Venedig Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Setup
• Gameplay
  • A Player's Turn
• Action 1: Playing Cards and Building
  • Several Players Building the Same Building
  • A Player Builds Alone
  • A Building Is Placed on the Board
  • Distributing the Movement Points
  • Moving the Gondola
  • Some Rules Not to Forget
  • Awarding Gold Treasures
  • End of the Build Action
• Action 2: Drain Building Spaces of Swamp Tiles
• Action 3: Draw Cards
• End of the Game
• Two-Player Variant
• Example Turn

Components

• 42 building cards
• 1 game board with a gondola track and building spaces
• 4 master builder pieces
• 5 gondolas
• 18 gold treasure tiles
• 86 swamp tiles
• 5x Basilica (church)
• 6x Palazzo (palace)
• 6x Campo (square)
• 6x Ponte (bridge)
• 19x Casa (house)

Before playing for the first time, the round dome of the Basilica must be firmly pressed onto the star-shaped building piece.

Players: 2–5 people. Age: 10 and up. Duration: about 60 minutes.

Setup

The game board goes in the middle of the table. The board shows five districts of Venedig. The districts are separated by canals and divided into hexagonal building spaces.

• Some building spaces show colored buildings; place the matching buildings there. The remaining buildings are sorted by type and color and placed next to the board.
• The four master builders are placed on the matching colored master builder spaces on the board.
• Shuffle the building cards. Each player receives three cards as their hand. The remaining cards become a face-down draw pile next to the board.
• Shuffle the swamp tiles gold-side down and place them on all free building spaces. Note: no swamp tiles are placed on spaces that already show buildings or building-piece illustrations.
• Shuffle the treasure tiles gold-side down as well and set them in small stacks next to the board.
• Each player chooses a gondola and places it on the starting space. Unused gondolas stay in the box.

Gameplay

One player begins, then the others follow clockwise. On a turn, a player may build buildings and drain swamp tiles to create new building spaces. This earns players points, which they use to move their gondola. Finally, the player refills their hand of cards.

A Player's Turn

A player may only perform the following three actions in the order described.

1. Action: Play cards and build buildings
2. Action: Drain building spaces of swamp tiles
3. Action: Draw cards

Note: if a player forgets an action, they may not make it up later.

Action 1: Playing Cards and Building

A player may play any number of cards from their hand, even of different buildings, and lay them down in front of themselves. They may also choose not to play any cards. If they lay down matching cards, for example two Palazzo cards, they are placed in a row. Only played cards can be used to build. Each building card shows a number in its upper corners. This number states how many cards are needed to build the matching building. Buildings have different shapes and require different numbers of spaces on the board to build.

Once a player has played their building cards, exactly the buildings for which all required cards are laid out get built. For every building constructed, the players involved receive movement points for their gondola.

Building	Required spaces	Required cards	Movement points for the gondola
Casa (house)	1	1	After building, the player receives one point for their gondola.
Palazzo (palace)	2	3	After building, the player receives one point for their gondola for every neighboring undeveloped space around the Palazzo. A space is undeveloped if a swamp tile lies on it, or if the swamp tile has been removed and no building stands on it.
Campo (square)	1	3	After building, the player receives one point for their gondola for every neighboring developed space around the Campo. A space is developed if the swamp tile has been removed and a building, or part of a building, stands on it.
Basilica (church)	3	4	After building, the player receives seven points for their gondola.
Ponte (bridge)	2	3	A bridge may only be built on building spaces connected by a white dashed line across a canal. After building, the player receives one point for their gondola for every house standing in one of the two connected districts (the master builder's choice).

Several Players Building the Same Building

A player begins building a building when they lay down at least one card, but fewer than the required number of cards for a building, and no other player has cards of the same building type laid out. This player immediately receives the master builder piece of the matching building color, as a sign that they hold the role of master builder for this building.

Another player takes part in building a building when they lay down at least one card, or the remaining cards needed to build it, in front of themselves. They receive the master builder piece for this building type if they have more cards laid out than the player who was previously master builder. If the player has fewer or the same number of cards laid out, the master builder piece stays with the other player.

Note: a player may never play more than the required building cards for a building. This means, for example, that a player may not play three cards to build a Basilica if two cards for the Basilica are already laid out in front of another player, just to obtain the master builder piece. They may only play two cards.

Example: Jürgen plays two cards for the Basilica. This means he has more cards laid out than Klaus. Jürgen receives the master builder piece.

A Player Builds Alone

A player builds a building alone when no other player is involved in building it. This is possible in two cases.

