Game Objective

At the end of the 19th century in the Netherlands, you take on the role of a tulip producer and entrepreneur. Your goal is to build and improve your Mills, acquire tulip bulbs through foreign trade or local vendors to plant them, and seek advantages with the help of assistants and lucrative contracts. The ultimate goal is to accumulate the highest amount of Victory Points to win the game.

Preparation (Setup)

1. Board and Components: Place the Board on the table. Place the “X” Pieces, Mill Upgrades, Farm Upgrade Cards, Tulips, and Tools within everyone's reach.
2. Mill Assembly: Each player must assemble their Mill using plastic rivets:
   • Position the large gear on the left side of the base.
   • Position the small gear on the right side, aligning a nut between the teeth of the small gear with the red tooth of the large gear.
   • Rotate the large gear until the red arrow on the base and the red bolt of the large gear are aligned.
3. Board Configuration:
   • Mix the Mill Upgrades by type and reveal two Common Upgrades, one Rare Upgrade, and one Unique Upgrade in the indicated locations (3A).
   • Shuffle the Farm Upgrade Cards and reveal 3 on the board (4A).
   • Position the Sluice Marker and the Water Level Marker on the lowest values of their respective tracks.
   • Shuffle the Foreign Trade Cards and place them face up.
4. Player Distribution: Each player receives:
   • 1 Farm, 1 Mill (chosen randomly), 1 Player Aid, and 1 Tool.
   • 9 Mill Markers and 5 Player Markers (in the chosen color).
   • Initial positioning: Large marker on space “5” of the Victory Point track (7A) and on the Calendar track (7B). A small marker on the Guilder track (position 4, 5, 6, or 7 depending on turn order). The fifth marker stays in the play area for the Queen's Wish.
5. Initial Abilities: Reveal Initial Farm Upgrade cards (number of players + 1). In reverse turn order, each player chooses one and places it in the upper left space of their Farm. The remaining card goes to the board on the Queen's Wish side (8B).
6. Market and Tulips: In reverse turn order, each player places a Player Marker in a market area. Neutral markers are added to fill the remaining areas according to the number of players (2, 3, or 4).
7. Initial Resources: The 1st player receives 1 white Tulip, the 2nd yellow, the 3rd red, and the 4th violet.
8. Final Organization: Position the Mill Markers in the spaces to the left of the Farm in sequence (from top to bottom: 1/1/2/2/3). If there are fewer than 4 players, use the Calendar Limit Piece.

Game Flow

Players take turns in a clockwise direction. The game progresses as players rotate the gears of their mills. Every time the Large Gear completes a full rotation, the player advances on the Calendar track.

Turn Structure:

1. Optional Action: Change the water speed by opening or closing the Sluice.
2. Water Adjustment: Adjust the Water Level (mandatory if the Sluice Marker is at speed 2 or 3).

Resource Management:

• Guilder Track: Gaining Guilders (white numbers) moves the marker up; spending (red numbers) moves it down. The limit is from 0 to 9 Guilders.
• Receiving Tulips: These are placed in the Farm's Storage (limit of 7). The two rightmost spaces require a payment of 1 or 2 Guilders. If the storage is full or the player does not wish to pay, they may discard an existing tulip to place the new one in its place without additional cost.

Actions and How to Play

On your turn, you must rotate the Gears of your Mill. This will create a combination of two actions. You must choose one of these actions to perform (or, in specific cases, both).

Consult the manual for details on the specific actions available and card abilities.

End of Game and Scoring

End Trigger: The game ends when a player reaches the end of the Calendar track. When this happens, the current round is completed so that everyone has played the same number of turns. After that, each player takes one final turn.

Victory: After the final turn, final scoring is performed. The player with the highest amount of Victory Points wins the game.

Consult the manual for details on the specific point counting criteria.

Tips for Winning

• Storage Management: When receiving Tulips, consider whether it is worth paying the additional cost of 1 or 2 Guilders to occupy the rightmost spaces of the Storage, or if it is more advantageous to discard an old tulip to avoid the expense.
• Time Control: Keep an eye on the rotation of the Large Gear, as each full rotation brings you closer to the end of the game via the Calendar track.