Opera Magna Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• The Cities
• Goal of the Game
• Components
• Setup
  • 1. Players
  • 2. Cities
  • 3. Market
  • 4. The Opera
• Game Flow
  • 1. Merchant
  • 2. City Activation
  • 3. Refined Goods
    • Action: Construct a Building
    • Action: Advance the Opera
    • Action: Convert Refined Goods
  • 4. End of Turn
• The Craftspeople of the Renaissance
• Victory Points

The Cities

Each City was known for different goods and areas of expertise. Venice imported rare materials and pigments from the East; Constantinople traded in spices, marble, fabrics, and metals; the northern ports supplied logs, iron, and copper, essential to Renaissance cities.

Venice — A Marketplace for the World. In the midst of the Renaissance, the Rialto Market was the economic heart of Venice and one of Europe's most important commercial hubs. Supplies from East, North Africa, and the entire Mediterranean passed through its docks, providing spices, silks, pigments, glass, marble and precious woods. From basilicas to noble palaces, the great Venetian worksites depended on a commercial network capable of sourcing rare and expensive materials relatively quickly. Rialto was also the place where merchants, artisans, and master builders negotiated supplies and commissions, transforming Venice into a city capable of combining luxury, engineering, and commercial power in a way few other Renaissance cities could.

Antwerp — The market for wood, metals, and workforce labor. During the 15th and 16th centuries, Antwerp became one of the richest and most dynamic trading cities in Europe. Its port connected Northern Europe to the major Mediterranean routes, making it a key hub for the supply of materials used in the worksites. Huge quantities of timber from the Baltic forests, wrought iron, copper, textiles, stone, and construction equipment passed through its warehouses. The city attracted skilled craftspeople, blacksmiths, and carpenters seeking work on major naval and urban projects. For many Renaissance works in Northern Europe, Antwerp was the ideal starting point for obtaining reliable, affordable, and widely available resources.

Constantinople — The harbor between two worlds. Under the rule of the Ottoman Empire, Constantinople continued to be one of the most extraordinary commercial crossroads in the known world. The city connected Europe and Asia through a network of land and sea routes that channeled goods from Anatolia, Persia, Egypt, and Central Asia. Its markets provided colored marble, precious fabrics, rare pigments, wrought metals, ceramics, and decorative materials used in the great religious and secular buildings of the Renaissance. For Western architects and patrons, Constantinople represented a source of exotic and symbolically prestigious goods that lent their works an aura of wealth, power, and cultural refinement that was difficult to achieve elsewhere.

Goal of the Game

In Opera Magna, players take on the role of Workshop Masters, who manage the procurement and processing of construction materials for a major project, specifically the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence, Italy.

Players earn Victory Points by sending their merchants to the most prosperous markets of the Mediterranean, purchasing raw materials, upgrading their workshops to refine them, and ultimately sending them to the construction sites of the Opera Magna, contributing to its completion.

At the end of the game, the Workshop Master with the most Victory Points wins the game.

Components

• Boards: Opera Board, Market Board, City Board (3), Shop Board (4)
• Cards: Trade Cards (66), Building Cards — small, medium and large (36)
• Meeple: Merchants, 3 per player (12)
• Tokens: City Power Tokens (6), Score Markers, 1 per player (4), Worksite Tokens (12), Player Tokens, 20 per player (80), Certificate Tokens, 4 per player (16)
• Rules: Rulebook, Appendix

Setup

1. Players

Each player chooses a color from the four available and takes the components of the same color: the Score Marker, the 3 Merchants, 20 Player Tokens of the chosen color, and the Shop Board.

Player's Hand. Take the Trade Cards with the hand-icon 1 and hand-icon 2 symbols, then shuffle each group separately according to the symbols to form two decks. Each player gets 2 cards from Deck 1 and 1 card from Deck 2. Each player's starting hand consists of 3 Trade Cards that must be kept hidden from the other players. Return any unused Trade Cards from Deck 1 and Deck 2 to the Game Box.

Goods in the Shop. Each player takes 4 Player Tokens of their color and places them on the corresponding 4 tracks of their Shop Board, on column 2. In the same way, each player takes 4 Certificate Tokens (white), and places them on the tracks of their Shop Board in column 4.

Turn Order. The person who most recently visited a great architectural work is the First Player (if no one has, choose the First Player at random): the Turn order continues clockwise.

2. Cities

Place the three City Boards at the center, within easy reach of all players.

