Salamanca Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Material
• Aim of the Game
• Game Preparation
• The Course of the Game (for 3-5 players)
  • Section 1: Filling the Tile Display
  • Section 2: Playing a Card
  • Section 3: Expansion of Power
    • Action A: Place Tiles (Occupy Buildings; Sell Buildings)
    • Action B: Place a Conde Token on the Building of an Opponent
    • Action C: Perform the Special Function of the Card Played
  • Section 4: Give the Card to the Left Neighbor
  • Section 5: Weekly Market
• Game End and Winner
• How Landscapes and Regions Develop
  • A. Landscapes
  • B. Regions
  • What Is a Region Worth?
• Example of a Game Round
• Salamanca for 2 Players

Game Material

• 65 card tiles: 33 regular landscape tiles (9 vineyard; 6 acre, 6 lake, 6 forest, 6 pasture), 10 "especially fertile landscape" tiles, 22 building tiles (6 monastery, 8 castle, 8 farm)
• 5 sight shields
• 1 game board
• 61 coins (with monetary values of 1, 5, 10 and 20 doubloons)
• 15 Squire tokens
• 5 Conde tokens
• 20 game cards (two each of values 1-10)
• 4 plague tokens with stickers (1 poison, 1 locust, 1 rat, 1 ruin)
• 1 instruction sheet

Fig. 1: This is how a starting formation might look.

Aim of the Game

The player with the most doubloons at the end of the game wins. In order to reach that aim, the players build farms, castles and monasteries in compatible landscapes. A Conde (a Spanish nobleman) can be placed on the building of an opponent Squire where the Conde might earn a noble salary. However, greedy players and nasty plagues may foil your land development plans...

Game Preparation

Before you can start your first game, stick the stickers onto the plague tokens.

The game board is placed in the centre of the table. Each player receives a sight shield and places his 3 Squire tokens and the Conde token of the same color next to it as "stock." The five landscape tiles with the orange star on the back are placed face up on any field of the game area.

Form a face-down pile of the five landscape tiles with a blue star on the back. (When all the other landscape tiles have been used during the course of the game, the tiles with the blue star will come into play.) All other tiles are shuffled face down and are prepared as a "drawing stack" next to the game board. The money coins and the plague tokens are placed there as well.

The cards with the values "9" and "10" are needed only in the 5-player game. When playing with 3 players, one card with the value "7" is removed from the game. All remaining cards are shuffled and dealt out to the players. Players take the cards onto their hands without showing them to their opponents.

Rules for two players can be found at the end of these instructions.

The Course of the Game (for 3-5 players)

Each game round consists of 5 Sections played one after another:

1. Filling the Tile Display
2. Playing a Card
3. Expansion of Power
4. Give the Card to the Left Neighbor
5. Weekly Market

Section 1: Filling the Tile Display

The number of tiles that are drawn from the stack and placed face up onto the tile display fields is determined according to the number of players.

The display fields are filled in alphabetical order. If you play with three players, fields "a," "b," and "c" are used, if you play with 4 players you place tiles onto fields "a" through "d" (see Fig. 2a). Only when playing with five players are all fields used. If there are remaining tiles from an earlier round on the display fields, the new tiles are placed on top of the old ones in such a way that all tiles still remain recognizable (see Fig. 2b).

Fig. 2a: When playing with four players, four new tiles are placed onto the display. They are laid on the fields "a," "b," "c," and "d" even if there are still tiles from earlier rounds.

Fig. 2b: This example shows that by placing new tiles on the display, there are three tiles on field "a" and two tiles on field "c", whereas, on fields "b" and "d", only one new tile has been laid. All tiles are recognizable.

As soon as the "drawing stack" is used up, the tile display is filled with the tiles that have a blue star on their back.

Section 2: Playing a Card

The player who is loudest in shouting "Olé!" starts. He chooses a card and plays it face up in front of him. The other players follow clockwise in this round. In the following rounds, the player who starts with playing a card is the one who was the last to play his card in the previous round (see "Section 3: Expansion of Power"). He now plays his card first.

