How to Play Bruxelles 1893 | Rules & Setup Guide

Get Ready

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

Assemble the Art Nouveau board

Randomly arrange 5 Action strips and place above the Bonus strip; side with symbol is for experienced players; place to right of Brussels board

Distribute player components

Each player receives an Architect board and 6 building tiles in their chosen color, placing buildings on matching board spaces

Take tracking pieces

Each player takes 4 discs and 7 Assistants in their chosen color

Place Assistants in Courthouse

Put 2 Assistants in the Courthouse board space

Position tracking discs

Place 1 disc on 1st shield of City Hall track, 1 on 1st Coat of Arms space on Royal Palace track, 1 on 1st space of Architect track on personal board, and 1 on 0 space of VP track

Distribute starting Public Figure

Each player receives 1 George Brugmann Public Figure card; return unused Brugmann cards to box

Prepare Exhibition tiles

Sort Exhibition year tiles by year, place face-down on board, flip over top tile (1893)

Place Workshop cursor

Put the Workshop cursor on the center of the workshop space in any orientation

Set up Public Figure cards

Shuffle and place 1 face-up on each of the 4 spaces on the board; set deck face-down to the left

Prepare Stock Exchange deck

Shuffle Stock Exchange cards and place face-down on board space

Prepare Work of Art tiles

Separate colored Work of Art tiles from black, form 2 face-down stacks; each player draws 1 random colored Work of Art and places face-up by personal board

Set up Bonus cards

Shuffle 25 Bonus cards, place 1 face-up on each Bonus Strip space, place deck face-down

Determine starting resources

Starting player receives Manneken Pis and $5; next player clockwise gets $6, and so on

Two-player variant

At start of each Action phase, in player order, place a neutral color Assistant on an action space of the Art board without a building (if available); no bid is placed

On Your Turn

What you can do during your turn.

Complete four phases

Play 5 rounds consisting of Stock Exchange phase, Action phase, Resolution phase, and End of Turn phase

Reveal Stock Exchange card

Start player flips top card showing money value for Brussels board Stock Exchange action and 2 bracket placement coordinates

Place the bracket

First player picks 1 of 2 spots and places bracket with largest play area possible enclosed

Choose an action or pass

In turn order clockwise, place 1 Assistant on either the Art Nouveau board or Brussels board, or pass; continue until all players have passed

Place on Art Nouveau board

Place an Assistant plus at least $1 bid on an empty space and optionally take the action immediately

Trigger secondary actions

If placing on an opponent's building, they receive a secondary action: get 1 noble cube of choice, +1 VP per building built, +1 VP per artwork owned, use 1 Public Figure, or acquire 1 black artwork

Workshop

Draw 1 colored Art tile plus 1 per Exhibition tile owned; choose 1 to keep face-up by player board, return rest to bottom of stack

Sale

Move Cursor orthogonally spaces equal to artworks owned; sell 1 artwork not matching colors already visible in shop; receive money and VP equal to cursor position for that color; place Art in empty shop space or cover existing one

Royal Theatre

Select a Public Figure card and pay cost underneath; immediately perform action then either discard or rotate 90° to keep (must pay salary at end or lose 5 VP); cannot keep 2 identical cards; shift remaining cards right and flip new card into $3 space

Materials

Take 2 noble materials (not white), same or different; cannot take if supply is empty

Construction

Pay construction cost shown on compass for building level (build in order: 2, 3, then 4 cost); use resource types indicated by compass needles; white cubes are Jokers replacing 1 construction unit each; if no jokers used gain immediate +5 VP; top row buildings also give immediate +5 VP; rotate 1 compass needle 1 step clockwise; place building on any action spot without a building or Assistant

Access rules

Each spot can be used by multiple players; in 2-3 player games must place 1 more Assistant than last player; in 4-5 player games first 2 players use 1 Assistant, 3rd player places more than last

Market

Get 3 white Joker materials

Stock Exchange

Get money indicated on card

Park

Player choice of the 5 actions

Grand Plaza

Activate number of unused Public Figures equal to Royal Palace track position

First player to pass

Takes Exhibition tile and receives $1 plus $1 per color of Art owned

Subsequent players passing

Receive $1 per color of Art owned

Award Bonus cards

Player who bid most money in a column gets that Bonus card; ties result in all tied players getting central bonus (move up track or get Assistant from Courthouse) but card is discarded

Use Bonus cards

Either use for central power and discard, or tuck under player board to increase end-game scoring multiplier for a category

Determine new first player

Players total symbols on Bonus cards and Exhibition tile from current round; highest total becomes new first player and receives Manneken Pis; ties go to tied player clockwise from current first player

Score intersections

Check each fully surrounded intersection; majority Assistant color scores VP equal to their City Hall track; ties result in all tied players scoring their City Hall track value

Courthouse penalty

Player who placed most Assistants on Brussels board must move 1 Assistant to Courthouse; ties result in all tied players moving 1 Assistant

Retrieve Assistants

Take back played Assistants except those in Courthouse

Return bid money

Move bid money to bank

Reset Public Figures

Turn used Public Figures back upright

Refresh displays

Reveal next Exhibition tile; discard Public Figure in 0 space, slide remaining right, fill in on left; discard remaining Bonus cards and draw 5 new ones; reveal new Stock Exchange card