FAQ
83 answered questions18 official
Rules questions from the BoardGameGeek forum. Answers marked Official were confirmed by Eagle-Gryphon Games or the designers.
Common mistakes
- Tucking a card into your portfolio with no goods — you must then Sell Goods or Trade, and both need a good. Ruling · Rule
- Paying wigs for Influence outside a visit or follow, or to get réis — wigs only cover a visit you can’t afford. Ruling · Rule
- Building a ship from deeper in the shipyard, or a period-2 ship with an end-of-period discard — only the top ship, and the new ships come after the discards. Ruling · Rule
- Refilling the City tiles or Decrees before the other players follow — only Public Buildings refill mid-turn. Ruling · Rule
- Moving the Cardinal with a reward while holding 4 Clergy tiles — you can build there but lose the reward. Ruling · Rule
- Counting the cubes on Public Building sites in a store’s land price — only the row and column ends count. Ruling · Rule
Showing 83 of 83
In a 2-player game, is there still a Rubble pile of 6 cubes? Official
Yes. Place the 6 random cubes in the Rubble pile as usual; only the cubes left over afterwards (because row E is covered) go back to the box. With 3 or 4 players there are no spare cubes.
Source: BGG thread
Which Decrees are removed in a 2-player game?
The ones with the 2-player symbol, printed on a red banner under the card’s main icon. They are the Decrees about row E, which is covered. Leave them in the deck and replace each one when it comes out.
Source: BGG thread
How many Royal Favor tiles go on each Noble’s portrait?
All the ones not drawn by the players. Since nobody can hold two favors of the same Noble, the stacks never run short.
Source: BGG thread
Does the Starting Player marker ever move?
No. It only shows who started, so that at the end everyone gets the same number of turns.
Source: BGG thread
Can I have more than 3 cards on top of my portfolio? Official
No: at most 3 on top and 3 below, 6 in all. Your limit counts every card, top and bottom, Ships included.
Source: BGG thread
My portfolio is full. Do I discard before playing the new card, even if its reward would raise my limit?
Yes. Discard first, then play the card and take its reward.
Source: BGG thread
Can I discard the card I just played to make room for the Ship it let me build? Official
Yes. Once you have taken a card’s reward you may discard it immediately to make room for the next card.
Source: BGG thread
Can I play a card into my portfolio if I have no goods?
Only if the card’s reward gives you a good. After tucking a card you must Sell Goods or Trade with the Nobles, and both need at least one good. Otherwise visit a Noble, sponsor an event, or discard a card for 1 gold.
Source: BGG thread
Do a Treasury card’s centre goods or action apply when I tuck it into my portfolio?
No. Tucked, a Treasury card gives the Treasury value in réis and its bottom benefit. The middle of the card only happens when you sponsor it in the Royal Court.
Source: BGG thread
Do I gain Influence when I tuck a Noble card?
No. You only take its bottom reward. Its Influence counts later, whenever you gain Influence (building a ship, Church scoring).
Source: BGG thread
Where does a discarded or replaced card go — including a Ship?
Out of the game. A Ship you discard or upgrade never returns to the shipyard.
Source: BGG thread
Do the money and sales benefits of several cards and tiles add up?
Yes, every benefit is cumulative. A “1 real off” discount applies once to each payment: add up what you owe, then subtract it.
Source: BGG thread
When I convert Influence to réis, does the space I start on count?
No. You get a real for each real-space you reach as you move left, not for the one you start on.
Source: BGG thread
Can I spend Influence for réis when I have enough coins?
Yes, whenever you have to pay réis you may cover any part with Influence. But you never take coins: it only pays what you owe.
Source: BGG thread
Can I spend wigs for Influence at any time?
No. Wigs only cover the Influence you lack for a visit or a follow. They never raise your Influence track and never pay réis.
Source: BGG thread
Do réis discounts work with “pay réis instead of Influence” (the left house group or Clergy tile 4)?
Yes, they combine: pay the Influence in réis and apply your réis discounts to that payment.
Source: BGG thread
When does the Treasury marker go down? Official
Whenever money is taken from the Treasury, that is when a Treasury card is tucked into a portfolio. Selling goods doesn’t move it: foreign traders pay you, not the Crown.
Source: BGG thread
Do I get the réis of Clergy tiles 11–13 before I pay Influence for the visit? Official
No. The card counts as played only once all the visit’s steps are done.
Source: BGG thread
Can I sell to several ships in one Sell Goods action? Official
Yes, as many goods as the ships can hold, to any ships of any players.
Source: BGG thread
Does a ship’s price modifier apply to every good sold to it?
Yes, to each good, whoever sells it.
Source: BGG thread
Can I take any ship from the shipyard?
No, only the top one. The purple and brown ships arrive at the end of period 1; once a period’s ships are gone, the action can’t be taken.
