Opera
Opera Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Objective of the Game
Gain the most victory points at the end of the game.
Game Materials
- 1 game board
- 1 rounds marker
- 1 Maestro (green)
- 1 Critico (black)
- 1 Esperto (purple)
- 38 building parts
- 6 composers
- 6 roles
- 84 music pieces (14 per composer)
- 4 music pieces of the house composers
- 4 point markers
- 4 budget markers
- 30 ducats with a value of five
- 24 ducats with a value of one
- 4 pass discs
- 4 stage screens
- 4 stickers marked with a cross
Preparation
The First Time You Play Opera
Put a sticker with a cross on one side of each of the budget markers.
General Preparations
Place the game board in the middle of the table.
Place the rounds marker in the I square on the round-counting area at the top of the game board.
Place the three Characters, the Maestro, the Critico and the Esperto, on their starting positions on the game board, over their portraits.
Take all the building cards out of the box, except for the buildings that show more pawns on the backside than the number of players. Place the selected building cards next to the game board in this order: Venezia, Wien, Berlin, London, Paris and Milano. The building cards for Venezia, Wien and Berlin are laid face up, so that the buildings and halls are visible. The buildings of the other cities are kept face down, because these cities become active later in the game.
Shuffle the six composers and place them randomly on the six positions of the fame ladder.
Place the six roles (the Impresario, Architetto, Signora, Maestro, Critico and Esperto) on their portraits on the game board.
Put the 4 music pieces of the house composers aside. Shuffle the rest of the music pieces and create a face-down pile. If there are 4 players, the top 9 music pieces are turned face up and placed on the appropriate composer on the fame ladder. If there are 3 players, 7 music pieces are placed face up on their composers, and in the case of 2 players, 5 music pieces. Of each composer, a maximum of three music pieces can be offered (2 players: 2). If more pieces of the same composer are drawn, put them aside and draw new music pieces.
Draw three music pieces of different composers at random from the pile and place them on the three ornamented spaces between the rounds at the top of the game board. An opera of these composers will yield extra victory points during a counting round.
Preparations for Each Player
Each player chooses a colour and receives the following in his colour:
- 1 music piece of his house composer
- 1 stage screen
- 1 point marker
- 1 budget marker
Each player also receives a total of 20 ducats:
- 3 ducats with a value of five
- 5 ducats with a value of one
After this, the following actions are carried out:
- The players place their stage screens in front of them;
- The players hide their ducats behind their stage screens;
- The players place their point markers on the point counting path, on square '0';
- The players draw lots to decide which player should start;
- The players then place their budget markers, with the cross not visible, on level '0' of the budget table on the game board, the starting player taking the first (left) column. After this, in clockwise direction the other players put their markers from left to right in the other columns;
- Extra ducats are given to the players who are not the starting player: the second player (seated to the left of the starting player) receives one extra ducat, the third player receives two extra ducats and the fourth player receives three extra ducats;
- The 4 pass discs are placed next to the budget table.
Finally, each player receives a main opera building in Venezia and places this in front of him. In the hall of this building, he places the music piece of his house composer. The players do not receive any points for this first building.
Order of Play
Opera has 9 rounds of play.
In each round, the players go jointly through the following phases:
- Budget phase
- Action phase
- Income phase
- End phase
The four phases are explained below.
1. Budget Phase
In this phase, the players determine their budgets by bidding ducats. The budget determines the play sequence and is used to pay the fees of the roles.
Each player takes a number of ducats in his closed hand from behind the screen, and holds them in front of him. All the players show how much money they are holding in their hands at the same time. The players are allowed to bid 0 ducats.
Hint: when you play Opera for the first time make sure you bid at least 5 ducats in the first round.
The player whose marker is at the highest level on the budget table moves his marker up by as many levels as the number of ducats he bid. The other players then follow, in the sequence of their budget level from high to low. After the height of the budget level, the column is determinative: a marker to the left of another marker can always go first. The ducats bid go to the general money reserve.
