Medina Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Contents
• Preparation
• Goal
• Playing the Game
  • Palace Pieces
  • Domes
  • Stables
  • Inhabitants
  • City Walls
• The Great City Emerges
• The 4 Palace Tiles
• The 4 Tower Tiles
• Game End
• Scoring

Contents

• 1 game board
• 4 screens in the 4 player colors
• 4 tower tokens
• 4 palace tokens
• 169 wooden building pieces:
  • 80 palace pieces in 4 colors
  • 16 domes in the 4 player colors
  • 12 stables
  • 25 inhabitants
  • 32 walls
  • 4 towers

Preparation

(see figure on right)

Place the board in the middle of the table. The board shows the basic building plan for the city of Medina. On this plan, the players will rebuild the city. Place the 4 towers at the 4 corners of the city wall. Place the 4 tower tokens and the 4 palace tokens face up next to the board. The youngest player places 1 inhabitant on any space within the city that is at least one space away from the planned city wall (not on city wall or border spaces).

Each player chooses a color and takes the screen and the 4 domes in his color. Each player also takes:

with 3 players: 6 palace pieces in each color (24 in all), 4 stables, 8 inhabitants, and 10 walls. Place unused pieces back in the box.

with 4 players: 5 palace pieces in each color (20 in all), 3 stables, 6 inhabitants, and 8 walls. Place unused pieces back in the box.

Each player places his 4 domes in front of his screen for all to see, and places his other pieces behind his screen to hide them from the other players.

Goal

During the game, each player will claim four palaces in the city. Each palace consists of one or more palace pieces of the same color. The larger the palace, the more points it is worth at game end. Palaces also earn points for the player claiming them for standing along the city wall, for having attached stables, and for standing along one of the city's markets. The winner is the player with the most points at the end of the game.

Playing the Game

The youngest player begins. He chooses two of his wooden pieces (palace piece, dome, stable, inhabitant, or city wall) and places each on any empty space on the board, following the rules for placement. Then, the player to his left takes his turn, placing two wooden pieces on the board, and so on, clockwise around the table. For example, a player could place 1 black & 1 orange palace piece, or 2 gray palace pieces, or 1 orange palace piece & 1 stable, or 2 city walls, or 1 city wall & 1 inhabitant, or 1 dome and 1 city wall, etc.

Palace Pieces

A player may place the first palace piece of a color on any empty border or interior (not wall) space in the city with one exception: he may not placed it orthogonally or diagonally adjacent to any palace piece already on the board (of any color). This leaves room between all palaces for at least a narrow street. When any player chooses to place a palace piece of the same color as one already on the board, he must place it in a space orthogonally adjacent to one of the palace pieces of that color on the board.

A palace can become quite large when many pieces of the same color are placed next to each other. Of course, a palace can also be as small as one palace piece.

All players build the different colored palaces together. As long as a palace has no dome, it is incomplete and belongs to no player. Only one incomplete palace of each color may exist in the city. When a player places one of his domes on an incomplete palace, he both claims the palace as his and completes it. If there is no legal space orthogonally adjacent to an incomplete palace where a player may place another palace piece, the palace is complete (but not claimed by a player). Players may not add palace pieces to complete palaces. When there are no incomplete palaces of a color on the board, a player may begin a new palace of that color, using the rules above for starting the first palace in a color. When all players have claimed a palace of one of the colors, players may not begin or add to palaces of that color. The players place all palace pieces of that color back into the box. Of course, eventually, all possible palaces of all colors will likely be built and, then, no more palace pieces may be placed.

Domes

Each player has 4 domes. When a player places a dome on a palace, he claims it for himself and completes the palace. Each player may claim just one of each of the four palace colors. Each player may claim four differently-colored palaces in the game. For example, if a player has claimed a gray palace, he may not claim another gray palace. He may, however, still place gray palace pieces following the normal rules.

The number of palace pieces in a palace determines the value of the palace. In the example to the right, the palace has 4 pieces and is worth 4 points. The palace value may be increased with stables, adjacent city walls, and adjacent inhabitants.

A palace with a dome is complete. No more palace pieces may be added to a completed palace.

Stables

A player places a stable on an empty border or interior (not wall) space orthogonally adjacent to a palace piece already on the board. The players may place stables next to completed or incomplete palaces, regardless of palace ownership. Each stable attached to (adjacent to) a palace adds 1 point to the palace's value. As when placing palace pieces, players must leave room for streets between palaces, including attached stables, when placing stables. A player may not place a stable where it is orthogonally adjacent only to another stable.

Normally, players will place a stable next to their own palace to increase its value. Of course, it is also possible for a player to place a stable next to another player's palace. A player may do this to reduce the empty spaces on the board where new palaces may be started or incomplete palaces added to.

Example: An incomplete palace composed of 3 palace pieces and 1 stable. Players may place palace pieces or stables on spaces A, B, C, and D. On space E, players may place neither a palace piece nor a stable.

