A game by Dirk Henn for 2-6 players

The best master builders from Europe have enough of the right currency, and
and Arabia want to demonstrate with their help, you can construct towers,
their skills. However, whether they lay out gardens, erect pavilions and
are stonemaisons from the north or arcades, and build seraglios and ornate
horticulturalists from the south, they all chambers.
want a proper wage and insist in being Compete against your opponents to build
paid in their native currency. Employ the the ALHAMBRA.
best teams of builders and ensure you

Components
• 6 starting tiles – Showing the famous Lion • 108 money cards in four currencies – Currency cards are
Fountain and the player color. used to buy buildings from the building market to build
in your own Alhambra.
• 54 building tiles – 6 different kinds of
buildings. These are the pieces you use to build your
own Alhambra. Each tile has up to three wall segments.

Wall

Pavilion Seraglio Denar Dirham Ducat Florin

Money cards in four different colours, with values from 1 to 9

• 2 scoring cards – Are placed in the draw deck and are

revealed to indicate a scoring round.
Arcades Chambers

First Second
scoring: scoring:
Price Garden Tower

• 1 game board – The top section shows the card display • 1 Tile dispenser tower
and holds the draw deck in the leftmost space. The Step 1: Step 2: Step 3:
bottom section is the building market and has four
spaces for building tiles. Each space corresponds to a
different currency.
• 1 scoring board – To mark each player’s score.
• 6 counters –Each player has a counter for the scoring
board.
• 6 tile reserve boards with points tables
• 1 set of rules

Object of the game

Players who have the most building tiles of each kind in Name Number Price
their Alhambra at the right time – in the scoring rounds Pavilion 7x 2-8
– are awarded points, the exact amount depending on
the type of building. Players also receive points for the Seraglio 7x 3-9
longest continuous wall built around their Alhambra. Arcades 9x 4-10
There are 6 different kinds
The number of points awarded increases each scoring of buildings. The table shows Chambers 9x 5-11
round. The winner is the player who has been awarded the prices of the buildings Garden 11x 6-12
the most points by the end of the game. and how many of each of the
buildings there are. Tower 11x 7-13

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 Getting ready to play
• Put the game board, consisting of the building market
and card display, in the middle of the table and the
scoring board at the end of the table.
• Each player is given a starting tile, which they place on
the table in front of them, and 1 counter in their player
color, which is placed on the 0/100 space of the sco-
ring board.
• The 54 building tiles are shuffled face down and then Starting tile
stacked in the tile dispenser tower.
• Four building tiles are taken from the tower and placed
in order on the four numbered squares of the building
market, beginning with square 1.
• Each player is given a tile reserve board with a points
table which should be placed in plain sight in front of
them. The points
table shows how
many of each type
of building there
are and how many Building market
points each will
score.
• Set aside the two scoring cards and shuffle the deck of
currency cards.
• Each player is dealt their starting money. One card at a
time, deal currency cards face-up to a player until the
total is 20 or more (the color of the currency is not impor-
tant at this point). Continue doing this until all players
have received their starting money. Players may now
pick up their cards. From now on, the player’s hand of Note: This ensures that no-one receives money totalling more
currency cards should be kept secret. than 28 or less than 20.
• The player with the fewest cards starts; if two or more
players are equal, the player with the lowest amount of
money starts. If the players are still equal the younger 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th pile
player starts.
• Finally, the four spaces of the card display are filled by
drawing one money card and placing it face-up on each
space.
• The rest of the money cards are divided into five
roughly equal piles. Shuffle the first scoring card into
the second pile and the second scoring card into the 1st scoring 2nd scoring
fourth. Then put the piles on top of one another with 1st
the fifth pile on the bottom, then the fourth, the third, 2nd
the second and finally the first at the very top. The 3rd
pile is placed on the left most space of the card display 4th
section on the game board. 5th pile
Note: This ensures that the two scoring cards do not come into
the game too early, too late, or too soon after one another.

