Tzolk'in: The Mayan Calendar

Tzolk’in: The Mayan Calendar introduces a groundbreaking mechanism known as dynamic worker placement. Players represent different Mayan tribes competing to earn the favor of the gods by managing workers, resources, and timing across a system of rotating gears.

Each turn, players choose between two actions:

1. Place Workers – Pay corn, the game’s currency, to place one or more workers on the lowest available spaces of the interlocking gears.

2. Retrieve Workers – Pick up workers that were placed in earlier turns to perform the actions revealed by the gears’ rotation.

As the gears turn each round, workers advance to increasingly powerful action spaces. The longer they remain on the gears, the more rewarding their actions become. However, players cannot skip turns indefinitely. If all of their workers are already placed, they must retrieve at least one, balancing short-term needs with long-term strategy.

The game concludes after one full revolution of the central Tzolk’in gear. Victory can be achieved through multiple paths, such as pleasing the gods by placing crystal skulls in sacred caves, constructing impressive temples, or mastering agricultural and technological progress.

Tzolk’in: The Mayan Calendar blends strategic planning, timing, and resource management into a deeply thematic experience that rewards both patience and precision.