Venecitas
Venecitas Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 28 white cones (7 for each player)
- 1 white cone decorated with a line of Venecitas
- 4 individual player boards
- 1 six-sided colour die
- 1 first player tile
- 9 scoring tiles
- 1 scoring mat
1 rulebook
Setup
Players sit around the game table orthogonally, that is, facing one another. This is important for the development of the game.
[Diagrams: seating positions at the table for 4 players, 2 players and 3 players.]
Each Player's Play Area
Each player takes 1 player board and 7 white cones and places them in their play area as follows:
- Scoring cone: one cone indicates the Victory Points (VP) the player has acquired during the game. It is marked along the perimeter of the board.
- Venecita cones: the remaining cones are used to mark on the board the number of Venecitas of each colour the player has obtained. For example, if a player has 3 red Venecitas, a cone is placed on position 3; if another red Venecita is then obtained, that cone is moved to position 4.
The rulebook's illustration shows the layout of a 4-player game: each player has their own board with its cones beside it, and the scoring mat and a set of scoring tiles are placed at the table.
Scoring Mat and Scoring Tiles
Place the scoring mat on one side, with the scoring tiles placed on top of it, ordered from lowest to highest value, following the combinations printed on them. A white cone decorated with a border of Venecitas is placed on the text "bloqueo activo" (active lock).
The scoring tiles show the following combinations:
- 3 VP: to obtain 3 VP you need 4 Venecitas of the same colour.
- 4 VP: to obtain 4 VP you need 3 Venecitas of one colour and another 3 of a different colour.
- 5 VP: to obtain 5 VP you need 6 Venecitas of different colours.
First Player
Each player chooses a colour of the die. The die is rolled as many times as necessary until one of the chosen colours comes up. The player who chose that colour will be the starting player and will hold the first player tile, which shows a work of art made with Venecitas.
Development of the Game
The starting player begins by carrying out their actions. When their turn is over, the next player clockwise does the same.
Actions
On your turn, whenever you can or want, perform the following actions in order:
- Exchange Venecitas for victory points (VP).
- Roll the die.
- Make exchanges to the die roll by paying one Venecita (not blocked).
- Mark on your board the Venecita or Venecitas acquired by the final position of the die.
1) Exchanging Venecitas for Victory Points
This action can only be performed at the beginning of the player's turn, as their first action.
When you have several Venecitas marked on your board, you can exchange them for victory points. On the scoring mat, with the tiles placed on top, the colour combinations you can exchange for points are shown. In the following example, the player exchanges 3 green Venecitas and 3 purple Venecitas for 4 VP, which is the tile available for that type of colour combination. The VP obtained are marked along the perimeter of the player's individual board.
[Diagram caption, left: "In this instance I have the following Venecitas: 2 black; 3 green; 1 blue; 0 red; 2 yellow and 3 purple." Right: "I exchange 3 green and 3 purple Venecitas for 4 VP. Now I have 0 green and 0 purple Venecitas."]
When exchanging Venecitas to generate VP, you must take the tile of that combination, mark your score, remove the tile from the mat and place it in your play area. The tile that was underneath it is then left visible.
If you want to exchange your Venecitas for VP but there are no tiles left on the mat for the combination you have formed, the VP value printed on the mat is still marked, but you do not take a tile to your play area.
2) Rolling the Die
The active player rolls the die. The die must then be straightened on its most obvious side. Suppose the player rolls it and it comes to rest slightly tilted: they straighten it so that the face facing them is perfectly aligned.
[Diagram caption: The player rolls the die and it stops slightly tilted. It is turned from the side with the smaller angle; in the photo, anticlockwise, since the face is closer to black than to green.]
[Diagram caption: When the die stops at 45° its position must be defined clockwise. In the photo it stopped at exactly 45° with respect to the player who rolled it, so it is turned clockwise, leaving green as the colour facing the player.]
3) Making Exchanges to the Die Roll
A player may not be satisfied with the die roll and may opt to make an exchange. To do so, they must first pay by moving down one position on their board for a colour they possess (not blocked).
The changes they can make are: turn the die 90° clockwise or anticlockwise, or flip the die horizontally or vertically. These changes allow the player to change the colour facing them, the colours of the opposing players, and the colour of the top face.
[Diagram captions: Turn the die clockwise 90°. Turn the die anticlockwise 90°. Flip the die horizontally, a 180° turn. Flip the die vertically, a 180° turn.]
Important: a player may neither lift the die nor stand up to see colours that are not visible. They can only see the colour facing them, and are allowed to move a little to the sides to see the side faces.