2
 How to play
Play proceeds in a clockwise direction, beginning with the starting player. The player whose turn it is must perform
one of the three following actions:
Take money
Buy a building tile
Redesign the Alhambra
If a player buys a building tile, they must build it in their
Alhambra at the end of the turn.
Position a building tile
The actions in detail:

Take money
A player can take any one of the money cards from the
display, or several money cards if they do not add up to
more than 5 (the currency does not matter). Example: you could take both the cards on the left or one of
the other two.

Buy a building tile Price Currency

A player can buy a building tile from the building market.
They must play currency cards of the correct type,
indicated by the currency above the tile, that total at least Example:
the price of the tile. But take care – no change is given! You want a garden for your
Alhambra. The garden on offer
The money used to pay for the tile is placed on a discard costs 10 denar (blue).
pile next to the game board. You have two money cards of
Important: If a player can pay the exact amount, it is still this currency in your hand and
decide to buy the garden.
their turn, and they may decide which of the three actions
However, as you cannot pay
they would like to perform next. While it is the player’s exactly 10 (only 11), your turn
turn, no new tiles are placed on the building market. It is ends here; you do not receive
only at the end of a player’s turn that the empty squares any change.
are refilled with new tiles. Building tiles which have been
purchased are placed next to the player’s Alhambra.
(They are built in the Alhambra only at the end of the turn)

Redesign the Alhambra

There are three ways in which a player can redesign
Example:
their Alhambra:
You buy a building tile and pay the exact amount, thus having
• They may take a building tile from their reserve board and another turn. The tile is placed next to your Alhambra (not in the
add it to their Alhambra (see rules for building on page 4). reserve).
You decide to buy another building tile and you manage to pay
• They may remove a building tile from their Alhambra the exact amount again.
and put it on their reserve board. It is therefore still your turn and you decide to now redesign your
• They may exchange a building tile on their reserve Alhambra.
board for one in their Alhambra. In that case, the new You can, for example, remove a building tile from your Alhambra
and exchange it for one tile already lying on your reserve board.
building tile must go in exactly the same place in the
This brings your turn to an end. You can now add your two newly
Alhambra as the one that was removed. bought building tiles to your Alhambra by placing them in the
When redesigning the Alhambra, players have to follow all best possible position, or you can put them on your reserve board.
building rules. It is not allowed to remove the starting tile
or exchange it for another tile.
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End of your turn
Position a building tile
All purchased building tiles may only be placed at the
end of a player’s turn, either in their Alhambra, or on the
player’s reserve board. There is no limit to
the number of buildings that may be on the reserve
board.
If a player has bought multiple buildings in a
turn, they may choose in which order to place them in
their Alhambra or onto the reserve board.

Rules for building the Alhambra The following combinations are NOT allowed:

The following rules apply when building the Alhambra:

• All building tiles must be the same orientation The tile is oriented incor-
rectly.
as your own starting tile (i.e. all roofs must point A side with a wall is
upwards). joined to a side without
a wall.

• Adjoining sides must be the same i.e. they must

either both have a wall or both not have a wall. The “on-foot rule” has not been
followed: the tower cannot be
reached from the starting tile
without crossing a wall.
• Each building tile must be accessible “on foot” from The building tiles
the starting tile without crossing a wall and without are not joined by at
least one side.
going off the tiles.

• Each new tile must be joined to your Alhambra by at Putting the “Arcades”
least one side (i.e. it cannot be joined just at a corner). tile in the position shown
would create an empty area
completely surrounded by
tiles.
• It is not allowed to leave any “spaces” (i.e. an empty
area surrounded on all sides by building tiles).

When all bought building tiles are either built in the

Alhambra or placed on the reserve board, the turn ends.

The money card display is now refilled by drawing one

card from the pile for each empty space. If the pile is
empty, the discard pile is shuffled and used as the new
draw pile. Each empty space on the building market is Note: The building market is always filled in ascending order
filled with a new tile from the tile dispenser tower. from 1 to 4.

