Rialto Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Material
• Game Setup
• The Doge Track
• Game Sequence
  • Phase I - Preparation, receive cards and use green building tiles
  • Phase II - Play cards and use yellow building tiles
    • The cards and their actions
  • Phase III - Use blue building tiles
  • End of the Round
• End of the Game
  • Final Scoring
• Buildings
  • Green building tiles (for Phase I - only usable AFTER all card rows have been chosen)
  • Yellow building tiles (for Phase II)
  • Blue building tiles (for Phase III)
• Additional Variant for 2 Players
• Credits

Game Material

• 1 game board. It shows the 6 districts of Venice, the victory point track and the Doge track, and provides space for the material supply.
• 5 player boards. They hold the players' personal material: buildings, gold and councilmen.
• 77 cards. 11 each of Doge, Gold, Building, Bridge, Gondola, Councilman and Joker. They trigger the players' actions (see Phase II).
• 18 councilmen each in 5 player colors. They must be brought into the districts and score points there at the end of the game.
• 2 counters each in 5 player colors for the victory point track and the Doge track.
• 1 district figure. It shows the current district.
• 60 building tiles. 12 different buildings, 5 copies each. Buildings score victory points and provide additional functions (overview below).
• 6 bridge tiles. They are built between districts and influence their value (each has 2 values from 3 to 6).
• 6 gondola tiles. They are built between districts and influence their value (all value 1).
• 30 gold coins. They are needed to activate the building functions.
• 6 round tiles. They mark the order in which the districts are played (numbers 1 to 6).
• 2 bonus tiles for the two sides of the Grand Canal. They indicate whether the district bonus has already been awarded.

Game Setup

1. Lay out the game board and leave space next to it for laying out the card rows later.
2. Distribute the 6 round tiles randomly onto the districts.
3. Stack the gondola tiles and place them on the gondola space.
4. Shuffle the bridge tiles with the number side face down, stack them, turn the stack over and place it as a face-up stack on the bridge space (only the top tile is visible).
5. Place the two bonus tiles for indicating the district bonus onto the bonus spaces.
6. Sort the building tiles and place them on the building spaces.
7. Stack the coins on the corresponding space.
8. Shuffle the cards well and place them as a face-down draw pile next to the game board.
9. Randomly determine a starting player.
10. Each player takes 1 player board and the counters of their color.
11. Each player places one counter on the first space of the Doge track, with the starting player's counter on top and the other players' counters below it in clockwise order (meaning of the Doge track: see below).
12. Each player places one counter on the space "3" of the victory point track (marked with the moon), in any order.
13. Each player places 5 councilmen on their player board (personal supply) and the remaining councilmen on the corresponding space of the game board (general supply).
14. Coins: Depending on the number of players, players receive the corresponding number of coins, beginning with the starting player and continuing clockwise:
    • 2 players: 1 - 2
    • 3 players: 1 - 2 - 3
    • 4 players: 1 - 2 - 2 - 3
    • 5 players: 1 - 2 - 2 - 2 - 3
15. Starting buildings: Beginning with the right-hand neighbor of the starting player and then continuing counterclockwise, each player chooses one value-1 building. With 2 or 3 players, each building may be chosen only once in total. With 4 or 5 players, each building may be chosen at most twice in total.

The Doge Track

The Doge track shows the players' influence with the Doge. The placement on the Doge track decides:

• when a tie must be broken;
• when the order of play is relevant during the game (except for the exceptions described in the text).

In the case of a tie on the Doge track, the player whose counter lies higher up is placed further ahead.

Game Sequence

The game lasts 6 rounds, and each round consists of 3 phases. Each phase is assigned a color of building tile that can be used to support that phase. You activate the functions shown on your own building tiles by placing a coin on an empty building tile (building overview below).

Quick overview:

• Phase I: Each player receives 8 cards, of which they may keep 7. By using "green building tiles" a player gains advantages on this basic rule.
• Phase II: In 6 sections the cards are played and thereby the corresponding actions A - F are triggered. The "yellow building tiles" can be used in support.
• Phase III: "Blue building tiles" can be used.

Phase I - Preparation, receive cards and use green building tiles

• Place the district figure: The figure is placed in the current district, with the round tiles indicating the order of the districts (so in the 1st round to the tile with the 1, etc.).
  • Note: The councilmen are deployed into the current district this round (see Phase II - F).
• Lay out cards: Using cards from the draw pile, rows of 6 face-up cards each are laid out next to the game board - one row more than there are players.
  • Tip: It is best to distribute the cards onto the rows one at a time.
  • If the draw pile is empty, the discard piles are shuffled thoroughly and form the new draw pile.
• Choose a card row: In the order of placement on the Doge track, each player takes into their hand:
  • one of the card rows (i.e. 6 cards),
  • 2 cards from the draw pile, and
  • possibly cards from the previous round.
  • By using green building tiles, further cards may be taken.
• Reduce the hand: Players may normally keep only 7 cards for the next phase. This hand limit can be raised by using green building tiles. Excess cards are placed by the players on their own face-down discard piles (this avoids confusion with the draw pile and makes later shuffling easier).

