Cartographers Rules

Cartographers is a flip-and-write where you become a royal cartographer drawing polyominoes on an 11×11 grid across 4 seasons. Each round a card is revealed and all players simultaneously draw the shape on their own map with chosen rotation/terrain. Highest cumulative score over 4 seasons wins.

• Each player starts with an empty 11×11 grid and 5 fixed mountains.
• Reveal 4 scoring cards A,B,C,D — one per category (forest / village / spatial / field+water).
• Shuffle 10 explore cards × 2 + 4 ambush cards = 24-card deck.

1. Reveal a card. All players draw on their own grid simultaneously.
2. Choose shape option (1–2), rotation (4) × mirror (2) = 8 orientations, terrain (1–2 options).
3. If you cannot place at all, fill 1 cell as wasteland (no-room rule).
4. Ambush cards auto-place via algorithm seeking max adjacent empty.
5. Some cards' smaller shape options give +1 coin (tactical tradeoff).
6. When season time budget is exceeded, the season ends and scoring fires.

• Season score = 2 scoring cards (varies per season) + total coins + monster penalty.
• Spring=A,B / Summer=B,C / Fall=C,D / Winter=D,A.
• Monster penalty: -1 per empty cell directly adjacent to monster.
• Each coin = 1 point.

Player with highest 4-season total wins.

Game ends after Winter (4th season) scoring.

• A village cluster of 6+ scores 8 points on Wildholds.
• Water adjacent to mountains satisfies several scoring cards.
• Ambush near end of season has reduced penalty impact.
• Coin bonuses are time-efficient — use them late game.