Ragusa
Ragusa Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Setting Up the Game
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Give each player one player mat and 3 tracker beads. Place a bead on each Commodity symbol (on the left side of their mat).
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Give players the Towers in their color and the following number of houses:
- 2 players - see 2-player rules
- 3 players - 12 houses each
- 4 players - 10 houses each
- 5 players - 9 houses each
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Place the disc of each active player's colour on square zero of the scoring track.
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Keep the resource tracker cards nearby (6 for each player, in their colour).
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Place one tracker bead on the indicated starting spaces of the three commodity value tracks on the board.
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Shuffle the ship cards, and place five on the spaces indicated on the board, ship side down. Place the deck nearby, ship side down.
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For each card, move the corresponding commodity value marker up (to the right) by one or two spaces according to the number of arrows (e.g. if the card has a wine symbol and two arrows, move the wine marker up twice). Then, flip the card to the ship side.
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Shuffle the bonus deck, and give each player three face-down. Each player must pick one and discard the other two cards face down.
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Shuffle the discarded bonus cards back into the bonus deck. Place the two decks (Ship and Bonus) face down, near the board.
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Randomly select a starting player.
Resources & Commodities
The game has 6 kinds of resource: Fish, Wood, Stone, Silver Ore, Grapes and Olives. Players use tracker cards to denote how many tiles of each they have access to. The last three of those are used to produce three types of commodity: Silver, Wine and Olive Oil.
Resources are gained but not spent in Ragusa. Think of them like supply lines: a measure of your access to that resource. They influence how much of a commodity you can create, but do not expire when that commodity is created.
Commodities however, are finite, and once sold will be removed from your inventory.
Players track both resources and commodities on their mats. Commodities can be sold for victory points (at a variable value) or traded for goods that are brought into Ragusa by ships at the bottom of the board. Each type of good is worth a fixed number of victory points, but trading them will affect the market value of commodities.
When producing commodities, move the corresponding piece right by the amount produced. When spending commodities, move the corresponding piece left. You can store up to 12 units of each commodity in your warehouse. Additional units will be wasted.
Gameplay
Players take turns, going clockwise. On their turn they place one of their houses in one of the available spots on the map (a spot is available if there is not already a house on it. Towers do not block a space).
Each spot is adjacent to three regions (hexes), and each region provides a benefit. In order to place a house on a spot, its requirements need to be fulfilled (see Building Requirements).
Rural regions
Each region outside the city walls provides one resource (e.g. fish, wood, stone, etc.). The icon in the centre of the space indicates which resource is available there.
When placing a house adjacent to one of these, place a tracker card next to your player mat (or rotate / flip if there is already a card there) to indicate how many of each resource you have access to. Each card has 1-4 on each edge on one side, and 5-8 on the other. Simply ensure that the correct number is aligned with the corresponding resource on your player mat, and flip it when you go from 4 to 5 of a resource.
When you place a house next to a resource, place a tracker card next to the appropriate resource on your player board. When you gain more of the same resource, rotate / flip the card so that the appropriate number is next to it.
Remember that resources are never spent, but can be traded for other resources (see Fish Exchange).
City regions
Regions within the city walls have specific actions (see City Buildings). Each city space provides a unique benefit.
When the region has a clockwise arrow symbol, the player will complete the action before allowing the respective owner of each other house around the space, going clockwise, to activate the action.
Building Requirements
When you place a house, it will border 3 hexes (regions). You must check that you have the building requirements for each region (not for the space itself). If you don't meet the requirements for all three, you may not place there. You will need Wood to build next to country regions, and Stone for city regions.
The building requirement is simple: the amount of houses you have around a single region may not exceed the amount of the relevant resource (Wood / Stone) you have available to you.
For example: your first house around a country region will require 1 Wood. If you already have two houses around a country region, you will need 3 Wood to place your 3rd house there.
These resources are not consumed, and can be reused across regions (e.g. if you are building a house adjacent to 3 country regions where you have no houses, you can use 1 Wood to meet the requirements for all 3 regions).
You start with no resources, but the resources gained by placing a house can be used to 'pay' for that house: thus, your first house must always be placed adjacent to a region that provides Wood.