1. Possibility: the player has already played at least one card and then added the remaining cards on later turns. For example, the player plays one card for a bridge on one turn and adds two more bridge cards on another turn. In this case, no cards of the same building type may be laid out in front of other players.
2. Possibility: a player plays all the required cards of one building type in a single turn, for example four cards for a Basilica. They thereby take on the role of master builder without receiving the matching colored master builder piece. The piece stays either with a player or on the master builder space. A player can also build alone in this way even when other players already have cards of this building laid out in front of them. These cards and the master builder piece stay where they are.

A Building Is Placed on the Board

As soon as the player whose turn it is has played their cards, the buildings for which all required cards have been played are built. It does not matter whether the required cards lie in front of one player or several players.

Building only happens on free building spaces. These are spaces without a building and without a swamp tile. Building spaces that show building-piece illustrations are also free building spaces.

Note: the entire building site, meaning all required building spaces for a building, must be free. If there is not enough space for a building, it cannot be built, and the cards for the building to be built are placed on the discard pile with no other effect.

A player building alone takes the building to be built from the supply next to the board and places it on a building site of their choice.

If several players are involved in building a building, the player holding the master builder piece decides where it is built. The master builder takes the building to be built from the supply next to the board and places it on a building site of their choice.

Note: some buildings require multiple building spaces.

Distributing the Movement Points

If only one player is involved in building a building, they alone receive the full number of points for that building, for example seven points for building a Basilica.

If several players are involved in building a building, meaning they each have at least one card of this building laid out in front of them, then all these players receive points. The master builder receives the full number of points, and all other players involved in the building receive half the points (rounded down).

Example: Klaus and Jürgen have built a Palazzo. There are 6 spaces around the Palazzo, of which 5 are undeveloped. Master builder Jürgen receives 5 points and Klaus receives 2 points.

Moving the Gondola

Once it is clear who receives how many points, the gondolas of the players involved in building are moved forward from the starting space toward the goal. The master builder moves their gondola forward first, according to their points, followed by the other players involved in the building, in clockwise order. A player who builds a building alone naturally also moves their gondola alone.

Note: only one gondola may ever stand on a gondola space at a time. Spaces occupied by gondolas are skipped and not counted!

Example: Jürgen (green) moves his gondola forward 7 spaces; the space with Klaus's (red) gondola does not count. Afterward, Klaus moves his gondola forward 3 spaces, and in doing so can overtake Jürgen again.

Some Rules Not to Forget

• After the gondolas are moved, the master builder piece of the building just constructed returns to its space on the board (unless the player built alone without using a master builder piece), and the required cards go to the discard pile.
• On their turn, a player may build several buildings one after another and move their gondola accordingly for each. The player decides in which order the buildings are built. In rare cases, a player may even build the same building twice in one turn, once alone and once together with other players.
• Houses (Casa) have one special feature: they have no master builder. Once played, the building card goes to the discard pile and the gondola is moved. A player may also build several houses one after another.

Awarding Gold Treasures

If the gondola of a player involved in building a building stands adjacent to a district in which a building is currently being erected, that player additionally receives a gold treasure as a reward. This applies regardless of whether the player is building alone or together with others. The master builder may take a treasure tile first, followed by the other players involved, in clockwise order. When building a bridge, it is enough to have a gondola standing at either of the two connected districts.

If a player is involved in a building, the following order applies:

1. The master builder decides in which district the building is built.
2. All players involved in the building whose gondola is at that moment standing at a shore of that district may draw a treasure tile from the supply next to the board and place it in front of themselves.
3. Afterward, the gondolas are moved forward.

The gold treasures show values of 3 to 6 gold pieces on the reverse side. The treasures can be exchanged for movement points just like the reverse sides of the swamp tiles (see "Action 2: Drain Building Spaces of Swamp Tiles"). Players should keep their gold pieces secret from the others. In the rare case that the supply of treasure tiles is empty, the player exceptionally receives no treasure.

Note: gondola space "10/45" is adjacent to all four surrounding districts. Gondola spaces "57" to "60" and the starting space do not belong to any district. All other gondola spaces are otherwise adjacent to one or two districts.

End of the Build Action

At the end of the build action, a player may have cards of at most two different building types laid out in front of themselves. This means they may only be involved in building at most two different buildings at a time. If a player has cards of more than two different building types laid out in front of them, they must place the excess building types on the discard pile, of their choice.

