Ruling — Archipelago

You asked

How do I setup the game?

Answered counted as answered

Asked with: Archipelagobg-105551-en-1e

1. With the 24 explorer tokens, make 3 piles of 8 tokens each, storing them in the appropriate spaces in the storage tray.[1]

2. Assemble and place the evolution track next to the game box.[1]

3. Shuffle the 48 evolution cards, ensuring that they all have the same facing and reverse side facing up as shown.[1]

4. Place the deck in the storage tray in the space indicated, with the side showing the balance of the archipelago information.[1]

5. Place the open sea hexagon at the center of the table.[1]

6. Remove the Separatist and Pacifist cards from the deck.[2]

7. Shuffle the trend cards, draw one at random, and place it face up so that it is visible to all players at all times.[3] (Note: An alternative rule states to reveal two trend cards at the beginning of the game and collectively choose one).[4]

8. Put the remaining trend cards back in the game box.[3]

9. Sort the objective cards into decks of 10 according to the duration icon on their backs; select an objective card deck based on desired game duration, shuffle it, and do not mix with other decks.[3]

10. Return all unused objective cards to the game box without looking at them.[3]

11. Each player draws an objective card at random, looks at it secretly, and places it face down beside him or behind his screen.[3] (Note: An alternative rule states each player draws two objective cards, chooses one, and discards the other).[4]

12. Turn over the first 5 cards from the evolution deck and place them along the evolution track in the orientation shown.[5]

13. Place the action wheel within reach of all players, with the appropriate side showing for the number of players (one side for 2 to 4-player games; the other side for 5-player games).[6]

14. Each player chooses a color, takes the player screen aid, 1 ship, 2 citizens, 3 action discs (AD), and the order marker of his color.[6]

15. Each player places his ship on the open sea hexagon, being careful not to cover any fish icons, and places the other pieces in front of his screen, visible to all.[6]

16. Each player receives 10 ƒ which he places behind his screen.[6]

17. Shuffle the 24 region hexagons and deal each player 3 hexagons.[7]

[1] RULEBOOK Archipelago — Rulebook · p.3 · 5 sets of player pieces

[2] RULEBOOK Archipelago — Rulebook · p.16 · NO SECRETS BETWEEN FRIENDS

[3] RULEBOOK Archipelago — Rulebook · p.4 · Example: In a 4 -player game, the population marker is at 8 at the end of turn # 0.

[4] RULEBOOK Archipelago — Rulebook · p.17 · 02re &2n7r2l · Bene)$&72r · Amphitheater · Archbishop · Barbarian · Cathedral · …

[5] RULEBOOK Archipelago — Rulebook · p.4 · Example: In a 4 -player game, the population marker is at 8 at the end of turn # 0.

[6] RULEBOOK Archipelago — Rulebook · p.3 · 9.

[7] RULEBOOK Archipelago — Rulebook · p.4 · 8rn 0 'i6&29ering 7+e $r&+i3el$g2 · Region: one of the two sides of a single hexagon

