Pioneer's Isle guide

Setup

• In turn order, each player places a settlement and a road beside it. Then everyone places a second pair in reverse order, so the last player places twice in a row.
• Your second settlement collects one card from each resource hex it touches.
• The first player then starts the game by rolling.

Your Turn

1. Roll

Roll the dice. Every settlement beside a hex showing that number takes one card of its resource, and every city takes 2. A 7 produces nothing and moves the robber.

2. Build, trade and play cards

• Build roads, settlements and cities.
• Buy development cards and play one.
• Trade with other players and with the bank.
• End your turn when you are done.

Building

Where pieces go

• A settlement needs every neighbouring intersection empty. Outside setup it must also touch one of your roads.
• A city replaces one of your settlements, which goes back to your supply.
• A road continues from your road, settlement or city. An opponent's settlement or city blocks a road through it.

Trading

With players

• On your turn, after rolling, offer cards to the other players. Each may accept, decline or make a counter-offer.
• A card type may not appear on both sides of one offer.

With the bank

• Trade 4 of one resource for 1 of any other.
• With a settlement or city on a generic harbour, trade 3 of one resource for 1.
• On a resource harbour, trade 2 of that resource for 1.

Development Cards

• Knight (14): move the robber and steal a card. The first player to play 3 takes Largest Army, and anyone who then plays more takes it from them.
• Road Building (2): place 2 roads free.
• Year of Plenty (2): take any 2 resources from the bank.
• Monopoly (2): name a resource; every other player gives you all of theirs.
• Victory Point (5): a hidden victory point.

Play at most one development card per turn, and not one you bought this turn. A Knight may be played before you roll; the others after.

Robber

Rolling a 7

• Anyone holding more cards than the discard limit (7 unless the lobby changes it) discards half of them, rounded down.
• The roller then moves the robber to any other land hex, the desert included.
• The robber stops its hex producing. The roller steals 1 card at random from a player with a settlement or city beside it.

Friendly robber

The friendly robber is a lobby option, off by default. With it on, a player with fewer than 3 visible points cannot be robbed: the robber may not go on a hex where such a player has a settlement or city. Visible points are the ones on the table (settlements and cities, Longest Road, Largest Army), never cards in a hand. When every land hex borders a protected player, the robber stays where it is, nobody is robbed, and play goes on.

Victory

The host sets the target in the lobby. Left at its default it is 10, or 13 with Ramparts, or 14 on a Voyages sea layout.

You win on your own turn: the moment you reach the target, or as your turn begins if you are already there. Hidden points count.

Controls

• Space or Enter rolls the dice before your roll and ends your turn after it, unless a button or a board spot has focus.
• T opens and closes the trade panel after you roll.
• While placing a piece, the arrow keys move between the spots you can use and Enter or Space places it. Escape cancels.