Brilliant. Games do not get much better for me than this one. I do not know if can quite tell, but I really like this game.

To begin with, I had just purchased Maharaja: Palace Building in India, played it with my GF, and we both enjoyed that. Yet, when I went into the store to purchase that, there was Taj Mahal looking at me plaintively on the shelf. Later, I thought. I would have time for that one day. Besides which, did I really need another game set in India? Then I bought it.

The first thing I do when I buy a new game is to open and box and peruse the rulebook as I return home. My first impression on taking out the rules was one of shock. The book is 40+ pages long. Then there was the fact that I could not read a 1/4 of it. But I quickly got over that as I realized that 3/4 of it was not written in English! As read the parts that I could understand I quickly fell in love with this game. It works. It flows. It sings. This is the game I have been looking for.

My only problem with the rules is that they are not organized in a way that leads to a quick, simple understanding of the game. They meander here and there, return back to start, then go on another flight of fancy. This is a fairly simple game once you understand its 30 or so underlying concepts. To that end I wrote the following explanation. Please enjoy. [NOTE: For the colorblind among you, I suggest staying away from this game as color play a preeminent role in the game.]



OVERALL CONCEPT
Influence the provinces and control the cities of northwestern India circa 1700.

OBJECT
Rack up the most points.

BOARD
Most of the board is taken up by the game’s map. It contains 12 Provinces, each one marked with an image in its center. The Provinces holds 4 Cities each, except for Agra which has 5. 16 of the 49 Cities on the board are considered to be Fortresses and are so indicated by having a darker color than the other Cities. Controlling a Fortress provides a player with a Bonus Tile. A City is controlled by placing a Palace of the player’s color on its space.
Also on the board is the Court of the Grand Moguls, where each Province’s “rewards” (Crown, Province Tile, and 4 Influence Tiles) are placed.
Running around the outside of the board is the Scoring Track.

GENERAL CONCEPTS
• Visit: a game round in which the influence over a single province is determined. There are 12 total Visits in the game, with the last one being in Agra. The Visits are done sequentially, as each Province Tile is marked with a number from 1-12. Each Province is Visited only once in the game.
• Palace: one (1) per City, it is used to indicate control over that City. By placing a Palace in a Fortress a player gains its Bonus Tile. Palaces are used to “connect” Provinces.
• Crown Palace: one (1) per Province; it does not indicate control over the City in which it is placed and cannot be used to claim any Bonus Tiles. It counts for connecting Provinces. One can be placed on any City in that Province, even if it already has a Palace. If a Crown Palace is placed on empty City one regular Palace can still be placed to claim that city.
• Bonus Tile: one (1) per Fortress, it is claimed by the first player to control that city. A Bonus Tile can be an extra card from the top of the draw pile (it is then discarded and is out of the game), bonus points, or a Resource.
• Resource: one of four types – gems, rice, spices, tea. They are earned by gaining control over a Fortress or by winning a Province Tile.
• Court of the Grand Moguls: it holds six (6) rewards that can be won in a Province. These are a Crown used to create a Crown Palace, the Province Tile, and four Influence Tiles. They represent the six areas of influence that a player can control in a given province: its Governorship, Economic, Political, Military, Religious, and Social spheres.
1. Governorship: determined by the most Grand Mogul symbols. Gain the Crown and place a Crown Palace in the Province.
2. Economic: determined by the most Elephant symbols. Gain the Province Tile (it gives control over 1 or 2 Resources, which are printed on the tile).
3. Political: determined by the most Vizier symbols. Gain a Vizier Influence Tile. Place a Palace in a City in the current Province.
4. Military: determined by the most General symbols. Gain a General Influence Tile. Place a Palace in a City in the current Province.
5. Religious: determined by the most Monk symbols. Gain a Monk Influence Tile. Place a Palace in a City in the current Province.
6. Social: determined by the most Princess symbols. Gain a Princess Influence Tile. Place a Palace in a City in the current Province.
• Cards: are used to compete for influence within the Provinces. Each card has two characteristics – its color and its symbols.
1. Color: this is equivalent to a “suit” in a game like Hearts or Spades. There are four basic colors: red, green, yellow, and violet. Each suit has 21 cards. Cards played by a player in a given Visit need to be of the same color. There are also 12 white cards, which do not belong to any suit.
2. Symbols: these are Grand Moguls, Elephants, Viziers, Generals, Monks, and Princesses. The colored cards have 2 symbols per card, while the white cards only have 1 symbol per card. These symbols are used to determine the control of each corresponding sphere of influence within a Province.
• Special Cards: are four white cards that are gained by having two (2) matching Influence Tiles. 2 Viziers gain a Mogul card. 2 Generals get an Elephant card. 2 Princesses get a +2 Points card. 2 Monks gain the Color Change card which allows the card it is played with to change its color (i.e., its suit). Unlike all other cards, the Specials return to a player’s hand when the Visit ends. [NOTE: as soon as a player gains the two appropriate Influence Tiles, that card is immediately passed to him even if it is in another’s hand. He also returns those two Influence Tiles to the bank.]
• Card Supply: is one of the few ways for a player to replenish his hand. During each Visit a number of cards are placed face up next to the board. This number is equal to two times the number of players minus one (2 x - 1). A player gains 1 or 2 of these cards when he chooses to Withdraw from the province. The first one to do so gets his choice of two cards. Then the next. The final player gets the last remaining card.
• Withdrawing: ending one’s Visit to a Province. When a player Withdraws, compare the symbols on all his cards with those of every player who has not yet Withdrawn. Any that he has a lead in win him the appropriate rewards from the Court of the Grand Moguls (these are not replenished). He then scores any points that he has accumulated during this Visit by: gaining bonus points; acquiring Resources; placing Palaces, and connecting them to his Palaces in other Provinces. He takes cards from the Card Supply. Any cards that he has played are discarded, but he returns any Special Cards to his hand; also, his cards no longer count in determining influence in this Province. [NOTE: When a player Withdraws without playing any cards during a Visit he gains cards from the Card Supply plus the top card of the draw pile.]

