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Selling printable Terra Mystica scoring logs as downloads: the log your buyer trusts when a shipping link is missed

A printable Terra Mystica log lives or dies on the one record nobody keeps: what each player actually held when the sixth round ended, because Terra Mystica runs six rounds and then scores three things that were built up all game under different rules: the four cult tracks, the largest connected area of structures, and the coins left in hand. Nobody at the table argues about the game they played; they argue about whether a cluster across a river counts as connected, whether a cult rank was first or second, and whether leftover coins divide by three or round up. The only evidence is the log: a line for each cult track with the rank written beside it, a line for the largest connected area with the shipping link that connects it named, and a line for coins left, or a single victory-point total that was written at the end and can be defended by nobody.

Cult scoring is the first trap the sheet is built to catch, because four tracks times three ranks is twelve numbers, and any one of them misread moves the winner. At the end of the game, on each of the four cult tracks, Fire, Water, Earth, and Air, the player furthest along scores 8 victory points, the second scores 4, and the third scores 2. A player who writes down "cults: good" with no ranks beside it has written down a feeling nobody can re-add, because first and second on one track differ by 4 points, and a game decided by 1 point turns on exactly that gap. The log therefore has a line per cult track, with the rank and the points written beside it, so a disputed rank shows up before the totals are announced, not as a surprise after them.

Area scoring is the second trap, and it is the one that decides games, because it pays the biggest single chunk and its connectivity rule is the easiest to get wrong. At the end of the game, count each player's structures that are directly or indirectly adjacent to one another, where structures joined by shipping across rivers count as connected, and the player with the largest connected area scores 18 victory points, the second scores 12, and the third scores 6. A player who counts only structures touching by land, and leaves out a cluster joined by a shipping route, has undercounted their own network by every structure across that river, and a player who counts two clusters as one without the shipping value to join them has overcounted by the same amount. The log therefore has a line for the largest connected area with the structure count, the rank, and the shipping link that joins it written beside it, so a disputed connection is visible before the totals are announced, not guessed after them.

Resource scoring is the third trap, because it looks too small to matter and then decides a one-point game. At the end of the game, each player scores 1 victory point for every 3 coins left in their supply, with leftover coins divided and rounded down, not up. A player who writes down "coins: 10, points: 4" has rounded up a remainder that the rules throw away, because 10 coins divide by 3 into 3 points with 1 coin left over, and that phantom point is exactly the margin these games are won by. The log therefore has a line for coins left, the division written out, and the remainder struck through, so a rounded-up coin shows up before the totals are announced, not as a surprise after them.

The worked tally is where the sheet earns its price, because it shows the exact arithmetic a buyer will have to defend at their own table. Player A finished with 18 points from cults (second on Fire for 4, third on Water for 2, first on Earth for 8, second on Air for 4), plus 18 from area scoring (the largest connected area, 12 structures joined by a shipping route, first for 18), plus 2 from resources (7 coins, 7 divided by 3 is 2 with 1 left over), for 18 + 18 + 2 = 38. Player B finished with 22 points from cults (first on Fire for 8, first on Water for 8, second on Earth for 4, third on Air for 2), plus 12 from area scoring (the second-largest connected area, 11 structures, second for 12), plus 3 from resources (10 coins, 10 divided by 3 is 3 with 1 left over), for 22 + 12 + 3 = 37, so A wins by 1 despite B leading on the cult tracks. Player C finished with 16 points from cults (third on Fire for 2, second on Water for 4, third on Earth for 2, first on Air for 8), plus 6 from area scoring (the third-largest connected area, 10 structures, third for 6), plus 1 from resources (4 coins, 4 divided by 3 is 1 with 1 left over), for 16 + 6 + 1 = 23. The counterfactuals are printed beside the tally because they are the arguments the sheet prevents: if A's shipping link is missed and A's 12 structures are counted as a largest cluster of 7, B's 11 becomes first for 18, C's 10 becomes second for 12, and A drops to third for 6, so A scores 26 and B scores 43, and B falsely wins a game actually lost by 1, because structures joined by shipping count as connected for area scoring; if B's 10 coins are rounded up instead of divided down, B scores 38 and falsely ties a game actually lost by 1, because leftover coins divide by 3 rounded down; and if A's Earth first place is misread as second, A scores 34 and B falsely wins by 3, because first and second on one cult track differ by 4 points. Every one of those errors is a single line the log either records or does not.

That is the product: not a rules summary, but a scoring log a seller can print, a buyer can fill in as the sixth round ends, and a table can trust when the winner is announced. The sheet lists each cult track with its rank written beside it, the largest connected area with its structure count and its shipping link named, and coins left with the division written out and the remainder struck through, so that the final total is the sum of lines anyone can re-add, and the game-end trigger is recorded alongside it in case anyone disputes when scoring stopped.

A buyer who has lost a game to a river cluster counted as two areas or a coin remainder rounded up will pay for a sheet that makes both visible before the totals are announced, and a seller who has watched that argument ruin a game night will buy the sheet that ends it. Sell the log, not the lesson: the buyer already knows how Terra Mystica scores, and what they are missing is the record that proves it.

This log is a printable download for personal table use. It is not affiliated with the publisher or the designer, and it does not replace the rulebook: where the log and the rulebook disagree, the rulebook wins, and the sheet should be checked against the tracks, structures, shipping values, and coins actually in play before the game starts.

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