Five Tribes rules: how to play and how to score

Five Tribes quick rules

The goal

You want to become the Great Sultan of Naqala. The Sultanate is a board of thirty Tiles covered with Meeples of five colors, the five Tribes. On your turn, you move Meeples, then use the Tribe you gathered and the Tile’s action. Your gold, Meeples, Djinns, Merchandise and Tiles score points.

Bidding

Each turn starts with a bid for Turn Order: in turn, each player picks a spot on the Turn Order Track and pays its price, from 0 to 18 coins. The more you pay, the earlier you play. The 0 spots are free, and the last player onto a 0 plays before those already there. Every coin you spend is one point less at the end.

Moving Meeples

Take all the Meeples from one Tile and drop them one by one on a path of adjacent Tiles, until your hand is empty. Never diagonally, never straight back, and the last Meeple must land on a Tile that already has a Meeple of its color.

Taking a Tile

Pick up the last Meeple you dropped and all those of its color on the Tile. If the Tile is now empty, you take control of it with a Camel, for the whole game. At the end, it scores its points, plus its Palm Trees and Palaces.

The five Tribes

Yellow Viziers and white Elders stay in front of you for points. Green Merchants give Resource cards. Blue Builders earn gold, based on the Blue valued Tiles around you. Red Assassins kill one Meeple within reach, or a Vizier or Elder in front of an opponent.

Tile actions

You then take the action of the last Meeple’s Tile. An Oasis must get a Palm Tree, a Village a Palace. Markets sell Resource cards for gold, and a Sacred Place gives you a Djinn for two Elders, or one Elder and one Fakir.

Djinns, Fakirs and Merchandise

Each Djinn is worth points and has a power. A Fakir counts as one more Builder or Assassin. At the end of your turn, you may sell sets of all-different Merchandise: 1, 3, 7, 13, 21 coins, and up to 60 for nine cards. Fakirs can’t be sold.

End of game and scoring

The game ends at the end of the turn in which a player places their last Camel, or when no one can move Meeples anymore. Count gold, Viziers and their majority, Elders, Djinns, Tiles, Palm Trees, Palaces and Merchandise. Most points wins; on a tie, the victory is shared.

Beginner traps

Don’t overbid: every coin is a point. Always check that your last Meeple joins its color. The Vizier majority scores 10 points per opponent. Keep your Merchandise for long sets, and on the last turn, don’t pay for a bid if you might not be able to move.

With The Artisans of Naqala

A sixth Tribe, the purple Artisans, lets you draw Precious or Magic Items. New Tiles arrive, with Mountains and a Chasm that block movement. Everyone also has a Tent, placed like a Camel, that scores extra points.

With Whims of the Sultan

Up to five can play. Five Fabulous Cities score more and more points for whoever controls several of them, and their Whim of the Sultan cards give gold. The Great Lake can’t be crossed, and the Palm Trees and Palaces next to it are worth double.

With The Thieves of Naqala

A Thief costs the same as a Djinn. Played with the Tribe of its color, it makes each opponent discard something, and you choose what you take back. Kept until the end, it adds its value to your Djinns.

How to score Five Tribes

Gold Coins

1 point per coin.

Viziers and Vizier majority

1 point per Vizier, plus 10 points for each opponent who has strictly fewer Viziers than you.

Elders

2 points per Elder.

Djinns

The points printed on your Djinns, plus their end-game bonuses: Jafaar +2 per Vizier, Shamhat +2 per Elder, Haurvatat +2 per Palm Tree. With The Thieves of Naqala, add your Thieves’ value.

Controlled Tiles

The points printed on the Tiles where you have a Camel.

Palm Trees and Palaces

3 points per Palm Tree and 5 points per Palace on your Tiles.

Merchandise

For each set of all-different cards: 1, 3, 7, 13, 21, 30, 40, 50 or 60 points for 1 to 9 cards. Fakirs don’t count.

The Artisans of Naqala (expansion)

Artisans: 3 points each if no one has more than you, otherwise 2. Precious Items: their points. Tent: 1 point per Red valued Tile around it, including its own Tile.

Whims of the Sultan (expansion)

Fabulous Cities: 5, 20, 45, 80 or 125 points for 1 to 5 Cities. Palm Trees and Palaces next to the Great Lake: double value.

Worked example

Emma has 41 Gold Coins, 6 Viziers (and both opponents have fewer: 6 + 20 = 26), 3 Elders (6), a 6-point Djinn, Tiles worth 38, 2 Palm Trees (6) and 1 Palace (5), and a set of 5 Merchandise (21): 41 + 26 + 6 + 6 + 38 + 6 + 5 + 21 = 149 points.

Common mistakes

• Forgetting that gold spent on bids is points lost.
• Scoring the 10 Vizier points on a tie: you need strictly more than that opponent.
• Counting Fakirs in Merchandise sets.
• Forgetting the end-game bonuses of the Djinns Jafaar, Shamhat and Haurvatat.
• Counting Palm Trees and Palaces next to the Great Lake only once, with Whims of the Sultan.

How to set up Five Tribes

Setup takes 5 minutes. The number of Camels depends on the player count; with an expansion, follow its steps too.