How to Play

Barcelona

1-4 players 60-90 min 7.7 Board Game Geek Rating

Players act as 19th-century builders developing Barcelona's Eixample district expansion. Each turn involves taking actions and constructing buildings to house citizens fleeing the overcrowded old city. You'll also build streets, tram lines, and public services while potentially exploring the emerging Modernisme architectural style. Victory goes to whoever accumulates the most points across multiple scoring phases.

Published 2023

Get Ready

Setup the game with these step-by-step instructions before diving into your turn.

Place the main board

Put the main board in the center of the table

Add Building Bonus tiles

Place a Building Bonus tile in each of the four dedicated spaces on the main board

Shuffle Action tiles

Shuffle all Action tiles and place one on each Action tile space on the main board (for first game, use printed setup instead)

Prepare Citizen track for fewer players

In 2-3 player games, place Citizen tokens of corresponding type on marked spaces (cover spaces marked 3 in 3-player game, both 3 and 2 spaces in 2-player game)

Fill the cloth bag

Place all remaining Citizen tokens in the cloth bag

Select Cerdà Scoring tiles

Randomly select three Cerdà Scoring tiles and place them on designated spaces

Remove matching Modernisme tiles

Remove Modernisme tiles corresponding to the three Cerdà Scoring tiles, returning them to the box

Create Modernisme display

Shuffle remaining Modernisme tiles into a face-down stack, reveal top four tiles and place on reserved spaces

Prepare Public Services

Separate Public Service tiles by type, stack in descending cost order (3 Coins on top), randomly select five stacks for the side board (skip cheapest in 2-player game)

Create Building stacks

Separate Building tiles by type into four stacks with non-building side facing up

Organize Sagrada Família tiles

Separate tiles by level and place next to the board

Create general supply

Create separate piles of Coins and Cloth tokens next to the main board

Set up player board

Place small disk on leftmost Sagrada Família track space

Position Modernisme markers

Place five cubes next to Modernisme Project spaces, one on each bottom space to the right

Place Tram and Passengers

Place Tram and five Passenger cubes on corresponding Tram area spaces

Stack Street tiles

Create stack of 4 Narrow Street tiles on leftmost space, 6 Narrow Street tiles on space to right, and 5 Wide Street tiles on dedicated space

Place Intersections

Place all Intersection tiles on dedicated spaces

Stock Warehouse

Place 1 Coin and 1 Cloth on separate leftmost Warehouse spaces, place Cobblestone tile on each of six rightmost spaces

Position Building markers

Place eight large disks on spaces at bottom of player board (three stacks of two, then two single disks)

Place scoring markers

Place one large disk on "0" of scoring track and one small disk on starting space of Cerdà track

Determine first player

Choose first player and give them First Player token

Draw starting Citizens

Each player draws 2 Citizen tokens from bag, keeping them hidden from other players

On Your Turn

What you can do during your turn.

Place Citizens on street crossing

Take your two Citizens and place them in order of your choosing on a single street crossing with no Citizens on it

Perform street crossing actions

After placing Citizens, perform any or all actions corresponding to streets meeting at that crossing (vertical, horizontal, and/or diagonal) in any order, each once

Gain Cloth/Coins action

Either gain 1 Cloth and 3 Victory Points OR gain 2 Coins

Place Cobblestone action

Take leftmost Cobblestone from Warehouse and place on Sidewalk section adjacent to another Cobblestone

Build Wide/Narrow Streets action

Place 1 Wide Street tile or 2 Narrow Street tiles from player board onto dedicated empty spaces

Build an Intersection action

Pay depicted cost and place leftmost Intersection on street crossing without one

Improve Modernisme Project Space action

Move one Modernisme marker from bottom to top position, paying any additional cost

Take a Modernisme Project action

Take one face-up Modernisme tile from side board and place on empty player board space, paying any additional cost

Build a Public Service action

Spend 3/2/1 Coins to build one available Public Service tile you haven't built

Move Your Tram action

First time: place Tram on any street space without Tram or Passenger

Construct a Building (mandatory)

After all actions, construct one Building on empty block or on top of existing Building if able

Level-1 Building requirements

Require any 2 Citizens; advance one step on Cerdà track after building

Corner Building requirements

Require any 2 Citizens; can only be built on triangular diagonal street spaces; cannot be overbuilt

Level-2 Building requirements

Require 1 Middle-Class Citizen and 1 other Citizen; may advance one step on Sagrada Família track; must move back one step on Cerdà track

Level-3 Building requirements

Require 1 Upper-Class Citizen and any 2 other Citizens; may advance twice on Sagrada Família track; gain 7 VP; must move back two steps on Cerdà track; cannot be overbuilt

Overbuild existing Buildings

Build Level-2 on Level-1, or Level-3 on Level-1 or Level-2; place marker on top of existing markers

Check for Cerdà Scoring

At end of turn, if any Citizen track section fills to marked Cerdà Scoring space, all players score that section's tile

Draw new Citizens

Take 2 Citizens at random from the bag for next turn