Stone Age Board Game – Roll Dice in the Love Hut

Stone age board game

The first time I played stone age was back in 2011, a mere 3 years after the board game was released. Keep in mind I only got started in the hobby of board gaming around 2010. The earliest memory I have of this game is getting warned beforehand that the dice cup stinks. I still remember that warning to this day and thought it was really funny. I currently own the Z-man Games edition of the game which I got in 2019, and that cup smelled perfectly fine straight out the box. It is one of the earliest worker placement games I played and it is a really fun game, even making my Best Board Games Of 2021 list.

The base game is not in stock at Amazon as of the writing of this post, but the new anniversary edition can be purchased at Amazon. Noble Knight Games also has some second-hand ones in stock of the original.

In this post, I will go over the stone age rules, strategies, and expansions for the game. I will also mention places to play this game online. Enjoy the read!

Stone age board game rules – how to play

Contents

• Rulebook
• 1 Game Board
• 4 Player Boards
• 68 Wooden Resources
• 40 Wooden Figures
• 8 Markers
• 53 Food Tokens
• 28 Building Tiles
• 18 Tool Tiles
• 1 First Player Token
• 36 Civilization Cards
• 7 Dice
• 1 Leather Dice Cup (might be stinky)

Setup

01. The board should be placed in the middle of the table.
02. Food tokens should be sorted according to their value and stacked in the hunting grounds area of the board.
03. The 28 wood resources are placed in the forest area of the board.
04. The 18 clay resources are placed in the clay mound area of the board.
05. The 12 stone resources are placed in the quarry area of the board.
06. The 10 gold resources are placed in the river area of the board.
07. Sort the tool tiles into two piles. The first pile contains the 1 value tools (2 value tools on the reverse side). The second pile contains the 3 value tools (4 value tools on the reverse side). Place these piles in the village area of the board.

Setup continued…we are almost there

08. Shuffle the civilization cards and place them face down next to the lower right of the game board. Reveal the top 4 civilization cards and place them right to left in the four spaces on the game board. The player count does not change this number.
09. Shuffle the building tiles and create piles consisting of 7 building tiles each. The number of piles must match the number of players. Leftover tiles are returned to the box. Place these piles face down and reveal the top building tile of each pile. 2 player game setup shown to the right.
10. Every player must choose a color and place their small marker on the zero space of the agriculture track (lower left corner). They must then place their big marker on the zero space of the scoring track. (top left corner)
11. Every player takes a player board. This is where you will develop your village. Put 5 figures of your color on the player board. Put food tokens worth a total value of 12 on your player board. Tools, buildings, and other acquired pieces will go on your player board during gameplay. Summaries are also available on your player board.
12. The remaining 5 figures in each player’s color create a general supply. Place them next to the game board. Place the 7 dice and dice cup in the general supply.
13. The youngest player goes first. Hand them the first player token.

Stone age gameplay

Each round in stone age consists of three phases.

1. Placement of figures on the gameboard (one player after the other in turn order)
2. Perform the actions associated with the placed figures one area at a time (one player at a time performs all their actions, starting with the first player)
3. Feeding of the tribe. Resetting tools if needed. Reveal new civilization cards if needed. Moving first player marker.

1. Placement of figures phase

Locations are chosen in any order when placing your figures. Each location has a circle representing how many figures may be placed there at a time. Starting with the first player and proceeding clockwise, each player takes turns placing their figures in a single location with empty circles (completed one placement at a time). This continues until all players have placed all of their figures. You can not add more figures later if your figures have already been placed in a location. The second phase of the game begins after all the figures have been placed.

Toolmaker accepts one figure at a time
Hut accepts two figures of the same color at a time
The field accepts one figure at a time
Hunting grounds accepts an unlimited amount of figures
Forest, clay mound, quarry, and river each accept up to 7 figures
Each civilization card accepts one figure
Each building tiles accepts one figure

2. Perform actions phase

Toolmaker

Add a tool tile to your player board.

Hut

Congratulations! The tribe made a baby in the stone age love hut! Take an extra figure in your color from the general supply and add it to your player board.

Field

Move up 1 on the agriculture track.

Hunting grounds

Roll one dice per placed figure in your color. Decide if you want to use your tools by tapping them and adding the tool values to your dice roll. Onetime use tools from civilization cards can also be used. Divide the total number rolled by 2, and add that much food rounded down to your player board.

Resources (wood, clay, stone, gold)

Roll one dice per placed figure in your color. Decide if you want to use your tools by tapping them and adding the tool values to your dice roll. Onetime use tools from civilization cards can also be used. Divide the total number rolled by wood(3), clay(4), stone(5), and gold(6), and add that much of the rolled for resource rounded down to your player board.

