River of Gold
From the Spine of the World Mountains to the bustling fishing villages of Earthquake Fish Bay flows a river where fortunes can be made and lowly traders can brush shoulders with Rokugan's elite. Will your clan become the dominant force along this River of Gold?
In River of Gold, players take on the role of river merchants allied with legendary samurai clans, each vying to exploit the river to earn wealth, glory, and wisdom. Will you invest in developing ports, markets, shrines, and more along the banks of the busy river? Or will you rely upon sailing the river of gold, growing your wealth and influence through delivery contracts, visiting the nobility, and garnering a bit of divine favor during tough times?
Number of players: 2 - 4
Game duration: 43 mn
Complexity: 2 / 5
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Play River of Gold and 930 other games online.
No download necessary - play directly from your web browser.
With your friends and thousands of players from the whole world.
Free.
![Board Game Arena](https://x.boardgamearena.net/data/themereleases/240906-1001/img/logo/logo_title_big.png)
Rules summary
Overview
Move your boat, please customers, and construct buildings to have the most points over 2 Eras
Turn
At the start of your turn, you may choose to spend Divine Favor in order to change your dice value by 1 up or down, your sun value is how much divine favor you have whilst your moon value is the maximum you can currently hold
After which, you can take an action between: Build, Sail, or Deliver
Thirdly, if able you're allowed to claim Masteries, these are shared goals with the first person to complete them gaining more points than later claimants. You can claim as many Masteries as you currently satisfy, but can only claim each unique Mastery once.
Finally, roll your dice in preparation for next turn
Note: You can only hold 25 Koku and 6 copies of each trade good at any one point
Build
Pick an empty shore space which matches the icon on the dice
Pay the Koku cost displayed there, if you cannot pay it then you cannot build there
Take a building tile of your choice and add it to the space, if you take the tile at the end of the row then you get a bonus of 1 Divine Favor
Place one of your Clan Markers on it and move your Influence marker for the corresponding region the number of spaces depicted on the building bonus
Gain any rewards from the influence track if you pass or land on them
Add a new tile into the building row and slide all the others along, if this was the last tile from Era 1 then it will trigger Emperor's Visit (see below)
Sail
Pick a single ship of yours and move it downriver by the value of your dice
Each river space is connected to 4 building spaces
Gain the rewards shown of the point, an empty space always gives 1 Koku, whilst the built structures have various rewards
The owners of any buildings you just gathered from also gain the reward shown on the flat end of the tile, furthest from the river, if you own a building you gathered from you gain both rewards
If the owner reward is Influence, it is the track associated with the region the building is based at
If your ship just reached the end of the river, gain either 3 Koku or 1 Trade Good, discard the building tile at the end of the building row (This may cause an Emperor's Visit), then put the ship back at the start of the river and complete any further movement points you still have
Deliver
Pick a card in your hand which has a dice symbol matching the dice you hold
Discard the Trade Goods in its request area (Dark banner under name)
If you can't satisfy either of these first two steps, then you cannot take this action
Place the card in your playing area
A Tick reward is gained immediately
A cycled reward is an ongoing benefit
A cup reward is an end game effect
Draw 2 new cards, then discard 1 from your hand (which can be an old one or one just drawn)
Trade
At any time you may Trade:
Exchange two of the same Trade Good for one of any other Trade Good.
Exchange five Koku to gain one Divine Favor.
Emperor's Visit
When the last building tile from Era I is moved into the available supply for the first time, this triggers a Visit after the current player has finished their turn
All players gain the ownership reward of their buildings the same way as if a ship had visited
After which, place the Era 2 deck into play and continue
Game End
This is triggered similar to the Emperor's Visit, but when Era 2 deck is depleted
The player who triggered it scores 5 points, then each other player gets a bonus turn
Score each Influence region by rank, 1st ahead, 2nd ahead, and 3rd ahead where applicable, if you are not on a track you cannot score a rank. If tied, the tied players add their ranks together and divide evenly, with the excess points ignored.
Customers have two scoring parts
First, score customers simply by how many you obtained
Secondly, score customers with any end game scoring conditions
Add to this any Mastery rewards obtained during the game
The player with the most points, wins!
If tied, the player with the most remaining Divine Favor wins!