How to Play Aladdin's Dragons

Long before the sun rises in our lands, Aladdin and his friends are already busy, searching the Dragons' caves for treasure. Treasures they will take to the city to buy the magical artifacts available only in the Caliph's palace. Along the way, they may haggle with traders in the market and visit the magician to acquire his arcane spells. Taking treasures from dragons and dealing with traders and magicians may be interesting, but not as important as acquiring the Caliph's marvelous artifacts. And marvelous they are: flying carpets, magic lamps, keys to the palace, and other objects of power and wonder.Although the rules for playing the game are simple, the strategies for winning are not. On every turn, a player must decide whether to concentrate on taking treasures, getting spells, or visiting the Caliph to barter for his artifacts.Aladdin's Dragons is a game with subtle strategies to challenge the most ardent of game players. But the rules are simple and the game is fun and exciting for casual players.May Allah be with you!

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

How to play Aladdin's Dragons

1. 
   Dragon's Caves

   Grab one of the tokens. The player will have eight numbered tokens with which to bid each round for: (1) treasures of five kinds, used as currency; (2) privileges; (3) the right to enter the palace; and (4) artifacts on sale in the palace. Each round one-guard disk, valued from 1 to 10, is randomly chosen from the facedown supply to determine the secret minimum bid needed to enter the palace. If a player does not meet this, the player then must pay the difference in treasures or get turned away at the door. The winner again has to have the most artifacts.

2. 
   Board from Aladdin's Dragons

   Take your first turn by placing a bidding token facedown on any space. This creates sustained tension as the players wonder the values the other players are using and where. The row on the bottom consists of five dragon caves. The middle row has only four spaces; those are the city streets of Baghdad. The streets are where the players vie against each other for magic spells, the ability to use more than one artifact in a turn, treasure swapping, and the right to be the first or start player.

3. Place one of your eight adventure chits face down in any of the fifteen spaces on the board. Again this is done until all fifteen spaces are occupied.

4. 
   Actual Card from Aladdin's Dragons

   The chits are then revealed, one room at a time. Start with the left most dragon cave, then across the whole bottom row. Then the players resolve the middle and top rows, one room at a time in order. To resolve a space, reveal all chits in that space. Whichever player has the highest total printed on his or her adventurer chits in the space win the space. If player A put two chits into the first dragon cave, their 4 and 6, they win if player B put only their 5 chit there.

5. Resolve the middle and top rows, one room at a time in order. To resolve a space, reveal all chits in that space. Whichever player has the highest total printed on his or her adventurer chits in the space win the space. If player A put two chits into the first dragon cave, their 4 and 6, they win if player B put only their 5 chit there.The first player or the player closest to the first player’s left wins all ties.The artifact tiles, in addition to being worth a victory point, also gives special powers that can be used during the game. Each round, only one special power can be invoked, even if a player holds all six of the different artifact tiles.

6. Move into town, to the streets of Baghdad to resolve the street spaces. The first street to resolve is Aladdin’s tent, allowing the players to win Magic Spell Cards. The high bidder here takes two Spell Cards, chooses one and gives the other to the second high bidder. There are twenty-one different spells, one of each, and they can be cast at anytime by use of the Magic Lamp artifacts, which all players start the game with. The spells can be nasty if you’re on the receiving end and each adds a major element to the game. They range from fairly powerful to the mild in effect, but again make the game fun and different each time it is played.Also available in town is the bazaar, where the high bidder can exchange a single gem for three gems of different colors. In the ruins, a player has the right to use two artifacts in the round. The last stop in town is the Camel Station, and the high bidder here becomes the start or first player for the next round. TIP: This is significant since bidding ties are broken in favor of the first player.

7. Move on to Caliph’s Palace. For a player to gain access to the palace, the guard must be bribed successfully. There are ten palace guards, ranging in value from1 to 10. Each turn they are randomly mixed and one is selected for the turn, still facedown. When the room is resolved, turn the palace guard face up.The guard has his own set of tokens numbered from 1 to 10, and at the one that was randomly chosen is then revealed. The players next reveal their bids, and if it matches or exceeds the guard they get entrance into the palace. NOTE: If a player’s bid is less they can choose to pay the difference in a single color of gems. Also note that one of the artifact tiles is a key that allows access to the palace without bribing the guard. However if used it counts as the one special power for that round.Each of the palace rooms has a number of artifacts stacked face down. Only the top artifact in each room is face up, available to be won in a given turn. The player with the highest value in adventurer chits in the room wins the right to buy the artifact. Each chit value must be all the same type of treasure.

8. Remember the sequential resolution of spaces plays a lot like Keydom, allowing for planning with somewhat predictable risks. Bottom line, Aladdin’s Dragons, is fun, family-oriented and a ‘gamers game’, a game for all to enjoy.

Tips & Warnings

• It’s best to be last player during the chit-placing phase as you get to see where the other players are concentrating their forces before committing your own.
• The second and third and even forth place player can win something—this is especially true in the dragon caves, where there may be more than one treasure in a cave.
• It’s good to be first player in the room resolution phase, a nice balance to the chit-placing phase.