4) Marking the Venecitas Acquired by the Final Position of the Die
At this stage each player must mark on the indicator of their board one more Venecita of the colour facing them, as long as they have a free position or the colour is not blocked by another player (blocking is explained later). The player who rolled the die marks not only the colour facing them, but also the colour of the top face of the die.
Example: the image below shows the start of the game. Each player has their Venecita markers at "0", and the first player begins by rolling the die.
[Diagram: the starting game layout, with each player's Venecita markers at 0.]
The starting player rolls the die. Having no Venecitas, they cannot pay for a change, so they make no change to the position of the die, which is left as shown in the following diagram.
[Diagram: the die after the first roll.]
Here we see the players marking the colours facing them: the starting player marks red, the player on the left marks violet, the player opposite marks blue, and the player on the right marks black. The starting player, who rolled the die, also marks the yellow colour on the top face of the die.
[Diagram: the board of each player after the first roll.]
In this way Venecitas are gained, marking their positions on the board, so that later, at the start of the turn, combinations can be exchanged for VP if the player wishes.
Note: In the case of 2 or 3 players and in solo mode, the faces of the die that point toward sides where there are no players are not taken into account.
Blocking a Colour
When a player moves one of their cones to position 4 of any colour, the decorated cone from the scoring mat (the one with a border of Venecitas) is taken and placed on top of the cone that reached the 4th position. This indicates that the colour is blocked for the other players, but not for the player who placed the blocking cone.
Blocking applies both to marking the acquisition of more Venecitas of that colour and to attempting to exchange a combination that includes that colour.
Important: only one colour can be blocked in play at a time.
Example: Pedro, according to the die, gains a blue Venecita. He had already marked 3 blue Venecitas, which makes 4. Therefore blue is blocked for the other players for as long as the blocking cone remains in that place. Suppose María now wants to exchange a combination of 3 blue Venecitas and 3 yellow Venecitas to generate VP. She cannot do so until the blue colour is unblocked.
[Diagram: a player board with the blocking cone placed on top of a cone.]
Unblocking a Colour
A colour can be unblocked in two ways:
- If the player who keeps the colour blocked wishes to exchange them for VP. (Remember that they do not have the colour blocked for themselves; they only mark that they block that colour for the others.) In doing so, if they or another player has some colour in position 4, they must choose where to place the blocking cone. It can be placed on their own board or on another player's board, benefiting that player.
Unblocking a Colour (continued)
If no player had a cone in position 4, the blocking marker returns to the scoring mat where it was initially, covering the legend "bloqueo activo" (active lock).
- The other and more common way to unblock a colour is for another player to reach position 4 with another colour, after each player has marked the colour gained on the die. The player then removes the blocking marker from the current colour and places it on the new colour that reached position 4.
Important: the blocking of the old colour remains until everyone has marked the new colour or colours gained on their board. Only then does the new blocked colour take effect.
If, at the moment each player marks their colour or colours gained, several players reach the fourth position, the blocking is carried out by the player who rolled the die or, failing that, by the player closest to them in clockwise order.
End of the Game and Victory Conditions
When a player reaches the victory points needed to win the game, the game ends. Before it does, the round of turns must be completed up to and including the player before the one who holds the first player tile.
If, when the round of turns is finished, only one player has reached the goal, that player is the winner. If several players have reached the goal, the winner is the one with more Venecitas marked on their board. If the tie persists, the winner is the one with more scoring tiles accumulated.
The VP needed to end the game vary according to the number of players. On the individual boards, in the scoring area, there are small numbers at the values 8, 17, 21 and 25. These are the goals to reach according to the number of players.
Victory points each player must achieve, according to the number of players in the game:
- 4 players: 17 VP
- 3 players: 21 VP
- 2 players: 25 VP
- Solo mode: 8 VP
Optional Rule
If you want to lengthen the games, you can remove one or two tiles from each of the 3 different combinations. Always remove the ones with the highest value.
Solo Variant
The player plays with the normal rules:
- Exchange Venecitas for VP. 2) Roll the die. 3) Change the position of the die by paying one Venecita. 4) Mark score and turn.
Differences from the multiplayer rules: in this mode neither blocking nor scoring tiles are used. Only the values indicated on the empty scoring mat are used to obtain VP.
Objective: the goal is to reach 8 VP before the game ends on turn 25. Each time the die is rolled, one more turn is marked with the Venecita-guard cone along the perimeter of the board, which is also used to mark VP. When that cone reaches position 25, the game ends and you have lost. Conversely, if your white cone reaches 8 VP before turn 25, you have won the game.
It is important to know the die in its entirety in order to win the game. Remember that you may not get up from the table to look at the die's hidden side or at its bottom face.