Some city regions have further, special requirements, detailed under City Buildings.
Important! Requirements of all 3 regions must be met in order to build, but the same resources can be re-used for 2 or more regions, and the resources provided by one region can be used to fulfill these needs too. Note that sea regions do not require extra resources.
Example - to place a house in a highlighted space, all players would require ≥ 1 Grapes (special requirement for the Winery). In addition:
- The Green player has no houses on any adjacent region, making this their 1st house on all of them. They need 1 Wood and 1 Stone (the Wood is required for the country region, the Stone can be used for both of the two city regions).
- Yellow has a house on the country region and Architect, so this would be their 2nd house on each. They need 2 Wood and 2 Stone to build here.
- For Blue it would be their 3rd on the Olive grove, but only their 2nd on the Architect / Winery. They need 3 Wood, and 2 Stone.
- For Red it would be their 1st space on the country region, so would need 1 Wood, but their 3rd house on the Winery, meaning they need 3 Stone.
The cards used to track Wood and Stone stocks also have handy indicators of your current house limits for country (wood) and city (stone) hexes.
City Buildings
Below is a list of buildings within the city limits, their requirements, and effects.
Winery
REQUIRES ≥1 Grapes
For each house on the Winery, the owner of the house moves the Wine marker on their mat equal to the amount of Grapes they have access to. Example: If a player has access to 3 Grapes and 2 houses on the Winery, they would move their Wine marker 6 spaces.
Oil Press
REQUIRES ≥1 Olives
For each house on the Oil Press, the owner of the house moves the Oil marker on their mat equal to the amount of Olives they have access to. Example: If a player has access to 4 Olives and 2 houses on the Oil Press, they would move their Oil marker 8 spaces.
Silversmith
REQUIRES ≥1 Silver Ore
For each house on the Silversmith, the owner moves the Silver marker on their mat equal to the amount of Silver Ore they have access to. Example: if a player has access to 3 Silver Ore and 3 houses on the Silversmith, they would move their Silver marker 9 spaces.
Mason
NO SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS
Build 1 section of city wall by placing one wall piece between two house spots along the city limits. Immediately gain 1 VP for the wall +1 VP for each House / Tower of your color directly adjacent to the wall. If other houses have already been built adjacent to the Mason tile, activate them in clockwise order (following the house that has just been placed).
Architect
NO SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS
Build 1 tower of your colour by placing it over one of the available tower spots along the city limits. The spot may or may not be already occupied by a house. Spots with a tower are still available for houses. Towers contribute to scoring for city walls, both during the game and at the end. If other houses have already been built adjacent to the Architect tile, activate them in clockwise order (following the house that has just been placed).
Fishmonger
REQUIRES ≥2 Fish
Each house on the Fishmonger immediately scores 1 VP per 2 Fish available to the owner of the house at that time. Example: A player has access to 5 Fish and has 2 houses on the Fishmonger. Each house will score 2 VP for a total of 4 VP.
Important: In order to place a house on the Fishmonger, the 2 Fish must be available after spending any other Fish needed to meet the basic requirements.
Market
REQUIRES ≥1 COMMODITY
When a house is placed on the Market, the owner of each house (starting from the newly placed one going clockwise) may purchase one of the available Ship cards.
Each slot has a base cost (2 Wine, 2 Oil, 1 Silver, 1 Wine, or 1 Oil). Some Ships have an additional cost (for example, Pearls and Gems cost one additional Silver). When purchasing Ships, the active player must have the required commodities and will spend them by moving the corresponding marker on their mat left.
Under the Ship card is a commodity with a down arrow. When the Ship is purchased, the corresponding marker on the Market Value track will be moved down. The commodity on the card does not affect the market price.
After 1 Ship is purchased, the remaining Ships to the right will slide left, and a new card will be placed on the right-most slot. Before it is placed, look at the symbol on the back of the new ship and update the market accordingly (increasing the specified commodity value by 1 / 2 according to the number of arrows on the card).
Ship cards purchased by the players will immediately score VP equal to the number of stars depicted on them. See Ship Cards for the full list of Goods cards.
