes place in the late 19th century, in a fishing village in northern Norway, where players must decide how to shape the destiny of their village. They can complete trade orders, use dice to activate their buildings, or increase their production by constructing new buildings. The player with the most points after 3 rounds wins the game.

Preparation (Setup)

General Preparation

• Return the 8 wagons and the advanced technology tile to the game box, as they are only used in the ADVANCED GAME variant.
• Place the game board in the center of the table.
• Roll 3 white dice and 1 orange die per player. Place each die in the dice area on the game board, corresponding to its value. In a 3-player game, roll 9 white dice and 3 orange dice. All dice with a value of 4 are placed in the "4" dice area.
• Place the resource cubes in a supply next to the game board.
• Place 1 orange die per player in each of the two rows of the round tracker.
• Separate the fishing tokens by type. Place a face-down stack of tokens on each corresponding fishing space in the fjord, so that each stack contains a number of tokens equal to the number on the space. For example, place 6 type 2 fishing tokens on the type 2 fishing space.
• Separate the building tiles by type. Place a face-up stack of tiles on each corresponding building space on the game board, so that each stack contains a number of tiles equal to the number on the space.
• Separate the ability tiles and place 1 face-up tile on each of the ability spaces on the game board. The four remaining ability tiles are used during PLAYER PREPARATION.
• Separate the crate tiles and place a stack of 11 random face-down tiles on each crate space on the game board.
• Take the 4 starting crate tiles and place one random face-up tile on top of each stack.
• Separate the scoring tiles and place 1 random face-up tile on each of the purple spaces (top space of each technology track). Return the remaining scoring tiles to the box.

Player Preparation

Each player takes:

• A random player board. Place it in your play area. All players must play with the same side face up (the side without the village name).
• A storage board. Place it to the right of your player board.
• A boat tile. Place it basic side up, in the play area of your player board.
• 1 boat token of your player color. Place it in the harbor, at the beginning of the fjord.
• 3 workers. Place 1 worker on the worker space of your player board and the other 2 workers on the indicated spaces of the left technology track.
• 4 technology markers of your player color. Place 1 marker on each technology track on the game board.
• 2 player markers of your player color. Place one on space 0 of the scoring track and the other in the tavern area of your player board.

Before starting:

• In a game with fewer than 4 players, return the remaining player components to the box.
• Prepare the starting sets as follows: Make 4 sets of 3 tiles, where each set consists of 1 random ability tile (from the 4 tiles that were not placed on the ability spaces during GENERAL PREPARATION), 1 random starting building tile, and 1 random starting resource tile.
• The player who took the starting player tile is the starting player.
• Starting with the player seated to the right of the starting player and continuing counter-clockwise, each player chooses one of the starting sets. When playing with fewer than 4 players, any unchosen sets are returned to the game box.
• Place the ability tile next to your player board. You will have this ability throughout the game.
• Place the starting building tile on your player board, covering 2 of the empty building spaces on your player board grid. You can orient the tile as you wish.
• Gain the resources shown on your starting resource tile, then return the tile to the game box. If you take the starting resource tile with a symbol, perform an Advance your boat action.

Game Flow

The game is played over 3 rounds. The starting player rolls the starting die and then players continue to play clockwise until all players have decided to retire. On your turn, you must perform one of the following three actions. Additionally, you may perform any number of free actions.

End of Round

When all players have retired, the round ends. If this was the third round, proceed to FINAL SCORING. Otherwise, prepare for the next round as follows:

• Each player returns their used workers to the worker space on their player board.
• Add the orange dice from the next row of the round tracker to the dice area and the current round. Roll all dice and place each die in the dice area on the game board, corresponding to its value.
• The player whose player marker is furthest to the left in the taverns becomes the starting player for the next round.
• Return the player markers from the taverns to the tavern area.

Actions and How to Play

On your turn, you must perform one of the following three actions:

A. Take a Die

Take a die from any dice area on the game board. You can take a white die or an orange die, with the following limitations:

• Each round, you can never take more than 3 white dice.
• Each round, you can never take more orange dice than the current round number (i.e., maximum 1 die in round 1, 2 in round 2, and 3 in round 3).

