It plays in a similar fashion to its inspiration - everyone takes turns exploring, placing a marker on the tile they explore if they wish, and trying to complete groups for scoring based on who has the most markers placed. Of course, there must be some differences, or why would this be a new game? Let's look at these differences here.
A new theme and board style
One obvious difference is that the layout as it forms depicts an archaeological expedition in a jungle, instead of an archipelago at sea. Instead of water you have the jungle, and instead of parts of islands you have parts of "districts of the forgotten city." As you lay out the tiles, these districts are completed in the same way the islands are in Entdecker. An example of what this might look like can be seen in this image of unpunched tiles:
If you know Entdecker, you recall that the board is a rectangular grid on which to place the tiles. In Jade Goddess, you start with a cross-shaped central axis, placing the tiles within the four quadrants defined by the cross. Like so:
Different rules for where you start exploring
Entdecker has a common ship piece to place on the tile where a player's exploration is starting. Anyone can start anywhere, but has to pay gold if they choose to start on a tile which has another player's marker.
In Jade Goddess, each player has their own Jeep piece, which trundles about the jungle turn by turn. On your turn, you can move your Jeep any distance along the white dotted lines, as long as you end in a tile that doesn't contain another player's Jeep. Note: you can end up where someone else has a marker for scoring, no problem.
Now look carefully at the first image above. Where two tile sides depicting the forgotten city touch, there will be a brown dotted line connecting the centers of the tiles. You are allowed to move your Jeep along a brown line, but then your movement ends. This would be like hauling the Entdecker ship onto land across one of the islands!
The Jeep movement rules make it possible to explore from within a district that is forming, and also make it possible for there to be a greater variety of tile patterns than in the original Entdecker. More on this later. The rules also mean it is possible for a Jeep to wander too deeply into rough terrain, costing a player time later. It is good to be able to zip around along the white dotted lines on each turn.
Different rules for how you explore
Once you move your Jeep to where you want to start exploring, you must pick the specific direction in which you will explore. Then you get to draw one tile, and if it fits, you must place it. If it's an all jungle tile, you advance your jeep and draw again. But once you place a tile with part of the forgotten city on it, you are done.
That seems very limiting compared to Entdecker, but there is a new wrinkle that signifcantly changes the game. If the tile you draw doesn't fit, you place it face up in front of you. When exploring, you actually do not have to draw a face down tile from the supply. You can use one of your face up tiles instead. In fact, if you have three face up tiles at the start of your turn, you must use one of those to explore if possible.
This new rule means a bit more predictability in finishing the scoring districts. Instead of paying a bunch of gold to draw as many tiles as possible in the hope of drawing the tile you need, you can try to concentrate on districts you will be able to finish with the tiles you have been collecting. You also have to pay attention to what tiles the other players have, noting how they might be able to complete a district after your turn.
Actually, Entdecker: Exploring New Horizons has rules for exploring with face up tiles, but apparently they are in a shared pool and cost gold to place.
Slightly different rules for placing markers
Gold is more limited in this game, and less is needed to place the markers for scoring, which are your archaeologists. Everyone has three archaeologists which are worth 1 and are free to place, one which is worth 2 and costs a gold to place, and one which is worth 3 and costs two gold to place.
In Entdecker, if you run out of pieces to place, you are allowed to move one of your lowest valued pieces off of another tile. The higher valued pieces are stuck until the island scores. In Jade Goddess, you can, instead of placing a marker, take one off the board. So you can recover markers at the cost of a turn.
New scoring rules
In Entdecker, islands were worth points based on their size, and there were some extras involving special tiles and resource chips. In Jade Goddess, when a district is complete and scoring happens two things are collected - artifact tiles from a face down supply, and gold.
The number of artifacts drawn is the number of blue heads in the district (see that first image again), with the player having the most value in archaeologists in the district getting that many draws, the player with second most half as many, and so on. Ties are friendly.
The amount of gold collected is the number of gold coins in the district, and everyone gets that much, no matter how many pieces they have. This is good, because this is the only way to get gold.
Other things depicted on the tiles are decorative. Only the blue heads and gold coins mean anything. As in Entdecker, after scoring all pieces are recovered. That part of the board is over and done with.
New tile patterns and rules for finishing districts
Because players can drive their Jeeps through a district as it is forming, there are tile patterns that were not possible in Entdecker. They resemble the odder city tiles from Carcassonne. For example, tiles showing the forgotten city on all sides, but split down the diagonal by jungle.
Also, there is a virtual board edge; tiles are never placed outside of the quadrants defined by the central cross. A district is considered complete and scores even when it has forgotten city sides along the virtual edge.
A final important difference is that there is no supply of tiles for placing in a an empty spot that is completely surrounded, something which made sense in Entdecker because only one tile type would fit once a spot had tiles all around it. In Jade Goddess, a surrounded empty space might never be filled during the game.
Different uses for gold
As in Entdecker, gold is used to place markers for scoring, but not nearly as much is needed. This has already been explained. Gold can also be used for exchanging artifact tiles with the pool, which might be useful since there are bonus points for collecting sets of artifacts.
One other thing that is allowed is to pay one gold for a bonus turn! Helpful for finishing up a district before another greedy player gets the chance. Only one bonus turn is allowed.
More on scoring
Scoring is actually simplified in this game. The artifact tiles collected are worth one point each at the end of the game. Each one represents one fourth of a complete artifact, and if you collect all four parts of an artifact, you get a bonus of three or five points, depending on the quality of the parts.
Collected artifact tiles are kept on a rack so that they are hidden from the other players. Here's what this might look like:
So what's the verdict?
I think I've covered the game fairly comprehensively. If I missed anything, someone else who has played can comment. Personally, I like how the new exploring rules change the game, creating some possibility for planning. I also like the scoring, being personally fond of hidden set collecting.
I don't think the changes make this game vastly superior to Entdecker. I have never played New Horizons, the Entdecker upgrade, so I can't compare Jade Goddess well to it. It would be interesting to hear from others if any of the changes made for New Horizons might have inspired this latest version.
All in all, if you like Entdecker you will like Jade Goddess. I would play either one with no particular preference. It's good to see that Teuber has been able to extend his orginal design and that Entdecker has joined the likes of Caracssonne and Settlers in having new variants published. We should all look forward to the forthcoming games which will complete the "Entecker Realms" trilogy.
Posted Mon Oct 20, 2008 3:14 am
