Patronize Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Victory Conditions
• Components
• Card Explanation
  • Character cards
  • Fame cards
• Setup
• Flow of the Game
  • About gaining achievement cubes
• One Round
  • 1: Preparation
  • 2: Choose action
  • 3: Earning Fame/Achievements
  • 4: Gaining protegees
• Score Calculation
• Details on the Special Abilities
  • Student
  • Clown
  • Sculptor
  • Painter, Literary man, Navigator, Nun
  • Geographer, Architect, Missionary, Theologian
  • Spinning trader
  • Lawman
  • Merchant
  • Diplomat
  • Noble
  • Banker

Victory Conditions

The player with the most Victory Points at the end of the game wins. Victory Points are earned by achievements, and having protegees with different talents.

Components

• Cards
  • 17 Character cards
  • 7 Fame cards
• Achievement cubes
  • 8 yellow (religion) cubes
  • 8 red (art) cubes
  • 8 green (science) cubes
  • 8 blue (exploration) cubes
• Protection cubes
  • 5 natural (protection) cubes

Card Explanation

Character cards

• Influence: represents the political influence of this character. The higher this number, the easier to earn Fame.
• Speciality: What this character specializes in, one of the four fields religion, art, science or exploration. It may be several, it may be none.
• Special ability: The timing and the effect of the character's ability.
• Achievement: What this character can achieve (cube colour). A white coloured cube here means that the character gains 1 cube of any colour.
• VP: How much Fame is connected with this character. These are counted once the game ends.

Fame cards

• Rule: The rules for the current round (a trump symbol and speciality, or none).
• VP: How much Fame is associated with this era. This counts as points once the game ends.

Setup

1. Shuffle the 7 Fame cards face down and form a deck. If you are 5 players, remove 2 Fame cards from the deck without looking at them. If you are 4 players, remove 1 card. If you are 3 players, don't remove any (use all seven).
2. Shuffle the Character cards face down, and deal out evenly to all players. If you're 5 players, everyone will get 3 cards. On 4 players, everyone will get 4 cards, and on 3 players everyone will get 5. Remove the remaining cards from the game without looking at them.
3. Each player takes 1 protection cube. Remove the remaining protection cubes from the game.
4. Place the achievement cubes so that all can reach them.
5. The player who most recently went to Italy is the start player for the first round.

Flow of the Game

This game runs for a number of rounds, depending on number of players.

• 3 players: 7 rounds
• 4 players: 6 rounds
• 5 players: 5 rounds

(You play as many rounds as there are Fame cards in the deck.) When all rounds are played, points are counted and winner decided.

About gaining achievement cubes

1. When you gain a cube, if there are any of that colour left in the common stock, you take from there.
2. If there are no cubes of that colour left in the common stock, you take instead from the player who is closest to you in clockwise order around the table and who has a cube of that colour.

Note: If you can choose which colour you are supposed to get (for example, if you are supposed to get a "white" cube, or if you choose to gain a cube during the gaining protegees step), you first choose colour, and then check for availability. If none left in the common pile, you take from the closest player in clockwise order, as mentioned above. Meaning, you are not forced to take a colour that's available in the common stock.

One Round

Each round is divided into four steps.

1. Preparation
2. Choose action
3. Earning Fame/Achievements
4. Gaining protegees

1: Preparation

The starting player draws the top Fame card from the Fame deck and places it face up beside the deck for all to see. It might have a trump symbol, and might not.

2: Choose action

Starting with the start player, and in clockwise order around the table, each player either plays a character from his hand, or passes.

a) Play a character

Take a character from your hand and place it face up before you. See to that it doesn't mix with any of your protegees (= characters you've "gained"; see below). At this point, you can place your Protection Cube on it to protect the character from being snatched by someone else (however, only once per game).

b) Pass

Do nothing. You won't earn any Fame or Achievements this round. However, you do get the chance to gain one of the characters the other players played.

Once all players have revealed a character or passed, this step ends. If all players passed, no one will earn any Fame or Achievements, so you jump that step and go to "Gaining protegees". (This also results in that the start player doesn't change). The Fame card of the round is put out of the game.