- The cost shown is what a player must pay to take the ship in that slot.
- When a ship is bought from a space, a symbol indicates the commodity which must be moved down one space on the commodity track.
- When buying a ship with an extra-cost symbol, the player must also pay 1 of the specified commodity.
- When a new ship arrives, the card back specifies which commodity increases in value. The number of arrows indicates the number of spaces the commodity value moves up.
Wharf
REQUIRES ≥1 COMMODITY
When a house is placed on the Wharf, each player may ship 1 unit of either Wine, Oil or Silver per house they have on this space. The commodities shipped must be available on the corresponding player mat, and if they are shipped, the appropriate marker must be updated accordingly. Each commodity shipped scores VPs = the current market price of the relevant commodity.
The space that the tracker is on will indicate how many VPs the player receives for selling that commodity. For example, if Wine is at 2, Oil at 1, and Silver at 3, then Wine will earn 2 points, Oil will earn 1, and Silver will earn 3.
Rector's Palace
NO SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS
When placing a house on the Rector's Palace, you may draw the top 2 cards from the Bonus Deck, choose 1 to keep, and return the other to the bottom of the deck. These Bonus cards will award points at the end of the game (see Bonus Cards for the full list). Note: Existing houses adjacent to the Rector's Palace are not activated.
Cathedral
NO SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS
Houses on the Cathedral score points at the end of the game, each house allowing the player to score a set of 1 Silver, 1 Wine and 1 Oil at the end-game market price. Note: Existing houses adjacent to the Cathedral are not activated.
Fish Exchange
At any time during the game, players may exchange 2 or more Fish for another type of resource according to the following exchange rates. The exchange is permanent.
- 2 Fish = 1 Wood / 1 Grape / 1 Olive
- 3 Fish = 1 Stone
- 4 Fish = 1 Silver Ore
Important: This may happen at any time, including right after gaining the Fish and before activating a tile. Example: the same Fish gained by placing a house on the Winery may be exchanged for a Grape in order to produce more Wine. The exchange can also happen on another player's turn, e.g. when a player places a house on the Oil Press, other players that already have a house there can trade Fish for Olives before their house activates.
End of the Game
The game ends when all players have placed all their houses. Scoring then proceeds as follows:
City Walls
Look at each player's longest uninterrupted stretch of wall (i.e. each house spot between two wall pieces is empty / has a house of your colour / a tower of your colour). Score 1 VP for each tower and house (of their colour) and wall in that player's stretch.
Example: the longest uninterrupted stretch of walls for Red extends for 10 wall pieces across 4 red houses and 3 red towers, for a total of 17 VP. The longest stretch for Yellow extends for 8 pieces across 3 Yellow houses and 3 yellow towers, scoring 15 VP. The longest stretch for Blue extends for only 4 pieces across 2 Blue houses scoring a total of 6 VP.
Cathedral
For each house on the Cathedral, players can score VPs for 1 set of 1 Silver, 1 Oil and 1 Wine at the end-game market values. Example: If at the end of the game, the values of Silver, Wine and Oil are 4, 3 and 2 respectively, a player with 2 houses on the Cathedral who still has 2 sets of commodities on their mat will score 18 VP (2 x (4+3+2)).
Important: The commodities will still be available when scoring the Bonus Cards.
Bonus Cards
Finally, each player reveals their bonus cards and adds the victory points awarded by them.
Important: The maximum number of VP you may score from any 1 Bonus Card is 12.
Some cards give the player the indicated number of points for each of the relevant resource they have on their player board at the end of the game. You may swap Fish for other resources at this stage, but not after you have scored for Fish.
Other cards work similarly, but refer to goods bought from ships. Any icon with a blue background indicates that it comes from a ship. For each ship of that type (such as Spices) the player will gain the points indicated on the card.
The bonus cards include:
- 2 points for each different type (Good) of ship the player has at the end.
- 2 points for each set of 1 of each Commodity at the end of the game.
- 1 point for every 2 points gained from Ships during the game, rounded down.
- 1 point for each wall adjacent to one of your Houses or Towers.
- 1 point for every Tower you have on the board at the end of the game.