Trade Cards of Cities. Take the Trade Cards with the 1, 2 and 3 symbols, and shuffle each group separately, forming 3 separate decks. Randomly put 1 card from Deck 1 in each of the upper and lower spaces of the left side of the City Board, 1 card from Deck 2 in the middle area, and 1 card from Deck 3 on the right side.

Merchants. All players put their 3 Merchants on the upper or lower areas over the City Boards. To place the Merchants, for each City Board, place your Merchant in the Area showing your position in turn order. In the example shown in the rulebook, on the Antwerp City Board, the first, third, and fourth players place one of their Merchants in the Upper Area, while the second player places one of their Merchants in the Lower Area.

City Power. Sort the City Power Tokens by the symbols on their backs into three types. Randomly assign one token from the matching group to each City.

Trade Cards should be placed under the City Boards so that only half of the card is visible, covering the identifying symbol in the center. Be careful to put them in the correct orientation.

3. Market

Place the Market Board (choose your favorite side, they are both playable) within easy reach of all players, then stack all player's Score Markers on space 5 of the Victory Points track.

Trade Cards of the Market. Take the Trade Cards and form three groups based on their symbols A, B and C. Based on the number of players, randomly remove the indicated number of cards, as shown below:

• 2 players: Remove 4x A, 6x B, 6x C
• 3 players: Remove 2x A, 3x B, 3x C
• 4 players: Use every card

Return the removed cards to the game box. After that, shuffle each group separately, forming 3 decks. Place Deck B face down on the first space at the left of the Market Board and put Deck A right on top of it. Reveal the top 4 cards of Deck A to form the Starting Market, in the lower area of the Market Board. Divide Deck C into 3 equal parts and put them in the remaining empty spaces on the Market Board.

4. The Opera

Place the Opera Board (choose your favorite side, they are both playable) making it comfortably reachable to all the players.

Worksite. Take the Worksite Tokens and sort them by required Certificate level (1, 2 or 3). Randomly place the 12 Worksite Tokens: Level 1 on the bottom line, Level 2 on the middle line and Level 3 on the top line. Randomly choose which side of each token is face up.

Buildings. Take the Building Cards and form three groups based on their symbols: small, medium and large. Shuffle them separately and form 3 decks. Place the 3 decks face down in their respective spaces on the lower part of the Opera Board.

Reveal as many Building Cards (small) as the number of players; then do the same for Building Cards (medium).

Starting from the first player, and proceeding clockwise, every player takes a Building Card from the ones available. After each player has taken their first Building Card, starting with the player who chose last and proceeding counterclockwise, each player takes another Building Card.

After that, each player puts their own 2 Building Cards in front of their Shop Board. These cards will be their Buildings under Construction.

Lastly, reveal 2 Building Cards from every deck, to form the recommended setup pattern.

The setup is complete. You are now ready to start the game!

Game Flow

A game of Opera Magna lasts 9 Rounds. During each Round, players take their Turns one after the other, starting with the First Player and proceeding clockwise.

During each of their Turns, each player carries out these 4 Phases in the order in which they are listed:

1. Merchant
2. City Activation
3. Refined Goods
4. End of Turn

As the game progresses, the Trade Cards Decks will be progressively depleted. The icons indicate how many Rounds remain until the end of the Game.

When all decks are exhausted, the end of game is triggered. That current round (the 9th) will be completed, and the Game will end.

When the Game is over, the Final Score is calculated to determine the most skilled Workshop Master, i.e. the winner.

1. Merchant

In this Phase, players move their Merchants between the two Areas of the three Cities to influence the Cost or Profit of the Goods they want to obtain.

The City Board shows a Cost Area and a Profit Area, each linked to a City Power Token.

The active player must move one of their Merchants to an Area on any City Boards that does not already contain one of their Merchants.

The player must then update the Trade Cards of the City Area where they placed the Merchant:

Trade Cards Update in the Cost Area or Profit Area:

• They slide all Trade Cards to the left.
• They discard the leftmost card from the Board, placing it in a discard pile.
• They choose a Trade Card from their hand and place it in the rightmost empty space.

In the rulebook's example, the green player can only place their Merchant in the City Cost Area.

2. City Activation

After moving their Merchant to a City and changing its Cost or Profit, the player Activates the City.

Pay the Cost. The player must pay the Cost indicated by all the icons on the Trade Cards in the Cost Area.