You may play only cards that have not been played by any other player in this round.

Exception: Only when playing with 5 players, it may (rarely) occur that a player has only cards in his hand that have already been played by his opponents. In this case, he shows his cards to the other players. Then he determines the starting player on the basis of the played cards. He now plays the same card as the starting player and becomes the new starting player. The order of the remaining players is unchanged by this procedure.

Example: The cards "9", "7", "6", and "4" are played. Ramon has exactly the same cards in his hand. He plays the "9" and becomes the starting player.

Section 3: Expansion of Power

The player who played the highest card (in Section 2) begins. The player with the second highest card value follows, and so on. Exception: If the card with the value "5" is the lowest card played, it becomes a "starting player card." The player who played it starts this round. Then the other players follow, beginning with the highest card value, followed by the second highest value and so on.

When it is your turn you may perform one of the following three actions.

• Action A: Place Tiles (Occupy Buildings; Sell Buildings)
• Action B: Place a Conde Token onto a Building of an Opponent
• Action C: Perform the Special Function of the Card Played (Only the cards "1", "2", "3", "4", and "6" have special functions - indicated by the circular images.)

Exception: A player who performs his move last may execute Action C, and then, in addition to it, Action A or Action B.

No player may place a tile (Action A) and a Conde token (Action B) during the same turn.

Action A: Place Tiles (Occupy Buildings; Sell Buildings)

Placing Tiles

The player chooses one field of the tile display. He takes all tiles from this field and places each of them face up on any free field on the playing area.

Tactical Hint: You raise your chances of winning by placing the tiles preferably next to big connected landscapes around your own buildings (see "How Landscapes and Regions develop").

Occupying buildings

A player who places a building tile onto the board may immediately - and at no charge - put his own Squire token from his stock onto the tile. If he wants to place a Squire token but has none left, he must sell one of his buildings first. By doing so he gets the associated Squire back and may put it immediately onto the newly placed building tile. However in this case, he has to pay the amount of doubloons equal to the building value (see Fig. 3).

Example: Julia's Squire tokens are all sitting on building tiles. She picks a monastery from the display and wants to take possession of it. Since she needs a Squire token to do this, she sells a castle. She receives the money value for the castle region and gets the Squire token back. Now she uses this Squire token (in the same round) for the new monastery. She has to pay the building value (4 doubloons) to the bank. If Julia had had a Squire token in stock, she could have used it for the monastery at no charge.

There can be only one Squire token per building. You may bring buildings into play without placing a Squire on them. Buildings brought into play without a Squire cannot be taken into possession later; they do not belong to any player and remain unoccupied until the end of the game.

Selling Buildings

A player may sell a various number of his own buildings (only if he executes Action A during his turn).

A player selling a building receives doubloons according to the value of the region. That value is determined by:

• the value of the building (Farm: 2 doubloons; castle: 3 doubloons; monastery: 4 doubloons; see Fig. 3)

plus

• the value of the landscape: 1 doubloon for each landscape tile that belongs to the region (see Fig. 4 and see chapter "How Landscapes and Regions develop"). The value of an "especially fertile landscape" is imprinted on the tile (2 or 3 doubloons). Only "very fertile tiles" have to be removed from the game once they were involved in the disposal of a building (see Fig. 4). Thus, such a landscape can only be sold once.

minus

• all depreciations caused by plagues in this region (see "The Plagues"; examples in Fig. 7 and Fig. 8)

If you - in the same round - sell a number of buildings whose regions contain the same "especially fertile landscape" you only receive money for that tile once. After that the tile is removed from the game, and the values of the neighboring regions may drastically change (see Fig. 5a - d).

Fig. 3: Building Values. Farm: 2 doubloons; Castle: 3 doubloons; Monastery: 4 doubloons.

Fig. 4: Carmen sells her castle. The region consists of one lake and two forest landscapes (A, B, C). Lake landscape D is separated from the castle by the forest. Therefore, it doesn't belong to the region. Carmen receives 3 doubloons for the sold building, 2 doubloons for lake landscape A, 3 doubloons for forest landscape B, and 2 doubloons for forest landscape C. That makes 10 doubloons in total. Afterwards, she removes the "very fertile forest landscape" (value: 2 doubloons) from the board (and returns it to the game box).

