Teach the Game

A script to teach Grand Austria Hotel at the table — how you win, the boards, a round and a turn, the end, every way to score and what each resource is for.

How you win

“Vienna, 1900. Each of us runs a little hotel. Guests sit in our café and order strudel, cake, wine and coffee; serve them and they move into a room of their colour, paying points and a bonus. Staff help us, and three times the Emperor checks who has been loyal. Seven rounds, one to two hours. Most points wins.”

What you need to win:

• Guests moved into rooms — their points, their rewards, and full groups of rooms for bonuses.
• Occupied rooms high up — at the end each scores 1 to 4 points by its floor.
• The Emperor’s favour — points at each Emperor scoring, a bonus instead of a penalty.
• Staff and Politics cards — engines during the game, points at the end.

The loop: take a guest, take a die — the more dice on its space, the stronger the action — then use the food and drinks to serve guests and move them into rooms, which pays for the next turn.

The boards

1. Guest queue — 5 guests; the newest, on the left, cost the most.
2. Guest costs — 3, 2, 1, 0, 0 krones.
3. Emperor track — points at each Emperor scoring.
4. Politics cards — three goals: first come, best paid.
5. Round track — 7 rounds; Emperor scoring after 3, 5 and 7.
6. Emperor tiles — this game’s bonus and penalty for each scoring.
7. Score track around the edge.

Your Hotel board has the rooms, the kitchen, the café and your money (Your Hotel). The Action board has the six spaces where the dice land (Actions).

A round

Details.

1. The start player rolls all dice and sorts them onto the 6 Action spaces by number.
2. Turns go to the lowest number on the Turn Order tiles: 1-2-3-4-4-3-2-1. On your turn:

   • Take a guest (optional) — pay its cost, seat it in your café.

   • Take a die — carry out that action, strength = dice on the space:

     Die	Action
     1	strudel / cake (never more cake)
     2	wine / coffee (never more coffee)
     3	prepare rooms
     4	Emperor steps / krones
     5	hire a Staff card, 1 krone off per die
     6	pay 1 krone, any other action at the strength of the 6s

   • Any time on your turn: pay 1 krone for a virtual die, pay 1 krone to serve up to 3 items from the kitchen, claim a Politics card, use a once-per-round Staff, move served guests into rooms.

3. Don’t like the dice? Pass; once everyone else is done, one die goes to the dustbin and the rest are re-rolled.
4. After rounds 3, 5 and 7: Emperor scoring. Then pass the Turn Order tiles clockwise.

How the game ends

• Trigger: after round 7 and its Emperor scoring.
• Final scoring: game-end Staff, occupied rooms (1–4 points by floor), 1 point per krone and per item in the kitchen, −5 per guest still in the café. Details.
• Ties: most dishes, drinks and krones left.

Ways to score

Source	How and when
Guests	Their points when they move into a room
Blue groups	2 / 5 / 9 / 15 points when a group of 1–4 rooms fills
Point rooms	Points printed on some top-right spaces, when prepared
Emperor scoring	After rounds 3, 5, 7: 0–9 points by your space; penalties can cost points
Politics cards	15 / 10 / 5 points for the first three to reach each goal
Staff	Points from die bonuses during play and game-end scoring
Occupied rooms	End: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 each by floor
Money and kitchen	End: 1 point each
Café	End: −5 per guest still waiting
[Waltz] Ballrooms	After each Emperor scoring; −5 if absent (Let’s Waltz!)

What each resource is for

Resource	Why you need it	How you get it	How you use it
Dishes and drinks	Guests leave only when served	Actions 1 and 2, rewards, Staff	Straight onto guests, or the kitchen (1 krone per 3 to serve later)
Krones	Guests, rooms, Staff, boosts	Action 4, red groups, rewards, Staff	Pay costs; 1 point each at the end
Emperor steps	Points and bonus at each scoring	Action 4, yellow groups, guests	Stay on 3+ after moving back
Rooms	Somewhere for guests to go	Action 3, rewards	Guests move in; full groups pay bonuses
Guests	Points and rewards	The queue (cost 0–3)	Serve their order, then move them in
Staff cards	Engines and end points	6 at the start, draws	Hire with action 5 or rewards
Dice	Your actions	Rolled each round	Take one per turn; more dice = stronger

Teaching tips

• Before the first guest, match their order to a room and distinguish new food from paid Kitchen serving (rehearsal).

• Show one full guest cycle: take, serve, move in, collect — the game is that loop.

• Explain the snake turn order with the actual tiles; the last player plays twice in a row.

• Warn about the first Emperor scoring early: reach space 6 by the end of round 3.

• First game: the same front side of the Hotel boards and the recommended Staff sets.