RAJA – English Rules

Phalanx Games / for 2-5 players

Contents

1.0 Introduction
2.0 Components
3.0 Starting Play
4.0 General Course of Play
5.0 Starting Position
6.0 Sequence of Play
7.0 Actions
8.0 Scoring
9.0 New Game Turn
10.0 Winning
11.0 Variants

1.0 INTRODUCTION
Maharaja is a strategic boardgame for two to five players, set in 16th century India. The players are Indian regents, also
called Rajas, who set out to please their King, the Maharaja, by improving his cities. Rivaling Rajas travel from city to city,
where they build houses and beautiful palaces for their lord. During their endeavors, they seek help from various
influential public figures, who assist them with their special abilities and advantages.
Building palaces is a costly business. Therefore, it is essential to generate enough income. The first player to build seven
palaces wins the game.

2.0 COMPONENTS
1 game board
5 differently colored wooden architects
1 black wooden Maharaja
5 action discs, each with 2 arrows
5 differently colored sets of 7 glass palaces
5 differently colored sets of 20 wooden houses
7 governor markers
7 different character cards
60 gold pieces in various denominations
7 blue action chits
5 action & rules summary cards
1 rules booklet

3.0 STARTING PLAY

3.1 The Game Board
The game board shows the starting location of the player’s architects, 7 cities with palace gardens and 30 villages. These
are all connected by a road network. On one side the governor track is shown.

3.2 Preparing for play

The game board is placed on the table. Each player chooses a color and receives:

1 action disc and 1 action & rules summary card.

Note: Before the first game, assemble the 5-piece action disc. The plastic pin is pushed upwards through the center of the disc. The
arrows are lowered over the plastic pin. Finally, after checking if all is right, clip the plastic lock onto the pin.

Their architect, which is placed on the starting location.

7 palaces and 4 houses in their color, that the players keep in front of them. The remaining houses are kept in the quarry
(bank) next to the game board.

15 gold pieces: 1 coin of 10 and 1 coin of 5.

Note: Money may be kept hidden from other players.

The Maharaja is placed on the starting location.

The character cards 1 – 6 are placed next to the game board. The Yogi (character card 7) is used only in the advanced
game.

One player is selected to keep the bank and distribute money, character cards and chits during the game. He also keeps
the quarry and distributes houses.
The 7 governor pieces are blindly shuffled and then randomly drawn and placed face up on the governor track: one in
each box above the one with the arrow.

The boxes 1 – 10 are initially not occupied and show the game turns.

The action chits and the Yogi (7) are not used in the basic game.

3.3 The Scoring Chart

The rules summary card features the scoring chart:

No of Players No of Gold pieces the Maharaja awards each player after scoring
2 10 - 5
3 11 – 7 - 3
4 12 – 9 – 6 - 3
5 13 – 10 – 7 – 4 - 1

4.0 GENERAL COURSE OF PLAY

Each city has a palace garden. Each palace garden has one central building site for the main palace (3 points) and six for
the outer palaces (1 point each). The players may build their palaces on these 7 sites, if they are available. During the
game, the player’s architects travel from city to city by a network of roads that connect them. On these roads, there are 30
building locations for villages. In each village, 2 houses may be built (with 2 players only 1). In cities, players may build an
unlimited number of houses. A player’s architect may only pass through a village if it contains at least one house. If the
player’ architect travels through a village where only other players own houses, they must pay for passage (see 7.1).

5.0 STARTING POSITION

Maharaja is a game for up to five players. If you play with less than five players, a few rules changes apply, see 11.2.4.
Before the game begins, the starting situation is determined:

 The players choose a character card (see 5.1), and

 They build 4 houses in villages across the game board.

5.1 Character Cards

The youngest player selects one of the 6 character cards on the table and places it openly in front of him. Afterwards, the
player to his left selects a character card, etc. Character cards which were not chosen remain with the banker. They may
come into play during the game.
The numbers on the character cards determine the order of the individual player turns. They also break a tie when scoring
takes place in a city. The lower the number on a character card, the higher it ranks.
Beyond this, each character has special powers which help the player accomplish his tasks and score more points.

