The Gardens of the Alhambra
The Gardens of the Alhambra Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Game Material
- 36 Octagonal Garden Tiles — Each one shows 4 different tree types: Lemon, Orange, Palm, and Lavender, in different numbers (from 1 to 6). There are always an equal number of trees per color on a tile.
- 1 Game Board with a score track.
- 4 Towers for keeping score — in Purple, Green, Yellow, and Orange.
- 1 set of rules
- 49 Square Building Tiles — On one side is the foundation of a certain building type and a corresponding value (from 1 to 5) and on the other side is the finished building.
The Building Tiles are:
- Pavillion — Value "1" (x10)
- Serail — Value "2" (x10)
- Arkaden — Value "3" (x10)
- Gemächer — Value "4" (x10)
- Turm — Value "5" (x9)
Goal of the Game
Plant your trees so that you have the greater number of trees next to the most valuable Palace buildings at the end.
Note: The value of an individual palace building is found on the back.
Game Preparation
The game board is put in the center of the table.
The players randomly distribute the Building Tiles with the number side face up on the square spaces of the game board. Exactly one tile is placed on each space so the arrows on the tiles are pointing in the same direction as the arrows on the spaces.
Each player takes a Tower in the color of their choice and sets it on the zero space of the score track.
The Garden Tiles are shuffled face down and placed beside the game board. Each player draws a Garden Tile into their hand.
The oldest player begins. The remaining players follow clockwise around the table.
Game Turn
Placing a Garden Tile
The player whose turn it is places his Garden Tile on any, empty octagonal field on the board and draws a new Garden Tile from the Supply afterwards.
The game continues after all Garden Tiles from the Supply are used up. Everybody places their tiles until all the tiles have been placed.
In the first turn...
... the starting player may not place a Garden Tile on an edge or a corner space.
The edge and corner fields are illegal placements in the starting player's first turn.
During each further turn ...
... a Garden Tile must be placed in such a way that it is adjacent to at least one Garden Tile already on the board. The edge and corner spaces may be also be played on after the first tile has been played by the starting player.
Correctly placing means that the Garden Tiles are placed directly next to each other and touch on at least one edge.
Align the Garden Tiles in such a way that one tree type borders an adjacent Building Tile.
Scoring a Building Tile
As soon as a Building Tile is completely enclosed by Garden Tiles it gets scored.
Under normal conditions four Garden Tiles are necessary to enclose a Building Tile; for the Building Tiles on the edge of the board, two Garden Tiles are sufficient, and in the corner one Garden Tile is enough to enclose it.
Note: It is possible that several Building Tiles are completely enclosed at the same time after the placement of a Garden Tile. Naturally all of these buildings are then scored.
Who gets the points?
Only the player who has planted most trees of his color around the Building Tile gets the points for the tile.
Example: Orange has 5 trees next to the tile and will score the points for this building (Green: 4 trees, Purple: 2 trees, Yellow: 3 trees).
It doesn't matter if the trees of a player are distributed over several Garden Tiles around the Building Tile.
Example: Purple has a total of 6 trees, more than Orange, and wins the points for the Building (Green: 0 trees, Orange: 5 trees, Yellow: 0 trees).
If there is a tie for the most trees around a Building Tile, then the player with the next highest number of trees next to that Building Tile wins.
Example: Orange and Purple are tied (i.e., they have the same number of trees), the points then go to the second highest number; in this case it is Green.
A player who doesn't have a tree around the building receives the points for the Building Tile if all other players are tied.
Example: All 3 players have the same number of trees; the points go to Yellow, although no lemon tree (Yellow) was planted here.
Should all 4 players have the same number of trees then nobody wins the points for the building. This is also the case if 2 players have the same number of trees.
Example: Orange and Green have the most trees in both examples. Because the next players (Purple and Yellow) are also tied with each other (in the left example with 3, in the right example with 0 trees) nobody scores any points.
How many points are to be won?
The more types of trees which are placed around a Building Tile, the better: The value of the Building Tile is multiplied by the number of tree types, and the result is recorded on the score track.
Example: All four tree types are represented. The winner Orange receives 4 (tree types) x 3 (property value) = 12 points.
With 2 or 3 players there are one or two tree types which don't belong to any player. Points for these colors are not scored.
Example: Three tree types enclose the building tile. Orange and Purple are tied, so Green is the winner and scores 3 x 3 = 9 points.
The Building Tile is turned over after it has been scored even if nobody receives the points (e.g., with a tie).
End of the Game
The game is finished when all the Gardens of the Alhambra are planted and all palace buildings are established. The player with the highest score is the winner. In case of a tie, the players share the victory.
Tactical Tips
Building Tiles in the center of the game board are the most difficult to win, but they are the most lucrative: their value may get quadrupled. Building Tiles at the edge of the board are easier to win, result at best the double their value, while tiles in the corner spaces can never score more than their base value.
Variants
- The players begin the game with three Garden Tiles. On their turn, each player plays one Garden Tile and then refills their hand to three tiles as long as there are still tiles in the Supply. Once the Supply is depleted, the players continue to play tiles until the game is over. Otherwise there are no changes. (Note: This variant can increase the playing time.)
- If you play with two persons and like tricky games, let each player play with two colors. The colors are separately rated. The points are added only at the end.