You can change the value of the die you took by +/-1. Values do not "wrap around", so changing a die from 1 cannot go to 6, and from 6 cannot go to 1.

Place the chosen die above its corresponding column (if you took it from a column) or to the left of its row (if you took it from a row).

Then, you can activate as many buildings as you wish in the row or column where the die was placed. The buildings you choose to activate must be vacant (without a die or worker) and adjacent to the die or to an already activated building in the same row or column. Place the die on the last building that was activated. The die blocks the building from being activated again for the rest of the round. You only activate buildings (not boardwalks).

When taking a die, instead of activating buildings, you can discard the die (place it next to your player board) to gain 3 resources.

Activating Buildings

Buildings are activated to gain their effects. Activating the effect on an activated building is always optional.

Resource Buildings

• Produce: Gain the resource(s) shown.
• Improve: Improve a resource.

Action Buildings

Action buildings allow you to perform various actions. When activating a building with two actions separated by a "/", you choose one of the two actions.

• "Complete an order" OR "Gain technology":
  • Complete an order: Pay the resources shown on one of the four face-up crate tiles on the game board. Take the tile and place it face down on the next open space to the right of the dock of your storage board that corresponds to the crate space the tile came from. Then, reveal the next tile in the stack of crate tiles. The purple dots on the crate tiles mean they are scored at the end of the game.
  • Gain technology: Pay the resource shown between one of your technology markers and the space above it to advance this marker to the next space. Gain the ability/reward shown. If you reach the end of a technology track, you will additionally trigger its scoring tile (immediately or during final scoring at the end of the game).
• Build a small building tile: Pay one wood to take the top tile from a stack of small building tiles. Place the building tile on empty spaces anywhere within the grid of your player board. You can orient the building tile as you wish, but you cannot cover pre-printed buildings or other tiles. If you place a building tile wholly or partially in the same row/column you are currently activating, you may activate that building this turn, provided you place it to the right (row) or below (column) the building used for this action.
• Complete a row/column: When you complete a row or column (with building tiles and pre-printed buildings), gain the reward shown on each boardwalk in that row/column. If you complete a row and column at the same time, you receive the reward from any boardwalk at the intersection between the completed row and column twice.
• Advance your boat: With this action, you must either advance your boat or return home.
  • Advance your boat: Advance your boat token to the next space in the fjord. Take the top fishing token from the stack of type 1 fishing tokens (if you are on the type 1 fishing token space) and place it face up on a vacant space on your boat tile. At any time, you can free up a space on your boat by throwing fishing tokens overboard (even a token you just took). Place the discarded token at the bottom of the corresponding stack in the area where your boat is.
  • Return home: Score the number of points indicated in the scoring area on your boat. Then, move your boat token back to the harbor. Gain the reward from each fishing token on your boat and place each token face up next to your player board. You do not gain the resource cubes from the fishing tokens when you return home. You do not need to have cleared all spaces on your boat tile before returning home.

B. Build a Large Building Tile

Pay 1 wood and 1 plank to take the top tile from one of the stacks of large building tiles. Place the tile on empty spaces anywhere within the grid of your player board. You can orient the tile as you wish, but you cannot cover pre-printed buildings or other tiles. You cannot build a small building tile with this action. If you complete a row or column on your player board, remember to gain rewards from any boardwalks in that row/column.

C. Retire

Move your player marker from the tavern area to an empty tavern, and then you can perform the corresponding action. The actions are:

• Complete an order
• Gain technology
• Build a one-square building tile for free, following the instructions for Building a small building tile.
• Advance your boat twice. For each action, either advance your boat or return home.
• Advance your boat. For each tile, either advance your boat or return home.
• Improve 2 resources (or 3 resources).
• Gain 2 planks and 2 resources.
• Pay one grain to score 3 points or one food to score 5 points (for each crate tile, you can choose a different option).

Then, activate each dock of your storage board from top to bottom: For each crate tile off a dock, you can take the reward from that dock.