In the rulebook's example, the player must pay the following Raw Goods: 2 Sand, 1 Lead and 1 Marble.

The payment takes place on your Shop Board:

• For each Raw Good icon shown, move its token to the left along the path by one space. Apply the starting discount shown on your Shop Board, reducing the cost of the indicated Raw Good by 1. Then apply any other available discounts.
• If a Raw Good is not available (meaning the corresponding token is already on space 0), each missing Good must be paid by moving the corresponding Certificate Token one space to the left.

In the rulebook's example, the player must pay 2 Sand but they only have 1, so they must move the Certificate by one space to the left.

Certificates can never be moved to the left of column 3. If a further payment cannot be made due to this limit, the player loses 1 Victory Point for each additional movement that cannot be performed. Should the Victory Points fall below 1, place the token on slot 1 and complete the payment anyway.

City Power. If the player's Merchant who activated the City is in the Cost Area of the City, the player may use the City Power at any time during their Turn, and only once per Turn. (See the Appendix for the full list of the effects.)

Obtain the Profit. After the player has paid the Cost, they obtain all the Goods indicated on the Trade Cards in the Profit Area.

• Raw Goods: for each icon, the player moves the corresponding token on their Shop Board one space to the right, eventually pushing the corresponding Certificate to the right with it.
• Refined Goods: for each icon, the player places a Player Token of their own color on the corresponding icon on their Shop Board. These will indicate the Refined Goods available to the player.

In the rulebook's example, the red player gains 2 Bell, 1 Planks, and 1 Glass Refined Goods, indicated by their Player Tokens.

Shop Board. The Shop Board holds the Refined Goods Spaces, the Buildings Spaces (to the right and to the left of the Board, divided by the type of Building from the top to the bottom: Large, Medium and Small), the Goods and Certificate tracks, and the Starting Discount (different for each Shop Board).

3. Refined Goods

The Refined Goods obtained during a Turn cannot be stored for the next Turn and must be used during the current phase, in any combination to perform the following actions:

1. Construct a Building
2. Advance the Opera
3. Convert Refined Goods

Each of these actions can be performed multiple times in any desired order during this phase. At the end of this phase, any remaining Refined Goods must be discarded.

Action: Construct a Building

Building Cards represent all the Buildings a player can construct to improve their own Shop. Each card shows a Building size indicator (Small, Medium or Large), a Discount Effect, a Construction Cost, a Special Effect, and a Building Color.

They are divided into three different sizes based on their Construction Cost — for example, Small costs 2 Refined Goods, Medium costs 3 Refined Goods, and Large costs 4 Refined Goods.

To construct a Building, the player must use their Refined Goods, placing them on one of their Buildings under Construction according to the types of Goods shown on the card.

In the rulebook's example, the red player places 2 Refined Goods on the small yellow Building, completing it, and 1 Refined Good on the green Medium Building, without completing it.

The Refined Goods remain on the Building under Construction until it's completed, meaning a Building can be completed over multiple turns and does not need to be completed during a single action or turn.

When every icon on the card is covered by the Player Tokens (Refined Goods) the Building is considered completed. After that, the player removes all the Player Tokens from the Building Card, return them to their supply, and slide the completed Building to the left or to the right of their Shop Board.

Building Card Completed. When a player completes a Building Card, it must be inserted in one of the matching position on either the left or right side of the Shop Board:

• Slide the card beneath the Shop Board, or under another existing Building, leaving just half of the card visible.
• The Building must be allocated by its dimension type (a Small Building must be placed in the corresponding "Small Building" Area, at the bottom of the Board, and so on).
• There's no limit to the number of Buildings that can be slid and stacked into each of the 6 available positions.
• The first Building placed in one of the six positions immediately unlocks the corresponding Cart (on the right side) or the corresponding Conversion (on the left side).
• All Building Card Effects are immediately available, including during the turn in which the Building is activated.
• At the end of the Game, every Building gives Victory Points based on its dimension. The score value is indicated on the Shop Board, where the Building is placed.
• Depending on where the Building Card is placed (to the left or to the right of the Board) effects will vary:

Buildings on the left: Discounts & Conversions

1. Card Effect: For the rest of the Game, it provides a discount to the Raw Goods Cost needed to activate a City. This discount is cumulative with all other discounts, including the starting discount on the Shop Board.
2. Shop Board Effect: Once per turn, for each of the three left-side Building positions containing at least one Building, the player may spend the indicated Raw Goods to gain the corresponding Refined Good.

