one of the 150 land spaces

in central Java that the

players will develop

the game –
background and goal
Java is a fascinating island with great
potential for development. Of special
interest is the undeveloped area of
central Java with its fertile soil and
rich natural resources. These riches are
much desired by the rulers of the
regions that surround central Java. contents
Each player is one of the Javanese
rulers, who wants to claim and
develop the region for himself. Each
1 game board
wants to bring his culture and control
to these undeveloped areas. The
players irrigate the land and cultivate 56 3 space land tiles
new rice fields. They found villages, (2 rice fields & 1 village or city)
build palaces to create cities from the
villages, and arrange festivals in the 20 2 space land tiles
palaces. Each desires to be the (1 rice field & 1 village or city)
dominant force in the development of
this new area.
12 1 space land tiles
Players earn fame points for building (1 rice field)
and enlarging palaces, for creating
irrigation systems, and for arranging
palace festivals. They record these 8 1 space land tiles
points on the scoring track. The most (1 village or city space)
points are earned in the final scoring.
The player with the most fame points 40 palace tiles
after the final scoring, is the winner.
(6 @ 2, 7 @ 4, 8 @ 6, 9 @ 8, 10 @ 10)

16 irrigation tiles

30 palace cards

12 extra action tokens

2 – 4 players
aged 12 and up
authors: 48 developers
M. Kiesling, W. Kramer in 4 colors
Illustration / Design:
Franz Vohwinkel, KniffDesign 4 scoring markers
English translation: Jay Tummelson
Ravensburger Spiele® Nr. 26 230 4 4 action summary cards

2
irrigation space

mountains

lowlands
preparation

Place the board in the middle of the table. The

board shows the undeveloped area of central Java
scoring track with 150 land spaces and 3 irrigation spaces.

The mountains and lowlands enclosing central

Java have already been developed. The scoring
track runs around the edge of the board. On this
track, the players will record the fame they gain
during the game.

Place the remaining 3 space land tiles and the

16 irrigation tiles next to the board as a supply
for all to use.
each player takes:

12 developers in his color

3 extra action tokens
5 2 space land tiles
3 1 space rice field land tiles
2 1 space village or city land tiles Sort the 40 palace tiles by value and place
1 action summary card them palace side up (no dancer) in 5 stacks next
3 face down palace cards to the board.

Shuffle the palace cards thoroughly, place them

in a deck face down next to the board, draw the
top card, and place it face up next to the stack.
This is the festival card.

Place the scoring markers on space 0 of the

scoring track.

When playing with fewer than 4 players, place the

unused material in the box.

3
playing the game
Choose a starting player. The starting
player takes the first turn and then the
players follow in clockwise order.
On a turn, a player must play at least
one land tile. In addition, a player may
move developers onto or on the board,
build or enlarge palaces, place irrigation
tiles, and arrange for palace festivals.
Each of these actions costs a set number
of action points (AP). These actions and
their costs are summarized in the table
below and on the action summary cards.
6 AP
player chooses (and has the AP to do it),
unless it is limited by the rules below.
Also, the player may execute the actions
in any order he deems appropriate.
When a player arranges a palace festival,
it is always the last action of his turn. It
costs no AP to arrange a palace festival.
When a player uses the actions shown
with gray shading in the table below,
he immediately scores fame points
and moves his marker accordingly on
the scoring track.

Each player may use a maximum of 6 AP
per turn. The player need not use all 6 AP
on his turn, but unused AP are lost after
the turn and may not be used in a later
turn. A player may use the 6 AP for any
actions he chooses as long as one action
is playing a land tile on the board. An
action may be repeated as often as the
As they play land tiles, the players
create areas of rice fields and villages. A
village is a connected string of village
spaces. There is no limit to the size a
village can reach. The connected rice
fields and village spaces are important
for the movement of developers.

6 AP per player per turn. The following actions are possible:

Symbol Action Cost Requirements/limitations

(# of AP)

A player must place at least 1 land tile on each turn. The tile(s)
place 1 land tile on the board
placed may be either 1, 2, or 3 space tiles.

move 1 developer to central Java

from the lowlands

move 1 developer to central Java

from the mountains

move 1 developer within central Java
without changing land type
move 1 developer within central Java
from one land type to the other
Without changing land type means that the player moves the
developer from space to space on the board, staying always in
either rice fields or village/city spaces. He may move as far as he
chooses as long as he does not change land type.
Whenever a player moves the developer from one land type to
the other, he must pay 1 AP.

build 1 palace In a player’s turn, a player may build or enlarge several different
palaces. A player may not build and enlarge the same palace in
a turn. Also, a player may not enlarge the same palace more
enlarge 1 palace than once in a turn.

