You are a merchant, looking to profit from the budding trade in Amsterdam in the 1600's and participate in the growth of a multitude of chartered enterprises.
The goods brought back to Amsterdam at great peril and cost, are rapidly growing merchant wealth and increasing trade. To increase working capital and spread risk, you and other merchants use stocks for the first time in history.
You are establishing your first warehouses in Amsterdam, contributing to the city that will grow to become the wealthiest in the western world. You can become the best merchant, build chartered enterprises, and purchase stock to profit from their expected growth. Your goal? Profit and wealth.
Components
- Gameboard
- Stock chart
- 105 Warehouses
- 113 Deck
- Open market
- 81 Stock cards
- 189 Guilder tokens
- 9 Stock chips
- 12 Flags
- Discard pile
- Instructions
Setup
To prepare the game for playing, the nine numbered warehouses and apply the headquarter stickers to create a headquarter for each enterprise. Note that the names of the enterprises are the old Dutch words for the commodity they traded in.
Next, set up of the game as indicated in the below table, following the example of the image on the next page. Before dealing the starting hand, separate the level cards from the plot cards, players are not to have any level cards in their starting hand.
Level and plot cards are together called building cards. After dealing the starting hand, the level and plot cards are shuffled together to form the deck. The open market is drawn from this deck, the number of cards in the open market depends on the number of players.
| Players | Board | Open market | Number of warehouses | Building cards | Starting hand | Starting capital |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Harbor | 5 | 65 | Grey | 11 | 6x ƒ50 and 3x ƒ100 |
| 3 | Harbor | 4 | 65 | Grey and blue | 10 | 6x ƒ50 and 2x ƒ100 |
| 4-5 | Center | 3 | All 96 | All | 9 | 4x ƒ50 and 2x ƒ100 |
| 6 | Center | 3 | All 96 | All | 8 | 3x ƒ50 and 2x ƒ100 |
In addition to the building cards, each player receives two flags of a single color, these are called flag stocks, and the corresponding player aid card.
Event cards: the event cards are an optional feature of the game. You can decide per game if you play with or without them. Adding them to the game adds a significant luck factor. Should you decide to include the event cards, you shuffle these into the deck after having dealt the starting hand to each player.
Determine the starting player and proceed with the first turn, after which play continues clockwise.
Game Play
You have three options in your turn, choose one of them.
1. Purchasing a new building card
Optional: pay ƒ50 to the bank to shuffle the open market back into the deck and draw a new open market, then proceed with the below.
Pay ƒ50 to the bank to purchase a new building card. If you took the optional shuffle, the total is therefore ƒ100.
Take the top building card from the deck OR take one from the open market, open a new card from the deck to replace the card you took.
This is the end of the turn; the player cannot trade stocks.
There is no maximum number of cards a player can hold, however at the end of the game you pay a ƒ20 fine per building card you have left.
2. Building a warehouse
Play one of the building cards from your hand and place a new warehouse on the designated lot, or place it on top of an already built warehouse if you play a level card. The result is 2a, 2b, 2c or 2d.
Receive the new stock value of the enterprise in cash from the bank: the build pay-out.
Buy or sell up to two stocks in total from the bank in an enterprise or enterprises of your choice. The minimum purchasing price is ƒ50, after buying a stock you place the stock card face up or face down in front of you.
Instead of buying or selling stock, you can buy a flag stock in the enterprise you just started, expanded or merged. The flag represents four additional stocks, your first flag always costs ƒ200 and your second flag always costs ƒ400 regardless of the stock price of the enterprise.
2a. Starting a new enterprise
When you play a plot card with a number that is not adjacent to an existing enterprise, and it has a least three building plots distance (buffer zone) from any existing enterprise, you found a new enterprise.
Place the warehouse on the number indicated on your plot card and choose one of the headquarters not already on the board, place the headquarters on top of the normal warehouse.
Place two extra warehouses on plots adjacent to the headquarters, connecting them to the headquarters on either side or both on the same side. Do not stack the two warehouses.
These extra warehouses also have to remain out of the buffer zone (3 plots) of existing enterprises. You do not need to have the plot cards for the placement of the warehouses.
Place the stock chip on the stock chart on ƒ30, this is the starting value for the enterprise.
Receive one free stock in this enterprise.
2b. Expanding an Enterprise - Plot Card
When you play a plot card with a number that is adjacent to an existing enterprise, you expand the enterprise by placing a warehouse on the number.