🔧 debug — where this ruling came from

outcome: ANSWERED — Answered
corpus profile: live
answerer pin (deploy-frozen, attribution only): gemma4:26b think:false 5571076f3d70
timings: search 518 ms · ask 12046 ms · total 12582 ms
single-flight (PR-5): queued 0 ms · generation 12582 ms
retrieval refs (raw) — what the PASSAGE SEARCH returned, not what the answerer read: [{"page": 3, "score": 0.04741, "snippet": "3 piles of With the 24 explorer tokens, make 8 tokens each, storing them in the appropriate spaces in the storage tray. orientation (this is very important) (reverse side) facing up as shown. Assemble and place the evolution track next to the game box. Shuffle the 48 evolution cards, ensuring that t", "headingPath": "5 sets of player pieces", "sharpsignalDocId": 697}, {"page": 3, "score": 0.032787, "snippet": "Each player chooses a color, takes the player screen aid, 1 ship, 2 citizens, 3 action discs (AD), and the order marker of his color. He places the ship on the open sea hexagon, being careful not to cover any fish icons, and places the other pieces in front of his screen, visible to all. He also rec", "headingPath": "9.", "sharpsignalDocId": 697}, {"page": 4, "score": 0.031746, "snippet": "F Randomly decide the order of play for this turn. Each player places his order marker on the evolution track in the icon corresponding to his position in the order of play. Shuffle the 24 region hexagons and deal each player 3 hexagons (providing 6 different region choices). F Initial exploration: ", "headingPath": "8rn 0 'i6&29ering 7+e $r&+i3el$g2 · Region: one of the two sides of a single hexagon", "sharpsignalDocId": 697}, {"page": 17, "score": 0.03125, "snippet": "T Ke GestUo\\eG sKLp Joes EacN to tKe pOa\\eUls reserve and can be rebuilt at a later time. Move the rebellion marker down 1 for each temple in the archipelago. The Pope earns its controller 1 VP at the end of the game. Spend 5 stone resources and 2 action discs. Move the rebellion marker up 2. The Py", "headingPath": "Pirate · Pope · Pyramid · Recruiter · Thief", "sharpsignalDocId": 697}, {"page": 13, "score": 0.030769, "snippet": "T he 1ƒ coins on the port and market zones of the action wheel go to the bank. A t any given time, the evolution track contains 5 cards representing the current set of evolution cards available for purchase. Starting with the first player and continuing in the order of play, each player must either:", "headingPath": "", "sharpsignalDocId": 697}, {"page": 13, "score": 0.030303, "snippet": "Purchase an evolution card and rotate one of the remaining caUGsqLn tKat oUGeU Rotate two different cards. or The red triangles on the evolution track point towards the cost icon of each card (in florins). When purchasing a card, the player pays the cost indicated by the red pointer to the bank; the", "headingPath": "each player must either:", "sharpsignalDocId": 697}, {"page": 4, "score": 0.029851, "snippet": "F Most regions contain huts. Whenever a player successfully explores a new region by placing his hexagon in the archipelago, he must increase the surplus workers level by the number of huts on the region tile, moving the surplus workers marker accordingly. Note: On each region (except the volcano), ", "headingPath": "Example: In a 4 -player game, the population marker is at 8 at the end of turn # 0.", "sharpsignalDocId": 697}, {"page": 10, "score": 0.029412, "snippet": "The exploration action can only be performed a limited number of times per turn. T he active player decides whether he wants the first visible hexagon of the region deck. If not, he discards it to a separate discard pile and takes the next one. He must make that choice without advance knowledge of t", "headingPath": "e;3l2rer 72.en &2n9er6i2n · Constraints that must be met", "sharpsignalDocId": 697}]
citations (raw) — what the answer cited, chosen from a retrieval this page cannot show: [{"page": 3, "quote": null, "headingPath": "5 sets of player pieces", "sharpsignalDocId": 697}, {"page": 16, "quote": null, "headingPath": "NO SECRETS BETWEEN FRIENDS", "sharpsignalDocId": 697}, {"page": 4, "quote": null, "headingPath": "Example: In a 4 -player game, the population marker is at 8 at the end of turn # 0.", "sharpsignalDocId": 697}, {"page": 17, "quote": null, "headingPath": "02re &2n7r2l · Bene)$&72r · Amphitheater · Archbishop · Barbarian · Cathedral · …", "sharpsignalDocId": 697}, {"page": 4, "quote": null, "headingPath": "Example: In a 4 -player game, the population marker is at 8 at the end of turn # 0.", "sharpsignalDocId": 697}, {"page": 3, "quote": null, "headingPath": "9.", "sharpsignalDocId": 697}, {"page": 4, "quote": null, "headingPath": "8rn 0 'i6&29ering 7+e $r&+i3el$g2 · Region: one of the two sides of a single hexagon", "sharpsignalDocId": 697}]
boost provenance — errata + base rulebook (E2/E3): no registered errata card matched this query; base rulebook doc 697 boosted; rulesage.errata.boost-enabled=true, rulesage.errata.supersedence-enabled=true
base rulebook doc 697 boosted
answered-before recall: this ruling was answered, so past rulings were not offered
similarity threshold in force: 0.55 (rulesage.answered-before.similarity-threshold; the exact-question tier is not gated by it)
debug row retained until: Nov 10, 2026 20:19

