Colonia
Colonia Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
- Game Components
- Object of the Game
- Sequence of Play
- Monday: Prepare for the Week
- Tuesday: Votes of the City Council and Determination of Player Order
- Wednesday: Acquire Resources
- Thursday: Produce Goods by Using the Acquired Resources
- Friday: Load Goods onto Ships
- Saturday: Earn Money from Ships' Cargos
- Sunday: Buy Relic Cards
- End of the Game and Final Scoring
- Survey of Some Selected Edicts
Game Components
1 game board – composed of a middle segment and 7 surrounding edge segments. Each edge segment represents a different quarter of Colonia and stands for a certain day of the week in the course of the game: Monday (Preparations for the week), Tuesday (City Council), Wednesday (Market place), Thursday (Craftsmen), Friday (Harbor), Saturday (Money), Sunday (Relics).
228 Family members – 38 cubes each in 6 player colors (yellow, blue, green, red, orange, and purple), each associated with a well-known patrician family of Colonia.
Note: There is a special edition of this game available which contains small wooden figures instead of wooden cubes.
6 Emblem markers – in the 6 colors of the players.
36 Family cards – 6 sets of cards in the 6 player colors; each set consisting of the values from 3 to 8.
6 Screens – one of each player color.
48 Relic cards – 11 relics and 1 shrine in the 4 colors of the 4 Hansa cities Bergen (beige), Bruges (Brügge, violet), London (brown), and Veliky Novgorod (Nowgorod, turquoise). Each relic card shows its coat of arms, its cost, and its victory points. A shrine doubles the victory points of a relic.
4 Stained glass window cards – 1 each from the 4 Hansa cities; these cards are needed only at the end of the game.
12 Voting cards – 1 card each of "Yes" and "No" in the 6 colors of the players.
14 Week cards – these cards arrange a new set up each round.
18 Edicts of the City Council cards – each card represents one edict brought forward to the council for voting. Each card is allocated to a certain day of the week by its number.
16 Ships – the different cargo holds indicate which goods may be loaded and how much money will be earned for the cargo. Each ship is destined for a certain city which determines the currency paid for the cargo.
60 Goods tiles – 12 each of saddle, cartwheel, painting, clothing, and footwear.
90 resources – 18 each of leather (brown), iron (black), wood (tan), linen (light blue), and fur (white).
1 cloth bag – to be filled with the resources.
Money of 4 different currencies –
- Pfund Sterling (Pound Sterling) from London (45 x 1, 15 x 5 Pfund Sterling)
- Grivna from Nowgorod (45 x 1, 15 x 5 Grivna)
- Mark from Bergen (45 x 1, 15 x 5 Mark)
- Gulden (Florin) from Brügge (45 x 1, 15 x 5 Gulden)
Please note: Throughout these rules the German names of cities and currencies are used, in accordance with the game's material.
6 small wooden bars – 5 used to mark the number of contracts of the craftsmen and 1 to mark the number of departing ships.
1 die
1 rules leaflet
Please consult the separate sheet for set up and preparing for game play; you'll find a survey of selected edicts on the last page of these rules.
Object of the Game
The players take on the role of influential patrician families in middle aged Colonia. They strive to lead their family to the most powerful position by acquiring precious relics*.
In order to achieve this, players must buy resources and produce and sell goods. Only families selling their goods for a high price can afford expensive relics.
The player owning the most valuable collection of relics at the end of the game will be the winner.
* Relics are remains of a Saint, like his bones. Also any items a Saint may have owned or touched during his lifetime are regarded as relics. These kinds of relics are worshiped by adherers of certain religions, most notably by Christians and Buddhists.
