How to Play Tikal Legend

Game Objective

In Tikal Legend, you are the owner of a local museum in Guatemala and will send a team of archaeologists to the Tikal site to uncover its temples and treasures. Your goal is to make your museum famous by exhibiting the fruits of your research and the discovered treasures, proudly sharing the origins of the Mayan civilization. To do this, you will need to meticulously prepare each expedition, clearing paths through the jungle, setting up camps, optimizing your team's movements, and utilizing their skills to the best of your ability, always keeping an eye on your competitors.

Setup

Let's set up the game to begin the adventure!

1. Place the Site board in the center of the table, with the 'Legend' side facing up (identified by the symbol in the corner). This is the map of the unexplored Tikal jungle, divided into hexagons and surrounded by a Prestige track. Four hexagons are already discovered: the Common Base Camp (which belongs to all players), two with a Temple, and one with a Clearing.
2. Around the Site board, you will see dotted hexagons for placing Terrain Tiles obtained by Action Card effects (with a symbol on the front).
3. Position the 2 Round Management boards next to the Site board, showing the correct side for the number of players (1, 2, 4, or 3).
4. Place the Round Counter marker on space 1 of the Round Management board.
5. Prepare the Action Cards:
   • In a 2-player game, remove the 25 cards with '3' in the bottom right corner and put them back in the box.
   • In a 3-4 player game, all cards will be used.
6. Shuffle the Action Cards and place the deck face down in its space on the Round Management board.
7. Draw 10 cards and place them face up in the spaces on the Round Management board.
8. Place the bag of Action Point (AP) tokens near the Round Management board. In a 2-player game, remove 12 tokens from the bag without looking and discard them into the box.
9. Place as many face-up AP tokens as there are players in their designated spaces.
10. Place the box of Terrain Tiles near the Site board. Organize these tiles from A to G, and each set of tiles of the same letter should be shuffled. The Terrain Tiles with the symbol will be placed on the dotted hexagons around the edge of the Site board via Action Cards and do not need to be shuffled.
11. Draw 4 Terrain Tiles from the 'A' pile in 2 or 4-player games, and only 3 tiles in 3-player games. Place these tiles face up in their spaces on the Round Management board.
12. Place the F and G Terrain Tiles in their spaces on the Site board, making sure the image on the tile is correctly aligned with the image on the board.
13. Place the 11 Terrain Tiles with the symbol (5 Lakes, 2 Volcanoes, and 4 Temples) in their corresponding spaces on the Round Management board.
14. Place the 2 Trail Stone tokens in the corresponding space.
15. Place two 3D Volcanoes on the Site board on the Terrain Tiles with Volcano illustrations, and place 4 more in their spaces on the Round Management board.
16. Place the 24 Treasure tokens (green back) near the Site board. The tokens should be shuffled and placed face down in the box. Draw 4 random tokens and place 2 face down on each of the Ruin Tiles on the Site board.
17. Place the remaining 16 Treasure tokens (blue back) in face-up pairs of matching types in the 8 corresponding spaces on the Round Management board.
18. Place the Unbuilt Temple Levels (uncolored numbers) near the Site board.
19. (Deluxe version only): Place the Pre-built Temple Levels (colored numbers) near the Site board and place the appropriate Pre-built Temple Levels on the game board. To use the Pre-built Temple Levels: Whenever you place a Terrain Tile with a Temple whose number is greater than 1, place as many Pre-built Temple Levels as needed to reach the required level.
20. Each player chooses a color and takes the corresponding components: 1 Leader, 18 Explorers, and 2 Base Camps. Place them in their spaces on the Camp board. This is your Available Supply.
21. Select the First Player. The First Player places their lighter Turn Order Figurine in space 1, to the left of the Round Management board, and their darker figurine in the circle in the top center of the board. Finally, place their Prestige marker (0 side visible) on space 1 of the Prestige Track on the Site board, and keep their other Prestige marker nearby. Then, in clockwise order, the other players do the same. The second player places their lighter figurine in space 2, their darker figurine in the circle, and their Prestige marker on space 2 of the Prestige Track, and so on. To use your Prestige markers: Whenever you gain Prestige Points (PP), advance your Prestige marker that many spaces on the Prestige track. If your marker passes 100, flip it to the 100 side. When passing 200 points, swap your original marker for the 200 one. If you manage to pass 400 points, combine the 100 and 300 markers.
22. Place your Camp board in front of you.
23. Place your Museum Director in front of you, on the side of your choice (there is no difference for gameplay).
24. Randomly select a Power Tile and place it in the space of your Museum Director tile, and place the Power cube in the 5 PP space.
25. The remaining 12 Explorers and the remaining Leader are left in the box; this is your Unavailable Supply.
26. Place a Tikal Legend Player Aid (with the icon) and an Action Card Glossary nearby.