Character card 1 / Mogul: Moves first and is the best card if a tie has to be broken during scoring.
Character card 2 / Trader: Players using the trader always receive 1 gold piece in each of their player turns.
Character card 3 / Sadhus: Outer palaces are worth 2 points during scoring (instead of 1).
Character card 4 / Wandering Monk: The travel costs of the player and his architect are paid by the bank, so they
“travel for free”.
Character card 5 / Builder: Builds or moves 1 additional house for free.
Character card 6 / Artisan: Pays only 9 instead of 12 gold pieces to build a palace.

5.2 Placing houses in Villages

Now the 4 houses that were received initially are placed in villages for free. The player with the lowest numbered
character card starts. He places 1 house in any village on the game board. Then the player with the second-lowest
character card places a house in any village, etc. When all players have placed one house, they place their second, third
and fourth houses in the same order.

Note: No more than 2 houses may be built in one village.

With 2 players, only 1 house may be built in a village.

Also note: When placing the houses the players should keep in mind to “connect” the cities where the scoring is done
first. These are the cities that are at the bottom of the governor track (near the arrow). Connecting means that there is at
least one house per village location on all roads connecting the starting location and a city or 2 cities.

Example: City A is connected to the starting location. There is at least 1 house per village location on that road. City B is
not connected as there is an empty village location on the road leading to it.

When all players have placed 4 houses, they receive 6 additional houses from the quarry into their pool. Players may only
build houses on the game board from their pool, and not from the quarry.
The game is now set up for play.
6.0 SEQUENCE OF PLAY
Each game turn is played the same way. First, the Maharaja is placed in the city that now matches the governor piece at
the bottom of the governor track. Each game turn ends with a scoring round in the city with the Maharaja.

Each game turn is divided into steps:

 The Maharaja is moved;
 A governor is moved on the governor track;
 The players secretly mark their actions on their action disc;
 The players reveal their actions and execute them in character order;
 A scoring round is done in the city with the Maharaja.

6.1 Maharaja and Governor pieces are placed/changed

At the start of the game, the Maharaja is in the starting location. From there he is placed into the city whose governor is at
the bottom of the governor track. It does not matter if that city is connected to other cities or not. After placing the
Maharaja, the governor piece is put above the topmost governor on the governor track. The governor at the bottom of the
track indicates which city is the Maharaja’s next destination. Of course, players may change the governor order with the
appropriate action.
At the end of each game turn, a scoring round is conducted in the city with the Maharaja. At the start of the next game
turn, the Maharaja is placed into the city whose governor is now at the bottom of the governor track. This order might be
changed by conducting the action governor track order, see 7.5.

6.2 Selecting Actions

The players now designate their actions for the next game turn. Note that each action disc has two arrows. Use each
arrow to select one action. The players must execute both actions in their turn, in whichever order they prefer.
A player may select the same action twice by placing the arrows accordingly. The players keep their actions secret.

The symbols on the action discs have the following meaning:

Gold: You receive 2 gold pieces from the bank.

House: You may build 1 house in a village or a city; cost: 1 gold piece.
2 Houses: You may build 2 houses. One has to be placed in a city, the other may be placed in a village or a city. Each
house costs 1 gold piece. You may only build a house in a city if your architect is present.
Move a house: You may move one of your houses from a village or city to another village or city without cost. You may
only place this house in a city if your architect is present.
Quarry: You may receive 2 of your own houses from the quarry and place them into your pool. You may build these
houses in future actions.
Palace: You may build 1 palace for 12 gold pieces. You may only build this palace in a city if your architect is present.
Palace/House: You may build 1 palace for 12 gold pieces in any city and 1 house for 1 gold piece in any village or city.
You may only build a palace or a house in a city if your architect is present.
Governor Track Order: You may change the order of governors on this track by moving them as described in 7.5.
Character Cards: You may exchange your character card with one from another player or one from the bank. The former
action cannot be stopped by the owning player.