Sequence of Play
The game is played over 6 rounds, each round representing one week. Each week the 7 days of the week are dealt with in succession. A different action is performed each day:
- Monday: Prepare for the week
- Tuesday: Votes of the City Council and determination of player order
- Wednesday: Acquire resources
- Thursday: Produce goods by using the acquired resources
- Friday: Load goods onto ships
- Saturday: Earn money from ships' cargos
- Sunday: Buy relic cards
Each single day of the week is explained in detail below:
Monday: Prepare for the Week
Reveal week card
The top card of the week card deck is revealed. The arrangement of the game for this round is regulated by the card: New resources, new contracts for the craftsmen, number of ships to leave the harbor. Select one player to perform the following:
New resources
The upper half of the card shows the number of resources to be placed on the market booths. For each booth, draw as many resources as shown from the bag and place them on the appropriate market booth. The resources are drawn randomly from the bag and distributed to the market booths according to the week card.
Contracts for the craftsmen
The middle section of the card shows the number of regular contracts for the craftsmen during this week. Move the bar downward accordingly for each craftsman (in the craftsmen's quarter).
Example: The saddler fulfills 1 contract, the wainwright 2, the painter 1, the tailor 2 and the shoemaker 1. On Thursday the die is rolled 5x for extra contracts.
There are a certain number of extra contracts, indicated by the number besides the die symbol. Only on Thursday you will determine which craftsmen will obtain extra contracts.
Example: The wainwright fulfills 2 regular contracts during this week. The bar is moved down two spaces from the start position.
Ships leaving the harbor
The lower section of the card shows the number of ships leaving the harbor on Saturday. The ships leave the harbor one after the other, in order of the numbers of their respective berths, starting from berth I. Place the bar between the berths separating the leaving ships from the remaining ones.
In the 6th (last) round all 4 ships are leaving the harbor, ignoring the number shown on the week card, and the bar is placed below the fourth ship.
Example: 3 ships are leaving the harbor. The bar is placed between the 3rd and 4th berth. All ships above the bar are leaving the harbor on Saturday.
Reveal edicts
Now the top three cards of the edict card deck are revealed. Sort the cards according to their printed number in ascending order from left to right and place them on the three designated spaces in the middle of the game board. Cards with identical numbers are placed in the same order as they were revealed.
Each card's number relates to the day when voting on it will take place and it will make its impact, if at all. In case there are more edicts on a certain day than one, voting on them takes place in the order (from left to right) they are placed on the game board (see Rules for voting on edicts).
Tuesday: Votes of the City Council and Determination of Player Order
Each player plays one of their family cards on this day. This week, the player delegates as many members of his family to the council as the value (number) of the card.
Furthermore the value of the card determines the player order and is the number of votes of the player's family during each voting in the course of this week.
Delegate family members to the council
All players select one of their (remaining) family cards and play them face down on the table. Simultaneously all cards are revealed, then all players place as many of their family members on the City Hall of the game board as shown by the value of their family card.
Example: Green must assign 6 of their family members to the City Hall. This week, he has 6 votes during all votings on edicts.
Special: In case a player does not have a sufficient number of family members to place on the City Hall, they take any further members needed from the "Tuesday" street space. If these are still not sufficient, they take further ones from the next street space etc. In this case, the played family card's value counts as zero concerning all consequences involved, namely numbers of votes in the council and player order.
Note: If a player's card counts as zero, the player has no votes whatsoever and is last in player order. If several players' cards count as zero, their relative playing order of last week is reversed. (Please see below concerning cards of the same value played by several players.) To indicate their card's value as "zero" the player turns their card face down, all other cards remain face open.
Determine player order
Now the player order for the current week is determined and marked with the players' emblem markers: First, the player having played the card with the lowest value places their emblem marker on the City Hall, then the player having played the second lowest card places their emblem marker on top of the other, then the player with the next higher value places their marker on top of these two etc., until finally the player having played the card with the highest value places their marker on top of the stack. They are the mayor and always playing first for the rest of this week.
Example: The emblem markers are stacked according to the value of the cards played. Yellow is on top, so he is the mayor and first player during this week.
Example: Purple has played 7, Green 3 and both Yellow and Red have played 5. The player order of Yellow and Red is reversed. The previous week Yellow was second, Red was last. This week Purple is first, because he played the card with the highest value, Red is second, followed by Yellow. Green is last, because he had played the card with the lowest value.