When the budget marker is moved upwards, it must always be moved to the first available position on that level (the column furthest to the left). When the players have moved their markers, the budget phase is over.
Important: The maximum budget is 10. This means, for example, that a player whose marker is already at level 3 cannot increase his budget by more than 7 ducats.
The sequence of the budget table is always from top to bottom. If the level is the same, the sequence is from left to right.
Example: In this image, the bidding process is illustrated. This example is not a first game round, because otherwise all budget markers would start at level 0. At the end of the previous round, the green player ended on level 5, blue on 4, red on 3 and yellow on 0.
Note: the fee paid for hiring the different roles (2 to 4) is being paid in budget levels and never in ducats.
2. Action Phase
The players choose Employees and Characters who perform actions for them. The player whose marker is at the highest budget level has the first turn. In order to perform an action, the necessary fee can be deducted from the budget level, as a result of which the initiative can move on to another player. Each Employee or Character may only be selected once each round. Actions are performed until none of the players are able or wish to perform an action.
Choosing Roles
The players can perform actions with the roles. The six roles from which a choice can be made can be divided into two groups — three Employees (Architetto, Impresario and Signora) and three Characters (Maestro, Critico and Esperto). The Characters are represented by three play figures (green, black and purple).
It costs a player a minimum of 2 and a maximum of 4 levels on the budget table to choose a role. This fee is indicated on the role cards. A player may choose a role to a maximum of 3 times in a round (2 players: 4), but he may also 'play along' when other players choose an Employee (see below).
For the actions of the different roles, see Employees and Characters.
Moving the Budget Marker
The player whose budget marker is at the highest level chooses which role (Employee or Character) he wants to hire. If the markers of more than one player are at the same level, it is the turn of the player with the marker in the column furthest to the left. The player chooses a role by taking a role card and placing it in front of him. The player pays the fee indicated on the card by moving his budget marker down by the appropriate number of positions.
Example: This image shows an example in which the red player has chosen to play the Architetto. He lowers his budget marker with 2 levels to pay the fee of the Architetto and takes the character card. His marker takes the position directly next to the blue marker and he flips it, showing the cross. Red performs the actions of the Architetto (erecting buildings and paying ducats from his personal stock). The cross indicates that the red player has finished this role.
Game Play with Employees
When the player with the highest budget level chooses a role, he performs the appropriate action(s). Only in the case of the Employees (Impresario, Architetto and Signora) other players may 'join in playing' after this in the sequence of the budget table. In this case, they must also move their budget marker to a lower level and turn it around (so that the cross is visible). If a player is joining in playing and decides to perform one action (buying 1 piece of music, building 1 building or selling 1 music piece to the Palazzo), the player must move his budget marker down one level. If the player decides to perform two actions (buying two music pieces or erecting 2 buildings), he must move his budget marker down two levels.
Moving a Character
- Playing along is only possible for the Employees. A Character may only be moved by the player who is paying his fee. The three Characters are the Maestro, the Critico and the Esperto.
- If a Character is played, it must be moved to a different city! If a Character is not played in a round, he remains in the same position.
Play Sequence
After the Character has done his work (and the other players have played along, if appropriate), all the budget markers are turned so that the crosses are face down again. It is then the turn of the player who has the highest budget level at that moment to choose an Employee or a Character. It is possible that a player has a turn several times in succession, for as long as he holds the highest level on the budget table. If the player with the highest budget level has ended his performance (see below), it is the turn of the player with the next highest position on the budget table.
Intermezzo and End of Performance
- Intermezzo. If a player does not want to play along with an Employee, he must introduce an intermezzo. He does not move his budget marker, but turns it over, so that the cross is visible. This makes it clearly visible that his turn is over regarding this Employee. His marker will be flipped back when the Employee has finished his work.
- End of performance. It is also possible that the player who has the initiative (highest budget level) decides not to choose a role or he has already chosen the maximum number of roles. He ends his performance by placing a pass disc on his budget marker. This round, he cannot choose any role anymore, nor is he allowed to play along.
