Last Updated on October 10, 2025 by The Official Game Rules Team

Type: Fantasy | Players: 2-5 Players | Length: 40-80 minutes

Small World is a light strategy board game where 2 to 5 players (ages 8 and up) vie for control of a cramped fantasy world. Your goal is to accumulate the most Victory Coins by conquering and holding regions across the map.

If you’re learning how to play Small World, this detailed guide covers setup, gameplay, scoring, and strategy so you can fully understand and master the Small World game rules.

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How to Play Small World (Full Complete Guide)

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Overview

The core mechanic involves selecting a combination of a Fantasy Race (like Dwarves or Amazons) and a Special Power (like Flying or Bivouacking). You use the combined strengths of your chosen combo to expand your empire. Since space is limited, your active race will inevitably become Overextended. The key to victory is knowing the optimal time to send your current race In Decline and then select a fresh, powerful Race/Special Power combo to lead a new charge to supremacy.

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Game Components

The game uses a variety of custom pieces:

Map and Tracks

• 4 Double-Sided Maps: Select the map corresponding to your player count (2, 3, 4, or 5 players).
• Game Turn Track: A track on the map that lasts 8, 9, or 10 turns, depending on the map chosen.
• Game Turn Marker: Used to track the game’s progress.

Player Assets

• 14 Fantasy Race Banners: Color side is Active; grayed-out side is In Decline. Includes a blank banner.
• 168 Matching Race Tokens: These are your “troops.”
• 20 Unique Special Power Badges: Paired with Race Banners to form a combo. Includes a blank badge.
• Victory Coins (109 total): Denominations of “1”, “3”, “5”, and “10” for scoring.
• 6 Player Summary Sheets: For reference.

Map Tokens

• 18 Lost Tribe Tokens: Used to occupy certain regions at the start of the game.
• 9 Mountain Tokens: Provide extra defense for a region.
• 6 Fortress Tokens, 5 Encampment Tokens, 2 Holes-in-the-Ground, 2 Heroes, 1 Dragon, 10 Troll Lairs: Various tokens used by certain Races or Special Powers.
• 1 Custom Reinforcement Die: Used for one final conquest attempt per turn.

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Game Setup

1. Select the Map: Choose the Small World Map that matches your number of players. Place it in the center of the table.
2. Set the Timer: Place the Game Turn Marker on the first spot of the map’s Game Turn Track.
3. Create the Market:
   • Shuffle all Race Banners and draw five face-up in a column. Stack the rest face-up at the bottom.
   • Shuffle all Special Power Badges and place one to the left of each of the five visible Race Banners. Stack the rest to the left of the Race stack.
   • This creates six visible Race/Special Power Combos in the column (five on the table, plus the one on top of the two stacks).
4. Populate the World:
   • Place a Lost Tribe Token on every region featuring the Lost Tribe symbol.
   • Place a Mountain Token on every region featuring the Mountain symbol.
5. Distribute Starting Gold: Give each player five “1” Victory Coins. Place all remaining coins in a general Victory Stash near the board.
6. Organize Tokens: Keep the remaining Race Tokens in the storage tray next to the board, easily accessible.

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Starting the Game

The player with the most pointed ears starts the game. Play proceeds clockwise.

The game ends after the turn in which the Game Turn Marker reaches the last spot on the track. All players get an equal number of turns, and the player with the most Victory Coins wins.

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Player Turn Sequence

In the first turn, players follow steps 1, 2, and 3. In all following turns, players must choose to either Expand (steps 2 & 3) OR Enter In Decline (followed by scoring).

1. Picking a Race and Special Power Combo (First Turn Only)

A player selects one of the six visible Race/Special Power combos from the column.

• Cost: The combo at the top is free. Each combo below it costs one additional Victory Coin.
• Payment: To select a combo, the player must pay the cost by placing one of their own Victory Coins onto each of the combos above the selected one.
• Collection: If the selected combo already has Victory Coins on it (left by previous players who passed it up), the selecting player immediately pockets those coins.
• Initial Troops: The player takes a number of matching Race Tokens from the storage tray equal to the sum of the numbers on the Race Banner and the Special Power Badge. This is their entire troop supply for this race, unless the Race/Power grants additional tokens during the game (like Skeletons or Sorcerers).
• Replenish the Market: The player slides the remaining combos (and any coins on them) up to fill the void, then draws the top card from the Race and Special Power stacks to ensure six combos are always visible.