Source: BGG thread
To build a ship by trading, do I pay the trade good on top of the ship’s goods?
Yes: one good to the Marquis for the State action, then the different goods the ship costs.
Source: BGG thread
Can I pay for a ship with two gold?
No. A ship needs different types of goods; gold counts as one type. It is accepted by every Noble but it is not a wild good.
Source: BGG thread
Can I own more than one ship?
Yes, up to your three top slots, one ship per build. A new ship can upgrade an old one (paying the difference) or sit beside it.
Source: BGG thread
Can I “upgrade” a ship to one of the same size?
No. To replace it with a same-size ship, discard it and pay the full cost; its goods don’t carry over.
Source: BGG thread
Can I upgrade a ship that is at sea?
Yes — players report the designer allowing it. Leave the face-down goods on the new ship until your next turn: nobody can sell to it until it docks.
Source: BGG thread
Do goods waiting on my ship’s dock count as mine for goods Decrees?
No. They are being exported; only goods in your warehouses count.
Source: BGG thread
Can I recruit two Officials into the same office?
No, the State action puts them in two different offices. You can add more to an office on later turns.
Source: BGG thread
How do I place the 4 Officials of the Treasury card event?
In different offices; the 4th goes into an office where you already placed one. The Officials icon at the bottom of that card is a different thing: tucked, it lowers the Officials your Public Buildings need by 2.
Source: BGG thread
Can I recruit Officials when none are left on my player board? Official
No. With no Officials on your board you can’t recruit any more.
Source: BGG thread
Can I use goods from my first State action to pay for the second?
Yes. The two trades are separate: finish the first (for example producing goods), then pay for the second with what you now have.
Source: BGG thread
Can I produce a good whose price is already 1?
Yes. Its price simply stays at 1.
Source: BGG thread
Does producing through a card reward lower prices too?
Yes. Any production lowers the price of each type produced.
Source: BGG thread
Do Clergy tile 37 and the right house group’s production bonus stack?
Yes. Produce, add the house bonus, then the extra good of Clergy tile 37 — all within your warehouse space.
Source: BGG thread
I have 4 Clergy tiles. Can I still build on a space whose reward moves the Cardinal?
Yes, but you lose that reward: with 4 tiles you can’t move the Cardinal at all, by the State action or by a reward. The designer intended the Cardinal to get stuck this way.
Source: BGG thread
Can I discard a Clergy tile to make room for a new one?
No. Clergy tiles leave your board only at Church scoring.
Source: BGG thread
Can I discard Clergy tiles at Church scoring if I have no cards on top of my portfolio?
Yes. You score their wigs and gain 0 Influence. It also frees space to meet the Cardinal again.
Source: BGG thread
Do discarded Clergy tiles go back into the bag? Official
No. Only the tile you don’t keep at setup returns to the bag; all others leave the game.
Source: BGG thread
When exactly does Church scoring happen? Official
At the end of the active player’s turn, after all follows. Lay the Cardinal down as a reminder.
Source: BGG thread
Does a Clergy tile I get as a land-space reward already count for that store?
Yes. The reward comes first, so tile 2 (1 wig per store) scores for the store you are building.
Source: BGG thread
Do Clergy tiles 9 and 17 combine?
Yes: take a real for each cube, then you may discard one of them for 2 wigs.
Source: BGG thread
Do Clergy tiles 14 and 15 count in the Officials majority?
Yes. Each counts as a completed Plan, Officials included, for every scoring.
Source: BGG thread
Does Clergy tile 20 also add the Influence of my portfolio?
No. It is a one-off gain of exactly 7 Influence.
Source: BGG thread
Do other players follow before the displays are refilled? Official
Yes. Follows happen during your turn, so nothing is refilled for them — except Public Buildings, which refill as soon as one is taken.
Source: BGG thread
Can a follower build the same kind of store as the active player?
No. The City tile of that colour is gone until the end of the turn. The tools street is the exception: its large and small tiles can both be built in one turn.
Source: BGG thread
Must I play a card of the Noble I want to visit?
Yes. A Noble card visits the Noble it shows.
Source: BGG thread
Can I visit a Noble with none of my Officials in his office?
Yes. The cost is the Treasury modifier plus the other players’ Officials in that office.
Source: BGG thread
Can I follow a visit during the final round?
Yes. Follows are allowed until the very last turn.
Source: BGG thread
Do I take the reward of the space before I pay? Official
Yes, you take the reward first — it is found under the rubble. Réis found there can pay for the land.
Source: BGG thread
Can I open a Public Building without a Plan if the site’s reward is a Plan? Official
Yes. The reward comes first, so the Plan found there can be the one you use.
Source: BGG thread
Can I hire all the Officials a Plan needs with money? Official
Yes, you can hire only freelancers. But any of your Officials already in offices or plazas must be used first.