Action 2: Drain Building Spaces of Swamp Tiles

After the build action, a player should create new free building spaces. They do this by taking one or two swamp tiles of their choice from the board. They may also choose to skip this action. The newly freed building spaces can now be built on (but no longer by the player whose turn it currently is, since their build action has already ended).

The player places the removed swamp tiles in front of themselves. The other side of each tile shows 0–2 gold pieces. The player should keep the number of their gold pieces secret from their fellow players.

At any point during their turn, a player may exchange their collected gold pieces for movement points. For every five gold pieces, the player receives one movement point for their own gondola. Every player may also exchange gold pieces for movement points at the end of the game.

Note: gold pieces from treasure tiles and from swamp tiles may be mixed together when exchanging. Swamp tiles are removed from the game entirely, while treasure tiles return to the supply next to the board and are shuffled back in face down. No change is given; excess gold is forfeited.

Action 3: Draw Cards

After draining, the player must draw cards to their hand. They have two options, one of which they must choose:

1. Possibility: the player draws one card from the face-up card pool next to the draw pile, or draws the top card from the face-down draw pile.
2. Possibility: the player first plays one card from their hand face up next to the draw pile, creating a card pool, and then takes exactly three cards from the pool and/or the draw pile into their hand. The building type the player adds to the pool must not already be present there. If they want to draw from both the pool and the pile, they must take cards from the pool first! However, the player may not take back the card they just placed.

A player may never have more than five cards in hand. Therefore, they may not use the second drawing option if it would exceed their hand limit. After drawing the card(s), the player's turn ends. The next player clockwise takes their turn, in turn performing actions 1–3.

If the draw pile runs out, the discard pile is shuffled and becomes the new draw pile.

Note: if a player has ended their turn and there are four building cards in the pool next to the draw pile, these cards are immediately placed on the discard pile.

End of the Game

The game ends as soon as one building type has been completely built, or as soon as a gondola reaches or moves past the goal space marked "60".

Players who were involved in the last building built may still move their gondolas. No further building may be built, no further building space may be drained, and no further cards may be drawn.

Going clockwise, every player may still exchange gold pieces for movement points once (5 gold pieces = 1 movement point). The player to the left of the player whose turn ended the game goes first. If the gondola space "60" is passed in doing so, the gondola posts beyond it count as additional spaces.

The player whose gondola has traveled the farthest wins the game. If gondolas stand on the gondola posts, the player whose gondola stands farthest forward on these posts has won.

Two-Player Variant

In a two-player game, an imaginary third player takes part. However, they receive no gondola and no hand cards. Their cards are laid out separately from all other cards next to the board.

When one of the two players takes their turn, they may, before or after their turn, reveal one card from the draw pile for the imaginary player. The new card for the imaginary player is immediately returned to the discard pile with no effect if it would involve the imaginary player in a third building, since they may only be involved in building two different buildings at the same time.

If the imaginary player holds a master builder piece and that building must be built, then the player whose turn it currently is chooses the building space. Otherwise, the same rules apply to the imaginary player as to the two real players.

Example Turn

Klaus is on his turn. He plays two building cards for a bridge. Jürgen also has a bridge card laid out. He hands the master builder piece to Klaus. All required cards for the bridge are now laid out. But it is not built immediately, because Klaus wants to also play two Casa cards.

Now building happens. Klaus builds the first house. He places it in the district where three houses already stand. This is also the district his gondola is adjacent to, so he may take a treasure tile. He then moves his gondola forward one space and places the Casa card on the discard pile. Next Klaus builds the second house and places it in the same district. Again he may take a treasure. He moves his gondola and discards the Casa card.

As master builder, Klaus now decides where the bridge is built. He places it between two districts, on two building spaces connected by a dashed line. In one connected district, two houses stand; in the other, five houses stand. Klaus chooses the district with five houses and may therefore move five spaces forward. This time he receives no treasure tile, because his gondola is not adjacent to either of the two connected districts. Since he lands exactly behind Jürgen's gondola, he decides to exchange five gold pieces from his tile supply for one movement point. This puts him ahead of Jürgen's gondola.

Jürgen is involved in the bridge building with his bridge card. For this he receives two movement points (half of 5, rounded down), moves his gondola forward two spaces, and in doing so again skips over Klaus's gondola.

At the end of the build action, the three bridge cards are placed on the discard pile and the master builder piece is returned to its space on the board.

As his second action, Klaus takes two swamp tiles from two building spaces and places them in front of himself. Finally, he plays a Palazzo card into the pool and draws one card from the pool and two cards from the draw pile into his hand. This ends his turn.