Toscana (2001)
Toscana (2001) Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
1 board, 16 "roof" cards, 16 "paving" cards, 30 chips, 2 veto stones.
Object of the Game
The players try to place their cards each time so that at the end of the game the largest possible connected area of their own colour has been formed.
The Cards
The special feature of the cards is that each card has the size of 2x4 spaces of the board, but of these 8 spaces only 6 have the card's own colour; the other two spaces have the colour of the opponent. Every placing of a "roof card" therefore also changes the configuration of the paving.
Rules of Play
- The players shuffle their own cards and place them in a pile face up in front of them.
- The player whose turn it is must use the top card of his pile.
- The first card that is placed must cover the middle field of the board. All other cards must be placed so that, over at least the length of one space of the board, they are placed adjacent to the own colour of an already placed card.
- "Adjacent" only counts when two sides touch; touching at corner points does not count as adjacent.
Example: Grey has placed his first card (1). Red is to move. He can now, for example, place his card (2) in position "a", because it touches a red side of card 1. Position "b" is not allowed, because no red side of card 1 is touched.
Veto
During the game each player has the possibility, once, to use his veto stone: when the opponent's next card would, in the given game situation, have too great an effect, that is to say, is "too strong". When the veto stone is used, the top card concerned of the pile must be put under the pile and the card following it must be played.
End of the Game
The game is over when a player can no longer place his next card in accordance with the rules. Then the players count the cards that together form the largest mutually connected area in their own colour.
In the example, the game is over and the player with the paving counts his score: he has 22 points. Each associated card is counted only once, even if it is touched at two different points (for example card 4 and card 7). Card B is indeed connected with card 13 and card 6, but does not belong to the largest connected area and is therefore not counted.
Attention
Each player usually has several mutually connected areas in his colour, but only the largest of them is counted. To make counting easier, one places a chip on each card that has to be counted. The player with the highest number of connected cards wins.
Rounds
Toscana is played in two rounds, in which the starting player alternates. If each player wins one game, the highest total score wins.