Mountain Pass

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Mountain Pass
Info
Type	Landmark
Set	Empires
Illustrator(s)	Garret DeChellis
Landmark text
When you are the first player to gain a Province, each player bids once, up to , ending with you. High bidder gets +8  and takes the they bid.

Mountain Pass is a Landmark from Empires. It prompts a bidding event when a Province is first gained, where players take turns stating an amount of they'd be willing to take on, once per player, starting with the player to the left of the one who gained the Province. The winner of the bid gets +8 , and takes on the they bid. It is the only Landmark to involve , and the only card in the game to involve bidding.

FAQ

Unofficial FAQ (2022)

• This only happens the first time a player gains a Province; it does not matter if the Province was bought or not, or if Provinces have left the pile earlier due to Salt the Earth.
• The player to the left of the player who got the Province bids first, then the player to their left and so on, ending with the player who got the Province.
• Each bid can be a pass, or a higher bid than the previous bid.
• Bids are in amounts of , from to ; a bid of cannot be beaten.
• The player who bid the highest (if any) gets +8  and takes the amount of of their bid.
• If you win the bid on your turn, you can immediately pay off some of your .
• If you Possess a player and then gain the first Province, you still have control over how much they bid. If they win the bid, they take the 8 , and you take the . In practice (at least in a 2-player game), you force them to bid , and you can take for 8 .

Deprecated official FAQ (2016)

This only happens the first time a player gains a Province; it does not matter if the Province was bought or not, or if Provinces have left the pile earlier due to Salt the Earth. This happens between turns; Possession (from Dominion: Alchemy) will not be in effect. The player to the left of the player who got the Province bids first, then the player to their left and so on, ending with the player who got the Province. Each bid can be a pass, or a higher bid than the previous bid. Bids are in amounts of , from to ; a bid of cannot be beaten. The player who bid the highest (if any) gets +8  and takes the amount of of their bid.

Deprecated rules clarifications (2016 2021)

End-game conditions are checked at the end of each player's turn. So if a player gains the first Province on the same turn a game-ending condition occurs (e.g. 3 empty piles), the Mountain Pass bidding effect will not occur. The exception is if any player has Fleet, which keeps the game going. If you gain the first Province on the same turn you buy Donate, you can choose the order of the effects of Donate and Mountain Pass.

Versions

English versions

Print	Digital	Text	Release	Date
		When you are the first player to gain a Province, after that turn, each player bids once, up to , ending with you. High bidder gets +8  and takes the they bid.	Empires	June 2016
		When you are the first player to gain a Province, at end of turn, each player bids once, up to , ending with you. High bidder gets +8  and takes the they bid.	Possession related errata	October 26, 2020 / February 18, 2022
		When you are the first player to gain a Province, each player bids once, up to , ending with you. High bidder gets +8  and takes the they bid.		June 29, 2022

Other language versions

Language	Name	Print	Digital	Text	Notes
Dutch	Bergpas
Finnish	Vuoristoreitti
French	Col
German	Gebirgspass			Nach dem Zug, in dem ein Spieler die erste Provinz genommen hat, bietet jeder Spieler reihum (beginnend beim linken Mitspieler) einmal bis zu 40 -Marker. Der Spieler mit dem höchsten Gebot erhält +8 -Marker und nimmt sich die gebotene Menge -Marker.	(2016)
	Gebirgspass			Wenn du der erste Spieler bist, der eine Provinz nimmt, bietet am Ende des Zuges jeder Mitspieler (beginnend bei deinem linken Mitspieler) einmal bis zu . Der Spieler mit dem höchsten Gebot erhält +8  und nimmt seine gebotenen .	2. Edition (2021) Note: rulebook FAQ 2021 for this card may be outdated
	Gebirgspass			Wenn du als erster Spieler eine Provinz nimmst, bietet jeder Spieler einmal bis zu , mit dir zum Schluss. Der Höchstbietende bekommt +8  und nimmt entsprechend seines Gebots.
Japanese	峠 (pron. tōge)			属州が最初に獲得されたターンの終了後、 獲得したプレイヤーを最後として、各プレイヤーは1回ずつ、を上限として競りをする。最高入札者は、+8 、 提示したを得る。
Polish	Przełęcz (lit. pass)			Kiedy jako pierwszy dodasz Prowincję, po zakończeniu tej tury rozpoczyna się licytacja. Gracze kończą na tobie, licytując kolejno, maksymalnie do . Zwycięzca bierze +8  i tyle , ile zaoferował.	(2017)
Russian	Горный Перевал (pron. gorny pyeryeval)

Trivia

Official card art.

Secret History

At first it was when the first Province was bought, the buyer bid first, no limit, and the prize was 10 . Since the correct bid might be infinity, there's a limit, and hey why not the total number of tokens included. Gain felt better than buy; between turns dealt with Possession, man, that card. And eventually I lowered it to 8  to reduce the chance that you run out of tokens.

—Donald X. Vaccarino, The Secret History of the Empires Cards

Retrospective

For sure Mountain Pass is not a set highlight. No-one ever knows what to bid, or always bids 14. I don't regret it though.

—Donald X. Vaccarino, Dominion Discord, 2021

Errata

There should not be stuff happening between-turns (except for determining whose turn is next, which Outpost etc. can safely mess with). Why is there? [...] Mountain Pass is between turns so Possession doesn't affect who makes the decision to take 40. But I later fixed that on Possession itself. Will I ever fix Donate and Mountain Pass to not be between turns? Man, maybe. I don't need to make that decision today.

—Donald X. Vaccarino, Mountain Pass and gaining Province during Donate

Since then, Mountain Pass has received errata to happen as soon as you gain the first Province.

Nothing should happen between turns except picking which extra turn happens next. Donate and Mountain Pass broke that...While Mountain Pass couldn't make anything else happen between turns (since nothing triggers on getting ), I decided to fix it too.

—Donald X. Vaccarino, The Why of the Errata