2. Conquering Regions

The player uses their Race Tokens to conquer regions, which will score points at the end of the turn.

Requirements for Conquest

To conquer any region, the player must deploy:

• 2 Race Tokens
• +1 Race Token for each: Lost Tribe token, other player’s Race Token, In Decline Race Token, Mountain, Fortress, Encampment, or Troll’s Lair marker already present in the region.

First Conquest Rules

• The first region conquered by a new race must be a border region (adjacent to the edge of the board or on a Sea adjacent to the edge).

Following Conquests

• Each newly conquered region must be adjacent to a region already occupied by the player’s active race, unless their Race/Special Power combo allows otherwise.
• At least one Race Token must be available to initiate any new conquest.

Enemy Losses & Withdrawals

• When a player conquers a region occupied by another player’s Active Race Tokens, the defending player takes all their tokens back into their hand.
  • They must permanently discard one token back to the storage tray.
  • They redeploy the remaining tokens into any other region(s) they still occupy on the map, as the final action of the current player’s turn.
• When a region is conquered, Lost Tribe tokens or In Decline tokens (usually single tokens) are simply discarded back to the storage tray. Mountain tokens remain in the region.

Final Conquest Attempt: The Reinforcement Die

• If a player doesn’t have enough tokens for one final conquest, but they are short by 3 tokens or less and still have at least one unused token, they may use the Reinforcement Die for a final attempt.
• The player selects the target region, then rolls the die (which shows values of 0, 0, 1, 2, 3).
• If the sum of the die roll plus the player’s remaining Race Tokens is enough to meet the conquest cost, they conquer the region and place their remaining tokens there.
• If not, their remaining tokens are instead placed in a region they already occupy.
• Conquests end immediately after this roll.

Troop Redeployment

• Once all conquests are finished, the player may freely redistribute all their active Race Tokens from one occupied region to another.
• The crucial restriction is that at least one token must remain in every single region under their control.

3. Scoring Victory Coins

The player collects Victory Coins from the stash based on the regions they occupy.

• Active Race: Collect 1 Coin for each Region occupied by their Active Race Tokens, plus any bonus coins granted by their Race and/or Special Power benefits.
• In Decline Race: Collect 1 Coin for each Region occupied by their In Decline Race Tokens. The Race and Special Power benefits of In Decline races do not grant bonus coins, unless explicitly stated otherwise.
• Players keep their coins secret, stacked in front of them.

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Following Turns: Expanding or Declining

On subsequent turns, a player chooses one of two options:

A. Expanding Through New Conquests (Continue using the Active Race)

1. Ready Your Troops: The player must leave one Race Token in each region they currently occupy. They may then take all other Active Race Tokens back into their hand.
2. Conquer: The player uses these tokens to conquer new regions, following all conquest rules (excluding the First Conquest rule).
3. Abandoning a Region (Optional): A player may choose to remove all tokens from one or more regions. These abandoned regions no longer score points. If a player abandons all their regions, their next conquest must follow the First Conquest rules (starting from a border region).
4. Redeploy and Score: Follow Troop Redeployment and Scoring Victory Coins as described above.

B. Entering In Decline (Switching Races)

A player chooses this option when their current race is too spread out or weak to continue expanding.

1. Flip and Store: The player flips their current Race Banner to its grayed-out In Decline side. They discard the associated Special Power Badge back to the supply (unless the power states otherwise, like Spirit).
2. Reduce Troops: In each region occupied by the now-declining race, the player flips one Race Token to its In Decline side and removes all other tokens of that race, returning them to the storage tray.
3. Remove Old Decline: A player can only have one race In Decline at a time. If they had an older In Decline race on the map, all its remaining tokens are immediately removed and returned to the storage tray before the new race goes In Decline.
4. End Turn: The player performs no conquests this turn. Their turn ends immediately after Scoring Victory Coins.
   • They only score 1 Coin for each region occupied by their newly In Decline tokens (no Race or Power bonuses).
5. Next Turn: On their next turn, the player will select a new Race and Special Power Combo (following the rules from step 1 above) and proceed to expand and score with two sources of income: their new Active Race and their In Decline Race.