The playing order of the other players is according to the position of their marker in the stack from top to bottom. The stack of emblem markers remains unchanged until Tuesday next week.
If several players play cards with the same value, their relative playing order of the previous week is reversed. The family cards played remain face up on the table in front of the players until the end of the week; they are removed from the game subsequently.
Note: If several players play cards with the same value during the first week they must roll the die, the player with the higher die roll goes first. Repeat die rolls if necessary.
Relocate family members
All players remove their family members from the street space "Tuesday" and take them back into their own supply (this step is skipped in the first week).
Then the players move all their family members from the City Hall to the street space "Tuesday", where they remain until next week.
Note: A player's family members are crucial for their actions during this week. The family members of last week return to the player's supply, the freshly assigned family members are moved to the street spaces of the appropriate day. The players should not forget that their freshly assigned family members are available again only 8 days later; they are locked up for the time in between.
In case a player wants to perform a certain action but lacks the necessary amount of family members (because all are engaged somewhere on the game board), they cannot perform the action of this day! Therefore careful planning of the assignment of one's family members is essential.
Wednesday: Acquire Resources
Voting on edicts
If there is an edict for this day, voting on it takes place now (for details please see below).
Note: The rules paragraph "Rules for voting on edicts" applies to all votings, no matter which day it is (Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday).
Rules for voting on edicts
When voting, all players choose their "Yes" or "No" card and place it face down in front of themselves.
Remember: If a player's family card is face down they do not vote!
After all players have taken their decision, the voting cards are revealed simultaneously. All votes (= values of face up family cards) are counted and added up separately for the Pro ("Yes") and the Contra faction ("No").
In case of a tie the mayor decides about the edict.
If the majority of votes is "No" the edict is rejected. Remove the edict card from the game.
If the majority of votes is "Yes" the edict is authorized. Remove the edict card from the game.
If there are several edicts on the same day, voting on each edict is done separately in order of the edicts as laid out from left to right.
Example: Purple and Green, having assigned 5 and 3 family members respectively, vote "Yes". Red and Yellow, with 7 and 4 family members in the council respectively, vote "No". The majority of votes is 11 against 8 for "No", so the edict is rejected.
Acquire resources
After voting (if there was any) players may acquire resources on the market in player order, starting with the mayor.
The active player (that is the player whose turn it is) takes all resources of any one market booth and places them behind their screen. In exchange they place the same number of their family members from their own supply on the now empty market booth as resources taken.
Example: Yellow takes the 6 resources from the first market booth and places them behind his screen. Then he places 6 of his family members from his own supply on the now empty market booth.
When a player does not want to acquire any resources or cannot do so, they pass. A player who has passed can not acquire any further resources this week.
In player order and skipping any players who had passed, the players go on acquiring resources until all players have passed. Any remaining resources on the market are put back into the bag.
Example: Extra market booths reserved for resources brought into play by edicts. All players had one turn each. It's Purple's turn again, he doesn't want to acquire any more resources and passes. Now it's Red's turn, he decides to take the 2 resources from the market booth at the bottom right, puts them behind his screen and in turn places 2 of his family members on that market booth. Then Yellow takes his turn, followed by Green. Both players may acquire resources or pass, as it seems fit.
Relocate family members
All players remove their family members from the street space "Wednesday" and take them back into their own supply (this step is skipped in the first week).
Then the players move all their family members from the market booths to the street space "Wednesday", where they remain until next week.
Thursday: Produce Goods by Using the Acquired Resources
Voting on edicts
If there is an edict for this day, voting on it takes place now (for details please see Rules for voting on edicts).
Order goods
The players may order any craftsmen to produce goods from the resources they had acquired. During their turn a player may give one order.
The active player (following the player order) puts the two resources required by the craftsman of their choice back into the bag and places their family members on the appropriate contract space as follows: If this is the first contract for this craftsman during this week, the player places 1 family member on the first unoccupied contract space from top of this craftsman. If this is the second contract for this craftsman, they place 2 family members on the second unoccupied contract space from top, no matter who concluded the first contract. If this is the third contract for this craftsman, they place 3 family members on the third unoccupied contract space from top etc.
