Cubaneo Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Setup
• Notes on the Components in the Supply
• Playing the Game
  • A) Preparation Phase
  • B) Action Phase
    • a) Play a Character Card from Your Hand
    • The Character Cards
    • b) Visit a Promenade Card
    • The Actions of the Promenade Cards
  • C) Event Phase
  • D) Parliament Phase
  • E) Act Phase
  • F) Clean-up Phase
• End of the Game

Components

• 1 game board
• 5 properties
• 5 worker pieces, 1 in each color
• 5 car tiles, 1 in each color (front side, and a back side with a donkey cart)
• 5 scoring pieces, 1 in each color
• 30 building tiles: front shows the building; backs are red (buildings 1-10), brown (buildings 11-20), or blue (buildings 21-30)
• 25 character cards: 1 set per color, each set with the same 5 character cards
• 8 promenade cards: 6 Cubanos and 2 donkeys
• 15 ship cards
• 8 starting cards
• 32 act cards: 8 Tax Acts, 8 Duty Acts, 8 Subsidy Acts, 8 Restriction Acts
• 45 product markers: 15 x citrus fruits, 15 x tobacco, 15 x sugar cane
• 45 resource markers: 15 x wood, 15 x water, 15 x stone
• 20 commodity markers: 10 x rum, 10 x cigars
• 6 action markers
• 4 special tiles: Newspaper, Votes, Decree, Partner
• 90 coins: 45 x 1 peso, 30 x 3 pesos, 15 x 5 pesos
• 1 starting token
• 6 folding boxes to store the components
• 5 overview booklets, 1 per player

Setup

1. Place the game board in the middle of the table.

2. Take the 10 building tiles with the red backs. A building number is shown on the front and back of each tile. Arrange these tiles face up to the right of the game board by placing the smaller numbers (1 to 5) in ascending order next to the upper red mark A, and the larger numbers (6 to 10) in ascending order next to the lower red mark B.

   Then take the 10 building tiles with the brown backs (buildings 11 to 20) and the 10 with the blue backs (21 to 30) and arrange them in the same way next to the marks of their colors (C-F). All 30 building tiles together form the building display.

3. Place the markers for the products (citrus fruits, sugar cane, and tobacco), commodities (rum and cigars), as well as resources (wood, water, and stone) next to the game board as a supply. Also place the coins in this supply.

   Then fill half the spaces on the market with markers. To do this, take 3 x citrus fruits, 3 x sugar cane, and 3 x tobacco from the supply and place them onto the 3 market spaces of their colors with the values 6, 5, and 4.

   Then, take 2 x rum and 2 x cigars from the supply and place them onto the 2 market spaces of their colors with the values 6 and 5.

4. Shuffle the 15 ship cards and place them as a face-down ship deck onto the topmost space on the left edge of the game board. Then draw the top 3 cards of the ship deck and place one face up onto each of the Waiting Area, Berth 1, and Berth 2 spaces. The Berth 3 space remains empty for now.

5. Sort the 32 act cards by the Roman numerals (I, II, III, and IV) on their backs. Each number stands for a group of acts: Tax Acts (I), Duty Acts (II), Subsidy Acts (III), and Restriction Acts (IV). Shuffle the cards separately and place them as face-down act decks onto the 4 spaces above the Capitol. The deck with the Tax Acts (I) is placed on the far left. To its right, place the Duty Acts (II), the Subsidy Acts (III), and finally the Restriction Acts (IV).

Notes on the Components in the Supply

In Cubaneo, there is a distinction between resources, products, and commodities.

There are 3 types of resource: wood, water, and stone.

There are 3 types of product: citrus fruits, sugar cane, and tobacco.

There are 2 types of commodity: rum and cigars.

Only products and commodities can be used on the market and the ships. Therefore, products and commodities are known as trading goods.

Coins (pesos): You may exchange coins with the supply for different denominations at any time.

The supply of coins, commodities, resources, and products is considered unlimited. If you run out, use something else as a replacement.

Playing the Game

Cubaneo is played over 6 rounds. Each round consists of the following 6 phases:

• A) PREPARATION PHASE
• B) ACTION PHASE
• C) EVENT PHASE
• D) PARLIAMENT PHASE
• E) ACT PHASE
• F) CLEAN-UP PHASE

After the Act Phase of the 6th round, the game ends and whoever has the most victory points wins.

Whenever a player receives victory points during the game, they immediately record them on the score track by moving their scoring piece forward that many steps.

A) Preparation Phase

• Shuffle the promenade deck face down and place one card face up onto each of the 6 card spaces of the promenade at the top of the game board. Below each donkey card (if any), place a donkey cart to cover the event there.
• Then, reveal the top card of each of the 4 act decks and leave them face up on their decks. These face-up acts are called proposed acts.

