Game rules

Wayfarers of the South Tigris rules: how to play and how to score

Reviewed on 21 October 2026 against the publisher’s rulebook. How we check

Wayfarers of the South Tigris plays 1 to 4 players: setting off from Baghdad, you map the land, the waterways and the sky, and move your marker along the Journal Track. Here are the essential rules, setup and final scoring, based on the official rulebook.

Players: 1 to 4 (solo against an AI)
Play time: 60 to 90 minutes
Winner: Most points; on a tie, the most Black, then Yellow, then Blue Influence

Wayfarers of the South Tigris quick rules

The goal: Around the year 820, you set off from Baghdad to map the land, the waterways and the sky. You grow your panorama of cards, upgrade your Caravan, gain Influence in three Guilds and advance on the Journal Track. The player with the most Victory Points at the end wins.
Your turn: Players take turns clockwise. On your turn, you do exactly one thing: place a Die on your Player Board or one of your Cards, place a Worker on a Card around the Main Board, or Rest to get your Dice back.
Dice and the Caravan: Many Dice placement spaces require Assets: a Camel, a Ship, a Telescope or a Pigeon. Your Caravan provides them: each of its six columns matches a Die value. At the start, a 1 has a Camel and a 6 has a Telescope; the Upgrade Tiles you place there add Assets, discounts and Dice manipulation.
Workers: You start with one Yellow and one Blue Worker. You place them on a faceup Card around the Main Board, except a Space Card, and take the action printed on that edge of the board. Townsfolk: one Green; Land: one Green and one Yellow; Water: one Green and one Blue; Inspiration: one of each. Once placed, Workers belong to everyone.
Your panorama: Land Cards go to the left of your board, Water Cards to the right, Space Cards above. An Inspiration Card is tucked above a Space Card, a Townsfolk under a Land or Water Card showing one of its required Tags. Apart from its immediate effects, a Card cannot be used on the turn you acquire it.
Influence and the Guilds: Influence placed on a Card of the Main Board makes the others pay you one Silver or one Provision to use it. The three Minarets are the Guilds of Science, black, Trade, yellow, and Exploration, blue. Once per turn for each Guild, spending an Influence lets you Journal one more time, change your Dice by two in total, or hire a Ship.
Resting: When you have no Die or Worker left to place, you Rest: you take back and roll all your Dice. If your supply had zero or one Die before Resting, you also resolve your Resting abilities, from blue-bannered Townsfolk; the Townsfolk on your board lets you Journal almost every time.
The Journal and the end: Journaling moves your marker one space. To cross an ink splotch, you need the Tags it shows or the Influence it asks for, and each space gives its effect. As soon as a player reaches one of the five final spaces, everyone takes one final turn, that player included.
Beginner traps: Dice values never wrap: a 1 never becomes a 6. You can never retrieve the Worker you just placed in the same turn, so you cannot acquire its Card. Upgrade Tiles may be flipped but never rotated.

How to score Wayfarers of the South Tigris

Cities, Vistas, Harbours and Open Waters: Each primary Tag type scores separately, Caravan Tags included: 2 points for 2 Tags, 3 for 3, 5 for 4, 8 for 5, 12 for 6, 16 for 7 or more. A single Tag scores nothing.
Unique sets of primary Tags: 5 points per set of 1 City, 1 Vista, 1 Harbour and 1 Open Water: the lowest of the four Tag counts.
Space and Inspiration Cards: Sun and Moon: 3 points each, 7 each if you have both. Planet: 1 point plus 1 per Planet Tag. Comet: its value, or 4 if you have more Comet Tags than each opponent. Stars: as shown on the card, including the one on your board. An achieved Inspiration doubles its Space Card.
VP on Upgrade Tiles: All points printed on your Upgrade Tiles.
Science, Trade and Exploration Guilds: 3 points to the player with the most Influence in each Guild; nobody scores if tied.
AI’s Cards (solo): 1 point per Townsfolk Card, 2 per Land or Water Card, 3 per Space Card, 4 per Inspiration Card; its Upgrade Tiles and Guilds score like yours.
Ties: The most Black Influence wins, then the most Yellow, then the most Blue; otherwise, the victory is shared.
Sets, squares, Hourglass and Red Guild (Tides of Trade): 3 points per set of 1 Observatory, 1 Library and 1 Trading Post; 1 point per filled 2x2 square in the Caravans; 2 points for a full Hourglass; 5 points to the player with the most Red Influence.

