Round Order

The game consists of exactly 12 rounds, symbolising the 12 months in the Year of the Dragon. The player order for the round is determined by the marker positions of the Persons track. Each round consists of the following 4 phases, in order:

1st Phase: Choose an Action

• If you choose an action in the same grouping as another player has already chosen, you must pay 3 yuan.
• You may also choose no action and fill your personal money supply to 3 yuan.

2nd Phase: Choose a New Person

• If you do not have available space in any palaces, you must discard a different person before placing your new person.
• Gain positions on the Persons track a number of spaces equal to the value of the new person you selected.

3rd Phase: Event

• After the event resolves, any palaces which are unoccupied lose 1 floor.

4th Phase: Scoring

1 point for each:

• Palace
• Court lady
• Privilege (small)

2 points for large privilege

Events

Peace

• Nothing happens

Imperial Tribute

• Each player pays 4 yuan
• For each yuan a player is short, release 1 person

Drought

• Each player must turn in 1 rice tile for each inhabited palace
• From each unsupplied palace, release 1 person

Mongol Invasion

• Each player scores points equal to the helmets on their warriors
• All the players with the fewest must each release a single person

Dragon Festival

• Players get 6, or 3, victory points for the most, or the second most, fireworks
• Scoring players then turn in half of their tiles to the supply

Epidemic

• Each player must release 3 persons, 1 fewer per mortar on their healers

Actions

Taxes

Take 1 yuan from the supply for each coin symbol (on the action card and the player’s tax collectors)

Build

Take 1 palace floor from the supply for each hammer (on the action card and the player’s craftsmen), then build the new floors; no palace higher than 3 floors

Harvest

Take 1 rice tile from the supply for each rice sack (on the action card and the player’s farmers)

Fireworks Display

Take 1 fireworks tile from the supply for each rocket (on the action card and the player’s pyrotechnists)

Military Parade

Move 1 space on the person track for each helmet (on the card and the player’s warriors)

Research

Move 1 space on the scoring track for each book (on the action card and the player’s scholars)

Privilege

Pay 2, or 6 (or 7 depending on new or old edition rules), yuan to the supply and take a small, or large, privilege tile from the supply accordingly

(No action)

Take up to 3 yuan from the supply to bring your total yuan to 3

End-of-game Scoring

Person

• 2 points each

Monk

• [number of Buddhas] x [number of floors] points

Rice and Fireworks

• Each player sells back to the supply all of their rice and fireworks tiles for 2 yuan each.
• Afterwards, each player earns 1 victory point for every 3 yuan they possess.