Byzanz
Byzanz Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Game Components
- 96 Goods Cards — 6 different types of goods, each with 16 cards (6x worth 1, 5x worth 2, 3x worth 3, 2x worth 4).
- 16 Dealer Cards (worth 0).
- 6 Bidder Cards numbered 1 through 6.
- 2 Market Cards.
Overview of the Game
You are a merchant in the Byzantine Market participating in auctions for bundles of goods. In a round, each player will win exactly one auction by offering cards from their hand. The winner of an auction must place their bid into the Market. When a player has a set of three identical Goods, they may sell them in the Market, keeping the highest valued card as profit. The game ends when all of the Goods Cards have been auctioned, and the player with the highest profit is the winner.
Game Setup
- Shuffle the 96 Goods Cards together with the 16 Dealer Cards.
- Deal 4 Cards to each player. Randomly remove from the deck a number of cards based on the number of players in the game (see the table below). These cards are removed from the game unseen. The remaining cards are placed into the center of the table.
- Place the Bidder Cards next to the deck of Goods Cards in ascending order with the highest valued card on the top of the stack. The unused Bidder Cards (see the following table) are removed from the game.
- Use the 2 Market Cards to form the Byzantine Market.
- The player to the left of the dealer starts the game.
| # of Players | Bidder Cards | # of Removed Goods Cards | # of Rounds |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | 2, 4, 6 | 4 | 8 |
| 4 | 2, 3, 4, 5 | 12 | 6 |
| 5 | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 | 2 | 6 |
| 6 | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 | 4 | 4 |
4 Player Example: The Bidder Cards with the values 2, 3, 4 and 5 form a stack on the table. The 5 card is on the top. The 1 and 6 Bidder Cards, and 12 randomly drawn Goods Cards are removed from the game.
Round Overview: Auctions
Draw a number of Goods Cards equal to the value of the top Bidder Card and place them in the center of the table. In the above example, 5 Goods Cards are drawn because the Number 5 Bidder Card is at the top of the stack. These cards will be auctioned off as one bundle.
In the first round, bidding begins with the player to the left of the dealer. They have the choice of either passing or bidding. To bid, a player places in front of them any number of Goods Cards from their hand. The value of their bid is the sum of the values of the used Goods Cards. When bidding, the total value of the bid is only determined by the value of the Goods Cards used, the good featured on the card is irrelevant. A bid may contain many different types of goods.
In clockwise order, the other players may either pass, bid, or adjust a previous bid. A bid must be higher than any previous bids. The auction continues until all players have passed. Players can increase previously made bids by adding cards from their hand to the bid. If a player is outbid and decides that they now want to pass, their bid is returned to their hand. An auction ends when all players except for one have passed.
The winner of the auction takes the following actions:
- All cards in the bid are placed into the Byzantine Market. These cards are sorted by type and added to any cards already present in the market.
- The player must place one of the cards from the auction bundle into the Market.
- The other cards from the auction are added to the player's hand.
- The top Bidder Card is placed in front of the player who won the auction. That player will not participate in further auctions during that round.
Example of the end of an auction: Eva won the auction with a bid valued at 4. The other players have returned their bids to their hands. Eva must place her full bid (1 Cloth, 2 Spices, and 1 Wine) into the Byzantine Market. In addition, she must place one of the auctioned cards into the market. The 4 remaining cards in the auction bundle are placed into her hand. Finally, she takes the Number 5 Bidder Card and places it face up in front of her.
The Next Auction
At the start of the next auction, a number of Goods Cards will again be placed into the center of the table equal to the value of the top Bidder Card. The first player to the left of the winner of the previous auction, who has not previously won an auction, will start this auction by either bidding or passing.
Special Conditions of an Auction: All players Pass
In this case the player that passed first wins the auction. This player does not place any cards from the auction bundle into the Byzantine Market and instead takes the entire lot into his or her hand. They will also take the top Bidder Card and place it in front of them.
The Last Auction in a Round
In the last round of auctions, a player will no longer need to bid, because they have no competitors. In a 3 or 4 player game, the last player will place 1 of the offered cards into the Market and take the other into their hand. They will also take the Number 2 Bidder Card and place it in front of them. In a 5 or 6 player game, the last player will draw 1 Goods Card from the deck and immediately place that card into the Market. They will then take the Number 1 Bidder Card and place it in front of them.
The Byzantine Market
At the end of a round of auctions, the players will obtain Goods Cards from the Market. In ascending order, starting with the player with the lowest valued Bidder Card, each player will choose one group of Good Cards (cards are grouped by type, not by value) of exactly one variety and take them into their hand. Each player will choose only once and any surplus Goods Cards are removed from the game. After all players have selected their cards, the used Bidder Cards are collected and placed in ascending order in the center of the table, with the highest valued card at the top of the stack.
A 4 Player Example: Axel has the lowest Bidder Card and chooses first from the Market. He selects the three wood cards and takes them into his hand. Wilhelm then selects the two spice cards. Eva selects the Dealer card and Susanne takes the three "Blue" cards. The remaining Wine and Grain cards are removed from the game.
A New Round
If there are still Goods cards in the deck, another round is played. Again, a number of goods cards are auctioned, equal to the value of the top Bidder Card. The player who had the lowest valued Bidder Card in the previous round starts the auction.
Selling Goods
A player may sell goods at any time. Goods are sold in sets of three cards of a particular Goods type. When selling a set, the player takes the cards from their hand and reveals them to all players. Of the three cards, the Goods card with the highest value is placed face down in front of the player as profit and the other cards are removed from the game.
Example: Susanne sells a set of three "Blue" Cards with values 4, 1, and 1. The card with a value of 4 is kept hidden as profit and the two 1 value cards are removed from the game.
Seven Card Hand Limit
If a player has more than seven cards in their hand, they must immediately sell matching sets of cards or remove cards in their hand from the game until they have 7 or less cards in their hand.
The Dealer Cards
The Dealer cards have a value of 0. They cannot be used in an auction. When you sell Dealer cards, they act as a joker and can function for any product type. Thus, for example, two Dealer cards and a Spice card can be sold as three Spice cards. Since the Dealer cards are worth 0, they are always removed from the game when used in this fashion. If a player has a set of three Dealer Cards, they can also be sold. In this case, the player keeps one of the dealer cards as profit. At the end of the game, Dealer Cards have a value of 5.
Examples: Wilhelm sells a set of cards containing 1 Dealer card and two Yellow Cards worth 4 and 3. The Yellow card with a value of 4 is kept face down as profit; the other two cards are removed from the game. Eva sells a set of three Dealer Cards. She keeps one of them face down as profit and removes the other two from the game. This card will be worth 5 points at the end of the game.
Game End and Victory
The game ends at the end of the round when all of the Goods Cards have been auctioned and the Market divided. Players have the opportunity to then sell the cards in their hand at the Market. After all players are done, the player with the most "profit" or the player with the highest total value of face down cards in front of them wins the game. In the case of a tie, the player with the most Goods Cards remaining in their hand wins.