Buildings on the right: Special Effects & Carts

1. Card Effect: Activates a Special Effect, indicated by an icon (see the Appendix for the Effects List).
2. Shop Board Effect: The first Building placed in each position unlocks a Cart for the player. Each unlocked Cart can be used once per turn to send 1 Refined Good to the Opera Board.

Goods and Certificates. There are 8 kinds of Goods in the Game:

• Raw Goods: Lead, Wood, Marble, Sand
• Refined Goods: Bell, Planks, Column, Glass

Raw Goods are stored and spent on your Shop Board by moving the corresponding Player Token along the tracks: to the right when obtaining that specific Good, to the left when spending it.

• Whenever a Raw Good (Player Token) moves to the right, and enters a space already occupied by a Certificate Token, it pushes it one space to the right. This is the main way a Certificate is leveled up.
• When a Raw Good is spent, only its specific Player Token is moved to the left, without affecting the position and level of the Certificate, except when the requested Raw Good is unavailable.
• It's impossible to store more than 9 Raw Goods of the same type: any additional units gained are immediately discarded.
• The position reached by Certificates on the Raw Goods track indicates the Certificate Level (1, 2 or 3) of the corresponding Refined Good.

In the rulebook's example, the player has the Level 2 Certificate for two of the Raw Goods and the Level 1 Certificate for the other two.

Action: Advance the Opera

There are 12 Worksites on the Opera Board. Players can contribute to their advancement, sending Refined Goods.

In a single Turn, the player can send one Refined Good for each Cart unlocked on their Shop Board. (At the start of the Game, players don't have any Cart unlocked yet).

Opera Board — Florence. This Board represents the façade of The Opera, specifically the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, located in Florence, Italy. The Worksites Spaces show a Level 3 Certificate row, a Level 2 Certificate row, a Level 1 Certificate row, and the Small, Medium and Large Buildings deck spaces.

Worksite Tokens. They represent the active Worksites to which players can send their Refined Goods, contributing to the construction of The Opera.

Choose a Worksite. To send a Refined Good, the player selects a Worksite Token and must meet all of the following conditions:

• Has at least 1 Refined Good of the required type.
• Has the Certificate of the indicated Refined Good at the required level.
• They have not already sent a Refined Good to that Worksite.
• Every lower-level Worksite in the same column already contains at least one Refined Good (belonging to any player).

Send the Goods. If all conditions are met, the player can take the Player Token that corresponds to the specific Refined Good from their Shop Board and place it on the chosen Worksite.

In the rulebook's example, the red player sends a Refined Good to a compatible Level 2 Worksite.

At the end of the Game, any Player Token that has been sent to a Worksite gives Victory Points based on the requested Certificate level.

The first time any player places a Player Token on a Worksite, they immediately resolve that Worksite's Special Effect (see the Appendix for the Effects List).

Action: Convert Refined Goods

Every Refined Good can be converted into its corresponding Raw Good.

The player can discard 1 or more Refined Goods from their Shop Board, gaining an equal number of the corresponding Raw Goods.

In the rulebook's example, the red player discards 2 Refined Goods to obtain 2 corresponding Raw Goods.

4. End of Turn

At the end of their turn, if it is not the last round, the player performs the following two steps:

1. Replenish Buildings. If the player has fewer than 2 Building Cards, they take cards from those available until they have 2 Buildings Under Construction in front of their Shop Board again.

Every time a Building Card is taken:

• Instantly reveal another one from the corresponding deck, so that 2 cards of each type (Small, Medium and Large) are always available to pick;
• If a deck is exhausted, reveal the card needed from the deck of the next type, or if that's not possible, from the deck immediately preceding it that still has Building Cards available.

2. Draw a Trade Card. The player takes a new card from the Market Board, paying its requested Raw Goods cost, considering the following limitations:

• Can't apply Discounts.
• Can't pay using Certificates or Victory Points.

If the player cannot or does not want to pay the Cost of any available Trade Card, they must take the leftmost card, which is free, and always available.

Market Board. The board shows the Victory Points Track, the Trade Cards Decks, the Remaining Rounds indicator, and the Trade Cards Spaces with costs of Free, 1 Raw Good, 2 Raw Goods, and 3 Raw Goods.

Market Supplies. When a player takes a card, all cards to the right of the chosen card slide one space to the left, freeing the space with the cost of 3 Raw Goods. The active player then draws a card from the leftmost available deck and place it face up in the empty space. Once the leftmost deck is empty, cards must be drawn from the next deck, and so on until the rightmost deck on the Market Board is exhausted.