Winner
The player with most victory points wins the game. In case of a tie, look at the value of the commodities in each player's warehouse: the player with the highest value wins.
Appendix
Ship Cards (Goods cards)
There are 26 Ship cards, and 7 types of Good that ships bring (Furs, Ceramics, Clothing, Spices, Silk, Pearls and Gems). Each good is worth a different number of points (indicated by the number of stars on the left of the card). Anytime an icon has a blue background, this indicates that it is a good gained from a ship.
- Gems (x2) cost an extra Silver to buy, and increase the value of Silver by 2 when they enter the board. They are worth 5 points.
- Pearls (x2) cost an extra Silver to buy, and increase the value of Silver by 2 when they enter the board. They are worth 5 points.
- Silk (x2) can cost an extra Olive Oil or an extra Wine to buy, and will increase the value of either Oil or Wine by 2 when they enter the board. It is worth 4 points.
- Clothing (x1) has no additional cost, and can increase the price of all three commodities when it enters the board. It is worth 3 points.
- Spices (x1) have no additional cost, and can increase the price of all three commodities when they enter the board. They are worth 2 points.
- Ceramics (x1) have no additional cost, and can increase the price of all three commodities when they enter the board. They are worth 2 points.
- Furs (x1) have no additional cost, and can increase the price of all three commodities when they enter the board. They are worth 2 points.
2-Player Rules
When playing with only one other player, play continues similarly, with one twist: as well as their regular houses, each player has 2 Powerhouses they can use to give themselves an edge.
When setting up, give one player 12 Red houses, and the other player 12 Blue houses. Then, each player takes 2 Black houses - their Powerhouses.
On any turn the players can place a Powerhouse instead of their colour, according to the following rules:
- Powerhouses can only be played along the walls (i.e. on the outer city house slots).
- There can only be one Powerhouse on a given hex (for example if a Powerhouse is placed between the Architect and the Silversmith, no other Powerhouses can be placed on those areas).
- Powerhouses don't require stone or wood to build (i.e. you can place a Powerhouse on a city area even if you already have as many houses there as you have stone).
- Powerhouses only trigger the city actions, and don't provide resources (i.e. you don't get Olive, Grapes or Fish when you place them).
- The player that places a Powerhouse will get all the actions from the hexes where the house was placed, regardless of the colour of the houses already placed there (i.e. if the Red player places a Powerhouse on the Wharf and there is already 1 Red and 2 Blue houses there, the Red player can sell four times and the Blue player gets no sales).
- When a regular house is placed on an area that already has a Powerhouse, the Powerhouse's activation goes to the current player, as if the house was in their colour.
- When counting the longest wall, Powerhouses are counted as a third color and break walls (unless one player has also a tower on the same spot).
Solo Rules
In Ragusa, it's possible to play solo - when doing so, you'll go head-to-head against The Patrician, a powerful aristocrat who rules with an iron fist.
Recently married into a second powerful family, The Patrician now operates with twice the resources, land and manpower as you. To make matters worse, he has pulled strings around the city to reserve building sites and ensure he gets his way...
Solo Setup
In Solo Mode, the Patrician uses 2 player boards, with 12 houses in different colours for each. You also have 12 houses, but when you begin the game, all colours will have placed three houses, according to the setup diagram (assuming the player is Red).
Each bot (Blue and Yellow) starts with 3 Woodcutters, 3 Stone Quarries, 1 Silver Mine, 1 Vineyard and 1 Olive Grove. The player has 2 Woodcutters, 3 Stone Quarries, 2 Silver Mines, 1 Vineyard, and 1 Olive Grove.
Shuffle the Patrician deck and randomly choose 6 cards from it (return the remainder to the box). Each card in the deck highlights 3 numbered locations in the city. For each card, mark the matching locations on the board with a black house. These locations are reserved for the Patrician, and are unavailable to the player.
After placing the houses, shuffle the 6 cards and split them into two sets of 3, assigning one to each bot face-down. The spaces on these cards are the spaces those bots will use.
Then, shuffle the Bonus Deck and deal 1 to you (face-up) and 1 to each bot (face-down). These will be revealed and scored at the end of the game.
