The Architects of the Colosseum Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Objective
• Setup
• Game Flow
  • A — Expand Storage
  • B — Expand a Landscape and Produce Building Materials
  • Tile Row Empty
  • Hand Card Limit
  • C — Build a Colosseum Section
  • D — Choose a Landscape to Score
• End of Game
• Variant

Components

• 1 building area
• 4 starting displays
• 3 scoring tiles
• 16 storage tiles
• 1 game board
• 1 Consul figure
• 72 building material cards (18 of each landscape type)
• 20 Colosseum building pieces
• 58 landscape tiles (16 of level I, 20 of level II, 22 of level III)
• 81 fame point chips (42 of value 1, 13 of value 2, 20 of value 4, 6 of value 7)
• 4 movement markers

Objective

The players build the great Colosseum together. The Consul is the central figure, because only with his help do the players reach the right landscapes to produce the important building materials. But what good are all the raw materials if you cannot store them? Here, too, the Consul helps, with storage. Stables help to steer the Consul's path to one's own advantage.

With their building materials, each player tries to contribute as much as possible to the construction of the Colosseum, in order to earn as many fame points as possible.

When construction of the Colosseum is finished, the player who was able to gather the most fame over the course of construction wins.

Setup

1. The game board is placed in the middle of the table.
2. Each player randomly receives 1 starting display (consisting of 4 landscapes).
3. Each player receives 1 movement marker, which they place on the stable tile (the topmost landscape), on the leftmost space of the wheel.
4. The building material cards are sorted by the 4 building materials into stacks and placed ready.
5. The Consul is placed on the space next to the well.
6. The 16 storage tiles form a stack in the middle of the game board.
7. The landscape tiles marked with a Roman I on the back are shuffled face down and dealt face up into 4 rows of 4 tiles each, radiating out from the game board.
8. The landscape tiles marked with Roman II and III on the back are each shuffled face down separately and kept ready as separate draw stacks at the edge of the play area.
9. The Colosseum building pieces are sorted by letter, shuffled face down, and then stacked face down on top of one another, starting with C, then B, and A on top.
10. The top 4 Colosseum building pieces are placed face up on the 4 correspondingly marked spaces of the game board.
11. The box bottom with the insert is placed next to the game board. The building area is placed on top of the insert.
12. A 1, a 2, and a 4 fame point chip are placed on each of the last 3 building sections of the Colosseum.
13. The remaining fame points are placed ready.
14. Each player may take 1 building material card of their choice from any draw stack into their hand.
15. The player who most recently built something becomes the starting player. The player to the starting player's left receives 1 fame point at the start. The 3rd player clockwise receives 2, and the 4th player receives 3 fame points.

Game Flow

Beginning with the starting player, play proceeds clockwise. On their turn, the active player must move the Consul 1 space clockwise (this costs no movement point). Afterward they may move him further forward as many additional spaces as they like. For each additional space they must spend 1 movement point, moving the movement marker 1 wheel to the right each time. Once the marker has reached the rightmost wheel of the row with the stable tiles, the player has no more movement points available. However, they can still buy additional steps by giving up fame points (1 fame point = 1 movement).

The Consul is always moved from one Consul marking to the next. Once the player has finished moving the Consul completely, they carry out 1 action. Which actions are available to them depends on where the Consul ends up at the end of his movement.

A — Expand Storage

If the Consul has come to a stop on one of the two red-marked spaces (next to the storage stack), the player may discard 1 hand card of their choice and take 1 storage tile in exchange, attaching it to the right of the storage in their starting display. This increases their hand card limit (4 cards at the start of the game) by 2 further cards. If the player discards no card, they receive no storage tile.

Example: The player may now hold up to 8 cards in hand.

If the Consul has come to a stop on one of the blue-marked spaces, the player must choose between action B and action C. They cannot carry out both! But they must choose one of the two actions.

B — Expand a Landscape and Produce Building Materials

The player takes the frontmost landscape tile (the one lying closest to the game board) that is adjacent to the space on which the Consul stands. They attach it to the right of the matching landscape in their starting display, thereby expanding it. If they do not yet own that landscape, they instead attach it below their starting display.

The remaining tiles in the row are moved up toward the game board. No replacement tile is drawn yet for the tile that was taken. This happens only once all 4 tiles of a row have been removed (see below).

Taking a tile immediately triggers a scoring for all players. The tile that is scored is the tile of this row that is now closest to the game board. Each player — beginning with the active player, then clockwise — may immediately take as many building material cards of this landscape from the supply as they have tiles of this landscape in their display.

