Gameplay

A game of Pioneer Days is played over 4 rounds called WEEKS, each made up 5 DAYS. Each player will have 1 turn per day to select a die and use it. At the end of the week, players will arrive in a new town, score points, and earn favors by satisfying the needs of the town.

Start of a week

1. Put 1 set of dice (blue, yellow, green, red, black), plus 1 more set per player into the dice bag. 2. Remove any town cards from the previous week and deal 2 new ones from the deck to the indicated spaces. In the last week of the game there will be 3 town cards on the board instead of 2. 3. Remove any remaining face-up equipment from the previous week to the box and reveal 1 new equipment tile, plus 1 more per player in the game. 4. Discard any remaining townsfolk cards from the previous week and deal out 6 new ones into the townsfolk spaces.

A day in the life of a pioneer

1. The start player randomly draws 1 die, plus 1 more die per player, from the dice bag, and rolls them. This is the dice pool. 2. Starting with the start player and progressing clockwise, each player takes a turn. On your turn...

a. Take a die from the pool and note the image on the die face.
b. Check to see if you have any equipment or townsfolk that trigger based on that die face.
c. You may then pay 3 silver to change the die to any face. Not, this new die face does not trigger equipment or townsfolk!
d. Use the die in 1 of 3 ways, based on the die face showing. (INCOME, ACTION, RECRUIT)
e. Discard the die.

3. After each player has taken a die, one die will remain. Advance the disaster marker on the track corresponding to the color of the remaining die. If a black die remained, advance ALL of the disaster markers one space each. When a marker reaches the end of its track, the corresponding disaster triggers immediately. When more than one disaster triggers at once, resolve them in order from top to bottom. 4. Pass the start player token clockwise to start the next day, and repeat steps 1-4. After 5 days, the dice bag will be empty, and the week will be over.

Main actions

1. INCOME: Check the main board for the amount of silver you get based on your die face. 2. DICE ACTIONS: Based on the die face showing on your die, take one of the following actions:

a. Wild: You may take any one of the other dice actions: Mine, Equip, Cattle, Wood or Medicine.
b. Mine: Draw 1 gold token from the gold bag and place it face down on a space in one of your wagons. You may see the token. You can store 1 gold token per space.
c. Equip: Take any 1 of the available equipment tiles and place in on one of your wagons. You can store 1 equipment per space.
d. Cattle: Take 1 cattle from the stock and att it to your herd, next to your wagons.
e. Wood: Take 1 wood from the stock and place it on one of your wagons. You can store 2 wood per space.
d. Medicine: Take 1 medicine from the stock and place it on one of your wagons. You can store 2 medicine per space.

3. RECRUIT A TOWNSFOLK: Take the townsfolk card from the slot matching the die face on your die. Townsfolks do not take up space in your wagons.

  Townsfolks have either an immediate effect, a triggered effect, or an ongoing effect. At the end of the game, surviving townsfolks will score points based on their endgame scoring conditions. 

Buying wagons

During your turn, you may spend 5$ to get a small wagon (4 spaces) or 8$ to get a large wagon (6 spaces). You may buy as many wagons as you can afford.

Disasters

1. STORMS: Pay 1 wood for each wagon or place a damage token covering 2 of that wagon's spaces. No items can be stored on spaces with a damage token, and any items that cannot be stored as a result must be returned to stock. Each wagons at the end of the game is worth -2 VP. 2. RAID: Return half of your silver coins, rounded up, back into the stock. You may not buy items prior resolving the raid. 3. FAMINE: For each of your cattle, you must pay 1 silver. Any cattle you cannot pay for are returned to stock. 4. DISEASE: For each townsfolk you have, either pay 1 medicine, or discard that townsfolk.

End of a week - Visiting a town

At the end of a day when the dice bag is empty, the week ends, and you arrive at a town, where you do the following three things, in order: 1. Resolve any townsfolk card effect that take place at the end of the week. 2. Gain 1 VP for each cattle you have. 3. Satisfy the needs of the face up town cards in order to earn favors. Each player may satisfy each card's requirements once, by discarding ALL of the items required. The town rewards any player satisfying the needs of a card with a number of favors indicated on that card. Favors are not stored on wagons.

Final disasters

After the 4th and final week of the game, before visiting the town, advance each disaster track one final time. Resolve any disasters triggered from this in order, from top to bottom. After resolving the final disasters, visit the town on last time.

End of the game, scoring

The game ends after the final town is visited. Note that the final town has 3 location cards with needs to be satisfied. -> Gain 1 VP per nugget displayed on your gold tokens (1, 2, or 3). -> Gain 2VPs per favor. If you have (or are tied for) the most favor tokens, gain 5VPs. -> Gain VP according to your townsfolk. Check the bottom of each townsfolk card to see how many VP to gain. -> Lose 2VPs for each damage token on your wagons. The winner is the player with the most VPs. In the case of a tie, the tied player with the most remaining silver wins. If there is still a tie, then share the victory.