Fig. 5a: Pedro sells both of his monasteries (A and B). He has to decide the order of selling the two buildings since he may sell the "very fertile vineyard landscape" only once.

Fig. 5b: If he sold monastery A first, he would get 11 doubloons. After that he would remove the "very fertile vineyard landscape," and then he would sell monastery B for 4 doubloons. His overall revenue would be 15 doubloons.

Fig. 5c: However, if he sold monastery B first he would receive 11 doubloons for it.

Fig. 5d: Afterwards, he removes the "very fertile vineyard," before he gets 8 additional doubloons for monastery A. His overall revenue would then be 19 doubloons.

If a building that is occupied by a Conde token is sold, the owner of the Conde immediately receives the landscape value (the value of the landscape tiles WITHOUT the building value) from the bank. In this case, the Squire also gets doubloons for the complete value of the region (see Fig. 6).

Squire and Conde tokens from sold buildings are returned to the stock of their owners.

The earned money is placed behind the players' sight shields. You may change money with the bank at any time during the game.

A player may not sell buildings...

• which he has taken possession of in the current round.
• whose regions he has extended by one or more "especially fertile landscape tiles" during the current round.

The Plagues

Four plagues exist: Poison, Locust, Rat, and Ruin. In order to place or move a plague token on the board you have to execute Action C (see "Action C: Perform the Special Function of the Card Played").

Plagues can only be placed on tiles that are already in the playing area on the board - you may not place a plague on a tile in the display.

Fig. 7: The ruins can only be placed on buildings. All other plagues may not be placed on buildings. Rats can ravage all landscapes. The locust can only be placed on field (acre), forest and pasture tiles. The poison can only be used on lake and vineyard tiles.

If there are plagues on buildings or landscapes the revenue of a sold building is reduced:

• Buildings that have a Ruin token on them lose their complete building value (but not the landscape value of their region; see Fig. 8a - 8d).
• The value of connected landscapes that hold the rat plague is halved (rounded down; see Fig. 8b, 8d). If the Rat sits on an "especially fertile landscape tile" that is removed from the game after selling the region, the rat is placed next to the gameboard - waiting for later use.
• Locust and Poison make the landscape tile they are on worthless. Landscape tiles that lie behind such plague infested tiles are also made worthless if they have no other connection to the corresponding building (see Fig. 8c).

Fig. 8 legend: Building with Ruin: 0 points. Landscape with Rat: half value. Landscape behind Locust/Poison: is cut off.

Fig. 8a: Amelie sells both of her farms and receives 11 doubloons. The "ruined" farm A is worthless. For this region Amelie only gets the value of her acre landscapes (4 doubloons). Farm B brings 2 doubloons for the building, 4 doubloons for the adjacent acres, and 1 doubloon for the adjacent pasture.

Fig. 8b: Rat attack! If Amelie sold both of her farms she would receive only 7 doubloons. The value of the acre landscapes has been halved for both farms.

Fig. 8c: Locust alarm! Now Amelie gets 6 doubloons for selling both of her farms. The acre landscape of farm A is worth only 3 doubloons. Farm B brings only the value of the building and the pasture since the Locust has completely separated the acre landscapes from farm B.

Fig. 8d: Locust and Rat plague! The Locust plague separates one acre landscape from farm A and three acre landscapes from farm B. The Rat halves the remaining value of the complete landscape: in the case of farm A, it is reduced from 3 to - rounded down - 1 doubloon. In the case of farm B it is reduced from 1 to - rounded down - 0 doubloons.

Action B: Place a Conde Token on the Building of an Opponent

The player places a Conde token from his stock onto a building that is occupied by a Squire token of an opponent. If the Conde token of a player is sitting on a building tile already, he may move it onto another building (that holds a Squire).