Source: BGG thread
Which Rubble cubes count in the land price?
The cubes left at the right end of the space’s row and the bottom of its column, after you take yours. Cubes on Public Building sites never count.
Source: BGG thread
When a Public Building opens, does a store score again for the older buildings?
No. Each store scores the new building only; it already scored the others when they, or it, were placed.
Source: BGG thread
Must a Public Building on the north side match its street?
Yes, one of its two colours must be the street’s.
Source: BGG thread
Must I take the reward of a land space or Public Building site?
No, those rewards are optional — you may build there and forgo it.
Source: BGG thread
What does the multicoloured rubble icon on a land space give?
One Rubble cube of any colour still available in the Rubble pile.
Source: BGG thread
Why can’t I build on the top-left space of row A? Official
The real downtown plan has no building there, just a square.
Source: BGG thread
Do I pay the Treasury value twice when I sponsor a Build a Store event?
Yes: once to sponsor the event and again in the land price. A discount on payments applies to each.
Source: BGG thread
Can I use a Rubble Set marker for an extra Decree when the Decree comes from a reward?
Yes, whenever you take Decrees — visit, follow, reward, card or event — but only one marker each time.
Source: BGG thread
How many Decrees can the “2 Decrees” event give?
At most 3: the two of the event plus one for a single Rubble Set marker.
Source: BGG thread
Is the Decree display refilled between my two picks?
No. It is refilled at the end of the turn.
Source: BGG thread
Do “most” Decrees score if nobody has any of the item?
No. You need at least one of the item to score.
Source: BGG thread
Do street Decrees count stores on both sides of the street?
Only the stores whose entrance faces that street.
Source: BGG thread
What does “Max 1” on Decree 50 mean?
It scores its 5 wigs once, however many goods of each kind you have.
Source: BGG thread
At the end of period 1, can a discarded Noble card build a period-2 ship?
No. The designer ruled that the hand discard comes before the new ships, so a ship reward can only build a period-1 ship still in the shipyard. The first printing listed the steps the other way round.
Source: BGG thread
Can I use a Rubble Set marker for an extra Decree during the end-of-period discard? Official
Yes. Treat the end of the period as a special turn for each player: one marker may add a Decree there too.
Source: BGG thread
At the end of period 1, can two different Nobles give me the same reward?
Yes. You take one reward for each Noble type discarded, even if they show the same reward.
Source: BGG thread
If I can’t take a discarded card’s whole reward, do I get part of it? Official
Yes: with only one Official left for a two-Official reward, you may place that last one.
Source: BGG thread
Does “discard the remaining cards in the display” include the Decrees?
No, only the Political cards of the display.
Source: BGG thread
What are the correct tool store majority values?
The rulebook prints 6 / 3 / 1, but players report that the board’s City tile display shows 6 / 4 / 2 and treat the board as correct. Use the values printed on your board.
Source: BGG thread
How are majority ties shared?
Add the places the tied players occupy and divide, rounded down; the next player takes the next place.
Source: BGG thread
What is the fifth rubble set for?
Its 3 wigs at the end and one more warehouse space; mostly it lets you keep taking rubble.
Source: BGG thread
Solo: can Lacerda trigger the end of the period? Official
No. Only your rubble sets and the card decks end a period.
Source: BGG thread
Solo: does Lacerda need a Plan and Officials to open a Public Building? Official
No. He moves or hires no Officials and uses no Plans.
Source: BGG thread
Solo: does Lacerda pay Influence before or after his State action?
After: he takes his State action, then pays Influence just before his Noble action.
Source: BGG thread
Solo: does Lacerda produce one good per store?
Yes, like a player: one good per store he owns.
Source: BGG thread
Solo: what are Lacerda’s goods for?
Only for comparison with your goods Decrees. He has no warehouse limit.
Source: BGG thread
Solo: does Lacerda pay for his ships?
No, he simply takes the top ship.
Source: BGG thread
Solo: when Lacerda follows a Marquis visit, how many Decrees does he take?
Two, as in his own Noble action.
Source: BGG thread
Solo: where does the Helper go after the last deck?
From the Treasury deck it loops back to the Builder’s deck; empty decks are skipped.
Source: BGG thread
Solo: can Lacerda build a store with no wooden houses left?
No.
Source: BGG thread
[Add-ons] Can a deck A starting task be completed by following a visit?
No. Deck A tasks need you to visit the Noble by playing the card into the Court yourself.
Source: BGG thread
[Add-ons] How do the two deck B cards work once I draw them?
Do what one card asks — for example produce goods (reward: 1 gold) or gain Influence at Church scoring (reward: 2 wigs) — and take its reward at the end of that turn. Players then discard the other card too.
Source: BGG thread