Bologna Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
  • Buildings
  • Landmarks
• Setup
• Goal of the Game
• Gameplay
• Placement Rules
• Courtyards
  • What is a courtyard?
  • Courtyard Scoring
  • Influence Track and Immediate Victory
• Landmarks
  • What are landmarks?
  • Landmark Scoring
• End of the Game
• Final Scoring Example

Components

• 6× double-sided district tiles
• 2× player aid
• 1× podestà pawn

Buildings

34× player building (17 in each player colour), in the following sizes:

• 4× size 2
• 5× size 3
• 4× size 4
• 3× size 5
• 1× size 6

Landmarks

6 landmarks, in the following quantities:

• 4× Councilman's house
• 1× Town hall
• 1× Cathedral
• 12× school

Setup

1. Assemble the game board using the double-sided district tiles to form a complete city layout where numbers on the scale have to match. Randomly choose a side for each district tile, or agree on the sides before the game begins.

2. Each player takes the 17 player buildings of various sizes in their chosen colour and places them into their personal supply:

   • 1× size 6
   • 3× size 5
   • 4× size 4
   • 5× size 3
   • 4× size 2

   It is recommended to sort player buildings by size.

3. Each player takes 6 schools and places them into their personal supply.

4. Place the landmarks near the edge of the game board: 4× Councilman's houses, 1× Town hall, 1× Cathedral.

5. Place the podestà pawn on space 0 of the influence track.

6. The yellow player (representing the Guelph faction) is the first player. The red player represents the Ghibelline faction.

Goal of the Game

When a courtyard is enclosed, the player who wins its majority gains influence based on the courtyard's size. If a player reaches or passes space 15 on the influence track during the game, they immediately win. Otherwise, the game continues until all player-coloured buildings have been placed. The tallest towers then grant their owners influence for the landmarks and schools in their districts. The player who gained more influence from district majorities and enclosed courtyards wins the game.

Gameplay

Players alternate turns. On your turn, you must place one of your player buildings from your personal supply into one of the districts. A player building can be placed in one of three ways:

1. Build a house: Take a player building of any size from your personal supply and place it horizontally (flat) onto an empty grid space in any city district on the game board, in accordance with the placement rules.
2. Build a house with a school: Take a player building of any size from your personal supply and place it horizontally (flat) together with one neutral school from your personal supply onto an empty grid space in any city district on the game board, in accordance with the placement rules.
3. Build a tower: Take a player building of any size from your personal supply and place it vertically (upright) into any city district on the game board, in accordance with the placement rules.

The personal supply of unplaced buildings must always remain clearly visible to both players throughout the game.

Landmarks – When placing the first player building into an empty city district, a player must also place one available landmark in that district during the same turn in accordance with the placement rules. They may choose any landmark that is still available near the game board. Each district can contain a maximum of 1 landmark (a school is not a landmark). A landmark is a neutral piece that does not belong to any player. See the Landmarks section for more details.

Schools – A school building remains neutral throughout the entire game and adds 1 bonus point to the landmark scoring (see Landmarks). However, it is not a landmark itself.

Placement Rules

1. Player building must align with the grid of the city districts. A building is not allowed to cover (even partially) more grid spaces than its actual size.
2. Player building cannot extend beyond the marked borders of a district and must be contained entirely within one district.
3. At least one side of the placed player building must touch the outer edge of the district into which it is being placed. Touching the edge with only a corner of a building is not sufficient.
4. When building a house with a school, the school must touch the shorter side of the house being built. A school can only be placed on a triangular space at the edge of the district. It cannot be placed on a standard square grid space of the district. Reminder: a school cannot be built together with a tower (an upright player building). If the newly placed school touches the edge of the district, this is sufficient to satisfy rule 3.

Courtyards

What is a courtyard?

1. A courtyard is a connected area of empty grid spaces completely enclosed by buildings.
2. The edge of a district does not count as a border of a courtyard. The courtyard must be separated from the edge by buildings.
3. An enclosed courtyard is worth a number of influence points equal to the number of square grid spaces that courtyard encloses within the district.
4. A single district can contain multiple courtyards.
5. A grid space that connects to a courtyard only by a corner may remain empty. Thus, two courtyards can share a common corner.

Courtyard Scoring

As soon as a courtyard is formed, you immediately score it and determine which player receives the influence points for this courtyard. The player with the most houses touching the courtyard wins the courtyard. If tied, the player occupying the most grid spaces touching the courtyard wins instead. The winner gains a number of influence points equal to the number of empty grid spaces within the courtyard. They then move the podestà pawn on the influence track by the corresponding number of spaces towards space 15 on their side of the track (in their colour). Resolve the courtyard majority using the following criteria in order:

1. Number of houses: The player with the most houses surrounding the courtyard earns the influence points. The size of the individual houses does not matter. Count only houses that touch the courtyard with at least part of their side. Houses touching only with a corner do not count. While landmarks, towers, and schools are buildings and help enclose courtyards, they have no effect on courtyard scoring. Only houses (flat player pieces) count.

   Example: In this district, the red player has 3 houses and the yellow player has 2 houses touching the courtyard. The red player therefore gains 11 influence points for the enclosed courtyard and moves 11 spaces towards space 15 on their side of the influence track.

