Faktoria

Faktoria Rulebook

Table of Contents

Components

Terms: "Gulden" is rendered as guilders (silver guilder = 1, gold guilder = 5). "Spielstein" is rendered as counter, and "Spielmarke" as marker.

Main board (Hauptspielbrett)
Building board (Gebäudespielbrett)
Player boards (Spielbrett für Spieler), x5
2 bags (Säckchen): one orange (for small resource cubes) and one blue (for large resource cubes)
Resource cubes:
- Large stone cubes, x36 (blue-grey)
- Large wood cubes, x33 (light wood)
- Gold cubes, x3 (yellow; 2 are used in a game)
- Small stone cubes, x50
- Small wood cubes, x50
- Iron cubes, x32 (red)
Counters (Spielsteine), 5 per player: pink x5, violet x5, blue x5, yellow x5, red x5
Building cards, x68 (Pferdestall/Stable x11, Kathedrale/Cathedral x1, Schloss/Castle x11, Sägewerk/Sawmill x11, Kapelle/Chapel x1, Hafen/Harbour x2, Turm/Tower x11, Steinbruch/Quarry x11, Schiff/Ship x9)
Gold guilders (goldener Gulden, worth 5), x25
Silver guilders (silberner Gulden, worth 1), x50

Setup

Step 1: Boards and Resources

Place the main board in the middle of the table, and above it, horizontally, the building board.
Each player places a player board in front of him or her.
Place the resources and guilders next to the main board. This is the bank.

One gold guilder is worth 5 silver guilders. During the game they can be freely exchanged at the bank.

Step 2: Resource Bags

Pour the small resource cubes into the orange bag. The number depends on the number of players, as shown in the table. Then mix the cubes well.
Pour the large resource cubes into the blue bag. The number depends on the number of players, as shown in the table. Then mix the cubes well.

Orange bag (small cubes):

Players	Wood	Stone	Iron	Gold
2	16	16	6	2
3	24	24	9	2
4	32	32	12	2
5	40	40	15	2

Blue bag (large cubes):

Players	Wood	Stone
2	6	6
3	9	9
4	12	12
5	15	15

If the resources in the orange bag run out during the game, refill it with small stone cubes from the bank.
If the resources in the blue bag run out during the game, refill it with large stone cubes from the bank.

A large stone cube is worth 5 small stone cubes. Likewise, a large wood cube is worth 5 small wood cubes. During the game the cubes can be freely exchanged at the bank.

Step 3: Building Cards

Place the building cards, face down, on the building board. The number of cards depends on the number of players, as shown in the table.

Building	2 players	3 players	4 players	5 players
Cathedral	1	1	1	1
Chapel	1	1	1	1
Harbour	2	2	2	2
Ship	3	5	7	9
Castle	5	7	9	11
Tower

The printed diagram for 5 players shows the building board with these cards in place: 1 Cathedral, 2 Chapel, 3 Harbour (x2), 4 Ship (x9), 5 Castle (x11), 6 Tower (x11), 7 Stable (x11), 8 Quarry (x11), 9 Sawmill (x11).

To build a ship, two harbours must first be built. Therefore place 2 harbour cards on the ship cards. They will be available to all players.
Return the remaining cards to the box. They are not needed for this game.

Step 4: Counters, First Player and Round Track

Each player takes 5 counters of a freely chosen colour and places them in front of him or her.
Each player places one counter on the field "0" of the score track on the main board.
Each player places three counters next to the action symbols on his or her player board. Using the counters on the action fields reminds each player not to skip any action.

The player board shows:

Action Import
Action Build
Action Production
Export prices for resources
Fields for production buildings (sawmills and quarries)
When building a third and a fourth production building, each must also pay 5 guilders to the bank.

Each player gives one of his or her counters, the fifth one, to another freely chosen player. That player in turn freely chooses the first player.
The chosen first-player marker is placed on the first field of the round track on the main board.

The round track shows the resources and guilders that King Ludwig supplies as support. Before each of the first four rounds, take from the bank the number of resources and guilders shown for that round. In the fifth round there is no support. When the fifth round ends, the game ends.

