Ra Rules Reference
Ra is an auction and set-collection game set in ancient Egypt. Players draw tiles from a bag and bid on lots using numbered sun tokens. Over three epochs, players collect pharaohs, monuments, civilizations, Nile floods, and more to score victory points.
Objective
Score the most victory points over three epochs by winning auctions and collecting valuable sets of tiles.
How to Play
On your turn, you must do exactly ONE of three actions: Draw a Tile, Invoke Ra, or Use a God Tile. Play passes clockwise. If all your suns are face-down, you skip your turns for the rest of the epoch.
Tips for New Players
- Nile without Flood is worthless: Nile tiles only score if you have at least one Flood tile. Losing your Floods to a Drought disaster can be devastating.
- Monuments are long-term: Monument tiles are only scored at the end of the game, not each epoch. Collecting them early pays off over time, but they don't help you in the short term.
- Civilizations reset each epoch: All Civilization tiles are discarded after each epoch's scoring. You need to rebuild your set every epoch. Having 0 types costs you -5 VP.
- God tiles are flexible: God tiles can be spent to cherry-pick any tile from the auction track without an auction, or kept for 2 VP each at game end. Use them to grab critical tiles or deny opponents.
- Calling Ra is a weapon: Invoking Ra forces an auction. Use it to force opponents to bid when the lot is weak, or when they have few suns left. If no one bids on your voluntary Ra, tiles stay for later.
- Watch the Ra track: If the epoch ends and you have unused suns, you've wasted bidding opportunities. Keep track of how many Ra tiles have been drawn and plan accordingly.
- High suns become available to opponents: When you win an auction, your sun goes to the center and becomes available to the next winner. Bidding a high sun early gives opponents access to it.
- Disasters apply immediately: When you win disaster tiles, you must discard tiles of the matching type right away. Consider the disasters in a lot before bidding.