A player may place several irrigation tiles on the board in a

place 1 irrigation tile on the board
single turn.

draw 1 palace card A player may draw a maximum of 2 palace cards in a turn.

arrange 1 palace festival A player may arrange at most 1 palace festival in a turn.

4
 placing land tiles
example turn for a player

1 AP
Anna takes a 3 space land tile from the supply
and places it on the board (1 AP).
The only action a player must take on a
turn is the placing of a land tile on the
board. This required placement may be
either a 1 or 2 space land tile from his
supply, or a 3 space land tile from the
common supply.
• Placing a land tile costs 1 AP,
regardless of size.
The following rules apply when placing
land tiles on the board:
• A player may not place a land tile
directly over a land tile of the same
size. That is:
• a 3 space tile may not be placed
directly on top of a 3 space tile
• a 2 space tile may not be placed
directly on top of a 2 space tile
• a 1 space tile may not be placed
directly on top of a 1 space tile

• A player may place a land tile on any

3 AP
Then she moves a developer to a rice field in
central Java from the lowlands for the cost of
1 AP. Anna then moves this developer to a
village for the cost of 1 AP (for the change of
land type from rice field to village/city).
Next, she builds a value 4 palace (1 AP) and
scores 2 fame points, moving her scoring
marker 2 spaces on the scoring track.
space(s) in central Java as long as
those spaces do not contain palaces,
developers, or irrigation tiles. When a
player places a land tile, it need not be
placed adjacent to another land tile
nor to the border of central Java and
the lowlands or mountains.
• Players may place land tiles on top of
land tiles to create terraces. When
doing so, a player must place the tile
using the following rules:
• The tile must be placed so that it lies
flat and does not tilt. That is, the tiles
it is placed upon must be at the same
level or height. • The tile may be placed such that the
land types are different than those
• The tile may not be placed such that it under it. In fact, players will place land
connects two cities, but it may tiles on top of others specifically to
connect two villages or villages to a change the configuration of rice fields
city. and village/city spaces in that area.

placing tiles outside of central Java

2 AP

Then she places an irrigation tile on the board
(1 AP) and encloses it with another 3 space
land tile (1 AP). As Anna has a developer next
to the irrigation tile and it has the highest rank
of all developers next to the irrigation tile
(hers is the only one), she scores 3 fame
points, moving her scoring marker 3 spaces on
the scoring track.
As her last action, she arranges a palace
festival (0 AP), discards the appropriate palace
card, and scores 2 fame points for the festival.
As Anna has used 6 AP, her turn
ends and the next player takes
his turn.
= 6 AP
A 3 space or 2 space land tile may be
placed such that part of it lies outside of
central Java (on the mountains or
lowlands). Although a player can do this
anytime during the game, it can become
necessary near the end of the game
when there are few possible places to
place land tiles and the player must still
place at least 1 land tile on his turn.
When placing a land tile outside of
central Java, the following rules apply:
• At least one space in central Java must
be covered by the land tile.
• For each space outside of central Java
covered by the land tile, the player
must pay 1 AP.
Thus, a player placing a 3 space land tile
such that it covers 2 spaces outside of
central Java would pay 3 AP for the
placement: 1 AP for placing the tile and
2 AP for the 2 outside spaces covered.
Such spaces become part of central Java
and may have land tiles placed on them
without the additional AP cost.