6.3 Conducting a Player’s Actions

When all players have secretly selected their actions, the player with the lowest numbered character card flips over his
action disc and conducts his player turn. When he has conducted both of his actions, the player with the second lowest
character card flips over his action disc and conducts his player turn, etc. This continues until all players have conducted
their actions/player turns.
Note: In his turn, a player conducts his actions, making use of the advantage of his character card. He may also move his
architect around (and pays for passage through non friendly villages) in order to build houses and palaces in cities.
A player may freely decide in which order he conducts his actions.

7.0 ACTIONS
7.1 Travelling
Moving an architect is a free action, that does not feature on the action disc. The player may freely move his architect at
any time during his turn. He may move his architect to a city, build there and then move him to another city to build there
again, and so on.

The only restrictions to moving an architect are:

 He may never be moved through a village in which no house (of whichever player) is present;
 He must sometimes pay for his passage.

Travelling costs: Travelling through cities and the starting location is without cost. Travelling through villages where the
player has at least 1 house is also free. If a player does not have a house in a village, he has to pay 1 gold piece for each
house in that village to the owners of the houses.
Example: A village has a blue and a red house. Green has to pay 1 gold piece each to the blue and the red player when travelling
through that village.

7.2 Building (Palaces, Houses)

A Player's architect does not have to be present in a village where he wants to build a house. He just has to keep in mind
that no more than 2 houses may be built in any one village. In a 2 player game, only 1 house per village is allowed. A
player may only build houses and palaces in a city if his architect is present. During his turn, a player may move his
architect from city to city and build in each of them.

The following restrictions count:

 A player may only move his architect through villages containing at least 1 house;
 Only 7 palaces may be built in any one city. When all 7 palace building sites in a city are occupied, no further palaces
may be built there. The number of houses in cities is not restricted. They do not occupy palace building sites.
 Cost to build a house = 1 gold piece (Each house, no matter if it is built in a city or in a village, costs 1 gold piece.)
 Cost to build a palace = 12 gold pieces (Each palace, whether it is the main (central) palace or not, costs 12 gold
pieces.)

The player, who selects the action 2 houses, must build 1 house in a city, and the second one in a village or a city. It is not
allowed to build both houses in villages. The city gate symbol indicates that 1 house must be built in a city.

7.3 Moving Houses

A player may only move his own houses, no matter if they are located in a village or in a city.
If a village has only 1 house which is moved subsequently, the road is interrupted until another house is placed there. It is
always possible to move a house to a village (but keep in mind the maximum number of houses there). Moving a house to
a city is only possible when a player’s architect is in that city. The action Moving House does not cost any gold.

7.4 Quarry
At no cost, a player receives 2 of his houses from the quarry, and places them into his pool. He may build them in future
actions.

7.5 Changing the Governor Track Order

A player may take any governor piece and move it 2 boxes down on the governor track. The governor pieces that are
“overtaken” are pushed 1 box up on the governor track. In this way the order is changed.

Example 1: In game turn 1 a player moves governor piece “D” 2 boxes down. Therefore, governor pieces “B” and “C” are both moved
up 1 box. If no other player also changes the governor track order, the Maharaja will travel to city “D” in the next game turn (and score
there).

When changing the governor track order it is possible that there will be vacant boxes.

Example 2: “F” is moved. “F” moves 2 boxes down (in front of “E”), “E” moves up 1 box. The vacant box has no further meaning. When
the Maharaja is placed into city “F”, “F´s” governor piece is placed in front of all other governor pieces (in the example directly above
“C” in box “5”).

