Majolica
Majolica Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Game Setup
Please follow the illustration below to set up the game:
- Place the City Hall board next to the game board and fill it up with bonus tokens according to the number of players.
- 3 players: Place bonus tokens here only in 3 or 4-player games.
- 4 players: Place bonus tokens here only in 4-player games.
- Separate the four types of small Majolica tiles by color and place them next to the board.
- Shuffle the Design Cards and set them aside.
- Draw 6 Design Cards and place them face-up next to the board.
- Shuffle the 16 large Majolica tiles face-down and randomly place them on the board to form a 4x4 grid before turning them face-up.
- Every player takes one player board.
- Shuffle the starting Design Cards and deal one to each player. They may place it in one of their three Design Card slots. Any extra starting cards will be discarded to the game box.
- Give the starting player token to the player with the most colorful outfit.
Put any unused components back in the game box.
There are three card slots on the player board that can hold one Design Card each. There are four workshops on the player board.
Goal of the Game
Complete your Design Cards by collecting tiles to score points. The player with the highest score wins the game.
When a Design Card with the hand icon is completely filled with the requisite tiles, you may take one Majolica tile of your chosen color from the general supply and place it in any one of your workshops. (You may decide the order of "taking a Majolica tile from the supply" and "run the workshop" base on your preference.)
Gameplay
In each round, the player with the starting player token takes the first turn. Every round will consist of a varying amounts of player turns, but each player may not have the same number of turns.
A player's turn will consist of the following:
- Select Majolica tiles
- Place Majolica tiles
Additionally, run workshop(s), if the workshop(s) is filled with the required tiles.
After a player's turn completes, play will continue to the left if there are at least 4 large Majolica tiles showing face-up in the middle. Otherwise, the current round will end and the starting player token will be passed to the left.
1. Select Majolica Tiles
Choose one from the three options.
A. Select one contiguous row or column of large Majolica tiles on the outer edge. B. Select one large Majolica tile on the outer edge and also take one of the available Design Cards. C. Select one large Majolica tile on the outer edge and rearrange the Design Cards to the slots you want.
2. Place Majolica Tiles
Based on the large Majolica tile(s) selected, take the corresponding small Majolica tiles and place them all into one of the workshops in your player board. Then flip the selected large Majolica tiles over.
- You can only choose one workshop in your player board to place all the tiles.
- If the total number of tiles in an workshop exceeds its capacity, discard the extra tiles of your choice to the supply.
Take the Design Card and Rearrange Their Slots
- When you take a Design Card, immediately place it in one of the slots on your player board. You may replace an existing card and discard it to the bottom of the Design Card deck. All the Majolica tiles on the discarded card will be returned to the supply.
- When you rearrange the Design Cards, you may move any cards (with the tiles on them) to any slots.
Both of the above actions might fulfill the conditions to run the workshop. See below for details.
Run Workshop(s)
During your turn, if any of your workshops fulfill the required conditions, you must run the workshop immediately. When running a workshop, first move the desired number of Majolica tiles to your Design Card based on the rules for the workshop. Next, move the remaining Majolica tiles to the next workshop. If the total number of tiles exceeds the available capacity of the workshop that receives the remaining Majolica tiles, discard the extra tiles of your choice to the supply. Finally, check to see if you can run the second workshop and if so, follow the directions for this section to cascade the flow of tiles to the next section. This means it is possible for a player to run multiple workshops (and place tiles onto multiple Design Cards) by placing tiles into just a single workshop.
A. If you have 3 tiles of one color and 3 tiles of another color (3:3 pattern), you may run the workshop by moving 1-2 tiles to the Design Card. B. Move all the remaining tiles to the next workshop on the right following the trolley symbol. If you have more tiles than the workshop's capacity, you may discard any tile(s) of your choice. C. If you have 2 tiles of one color, 2 tiles of a second color, and 2 tiles of a third color (2:2:2 pattern), you may run the workshop by moving 1-3 tiles to the Design Card. D. Fragmentation icon: After moving the tile(s) to the Design Card, choose one of the remaining tiles to discard. E. Requires 4 of the same color to run the workshop. F. City Hall: When running the workshop here, move 1 tile to the City Hall and take one of the bonus tokens (the purple tile or the 1-point bonus token). G. Remaining tiles will be moved back to leftmost workshop. H. When a Design Card is completely filled with the requisite tiles, discard all the tiles on the card to the supply and place the card in your scoring area, which is visible to all players. I. The black shovel indicates the number of Majolica tiles you MUST move to the Design Card when you run the corresponding workshop. The white shovel indicates the number of Majolica tiles you MAY additionally move to the Design Card when you run the corresponding workshop. (Refer to points A and C in the above.)
City Hall
This is a special area where players can contribute Majolica tiles in exchange for a bonus token. Players must first take purple tiles until there are none remaining before taking the 1-point bonus tokens.
