Drako: Aetherya Pocket
In DRAKO, players explore uncharted lands to build a kingdom filled with diverse creatures and landscapes. You must carefully arrange your realm to achieve perfect balance and score as many "Harmony Points" as possible.
Humans, Elves, Dwarves, Goblins, and Dragons don't always get along—it’s up to you to bring order to what could easily turn into total chaos. But there’s more: a great kingdom needs a history. Throughout the game, you’ll strive to pen as many legendary tales as you can before your rivals beat you to it.
Step into the legend and write the stories of Drako!
Number of players: 2 - 4
Game duration: 11 mn
Complexity: 2 / 5
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Play Drako: Aetherya Pocket and 1305 other games online.
No download necessary - play directly from your web browser.
With your friends and thousands of players from the whole world.
Free.
Rules summary
DRAKO: Aetherya Pocket
Goal
Build a 4 × 4 Kingdom and score the most Harmony Points by placing Tribes near favored Lands, domesticating Dragons, claiming Legends, and avoiding conflicts.
Components
- 80 Kingdom cards: Lands, Tribes, Dragons, Magical Portals
- 15 Legend cards
- 4 player aids
- 1 score sheet
Setup
Use Kingdom cards based on player count:
| Players | Cards Used |
|---|---|
| 2 | 2-diamond cards |
| 3 | 2- and 3-diamond cards |
| 4 | All Kingdom cards |
Shuffle the Kingdom and Legend decks separately.
Reveal 8 Legend cards face up.
Each player draws until they have 4 different Kingdom cards, places them face up as a 2 × 2 starting Kingdom, then draws 12 more cards face down around them to make a 4 × 4 Kingdom. These face-down cards are Unexplored Lands.
Reveal 1 Kingdom card to start the discard pile.
Oldest player starts.
Turn
On your turn, draw 1 Kingdom card from either the draw pile or discard pile.
If drawn from the discard pile, you must place it in your Kingdom, replacing another card.
If drawn from the draw pile, either:
- Place it in your Kingdom, replacing another card.
- Discard it, then reveal one Unexplored Land.
Replaced cards go to the discard pile.
You may not replace a revealed card with another card of the same type.
Dragons and Magical Portals are locked once placed and cannot be replaced.
Adjacency
Only orthogonal adjacency counts. Diagonals do not count.
Magical Portals connect the 4 orthogonally adjacent cards around them. Multiple Portals can extend connections.
Goblins cannot use Portals.
Tribe Scoring
Each Tribe scores for connected Lands:
| Tribe | Scores |
|---|---|
| Elves | +2 per Forest, -1 per Swamp |
| Dwarves | +2 per Mountain |
| Humans | +2 per Plain, +1 per Forest, +1 per Mountain, -1 per Swamp |
| Goblins | +3 per Swamp |
Conflicts
Each conflict is worth -2 Harmony Points.
- Goblins conflict with every Tribe, including Goblins.
- Elves and Dwarves conflict with each other.
- Humans do not conflict with Elves or Dwarves.
Each connection between hated Tribes counts as a separate conflict.
Dragons
A Dragon is domesticated if connected to at least 2 Tribes of the same type, excluding Goblins.
| Dragons in Kingdom | Domesticated | Wild |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | +3 each | -3 each |
| 2 | +4 each | -4 each |
| 3 | +5 each | -5 each |
Each Dragon beyond the third is worth -5, even if domesticated.
Legends
On your turn, you may claim 1 available Legend if you meet its requirement. Replace it from the Legend deck if possible.
Once claimed, a Legend remains yours even if your Kingdom later changes.
Legend types:
- Tribes: 2 connected Tribes of one type
- Lands: 3 connected Lands of one type
- Alliance: Human/Dwarf or Human/Elf connected
- Legendary Battle: specified rival Tribes connected as shown
- The Four Tribes: all 4 Tribe types present
End Game
The game ends immediately when any player reveals their last Unexplored Land.
Reveal all remaining face-down cards. No more Legends may be claimed.
Scoring
Total:
- Tribe Harmony Points
- Dragon points or penalties
- Legend points
- Conflict penalties
Highest score wins.
Ties are broken by comparing each tied player’s highest scoring category, then next-highest, and so on.