Once all the players have ended their performance (showing pass discs on their budget markers) or are no longer able to pay for any role, we move on to the income phase (phase 3).
3. Income Phase
During this phase, the operas are performed in the various buildings, and they provide income for their owners. The players receive income for each opera building with music pieces in their halls, according to the following table of income:
| Number of operas performed in a building | Income in ducats for this building |
|---|---|
| 1 | 1 |
| 2 | 3 |
| 3 | 5 |
| 4 | 8 |
| 5 | 11 |
| 6 | 15 |
The revenue from all the opera houses owned by a player is added up. The player receives the total amount in ducats.
Important: Variation needed. It is not allowed to place music pieces of the same composer in one opera building (main buildings + side buildings in a city), because the public wants variation.
The House Composer
Each player owns one music piece of his own house composer. During the income phase, this piece counts like any other. For example, a player has allocated the piece from his house composer and a piece by Verdi to an opera house; this will bring him 3 ducats. It is allowed to use the house composer in any city.
The Maestro
When the Maestro is in a city, the income from the music pieces performed in this city is doubled. Even if the Maestro has not been played (and moved) in a round.
Remark: An opera building never contains more than six halls. At the start of the game, the maximum capacity of an opera building is 4 halls (Wien). This capacity increases to 5 halls as of the fourth round of play (Paris), and to 6 halls as of the seventh round of play (Milano).
4. End Phase
At the end of each round of play, a number of actions is performed; some of them are in preparation of the following round of play. The following actions are performed at the end of each round of play:
a. The fame of the composers is updated on the fame ladder: the composer of whom the most operas are being performed in the opera houses moves up one step on the fame ladder and the composer he passes is placed one step lower. Music pieces at the Palazzo or behind the stage screens of the players are not counted. If several composers are being performed most frequently, these all move up the fame ladder at the same time.
Example: If Mozart (level 5) and Verdi (level 4) are both being performed the most, they move to level 6 and 5 and the composer at the top, in this case Wagner, moves straight down to level 4.
b. The unsold music pieces are laid on the discard pile and new music pieces are placed on the composer cards (9 in the case of 4 players, 7 in the case of 3 players, 5 in the case of 2 players). Of each composer, a maximum of three music pieces can be offered (2 players: 2). If more pieces of the same composer are drawn, put them aside and draw new music pieces. (If there aren't enough music pieces available, reshuffle the discard pile.)
c. The role cards are laid on the game board again. Note: the three figures (Maestro, Critico and Esperto) remain where they are.
d. When the Palazzo is full (with 2 or 3 players: 3 positions are filled, with 4 players: 4), the music pieces which are performed at the Palazzo are removed and laid on the discard pile;
e. The pass discs are removed, but all budget markers stay at the same level and are moved to the left to fill up any empty spaces on a row which might occur; players with a budget marker at the '0' level each receive one bonus ducat;
f. The rounds marker is moved one position along, to the next space.
The Next Round of Play
If the rounds marker lands on a square with a Roman numeral, a new round of play is started immediately.
If the rounds marker lands on an ornamented space with a music piece on it, a counting round is then held before proceeding.
Counting Rounds and Episodes
Opera covers three episodes, each consisting of three rounds of play and a counting round:
- 1st episode: rounds 1-3 of play; Baroque (1600-1750)
- 2nd episode: rounds 4-6 of play; Classicism (1750-1820)
- 3rd episode: rounds 7-9 of play; Romanticism (1820-1900)
At the end of each episode, there is a counting round, during which the players can score victory points. Points are added to the total of the players by moving their point markers.
The third counting round is also the final count, after which the game ends.
Composer of the Century
In each episode, there is a composer who provides bonus points. This is the composer of which a music piece was placed on the ornamented space of this episode at the start of the game (see Preparation).