5
moving developers

Players may move developers as follows:

• A player may only move his developers
and only on land tiles, not on empty
spaces, palace tiles, or irrigation tiles.
• A player may move a developer from
the border onto any adjacent land tile
in central Java (either rice field or
village/city space). The move costs 1
AP from the lowlands and 2 AP from
the mountains (see figure).
• Each space (hexagon) on a land tile
may hold only a single developer.
• A player may move a developer to any
space within the same land type for
no AP.
• A player pays 1 AP each time he
moves a developer from one land type
to the other.
• A player may not move a developer • A player may move a developer
through a space occupied by an through any terrace height for no
opponent’s developer, but may move cost as long as the developer stays
through a space with his developer. within a land type.
• A player will spend nothing to move a
developer a long distance in one land
type, but will spend many AP to move
1 AP a developer through many land type
changes. A player may remove a
2 AP developer from the edge of central
Java by paying 1 AP if it is adjacent to
the lowlands and 2 AP if it is adjacent
to the mountains. Once the player
removes a developer, the player may
immediately move the developer from
the border to another area of central
lowlands mountains Java using the normal movement rules.

building and enlarging palaces

A player earns fame points for building
and enlarging palaces. To build a palace,
a player places a palace tile on top of a
village space (1AP). During the game,
players may enlarge palaces to make them
more valuable. Each enlargement costs 1
AP. When a player places a palace tile on
a space in a village, the village becomes
a city.
• A player may only build or enlarge a
palace if he has a developer in the
village/city and his developers have
the highest rank in the village/city.
That is, the player has a developer on
a higher level than all his opponents in
the village/city. If players tie with
developers at the same high level, the
highest rank goes to the player with
the most developers at that level. If
players have the same number at that
high level, the tied players compare
their developers at the next lower level
and so on until they break the tie. If
the highest ranking players have their
developers at all the same levels in the
village/city (the tie is not broken), then
neither may build nor enlarge a palace
in that village/city.
A tie is not enough!

example 1
Anna has 2 developers on level 4 of the city. Bob has 1 developer on
level 4 of the city and 2 developers on level 3. Anna has the height
advantage over Bob as she has more developers at the highest level
(level 4) than Bob. It is not important that Bob has more developers in
the city than Anna as she has more at the highest level.
example 2
Anna has 1 developer on level 2 of the city. Bob has 3 developers on
level 1 of the city. Chris has 1 developer on level 2 and 1 developer on
level 1 of the city. Both Anna and Chris have the same number of
developers on level 2 so the tie is resolved by looking at the next
lower level. Chris wins by having 1 developer on level 1. Bob has no
chance with no developers on level 2.

6
• A palace may only be built on an
empty village space (no developer). It
may be placed on any level as its level
is of no importance.
• There may be only 1 palace in each
city. The maximum value a palace can
reach is 10.
• When building or enlarging a palace, a
player may never give it a value that is
higher than the number of spaces in
the village/city. Therefore, a village
must have at least two spaces to have
a palace of value 2. The space where
the palace is placed counts as a space
in the city.
A palace need not start with the value 2.
Although a palace must be enlarged by
at least 2, it need not be enlarged by
more than that. A player may place any
available palace tile whose value is equal
to or less than the number of spaces in
the village or city.
For example, if a village has 4 or more
spaces, a palace of value 4 may be built.
Similarly, a palace of value 4 may be
enlarged to value 8 when the city has 8
or more spaces (including the palace). It
will usually be in a player’s best interest
to enlarge the palace to the highest
value possible.
• When building or
enlarging a palace,
a player always
places the palace
tile face up (the side
without the dancer).
• When a player enlarges a palace, he
places the new palace tile over the
previous tile. Thus, the previous tile
stays and is not removed to be
available for building or enlarging
other palaces.
• Two cities cannot be connected, but
one or more villages can be connected
or connected to a city, making it
possible to enlarge the palace in the
city (see figure below).
• A player may only score each palace
once in a turn. That is, a player can
build a palace or enlarge a palace, but
cannot build and enlarge a palace or
enlarge the same palace more than
once in the same turn. If a player is in
the highest rank in several villages
and/or cities, he may build and/or
enlarge palaces in as many of these
villages/cities as he chooses and has
the AP to do so.

the city will be …and the palace will

connected to a village... then be enlarged!

fame points for building or enlarging palaces

A player who builds or enlarges a palace,
immediately scores half the value of
the new palace tile. For example, a
player enlarging a value 2 palace to a
value 8 palace scores 4 points.
Note:
A city can be divided by covering city
spaces with rice fields. The value of the
palace in the city remains unchanged!
When a city is divided, a player may
build a new palace in the part that is
now a village (does not have a palace)
using the normal rules for building a
palace.

