Lucca Città
Lucca Città Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Contents
- 110 cards divided as follows:
- the playing deck:
- 96 Palace cards in six colors (A: Shields; B: Windows; C: Street Number; D: Color);
- and 4 Bastions;
- 5 Coat of Arms cards matching the five Quarters;
- 5 special cards (to be used only with the Celebration variant);
- the playing deck:
- 5 Quarters (A – Palaces Under Construction, B – Completed Palaces, C – Opened Palaces);
- These rules.
Object of the Game
You are the leader of a gamers' family in Lucca. Your goal is to increase your fame by building palaces and city Walls, and also by hosting parties in your completed palaces. At the end of the game, the player with the most fame points is the winner!
Preparation
Set aside the 5 special cards (they are identified by a golden street number): they are only used with the "Celebration" variant.
Each player chooses a Quarter, which he puts in front of him, and takes the matching Coat of Arms. You will play your Palace cards on the table around your Quarter, along the sides matching the spaces for: "Palaces Under Construction", "Completed Palaces" and "Opened Palaces". Remove leftover Quarters and Coats of Arms from the game.
Shuffle the playing deck and deal 4 cards to each player. If you receive Bastions, discard them and draw replacements.
Place a number of random "triplets" (i.e., groups of three cards) equal to the number of players plus 1 face up in the middle of the table. Example: with 4 players, place 5 triplets on the table.
Look at the 4 cards that were dealt to you. Choose 2 of these cards to play face down in the Palaces Under Construction area of your Quarter. Discard the other two cards face down. Once all players have chosen their cards, they are all turned face up.
Palace cards of the same color must always be played as a single stack! Place the newer cards on top so that the only Street Number that can be seen is on the last card added to the stack (this is the Street Number for that palace). Make sure that all Shields and Windows are visible.
Take all the discarded cards and add them to the deck. Reshuffle the deck and remove from the game, without looking at them:
- With 3 players: 10 cards
- With 4 players: 2 cards
- With 5 players: 0 cards (use the entire deck).
Place the deck face down in easy reach. You will need a pencil and paper to keep track of each player's score.
The Game
Rules that follow are for 3-5 players. Special rules for 2 players can be found ahead.
Determine Order of Play
Each player counts the total number of Shields on all cards in his Palaces Under Construction area.
The players' Coats of Arms are then set near the deck in a row. The order is based on each player's total number of Shields. If there is a tie for number of Shields, then the tied player with the highest showing Street Number on any palace (regardless of where it is) wins the tie.
(The rulebook shows an example of order of play with three Quarters numbered 1, 2 and 3.)
Game Turns
Players take turns in the order shown by the Coats of Arms.
On your turn, perform the following 2 actions in order:
- You may "open" one or more of your completed palaces;
- You must choose 1 triplet from the table and play all three cards.
1. Opening One or More Completed Palaces
Note: On your first turn you will have no completed palaces, so you will not be able to take this action.
If you have any completed palaces, you may open them by hosting a party! Move the palace(s) you want to open to your Opened Palaces area, and score points for Palace cards of the same color in the other players' Quarters:
- each Palace card in a Palaces Under Construction area awards you 1 point;
- each completed palace, not yet opened, awards you 2 points, (the number of cards in the palace does not matter);
- any opened palace awards you zero points.
Example: Alex has a red palace and decides to host a party. Bruno has 2 red palace cards in his Palaces Under Construction area, Charlie has 1. Daniel has a completed red palace not yet opened, and Emma has an opened red palace. Alex scores: 2 (Bruno) + 1 (Charlie) + 2 (Daniel) + 0 (Emma) = 5 points.
2. Choosing and Playing a Triplet
Next you must choose 1 triplet from the table (there are 1 more triplets than players, so even the last player to take a turn has a choice).
Then you play those 3 cards in any order you choose. You have 5 options for each card you play:
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Start a Palace of a New Color. To start a palace of a new color, play the Palace card in your Palaces Under Construction area. But, you may only ever have one palace of each color, regardless of where that palace is (under construction, completed, or opened)!
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Add a Card to a Palace Under Construction. You can add a Palace card to a palace of the same color, always covering the bottom half of the card below, so that only the top Street Number (on the card just played) is visible, as well as all Shields and Windows.
A palace is completed when it has:
- with 3 players: 5 cards;
- with 4 players: 4 cards;
- with 5 players: 3 cards.