Game Flow

The game unfolds over 6 rounds in 2 or 4-player games, and 8 rounds in 3-player games. Each round is divided into 3 phases:

1. ROUND MANAGEMENT: During this phase, players take turns picking up items to use in the next phase. They can choose a Terrain Tile, determine their position in turn order, pick up Action Cards, and so on.
2. ACTION: In this phase, players will perform actions using the items they acquired in the previous phase, or from permanent effects, such as moving Expedition Members (EMs), clearing Temples, placing Terrain Tiles. This phase is occasionally interrupted by an In-Game Scoring Phase if a Volcano Tile is placed.
3. MAINTENANCE: During this phase, the new turn order is determined, items are prepared for the next round, and so on. If it is the last round, this phase is skipped and players proceed directly to Final Scoring.

Important! Turn order is determined by the Turn Order Figurines on the Round Management board. If at the beginning you play in clockwise order, this will likely no longer be the case as the game progresses.

Round Management Phase

In turn order (referring to the Turn Order Figurines), players pick up items, one at a time, from the Round Management board and place them on their Camp board. Once all players have picked up their items, the game moves to the next phase.

On your turn, you can:

• Take the Turn Order Figurine of your color from the circle on the Round Management board and place it (lying down) in a free space in the top right corner of the board. This will determine your position in turn order for the next round.
• Take an AP token and place it face up in the corresponding space on your Camp board. You can only take one token per round. This will give you that amount of AP in the next phase.
• Take a Terrain Tile from the Round Management board and place it in the corresponding space on your Camp. In a 3 or 4-player game, this action can only be performed once per player. In a 2-player game, each player must perform this action twice (not necessarily consecutively).
• Take an Action Card and place it in one of the empty spaces to the right of your Camp board. In a 2 or 3-player game, this action must be performed 3 times per player (not necessarily in succession); and only 2 times with 4 players (the last Action Card slot on the Camp board is a reminder of this limit).

Players continue picking up one item on their turn until their Camp board has the following:

• 2 players: 1 lying Turn Order Figurine, 1 AP token, 2 Terrain Tiles, and 3 Action Cards to the right of the Camp board.
• 3 players: 1 lying Turn Order Figurine, 1 AP token, 1 Terrain Tile, and 3 Action Cards to the right of the Camp board.
• 4 players: 1 lying Turn Order Figurine, 1 AP token, 1 Terrain Tile, and 2 Action Cards to the right of the Camp board.

Action Phase

Still in turn order, players will perform the actions available on their Camp board. They can add Terrain Tiles, use their Action Cards, activate an AP token to move their EMs, unearth treasures, discover temples. This phase ends when all players have performed all their actions and have passed. Once all players have passed, players can proceed to the Maintenance phase, unless it is the last round, in which case, proceed to final scoring.

On your turn, you can perform one of the following Actions:

• Move an Action Card to delay it or keep a Permanent Action Card.
• Play a non-permanent Action Card and place it in the discard pile.
• Activate your AP token.
• Play a Terrain Tile.

You can also use one of your Museum Director's powers for free (once per game).

Actions and How to Play

Moving an Action Card to Delay It or Keeping a Permanent Action Card

You can save the Action Card located on the right side of your Camp board for later use, instead of using it immediately. To do this, move it to a free space on the left side of your Camp board. If there is no free space on the left, you can discard one of these Action Cards (even a permanent one) to make space. The discarded Action Card is placed in the discard pile. An Action Card placed on the left in this way can be kept there as long as it is not played. It can also be played in the same round, if desired.

Playing a Non-Permanent Action Card and Discarding It from the Game

A non-permanent Action Card does not have the symbol and can be located on the right or left of the Camp board. When performing this action, apply the effects of the card, which vary depending on the Action Card. Actions can include adding Terrain Tiles, taking Treasure tokens, moving, and so on. Once you have used a non-permanent Action Card, place it in the discard pile.

Permanent Action Cards (with the symbol)

A permanent Action Card can be kept and used once per round as long as it remains on the Camp board. To keep a permanent Action Card from one round to the next, it must be moved to the left of the Camp board. Moving a card in this way counts as a turn action. Once placed on the left, permanent Action Cards have a passive effect and do not consume a game "turn" to be used. Their effect adds a bonus to another action (for example, adding bonus AP to your AP token) or allows you to do something during an action. When applying the effect of the permanent Action Card, flip it face down to indicate that you have used it this round. At the end of the round, flip it face up again, remembering to place it on the left to keep it.

Activating an AP Token

When you use an AP token, you have as many AP as indicated on the token, plus any bonus AP from Permanent Action Cards (don't forget to flip them after using them). During this action, you will spend all your AP to perform the actions shown in the table below. You can perform each of these actions as many times as you want (or as many as you can!), and in any order you wish. Any unspent AP are lost.

Actions and AP Costs: