Zapotec

The Zapotec were a pre-Columbian civilisation that flourished in the Oaxaca Valley in Mesoamerica. Archaeological evidence reveals that their culture dates back at least 2,500 years. The remains of the ancient city of Monte Albán, in the form of buildings, ball fields, magnificent tombs and finely crafted gold jewellery, bear witness to this great past civilisation. Monte Albán was one of the first great cities of Mesoamerica and the centre of the state of Zapotec, which dominated a large part of the territory that today belongs to the Mexican state of Oaxaca.

In a game of Zapotec, you build temples, cornfields and villages in the three valleys surrounding the capital to generate the resources needed to build pyramids, sacrifice to the gods and perform rituals. On each turn, players simultaneously draw a card from their hand to determine their turn order and the resources they collect. Players then take individual turns and spend resources to build new houses, gain access to special abilities, make sacrifices to the gods and build pyramids. The action card played determines three important aspects of each player's turn: The resource printed at the top of the card determines which row or column to activate on the resource grid to collect income. The icon in the middle of the card corresponds to one of the nine building space properties on the map (one of the three building types, one of the three regions or one of the three terrain types). On their turn, players may only build on spaces that match that icon. The number on the bottom of the card dictates the turn order for the turn the card is played. At the end of the round, players draw new cards from the central supply, with the last card not drawn becoming the bonus card for the next round.

After five rounds, the players score points for the pyramids, for their position on the sacrifice track and for their ritual cards. The player with the most victory points wins.

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