Tabletop games
Small World
Days of WonderPhilippe Keyaerts2009
- players
- 2–5
- minutes
- 60
- years
- 8+
In the box
2 double-sided boards, depending on the number of players · Race banners and Special Power badges · Race tokens · Victory coins · Mountain, fortress, lair and encampment tokens · 1 reinforcement die
Official rules (PDF, publisher's site)
Box details
- Designer
- Philippe Keyaerts
- Artwork
- Miguel Coimbra
- Publisher
- Days of Wonder
- Mechanics
- Area MajorityArea MovementOnce-Per-Game AbilitiesIncomeHidden Victory Points
- Expansions
- Small World: Grand Dames · 2009
- Small World: Be Not Afraid... · 2010
- Small World: Tales and Legends · 2010
- Small World : Dans la Toile · 2014
Where to buy it
Near you and online
In a shop
Within 50 km.
Online
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The basics
Each player tries to collect the most victory coins by conquering regions with successive races, each with a special power. On your turn, take a race and power combination (skipping combinations costs coins) and conquer regions, each costing 2 tokens plus one per defence there; later, you may put your race in decline to take a new one. Each turn ends with 1 coin per region occupied, plus bonuses; after the last turn, the most coins wins.
Checked against the official rules · October 2026
The rules, step by step
Setup
6 combinations, 5 victory coins, Lost Tribes
- Choose the side of the board suited to the number of players; the Game Turn marker goes on the first space.
- Place a Lost Tribe on each region bearing its symbol, and a Mountain on each mountain region.
- Five Race banners drawn at random form a column, each paired with a Special Power badge; with the top of the two piles, that makes six visible combinations.
- Each player receives 5 victory coins of value 1. The player with the pointiest ears goes first.
How to play
Pick a combination, Conquer, redeploy, Or go into decline
- Pick a combination: the first one is free, the others cost one victory coin placed on each combination skipped; you collect any coins already placed on the one you take. The number of tokens you receive is the sum of the two tiles.
- A new race enters through a region on the edge of the board; each following conquest must be adjacent to a region it already occupies. Seas and the lake cannot be conquered.
- Conquering a region takes 2 tokens, plus one per Encampment, Fortress, Mountain or Troll's Lair, plus one per Lost Tribe or enemy token there; never fewer than one token.
- The defender takes back their tokens, loses one for good and redeploys the others at the end of the attacker's turn.
- Your last conquest of the turn can rely on the reinforcement die, if you still have at least one token in hand.
- At the end of your turn, redeploy your tokens as you wish, at least one per region occupied.
- On later turns, take back your tokens leaving one per region, for new conquests; or else put your race in decline, which takes up your whole turn: one token per region, flipped over, the power discarded. You will pick a new race on your next turn.
Scoring
1 per region occupied, Race and power bonus, Races in decline count
- At the end of each turn: 1 coin per region occupied, by your active race and by your race in decline alike.
- Add the race and power bonuses, which no longer apply once in decline, unless stated otherwise.
- Coins stay hidden until the end; you may make change with the bank.
End of the game
8 to 10 turns, Most coins
- The game lasts the number of turns on the track of the chosen board: 10 with two or three players, 9 with four players, 8 with five players.
- When the Game Turn marker reaches the last space, everyone plays one last time, then the coins are revealed.
- The most victory coins wins; on a tie, whoever has the most tokens on the board, decline included.
Going further
Frequently asked questions · In the same family
Frequently asked questions
Can you have two races in decline?
No: when you put a new race in decline, the tokens of your previous race in decline leave the board, unless a power says otherwise.
What happens to a lost region?
Active race: discard one token from the lost region and redeploy the others at the end of the attacker's turn. Race in decline: its tokens are simply removed.