7.6 Exchanging Character Cards

Characters are important public figures who occasionally help the players in their endeavor to please the Maharaja. They
do not always stay with the same players, and may wander off to help others.
As an action, players may take a character away from another player, or take one from the bank. This action cannot be
prevented by other players. The character the player already had is handed to the banker.
The player left without a character may now select one from the bank. In his turn, had he selected the same action, that
player could take his character right back!
It is entirely possible that the player taking a new character uses the advantages of both characters this turn.

Example 1: A player has the trader; he receives 1 gold piece. Next he takes the card monk and travels for free.

Example 2: A player has the builder; he builds a house for free. Then he takes the card artisan and builds a palace for only 9 gold
pieces (to do this he must have selected the action palace).

It is possible that the original game turn order will be changed by exchanging a character card. Please keep in mind:
 A player conducting his player turn is always allowed to complete it.
 A player who has already completed his player turn does not get another one in the same game round.
 Among the players who have not conducted a player turn yet, the player with the lowest ranking character card
automatically is the next player.

7.7 Conducting Actions

The players may renounce a part of an action, the whole action or even both actions. They would typically have to do this
if they did not have enough money to pay for all of their plans. In that case, all other players immediately receive 2 gold
pieces from the bank. So, be careful choosing your actions!
Example: A player has selected the action Palace/House on his action disc. He only builds the house, as he realizes that he cannot
pay for the palace. So, all other players receive 2 gold pieces from the bank.

8.0 SCORING
After all players have conducted their player turn, scoring is done in the city where the Maharaja is located. Every player
represented in that city receives money from the bank. The player’s architect does not have to be in the city to receive
money.
How much money a player receives depends on the “presence” of a player compared to the other players in the city.
Players get points for their buildings and architect in the city, where the Maharaja is.

 Architect 1 point
 House 1 point
 Outer palace 1 point
 Central palace 3 points

Examples:
(1) Tom has only his architect in a city. He gets 1 point.
(2) Mary has one house in a city; she receives 1 point.
(3) Ann has her architect, 2 houses, 1 outer and central palace in a city. She gets 7 points.

The player with the most points gets the left-most number of gold coins from the bank in the table shown on the rules
summary cards. The player with the second most points gets the next higher number of coins, etc. In case of a tie
between players, the lower number on their character cards breaks it and that player gets the higher amount.

Monopoly-Bonus: If only one player scores points in a city (no other player has his architect or buildings in that city), he
receives 5 additional gold pieces from the bank.

No points: All players who do not score points get no money.

Example: Scoring takes place in city “A”. Ann has the Mogul. She has chosen the actions Palace/House and Gold. Ann pays 13 - 2 =
11 gold pieces, builds 1 house in a village, travels with her architect to “A” and builds a central palace there. She scores 3 for the
central palace + 1 for her architect = 4 points.
Bob has the Sadhus. He has chosen Palace/House and Move a house. He pays 13 gold pieces, travels to “A”, builds 1 outer palace
and 1 house and moves 1 other house to “A”. Bob scores 2 for the outer palace with his sadhus + 2 for his houses + 1 for his architect
= 5 points.
Chris has the Builder. He has chosen 2 Houses twice and pays 4 gold pieces. Chris travels to “A” and builds 4 houses there. With the
builder on his side he builds an extra house without cost. Chris scores 5 for his houses + 1 for his architect = 6 points.
Diana has the Artisan. She has chosen Palace/House and Governor Track Order. Diana travels to “D” and builds a central palace and
1 house there, paying 10 gold pieces (she is the Artisan…). Now she changes the governor track order and moves “D” 2 boxes down.
Now “D” is at the bottom of the gevernor track – in this city will score next. Finally, she travels to “A” and scores 1 point with her
architect.
The score: Chris receives 12 gold pieces, Bob 9, Ann 6 and Diana 3. In the next game turn the Maharaja will be moved to “D” and the
governor “D” is placed to the top box, numbered 2 (= game turn 2).