Phase II - Play cards and use yellow building tiles

This phase consists of 6 sections (A - F). In each of these sections exactly one of the 6 card types is played, possibly supplemented by Joker cards. Each card type is linked to a certain action (see below).

General rules for the individual sections:

• Starting player: The leader of the Doge track begins the 1st section (A). In each of the 5 following sections, the player who received the majority bonus of the previous section begins.
  • Note: If no one played a card in the previous section, the same player remains the starting player.
• Sequence: Beginning with the starting player, each player clockwise plays, exactly once, any number of cards of the type matching the section, or passes. A player need not play all matching cards: cards not played by the end of the round are kept in hand for the next round.
• Evaluation: Each player carries out the action of the section depending on the number of cards they played.
• Majority bonus: Whoever played the most cards receives a bonus, which they carry out additionally as part of their action. The bonus is forfeited if no one played a card.

During this phase, players may use the yellow building tiles.

Notes:

• In the case of ties regarding the number of cards, or when the order of actions is relevant, the placement on the Doge track decides.
• Played cards are placed on your own face-down discard pile at the end of each section.
• The number of cards in hand is not secret.

The cards and their actions

A - Doge In the order of placement on the Doge track, each player advances 1 step on the Doge track per card played. If they land on an occupied space, the counter is placed on top. Majority bonus: 1 additional step on the Doge track (to be moved together with the other steps).

B - Gold Each player receives 1 gold coin from the general supply per card played and places it on the coin space of their player board. Majority bonus: 1 additional gold coin.

C - Building The player takes a building whose value is less than or equal to the number of cards they played. The building is placed on a free space of the player board. Each player may own each building any number of times (building overview and special cases below). Majority bonus: +1 to the number of cards.

D - Bridge Each player receives 1 victory point per card played. Players who played no card have 1 victory point deducted. Majority bonus: The player receives 1 additional victory point and places the top bridge tile on any free connection space between two districts. The player decides which number of the bridge is assigned to which district.

E - Gondola Each player receives 1 councilman from the general supply per card played and places it on their player board. If no councilman of their own remains in the supply, the player receives 1 victory point per missing councilman. Majority bonus: Place a gondola tile on any free connection space between two districts and place 1 of your councilmen from the general supply into one of the two districts next to the placed gondola tile. If no councilman of your own remains in the supply, the player instead receives 1 victory point and may deploy a councilman from the personal supply or move a previously deployed councilman. District bonus: The player who first has at least one councilman in all three districts on one side of the Grand Canal immediately receives 5 victory points and turns over the bonus tile of the corresponding color.

F - Councilman For each card played, players deploy 1 of their own councilmen from the player board into the current district. If the player does not have enough councilmen on the player board, they may withdraw them from other districts and move them into the current district. Majority bonus: Deploy 1 additional councilman from the player board. District bonus: See E. If several players achieve this in a section F, they all receive this bonus.

* Joker In each section, Joker cards may be played in addition to a card type. A Joker cannot be played on its own. A player may, however, play 2 Jokers instead of a card they do not have in hand. For determining the majority, the 2 Jokers count only as 1 card, though! Further Jokers may also be played together with these 2 Jokers.

Phase III - Use blue building tiles

The blue building tiles can only be used in this phase. They are activated by a player placing one of their gold coins on them.

Example: The player uses the blue building with the 1. They return the green building tile with the 2 and receive the green building tile with the 3.

End of the Round

All coins lying on the buildings are returned to the general supply.

End of the Game

The game ends after the 6th round. A final scoring follows.

Final Scoring

• Each player adds up their coins and councilmen in their personal supply. They receive half of this sum as victory points (rounded up).
• Each player receives victory points for their buildings. The printed value of the buildings equals the number of victory points.
• In each district, a separate majority scoring is carried out. The number of councilmen in a district decides the ranking by which the victory points are awarded. In the case of a tie, the placement on the Doge track decides:
  • 1st place: sum of the values of all bridge and gondola tiles adjacent to the district.
  • 2nd place: half the points for 1st place (rounded down).
  • 3rd place: half the points for 2nd place (rounded down).
  • and so on (not represented in the district - no points).
  • Note: As a memory aid for which districts have already been scored, after a scoring you can either remove the councilmen from the district or turn over/remove the relevant round tile.

The player with the most victory points wins. In the case of a tie, the placement on the Doge track decides.

