Città-Stato (Kickstarter Edition)

A Città-Stato game lasts 7 rounds. In each round, players use their cubes to perform different actions, but with one important rule to keep in mind: the first action costs only one cube, but each subsequent action costs one more of the same color. You will need to plan your moves very well to make as many useful ones as possible!

At the beginning of the game, each player is assigned a maritime republic with its own specific power and secretly receives a Form of Government card (Oligarchy, Plutocracy, Magistracy of the Doge) to be decisive at the end of the game.

Let's take a closer look at what the game actions are:

City Actions. City actions have different colors, and each of them requires one cube of that color to activate (or two cubes if it is the second action, three if it is the third, and so on). Each of them allows you to carry out a specific action:
The green action allows you to draw cubes from your bag and have them available for actions; the white action provides a banner of any color (combinations of banners can provide victory points) and activates the player's specific action's maritime republic. The yellow action is the Market, which allows you to buy new cubes from the market board. The red action is the War and allows you to challenge other players to get Victory Points and new cards. The black action converts banners into crowns (crowns are important to the Form of Government, as explained below). Finally, the purple action provides access to the display of political cards, which allow you to change the Form of Government and provide special powers.

Alternatively, you can use a given color's city action to take a card of the corresponding color from the card display instead of using its power.



The six available city actions. The green player played on the War.


Use a card. Whenever you get a card, you can use it or burn it. To use it, follow the instructions on the card and apply for the benefits. The card then remains in the player's hand until the end of the game, as it will be important for allocating the final points.

Burn a card. When you Burn a card, you place it face down under the corresponding color area of your player board, ignoring the effect described on the card: in this way, you get the benefit indicated on the board: more cards of that color are burned, more powerful the effects will be!



The red player has placed two cards under the board. The first yellow on the left allows you to exchange two cubes of different colors, while the second red immediately gives 1 victory point. A second red card placed under the board will provide 5 VPs, while a second yellow card will provide a banner of any color.


Improve a track. City actions for the colors Red, Green, Purple, and Yellow are done with the power indicated on your player board's corresponding track. With the Upgrade a Track action, you move your marker to the next space, gaining a higher power for the action and a one-time bonus.


The yellow player has taken the yellow track to the maximum level: now, when he does the yellow market action, he will have 4 coins available to buy cubes. Similarly, the green action has been improved to the second level: this allows him to draw 4 cubes instead of 3.


To pass. If you do not want to take action and spend cubes during your turn, you can pass: the round ends and, if he were the first to do so, he would become the first player of the next turn. Sometimes it's very convenient to pass, save cubes, and use them all in one turn!

War
When all the players passed, if some players have placed some discs on the red action space during the turn, the war takes place. The discs have a hidden number, which must now be revealed. Each player will have to pay many cubes equivalent to this number: they must be returned to the bag. Once this is done, the player who played the highest number is the winner of the war. He can choose a card he prefers as a prize, taking it, if he wants, even from the top of the various decks. All other players who have participated in the war will be able to take cards only from the ones left, if any, while the players who have skipped the war will spend time consolidating their form of government. Therefore, it will be necessary to choose carefully when to participate in the war and how much to invest!