B) Action Phase

Note: This is the Action Phase for 3 to 5 players. Minor changes for 2-player games are described below.

The Action Phase is the main phase of each round. In it, each player takes a total of 5 turns. The starting player takes the first turn. Then play proceeds clockwise with each player taking one turn at a time, until everyone has taken their 5 turns.

On your turn, choose either of the following options:

• a) Play a character card from your hand and perform its action.
• OR b) Use your car to visit a promenade card and perform its action. However, you can only choose this if your car is still in front of you.

The Action Phase ends when each player has visited a promenade card with their car and has played 4 of their 5 character cards. Each player keeps their last character card in hand for the Parliament Phase, when the number of votes printed on the card becomes important (see Parliament Phase below).

a) Play a Character Card from Your Hand

Choose a character card from your hand and place it face up in front of you (if any character cards are already in front of you, place the new one on top). Then perform the card's action. Some cards have an alternative action that you can perform instead of their normal action.

Character card breakdown: each card shows the character's name, its number of votes, its action, and (where present) an alternative action.

The Character Cards

The Worker (number of votes: 1) Action: Place your worker piece onto any space of your property (or leave it on its current space), then activate all 6 spaces in its row and column.

Your Property consists of 2 areas: the forecourt serves as storage for your products, resources, and commodities. Below it is a 3x4 grid of 12 spaces. It consists of 5 resource spaces, 6 product spaces, and 1 building space containing the Warehouse.

The activated spaces produce resources and products as follows: Each activated resource space produces 1 marker of its printed type. Take them from the supply and place them in your forecourt.

The production of the activated product spaces is a bit more limited: Only up to two of them produce their printed markers for free. For every additional activated product space you wish to harvest, you must irrigate by returning 1 water from your forecourt to the supply. For example, if 4 product spaces are activated, you can produce the printed markers of any two of them without paying water to the supply OR you can produce the printed markers of 3 of them by paying 1 water OR you can produce all 4 printed markers by paying 2 water.

Take the produced product markers from the supply and place them in your forecourt.

Activated building spaces produce nothing.

Example: Peter plays his Worker and places his worker piece onto space A of his property. This activates 2 resource spaces, 3 product spaces, and 1 building space. He produces the resources from the 2 resource spaces (1 x water and 1 x wood) as well as the products from 2 of the 3 product spaces (he chooses 1 x sugar cane and 1 x citrus fruits). Since he also wants to produce the product from the third activated product space (citrus fruits), he irrigates by returning the water he just produced to the supply.

The Tradeswoman (number of votes: 2) Action: Perform any number of transactions on the market in any order. There are 2 types of transaction: selling a trading good and buying a trading good.

With the Tradeswoman, you can sell and buy trading goods on the board's market. For each of the 5 types, there is a row of market spaces. Each space can hold 1 trading good of its type and has a value in pesos, which determines that trading good's price when selling or buying.

Selling a trading good: Take 1 trading good from your property and place it onto an empty market space of its type. Take as many pesos from the supply as shown on that space. If all market spaces of a type are occupied, you may not sell a trading good of that type.

Buying a trading good: Choose a trading good you wish to buy from a market space. Pay to the supply as many pesos as shown on that space. Then take the trading good from that space and place it in your forecourt. If there is no trading good of the type you wish to buy on the market, you may buy it from the supply for 7 pesos.

Example: Jana plays the Tradeswoman and first sells 2 x sugar cane and 1 x tobacco on the market, receiving 3 + 2 + 3 = 8 pesos from the supply. Next, she buys 1 x citrus fruits for 2 pesos and 1 x rum from the supply for 7 pesos. In total, she must pay 9 pesos to the supply.

Alternative actions: The Tradeswoman, Architect, and Mayor each have an alternative space on the game board that shows two rewards and has two action markers. These are related to the alternative actions of these characters.

If you use a character's alternative action, choose one of the uncovered rewards of its alternative space and cover it with an action marker. Each round, each reward can only be chosen by a single player. While both rewards are covered, that character's alternative action cannot be used.

Alternative action of the Tradeswoman: Choose an uncovered reward of the Tradeswoman alternative space and cover it with an action marker.

• Reward a: Take any 1 resource from the supply and place it into your forecourt.
• Reward b: Take any 1 product from the supply and place it into your forecourt.