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End of the Game

Tie-Breaker: If scores are tied, the tied player with the most Race Tokens (Active + In Decline) still on the map is the winner.

The game ends once the Game Turn Marker reaches the final spot on the Game Turn Track and all players have completed their final turn.

• All players reveal and tally their accumulated Victory Coins.
• The player with the highest score wins.

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Strategy

Winning in Small World hinges on mastering the timing of your empire’s rise and fall, maximizing your point generation from both your active and declining races. Success is measured not by continuous expansion with a single race, but by a series of opportunistic, high-scoring shifts.

Mastering the Race/Power Combo

The most critical decision is selecting your initial Race and Special Power Combo.

• Initial Rush: For your first combo, favor races and powers that allow for a rapid and deep expansion, as this sets the stage for early dominance and a high initial point total. Combos that grant extra tokens (like Bivouacking, Pillaging, or races with high token counts like Skeletons) or powers that reduce conquest costs (Flying, Seafaring) are excellent for this early land grab.
• The Price of Power: Never hesitate to pay one or two Victory Coins for a significantly better combo. The ability to generate 4-5 extra points per turn from a strong combo will quickly outweigh the 1-2 coins you spend on an earlier, weaker selection. Always collect the coins on the combo you choose—it’s part of the reward for waiting.
• Synergy is Key: Look for powerful combinations. For instance, Trolls who can place a defense token (Troll Lair) in a region, combined with a power like Bivouacking that also places defense tokens, makes a region nearly impossible to conquer, securing a very high-value spot. Similarly, Fortified races are excellent at holding key areas like mountains.

The Art of Going In Decline

Knowing when to put a race In Decline is the single most important strategic skill.

• Decline When Overextended, Not Exhausted: Do not wait until your active race has no more tokens and can’t conquer anything. Decline when your race is still occupying many regions, even if its ability to expand has slowed. The regions held by your In Decline race will continue to score 1 point each, essentially becoming a passive point-generating engine.
• Maximize the Overlap: The best time to decline is when you still control a significant portion of the map, and a powerful, high-token-count combo has just appeared in the market for your new active race. The goal is to have a long-lived, point-scoring In Decline empire overlapping with a new, rapidly expanding Active empire.
• Targeted Decline: Before going In Decline, use your final active turn to consolidate your remaining tokens to conquer the most defensible (Mountain, Fortress, etc.) and highest-value regions you can. These regions will be easier to hold with a single In Decline token.

Conquest and Defense

• Avoid Over-Committing: While you must leave at least one token in a region you wish to keep, avoid leaving an unnecessary mass of tokens. Your active race tokens are a finite resource, and every token left on the board is one you cannot use for a new conquest. Redeploy your tokens at the end of your turn to pull them from safe, inland territories and concentrate them on the front lines for future attacks.
• The Reinforcement Die: The die is for one final, Hail Mary conquest. Use it to seize a highly valuable region that would otherwise be just out of reach. It is a risk, but a calculated one that is often worth taking for a strong final position.
• Defense is Best Served In Decline: Defense is secondary for your active race, which should be focused on offense. The primary purpose of defense is securing points for your In Decline race. Focus on keeping a single In Decline token on the board for as long as possible, as these regions are cheap to hold (only one token) and their loss is minimal (one token discarded).

Late-Game Scoring

• The Final Tally: In the last two turns, stop focusing on massive expansion. Instead, focus on conquering as many regions as possible, as they will all score one last time. For your final active race, prioritize taking high-scoring regions from your opponents to deny them points, especially from their own In Decline races.
• Tie-Breaker: Remember the tie-breaker is the total number of tokens (Active + In Decline) on the board. In a tight game, if you are expecting a tie, a marginal conquest to place an extra token might secure the win over a player with the same coin total.

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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)