When you complete a palace, you score points equal to the total number of Windows on its Palace cards. Your completed palace is immediately moved to the Completed Palaces area of your Quarter. You may open your completed palace on a future turn. You may not add cards to a completed or opened palace, only to those under construction.
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Build a City Wall. To build a City Wall, play the card face down in your Completed Palaces area. The color of the card does not matter. Your City Wall cards may earn you points at the end of the game.
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Build a Bastion (only with a Bastion card). To build a Bastion, play the Bastion card face up in your Completed Palaces area. Your Bastions may earn you points at the end of the game.
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Discard the Card.
After each player has completed a turn, the unused triplet is discarded. Place a new set of triplets in the middle of the table. Determine the new order of play, and begin the next turn.
End of the Game and Victory
The game ends at the end of the turn during which the deck runs out (a game lasts 7 turns with 3 players, 6 turns with 4, and 5 turns with 5).
In order, players add up their scores:
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Points for Unopened Palaces: after the last turn is complete, determine the order of play one last time. Each player must open and score all palaces in his Completed Palaces area.
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Points for the City Walls and Bastions: Each City Wall and Bastion card in your Completed Palaces area awards you 1 point for each opened palace you own. But you may only score these points if you have enough Shields to "support" them in your Palaces Under Construction area! (Shields in your completed or opened palaces do not count). You must have at least 2 Shields for each City Wall card. If you do not have enough Shields to support all of your City Wall cards, you receive no points for your City Wall and Bastion cards! Bastion cards do not require Shields, but you only earn points for Bastions if all of your City Wall cards are supported.
Example: Ross has 4 City Walls with 1 Bastion and 3 opened palaces. He needs 8 Shields (or more) in his Palaces Under Construction area. If he can muster enough Shields, he will earn 5 (4 Walls + 1 Bastion) x 3 (opened palaces) = 15 points. With less than 8 Shields he will score zero!
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Points for Street Number: the player who has the lowest visible Street Number must give 3 points to the player with the highest visible Street Number. If it's the same player, he simply keeps the 3 points.
The player with the highest score is the winner! In case of a tie, the player with the highest visible Street Number is the winner.
Celebration Variant
This variant celebrates 10 years of the GIOCO INEDITO Award, 20 years of LUCCA GAMES, and 500 years of the City Walls of Lucca!
Before the game begins, remove the two cards with Street Numbers 10 and 20 from play, and add in the 5 special cards:
(The rulebook illustrates the five special cards here; the card images are not transcribed.)
The cards with the numbers 10, 20, and 500 are Wild cards. You can add a Wild card to any of your palaces under construction. You cannot use a Wild card as the first card of a new palace. You can also play a Wild card as a City Wall. Once played, a Wild card cannot be moved.
During preparation, remove 3 additional cards from the game, without looking at them, i.e.:
- With 3 players: 13 cards total
- With 4 players: 5 cards total
- With 5 players: 3 cards.
Rules for 2 Players
In addition to the two players, there is a third "City of Lucca" player. Play the game using the rules for 3 players (i.e., 4 triplets per turn, palaces completed with 5 cards, etc.), but instead of 10 cards (13 with the variant), remove only 8 cards from the game (11 with the variant).
Initial Distribution
The 4 cards discarded by the players do not go to a discard pile. Instead, place them in the City of Lucca area, arranging them into palaces as you would for a regular player.
The Game
The City of Lucca does not take a turn. Do not count its Shields for turn order, only those of the 2 players.
After both players have chosen and played a triplet, there will be 2 triplets left on the table. The first player now picks 1 card from either of the remaining triplets and plays it in the City of Lucca area. The card must be played as part of a palace or as a Bastion, never as a City Wall. The second player does the same, choosing 1 card from the other triplet. Discard the 4 remaining cards.
The City of Lucca never opens a palace: its palaces can only be under construction or completed.
Special Exception to the Rules: once it has completed a palace, the City of Lucca can begin building another palace of the same color.
Scoring
The City of Lucca does not score any points. When a player opens a palace, the City of Lucca's palaces are counted (standard rules apply: 1 point per card in Palaces Under Construction, 2 points for each completed palace).
For the final Street Number scoring, however, consider the City of Lucca as a normal player (this could mean that neither player gains or loses points based on Street Numbers if the City of Lucca has both the lowest and the highest numbers!).