The Architect (number of votes: 3) Action: Construct 1 building whose tile is available in the building display. To construct a building, you must first pay the construction cost shown at the upper edge of its tile by returning those resources from your forecourt to the supply. Then take the tile from the display and place it onto any product or resource space on your property (even if it contains your worker piece). The built-over space is considered a building space from now on. You can no longer produce products or resources there with the Worker, and the space cannot be built on again.

Important: When you place a building, you may immediately activate its ability once. Also, at the end of the game, each building is worth 2 victory points.

The ability of each building is explained in the overview booklet.

Example: Peter plays the Architect and wants to construct the Small Bank. He pays the construction cost of 1 x wood and 1 x stone and places the building tile on the citrus fruits product space in the upper right corner of his property. Then, he activates the Small Bank once, taking 2 pesos from the supply.

Alternative action of the Architect: Choose an uncovered reward of the Architect alternative space and cover it with an action marker.

• Reward a) Gain 2 victory points.
• Reward b) Gain 1 victory point.

The Foreman (number of votes: 4) Action: Choose 1 of these 2 options:

1. Without moving your worker piece, activate all building spaces in its row and column, using each of their abilities up to once, in any order. Resource and product spaces are not activated.
2. OR use the ability of any one building on your property.

Building: Warehouse The Warehouse is on your property from the start. It has the following ability: Store all your products by moving all product markers from your forecourt to your Warehouse.

The Warehouse is important, because during the Clean-up Phase, all products that are not stored spoil and must be returned to the supply. Resources and commodities never spoil.

Example: Peter plays the Foreman and activates all the building spaces in his worker piece's row and column (the Warehouse and the Small Bank). First, he uses the Small Bank and receives 2 pesos from the supply. Next, he uses the Warehouse and moves all product markers from his forecourt to the Warehouse.

The Mayor (number of votes: 5) Action: Supply a single ship in the harbor with trading goods. To do this, choose a ship at Berth 1, 2, or 3 and place any number of trading goods from your forecourt and/or Warehouse onto its matching empty goods spaces. Depending on that ship's berth, you gain 1, 2, or 3 victory points for each trading good you place onto it.

The harbor consists of 3 berths, each of which can hold 1 ship card. Each ship has 5 goods spaces, each indicating by its shape and color which trading good may be placed there. Once all its 5 goods spaces are occupied, a ship is considered fully loaded.

Example: Jana plays the Mayor and wants to supply the ship at Berth 2. She takes 1 x rum and 2 x citrus fruits from her forecourt and places them onto the matching spaces of the ship. For these 3 trading goods, she gains 3 x 2 = 6 victory points.

Alternative action of the Mayor: Choose an uncovered reward of the Mayor alternative space and cover it with an action marker.

• Reward a) Gain 4 pesos from the supply.
• Reward b) Gain 2 pesos from the supply.

b) Visit a Promenade Card

On one of your turns during the Action Phase, you must, instead of playing a character card from your hand, visit a promenade card with your car. To do this, take your car tile from beside your property and use it to cover the event below a promenade card of your choice that is not yet covered by another car or donkey cart. Then, perform the action of that card.

Leave your car tile below the promenade card. This blocks the card from others and ensures that the event underneath won't occur during the Event Phase.

Example: It's Peter's turn and, instead of playing a character card, he visits one of the promenade cards. Since Jana has already visited the Revolutionary this round and it is blocked by her red car tile, Peter chooses the Musician instead. He places his car tile onto the event underneath and performs the Musician's action.

Changes in 2-player games: In 2-player games, each player has 2 car tiles and so spends two turns visiting promenade cards. The Action Phase ends after each player has taken 6 turns, having played 4 character cards and visited 2 promenade cards.

The Actions of the Promenade Cards

The Dancer Take the starting token. You will be the starting player in next round's Action Phase. (This doesn't change the order of the current Action Phase.)

The Harbor Master Swap the positions of 2 ship cards on adjacent berths (i.e., Berths 1 and 2, or Berths 2 and 3). A ship may not swap with an empty berth.

The Musician Gain 2 pesos from the supply.

The Revolutionary Gain 1 victory point.

The Lawyer You may pay 1 peso to the supply to use the ability of any one of your buildings once.

The Day Laborer Move all products from your forecourt to your Warehouse.

C) Event Phase

When you have finished the Action Phase, resolve the single event that remains on the promenade (not covered by any token).

The events:

Market shift: Add 2 trading goods of each type to the market. Take the markers from the supply and place each onto the leftmost matching empty market space. If there are no matching empty market spaces, no marker of that type is added.

Remove 1 trading good of each type from the market by removing the rightmost marker from each row (if any) and returning it to the supply.

Immediate acts: Go directly to the Parliament Phase, but skip its Step 1 entirely. Instead, continue with Step 2 as follows: All proposed acts are passed and become active.