If there is already a warehouse on this number, you simply place your warehouse on top of it.
Add ƒ10 in value to the stock value of the enterprise you're expanding by moving the stock chip further one step.
2c. Expanding an Enterprise - Level Card
When you play a level card, you place a warehouse on top of an existing warehouse. It is your choice where, as long as the previous level is already there. A 3rd level can only be place on top of a 2nd level. Every single warehouse is a 1st level, the headquarters are a 2nd level.
Add value to the stock value of the enterprise, the added value is the level times ƒ10. Meaning a 3rd level adds ƒ30.
2d. Merging an Enterprise
When you play a plot card with a number that connects two or three existing enterprises, you merge these enterprises.
Place your warehouse on this number and add the value (ƒ10) to one of the enterprises, you choose which one.
The enterprise with the higher stock value now takes over the enterprise with the lower stock value, when there is a tie the player that caused the merger decides.
Sell all stocks, including a flag if applicable, of the lower values enterprise back to the bank at the current value of that enterprise.
Add the value of the lower valued enterprise to the higher valued enterprise.
Remove the headquarters and the stock chip of the lower valued enterprise and place them next to the board on top of the stocks. Players are now able to start this enterprise again.
When three enterprises merge the player that caused the merger decides which two enterprises merge first, there is no set order or conditions for this.
3. Selling a Stock to Purchase a new Building Card
If you are unable to (1) purchase a new building card and (2) cannot build a warehouse, you must sell at least one of your stocks to the bank.
Receive the cash value of thisƒthese stocks.
Buy a new building card as set out in option 1. Purchasing a new building card
Note: If the deck and open market are already depleted and you cannot build a warehouse, you must pass and cannot perform any of the three actions. Played cards may not be shuffled and may not be used again.
Stocks
Every enterprise has nine stock cards. After building a warehouse, you are always allowed to buy or sell two stocks in an enterprise (or enterprises) of your choice or buy a flag.
The minimum price of a stock is always ƒ50. If the enterprise is valued higher than ƒ50, you pay the actual value. Selling stocks is always at the actual value, even if this is below ƒ50.
Buying and selling stocks is always a transaction with the bank, not with another player. If there are no more stocks in the bank to buy, you cannot buy new stocks.
A flag represents four stocks in addition to the nine physical stock cards. You can only buy a flag and place it on an enterprise in a turn where you started, expanded or merged that specific enterprise.
An enterprise can only hold one flag. Your first flag always costs ƒ200 and your second always ƒ400, regardless of the actual stock value.
If you have a flag in a enterprise that is the lower valued enterprise in a merger, your flag is not returned to you but sold to the bank at four times the stock value of that enterprise. You cannot voluntarily sell your flag to the bank.
The value of an enterprise can never rise above ƒ500 and never fall below ƒ30.
Event Cards
Event cards are option. If you decide to include the event cards in the game, shuffle the number indicated below into the deck after having dealt all players their starting hand. The back of event cards is indistinguishable from building cards.
| Players | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Event cards | 12 | 10 | 12 | 10 | 8 |
An event card is immediately effectuated if it is purchased from the deck or turned open onto the open market. After the effect, a replacement building card is given to the player that unwittingly bought the event card or a replacement open market card is drawn if the event card was turned open onto the open market.
Event cards can influence the value of an enterprise, or require players to make a payment to the bank, or force players to sell one or two stocks to the bank.
There are four types of event cards:
Monetary
Each player receives (+) or loses (-) ƒ50.
All Stocks
All enterprises lose ƒ30 in stock value.
Stock Sale
Each player has to sell one (-1) or two (-2) stocks of their choice.
Three Stocks
The three depicted stocks gain (+) or lose (-) stock value.
Apart from the event cards where players have to sell stocks to the bank, all event cards have a positive and a negative version as is depicted by the + or - sign.
When the stock sale event card is effectuated, the player that caused the card to come into play is the first that has to sell stock. The other players then follow clockwise.
End of the Game
Even a city like Amsterdam has its limits. When the last warehouse is place on the board, the game ends.
Pay a ƒ20 fine for each building card you still have in your hand.
Sell all stocks and flags back to the bank at the current value of the enterprises, starting with the lowest valued enterprise.
The player with the most money has become the wealthiest merchant of Amsterdam and wins Chartered: The Golden Age.
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