Totem - Rules Summary

Start

Each player receives:

• 2 young women,
• 1 mature woman,
• 2 young men,
• 1 mature man,
• 1 old person,
• 6 Tschukka birds,
• 1 totem piece in their color,
• 1 set of spells in their color,
• 1 box with their remaining totem pieces

The first totem piece is set up. The 6 birds are placed on the rail. A start player is chosen. Play proceeds clockwise. The start player also moves clockwise at the end of each round. A round is made up of 8 phases.

Phase 1: The Village

• Distribute the family members between their three cottages.
• Maximum 6 persons per cottage.
• All of the remaining family members as selected by the concerned player are set aside.
• New family members are taken, if in the last round the old family had to be taken.
• The new family includes:
  • 1 young woman,
  • 1 mature woman,
  • 1 young man,
  • 1 mature man,
  • 1 old person,
  • 5 Tschukka birds,
  • 1 totem piece.

Phase 2: Magic

• Each player casts 1 spell per:
  • totem piece
  • bird, that they sacrifices.
• All spells are secretly chosen.
• Then moving around the table each player places a spell, face down, on any cottage.
• Spells only affect one cottage.

Phase 3: Births

• Each woman (young and mature) receives a child if there is at least a man (young or mature) in her cottage.

Possible spell in phase 3:

• girls
• boys
• twins
• infertility

Phase 4: Distribution of the Catch

• There are 13 Tschukkas in the catch.
• The number of hunters you own determines how many birds you get.
• All boys and men are hunters.
• For every 5 hunters (round up) you receive one Tschukka bird.
• Moving around the table, beginning with the start player, each player takes the correct number of birds, until the whole catch has distributed.

Possible spells in phase 4:

• abundance
• lack

Phase 5: Feast

• All villagers must now eat.
• A bird can feed 5 people.
• If there are not enough birds to feed the whole family, one person must be discarded for every bird you are short. The owning player chooses which people to discard but may not discard elderly people [Ken: the game designers are obviously not Newt fans].

Phase 6: Illnesses

Possible spell in phase of 6:

• illness
• big cure
• little cure

Phase 7: Generation Changes

• All villagers become one step older.
• The elderly go to the big bird paradise and are removed.

Possible spell in phase 7:

• youth

Phase 8: Totem Construction

• The players with the largest and second largest families receive a new totem piece. (For ties see 4.8)

Winning

The first player to have 6 totem pieces wins. For ties the bigger family wins. If there is also a tie for largest family, the player with more Tschukkas in reserve wins, otherwise the game finishes with no winner.

The Game Cabinet - editor@gamecabinet.com - Ken Tidwell