The Battle of the Divas: Palco Reale
The Battle of the Divas: Palco Reale Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 16 Personality cards
- 4 Instrument tokens
- 1 Palco Reale board
- 2 Rulebooks (English and Spanish)
Game Preparation
Prepare the game as indicated in the base game rules. Keep in mind that you must place the Palco Reale board between the Opera Houses and the Orchestra/Scoring board, as shown in the image.
Place the 4 Instrument tokens with the clear side up in the four corresponding spaces of the board.
Finally, shuffle the expansion deck of cards, place it next to the Palco Reale board before turning over the first 3 cards and placing them on top of the board (once again, in any order).
How to Play
Each Personality located in the Palco Reale provides extra points if you meet their conditions. Here is how it works:
A) Once an Opera is completed, check the scoring conditions of the 3 Personality cards in the Palco Reale.
B) Now both players check the cards they played in that Opera House, and score Victory points for any demand they meet in each Personality card.
Each Opera House can only score from the Palco Reale once per game. If an Opera is completed in an Opera House that has already scored points from the Palco Reale, it does not score any more Palco Reale points. You simply ignore the Palco Reale.
C) The 3 Personality cards in play are then discarded and replaced with 3 new ones.
For example, let's say that Tebaldi closes the first Opera of the game, in this case Turandot, which is performed at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, leaving the points and the Fame track like this:
[Image in the rulebook: the Colón Buenos Aires Opera House with the Turandot card and the points and Fame track state.]
Tebaldi must now follow all the steps indicated in the rules of the base game to score the Opera, adding one more step: scoring the Palco Reale. She will follow this order:
- Convert Applause points to Victory points.
- Resolve the Fame track.
- Place the Instrument in the Orchestra and apply the effect.
- Score the Palco Reale.
- Remove the Opera card and replace it with a new one.
- Discard all cards played in that Opera House.
IMPORTANT: each Opera House can only score from the Palco Reale once per game. If, when completing an Opera, any player meets the conditions to score at least one Personality card, flip the corresponding Instrument token on the Palco Reale board to its used side up. That Opera House will not score from the Palco Reale again. If no one scores a Personality card, do not flip the Instrument token.
In any case, whether players have earned points or not, every time you complete an Opera in an Opera House that has not yet scored from the Palco Reale, you discard the cards on the Palco Reale board and replace them with new ones.
Scoring the Palco Reale
Starting with the player who has closed the Opera, we will compare the cards played by both players in that House with the 3 requirements of the Royal Box.
For example, this is the state of play when closing an Opera in the Colón Buenos Aires. The three Personality cards in the Royal Box are:
- Frank Sinatra (3 VP): Opera completed without any Character cards.
- Jacqueline Kennedy (4 VP): At least 4 cards in that Opera.
- Isabel Perón (5 VP): 3 Instruments matching that Opera House.
Now each player looks at the cards they played in that Opera House and checks if they meet the demands of the Personalities in the Palco Reale.
Tebaldi, who had already gained 10 VP, also meets the conditions of 1 Personality: Isabel Perón (have 3 cards with Instruments matching the Opera House), so she will add 5 extra points, gaining a total of 15 VP.
Callas, who initially had 7 VP, meets the conditions of Jacqueline Kennedy (4 cards played in the Opera) and Frank Sinatra (have a completed Opera without any character card), so she will only add 7 VP from the Palco Reale, earning 14 VP in total.
Once the cards of the Palco Reale are resolved, we will flip the corresponding Instrument in the box to indicate that Personality cards are no longer worth bonus points in that Opera House for the rest of the game.
[Image in the rulebook: the Drum token turned to its used side up.]
We now replace the 3 current cards with 3 new characters. Keep playing as usual, a new Palco Reale is watching!