Counting Round
- The players receive points for each opera they perform in a main hall. Each basic building in a city contains a single main hall. This is the hall with the number '1' in it, that has ornaments around it. The piece in the main hall is worth as many points as the fame of the composer. The music piece from the house composer has a fame value of '0'.
- Bonus points - players earn bonus points if they perform a music piece of the Composer of the Century in their main halls:
- During the 1st counting round, pieces by the first composer of the century yield 1 bonus point.
- During the 2nd counting round, pieces by the second composer of the century yield 2 bonus points.
- During the 3rd counting round, pieces by the third composer of the century yield 3 bonus points.
- Minus points - The players receive 1 minus point for each empty hall in each counting round.
Example: The picture shows an example of a counting round in which the player receives 4 victory points with an Opera of Wagner, 7 points with Mozart (fame value 6 + 1 bonus point) and a deduction of 2 points for the two empty halls in Berlin.
Important: The victory points are awarded after the previous round of play is completed, including adjustments to the ranking on the fame ladder.
Emptying the Palazzo
The Palazzo is emptied after the end of each counting round, regardless of whether the Palazzo is 'full'. The music pieces are placed on the discard pile.
New Cities
After the 1st and 2nd counting rounds, new cities become available for the subsequent episode:
- after the 1st counting round (before the start of round 4), turn over the building cards for Paris and London
- after the 2nd counting round (before the start of round 7), turn over the building cards for Milano.
Employees and Characters
During the Action Phase (Phase 2), players may hire Employees and Characters. A player pays the fee by moving his budget marker down and taking the role card from the board or playing along with a role (see Action Phase). The functions of the six roles are as follows:
Employees
The Employees are the Impresario, the Architetto and the Signora. After a player hires an Employee, the other players may play along.
1. The Impresario (fee: 3)
The Impresario buys a maximum of two of the available music pieces. The price of a piece is the same as the fame of its composer. The costs range from 1 to 6 ducats.
After a player has bought pieces, he may reallocate all his music pieces to his halls. Pieces can be moved freely between cities and to and from your personal stock behind your screen. A player may keep an unlimited number of pieces behind his stage screen. Obviously only one opera can be performed in a hall.
Multiple pieces by the same composer can never be performed in the same opera building. It is permitted to perform an opera of a composer, while at the same time another player is also performing an opera of this composer in the same city (in his own building). The music piece of the house composer can also be performed anywhere. A player may even keep it behind his stage screen.
Playing along with the Impresario: A player who is playing along may also buy a maximum of two music pieces, and redistribute all his pieces. Fee: 1 per music piece he has bought. If a player does not buy any operas he may redistribute his pieces at the cost of one budget level.
2. The Architetto (fee: 2)
The Architetto establishes a maximum of two building parts. The player may choose which building parts he wants to realize. A player may never have more than one opera house per city. He pays 2 ducats per hall from his personal reserve, and is awarded 2 points per hall. Wings can only be built to extend a main building. The numbers in the halls indicate the maximum capacity of an opera house.
Example: Main building Wien + wing Venezia = 4 + 2 = 6 ducats = 6 points.
Playing along with the Architetto: If a player is playing along, he may also realize a maximum of two building parts. Fee: 1 per building part.
3. The Signora (fee: 2)
The Signora sells one opera to be performed at The Palazzo. The player chooses an opera from his personal stock or from one of his opera halls and places it on the Palazzo. Now he may choose between receiving twice the fame of the composer in ducats or transferring the fame value directly into victory points. A maximum of 1 opera per composer may be performed at the Palazzo, because the King is quickly bored.
Note: the house composer has a fame of '0' and therefore it cannot be sold to the Palazzo.
Example: An opera of the composer on level '5' (Verdi) of the fame ladder yields 10 ducats or 5 victory points. It is not allowed to sell a music piece of Mozart to the Palazzo since an opera of Mozart is already being performed.