SETUP
Place the +4 Bonus Tile on Agra and the number 12 Province Tile in Agra’s Province. Shuffle the 11 remaining Province Tiles and place them on the open Provinces, with their symbol side up. This will be the sequence in which all of the Visits for the game will take place. Shuffle the 15 other Bonus Tiles and place them on the Fortresses, symbol side up.
Place the 4 Bonus Cards by the board. Shuffle the other cards and deal 6 to each player, leaving the rest as the draw pile.
Select a player to start the game and give him one of the 2 black figures.

GAME PLAY / VISIT
Place the Crown, the current Province Tile, and one of each of the Influence Tiles onto their respective spaces in the Court of the Grand Moguls. Mark the current Province with the remaining black figure. Create a Card Supply and place it by the board.
On his turn a player, starting with the one who currently has the black figure and proceeding clockwise, can:

• Play 1 or 2 cards to try to influence the forces in a province
OR
• Withdraw and claim any rewards he has earned

Play during a visit can consist of several turns. When it gets to his turn, a player who does not Withdraw must play cards. Play proceeds in the current Province, with people laying down more and more cards, until every player has Withdrawn.

• Playing Cards: a player can lay down 1 colored card or 1 colored card & 1 white card or 1 colored card & 1 Special Card. During each turn during this Visit the colored cards that are played by that player must “follow suit” (i.e., be of the same color). Once a card is played it cannot be returned to one’s hand.
[NOTE: white cards and Special Cards must be played in combination with a colored card; they can never be played by themselves.]
• Withdraw: the player claims his rewards from the Court of the Grand Moguls, getting any appropriate ones that he has the most symbols of; these do not get refilled for this Province. He scores all the points that he is eligible for, returns any Special Cards played back into his hand, and takes cards from the Card Supply. The other cards that he played are discarded, and none of his cards count anymore toward exerting any influence over the current Province.
[NOTE: most means most; a tie does not win any rewards.]
[NOTE: It is possible that there may be some rewards that are not awarded during a Visit.]
• End of Turn: when all the players have Withdrawn pass the black figure clockwise; this will be the starting player during the next Visit. (A player with 2 identical Influence Tiles turns them in and gets their respective Special Card.) Move on to the next Province in the sequence. Refill the Court of the Grand Moguls, including the Crown and create a new Card Supply.

SCORING POINTS
Players score points by getting Bonus Tiles, playing a Special Card, acquiring Resources, gaining Province Tiles, and for Palaces.
• Bonus Tiles: some Bonus Tiles are marked with a +2, while the one for Agra is +4, and score those amounts respectively. Each is gained by controlling a Fortress with this tile on it. A player scores the amount on the tile and then discards it; that tile is out of the game.
• Special Card: the Princess Special Card scores +2 points during each Visit it is played.
• Resources/Province Tiles: each Resource gained by a player during a Visit scores 1 point. If he already had any of these Resources, he scores 1 point per all those. [Example: Martin had 4 tea, 1 jewel, and 1 rice. During the current visit he acquired 1 tea, 1 jewel, and 1 spice. He would score 5 points for his tea, 2 for his jewels, and 1 for his spice, or +8 points.] [Example: Betty has 3 spices and has just gained 2 more. Her first spice scores 4 points, and her second 5, for a total of +9 points.]
• Palaces: if a player has any Palaces in the current Province he gets 1 point. He can gain 1 additional point for each Province that is connected by an uninterrupted path of roads and Palaces to the Palaces in the current Province. [Example: Bob built 2 Palaces and gets 1 point. Palace A does not connect to any other Provinces. Curses! Palace B, though, is linked to 3 other Provinces via Bob’s Palaces for +3 points. Yeah, Bob!]

END GAME SCORING
Players get extra points for any cards still in their hand after the 12th Visit, and yes they do get to visit the Card Supply on that Visit as well. Every white card still in hand earns +1 point, as does every Special Card. Additionally a player gets the number of points equal to the longest suit he still holds in his hand. [Example: Jayne has 2 White cards (+2), the Color Change card (+1), 4 Green cards (+4), 2 Violet cards (+0), and 1 Red card (+0). She gains +7 points for her hand.]