4
 Scoring
There are 3 scoring rounds during the game. The first two
take place when the scoring cards are drawn from the pile
of money cards. The third and final scoring round takes
place at the end of the game.
When a scoring card is drawn, it is put in front of the
next player in turn order and the next card or cards
are used to to fill up the display. Before the next player
begins their turn the scores are calculated. When scoring
is over, the player begins their turn.
2
In each scoring round, points are awarded to whomever This wall would score 8 points.
has the most of each kind of building. Players also earn 1 3
points for the length of the longest wall around their
Alhambra. 4
The points awarded to a player are recorded on the sco- 5
ring board. Each player moves their counter one space
forward for each point that they have been awarded.
There are no
Points for the wall around your Alhambra 6 points for
internal walls.
First players are awarded points for the longest
continuous wall around their Alhambra.
This wall is
Each side of a tile with a wall segment on it counts for shorter and is 7
1 point. No points are awarded for walls which are back- therefore not
counted
to-back, i.e. internal walls. 8

Points for having the most of each kind of building

Points are awarded for each kind of building. Depending
on which scoring round takes place, players need to
have the most, second most or third most of a building
type to earn points.
If there is a tie, the points for the tied positions get
added (i.e. two players tied for second would sum the points
for second and third positions) and then split between the
players, always rounding down.
Attention: Only buildings built in the Alhambra count, buildings
on the reserve board do not.

First scoring
The first scoring takes place when the first scoring card
is revealed.
Only the player who has the most of one building kind
built in their Alhambra is awarded points. How many Example: Example:
points is depicted on the card next to each building. The player with the most The player with the most towers
chambers is awarded 4 is awarded 13 points. The player
points. with the second highest number of
Second scoring towers is awarded 6 points.
At the second scoring (after revealing the 2nd scoring card) Example: Kim and Nina each have
players who have the most and second most of a building 4 towers. They share the points
for 1st and 2nd place: 13 + 6 = 19
kind are awarded points. The points are shown on the points. The number is divided by
card. two and rounded down so they are
each awarded 9 points.
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 Third scoring
The third scoring takes place at the end of the game,
when the building market can not be refilled any more.
Here players who have the most, second most, and third
most buildings of a kind can earn points.
The points for each place are shown on the reserve
board.
These are the points awarded in the 3rd scoring round.
Example: The player with the highest number of pavilions is
awarded 16 points. The player with the second highest number of
pavilions is awarded 8 points. The player with the third highest
number of pavilions is awarded 1 point.

End of the game

The game ends when – at the end of a player’s turn – on the building market. Building tiles given to players in
there are not enough building tiles left in the tile dispenser this way may then be added to their Alhambras in accor-
tower to refill the building market. dance with the building rules.
The remaining building tiles from the building market The third and final scoring round now takes place.
are given to the players who have the most money of the The player who leads on the scoring board after this
respective currency in their hand (it does not matter how last round has won. If two players are tied the game is a
much the building costs). If two or more players have the draw.
same amount of money then that building tile remains

Rules for playing with two players

The normal Alhambra rules apply with the following Right after the first scoring round Dirk is given 6 more
changes: tiles. These are also drawn from the tower and placed
with his others.
The deck normally contains three of each money card.
With 2 players, remove one of each card resulting in a After the 2nd scoring round, Dirk is given more buil-
deck of 72 cards. ding tiles. This time he is not necessarily given 6 but is
instead given a third of the tiles remaining in the tower
There is an imaginary third player. Let us call him Dirk. (rounded down).
Dirk does not build an Alhambra but does collect buil-
ding tiles. Dirk does not have any turns. Only one rule is different for the two players: Whenever
a building tile is bought, it can be given to Dirk instead
At the beginning of the game 6 building tiles are drawn of being placed in that player’s Alhambra or reserve
from the tower and put to one side for Dirk – in full board.
view of both players.

In the scoring rounds Dirk is awarded points for having

the most of any of the different kinds of building but not
for an external wall.

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