Wealth tax: The player with the most victory points loses 2 victory points by moving their scoring piece backward on the score track. If multiple players have the most victory points, each of those players loses 2 victory points.

Ships depart: All ships in the harbor depart immediately. Return their trading goods to the supply. Then shuffle the ships and place them face down on the bottom of the ship deck. Move the ship in the Waiting Area to Berth 3 and fill Berth 2, Berth 1, and the Waiting Area with one face-up ship each, drawn from the ship deck.

Demolition: Each player may remove a building tile from their property and return it to the building display. If you do, gain 1 victory point. Also, take from the supply all resources shown as that building's construction cost and add them to your forecourt.

D) Parliament Phase

The Parliament Phase takes place over two steps: In Step 1, you work out who has the most votes. In Step 2, this player passes two of the proposed acts.

STEP 1: Each player does the following: Place your remaining character card from your hand face up in front of you and announce how many votes it has. Then, you may secretly purchase additional votes at a price of 1 vote per peso. To do this, covertly add any number of your coins to your hand (even none), without letting your opponents know how many. Once you are all set, open your hands simultaneously and announce how many votes you purchased. The player with the most total votes from their character card and purchased votes wins and receives decision-making authority. If tied, the tied player who purchased more votes wins. If still tied, the tied player who would take their turn earlier in the next round's Action Phase wins (i.e., the player with the starting tile or nearest to that player's left).

Attention: Before you proceed to Step 2, everyone must return to the supply all coins they used to purchase votes.

STEP 2: The person with decision-making authority must now pass two of the proposed acts. To do this, they choose two of the face-up act cards on the act decks and place each onto the space for active acts directly below. If an act is already there, it is covered and no longer applies. Return the unchosen proposed acts to the box.

Example: Peter and Jana each reveal their Mayor (5 votes) and Hedda reveals her Tradeswoman (2 votes). Since Hedda constructed the Town Hall this round, the Votes special tile gives her 2 additional votes (see building 28 in the overview booklet). Then everyone simultaneously reveals how many votes they purchased: Jana purchased no votes, Peter purchased 1 vote, and Hedda purchased 2. So Peter and Hedda have the same number of total votes. However, because Hedda purchased more votes, she receives decision-making authority. She passes the Duty Act and the Subsidy Act. The previous Duty Act loses its validity.

E) Act Phase

In the Act Phase, you now resolve all active acts (I-III) one after the other from left to right:

I Tax Act (one is printed on the board from the start) Each player may obey the act by paying the indicated pesos to the supply. If they do, they receive 2 victory points.

II Duty Act (one is printed on the board from the start) Each player may obey the act by returning the shown products, resources, and commodities from their forecourt and/or Warehouse to the supply. If they do, they receive 2 victory points.

Note: Anyone who obeys both the Tax Act and the Duty Act gains 1 additional victory point.

III Subsidy Act If a Subsidy Act is active, each player receives victory points according to its conditions. Details on the Subsidy Acts can be found in the overview booklet.

IV Restriction Act Restriction Acts have no effect in the Act Phase. However, they describe restrictions that affect play and remain in effect until replaced. Details on the Restriction Acts can be found in the overview booklet.

F) Clean-up Phase

In the Clean-up Phase, carry out the following steps in order:

1. Products Spoil: Return all products in forecourts to the supply. Products in Warehouses do not spoil. Resources and commodities never spoil.
2. Ships Depart: The ship at Berth 3 (if any) as well as all fully loaded ships depart. Return the trading goods on them to the supply. Then, shuffle these ships and place them face down on the bottom of the ship deck. Move all remaining face-up ship cards in the harbor down as many spaces as possible. Then, place the ship card from the Waiting Area onto the lowest free berth and refill any other empty berths and the Waiting Area with one face-up ship each, drawn from the ship deck.
3. Reset Action Markers: Ensure that all action markers on alternative spaces are back above their rewards.
4. Reset Promenade: Take all promenade cards from the card spaces and place them back next to the promenade as a promenade deck. Place any donkey carts from the promenade back next to the promenade deck.
5. Retrieve Car Tiles and Character Cards: Each player takes their car tile from the promenade and places it back next to their property (or, in 2-player games, retrieves both of their car tiles). Then each player returns their 5 character cards to their hand.

Then start the next round.

End of the Game

After the Act Phase of the 6th round (when no more cards are left in the act decks), the game ends.

Each player gains an additional 2 victory points for each building on their property (including the Warehouse).

Whoever has the most victory points wins. If tied, the tied player with most pesos wins. If still tied, the tied players share the victory.