retrieval — what the passage search returned

what this block IS: the PASSAGE SEARCH's own results — the same search that fills this page's closest-passages list — and NOT the passages the answerer read. Answering runs its OWN retrieval: a far wider candidate pool, re-ranked down to a final handful, plus floors this search never applies — the base rulebook, surviving errata corrections, and one slot per book on a multi-book read. Each of those armed only if THIS ask sent what it needs: the boost block names the ids it forwarded, and the scope line names the books it read. A document the answer CITES that no row here names is therefore EXPECTED, not a defect: two searches, two candidate pools, two orders. The answerer's own final rows are shown in their own block below, beside these and never mixed into them.

score = the fused retrieval score (reciprocal-rank fusion over the search arms) — NOT a cosine similarity. This ruling ran the THREE-ARM fuse (full-text + vector + the doc-priority boost arm, which carried the base rulebook and/or the errata corrections this query matched), whose arithmetic ceiling is 0.04918 — all three arms ranking the same chunk #1 (ceiling = arms/(k+1) at k=60). The measured healthy band 0.016–0.033 was measured on TWO-arm asks and does not bound this one: its high end is the two-arm ceiling, and a third arm has room above it. A chunk only one arm ranked highly lands near 0.016 (that one arm's #1 vote), so 0.03 here is an excellent hit, not a 3% match.

per-arm ranks (the rank each search arm gave a chunk): NOT DISCLOSED by the gateway. Fusion happens gateway-side and only the FUSED score crosses the wire, so rulesage cannot show them without a gateway change. The rank column below is the FUSED rank (position in the returned list), which is real.

token count per chunk: NOT DISCLOSED — chunk token counts are not reported on the ask path. The character counts below are of the bounded snippet/quote rulesage actually received — a real measurement of what we hold, never an estimate of the chunk.

fused rank	document	heading	page	fused RRF score	snippet chars
#1	RULEBOOK Archipelago — Rulebook (corpus doc 697)	5 sets of player pieces	p.3	0.04741 (healthy, below this ruling's 3-arm ceiling 0.04918 (the measured band 0.016–0.033 was taken on two-arm asks and does not bound a 3-arm one))	300
#2	RULEBOOK Archipelago — Rulebook (corpus doc 697)	9.	p.3	0.032787 (healthy, below this ruling's 3-arm ceiling 0.04918 (the measured band 0.016–0.033 was taken on two-arm asks and does not bound a 3-arm one))	300
#3	RULEBOOK Archipelago — Rulebook (corpus doc 697)	8rn 0 'i6&29ering 7+e $r&+i3el$g2 · Region: one of the two sides of a single hexagon	p.4	0.031746 (healthy, below this ruling's 3-arm ceiling 0.04918 (the measured band 0.016–0.033 was taken on two-arm asks and does not bound a 3-arm one))	300
#4	RULEBOOK Archipelago — Rulebook (corpus doc 697)	Pirate · Pope · Pyramid · Recruiter · Thief	p.17	0.03125 (healthy, below this ruling's 3-arm ceiling 0.04918 (the measured band 0.016–0.033 was taken on two-arm asks and does not bound a 3-arm one))	300
#5	RULEBOOK Archipelago — Rulebook (corpus doc 697)		p.13	0.030769 (healthy, below this ruling's 3-arm ceiling 0.04918 (the measured band 0.016–0.033 was taken on two-arm asks and does not bound a 3-arm one))	300
#6	RULEBOOK Archipelago — Rulebook (corpus doc 697)	each player must either:	p.13	0.030303 (healthy, below this ruling's 3-arm ceiling 0.04918 (the measured band 0.016–0.033 was taken on two-arm asks and does not bound a 3-arm one))	300
#7	RULEBOOK Archipelago — Rulebook (corpus doc 697)	Example: In a 4 -player game, the population marker is at 8 at the end of turn # 0.	p.4	0.029851 (healthy, below this ruling's 3-arm ceiling 0.04918 (the measured band 0.016–0.033 was taken on two-arm asks and does not bound a 3-arm one))	300
#8	RULEBOOK Archipelago — Rulebook (corpus doc 697)	e;3l2rer 72.en &2n9er6i2n · Constraints that must be met	p.10	0.029412 (healthy, below this ruling's 3-arm ceiling 0.04918 (the measured band 0.016–0.033 was taken on two-arm asks and does not bound a 3-arm one))	300

