This game was freely available (see the link below) for download; as a commercial version has been published the author has removed the material from the web site. The commercial version has been produced by Tilsit in 2004 and published with the name Himalaya. It was the 4th game in the Tilsit Collection series.
Each player is the chief of a Himalayan high plateau tribe trying to extend his tribe's influence in the religious, political and economic spheres. The goal is to become the most prosperous caravaneer in all of the Himalaya.
The board shows 20 settlements consisting of 6 houses, 8 temples and 6 monasteries; furthermore the settlements are connected by either dirt tracks, ice track or stone tracks; the map is also divided into eight regions (the spaces between the tracks linking the settlements). The players collect goods (salt, barley, tea, jade and gold), make offers to monasteries, send out delegations to different regions or bargain to increase their livestock. The game is played in 12 turns representing the months in a year, resulting in a length between 60 and 90 minutes.
During setup, 25 goods are deployed in blocks of 5 over 5 randomly chosen settlements. Of the remaining settlements, five get an order, again randomly determined. The players then deploy their caravan marker.
During play, each secretly plots his caravan's moves of up to six steps. Roads between cities are either dirt tracks, ice tracks or stone tracks. The action markers are likewise marked and have an additional hands symbol which allows you to program a transaction in a settlement. On the back is a sleeping yak which represents a pause in the action sequence. This programming phase is limited to one minute.
A transaction consists of taking the city's resource marker of least worth (and one cannot stay put and drain a city through repetition) or fulfilling an order by delivering the required goods. When an order is fulfilled, the player can take 2 of the following 3 actions: a) increase his yak herd (economic influence), b) build a stupa (which garners religious influence) and/or c) place delegations in the surrounding regions (political influence).
After contracts and resources are removed from the board, they are replenished. Every 4 turns a scoring round occurs where the players who have more of a specific good than any other chief are rewarded.
At the end of the game the winner (in a four-player game) is determined as follows: First, the player with the least religious influence is eliminated. Second, repeat with political influence. Third, repeat with economic influence. If need be, break any remaining ties by scoring the remaining stocks of resources.
The game seems inspired by various classics: Elfenland for the movement rules, Tigris & Euphrates for the multiple influence scores and the victory conditions, El Grande/San Marco for the regional influences, RoboRally for the simultaneous turn "programming", etc.
Winner of Tric Trac de Bronze 2002.
A winner of the 2003 Concours International de Créateurs de Jeux de Société.
Expanded by:
Quick Record a Play
