Deep within the rain forests of the Yucatan, rival teams of treasure hunters have recently discovered the lost city of Codinca. In the center of the once great citadel stands a stone temple. Local legends tell of great treasures that lie buried beneath the temple, but despite many weeks of searching no doorway has been found.

On the top of the temple stands a square stone altar. A small totem stands in the center of this, surrounded by a pattern of sixteen carved tiles. Examining them closely you discover an intricate series of mechanisms which allow the tiles to switch places and turn over, which reveals that each tile has a stone side and a gold side. Carvings on each side of the pillar indicate that a sequence of four key patterns must be made with the tiles to open the temple. Can you be the first to unlock the secrets of Codinca?

In Codinca, each player has control of a set of four matching symbol tiles: Air, Water, Earth or Fire. Players take turns attempting to move their tiles into a series of four specific key patterns indicated on the key discs drawn at the beginning of the game; those patterns are a block of four, a line of four, four corners (can be four corners of any nine tiles as well as outside corners) and a diagonal line of four.

On each turn a player must either switch and flip one of their own tiles with any adjacent tile, or switch one of their tiles with any adjacent tile and switch the same or another of their tiles with any adjacent tiles or flip two tiles, one of which must be one of their own tiles. In addition, players are allocated three Spirit Card that gives them the bonus move choice of Line Push or Rotate Four. This allows players to disguise their planned moves. On the back of the Spirt Card is a Trap Pattern. This can be used to change a set display of tiles from gold to stone and visa versa to match the pattern on the Trap Pattern. Players can match their required patterns in any order, and the first player to match all patterns wins.