King's support on the round track (per player, as shown on the printed track):

Round	Support
1	20 silver guilders, 1 iron cube, 1 small stone cube
2	1 silver guilder, 1 iron cube
3	2 silver guilders, 1 iron cube
4	3 silver guilders
5	None

Before the first round, each player receives 1 iron cube, 1 small stone cube and 20 guilders. Take these from the bank and place them in front of you.

Basic Rules

A game consists of 5 rounds and is played clockwise.
Each player has 3 actions available during his or her turn: Import, Build and Production.
- Actions can be carried out in any order.
- Each action can be carried out only once within a round.
- No action is mandatory.
A round involves all players: in each round every player takes one turn. A turn is the set of actions of a single player.
Export (selling resources to the merchants) is also available during a turn.
The entire holdings of each player may be viewed by everyone.
The player with the most victory points at the end of the fifth round wins.

Action counters: at the start of a turn, each player's three action counters are on the left-hand position of the action scheme on the player board. When an action is completed, the player moves that action's counter to the right. At the end of the turn, all action counters are moved back to the left.

Example: The First Two Turns (2 Players, Blue and Red)

Blue begins, as the first player determined at setup.
Blue does not have enough resources to build, and has no buildings in which to produce, so Blue begins with the Import action.

Action: Import

The Import action is the purchase of resources in the form of an auction among the players.

The market is on the main board. On the road that runs through the city, the merchants arrive. The two upper rows of squares represent wagons full of different resources: stone, wood, iron and gold. It is always uncertain what they will offer.

The printed board marks three areas:

Two supply channels for ships, the harbour channels.
Four supply channels for merchants.
Chests with purchases.

Before the first round, you must randomly fill the first two merchant supply channels with resources from the orange bag, from left to right, as shown in the illustration.
The squares are filled by random draw from the bags.
Large squares with a ship symbol mean that these are deliveries of large resource cubes from the harbours. These are available to all players once harbours have been built. One supply channel means one harbour.
Before the start of each turn, the first two rows must be filled with resources.

Importing Resources

During the Import action, select at least 2 resources from the second row. Move them into the third row, the chests with purchases. (Within an Import action, at least 2 resources must be selected from the second row.)
Then an auction among the players begins. The auction concerns all selected resources. The only valid currency is guilders. The minimum bid is 1 silver guilder.
The player whose turn it is starts the auction by proposing a starting price for all the selected resources: 1 silver guilder.
After the auction, the Import action is over, even if the active player lost the auction. The player moves the Import counter to the right on the action scheme.
The resources are then moved on the board (see Refilling the Market below).

Auction Results

If the player whose turn it is wins the auction, that player receives all the resources from the chests with purchases.
If another player wins the auction, that player pays the bank and gives one resource cube from the chests to the player during whose turn the auction took place. The winner of the auction decides which resource that is.

Example (Blue's turn): Blue selects 3 wood cubes from the second row and moves them to the chests. Blue starts the auction at 1 silver guilder. Red bids 3 guilders. Blue passes. Red wins the auction, pays 3 guilders to the bank and takes the resources from the chests: three wood cubes. Red gives one wood cube to Blue, because the auction took place during Blue's turn. Which cube Red gives is Red's decision. Blue's Import action is then over, even though Blue lost the auction. Blue moves the Import counter to the right.

Example (Red's turn): Red moves 4 resource cubes from the second row into the chests, including an iron cube. Red starts the auction at 5 guilders. Blue bids 6 guilders. Red raises to 7 guilders. Blue passes. Red wins, pays 7 guilders to the bank and takes all resources from the chests: one wood cube, two stone cubes and one iron cube. Red then moves the Import counter to the right.

Tip (printed in the rulebook): Even if you lose an auction during your own turn, you receive one of the resources you bought. It is therefore worth importing even with little money. For example, you can place 2 cubes of the same resource in the chests; then at least one cube will end up in your hands at the end of the auction, and at no cost.

Note (printed in the rulebook): It is not always necessary to move all resources from the second row into the chests. This can be an excellent strategy when you have little money, or when you want to block valuable resources from other players.