Example: Purple, being mayor, is the first player. He wants a saddle to be produced for him. He puts one leather and one iron back into the bag, then he places 1 of his family members on the topmost unoccupied contract space of the saddler (the very top space in this case).
Example: Green is next. He wants a saddle as well. He pays the two resources (into the bag) and places 2 of his family members on the next unoccupied space from top (the second space from top in this case).
This procedure is applied to all craftsmen alike.
If a player does not want to conclude contracts any more or can not do so, they pass and can not order goods anymore this week. In player order, all players who have not passed yet proceed concluding contracts until all players have passed.
Note: The bars on the contract spaces are no barriers, family members can be placed on contract spaces above and below a bar. Contracts concluded by family members on spaces above a bar will be fulfilled for sure this week, the player will collect the good ordered no matter what. As bars can be moved downwards for extra contracts still this same day it may happen that at the end of the day some more contract spaces will be above the bar and be fulfilled still this day. Any family members on contract spaces below a bar at the end of the day stand good chances that their contract will be fulfilled the following week.
Extra contracts
After all players have passed, some or all craftsmen may obtain extra contracts.
Roll the die as many times as shown on the week card (any player may roll the die or players may agree that this is done by the mayor), each single die result from 1 to 5 determines the appropriate craftsman who will obtain this extra contract. The bar on this craftsman's contract spaces is moved one space down.
On a die result of 6 all craftsmen obtain an extra contract, all bars are moved down one space.
Example: This week the die is rolled 5 x, so there will be 5 extra contracts at least. The die roll is "4". This means there's an extra contract for the tailor, the bar is moved downwards one space. (A die roll of "6" means there's an extra contract for all craftsmen.)
Collect goods
After all extra contracts have been rolled for the players collect the goods they had ordered.
Pro each space above the bar and occupied by at least one family member the craftsman in question produces 1 good for the player the family member(s) belong to. The players take the goods and keep them behind their screen.
Note: No matter how many of their family members are on a contract space, the player will always collect 1 good only.
Example: Red collects 2 paintings, Green collects 1 painting. This week, Yellow collects no paintings because his family members are on contract spaces below the bar.
Relocate family members
All players remove their family members from the street space "Thursday" and take them back into their own supply (this step is skipped in the first week).
Then the players move all their family members which had collected goods from contracts to the street space "Thursday", where they remain until next week.
All bars on the craftsmen's contract spaces are set back to the start position.
Now any family members still remaining on contract spaces are moved upwards until the first family members reach the topmost contract spaces, retaining their relative order.
Example: The 2 spaces above the bar are empty now, the players who had family members there have collected their goods already. The bars are repositioned to the start position. Now the family members on the spaces below the bar are moved upwards as far as possible.
Next week, the conclusion of new contracts for all craftsmen will start on the first unoccupied contract space below the occupied ones. Again the first new contract for each craftsman will be concluded with 1 family member, the next contract with 2 family members etc.
Friday: Load Goods onto Ships
Voting on edicts
If there is an edict for this day, voting on it takes place now (for details please see Rules for voting on edicts).
Load goods onto ships
In player order and starting with the mayor, players now may load goods into one cargo hold of one ship.
In order to do so the active player must return to the general supply exactly the goods shown on the cargo hold of their choice, then place 1 of their family members from their own supply on this hold. A family member on a cargo hold indicates that this hold has been loaded and can not be loaded this week anymore.
Example: The player returns the goods shown on the cargo hold back to the general supply and places one of their family members on that cargo hold. There are 3 or 4 cargo holds on each ship.
If a player does not want to load goods any more or can not do so, they pass and can not load goods anymore this week.
In player order, all players who have not passed yet proceed loading goods until all players have passed.
Relocate family members
All players remove their family members from the street space "Friday" and take them back into their own supply (this step is skipped in the first week).
Note: Because the ships are leaving the harbor only on Saturday, the players move their family members from the cargo holds to the street space "Friday" only on Saturday.