Civilization card

Pay the number of resources depicted above the civilization card and take the card. Food resources cannot be used to pay for a civilization card. Get the top card bonus of the card. You do not get the card if you cannot pay for it.

Building

Pay the resources shown on the building tile. Put the building tile on your player board. Add the victory points shown on the building tile to your score track. You do not get the building if you cannot pay for it.

3. Feed tribe and cleanup phase

• Feed your tribe at a cost of one food resource per figure on your player board. You may also use resources (wood, clay, stone, gold) at a rate of one-to-one per figure regardless of the value of the resource. Lose 10 points if you cannot feed your entire tribe.
• Reset any used tools
• Pass the first player marker to the player on your left

Stone age game end

The end of the stone age board game occurs when either

• there are not enough civilization cards to fill the empty spaced on the civilization card track (game ends immediately) or;
• one of the building piles runs out (finish the current round – including feeding of the tribe)

Stone age board game changes with 2 or 3 players

Stone age final scoring

• The civilization cards with the green background and tool (i.e. sundial, loom, flute, etc.) form a set. The number of unique tools in the set gets multiplied by itself. i.e. pictured below would be 3×3=9 points. Multiple unique sets will score points as well.

• Each civilization card with the sand background grants you additional points.
  • The total number of farmers depicted on your civilization cards is multiplied by your final score on the agriculture track
  • Total number of toolmakers depicted on your civilization cards is multiplied by the total numeric value of all your tool tiles on your game board
  • The number of builders depicted on your civilization cards is multiplied by the total number of buildings tiles on your game board
  • Total number of shamans depicted on your civilization cards is multiplied by the total number of figures on your game board

• The remaining resources are worth 1 point each (food is not included in this)

Tally all these scores on the score track. The player with the highest score is the winner. In case of a tie, the tied players compare the sum of their agriculture level, total tool value, and acquired figures, to determine the winner.

Stone age strategy

• Never neglect the civilization cards. They earn you a lot of points during the final scoring of the game.
• Collect civilization cards that tie into one another and contribute to the strategy of your whole game.
• The order and placement of your figures (meeples) are important. Getting a tool earlier on could help you to get more resources for your next play.
• See what other players are doing, and see if you can block them from getting cheaper resources, forcing them to spend their more valuable resources to buy their civilization cards.
• Sometimes it is beneficial to lose 10 points because you did not feed one of your figures with a resource, allowing you to get more profitable buildings later on in the game.
• It might be worth your while to block the last building of a pile when it has 1 or 2 buildings left. It will allow you more control over ending the game, and giving you the extra turn you need to get that sweet victory!
• Try to increase food production (agriculture level), figures (meeples), and tools early on. You will benefit from this for the whole game.
• Never ignore resource cards with a cost of 1 resource.

Civilization cards

As mentioned above, the civilization cards are vital to your strategy when playing stone age. Civilization cards are divided into two parts, top, and bottom.

Top: What you get when you purchase the civilization card

Bottom: End game scoring bonuses

Top of civilization card examples

• 10 cards have the dice roll action
• 7 cards give food tokens
• 5 cards give resources
• 3 cards roll for resources
• 3 cards give immediate victory points
• 1 card increases tool tile by 1
• 2 cards increase your level on the agriculture track
• 1 card draws you a civilization card
• 3 single-use tool cards
• 1 card gives 2 resources, now or later

Bottom of civilization card examples

The bottom of the civilization card is all about the stone age final scoring.

Stone age board game expansions

• The Mammoth Herd
• Casino
• Stone Age: The Expansion available on Amazon
• Stone Age: The New Huts
• Schmuck und Handel (fan expansion for Stone Age)

Stone age board game editions/family

• Stone Age: Anniversary available on Amazon
• My First Stone Age
• My First Stone Age: The Card Game available on Amazon.

Stone age board game online

Where can you play the stone age board game online? As is the trend with most of my articles now, we will explore some of your options to play this game online. I go into more depth about playing your board games online in this article which you can read here.

Websites

Board Game Arena is a simple and easy choice to get your stone age fix. There is some good competition on there to test the strategies you have learned in this article. I have written a full article on board game arena and getting setup there, I really hope that helps you to get going.

Steam

You can also try out the stone age workshop item found here, if you already own table top simulator on steam.

Apps

There used to be an iOS version of the stone age board game, but it appears to be have been removed. Read about it at board game geek.

Faq

How do you play Stone Age board game?

The stone age board game is easy to learn and play. I have a whole section you can find here, dedicated to setting up and playing the stone age board game. Find the official board game rules can on the Z-man Games Site.

How much food do you start with in Stone Age?

Each player starts with food tokens worth a total value of 12. They place these food tokens on their player board.

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