Playing along with the Signora: If a player is playing along, he can also sell one opera for ducats (x2) or victory points (x1). Fee: 1. In case the Palazzo is full (3 music pieces in the Palazzo with 2-3 players and 4 music pieces with 4 players), playing along with the Signora is impossible.
Characters
The Characters are playing figures which move from one city to another. For each city there are 1 or 2 places indicated for the Characters. At the end of each round, the playing figures remain where they ended. When a player plays a Character, he must move the figure to another city.
1. The Maestro (fee: 2)
The player who chooses the Maestro moves the green playing figure to an empty position in a different city of his choice. The Maestro doubles the revenue for all operas performed in this city during the income phase (for all players).
Please note: if the Maestro is not played during a round, he still doubles the income in the city in which he was already located.
2. The Critico (fee: 3)
The player who chooses the Critico moves the black playing figure to an empty position in a different city of his choice. The player then chooses one of the composers whose opera is being performed in that city. He increases or reduces the fame of this composer by a maximum of two levels, by moving his portrait on the fame ladder. Composers who are passed by climb or descend the fame ladder by one level.
3. The Esperto (fee: 4)
The player who chooses the Esperto moves the purple playing figure to an empty position in a different city of his choice. All operas of this player in this city immediately yield points. Each music piece yields as many points as the fame of the composer. After this, the player must give his best piece from this city (highest fame) to the player with the lowest number of victory points! In order to determine who receives the piece, the number of points before the Esperto was played is taken as the starting point. If the player playing the Esperto is also the player with the fewest points (including together with other players), the piece is put on the discard pile. In case several opponents have the fewest number of points, the player with the lowest budget level gets the piece.
The music piece of a house composer has a fame of '0' and does not bring any points.
Example: Wagner + Verdi + Monteverdi + Handel = 5 + 6 + 3 + 2 = 16 points. Verdi's music piece is given up.
Other players with performances in the same city could also score points, but only if they are prepared to hand in their best piece. If they choose to do this, they do not need to move their budget marker down a level. The piece of music of these players is always immediately put on the discard pile.
End of the Game
After the end of the 3rd counting round, the game ends.
Winner of the Game
The player who has acquired the most victory points at the end of the game is the winner. If the scores are equal, the player with the best budget position wins (highest level and the column furthest to the left).
Game Example
In the following examples the different phases and roles of Opera will be illustrated. Together, the examples are a fully played round, but they can also be understood apart from each other. This example starts in round 6, the last round in episode II, just before the second counting round. Kate plays blue, Peter chooses red and Mark takes yellow.
Phase 1: Budget Phase
The players take a number of ducats in their closed hands and open their hands simultaneously.
Kate bids 1 ducat, Peter 3 ducats and Mark 10 ducats. They adjust their budget level as illustrated in the picture. All bids are paid to the general stock. The budget levels are raised according to the bids.
Phase 2: Action Phase
Mark takes the initiative since he has the highest budget level (10). He may now choose a role.
First role chosen: the Signora
Mark chooses the Signora. He takes the role card from the game board and lowers his budget by 2. He uses the Signora to sell his opera by Verdi to the Palazzo. He earns 12 ducats from the bank: the fame of the composer (6) times 2. Mark's budget marker ends on level 8.
Now, Peter is first to choose if he wants to play along with the Signora (because his position on level 9 is above Kate's level of 5. Since an opera of Wagner is already being performed at the Palazzo, Peter cannot sell his valuable Wagner-piece. His opera by Handel will only bring him 6 ducats and he does not find this very lucrative. Selling his Handel for victory points does also not seem as a very interesting option, since it would only bring him 3 victory points. He chooses to introduce an intermezzo and he flips his budget marker now showing the cross (his budget marker stays on budget level 9).
Kate may also play along with the Signora and therefore she sells her Mozart-opera to the Palazzo for 8 ducats. This costs her one budget, bringing her marker to level 4.
Now that everybody has played the role of Signora, the budget markers are flipped back to the side without a cross.
