Solo: the Machina
Playing Maestro alone against the Machina: setup changes, golden rules, how it gains Resources, rolls, plays cards and resolves each action, its scoring and difficulty.
You play one Workshop by the normal rules; the Machina runs the other with its own deck. Setup changes are in the setup checklist (choose 1 player).
| Picture | Solo component |
|---|---|
| — | Solo cards: starting and Upgraded decks of 20 cards each. |
 | Dice: 2. |
 | Meeples: 2. |
Golden rules
- The Machina’s cards have no Effort: each shows its Publicity, its Action Points and any Resources it gains.
- It collects Publicity tokens like you, but uses them only in rounds 3 and 4: if it holds one matching the Action, it always adds it to its card.
- Unused Action Points are lost — except on Create.
- Playing Michelangelo, it treats all its Artworks as one type.
- The Machina wins every tie, whatever the Study track says. You must beat it outright.
Gaining Resources
The Machina gains Resources from its cards and all normal effects, straight into its area:
- Michelangelo Machina: put each Resource on the first Workshop space — left to right, top to bottom — whose row or column colour matches. A space holds at most 2 Resources, only of its colours; the column with the multicoloured cost takes any Resource plus 1 of the row’s colour. No space left: discard it and the Machina gains 1 VP.
- Da Vinci Machina: if the Blueprint under its meeple still needs that Resource, put it there. Otherwise move the meeple to the next Blueprint that needs it and try again. A multicoloured requirement takes any colour.
A Machina turn
- Roll and move (skip on the game’s first turn): roll both dice, subtract the lower from the higher and move its meeple that many Actions clockwise. If it already has 3 cards there, go on to the next Action.
- Play a card: the top card of its main deck goes to that Action; it gains any Resources shown. In Gossip turns it plays face down and nothing happens.
- Main Action with the card’s Action Points, as below. If it can’t resolve the Action, the card stays and all its Action Points go to a Move.
- Workshop Action — see below.
Create
Do the first that applies:
- With 3+ Action Points: place 1 Artwork in each Secondary Gallery where it holds the Centerpiece and in every Popular Gallery, whoever holds it. Short of Artworks in supply, take them from Florence.
- Otherwise place Artworks in Florence, one per Action Point.
Out of Artworks with Action Points left: spend them on a Move.
Move
Each Action Point carries one Artwork straight to a target region, ignoring the normal move rules. Target — the first that applies (higher region number breaks ties):
- the most valuable Popular Gallery with no Centerpiece;
- the most valuable Popular Gallery where it can take the Centerpiece with the Action Points left;
- the most valuable Popular Gallery where it has exactly 1 Artwork more than you;
- steps 1–3 again for Secondary Galleries.
It moves Artworks there until it takes the Centerpiece or runs out of Action Points, taking them first from Florence, then from the region without a Gallery closest to the target, then from its supply. Took a Centerpiece with points left? Start again from step 1.
Influence
It shifts the Lodge to make your Centerpieces score less and its own more. For each Action Point:
- If it holds a Centerpiece in a Popular Gallery:
- move a Collector from the area of your highest-scoring region (of another colour than its Centerpiece) to the area of its Centerpiece region; or else
- move a Collector from any other area to that area.
- Otherwise: resolve a Move instead.
Moved Collectors are laid down and give Resources as usual. For each Collector it moves, it also moves 1 Artwork to each Popular Gallery region whose colour just gained a Collector. The Precedence tile breaks ties.
Study
Advance its marker once per Action Point and take each reward:
- Resource: gain it.
- Upgrade: draw from its main deck until a Starting card appears; remove that card and reshuffle. Put the top Upgraded card on top of the main deck and the Machina gains 2 VP (rounds 1–2) or 4 VP (rounds 3–4). With no Starting card left in the deck, replace a Starting card on the main board instead, checking from Study clockwise.
Afterwards it moves an Artwork from Florence to the orange region with a Popular Gallery.
Workshop Action
- Michelangelo Machina: none — its Resources score at the end.
- Da Vinci Machina: if every Resource a Blueprint tile needs is in place, discard them and remove that card’s next Invention marker.
Exhibition and Cleanup
Standard rules: it gains VP, Publicity tokens, Resources for presence and patron cards like a player — and wins all ties. In Cleanup, reshuffle its main deck; it has no Upgrade display to refresh.
Final scoring
You score normally. The Machina scores:
- 3 VP per Benefactor card and 9 VP per Patroness card;
- Michelangelo: 3 VP per Workshop space with 2 Resources, 1 VP per space with 1, and 3 VP per row holding 10 Resources;
- da Vinci: double the printed VP for each Invention marker removed — except Blueprint BL6, whose markers score 6 VP per Popular Gallery tile it holds.
Beat its score to win; a tie is a loss.
Difficulty
- Easier: it gains Resources only from its played cards (not from actions or the Exhibition); Patroness cards are worth 6 VP to it.
- Harder: at setup move one of its Artworks from Florence to every Popular Gallery; leftover Action Points from any action become a Move; at the end Benefactor cards are worth 6 VP and Patroness cards 15 VP to it.