Villagers
What happens if you cannot pay the gold to unlock a villager?
The rulebook's padlock section sets the payment, and forum posts confirm the card stays unplayed.
- Villagers rulebook · Rulebook · Padlocks
- Haakon Gaarder · Designer · 2023-04-19
- Pjandy · Community · 2023-04-19
- ericamick2 · Community · 2026-04-17
- ericamick2 · Community · 2026-04-19
- Haakon Gaarder · Designer · 2019-05-24
You cannot play that padlocked card, so it stays in your hand. Options are a Tinner, gold from a Smuggler, returning a card for a basic villager, or waiting to play it until after the First Market. If the unlocker is in your own village, the bank pays, so the gold you hold does not matter.