2. Number of grid spaces: In the case of a tie for the number of houses, the influence points for the courtyard are awarded to the player who occupies (i.e. has a player building of their colour) the most grid spaces touching the courtyard with at least one side, not a corner. Grid spaces occupied by towers are also counted. Landmarks and schools have no effect on winning a courtyard.

   Example: In this case, both players have the same number of houses around the courtyard (3 houses). Therefore, the courtyard majority will be decided based on the number of occupied grid spaces in the respective colours (including towers). The red player touches the courtyard with 7 grid spaces containing their player buildings. The yellow player touches it with 5. The red player therefore wins the courtyard. Since the courtyard contains 11 empty grid spaces, they gain 11 influence points and move the corresponding number of spaces on the influence track.

3. Tie: If a tie continues, neither player receives the influence points for the courtyard.

Influence Track and Immediate Victory

The influence track indicates the influence of the rival factions in Bologna. During the game, the podestà pawn shows the current difference in influence between the two players. As soon as any player reaches or exceeds 15 influence points, they win the game immediately.

Landmarks

What are landmarks?

Landmarks represent significant buildings in Bologna. During the game, they act as neutral buildings and can be used strategically, for example, to help enclose courtyards. At the end of the game, landmarks award influence points based on their size and significance:

• Councilman's house: 4 influence points
• Town hall: 6 influence points
• Cathedral: 10 influence points

Schools are not landmarks, but they grant 1 additional influence point during the final scoring.

Landmark Scoring

If a player wins an immediate victory, landmarks and schools are not scored. Otherwise, landmarks and schools are scored separately in each district at the end of the game. Influence points are awarded to the player who wins the tower comparison in that district, following these criteria in order:

1. Tallest tower: The influence points for the landmark and any schools are awarded to the player with the tallest tower in that district.
2. Number of towers: If both players' tallest towers are the same height, the landmark is awarded to the player who has more towers in that district. When comparing the number of towers, ignore the heights of all other towers.
3. Tie: If the tie continues, no influence points are awarded for this district.

Note: Houses have no effect on landmark scoring.

End of the Game

If no player manages to achieve an immediate victory during the game, the game ends as soon as the last player building is placed. Then, score influence points for all placed landmarks and schools. The player who currently has less influence chooses a district to score. They have to choose a district in which they have majority (either tallest tower or number of towers). Calculate the number of influence points for landmarks and schools in that district. That player moves the podestà pawn the corresponding number of spaces on the influence track. The player with less influence keeps choosing districts to score until the podestà pawn is on their side of the track. Then, the other player takes over, scoring the remaining districts until the pawn is back on their side. Continue in this way until all districts have been scored. Whenever the podestà is on space 0, any player may choose a district to score. The final position of the podestà pawn determines the winner. If the pawn is on a player's side of the track, that player wins! That player's faction becomes the new ruling faction of Bologna. If the podestà pawn ends on space 0, the game ends in a tie.

Final Scoring Example

Neither player gained enough influence points from enclosed courtyards to trigger an immediate victory. Therefore, the game ended after the last player building was placed. The podestà is located on space 7 on the red player's side. Now landmarks and schools will be scored (since the red player is leading, the yellow player chooses the first district to score, and continues until all districts are scored):

District 1: The landmark is worth 6 influence points + 2 influence points for the schools. The 8 points go to the yellow player. Both players' tallest tower has the same height: 5. The yellow player has more towers (2) than the red player (1). The podestà is now located on space 1 of the yellow player's side of the track. The red player will therefore choose the next district to be scored (it has to be a district in which they have majority).

District 2: The landmark is worth 4 influence points + 1 influence point for the school. The 5 points go to the red player. They are the only player with a tower in this district. The podestà is now located on space 4 of the red player's side of the track. The yellow player will choose the next district to be scored (as always, it has to be a district in which they have majority).

District 3: The landmark is worth 4 influence points + 2 influence points for the schools. The 6 points go to the yellow player. They are the only player to have at least one tower in this district. The podestà is now located on space 2 of the yellow player's side of the track. The red player will choose the next district to be scored.

District 4: The landmark is worth 10 influence points + 1 influence point for the school. The 11 points go to the red player. The height of the tallest tower of the red player (6) is higher than the height of the tallest tower of the yellow player (5). The number of towers does not matter in this case (1 red tower vs. 2 yellow towers). The podestà is now located on space 9 of the red player's side of the track. The yellow player would normally choose the next district to score, but since there is no district in which they would control a majority of tower height or number, the red player keeps choosing.

District 5: The landmark is worth 4 influence points + 1 influence point for the school. The 5 points go to the red player. They are the only player to have at least one tower in this district. The podestà is located on space 14 of the red player's side of the track.

District 6: The landmark is worth 4 influence points + 1 influence point for the school. Neither player gains the 5 points. Both players' tallest tower has the same height: 4. Both players have the same number of towers: 2.

After scoring the individual districts and tallying up the points for landmarks and schools, the red player adds 21 points (5+11+5) to their 7 points for the courtyards, and the yellow player adds 14 points (8+6). Overall, the red player wins, having gained 14 points more than the yellow player. The Ghibelline faction gains control over the city of Bologna!