9.0 NEW GAME TURN

When scoring has been completed, the next game turn begins.
 The Maharaja travels to the city whose governor is next in line on the governor track (no matter if this city is
connected or not). Said governor is moved to the box above the topmost governor on the governor track.
 The players secretly select their actions on their action discs.
 These actions are conducted (in the order of the character cards).
 Scoring is done.

No of Players No of Gold pieces the Maharaja awards each player after scoring
2 10 - 5
3 11 – 7 - 3
4 12 – 9 – 6 - 3
5 13 – 10 – 7 – 4 - 1

10.0 WINNING
The game may end in two ways. It ends after scoring has been conducted in the game turn when:

 one or more players have built their seventh palace, or

 one of the governors is placed in box “10” on the governor track.

The winner is the player who has built the most palaces. In case of a tie, the one with the most gold pieces wins.
Positions 2, 3, etc. are determined in the same way—first by the number of palaces, with ties broken by the player with
the most gold pieces. Players who are still tied use the ranking of their character to see who wins.
11.0 VARIANTS
11.1 Shorter Playing Time
The players only receive 6 palaces and the maximum number of game turns is 8.

11.2 Advanced Version I

In the advanced version of Maharaja all basic rules are in effect. In addition, the following rules are added:

11.2.1 Components
In the advanced version the Yogi and the action chits are added. The Yogi is placed with the other character cards and
the action chits near the game board.

11.2.2 The Yogi

If a player has the Yogi, he receives 1 action chit during his turn. He may use it immediately or in a later turn, even if he
does not have the Yogi anymore. Each action chit allows an additional action.

11.2.3 Using Action Chits

Each action chit allows a player a third action during his player turn. A player may select an action from the ones on the
action disc and conduct it. He simply declares it.
Exception: The action Character Card may not be selected with this additional action. Only 1 action chit per player turn
may be used. After use, the action chit is returned to the bank.

Example: A player owns an action chit and has selected 2 Houses and Quarry. First he conducts Quarry and puts 2 into his pool.
Afterwards he uses his action chit and conducts the action Palace/House. Finally, he executes his second action and builds 2 houses.

11.2.4 Less Than 5 players

When playing with less than 5 players, at the start of the game place one outer palace of each unused color in each
palace garden.

11.2.5 Bidding On Character Cards

Before the start of the game, the character cards are auctioned off. The youngest player bids 0, 1 or more gold pieces for
the right of first choice of a character card. Clockwise, players overbid or pass. Bidders who pass drop out; the last and
highest bidder pays the bank and chooses a character.
The process is repeated among the remaining players, until only one player is left. He gets a character for free. If a player
bids “0” and all other players pass, he also gets the character for free.

11.2.6 Home City

Each character has a home city which shows his image. The player who has the corresponding character of a scoring city
gets an additional point, even if he scores no further points.

11.3 Advanced Version II

In this version a player may have more than one character card. This is especially interesting in a 2 player game.
A player holding several character cards may use the special powers of all of these characters!

The following rules are in effect:

At the start of the game, each player gets 1 character card. Rule 11.2.5 may be used.

A player selecting Character Card on his action disc receives a character from the banker. He does not return one. He
now uses 2 characters. If there are no characters left in the bank, the player with the action character card may exchange
a character with another player or entice one away from him.

Exchange: The player conducting his player turn names another character card. The owner of that card has to give him
that card and receives a card in exchange. If the player conducting his player turn has several character cards, he may
select the card that he gives in return.

Entice Away: The player conducting his player turn can only entice away a card if he has less character cards than the
targeted player. That player chooses a character and gives it to the enticing player. He does not receive a character in
return. The enticing player has no say in which character he gets.

Player Turn Order: The lowest numbered character card of each player determines the order of the player turns. The
player with the lowest character card is the first player, followed by the player with the second-lowest card etc.
Note: Each player has only one player turn!

Scoring: If there is a tie during scoring, the player with the lowest ranking character card breaks the tie and gets more
money.