Second role chosen: the Critico
After the role of the Signora has been played, Peter's red marker is on the highest budget level (level 9). He may now choose a role and he decides to take the Critico. He brings down his marker with 3 levels to hire the Critico (ends on level 6).
Peter moves the black playing figure to Venezia. He upgrades the fame of Monteverdi by 2 levels, since he owns 3 music pieces of this composer. Handel and Beethoven both are lowered by 1 level, as a direct result of the positive critics on Monteverdi's work.
Note that the other players cannot play along.
Third role chosen: The Impresario
Mark has the highest budget level (8) and he chooses the Impresario, to buy music pieces. The fee is 3. He lowers his budget marker to level 5. Then he buys both Wagner pieces that are for sale, for 5 ducats each (the fame of the composer). Then he rearranges all his music pieces between the halls in his opera houses. He decides to put his operas by Wagner in the great halls, because the pieces in these halls will score points in the upcoming counting round.
Peter plays along with the Impresario to buy one opera by Verdi and one by Beethoven. The costs are 7 ducats. The fee for playing along is 2 budget levels (one per piece). This puts his budget marker on the same level as Kate's on level 4. He places his marker in the second column. Then, he rearranges his music pieces between his halls.
Kate also plays along with the Impresario and buys a music piece by Verdi for 6 and a Handel for 2 ducats. She lowers her budget marker with two levels to level 2. Then she pays 8 ducats to the general stock for the music pieces.
When every player has played the role of Impresario, the budget markers are flipped back to the side without a cross.
Fourth role chosen: The Maestro
Mark is still on the highest level (5) and therefore he may choose another role. He chooses the Maestro. This costs him 2 budget levels, moving his marker to level 3. Then he moves the green playing figure to Paris. He has a lot of music pieces in this city, so the Maestro will bring him a lot of extra money in the upcoming income phase.
Also for this character, playing along is not possible.
Fifth role chosen: The Esperto
Peter has the initiative now and chooses to play the Esperto. He lowers his budget by 4 levels coming down to level 0. He moves the purple playing figure to Wien to score victory points there.
He adds up the composers' fame of all his music pieces in Wien. This adds up to 6 + 5 + 3 + 2 = 16 points.
Note! The bonus points for Monteverdi (Composer of the Century) don't count now, they can only be scored in the counting round!
Peter collects the points by moving his points marker up to 56. He has to give his best piece in Wien (Verdi) to the player with the fewest points, which is Kate. She is not allowed to put this piece directly in a hall (this is only possible with the Impresario!). Therefore, she puts the opera behind her stage screen.
Mark does also have some operas in Wien, so he could profit from the Esperto. However, because his best piece (by Wagner) is played in the great hall, he doesn't want to loose it just before the counting round. He decides not to score the points and give up this Wagner piece.
End of Performance
Since Mark has his marker on the highest position, normally he would have a chance to choose a new role. But since he has already chosen 3 roles this playing round, he has to end his performance and places a pass disc on his budget marker to show it.
For Mark, the Action Phase is over.
Sixth role chosen: The Architetto
Kate has some budget left and chooses to play the Architetto. She lowers her budget marker from level 2 to 0. She puts it in the second column, because Peter is already on level 0.
With the Architetto, she builds a wing for her opera house in Paris. Because there are two halls in this wing, she pays 4 ducats (2 for each hall) and collects 4 victory points.
Mark has already closed his curtains. Peter has used up all his budget. Neither of them can play along.
It is possible that in a playing round not all roles are chosen. This can be caused by the fact that players want to save money, when money is tight. And in some situations, the players want to take the initiative in the next playing round. In that case they could be ending their performance earlier than usual, sometimes even giving up the potential of playing interesting roles.
Phase 3: Income Phase
When none of the players can or want to play another role, the game goes into the income phase. All players calculate their income, using the income table on the inside of their stage screen.
Mark earns 1 ducat for his opera in Venezia. The 2 operas in Wien bring him 3 ducats. The income of his operas in Paris is doubled, because the Maestro is visiting that city. These 3 pieces earn him not 5, but 10 ducats. He collects a total of 14 ducats.
