Small World rules: how to play and how to score

Small World quick rules

The goal

You pick a fantasy Race paired with a Special Power, and you conquer Regions of the map. At the end of each of your turns, every Region you occupy earns you Victory coins. When your Race runs out of steam, you put it In Decline and pick a new one.

A turn

On your turn, you either expand your active Race by conquering Regions, or put it In Decline. Then you score your Victory coins. When everyone has played, the first player moves the Game Turn marker forward one spot.

Picking a Race

Six combos of a Race and a Special Power are offered in a column. The top one is free; to take one further down, place one Victory coin on each combo above it. You collect any coins already on yours, and take as many tokens as the sum of the two numbers on the banner and badge.

Conquering

A new Race enters through a border Region, then each conquest must be adjacent to one of your Regions. It takes 2 tokens, plus 1 per Mountain, Fortress, Encampment or Troll Lair, plus 1 per enemy token or Lost Tribe there. The defender loses one token and redeploys the rest at the end of your turn. Seas and Lakes cannot be conquered.

The final conquest

When your tokens run short, you may attempt one final conquest with at least one token in hand. Choose the Region, then roll the Reinforcement Die, which adds 0 to 3 tokens. Success or not, your conquests end, and you redeploy your tokens freely, at least one per Region.

Going into Decline

Instead of conquering, flip your Race banner, discard your Special Power badge, and leave only one token per Region, grey side up. You score your coins and your turn ends. On your next turn, you pick a new Race. Only one Race In Decline at a time: the older one leaves the board.

End of the game

When the Game Turn marker reaches the last spot, everyone plays one final turn. Depending on the map, the game lasts 8, 9 or 10 turns. Then the Victory coins are revealed: the highest total wins.

Beginner traps

Tokens used in a conquest stay in that Region until redeployment. A Region defended by a single token, like a Lost Tribe, loses that token. Bonuses disappear in Decline, unless stated otherwise. And on your Decline turn, you conquer nothing: choose your moment well.

How to score Small World

Victory coins

At the end of each of their turns, a player takes 1 Victory coin per Region occupied, by their active Race and by their Race In Decline.

Bonuses

The active Race and Special Power often earn extra coins: per Farmland for Humans, per Forest Region with the Forest power, per Region with Merchant. In Decline, these bonuses disappear, unless stated otherwise, as with Dwarves.

Final total

Coins stay face down until the end. After the last turn, everyone counts their total: that’s the score to enter, starting coins included.

Tiebreaker

In case of a tie, the player with the most Race tokens on the board, In Decline tokens included, wins. The Ludingo sheet has an optional line for that number.

Worked example

End of Jake’s turn: his Forest Humans occupy 5 Regions, including 2 Farmlands and 1 Forest, and his Race In Decline holds 3 Regions. He takes 5 + 2 + 1 + 3 = 11 coins. At the end, Emma and Jake both have 92 coins; Emma has 14 tokens on the board, Jake 11: Emma wins.

Common mistakes

• Forgetting the Regions of your Race In Decline: they earn 1 coin each.
• Keeping Special Power bonuses after Decline: the badge is discarded.
• Forgetting the coins placed on a combo: whoever takes it collects them.
• Counting tokens in hand for the tiebreaker: only those on the board count.

How to set up Small World

Setup takes about 5 minutes. Only the map changes with the number of players.