Alhambra Rulebook

Table of Contents

Components
- The buildings
Object of the Game
Getting Ready to Play
How to Play
End of Your Turn – Position a building tile
- Rules for building the Alhambra
Scoring
End of the Game
Rules for Playing with Two Players

Components

6 starting tiles – Showing the famous Lion Fountain and the player color.
54 building tiles – 6 different kinds of buildings. These are the pieces you use to build your own Alhambra. Each tile has up to three wall segments. The six building kinds are: Pavilion, Seraglio, Arcades, Chambers, Garden, and Tower.
108 money cards in four currencies – Currency cards are used to buy buildings from the building market to build in your own Alhambra. The four currencies are Denar, Dirham, Ducat, and Florin, with values from 1 to 9.
2 scoring cards – Are placed in the draw deck and are revealed to indicate a scoring round.
1 game board – The top section shows the card display and holds the draw deck in the leftmost space. The bottom section is the building market and has four spaces for building tiles. Each space corresponds to a different currency.
1 scoring board – To mark each player's score.
6 counters – Each player has a counter for the scoring board.
6 tile reserve boards with points tables.
1 tile dispenser tower.
1 set of rules.

The buildings

There are 6 different kinds of buildings. The table shows the prices of the buildings and how many of each of the buildings there are.

Name	Number	Price
Pavilion	7x	2–8
Seraglio	7x	3–9
Arcades	9x	4–10
Chambers	9x	5–11
Garden	11x	6–12
Tower	11x	7–13

Object of the Game

Players who have the most building tiles of each kind in their Alhambra at the right time – in the scoring rounds – are awarded points, the exact amount depending on the type of building. Players also receive points for the longest continuous wall built around their Alhambra.

The number of points awarded increases each scoring round. The winner is the player who has been awarded the most points by the end of the game.

Getting Ready to Play

Put the game board, consisting of the building market and card display, in the middle of the table and the scoring board at the end of the table.
Each player is given a starting tile, which they place on the table in front of them, and 1 counter in their player color, which is placed on the 0/100 space of the scoring board.
The 54 building tiles are shuffled face down and then stacked in the tile dispenser tower.
Four building tiles are taken from the tower and placed in order on the four numbered squares of the building market, beginning with square 1.
Each player is given a tile reserve board with a points table which should be placed in plain sight in front of them. The points table shows how many of each type of building there are and how many points each will score.
Set aside the two scoring cards and shuffle the deck of currency cards.
Each player is dealt their starting money. One card at a time, deal currency cards face-up to a player until the total is 20 or more (the color of the currency is not important at this point). Continue doing this until all players have received their starting money. Players may now pick up their cards. From now on, the player's hand of currency cards should be kept secret. (Note: This ensures that no-one receives money totalling more than 28 or less than 20.)
The player with the fewest cards starts; if two or more players are equal, the player with the lowest amount of money starts. If the players are still equal the younger player starts.
Finally, the four spaces of the card display are filled by drawing one money card and placing it face-up on each space.
The rest of the money cards are divided into five roughly equal piles. Shuffle the first scoring card into the second pile and the second scoring card into the fourth. Then put the piles on top of one another with the fifth pile on the bottom, then the fourth, the third, the second and finally the first at the very top. The pile is placed on the leftmost space of the card display section on the game board. (Note: This ensures that the two scoring cards do not come into the game too early, too late, or too soon after one another.)

How to Play

Play proceeds in a clockwise direction, beginning with the starting player. The player whose turn it is must perform one of the three following actions:

Take money
Buy a building tile
Redesign the Alhambra

If a player buys a building tile, they must build it in their Alhambra at the end of the turn (Position a building tile).

Take money

A player can take any one of the money cards from the display, or several money cards if they do not add up to more than 5 (the currency does not matter).

Example: you could take both the cards on the left or one of the other two.

Buy a building tile

A player can buy a building tile from the building market. They must play currency cards of the correct type, indicated by the currency above the tile, that total at least the price of the tile. But take care – no change is given!

The money used to pay for the tile is placed on a discard pile next to the game board.

Important: If a player can pay the exact amount, it is still their turn, and they may decide which of the three actions they would like to perform next. While it is the player's turn, no new tiles are placed on the building market. It is only at the end of a player's turn that the empty squares are refilled with new tiles. Building tiles which have been purchased are placed next to the player's Alhambra. (They are built in the Alhambra only at the end of the turn.)

Example: You want a garden for your Alhambra. The garden on offer costs 10 denar (blue). You have two money cards of this currency in your hand and decide to buy the garden. However, as you cannot pay exactly 10 (only 11), your turn ends here; you do not receive any change.

Redesign the Alhambra

There are three ways in which a player can redesign their Alhambra:

They may take a building tile from their reserve board and add it to their Alhambra (see rules for building).
They may remove a building tile from their Alhambra and put it on their reserve board.
They may exchange a building tile on their reserve board for one in their Alhambra. In that case, the new building tile must go in exactly the same place in the Alhambra as the one that was removed.

When redesigning the Alhambra, players have to follow all building rules. It is not allowed to remove the starting tile or exchange it for another tile.