Purple Tiles
After taking a purple tile, place it in the leftmost workshop. Purple tiles are wild and can represent a tile of any color. The color needs not to be specified and can be changed at any time based on the player's needs. However, purple tiles cannot be moved onto a Design Card and when they are in the rightmost workshop, they must be discarded from the game. Purple tiles cannot be specified as a fragmented tile.
1-Point Bonus Token
Each token is worth 1 point at the end of the game.
End of the Round
When there are less than 4 face-up large Majolica tiles on the game board, the round will end and the starting player token will be passed to the left. Turn all the large Majolica tiles face down before shuffling them and reforming them into a 4x4 face-up grid. Reveal additional Design Cards face-up until there are once again 6 available.
Game End
If any player has completed 5 or more Design Cards at the end of a round, the game ends immediately. Each player will score:
- The number of points on each completed Design Card.
- 1 point for every 2 tiles on all of their uncompleted Design Cards.
- Other components with points.
The player with the most points wins. If there is a tie, the player who is latest in turn order at the start of the game wins.
Expansion Rules
Cascading Bloom
Place all the Bloom tokens next to the game board. Whenever players manage to trigger all four workshops to run on the same turn, they obtain one of Bloom tokens, which is worth 1 point at the end of the game.
Note: You cannot decline to move any tiles from the workshop to its corresponding Design Card in order to fulfill the Cascading Bloom bonus. That being said, you MUST move at least one tile to the Design Card or City Hall when running the workshop.
Kaleidoscopic Design
There are six additional Design Cards that have blank space – these can be filled by a tile of any color (except purple). Note that the 3-point card in this expansion cannot be used as a starting Design Card.
Mission Cards
At the beginning of the game, randomly reveal mission cards equal to the number of players + 1. Starting with the player to the starting player's right and moving counterclockwise, each player takes one mission card. At the end of the game, players who complete their mission card will receive the points shown on the card.
The mission cards are:
- Complete 5 Design Cards. (2 points)
- During the game, you may place fragmented tiles onto this card. You fulfill this card's objective when you have collected one tile of each of the four colors. (2 points)
- Complete 3 4-point Design Cards. (2 points)
- During the game, whenever you take 4 tiles on your turn, you may place one of them onto this card. You fulfill this card's objective when you have collected one tile of each of the four colors. (2 points)
- Obtain 2 purple tiles in the game. (2 points)
- Complete one each of the 3-point, 5-point, and 7-point Design Card. (2 points)
- Be the first player to complete 3 Design Cards. (2 points)
- Complete 2 or more Design Cards on the same turn. (2 points)
Rules for Solo Play
Rules for solo play are the same as for multiplayers except for changes around tile selection and the end game condition. For solo play, the game will end in exactly 6 rounds.
Rules for tile selection are modified so that the 16 large Majolica tiles are all shuffled face down without forming a 4x4 grid. Every turn, you will randomly reveal 4 tiles and pick one of the following actions:
- Take 4 small Majolica tiles corresponding to the 4 revealed tiles.
- Take a small Majolica tile corresponding to one of the 4 revealed tiles and also take a Design Card.
- Take a small Majolica tile corresponding to one of the 4 revealed tiles and rearrange your Design Cards to the slots you want.
Majolica tiles that were not selected will be put aside and will be unavailable for the rest of the round. When all 16 large Majolica tiles have been flipped face up, the current round ends. Flip all the tiles face down and shuffle them to prepare for the next round. When the game ends, tally your score and compare against the criteria below:
- 28+ Points: You are THE Legendary Majolica Craftsman!
- 25-27 Points: You've honed your skills to be top notch, Master Craftsman!
- 21-24 Points: You've been certified to teach others, Craftsman!
- 17-20 Points: Keep on striving forward, Young Apprentice!
- 16 Points and lower: My child, why did you waste all those Majolica tiles again? You better work harder!
Tips & FAQ
Tip 1: At any time during their turn, players may discard any extra Majolica tiles.
Tip 2: When multiple workshops can run simultaneously, players decide what order to run them in. (This will happen when you rearrange the Design Cards.)
Tip 3: Whenever there is ambiguity with the order of operations, players may decide to use the order that is optimal for them.
Tip 4: If the requirement for a workshop has been met but there is no Design Card, the workshop cannot be run. As soon as you slot a Design Card with an available space for one of the tiles in the workshop, it will immediately run.
Tip 5: To run a workshop, if there is an available space on the Design Card that matches one of the tiles, you must move a tile to the Design Card.
Q1: Should I first take a Design Card or place a Majolica tile? A1: You can decide on the order, but if you place a card or tile that causes a workshop to run, you must immediately run the workshop (and any cascading effects) before placing the other item.
Q2: Can I decline to take a tile on my turn? A2: No, you must take at least one tile on your turn. You can take any available tile, even if you decide to discard it immediately. The game allows players to discard tiles that they have drawn if there are more tiles than the capacity of the workshop.
Q3: What happens if we run out of small Majolica tiles? Are they considered to be unlimited? A3: Yes, small Majolica tiles are considered to be unlimited. If you run out of small Majolica tiles, please use other items to substitute.