what the answerer read — the passages it actually had in front of it

what this block IS: the passages the ANSWERING read put in front of the answerer, in the order it read them — the other half of the two reads described above, and the one that decides what the answer could possibly say. Each row names the book it came from and where in that book it sits, what it scored when the search arms were fused, which arm carried it there, and whether the re-ranker chose it or a floor guaranteed it a slot. A row here that no passage-search row names is EXPECTED: a far wider pool, re-ranked, with floors the passage search never applies.

candidate pool: the answering read scored 54 passages, out of a ceiling of 80 set gateway-side. Both figures are reported by the gateway for THIS ask — measurements of what actually happened, not constants read out of anyone's source and printed here on faith.

floors armed for this ask: the base rulebook — armed · surviving errata corrections — not armed · one slot per book on a multi-book read — not armed. Every floor is stated on every ask, armed or not, so a floor that did not apply here is never mistaken for one this app does not know about.

arms fused for this ask: vector + full-text + the doc-priority boost arm. Stated separately from the rows because an arm that ran and carried nothing is a different fact from an arm that never ran.

read at	document	heading	page	fused rank	fused RRF score	carried by	how it got its slot
#1	RULEBOOK Archipelago — Rulebook (corpus doc 697)	7$Ble 2) &2n7en76 · l2ng g$0e 2B-e&7i9e6 · surplus workers level higher than 2 1	p.19	#10	0.029052 (healthy, below this ruling's 3-arm ceiling 0.04918 (the measured band 0.016–0.033 was taken on two-arm asks and does not bound a 3-arm one))	vector + full-text	the re-ranker chose it
#2	RULEBOOK Archipelago — Rulebook (corpus doc 697)	9.	p.3	#2	0.032787 (healthy, below this ruling's 3-arm ceiling 0.04918 (the measured band 0.016–0.033 was taken on two-arm asks and does not bound a 3-arm one))	vector + the doc-priority boost arm	the re-ranker chose it
#3	RULEBOOK Archipelago — Rulebook (corpus doc 697)	NO SECRETS BETWEEN FRIENDS	p.16	#25	0.012195 (below 0.016, the low end of the measured band — a weak fuse (that band was taken on two-arm asks; only its low end, one arm's #1 vote, carries over to a 3-arm one))	vector	the re-ranker chose it
#4	RULEBOOK Archipelago — Rulebook (corpus doc 697)	Example: In a 4 -player game, the population marker is at 8 at the end of turn # 0.	p.4	#17	0.014085 (below 0.016, the low end of the measured band — a weak fuse (that band was taken on two-arm asks; only its low end, one arm's #1 vote, carries over to a 3-arm one))	vector	the re-ranker chose it
#5	RULEBOOK Archipelago — Rulebook (corpus doc 697)	8rn 0 'i6&29ering 7+e $r&+i3el$g2 · Region: one of the two sides of a single hexagon	p.4	#3	0.031746 (healthy, below this ruling's 3-arm ceiling 0.04918 (the measured band 0.016–0.033 was taken on two-arm asks and does not bound a 3-arm one))	vector + the doc-priority boost arm	the re-ranker chose it
#6	RULEBOOK Archipelago — Rulebook (corpus doc 697)	Example: In a 4 -player game, the population marker is at 8 at the end of turn # 0.	p.4	#7	0.029851 (healthy, below this ruling's 3-arm ceiling 0.04918 (the measured band 0.016–0.033 was taken on two-arm asks and does not bound a 3-arm one))	vector + the doc-priority boost arm	the re-ranker chose it
#7	RULEBOOK Archipelago — Rulebook (corpus doc 697)	02re &2n7r2l · Bene)$&72r · Amphitheater · Archbishop · Barbarian · Cathedral · …	p.17	#23	0.012821 (below 0.016, the low end of the measured band — a weak fuse (that band was taken on two-arm asks; only its low end, one arm's #1 vote, carries over to a 3-arm one))	vector	the re-ranker chose it
#8	RULEBOOK Archipelago — Rulebook (corpus doc 697)	5 sets of player pieces	p.3	#1	0.04741 (healthy, below this ruling's 3-arm ceiling 0.04918 (the measured band 0.016–0.033 was taken on two-arm asks and does not bound a 3-arm one))	vector + full-text + the doc-priority boost arm	the re-ranker chose it