Example: At the 4th district lie the bridges with values 5 and 4 as well as two gondolas (value 1). For 1st/2nd/3rd/4th place there are then 11/5/2/1 points.

Buildings

All buildings have a function that can be activated by paying with a coin, whereby the coin is placed on the building. A player can only activate a building if there is not yet a coin on it (i.e. only once per round). Only at the end of a round are the coins returned from the buildings to the general supply.

Special cases:

• A player who has more than 4 value points available to build with may, in addition to the value-4 building, take a second building for the remaining amount.
• Each player has space for only 7 buildings. If they need more space, they must return already-built buildings to the supply. They immediately advance the value of the returned building on the victory point track.

Each building tile is assigned by its color to one of the three phases in which it can be used:

Green building tiles (for Phase I - only usable AFTER all card rows have been chosen)

• The player may take 1 card from the remaining face-up row or 3 cards from the draw pile.
• For the current round, the hand limit is increased by 1.
• The player may take 1 card from the face-up row or 3 cards from the draw pile. In addition, the hand limit for the current round is increased by 1.
• The player may take 1 card from the face-up row or 3 cards from the draw pile. In addition, the hand limit for the current round is increased by 2.

Yellow building tiles (for Phase II)

• Wait: The player passes once and is next in turn again only after every other player has had a turn. In addition, they receive 1 coin from the general supply.
• When playing cards, the player may use exactly 1 card as 1 other card. Example: 1 Gold card can be used as 1 Doge card, to advance 1 step on the Doge track.
• The building is used as 1 additional Joker card. It is permitted to play, together with a Joker from the hand, a card type otherwise not in hand, since 2 Jokers replace any card.
• When playing cards, the player may use exactly 1 card as 2 identical cards of another type.

Blue building tiles (for Phase III)

• The player returns a building and takes for it a building tile of the same color that is worth 1 point more. This building may only be used in the next round.
• The player moves their counter forward on the Doge track by as many spaces as their current placement on the Doge track. Example: Whoever is in 3rd place on the Doge track may move forward 3 spaces.
• The player receives 1 victory point and may take 1 of their own councilmen from the general supply into the personal supply. If no councilman remains, the player receives 1 additional victory point.
• The player receives 3 victory points.

Additional Variant for 2 Players

The above rules also work very well for 2 players. Whoever wants more competition and/or would like to try a somewhat more demanding version can use the following rule variant, in which a virtual third player takes part. This player does not collect victory points, but provides more competition on the Doge track, in the bonuses of sections A - F, and in the districts. We recommend, however, first playing a few games with the standard rules.

Setup and general points:

• The virtual player (VP) becomes the starting player. It is drawn by lot which player sits behind the VP. This player receives 1 gold coin, the other 2 gold coins. 3 card rows are laid out.
• The VP receives all their councilmen into their personal supply and needs some space to lay out their hand of cards face up.
• The VP receives no victory points, no gold coins and builds no buildings. However, they receive a counter on the Doge track.
• With their 2nd counter the VP marks the connection between district 1 and the neighboring district with the lowest number. This counter marks the place where the VP places a bridge or a gondola if they receive the corresponding majority bonus in Phase II D or E.
  • Notes:
    • The connection marked with the counter may be built over with a bridge or gondola by all players.
    • If the counter is built over, its new place is determined as follows: You look for the district with the lowest number that is not yet connected to all its neighboring districts by bridges and gondolas. From these not-yet-connected districts, you determine the one with the lowest number, and the counter is placed on the connection leading there.

Phase I After both players have finished Phase I, 7 cards are drawn for the VP. The cards are sorted by sections A - F and laid out face up. All Jokers are assigned to the councilman cards (F).

Phase II When playing cards, i.e. in Phase II, the VP is treated largely like a normal player:

• A - Doge: They advance on the Doge track.
• B - Gold: No action (but may prevent a player's bonus).
• C - Building: No action (but may prevent a player's bonus).
• D - Bridge: (only in the case of the bonus, otherwise no action): The bridge is placed on the connection marked with the counter, with the lower number toward the district with the smaller number. Then the counter is placed on the next free connection.
• E - Gondola: (only in the case of the bonus, otherwise no action): The gondola is placed on the connection marked with the counter. The VP places 1 councilman at each end of the gondola. Then the counter is placed on the next free connection.
• F - Councilman: The VP deploys councilmen and thereby influences the point scoring for the other players. If they have no councilmen left in supply, they use the councilmen of a further neutral color.

Section E/F: If the VP fulfills the conditions for the district bonus, the bonus marker is turned over as usual.

Phase III In Phase III the VP carries out no action.

Credits

Author: Stefan Feld. Illustration: Andreas Resch. Graphic design: Andreas Resch, Hans-Georg Schneider. Realization: Ralph Bruhn. Copyright © 2013 Pegasus Spiele GmbH.