A Conde may never be placed onto a building whose region value adds up to 7 or more doubloons. There may be only one Conde on a building at a time.

Important: The Conde is only a trustee - not the owner of the building. A player with a Conde on a certain building may NEVER sell that building. If a Squire sells a building, the Conde receives the doubloon value of the landscapes that correspond to that building.

Action C: Perform the Special Function of the Card Played

The player executes the special function that is permitted through his played card. Only the cards "1," "2," "3," "4," and "6" have special functions. The following special functions exist:

• Action "Poison" (card "1"): The player moves the Poison token onto any empty vineyard or lake landscape tile. This tile becomes worthless and separates neighboring tiles (see "The Plagues").
• Action "Rat" (card "2"): The player moves the Rat token onto any empty landscape tile. It halves the landscape value (round down!).
• Action "Locust" (card "3"): The player moves the Locust token onto any empty acre, forest or pasture landscape tile (It then affects the landscapes like a Poison plague; see Fig. 8c).
• Action "Ruin" (card "4"): The player moves the Ruin onto any building. The building becomes worthless.
• Action "Draw a Card" (card "6"): The player determines an opponent who has to show him the cards in his hand. The player chooses and takes one card and gives his opponent one of his in return.

There may only be one plague token per tile. There may be multiple plagues on different tiles of the same landscape. Plagues affect "especially fertile landscapes" as well as regular landscapes.

Section 4: Give the Card to the Left Neighbor

All players pass the card that they have just played on to their left neighbor. The neighbor takes it into his hand and may play it during any of the subsequent rounds (Section 2).

Section 5: Weekly Market

In the weekly market, Squire and Conde receive money for big regions. For each region (building + landscapes) whose value adds up to 7 or more doubloons...

• the Squire receives 2 doubloons, and the Conde receives 1 doubloon.

Game End and Winner

The last round is the one in which the final landscape tile (the last of the ones marked with the blue stars on their back) is put onto the tile display. After that round all players count their doubloons. The richest player wins.

How Landscapes and Regions Develop

A. Landscapes

• Each single landscape tile is already a landscape. Tiles of the same landscape kind extend this landscape if they are placed on orthogonally adjacent fields (fields touching horizontally or vertically) on the game board. This also applies for "especially fertile landscapes."
• Tiles that are only touching diagonally do not belong to the same landscape (see Fig. 9).
• Tiles of a certain landscape kind can never become part of another landscape kind - regardless of the color of their tile frames (see Fig. 10).

Fig. 9: Here you can see two different acre landscapes. If a new acre tile is put onto one of the fields marked with an "a" it becomes a new part of the landscape A. If the new acre tile is put onto one of the "b" fields it becomes part of landscape B. If a tile is placed onto any of the "a/b" fields the two acre (A and B) landscapes melt into one big acre landscape.

Fig. 10: Three different landscapes are visible here. The two pasture landscapes are separated by an acre landscape.

B. Regions

• A region is composed of a landscape and a building of the same frame color - only if the tiles are on orthogonally adjacent fields. A diagonal connection is not sufficient.
• Multiple landscapes form a region with a building of the same color frame when each of the landscape tiles is either touching the building vertically or horizontally.

Fig. 11: Acre landscape A and pasture landscape B and the farm form a region. Pasture C does not belong to that region since it has no direct connection to the building. The vineyard and lake landscapes do not belong to the region because of their unsuitable frame color. Each building forms a region with any orthogonally adjacent and appropriate landscape.

Fig. 12: Farm A forms a region with the acre landscape. Farm C and Farm D each form their own region with the same acre landscape. Farm B is only touching the acre diagonally, and therefore it has no access to a region in this configuration.

What Is a Region Worth?

Each landscape tile that belongs to a region is worth 1 doubloon. "Especially fertile landscapes" are worth 2 or 3 doubloons - according to the imprinted number on the tile. The value of a building is determined by the kind of the building: Farm: 2 doubloons; Castle: 3 doubloons; Monastery: 4 doubloons. (See Fig. 3). The plagues "Rat," "Locust," and "Poison" are able to reduce the value of a landscape down to zero doubloons. The "Ruin" plague can make a building worthless (see "The Plagues").

