OMNIA
OMNIA Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Rules
Purpose of the Game
Your aim is to score more points than your opponent. The game may be played in two or four players. The pictures on the cards summarise Leonardo Da Vinci's life through his most well known works and inventions, the most important figures he met and the cities he lived in.
Components
- 16 city cards
- 16 character cards
- 19 work cards
- 19 invention cards
- 28 action cards
- 18 coins
Preparation
In the middle of the table you place:
- 1 city card face up and the rest of the card pack placed on the side, face down.
- 3 work cards face up and the rest of the card pack placed on the side, face down.
- 3 invention cards face up and the rest of the card pack placed on the side, face down.
- 3 character cards face up and the rest of the card pack placed on the side, face down.
- Coins piled up near the cards.
The pack of action cards is created according to the number of players:
- In two-player games you use the 14 cards with symbol 2 at the bottom-right corner.
- In three-player games you use the cards with symbols 2 and 3.
- In four-player games you use all the 28 action cards.
Each player receives one coin and 7 action cards drawn randomly.
The Game
Phase 1: Choice of the Actions
Phase 1 is composed of a card draft: it is the method to set up your own strategy by choosing the card pack to play.
- Each player receives 7 action cards randomly.
- Each player chooses 2 cards to keep in their pack and passes the other 5 cards to the opponent on their left.
- In this way each player receives 5 different cards from those initially drawn and decides once again which 2 cards to keep in their pack and to hand over the remaining 3 cards to the opponent on their left.
- This player will receive three cards from his right opponent and choose again which two cards to keep and will pass the last card discarded to the player on his left. He will in turn receive one last card, which is when his own pack of 7 playing cards is created.
Phase 2: How to Play
The game develops in 6 rounds. Each round corresponds to one action card played, so not all the cards from one's own pack will be played; the last card not played will be discarded.
In each round every player will use one action card from their pack and will complete the two specified actions in the order they prefer. Players may also decide not to perform one or both actions.
There are 5 possible actions corresponding to 5 symbols:
- Activate a city card.
- Pick a work card (performing the actions marked on the card immediately, if any).
- Pick an invention card (performing the actions marked on the card immediately, if any).
- Pick coins.
- Pick a character card (paying for its value in coins and performing the actions marked on the card immediately, if any).
At the end of each round players draw cards from the work, invention and character card packs in the middle of the table to fill in the spaces left free in the card grid.
At the beginning of their round, each player must always have 3 work cards, 3 invention cards and 3 character cards face up to choose from.
IMPORTANT: Each player must keep their own work, invention and character cards face up in front of them, visible to the other players. Only action cards must not be revealed to opponents.
Example
Example action 1:
A) Draw 3 cards from the city pack. Choose one and place it next to those already facing up.
B) Take a coin.
Example action 2:
C) Pick a work card of your choice among the three available.
D) Pick a character card of your choice among the three available, paying for their value. Perform the actions marked by the lightning immediately.
Types of Cards and Their Effects
Cities
To activate a card the player must have the corresponding symbol. He will draw three cards from the pack without showing them to his opponents, choose one and place it next to the already visible city cards. The cards left will be placed at the bottom of the pack of city cards facing down. The player may decide to discard all the cards without activating any of them. The conditions provided on the city card to score points at the end of the game apply to all players. The cards placed on the table will stay there until the end of the game; there is no limit for the number of cities activated at the end of the game.
Objective explanations (city cards):
- Venice: At the end of the game, each player will score 3 points for every pair of invention cards of the same colour they have.
- Cesena: At the end of the game, the players who have the highest number of character cards will score 4 points. In case of a tie the players will divide the points.
- Lago di Como: At the end of the game, each coin owned by a player is equal to 2 points.
- Urbino: At the end of the game, the players who have the highest number of cards scored by adding up all the character, invention and work cards will score 3 points. In case of a tie the players will divide the points.
- Milano: At the end of the game, each player will score 2 points for every pair made up of one invention and one work card.
Works
At the corresponding action the player will pick a work card and place it in front of him. Work cards are divided in 4 groups/colours. When works are referred to as equal it means they have the same colour of the corresponding card. Warm colours mark the work card pack. Some work cards (with the face of Leonardo) are not valid for completing the objectives but can give points at the end of the game or actions to perform immediately, for example picking invention or character cards.
Leonardo work card (example): This card costs 2 coins. It may not be used for composing sets and solving objectives but those who take it will immediately receive an invention card of their choice among the possible ones and 2 points at the end of the game. (Immediate advantage: the lightning-marked actions are performed immediately.)
Inventions
They act like work cards. Invention cards are divided in 4 groups/colours marked by cool colours. Some invention cards (with the face of Leonardo) may not be used for completing the objectives but can give points at the end of the game or actions to perform immediately.
Characters
Character cards have a price in coins specified in the top part of the card. Some character cards do not cost anything. At the corresponding action the player will pick a character card paying for its value in coins and place it in front of him. This card will become his property. The characters activate actions marked by the lightning symbol that players will perform immediately, for example picking work or invention cards. Furthermore, some character cards give points at the end of the game.
- Character card (costs one coin): The player who gets it by paying one coin will immediately have the possibility to choose a card city and will receive 1 point at the end of the game.
- Isabella d'Aragona (free): This character card is free; the player who gets it immediately receives 2 coins.
- Paolo Dal Pozzo Toscanelli (costs three coins): The player who gets it by paying three coins will have 4 points at the end of the game.
Note: the printed name of the first character card is too small to read reliably in the source scan and is left unnamed here.
Coins
At the corresponding action the player picks one or two coins as specified by the action card.
Actions
Action cards are the ones handed out to each player and are only visible to them. The symbols on the cards indicate the actions to be performed. Players may decide in what order to perform the two actions and may also decide to perform only one or none.
Score Calculation
Points must be calculated at the end of the game and may be collected in two ways:
- A) Picking cards that give points.
- B) Completing city cards objectives.
Each player calculates their own score by adding up the value of the points appearing on the cards they have plus the objectives reached.
City cards are divided in two types of objectives:
- Majorities: A player who has the majority of cards with the symbol provided collects the corresponding points. In case of a tie between more than one player, the points to be won will be divided equally. If divided between two players, a 7-point objective card will give 3 points each.
- Sets: Any players completing their set on the card will collect the corresponding points. If a player completes more than one set from the same objective card he/she will receive double the points.
IMPORTANT: The cards used to complete a set may not be used again to complete a new one.
Example
The example shows Roberta's cards and four city objectives (Parma, Amboise, Vinci, Milano):
- Roberta's cards at the end of the game: Roberta has the following cards and scores 6 points.
- Parma: Roberta does not have the majority of work cards among all the players: Matteo, for example, has 5 of them, so Roberta does not score any points.
- Amboise: Roberta has a set of inventions of the same colour, so she scores 8 points.
- Vinci: Roberta used the same-colour inventions to complete the objective Amboise, so she does not have another two invention cards of the same colour. She has two invention cards of different colours though. She does not complete the objective VINCI.
- Milano: Roberta has two invention cards not yet used to complete other objectives and two work cards not yet used for any objectives, so she can create two pairs and collect 4 points. Roberta closes the game with 18 points.
IMPORTANT: We advise to calculate the end-of-game points by starting from the ones of majority objectives and continuing calculating the set objectives for each player. A player's card may be used for more than one majority objective, but only once for set objectives. Each card used for a set objective will then be discarded. The winner is the player who scores the most points. In case of a tie the winner is the one who gets the most coins. In case of tie again, the winner is the one who gets the most character cards.