the city will be divided by …and a new palace may be

placing the tile… built in the new village

7
 placing
irrigation
tiles
The board is printed with 3
irrigation spaces. Players may
place irrigation tiles on the board
and may earn fame points by enclosing
irrigation tiles and spaces on the board.
• A player may place an irrigation tile
from the supply on the board for 1 AP.
The irrigation tile must be placed on
an empty board space, but need not be
placed adjacent to another irrigation
tile. A player may not place irrigation
tiles outside of central Java and must
always place them directly on the
board (not on a land tile).
• A player may place irrigation tiles next
to each other to create larger irrigation
areas.
palace festivals
At the end of a player’s turn, he may
arrange a palace festival in one city of
his choice. To arrange a festival, he must:
• have at least one developer in the city
• and have at least one suitable palace
card.
A palace may have only one festival for
each value the palace achieves.
The player’s opponents may join in the
festival by playing palace cards. The
player who bids highest, scores the fame
points for the festival. The following rules
apply to the players who join the festival
(including the player who arranged it):
• The players who wish to join the
festival must have at least one suitable
palace card and at least one
developer in the city where the
palace festival is being held.
8
fame points for
placing irrigation
tiles
When an irrigation area (one irrigation
space/tile or a group of connected
irrigation tiles) is completely enclosed
by land tiles, players immediately check
to see which player has developers of the
highest rank in the spaces adjacent to
the irrigation area (whether the spaces
are rice fields or village/city spaces). Use
the same rules for finding the highest
rank as in “building and enlarging
palaces”. The player with the highest
ranking developers immediately scores 3
fame points for each enclosed irrigation
tile in the enclosed irrigation area.
If there is a tie for highest rank or there
are no developers adjacent to the area,
no fame points are scored.
A player seeing empty spaces on the
board surrounded by land tiles, may be
able to place irrigation tiles there and
move in a developer to score easy fame
points.
To determine which player will score the fame
points for the festival, the players compete using
their palace cards.
The palace cards each have 1 or 2 symbols.
The symbols on the festival card next to the card deck
determine which symbols are suitable to be used by the
players in the competition for this festival.
festival card card deck
• If the face up card has only 1 symbol,
the players may only use cards with
that symbol. Each card played will,
thus, be worth just 1 point. Other
symbols on any cards played are not
counted.
drawing
palace
cards
At the beginning of the game,
each player takes 3 palace cards. Players
use their palace cards to participate in
palace festivals.
• A player may draw a maximum of 2
palace cards per turn at a cost of 1 AP
per card drawn.
• When a player draws a palace card, he
may either draw the top-most card in
the face down palace card deck or the
face up festival card. When a player
draws the face up festival card, he
draws the top-most card in the face
down palace card deck and places it
face up next to the deck as the new
festival card.
• The players keep their palace cards
secret from their
opponents.
1 point 2 points 1 point
• If the face up card has 2 symbols, the
players may use cards that:
• have just one of the two symbols.
These cards are worth 1 point each.
• have both symbols. These cards are
worth 2 points each.
the festival competition

The player who arranged the festival,
begins the competition by playing one or
more suitable palace cards face up on
the table. He then invites the other
players to join him in the competition.
There are 2 possibilities:
No other player joins the festival
competition. If no other player plays
palace cards (having no developer in the
city, having no suitable palace cards, or
simply choosing not to compete), the
player who arranged the festival enjoys
the festival alone and immediately scores
the appropriate number of fame points
(see below).
Other players join the festival
competition. In clockwise order, the
players may play suitable palace cards so
that the total points on all their played
cards match or exceed the highest bid in
the competition.
On a player’s turn, he may:
• raise his bid in the competition or
• pass and retire from the competition.
When a player, on his turn to bid, sees
that all participating players are tied, he
asks if those tied want to share the fame
for the festival. Any player who does not
want to share may now play one or more
suitable palace cards to raise his bid. The
bidding then continues with the player to
that player’s left, until:
• a tie is again reached and all
participating players agree to share the
fame points (see below), or
• only a single player remains. This
player wins the festival competition
and scores the fame points for the
festival (see below).
If the participating players are tied and
have no suitable cards to play, they will
automatically share the fame
points of the festival.