Worked example

Emma: 4 Cities (5), 3 Vistas (3), 2 Harbours (2), 5 Open Waters (8) and 2 unique sets (10), for 28; the Sun and the Moon (7 + 7) and a Planet with 3 Planet Tags, doubled by her Inspiration (4 × 2), for 22; 9 points on Upgrade Tiles; the majority in Science and in Trade (3 + 3). Total: 28 + 22 + 9 + 6 = 65 points.

Common mistakes

Adding all Tag types together: each type scores separately, by its own count.
Forgetting the Tags on pink tiles in your Caravan.
Giving 4 points per Comet to two players tied for the lead: you need more Comet Tags than each opponent.
Splitting a tied Guild’s 3 points: nobody scores them.
Forgetting the Star Card on your board: 1 point per pair of a Townsfolk and an Upgrade Tile.

How to set up Wayfarers of the South Tigris

With several players, follow the first three parts; for solo, add the last one.

The Main Board

Place the 3 Main Board sections together in the middle of the table.Either side of each section may be used, at any player count.
Shuffle the Journal Tiles and place one faceup on each empty space of the Journal Track.
Place a Green Worker on each of the 4 spaces indicated along the middle of the Journal Track.
Place the 10 pink Special Upgrade Tiles on their spaces.
Place one copy of each Green, Black, Yellow and Blue Upgrade Tile per player; in solo play, two, as with 2 players.Return the rest to the box.
Place the Silver and Provisions next to the Main Board: this is the Main Supply.

The cards

Shuffle the Townsfolk, Space, Land, Water and Inspiration Cards separately, and place each facedown Draw Pile on its space.
Reveal the top 4 Cards of each Draw Pile next to it.

Each player

Deal one Player Board to each player at random.It represents Baghdad, with a pre-printed City, Harbour, Star Card and Townsfolk.
Each player takes the 5 Dice of their color: 2 go in the reserve near the Minarets, the other 3 are rolled and placed next to their board.
Each player takes their 15 Influence, places their Player Marker at the start of the Journal Track and takes one Yellow and one Blue Worker.
Choose a random first player; turns then go clockwise.
First player: 2 Provisions, 3 Silver and one Influence in the blue Exploration Guild.Starting Influence goes on the Minarets of the Main Board.
With 2 or more players, second player: 2 Provisions, 3 Silver, one blue and one yellow Influence.
With 3 or more players, third player: 2 Provisions, 4 Silver, one blue and one yellow Influence.
With 4 players, fourth player: 3 Provisions, 4 Silver, one blue and one yellow Influence.

Solo: the AI

Flip a Player Board to its AI side: this is your opponent.Space AI, Upgrade AI, Townsfolk AI or Journal AI: each has its own Focus.
The AI gets no Dice. Place a Player Marker of an unused color on the top-left space of its Resource Track, and another on the 0 space of its Comet Track.Its own Player Marker starts at the beginning of the Journal Track.
Give the AI one Yellow Worker, one Blue Worker and its Influence.
The AI goes second: no Provisions or Silver, but one Influence in the yellow Guild and one in the blue Guild.You are therefore the first player.
Shuffle the 6 Scheme Cards into a facedown Draw Pile.

Frequently asked questions

How much Silver do you start with in Wayfarers of the South Tigris?

The first and second players get 3 Silver and 2 Provisions, the third 4 Silver and 2 Provisions, the fourth 4 Silver and 3 Provisions.

When does a game of Wayfarers of the South Tigris end?

As soon as a player reaches one of the five final spaces of the Journal Track: everyone takes one final turn, that player included.

How do Tags score in Wayfarers of the South Tigris?

Each primary Tag type scores 2, 3, 5, 8, 12 or 16 points for 2 to 7 Tags, plus 5 points per unique set of all four types.

Ludingo’s Wayfarers of the South Tigris sheet was last reviewed on 21 October 2026, based on: pixiegames.fr, garphill.com 1, garphill.com 2, BoardGameGeek.