FAQ
35 answered questions4 official
Rules questions from the BoardGameGeek forum. Answers marked Official were confirmed by eggertspiele or the designers.
Common mistakes
- Resolving a start card as soon as it is taken — bonuses wait until everyone has a card pair and a corner. Ruling · Rule
- Treating the white die as wild when placing or buying — only its value counts there. Ruling · Rule
- Moving disks up the influence tracks with income — dice only collect the reward beside your disk. Ruling · Rule
- Counting the white die for "per die of this colour" phase E bonuses. Ruling · Rule
- Using extra cleric steps in the same move that earned them — they count from your next move. Ruling · Rule
Showing 35 of 35
Can two players start on the same corner of Coimbra if the first one has already moved away?
No. Each player's pilgrim takes a different starting corner, and nobody moves until everyone has picked both a card pair and a corner — only then are the start cards' bonuses applied.
Source: BGG thread
A start card gives pilgrim steps, but I took my cards before choosing a corner. Are the steps lost?
No. After every player has made both choices, each player gains the influence and immediate bonuses of their two start cards — by then your pilgrim is on its corner.
Source: BGG thread
Can one player end up with two phase C start cards?
Yes. The eight start cards are shuffled together, so a pair can hold two phase C bonuses; both work. Stack them below your board so both bonuses stay visible.
Source: BGG thread
What does the "+4" beside each city row mean?
Each new round you deal 4 character cards into that row. Cards left over from the previous round were already discarded when their row was evaluated.
Source: BGG thread
Two dice in the same city show the same value. Which one is evaluated first?
The one placed first. A new die goes to the right of every die with a lower-or-equal value in the castle, and to the right of every die with a higher-or-equal value in a city, so ties are first come, first served.
Source: BGG thread
Can more dice be placed in a location than there are cards in its row?
Yes. There is no limit, and players further right may find the row empty when their die is triggered — they then take the distress action.
Source: BGG thread
Is the white die wild when retrieving dice in phase C?
No. In phases B and C only a die's value matters, whatever its colour. The white die is wild only for income in phase E.
Source: BGG thread
Must favor tiles be taken in the order they are laid out?
No. When your die in the castle is triggered you take any favor tile still available, as you may take any card of a city row.
Source: BGG thread
How does the cap tile work with ties and when does it come off?
The capped die moves up its row to the place its new value (die + 3) dictates, to the right of dice of equal value. It changes only the order and the cost of the card; the die still counts as one die of its colour for income. Take the cap back when the die is retrieved.
Source: BGG thread
A die token is triggered and two cards tie for the highest influence value. Which is removed?
The leftmost of the tied cards, as the rulebook's example on page 8 shows.
Source: BGG thread
Does a card's bonus have to be resolved left to right? Official
No. You choose the order of a card's rewards — for instance, invest in the voyage first and take the guards afterwards.
Source: BGG thread
Can I buy a card whose immediate bonus I cannot or do not want to use?
Yes. Every reward may be forfeited in full or in part; you still gain the card's influence value.
Source: BGG thread
The card that trades 5 guards for up to 5 steps — can I pay less for fewer steps?
No. You pay the full 5 guards and then move up to 5 steps.
Source: BGG thread
Does the start card's 1-coin discount apply to a card taken from the discard pile?
Community answer: yes. You acquire that card during phase C, and nothing in the wording excludes it, so the cost of 3 drops to 2.
Source: BGG thread
Can I look through the discard pile before deciding?
The discard pile is face up, so players treat it as open information and may look at it at any time.
Source: BGG thread
Can the card that repeats a cleric's immediate bonus repeat the discard-pile card I am still resolving?
Unsettled. One reading says the discard-pile card is already yours and can be repeated, giving a third card in the same turn; another says it is only placed in your zone after its bonus is resolved and so cannot yet be repeated. Agree on one reading before playing; a card already in your zone from an earlier turn can always be repeated.
Source: BGG thread
When an opponent's card makes me lose a cleric, may I give up a start cleric?
Yes — start clerics are clerics. You also move your disk back on the cleric track by its influence value. Taking a start card from the discard pile is not possible: it has no cost icon to pay with.
Source: BGG thread
An opponent must give me resources or victory points but has no resources. What happens?
They must give the victory points, even if their score drops below 0, and you gain them. Your own storage limit of 20 may mean you lose resources they hand you.
Source: BGG thread
Who is "behind" me on the council track for the cards that make others pay?
Every disk on a lower space, plus disks on your space that arrived after yours (higher in the stack).
Source: BGG thread
Can the phase E cards that turn coins or guards into points be used more than once in the same phase E? Official
Yes. They work at any time during phase E, as often as you like at the 2-to-1 rate — before and after collecting income.
Source: BGG thread
Do the "+1 on a track" phase E cards act before or after income?
Before: they move your disk at the beginning of phase E, so the higher income already applies that round.
Source: BGG thread
Does the white die count as a colour for "per die of this colour" phase E bonuses?
No. The white die never counts towards those bonuses, even when you use it for that colour's income.
Source: BGG thread
Does the scholar that scores 5 points per set of four classes count itself?
Yes, it is one of the four cards of its set.
Source: BGG thread
If a monastery lets me score a game end card now, does that card score again at the end?
Yes. Scoring it early does not use it up.
Source: BGG thread
Do my dice move my disks up the influence tracks in phase E?
No. Each die collects the reward printed beside your disk on the matching track; two dice of a colour collect it twice. Disks move only with character cards and some monasteries.
Source: BGG thread
If my pilgrim reaches a monastery that moves me up the cleric track, do I get the extra steps at once? Official
No. The higher reward applies from your next pilgrim move — which may still be in the same phase E, with another purple or white die.
Source: BGG thread
Do I gain anything for moving beyond space 15 on an influence track?
No. The excess is lost.
Source: BGG thread
Does the monastery worth 4 points per die in the castle need the white die?
No. Any die you place in the castle during phase B triggers it; the rulebook draws dice in white when the colour does not matter.
Source: BGG thread
The 3-crown favor tile lets me invest in a voyage. Can I invest again in phase F? Official
Yes — both investments get the tile's 2-cost discount, and so does an investment granted by a character card while you hold the tile.
Source: BGG thread
Which player order is used in phase F?
The new one. From phase D on, every phase of the round follows the new order.
Source: BGG thread
Which crowns count in the final scoring of guards, coins and crowns?
Crowns are counted as in phase D: crown tokens and favor tiles of the last round plus the crowns beside your player order flag. Groups disagree whether the flag is the one you held during the last phase D or the one you moved to; most read the rule as the flag you hold at the end. Agree before the game — it changes at most 2 crowns.
Source: BGG thread
Crown tokens show two crowns. Do they count as 2?
Yes, every crown token is worth 2 crowns, as the rulebook's scoring example on page 11 shows.
Source: BGG thread
How does Maskat score — double what?
Find your lowest disk on the four influence tracks and double the number of the space it is on (6 → 12 points).
Source: BGG thread
Can Ilhas dos Açores give more than 12 points?
Yes. You start with 2 cards and can take 12 more, and discard-pile cards add more: every card beyond the tenth is worth 3 points.
Source: BGG thread
With 2 players, what does second place on an influence track score?
The middle value of the tile — but only if your disk is no more than 3 spaces behind the leader. Otherwise nobody scores second place.
Source: BGG thread