discarding turning over the

palace cards
All players, who played palace cards in
the festival competition, discard those
cards at the end of the competition -
even if they lost. The discarded cards are
placed face up on a discard pile next to
the card deck. When the card deck is
exhausted, shuffle the discard pile to
create a new card deck.
palace tile
After the festival, turn the top-most
palace tile in the palace that held the
festival over to reveal the side with the
dancer. This indicates that this palace has
had a festival and cannot have another
until the palace has been enlarged.

fame points for palace festivals

When a festival competition is won by a When two or more players agree to
single player, he scores the fame points share the fame, each scores the points
shown on the back of the summary card shown in the column with the hands
in the column with the crossed swords. shaking.

example
• Anna arranges a festival in a city with a
value 8 palace. She plays one suitable palace
card with one symbol matching the face up
palace card: worth 1 point.
• Bob does the same. Chris joins them and
plays a palace card that matches both
symbols on the face up palace card: worth 2
points.
• David passes. Anna decides to match Chris’
bid of 2. She plays another palace card with
1 matching symbol. Bob could do the same,
but chooses not to and passes.
• Chris and Anna are tied and could agree to
share the fame. Chris does not want to share
and plays another palace card with one
matching symbol to raise her bid to 3.
• Anna plays a third card with a single
matching symbol to raise her bid to 3.
• Anna and Chris are again tied and agree to
share. Each scores 2 fame points.
• All players discard the palace cards they
used in the competition.
If Anna had not matched Chris’ bid, Chris
would have scored 4 fame points for the
festival.
If there is a tie and none of the tied players
has suitable palace cards to play, the tie is
automatic and they all share the fame points
for the festival. All tied players score their
fame points.

9
extra action
tokens
Each player has 3 extra action
tokens. When a player plays
an extra action token, he
gets 7 AP on this turn
instead of 6 AP. He then
discards the token from
the game.
A player may use only 1
extra action token per turn.
the final scoring
A player, on his final scoring, scores
each palace, one at a time. Players
only score points in a palace if their
developers are the highest or second
highest rank in the city. Only the
player doing the final scoring scores.
The other players will get their turns.
When a player’s developers have the
highest rank in a city (use the rules
for determining highest rank in
“building and enlarging palaces”),
the player scores fame points equal
to the value of the palace.
When the player ties for highest rank
with one or more players, he scores
fame points equal to the value of the
palace.
When a player’s developers have the
second highest rank in the city, he
scores fame points equal to half the
value of the palace.
When the player’s developers tie for
second highest rank in a city, he still
scores fame points equal to half the
value of the palace.
If a player’s developers are in neither
the highest or second highest rank in
a city, the player scores nothing for
that city.
10
game end
When all 3 space land tiles have been placed, the game
moves to the final scoring.
The player, who placed the last 3 space land tile, finishes
his turn and then does his final scoring. In clockwise
order, the other players each take a final turn, in which
they need not play a land tile, and then each does their
final scoring.
After all players have had their final turns and final
scorings, the game ends. The winner is the
player whose marker is furthest along the
scoring track.
As each palace is scored, place an Tip:
extra action token on it to mark it as Players should always
scored. When the player has finished keep their eyes on the final
his final scoring, remove the extra scoring. This means that the players
action tokens from the palaces. In this should try to have developers in the
way, players can ensure that no highest positions in as many cities as
palace is forgotten or scored twice. possible.
Also, players should save a few of
example their 1 and 2 space land tiles for use
In a city with a palace of value 10, Anna,
in their final turn just before their
Bob, and Chris each have 1 developer on final scoring.
level 3 and also each have 1 developer
on levels 2 and 1. Note: We have used the pronouns “he”,
“his”, etc. to represent players of either
Bob also has a second developer on level gender throughout to avoid awkward
1. Therefore, he has the highest rank and constructions.
scores 10 fame points on his final
scoring. Anna and Chris are tied for
second highest rank and each score 5
fame points on their final scorings.
This is true only if this situation remains
unchanged through the players’ final
turns.
It is possible, for example, for Chris, on
her last turn, before her final scoring, to
add a developer to the city, giving her
the highest rank. Then she would score
10 fame points for the city, just as Bob
did.
Note: a player, who has finished his
final scoring, may still participate in
palace festivals and score fame points
for them.