The Patrons of Venice Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Map Board
• Player Board
• Preparation
• Playing the Game
• Game End
• "Guilds" Variation

Components

• 1 Map Board
• 5 Player Boards
• 40 white chips (1 Ducat coins)
• 20 red chips (5 Ducat coins)
• 50 Player Cubes (10 each of blue, red, green, yellow, and brown)
• 69 Raw Good Cards (white)
• 18 Manufactured Good Cards (yellow)
• 18 Favour Cards (purple)
• 10 Manufacturing Business Tiles (yellow)
• 9 Luxury Business Tiles (purple)
• 6 Statue Tiles (green)

Map Board

The Map Board depicts Renaissance Venice. Along one edge of the Map Board is the Market, where players buy and sell Good Cards. Along the other edge of the Map Board is the Pirate Wharf, where Players buy Good Cards that were stolen by the Pirates from the Players' Ships.

Within the map area of the Map Board are a number of labelled green areas. These are Campi (e.g. Campo Dei Frari, Campo San Polo …). Surrounding each Campo are a number of brown rectangles. These represent Buildings adjacent to the Campo. In the course of the game, players will place Statue Tiles in the Campi and Business Tiles on the Building rectangles. Statue Tiles belong to the City of Venice and are not owned by any particular player, whereas all Business Tiles will have a Player Cube on them to indicate their owner.

A Building is said to be "Adjacent" to a Campo if the Building and the Campo are beside one another, edge to edge. For example, there are four Buildings adjacent to Campo Dei Frari and six Buildings adjacent to Campo San Polo (and two Buildings adjacent to both Campi). When two Buildings are adjacent to the same Campo, they are said to be in the same campo.

The Canals drawn on the map serve no function in the game; they are purely there for artistic purposes.

Player Board

Each player board depicts 3 Ships with arrows between them. Players place new Raw Good Cards on the leftmost ships, and these goods sail from left to right until they arrive at the player's port in Venice. These Raw Good Cards on players' Ships are called Shipments. Player Cubes are placed on these Shipments when they're reserved. The numbers on the Good Cards indicate their value at the Market.

Beneath the ships is the Production Materials Table. This table indicates which Good Cards are required to produce Manufactured and Luxury Goods. For example, in order to produce a Canvas Good, the player requires a Hemp Good Card in his hand. Similarly, in order to produce a Luxury Tent, the player requires a Lumber, Silk and Canvas Good Card in his hand. In order to produce these Manufactured and Luxury Goods, players not only require the necessary Good Cards in their hands, but also need to own the corresponding Business Tile on the Map Board. The picture of the good produced on the Player Board indicates the type of Business Tile required. For example, on the Player Board the Wagon Luxury Good has a picture of a Wagon on it which matches the picture of the Wagon on the Wainwright Business Tile. The number on each Business Tile indicates the cost to start up that business.

Also on the Player Board is the list of actions the player chooses between when it's his turn as well as a list of all incomes and expenses in the game.

Preparation

• Place sorted Manufactured Good Cards in piles beside the board with the corresponding Manufactured Business Tiles beside them.
• Place sorted Luxury Business Tiles beside the board with the pile of Favour Cards.
• Each player takes a Player Board.
• Shuffle Raw Good Cards and deal a number out as follows:
  • 1 face down to each player's hand (players hide Good Cards in their hands).
  • 2 face up to the Market area of the Map Board.
  • 3 face up onto the Ships of each Player Board.
• If any Grain, Wine, or Pepper Good Cards are dealt to players' hands or the Market, replace them with new Raw Good Cards. If any Pirates! Cards are dealt anywhere, replace them with new Raw Good Cards. Shuffle any replaced cards back into the deck of Raw Good Cards. Place the remaining Raw Good Cards beside the Map Board to form the Raw Good Draw Deck.
• Each player takes 10 Ducats (1 red chip and 5 white chips). The remaining Ducat chips are placed beside the Map Board in the "Bank".
• Identify the second-youngest player. They will take the first turn.

Playing the Game

Players take turns clockwise around the table until a Game End condition is reached. When it is a player's turn, he is the Lead Player for that turn. As the Lead Player, he chooses the action that all players will perform on that turn.

Here is the list of actions.

1. Reserve Goods on Ships.

   Merchants reserve goods on ships sailing to Venice.

   Starting with the Lead Player and proceeding clockwise, each player may reserve one Shipment on any player's Ship by paying the reservation cost and placing one of his Player Cubes on that Shipment. To reserve a Shipment on his own Ship, a player pays 1 Ducat to the Bank. To reserve a Shipment on another player's Ship, a player pays 2 Ducats to the other player. Once a good has been reserved by a player, it may not be reserved by another player.

2. Sail Ships to Venice.

   Ships sail towards Venice. The rightmost ship on each player's board sails into Venice. Its shipment is either stolen by pirates, delivered to the merchant who reserved it, purchased by the owner of the ship, or sold to the Market by the owner of the ship.

   A Sail turn occurs in four steps.

   a. Draw New Shipment Cards. Draw a number of Raw Good Cards equal to the number of players from the Raw Good Draw Deck. Place these cards face up beside the Map Board. These are the New Shipment Cards. If there are not enough cards in the Raw Good Draw Deck, shuffle the Raw Good Discard Pile into the Raw Good Draw Deck and use it as the new Raw Good Draw Deck.

   b. Pirates. If one or more of the New Shipment Cards is a "Pirates!" card, then pirates steal the rightmost Shipment from each Player Board unless that Shipment was reserved: Move all non-reserved Shipments from the rightmost Ship of each Player Board to the Pirate Wharf. Reserved Shipments remain on the Player Boards. Discard any Pirates! New Shipment Cards and replace them with new cards drawn from the Raw Good Draw Deck until there are a number of New Shipment Cards equal to the number of players.

   Important: If all 4 "Pirates!" cards are in the Raw Good Discard Pile, shuffle the Raw Good Discard Pile back into the Raw Good Draw Deck.

   c. Unload Ships. If the rightmost Shipment wasn't stolen, the player unloads that Shipment as follows.

Game End

A 3- or 4-player game ends at the end of the turn where a player has 12 points. A 5-player game ends at the end of the turn where a player has 10 points. Each business owned by a player is worth 1 point. Each business adjacent to a statue is worth 2 points. Each Favour Card in front of a player is worth 1 point. The player with the most points wins. Ties are broken by Ducats.

"Guilds" Variation

During the "Produce" action, if a player has the necessary goods, he may produce a manufactured or luxury good using another player's business. When this is done, the player exchanges his Good Cards for the Manufactured Good Card or the Favour Card, and the player owning the business receives any money earned from the production.