Refilling the Market

After the end of each turn, move the resources from the first row into the empty squares of the second row, as many as are missing there.
Fill the empty squares of the first row with resources drawn from the orange bag.
Harbour channels are filled from the blue bag, merchant channels from the orange bag.

Example: After Red's turn, the resources in the first row are moved into the four empty squares of the second row, and the four empty squares of the first row are refilled with 4 resources from the orange bag.

Action: Build

Build: the use of your own resources to construct buildings.

The buildings in a city determine how it is viewed in Europe. King Ludwig's greatest dream is that his city, and he himself, will be world-famous for centuries.

The building board contains buildings that can be built in a limited number. The cost of construction, the number of victory points, or the production possibilities are printed on each building card. All information on the building cards refers to small resource cubes.
There are production buildings and victory-point buildings.

Production Buildings

Production buildings (sawmills and quarries) are marked with the cog symbol. They produce 5 small stone or wood cubes per round, from the moment they are built.
Due to the nature of the area, only stone or wood can be produced by production buildings.

Victory-Point Buildings

Victory-point buildings give as many points as are shown next to the crown.
Victory-point buildings are placed by the player around his or her player board. Their number is not limited.

Availability of Iron and Gold

The printed rulebook says: whether iron and gold are available depends on the merchants and the goodwill of the King.

Limit on Production Buildings

Each player can build at most four production buildings during the whole game. They are placed on the player board, on the fields marked with the cog symbol.
To build the third and fourth production building, each must also pay 5 guilders to the bank.

Building Cards

The cards, as printed on the components (victory points, cost, production):

Building	Count	Victory points	Cost	Production per round
Cathedral	1	26	12 stone, 1 gold	none
Chapel	1	20	9 wood, 1 gold	none
Castle	11	13	1 wood, 10 stone, 1 iron	none
Harbour	2	18	14 wood, 1 iron	none
Ship	9	9	8 wood, 1 iron	none

Note: the cost and production symbols are shown as pictograms on the printed cards. The table above reads them as: wood = box icon, stone = dark grey cube, iron = red cube, gold = yellow cube.

Example (Blue's Turn)

Blue chooses the sawmill. Blue gives the bank 1 wood cube and 1 iron cube. Blue then takes a sawmill card from the building board and places it, face up, on a cog-marked field of the player board.

Reminder (printed sidebar): You can only build 4 production buildings. The King does not want this area to be stripped of all its riches.

Blue does not have enough resources to build another building, so the Build action is over. Blue moves the Build counter to the right on the action scheme.

Example: A Build Action with Two Buildings

The player has won resources in two auctions. He chooses a quarry and a sawmill from the building board. He pays 2 iron cubes, 2 stone cubes and 1 wood cube to the bank. He places the buildings on his player board, face up, on the first and second fields. The Build action is over, and he moves the Build counter to the right.

Action: Production

Production: the production of resources in the production buildings built earlier, in this round or in previous rounds.

Quarries and sawmills produce the resources stone and wood in each round.
They can produce resources even in the round in which they were built.
For each quarry you have built, you receive 5 small stone cubes (or 1 large cube) each round.
For each sawmill you have built, you receive 5 small wood cubes (or 1 large cube) each round.
Within a Production action, you take the corresponding number of resources from the bank.
This number depends on the number of production buildings you have on your player board.

Example: Blue has a sawmill. Blue takes 1 large wood cube from the bank and places it on his player board.

Example (Production with a quarry and a sawmill): The player has two production buildings, a quarry and a sawmill. He receives 5 small stone cubes and 5 small wood cubes from the bank. The Production action is over. He moves the Production counter to the right on the action scheme.

Export

Merchants who come to the city are reluctant to buy resources. They want to sell what they came with, as quickly and as profitably as possible for themselves, and leave again. Their prices are not very tempting. During the game, however, even 1 guilder can solve a difficult situation. Your budget is modest.

You can sell your resources according to the price list, and as often as you like during a turn, but not within the Import action.
There is one price list for everyone. Merchants do not negotiate.