Should the card stack of a given type ever be used up, players receive only the cards that are still available, or — in the extreme case — none at all. If a player can therefore take no cards, they receive 1 fame point instead, as if they had voluntarily declined to take cards (see below).

Example: The player has moved the Consul. He now takes the water tile and places it below his starting display, since he did not yet have a water tile there. This triggers a scoring for grain (marked green). Since he himself has 1 grain tile in his display, he receives 1 grain card. All other players who likewise own grain landscapes also receive grain cards, according to the number of their grain tiles.

The tile just taken counts — if it fits — immediately for the active player too.

Example: The player takes a grain tile and thereby expands his grain landscape. Since the next tile is also grain, grain is now scored (marked green). The tile just taken counts immediately as well, so the player receives 2 grain cards.

When a stable tile is scored, the movement marker is moved all the way to the left, onto the first wheel in the row of stable tiles.

If a stable tile is taken, the movement points increase immediately by the wheels shown on it (1 or 2), since it, too, is attached to the right like every other tile.

If a player declines the scoring (that is, they take no cards or movement points at all, even though they would be entitled to them), they may take 1 fame point from the supply. They may only do this if they decline the scoring completely. Should they, for example, be entitled to 3 cards, take only 1 card and decline the rest, they receive no fame point.

Example: The player takes the forest tile, thereby scoring movement points, since the next tile is a stable tile (marked green). He moves his movement marker onto the leftmost wheel. Had he declined instead, he could have taken 1 fame point.

Tile Row Empty

If a player takes the last tile from a column, 4 new tiles are revealed from the face-down draw stack. Here, the tiles of the II draw stack are used first, followed by those of the III draw stack. The first revealed tile that now lies adjacent to the game board is scored.

In the exceptional case that the III stack is also used up, no further tiles are placed at that spot. In that case, no more tile can be acquired there, and so no further scoring can be carried out there either.

Hand Card Limit

After a player has taken cards, they must check their hand card limit (4 at the start of the game) against their own storage tiles. The player may first take on more cards than their limit, but must then discard cards of their choice until they have reached their limit.

C — Build a Colosseum Section

The player takes the Colosseum building piece that lies next to the Consul's position and inserts it — starting at space "I" — into the next free slot going clockwise in the building area. To do so, they return the required cards to the supply. Missing building material cards may each be replaced by 3 matching cards of a different type. For building, they take the fame points shown on the building piece. Fame points may be kept secret from the other players, and may also be exchanged at any time.

Example: The player decides not to take the stable tile, but instead to build on the Colosseum. He gives up 2 water cards and 1 stone card, inserts the piece into the first building section, and takes 4 fame points.

After building, a new Colosseum building piece is placed face up on the now-empty space of the game board.

When building one of the last 3 building sections, the player additionally receives the fame points displayed there.

D — Choose a Landscape to Score

On this space, the active player must decide which landscape is scored for all players. They receive no additional landscape tile for doing so. It is also possible to score the stable for everyone, in order to gain movement points.

End of Game

The game ends immediately as soon as the Colosseum is completed — that is, once the 17th building piece has been placed in the building area. Now the players who hold the most tiles in each of the 6 rows of their display (stable, storage, and the 4 landscapes) receive additional fame points. If a player alone holds the majority in a row, they receive 4 fame points. In case of a tie, all players involved receive 2 fame points. In addition, every player receives 1 fame point for each set of 3 building material cards of their choice.

Example: Klaus and Jürgen have equally many tiles at the stables and at the mountains. Both players therefore receive 2 fame points each for these rows. Klaus has the majority at the river and at grain, and receives 4 fame points for each of these landscapes. Jürgen has the majority at storage and at forest, and receives 4 fame points for each of these. Since Klaus still has 4 hand cards, he receives 1 further fame point. Jürgen receives no fame point for his 2 remaining hand cards.

Now the players count their fame points. The player who was able to gain the most fame points stands highest in the Emperor's favor and wins the game as the best architect of the Roman Empire. In case of a tie for first place, the player among them with the most remaining hand cards wins. Should there still be a tie even then, there are multiple winners.

Variant

Anyone who wishes may vary the scoring on space D. To do this, the players may select a particular scoring tile before the game, or shuffle the tiles and draw one at random. The following scoring types are available:

The player who moves the Consul onto space D:

• Receives 1 victory point.
• May recharge their movement points alone.
• May take 1 building material card of their choice from a draw stack.
• May exchange their hand cards 2:1 with the draw stacks. The cards given up do not need to be of the same type.
• May take the top landscape tile from the draw stack and attach it to their display.
• May decide whether to score the stable or any landscape for all players.