Fig. 13: The region of farm A consists of the building, an acre landscape (red crosses), and a pasture landscape (blue crosses). The region of farm B is formed by the building and two acre landscapes (red crosses and yellow cross). Farm C is part of a region that consists of the building, an acre landscape (red crosses) and a pasture landscape (green cross).

Fig. 14: If Antonio sold farm A he would receive 6 doubloons: Building and pastures (blue crosses) each bring 2 doubloons. The acre landscape is worth 2 additional doubloons (red crosses) since the Locust makes one tile worthless, and the Rat halves the value of the remaining landscape tiles (including an "especially fertile landscape" worth 2) down to 2 doubloons. Now Antonio removes the "very fertile acre landscape." Afterwards, this acre landscape becomes worthless for Amelie (farm B): The Rat halves the remaining tiles down to 0,5 doubloons, thus: 0 doubloons (rounded down). If Amelie had sold her farm before Antonio she would have received 2 doubloons for the Rat infested acre (as it is described above in Antonio's case). Her building brings her 2 doubloons; her acre is worth 1 doubloon (yellow cross). Ramon receives 3 doubloons for selling his farm C since 3 is the value of the "very fertile pasture" tile (green cross). His building is made worthless by the Ruin token, and the two acre landscape tiles (red crosses) are separated from his farm by the Locust.

Example of a Game Round

Fig. 15a: Antonio has played the lowest card in this game round - a "2." Therefore, he may execute Action C (in this case: Move the "Rat" plague token) and perform either Action A or Action B. He chooses Action A and takes the tiles from one tile display field.

Fig. 15b: Antonio takes the pasture and the castle tile from display field "c."

Fig. 15c: Now, Antonio places the pasture into the region of his farm (Action A). Afterwards, he removes the rat from that region and puts it onto the vineyard tile next to Carmen's monastery. (Action C).

Fig. 15d: Then, Antonio sells his farms and receives 9 doubloons for it (pursuing Action A). Conde Ramon gets the value of the landscape (7 doubloons). Afterwards, Antonio removes the two "very fertile pastures." He leaves the "very fertile acre" since the Locust plague blocks that tile (Note: Antonio has not received any money for it.)

Fig. 15e: Antonio uses the Squire token of the sold farm to take possession of the castle. He pays 3 doubloons (building value of the castle) to the bank since he had no Squire token left in his stock.

Salamanca for 2 Players

The game runs as in the 3 - 5 player version but with the following differences:

• You play with a single deck of cards having the values 1 through to 8. Thus, both players receive four cards.
• In Section 1, four tiles are put onto the tile display (as it is in the game with four players).
• Both players play (in Section 2) two cards face down on the table before all of them are revealed at the same time.
• In Section 3 (Expansion of Power) the order of the game turns is according to the highest value of the cards. If the "5" is the lowest card played, its player starts the game round.

Example A: Carmen has played "6" and "3". Antonio has played "8" and "2". Antonio begins (card 8) with action A or action B. Then, it is Carmen's turn (card 6). Since the "6" has a special function ("Draw a card"), Carmen may freely choose an action (A, B or C). Now, it is Carmen's turn again, since her "3" has a higher value than Antonio's "2". Carmen again chooses one of the three actions. Finally, it is Antonio's turn with his lowest number. He executes action C by moving the rat. Besides, he chooses either action A or action B.

Example B: Carmen has played "8" and "6". Antonio has played "7" and "5". Since the "5" is the lowest card played, it determines the starting player, so that Antonio begins (with action A or B). Then it is Carmen's turn with her "8" (action A or B), followed by Antonio with "7" (action A or B). Finally, Carmen can execute action C with her "6" and may additionally choose action A or B.

• If in one round in his first turn a player takes possession of a building, he may not sell it during his second turn.
• If in one round in his first turn a player places one or more "especially fertile landscapes" into a region, he may not sell buildings during his second turn that now have access to these newly placed "especially fertile landscapes."