3: Earning Fame/Achievements

Only players who played a character this round can participate in this step. Who "won" the round depends on what you played.

• If the Fame card had a "trump" on its rules then the player who played the highest influenced character in the "trump" speciality wins this round. If none of the played characters was of that speciality, then the player who played the highest influenced character (ignore speciality) wins.
• If the Fame card did not have "trump" on its rules then simply the player who played the highest influence wins the round.

The winner becomes the start player for the next round. He gets this round's Fame card (places it among his spoils) and an Achievement cube of the colour indicated by the character he played.

Then the rest of the players get, in clockwise order around the table, an Achievement cube of the colour indicated by the character they played, AND a cube of the colour indicated by the character played by the closest participating player in clockwise order.

4: Gaining protegees

First of all, any players who protected their played character with a Protection cube, gains that characters as a protegee - placed beside you (not in your hand). The protection cube goes out of the game.

Secondly, all players who did NOT play a character (those who passed) this round get to either take one of the characters that were played this round as a protegee or gain an Achievement cube of a colour of his choice. This is done in clockwise order, starting with the starting player, but as said, only the players who passed get to do this. And naturally, you can only take of the characters that were played this round and who are still available - you can't nick any of the other players' protegees.

When all players who passed have chosen to take either a character or a cube, then any remaining played characters become the protegees of the players who played them.

The game then goes to the next round. This goes on until you've played as many rounds as there are Fame cards.

Score Calculation

All players sort their gained cubes according to colour, and all protegees (gained characters) execute their special ability.

All players get points:

• Achievement cubes (per colour):

Cubes	1 pc	2 pcs	3 pcs	4 pcs	5 pcs
VP	2VP	5VP	10VP	15VP	20VP (+5VP per excess cube)

• VPs from Fame cards
• VPs from Protegees
• VPs from special abilities
• MINUS 10VP per character left in hand.

The player with the most VP wins the game. If there is a tie for most points, the tiebreakers are (in order): VPs from Fame cards, Protegees, Achievements, in that order. If it's still a tie, the one closest to the start player wins.

Note: The Protection cube isn't worth any VP, even if unused at the end of the game.

Details on the Special Abilities

Student

[The round this card is played]: When you gain Achievement cubes this round, you double the amount. As the Student himself doesn't generate any Achievements, you only double the amount indicated by the character played by the closest participating player in clockwise order. Hence, if you win the round with the Student, you gain no effect. Once a protegee, this card has no effect.

Clown

[Game end]: Use the ability of any of the protegees of the player to your right. Only [Game end] abilities can be selected.

The VP for the clown are simply as printed.

Sculptor

[Game end]: Choose one of your protegees. Its base VP is doubled. Please note it's not the Sculptor who gains these VPs. Also, bonus VP earned by the protegees abilities cannot be doubled this way.

Painter, Literary man, Navigator, Nun

[Game end]: These count as a cube of the corresponding colour. You do not physically gain a cube, though.

Geographer, Architect, Missionary, Theologian

[Game end]: If you have (of all players) most Achievements of the corresponding colour, you gain 5VP. Even if you're tied for most, you gain 5VP. Don't forget to count the Artist, Literati, Navigator and Monks.

Spinning trader

[Game end]: If you have at least 1 cube of each of the four Achievement types, you gain 7VP (it's not doubled even if you have 2 of each).

Lawman

[During gain protegees step each round]: If another player wants to gain the character you played, he needs to return any one of his Achievements to the stock.

Merchant

[Game end]: You get 1VP per Achievement cube you have. Including any Artists, Literati, Navigators or Monks.

Diplomat

[Game end]: You get 1VP per Achievement cube your neighbour to your right has, including any Artists, Navigators or Monks.

Noble

[Game end]: Your lowest Fame card's VP value is doubled. If you have no Fame cards, nothing happens.

Banker

[Game end]: If you have 4 or more protegees, you gain 3VP.