TRACKO

On the trail of the Mayan treasure

An adventure game that trains memory and visual-spatial skills.

The Mayan temple hides precious treasures and riches. To collect as many coins as possible, each player must be able to remember the correct position of the tracks left by the ancient Maya and trace the path to exit the temple, avoiding obstacles and curses.

The game is designed for 2-4 players, from 7 years of age onwards. Each game lasts about 15-20 minutes.

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MATERIALS

12 «treasure maps» game boards
with different coloured margins: 3 light green, 3 yellow, 3 orange and 3 dark green, which correspond to the different levels of difficulty

4 «temple» game boards

4 transparent sheets and 4 erasable pens

1 score pad

GAME OBJECTIVE

Within a limited time, players must memorize a map showing the gold coins to be collected, but also trapdoors and obstacles to avoid. Next, players must trace a path on their folder and check if they have managed to exit the temple and how many gold coins they managed to collect.
The aim is to accumulate the greatest number of gold coins.

PREPARATION

Form a pile consisting of 7 treasure maps (1 light green, 2 yellow, 2 orange and 2 dark green), to be placed in the centre of the table with the illustrated side face down.

Each player takes:

• 1 «temple» game board;
• 1 erasable pen;
• 1 transparent sheet, to be placed over the «temple» game board.

The «temple» game board should be placed in front of you so that the box on which the staircase is located is in the upper right corner of the game board, while the box with the entrance is in the lower left corner.

HOW TO PLAY

The youngest player is the Chief Explorer in the first round. In subsequent rounds, this role passes to the player on the left of the previous Chief Explorer.

Each round of play includes three steps:

1. Memorize the path
   The Chief Explorer uncovers the map that is at the top of the pile, showing everyone the illustration.
   All players must try to memorize the map as accurately as possible in the time allowed by the Chief Explorer.

2. Trace the path
   At the same time, each player traces a path on the transparent sheet that covers his/her «temple» game board.
   The route must be traced carefully following the rules described in the instruction booklet. For example:

3. Collect the treasure
   Starting with the Chief Explorer and proceeding clockwise, players must check the paths they have traced. To do this, they must place their transparent sheet on the treasure map and check if they have touched the locations of the gold coins and/or if they have encountered trapdoors or pitfalls.

After checking their routes and writing down the coins earned on the score pad, the players will clean their transparent sheets and be ready for a new exploration.

WHO WINS

The game ends after 7 rounds, i.e. after all the treasure maps have been discarded.
The winner is the one who has collected the most gold coins.

To make the game more complicated and compelling, players can choose to apply the advanced rules proposed in the instruction booklet.

THE AUTHOR

Carlo A. Rossi is author of 31 games currently published by the main German publishing houses. He is specialised in quick-play games and has received 2 nominations for the prestigious Kinder Spiel des Jahres award in 2010 and 2017.