Rules translated by Frank Branham (frank_branham@emtc.com)
Be warned, this is a machine-aided translation. Any found inaccuracies would be appreciated.
Easter Island. A small island, on the outer bounds of civilization. It lies about 4000km from Chile, in the Pacific ocean. Most know it for its legendary, gigantic stone statues. No one knows what they signify, or how they came to be. One unscientific view, is that the statues were the focus of huge celebrations. Hundreds, perhaps even thousands of people took part in the festivities.That many people could drag the giant statues in a great race. The winning statue would then receive the worship and awe of all.
A dream? After all to that theory we owe the idea for this quaint game.
Open the board. At one end is a stone platform called the temple. At the other end of the game-board, put the rocks. This part of the board is called the quarry.
Put the statues on the first space out from the temple. Each player chooses a statue to race. All players receive a reserve of 10 stones out of the quarry and puts the pile before them.
Place the 8 rock obelisks beside any fields of the speedway: four go on the left side for the Away and four on the right side for the return journey. However, two obelisks may not be placed opposite one another.
The game is a race with two contrary goals: First, the statues must go forward as fast as possible. Secondly, they must be filled with stones so that they get heavier. The problem is that you have to weigh down other players statues in order to move.
The game ends as soon as a statue has reached the goal. It only wins, however, if it is heavier than the statue in second place. Otherwise, the 2nd place statue wins.
Shuffle the cards, and deal them around until someone gets the Spell card. That person becomes the First Player. The First Player shuffles the cards again. The cards are not to be reshuffled at any time during the game. The First Player then turns up one more card than the number of players. (Therefore, if four play, 5 cards; if three play, 4 cards.)
The First Player gets first pick. He chooses one of the uncovered cards, plays it (explained below) and puts his card under the draw pile. Then the next player to his left takes a turn. That player takes one of the remaining cards, takes his turn, and places that card under the draw pile.
Because there is one more card than players, the First Player will get to go twice. (This is not really an advantage, because the leftover card is always the worst of the respective round.)
The round is then over. The First Player gives the cards his left neighbor, who is First Player for the next round.
Each card taken, with exception of the spell-card, shows the number of the stones that the player must use in the round. You have two choices:
You always must use exactly as many stones as are depicted on the card. If you have fewer stones in your quarry than on the card, you have no choice: You have to pull stones from the quarry.
If you get the spell card, you can use it like a normal turn choosing to use 1-6 stones or you may steal the whole reserve of an any player!
You can move your own or another player's statue. Ever after, if he progresses or heavier wants to become.
The main rule: For each space that you move a statue forward, you have to put a stone into a different statue. So, if you want to move your statue forward one, you have to toss one stone in an opponent's statue. And if you want to put a stone into your statue, you have to move an opponent forward.
A statue can EITHER be made heavier or moved, never both in the same player's turn.
Example: A player has picked a card with 5 stones. He takes therefore the 5 stones out of his reserve, throws them into his own statue and moves then with any opponent's statues a total of 5 spaces. For example: a statue 1 field and two statues 2 fields.
Or, he can take the 5 stones, throw them into any opponents' statues and move his own statue 5 spaces.
So that nobody get confused: Do all of your stone dropping after movement.
If you move your own statue onto a field with an obelisk, You move the obelisk back to the temple. The player then receives some stones from the quarry. These may be dumped into your own statue.
Take: 1 stone for the first cleared obelisk, 2 for the second, 3 for the third, and 8 for the last!
If you move an opponent's statue onto an obelisk, then the obelisk is cleared, but you receive no award.
Once all statues have passed an obelisk, move it to the temple with no one receiving an award.
The statues move into the quarry, turn around (this is free) and race back toward the temple.
The game ends as soon as a statue has reached the last space before the temple. Count the stones in that statue, and the second place statue. If there is a tie, then the lead statue wins. Move the winning statue to the temple and bask in its glory.