End of Your Turn – Position a building tile

All purchased building tiles may only be placed at the end of a player's turn, either in their Alhambra, or on the player's reserve board. There is no limit to the number of buildings that may be on the reserve board.

If a player has bought multiple buildings in a turn, they may choose in which order to place them in their Alhambra or onto the reserve board.

Rules for building the Alhambra

The following rules apply when building the Alhambra:

All building tiles must be the same orientation as your own starting tile (i.e. all roofs must point upwards).
Adjoining sides must be the same, i.e. they must either both have a wall or both not have a wall.
Each building tile must be accessible "on foot" from the starting tile without crossing a wall and without going off the tiles.
Each new tile must be joined to your Alhambra by at least one side (i.e. it cannot be joined just at a corner).
It is not allowed to leave any "spaces" (i.e. an empty area surrounded on all sides by building tiles).

The following combinations are NOT allowed:

The tile is oriented incorrectly.
A side with a wall is joined to a side without a wall.
The "on-foot rule" has not been followed: a tile cannot be reached from the starting tile without crossing a wall.
The building tiles are not joined by at least one side.
Putting a tile in a position that would create an empty area completely surrounded by tiles.

When all bought building tiles are either built in the Alhambra or placed on the reserve board, the turn ends.

The money card display is now refilled by drawing one card from the pile for each empty space. If the pile is empty, the discard pile is shuffled and used as the new draw pile. Each empty space on the building market is filled with a new tile from the tile dispenser tower. (Note: The building market is always filled in ascending order from 1 to 4.)

Scoring

There are 3 scoring rounds during the game. The first two take place when the scoring cards are drawn from the pile of money cards. The third and final scoring round takes place at the end of the game.

When a scoring card is drawn, it is put in front of the next player in turn order and the next card or cards are used to fill up the display. Before the next player begins their turn the scores are calculated. When scoring is over, the player begins their turn.

In each scoring round, points are awarded to whomever has the most of each kind of building. Players also earn points for the length of the longest wall around their Alhambra.

The points awarded to a player are recorded on the scoring board. Each player moves their counter one space forward for each point that they have been awarded.

Points for the wall around your Alhambra

First players are awarded points for the longest continuous wall around their Alhambra.

Each side of a tile with a wall segment on it counts for 1 point. No points are awarded for walls which are back-to-back, i.e. internal walls. A shorter wall around the Alhambra is not counted; only the single longest continuous external wall scores.

Points for having the most of each kind of building

Points are awarded for each kind of building. Depending on which scoring round takes place, players need to have the most, second most or third most of a building type to earn points.

If there is a tie, the points for the tied positions get added (i.e. two players tied for second would sum the points for second and third positions) and then split between the players, always rounding down.

Attention: Only buildings built in the Alhambra count, buildings on the reserve board do not.

First scoring

The first scoring takes place when the first scoring card is revealed.

Only the player who has the most of one building kind built in their Alhambra is awarded points. How many points is depicted on the card next to each building.

Example: The player with the most chambers is awarded 4 points.

Second scoring

At the second scoring (after revealing the 2nd scoring card) players who have the most and second most of a building kind are awarded points. The points are shown on the card.

Example: The player with the most towers is awarded 13 points. The player with the second highest number of towers is awarded 6 points.

Tie example: Kim and Nina each have 4 towers. They share the points for 1st and 2nd place: 13 + 6 = 19 points. The number is divided by two and rounded down so they are each awarded 9 points.

Third scoring

The third scoring takes place at the end of the game, when the building market can not be refilled any more.

Here players who have the most, second most, and third most buildings of a kind can earn points. The points for each place are shown on the reserve board.

Example: The player with the highest number of pavilions is awarded 16 points. The player with the second highest number of pavilions is awarded 8 points. The player with the third highest number of pavilions is awarded 1 point.

End of the Game

The game ends when – at the end of a player's turn – there are not enough building tiles left in the tile dispenser tower to refill the building market.

The remaining building tiles from the building market are given to the players who have the most money of the respective currency in their hand (it does not matter how much the building costs). If two or more players have the same amount of money then that building tile remains on the building market. Building tiles given to players in this way may then be added to their Alhambras in accordance with the building rules.

The third and final scoring round now takes place. The player who leads on the scoring board after this last round has won. If two players are tied the game is a draw.

Rules for Playing with Two Players

The normal Alhambra rules apply with the following changes:

The deck normally contains three of each money card. With 2 players, remove one of each card resulting in a deck of 72 cards.

There is an imaginary third player. Let us call him Dirk. Dirk does not build an Alhambra but does collect building tiles. Dirk does not have any turns.

At the beginning of the game 6 building tiles are drawn from the tower and put to one side for Dirk – in full view of both players.

In the scoring rounds Dirk is awarded points for having the most of any of the different kinds of building but not for an external wall.

Right after the first scoring round Dirk is given 6 more tiles. These are also drawn from the tower and placed with his others.

After the 2nd scoring round, Dirk is given more building tiles. This time he is not necessarily given 6 but is instead given a third of the tiles remaining in the tower (rounded down).

Only one rule is different for the two players: Whenever a building tile is bought, it can be given to Dirk instead of being placed in that player's Alhambra or reserve board.