Last Round. When the last Trade Card is revealed from the last available deck, and placed on the Market Board, the last Round is triggered. In the last Round, players do not draw new Trade Cards or new Building Cards.

Last Turn and End of the Game. If it's the Last Round, and the last player has just finished their Turn, the Game ends and the players can score their Victory Points, otherwise the Game goes on, and the next player starts their turn.

The Craftspeople of the Renaissance

In the Renaissance, each workshop was a small realm of specialized crafts, where carpenters, marble workers, glassmakers and blacksmiths passed down their knowledge with pride and guarded jealously.

Carpenter. The carpenter was one of the most versatile and indispensable trades of the 16th century. Using wood from local forests or imported from Northern Europe, they built doors, roofs, scaffolds, furniture, carts, beams, and load-bearing structures for civil and religious buildings. In the great Renaissance worksites, their role was crucial, as many projects required vast temporary wooden structures, including scaffolds and lifting systems, to support construction work on domes and other major structures. The most experienced carpenters also worked in shipbuilding, where precision and knowledge of the material were essential. The quality of the wood and the ability to treat it correctly directly impacted the durability and safety of the items crafted, regardless of their use.

Marble Worker. During the Renaissance, the marble worker was a craftsman specialized in working marble for monumental buildings, statues, columns, floors, and architectural decorations. After being extracted from quarries, the marble had to be cut, polished, and sculpted with extreme precision, a long and costly process that required extensive experience. Marble workers often collaborated with architects and sculptors to create cathedrals, noble tombs and palaces intended to demonstrate the patrons' prestige. White Carrara marble was particularly sought after for its quality and purity. In many Italian cities, their work directly contributed to the artistic and political identity of the region.

Glassmaker. In the 16th century, glassmakers were considered among the most skilled and highly valued craftspeople in Europe. Glassmaking required complex technical knowledge, extremely expensive furnaces, and extensive experience in working at high temperatures. Master glassmakers created windows for churches and palaces, bottles, mirrors, lamps, and precious colored decorative elements. In cities like Venice, and particularly on the island of Murano, glassmaking techniques were protected almost like state secrets. Glass was not only a functional material; it was also an emblem of wealth, technical innovation, and artistic prestige in the great works of the Renaissance.

Blacksmith. The blacksmith was an indispensable figure in any Renaissance city or construction site. Through fire, anvil, and hammer, they transformed raw iron into tools, locks, nails, hinges, armor, weapons, and metal structures used in construction. There wasn't a single great project that could be accomplished without the blacksmith's contribution, as scaffolding, cranes, gates, and mechanisms often depended on forged metal components. The greatest blacksmiths were in high demand in military and naval construction sites, where the precision, strength and durability of the materials could determine the success or failure of the project. Their work combined physical strength, technical skill, and a profound knowledge of materials, making them an invaluable resource and among the most highly valued craftspeople.

Victory Points

Use the chart below to help you understand what will lead you to victory, and at the end of the game to calculate points. Calculate the score for each player by adding the values indicated below. The player with the most Victory Points is the winner.

1. Game: All the points earned throughout the game by resolving and using effects.
2. Completed Buildings: For every Building of the indicated type — Small = 2, Medium = 3, Large = 4.
3. Shop Evolution: Number of positions on your Shop Board containing at least 1 Building — 2 positions = 1, 3 positions = 2, 4 positions = 4, 5 positions = 7, 6 positions = 10.
4. Certificates: For every Certificate of the indicated level, on your Shop Board — Level 1 = 1, Level 2 = 2, Level 3 = 3.
5. Blue Buildings: For each Building (see Appendix for more details).
6. Refined Goods: For every Refined Good on your incomplete Buildings, 1 point each.
7. The Opera: For each other player who has fewer Player Tokens on the Opera Board than you, 2 points.
8. Worksites: For each Worksite containing one of your Player Tokens, based on the Level of the Certificate — Level 1 = 1, Level 2 = 2, Level 3 = 3.

In the event of a tie, the winner is the player who sent the greatest total number of Player Tokens to the Worksites (if the tie persists, a Level 2 Worksite token beats a Level 1 Worksite token, and a Level 3 Worksite token beats a Level 2 Worksite token). If the tie persists between multiple players, the winner is the player with the greatest total number of Raw Goods.