Inhabitants

The inhabitants on the board represent the location of the market or markets in Medina. Initially, there is just one market, but others may be started during the game if the original market cannot be increased in size. A player may place an inhabitant on either end of a string of inhabitants. The player places the new inhabitant in an empty border or interior (not wall) space orthogonally adjacent to the inhabitant on one end or the other of a string of inhabitants. A player may not place an inhabitant so it is adjacent to two or more inhabitants. Thus, from turn to turn the size of the market grows. If a player cannot add an inhabitant to either end of the line, he may begin a new line by placing an inhabitant on any empty border or interior (not wall) space on the board.

Example: A string of 4 inhabitants. A player may add an inhabitant to space A, B, or D, but not to space C, as it is adjacent to 2 inhabitants. When a palace is adjacent to the market, it adds 1 point per inhabitant to its value. In this example, the orange palace adds 3 to its value, and the black palace adds 1 to its value for the inhabitants.

City Walls

A player may only place a city wall on an empty wall space. In addition, a player may only place a city wall adjacent to a tower or another city wall. Players must leave at least one wall space empty on each side of the city for a city gate. Thus, the city walls built from neighboring towers may never meet.

There are no restrictions to placing walls next to palace pieces, inhabitants, or stables and none to placing palace pieces, inhabitants, or stables next to city walls. The border space adjacent to a city gate need not be empty.

When a palace is adjacent to the city wall, the value of the palace is increased by the number of city walls adjacent to the palace or its stables.

The Great City Emerges

From turn to turn, each player adds two pieces to the city. A player may not choose to play fewer than two unless he is unable to legally play two pieces. In this case, he must show the other players the pieces he has behind his screen. If all agree that he cannot play two pieces, he plays what he can. Otherwise, he must play two pieces. In this way, the great city emerges. During the game, the players will claim palaces by placing their domes on them. Once a player has claimed a palace, it is complete and players may no longer add palace pieces to the palace. Its value may still increase by players placing stables, city walls, and inhabitants next to the palace.

The 4 Palace Tiles

The first player to complete a palace in a color takes the palace tile of that color and places it face up in front of his screen. He keeps the palace tile until another player has a larger palace in this color. When this happens, the player gives the tile to the player who now has the largest palace in the color. The size of a palace is the sum of the number of palace pieces in the palace and the number of stables attached to the palace.

The player holding the tile at the end of the game scores the points for the tile.

The 4 Tower Tiles

When a player claims a palace that is adjacent to a city wall, the player becomes the watcher for the nearby tower and takes the tower tile that corresponds to the tower that the city wall connects to. He places it face up in front of his screen.

Later in the game, when another player takes control of a palace adjacent to a city wall connected to the same tower, this player takes the tower piece from the player who had it, regardless of the relative sizes of the palaces.

If a player has claimed a palace and later he or another player places a city wall adjacent to it, he takes the tower tile for the tower connected to the city wall adjacent to his palace. He takes it from next to the board or from another player, wherever it is.

If a player has claimed a palace and later he or another player places a stable adjacent to the palace and a city wall, he takes the tower tile for the tower connected to the city wall adjacent to his extended palace. He takes it from next to the board or from another player, wherever it is.

Remember that the city walls that start at the towers along each side of the city may never meet. Players must leave at least one empty wall space along the wall for a city gate. It can be adjacent to one of the towers.

Once a palace is connected to a tower by a city wall, subsequent piece placements do not count as new connections to the tower. For example, a player cannot take the tile for a tower he is already connected to by placing another city wall or a stable. Although unlikely, a palace may be connected to more than one tower.

Game End

When a player runs out of wooden pieces, he sets his screen aside and takes no more turns in the game. Players may run out of pieces at different times because unplayable palace pieces (in colors where all players have claimed palaces) are removed from the game. The other players continue until all players have run out of wooden pieces to play. If a player has but one wooden piece left, he plays just the one piece instead of two. When there is just one player left with pieces, he must play at least one dome on each turn (as long as he has domes).

The game ends when all players have run out of wooden pieces that can be played.

Scoring

Each player counts the points in his 4 palaces as follows:

• each palace piece in a palace is worth 1 point,
• each stable attached to a palace is worth 1 point,
• each city wall that is orthogonally adjacent to a palace piece or stable is worth 1 point,
• each inhabitant that is orthogonally adjacent to a palace piece or stable is worth 1 point.

Each player sums his points for his 4 palaces together with any palace tiles and tower tiles.

The player with the most points is the winner. Players who tie with the most points, rejoice in their shared victory.

Scoring example: The orange palace is worth 11 points (4 palace pieces + 2 stables + 2 city walls + 3 inhabitants). The black palace is worth 10 points (5 palace pieces + 1 city wall + 4 inhabitants). The gray palace is worth 13 points (4 palace pieces + 1 stable + 5 city walls + 3 inhabitants). The gray palace owes its high value to its location next to many city walls and many inhabitants in the market. Two inhabitants adjacent to both the gray palace and the black palace count 1 point each for both palaces.