Saturday: Earn Money from Ships' Cargos
Voting on edicts
If there is an edict for this day, voting on it takes place now (for details please see Rules for voting on edicts).
Earn money from ships' cargos
Now all ships above the bar are leaving the harbor (these are all 4 ships in the last round).
Note: The week card drawn on Monday shows how many ships are leaving the harbor this week, this is marked with the bar.
Starting with berth I, all cargo holds containing a family member of all leaving ships are checked.
Example: 2 ships are leaving the harbor (from berths I and II).
An amount of money as shown and of the ship's currency is paid to the player whose family member is on the cargo hold. The players keep their money hidden behind their screens.
Example: Red earns 9 Gulden because 1 of his family members is on that cargo hold of the ship sailing to Brügge.
After money has been paid for all cargo holds with family members of all leaving ships, these family members are moved to the street space "Friday", where they remain until next week.
Note: There is no street space "Saturday".
All ships having left the harbor are put aside for later use.
Any family members still remaining on cargo holds of ships which have not left the harbor stay where they are!
Note: The ships leave the harbor no matter if their cargo holds are loaded or not.
Replenish berths
Remove the bar from the harbor space. The remaining ships are moved towards berth I as far as possible.
Note: Please make sure that the family members on the ships remain in place.
Example: The two remaining ships are moved upwards as far as possible. Any family members on these ships remain where they are. The empty berths are replenished with ships drawn from the face down deck.
Now there are as many ships drawn from the deck as there are empty berths and one ship is placed on each empty berth. Once the deck of ships is exhausted, shuffle the ships put aside before and use them as new face down deck.
Sunday: Buy Relic Cards
Buy relic cards
In player order and starting with the mayor, players can buy relic cards on Sunday and collect them behind their screens.
The active player chooses one of the cards on display and then buys it by paying the cost as shown in the currency as shown to the bank, receiving change if necessary. They take the card and place it behind their screen.
Among the relic cards there are four shrines which are used for storing relics. When a player buys a shrine they
- may allocate a matching relic to it which he already owns. To indicate this, they place both cards together besides their screen. This allocation remains unchanged for the rest of the game!
or
- they leave the shrine empty and put the card aside. Each time the player buys a matching relic they must decide immediately if they want to store this relic in the shrine or not. If they want to do so, they place both cards together besides their screen. This allocation remains unchanged for the rest of the game!
A shrine doubles the victory points of the stored relic.
Note: There are two different kinds of relic cards - relics and shrines. Players buy relics and collect them behind their screens so that the other players may not see their collection. Relics are worth victory points as shown on each relic card. Shrines may be bought the same way as relics, but they aren't worth any victory points just on their own. A shrine doubles the victory points of the relic allocated to it. Only 1 relic may be stored in each shrine, the stored relic must originate from the same city as the shrine.
If a player does not want to buy relic cards any more or can not do so, they pass and can not buy any further relics this week.
In player order, all players who have not passed yet proceed buying relic cards until all players have passed.
Example: Green bought a relic from Bruges in a previous week. This week he buys a matching shrine, i. e. a shrine from Bruges, and decides to store the relic in the shrine. Because of its shrine the relic is worth 8 points at the end of the game instead of only 4.
Safeguard relic cards
In player order and starting with the mayor, players can safeguard relic cards. A safeguarded relic card will not be discarded.
In order to safeguard a relic card still on display, the player places one family member from their own supply on the chosen card.
If a player does not want to safeguard a relic card any more or can not do so, they pass and can not safeguard relic cards anymore this week. In player order, all players who have not passed yet proceed safeguarding relic cards until all players have passed.
Note: If all relics have been bought no relics can be safeguarded this week.
Example: Red safeguards the relic from Bergen. He places one family member on the card. The card remains on display until it is bought by a player.
Replenish relic cards
Now all relic cards not safeguarded are removed from the display and placed on the face up discard pile on the designated space of the game board.