Finally, shuffle the ship cards, and deal one on each space in the harbour, adjusting the commodity prices accordingly as in the full multiplayer game.
Solo mode gameplay
The game proceeds for 9 turns. Each turn, the two bots will place first, and the human player will place last.
For each bot, the turn proceeds as follows:
- Shuffle the three Patrician cards and pick one.
- Place one of the bot's available houses on a spot marked on the card with the lowest number (that is still available - if a black house is there, replace it, these are only there to 'reserve' spaces). If all three spots are already occupied, discard that card and draw a new one.
- Activate the spot as usual. For houses in the countryside, remember to update the resource markers on the bot's player board.
During play, you don't need to check whether or not a bot has enough resource to build on a spot - the houses placed during setup will ensure that each move made by the bot is legal.
When placing on the Winery, Silversmith, Oil Press, Fishmonger and Cathedral, the actions work as usual (no decisions are required). For other spaces, bots use the action in the way that benefits them most, detailed below:
Rector's Palace - Unlike the player, the bot will take two cards face down, and score both at the end of the game.
Wharf - The bot will sell its most valuable commodity. In case of a tie, it will sell the one it has more of. Exception: If a bot has houses round the Cathedral, and a set of three commodities, sell the most valuable commodity that doesn't break the set.
Market - The bot will buy the most valuable good it can afford. If two or more goods are worth the most points, pick one that requires a commodity that it has the most of. In case of a tie, pick the leftmost card. Exception: As above, do not break the last set for the Cathedral.
Mason - The bot will place a wall on a space that scores them the most points (i.e. a space that touches the most houses and towers of its colour). If multiple spaces score the highest, it will pick the one that contributes to its longest wall. If the tie persists, pick the 1st in clockwise order from the top corner of the Silversmith.
Architect - The bot will place a tower that contributes to its longest wall:
- Where possible, on a space that has no house on it.
- Assume the whole wall line will eventually be built.
- Find the longest uninterrupted stretch of walls / their colour houses / their colour towers / empty spaces, then place a tower on a space that extends it. If both spaces are blocked, find another stretch that can be extended. If none exists, place the tower on another empty space. Use the same criteria as the Mason to solve ties.
After both bots have placed, you may place one house on an empty spot not reserved for the bots with a black house, and activate the areas in the same way (i.e. following the above rules when activating a bot's house, but making the decisions for your own).
Solo End game
After you've placed your last house, the game ends. Score the longest wall and the Cathedral sets as with the regular game, then reveal and resolve all the bonus cards.
If a bot doesn't have the 'Fish' end scoring bonus card, but has any other resource end scoring cards (Wood, Olives, etc.) just before scoring it will convert its available Fish into the scoring resources, in the most beneficial way (e.g. if the bot has 5 Fish, and a scoring card for 2VP for Grapes and 3VP for Stone, it will convert the 5 fish into one Grape and one Stone, so gaining 5VP).
Track each of the bots' points independently. The player wins if they score more points than both of the bot players (do not add their scores together).
Difficulty tuning
The game can be made harder if you do not pick between the Bonus cards (i.e. when placing next to the Rector's house, the player gets and keeps the top card from the bonus deck).
The game can be made easier if the bots only score one bonus card for each pair they get from the Rector's palace (in that case, keep the cards in pairs, face-down, when they are acquired, then, when resolving them, pick for each pair the card that scores the most points).
The game can be made easier if you go first (before the bots) each turn.
Turn Summary
- Place one house on an available spot.
- For each adjacent region, check that the requirements are met (if not, either exchange some Fish to meet the requirements or choose another spot).
- Activate the adjacent regions, one at a time:
- For regions in the countryside, update your corresponding resource cards.
- For city regions with a round arrow beneath the name, activate each house, one at a time in clockwise order, starting with the one that has just been placed, performing the action for the owner of each house.
- For city regions without a round arrow beneath the name, activate only the house that has just been placed.
Tip: When placing houses in the city, initially place the house on its side to make it easier to track which house is newest, and which houses will be activated in what order. When all regions have been resolved, place the house in its normal position.