Peter earns 1 ducat for Venezia, 1 for Berlin, 3 for London and 5 for Wien. His total income is 10 ducats.
Kate earns 5 ducats for Venezia, 1 for Berlin, and 3 x 2 = 6 ducats for Paris. Her total is 12 ducats.
Phase 4: End Phase
All players put the role cards back in their places on the game board.
Then, the fame of the composers is adjusted. The players count how many operas of each composer are being performed in the different opera houses. In this case, there are three composers with the most performances: Wagner, Monteverdi and Beethoven are all being played 4 times in total. The fame of each of these composers is increased by one. The other composers move down on the ladder.
Note: the operas in the Palazzo are neglected.
Peter and Kate each earn one bonus ducat for having a budget level of 0.
The operas that weren't bought this round are put on the discard pile and 7 new pieces are drawn. There are 3 pieces on the Palazzo, so these are removed from the board and put on the discard pile.
Finally, the rounds marker is moved to the next space.
Counting Round
If the rounds marker is moved to a large ornamented space, a counting round follows. In the counting round, all players earn points for the music pieces in their great halls (hall number '1' with red pillars in each city). A piece is worth as many points as the fame of its composer.
Mark earns 6 + 6 + 6 = 18 points. He also gets 2 minus points for having 2 empty halls in Paris. This brings his total to 59 victory points.
For each piece by Monteverdi, Peter earns not 4, but 6 points, because Monteverdi is the Composer of the Century in this episode. He earns 6 + 6 + 6 + 2 = 20 points, minus 1 for the empty hall in Wien. This brings his total to 75.
Kate earns 6 + 5 + 5 = 16, minus 3 for her empty halls in Paris. Her total is brought to 56.
The Composer of the Century for this episode is turned over, showing the back. In the next (and last) counting round, Wagner is worth 3 extra points.
Start of the Next Round
Move the rounds marker to the next square with VII on it. Only at the start of rounds 4 and 7, new buildings in other cities become available. In round 4 the opera houses in Paris and London are revealed and in round 7 the opera houses in Milano.
Rules for 2 Players
If there are only 2 players, the following alternative rules apply:
- A player may choose a maximum of 4 role cards (instead of 3 role cards in the case of 3 or 4 players); playing along with Employees chosen by the other player has no impact on this maximum;
- When playing along with an Employee (Impresario, Architetto or Signora) the first action (buying a music piece, realising a building or selling a piece to the Palazzo) does not cost any budget (level on the budget table); the second purchase of a music piece or building part costs one budget;
- When new music pieces are drawn (phase 4), no more than two music pieces of the same composer are placed on the composer cards; the third music piece is placed on the discard pile.
Credits
I would like to thank everybody who has worked on the completion of this project. From the first prototype in September 2006, it has been a long and exciting adventure towards the finale, resulting in the introduction of the Opera game in October 2009.
First of all I would like to thank my wife, Ester, for her unlimited patience and the unique opportunity she has given me to realize my dream.
Special thanks go to the co-designers André Grekhov, Florine de With, Ruud Kool and Hjalmar Haagsman. Ruud Kool and Christian Hildenbrand (Huch & Friends) have helped sharpening the edges of the game play of Opera, resulting in a well-balanced game. The fabulous art work of Volkan Baga contributes to a game which is a joy to play and to have. The graphic design done by Arenea Kunkeler makes sure that the game looks wonderful and functional at the same time. And last but not least, I would like to thank all the testers of the game during all stages of development. Their feedback has been vital for a good result.
Hans van Tol
Colophon
- Game author: Hans van Tol
- Illustrations: Volkan Baga
- Graphic design: Arenea Kunkeler
- Publisher: The Game Master BV, Nieuwerkerk aan den IJssel, The Netherlands
© All rights reserved 2009. The Game Master BV, Nieuwerkerk a/d IJssel, The Netherlands.