chosen chunks — what the answer actually cited

#	document	heading	page	quote chars
[1]	RULEBOOK Archipelago — Rulebook (corpus doc 697)	5 sets of player pieces	p.3	no quote on the wire
[2]	RULEBOOK Archipelago — Rulebook (corpus doc 697)	NO SECRETS BETWEEN FRIENDS	p.16	no quote on the wire
[3]	RULEBOOK Archipelago — Rulebook (corpus doc 697)	Example: In a 4 -player game, the population marker is at 8 at the end of turn # 0.	p.4	no quote on the wire
[4]	RULEBOOK Archipelago — Rulebook (corpus doc 697)	02re &2n7r2l · Bene)$&72r · Amphitheater · Archbishop · Barbarian · Cathedral · …	p.17	no quote on the wire
[5]	RULEBOOK Archipelago — Rulebook (corpus doc 697)	Example: In a 4 -player game, the population marker is at 8 at the end of turn # 0.	p.4	no quote on the wire
[6]	RULEBOOK Archipelago — Rulebook (corpus doc 697)	9.	p.3	no quote on the wire
[7]	RULEBOOK Archipelago — Rulebook (corpus doc 697)	8rn 0 'i6&29ering 7+e $r&+i3el$g2 · Region: one of the two sides of a single hexagon	p.4	no quote on the wire

generation — timing and the path taken

timing split: retrieval 518 ms · first delta 8599 ms · total 12582 ms (retrieval and first-delta both measured from the START of gateway work, so first-delta INCLUDES retrieval — do not subtract)
full breakdown: queued 0 ms · retrieval 518 ms · ask 12046 ms · gateway work 12582 ms · total 12582 ms
tokens in (the prompt the answerer read): 3183
tokens out (what the answerer generated): 544
tok/sec: 139.0 tok/sec — 544 output tokens in 3.915 s of generation
live seat (read from the running child): answering — gemma4:26b think:false · num_ctx 32768 (live-verified 10s ago)
stream path: streamed — the gateway pushed at least one accumulated draft
watchdog: first-token watchdog: 30s per arming window (rulesage.table.first-token-watchdog-seconds), re-armed once by the passages frame — so the worst case before a reader falls back to polling is 60s. Whether it actually fired is a BROWSER-side decision that never reaches the server, so it is not recorded here. The stream path above is the server's half of that story: whether a delta was emitted at all.
num_ctx · think posture: both are the CHILD's settings, not rulesage's, and no ask reply carries them — an answer never states which context window or think posture produced it. The live-seat line above reads them from the running child instead, where the gateway can answer for itself; it describes the child NOW, not this ask.

disposition

outcome: ANSWERED — Answered
abstain rationale (n/a — this ruling answered): answered — no abstain rationale applies

setup-shape — why the checklist band did or didn't render

decision: NO_APPROVED_CHECKLIST — setup-shaped, but no approved setup checklist exists for this game
pattern that matched: SETUP — "setup" / "set up"
matched words (in the normalized question): setup

errata registry — what the gate above had to match against

this game registers NO errata cards (edition 630), so "no registered errata card matched" above could never have matched one

Errata scope: the gate above matched this ruling's own edition only. When an ask also reads an expansion, that expansion's own registered errata cards stay outside the match — a stated phase-1 limitation, not a failed lookup.