Safeguarded cards and their safeguarding family members remain on display until a player buys the card or even until the end of the game if nobody is buying it. Any player may buy any safeguarded relic card. When a player buys a safeguarded relic card, they simply buy the card as usual and give the family member back to its owner.
As last step of the week the number of relic cards on display is replenished to 10. When the deck of relics is exhausted, shuffle the relics discard pile and use it as new face down deck.
Note: Any additional relic cards brought into play by an edict and which have been safeguarded are to be considered when the cards are replenished to 10. In order to make this clear these cards should be moved left to the basic display spaces.
All players discard their exposed family card and the next week begins, it is Monday again.
End of the Game and Final Scoring
The game ends after Sunday of the sixth week, to be precise after all players have finished buying relics on this day.
Now the stained glass windows are awarded to the players owning the most money of the matching currency. In case of a tie the window concerned is not awarded. The player who is awarded the window donates their money of this currency to the bank.
All players add up the victory points of their relics and stained glass window(s). The player with the most victory points is the winner of the game.
Example: Awarding the stained glass window from London: Green owns 10 Pfund Sterling, Purple owns 3 Pfund Sterling, Yellow owns 2 Pfund Sterling, Red owns 4 Pfund Sterling. Green is the player owning the largest amount of Pfund Sterling and is awarded the stained glass window from London. He pays his 10 Pfund Sterling to the bank. If there was another player owning 10 Pfund Sterling as well, nobody would have been awarded the window from London.
In case of a tie the tied player wins who owns the most money (total of all currencies).
If there is still a tie the tied player owning the most goods wins the game. If still there is no winner, the tied player owning the most resources wins the game.
If there is no winner even now, all tied players win the game together.
Example: Scoring [VP = victory points]
At the end of the game Green owns the following:
Individual relics: 1 VP + 2 VP + 2 VP + 3 VP + 3 VP = 11 VP
Relics stored in a shrine (doubles VP): 2 x 5 VP = 10 VP; 2 x 0 VP (shrine w/o relic) = 0 VP
Stained glass window: 1 x 2 VP = 2 VP
Total: 23 VP
© Copyright 2009 Queen Games, D-53842 Troisdorf, Germany
Survey of Some Selected Edicts
Jeder Händler bietet einen Rohstoff mehr an als angegeben. ("Each merchant offers one more resource than specified.") — Edict to be voted on Wednesday (Market Place): For each booth, draw 1 more resource from the bag as shown on the week card.
Zwei Schiffe verlassen sofort den Hafen. Erlös für geladene Waren wird ausgezahlt, Schiffe werden aufgefüllt. ("Two ships leave the harbour immediately. Revenues for loaded goods are paid, the ships are being replenished.") — Edict to be voted on on Friday (Harbor): The two ships on berths I and II leave the harbor immediately and money for the ship's cargo is paid as usual. The two remaining ships are moved upwards, the empty berths are replenished. (Follow the same procedure for the edict with one ship leaving early.)
Es kommen zwei fremde Händler in die Stadt, die jeweils 4 Rohstoffe anbieten. ("Two foreign merchants arrive in the city, each one offering 4 resources.") — Edict to be voted on Wednesday (Market place): Draw 4 resources for each of 2 additional market booths and place them on the 2 colored booths.
Bis zu 3 Familienmitglieder, die auf dem Straßenfeld stehen, gehen nach Hause. ("Up to 3 family members standing on the street field go home.") — Edict to be voted on on Friday (Harbor): Players are allowed to return up to three of their own family members from the street space "Thursday" to their own supply immediately. Similar, this edict for Thursday means to return family members from the street space "Wednesday".
Auf jedem ausliegenden Schiff gibt es einen zusätzlichen Laderaum für eine beliebige Ware. ("One additional storage place is available on each ship. It can be used for any kind of goods.") — Edict to be voted on on Friday (Harbor): There is 1 additional cargo hold in this round for each ship in the harbor. Its value is 2; any good may be loaded there. The player loading this cargo hold returns any good of their choice to the general supply and places one of their family members on the coat of arms of the ship.