How to Play Aladdin's Dragons

With your small handful of eight bidding tokens, you must steal treasures from the dragon's cave, sneak past the palace guards and claim the artifacts hidden in the royal chambers, not to mention those magic spells.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Aladdin's Dragons board game
• 2 to 4 opponents

1. Give each player a color screen and the eight bidding tokens for that color. Shuffle all the artifact tiles and magic spell cards. Place one pile of five to six artifacts in a castle room for each player in the game. Set aside the treasure placement cards for the number of players you are playing with, and shuffle that pile as well. Each player chooses three small treasures to start with. Give the camel token to the youngest player, and you're ready to begin.

2. Flip over the top treasure placement card, and distribute treasures to the appropriate dragon caves accordingly. Remember that one big treasure is worth three small ones. The top artifact in each palace room is turned face up. Place two spell cards, still face down, under the magic tent.

3. Let the player with the camel place one of her bidding tokens face down on any space on the board. The player to her left then does the same, and play continues clockwise until all bidding tokens have been played. You may play multiple times on the same space. Once all tokens have been played, the bids on the bottom-left dragon cave are revealed. The player whose bid is highest for that space receives the top tier of gems, with the next-highest player (if one exists) receiving the next tier of gems (if one exists). Ties go to the player with the camel or the first player counterclockwise from the camel.

4. After the five dragon caves, let the player with the highest bid on spells look at the two spells and choose one. The next-highest bid receives the remaining spell. The next three spaces (use two artifacts, trade one treasure for three and claim the camel) go only to the highest player. A d10 is rolled for the palace guard, and any players who bid less than the die roll must pay the difference in treasures to enter the palace.

5. Players who enter the palace then reveal their bids for each artifact in turn. The player with the highest bid must pay his bid in treasures to claim the artifact. If he cannot, or chooses not to, the player with the next highest bid may purchase the artifact, but only if he has also successfully entered the palace.

6. Allow players to reclaim their bidding tokens once all artifacts have been claimed for the round, and start the next round again at step 2. The player with the most artifacts at the end of the game wins.

Tips & Warnings

• Players may use one artifact per turn, including the lamp, which allows the use of spells.
• First-time players may find spells and artifacts confusing, so consider playing with no spells and face-down artifacts for your first game.