Price list:

Resource	Sold for
5 wood cubes	1 silver guilder
5 stone cubes	1 silver guilder
1 iron cube	1 silver guilder
1 gold cube	1 gold guilder

Example: Red decides to sell 5 wood cubes. Red gives them to the bank and receives 1 silver guilder for them. Red's turn is then over, and Red moves all 3 action counters to the left.

Example (no trade): Blue does not want to sell any resources. Blue ends the turn by moving the action counters to the left, and waits for the auction started by Red and for the next round.

End of a Turn and End of a Round

After each turn, the resources in the first row of the market are moved to the empty squares in the second row, and the empty squares of the first row are refilled from the bags (see Refilling the Market above).
The turn passes to the next player clockwise.
At the end of a round, the first-player marker on the round track is moved one space to the right, to the next round. (Printed example: after the first round, the marker moves to the second round field.)
Before the start of each of the first four rounds, the players receive King Ludwig's support as shown on the round track (see Setup).

What Can Happen in the Later Rounds?

Victory Points

Victory points are gained by building victory-point buildings.
After each completed build of a victory-point building, move your marker on the score track on the main board forward by the number of points shown. One point corresponds to one space.
After you have gained 60 victory points, continue counting on the score track from the start, in the next lap.
Built victory-point buildings are placed face down around your player board. You can build as many victory-point buildings as you can afford.

The printed illustration marks the victory-point number on each card, next to the crown (see the building table above).

Harbours

Building a harbour allows you to import large resource cubes. This greatly increases your construction options.
Each of the two harbours opens, for every player, one supply channel for large resource cubes. This channel is marked with a ship symbol.
Immediately after its construction, fill the channel with two resources drawn at random from the blue bag. Place them on the two upper squares in one of the columns of the harbour channel.
After each completed turn of a player, move the resources from the first row into the empty squares of the second row. Fill the empty squares of the first row of the harbour channels with resources drawn at random from the blue bag. Do this whenever you also refill the merchant supply channels from the orange bag.
The harbour channels are available to all players.
The ships under the harbour cards are also available to all players once both harbours have been built.

Printed illustration: when the first harbour is built, its channel opens and is filled with two cubes. When two harbours have been built, two harbour channels have been opened.

You can now, in the Import action, auction 2 to 5 resources. Large resource cubes are auctioned together with small resource cubes in the Import action.
Fill the squares of the second harbour channel with resources from the blue bag as soon as the second harbour has been built.
Within the Import action, you can now choose from 6 resources in the second row, and choose which to buy and move into the chests with purchases. You can select 2 to 6 resources and begin an auction with the other players.

Example (printed): A player has chosen three resources in one Import action and moved them to the chests: one small iron cube, one large wood cube and one large stone cube. He then began the auction.

End of the Game

The game ends with the end of the fifth round.
The winner is the player with the most victory points. He or she receives control over this city. He, the inhabitants, and future generations will live in prosperity from then on.

Important to Know

Resources and guilders cannot be exchanged between players.
Unused resources, guilders or production buildings give no additional points at the end of the game.
Remember King Ludwig's support, of resources and guilders, when a new round begins. For the first 4 rounds, everyone receives the goods shown on the round track.
Each player has 3 actions available during a turn: Import, Build and Production.
No action is mandatory. Their order is arbitrary.
Each action can be carried out once per turn.
You may sell your resources as often as you like during your turn, but not in the Import action.
Within the Import action, at least 2 resources from the second row must be chosen and moved into the chests with purchases.
After the end of each turn, the resources in the first row are moved into the empty squares of the second row. The empty squares of the first row are refilled from the bags: the merchant channels from the orange bag, and the harbour channels from the blue bag.
A player who wins an auction during another player's turn must give one of the resources won in that auction to the player during whose turn the auction took place. The winner of the auction decides which resource this is.
A player who has won an auction may not exchange the large stone cubes won for small stone cubes until he has given one of these large stones to the player during whose turn he won the auction.
Within the Build action, you can build any number of buildings.
You can build at most 4 production buildings during the whole game. The third and fourth must each be paid for with an additional 5 guilders to the bank.
Production buildings produce resources in the same round if you carry out the Production action after the Build action in which you built them. Each production building produces resources in every round.
Ships under the harbour cards are available to all players once both harbours have been built.