How to Play

Kutná Hora: The City of Silver

2-4 players 60-120 min 7.8 Board Game Geek Rating

Players assume roles as guild leaders developing medieval Kutná Hora through strategic card-driven actions. Mine silver, purchase land, construct buildings, and contribute to Saint Barbara's Cathedral while navigating dynamic supply-demand economics. Each player's asymmetrical guild abilities create interactive gameplay where decisions affect shared resources and opponents. Victory requires balancing personal objectives with collective city prosperity in this interconnected economic system.

Published 2023

Get Ready

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

Choose correct board sides

For 3-4 players use the Kutná Hora board with more squares; for 2 players use fewer squares. For 4 players use the rounds track with 5 rounds; for 2-3 players use 6 rounds

Place rounds counter

Put the rounds counter on the first space of the rounds track

Place tax counter

Put the tax counter on space 0 of the tax track at the bottom of the rounds track

Position red patrician buildings

Place the 3 red-patrician building tiles in a stack on the marked square of the rounds track

Arrange guild buildings

Group the 24 guild building tiles into 6 stacks by color, place the marked tile from each stack at the bottom, shuffle and deal to the 6 spaces in the two leftmost columns, then stack remaining tiles atop matching tiles

Set up public buildings

Group green, silver, and yellow patrician buildings into 3 stacks by color, shuffle each, and place at the end of each row on the corresponding patrician space

Place rock tiles

Choose one mine setup card at random, shuffle rock tiles face down, deal them to the mining spaces shown on the card, then turn face up

Prepare card stands

Place population deck (0-19) and ore deck (0-14) in card stands with indicator arms on the left showing leftmost column numbers

Assemble St. Barbara's Cathedral

Arrange 11 tiles in order with 1-5 on bottom, 6-10 in middle, and 11 on top

Create the bank

Keep coins, 3 patrician tokens of each color, and pelican tokens near the board

Stack mining technology tiles

Place 4 mining technology tiles face down in order with tile 1 on top

Prepare mine tile stack

Group mine tiles by backs, shuffle each group, stack with single-pickaxe tiles on top, double-pickaxe in middle, triple-pickaxe on bottom, place on prospecting board

Distribute player boards

Each player chooses a color and takes all pieces in that color

Place production markers

Put 4 production markers at 0 on your player board, keep 2 extras nearby

Set reputation marker

Place your reputation marker at 0 on the reputation track

Position score counter

Place your score counter on space 0 of the Kutná Hora board scoring track

Store miners

Place 1 miner in your miner pool, store remaining 8 miners in the waiting zone

Keep house tokens

Place all 12 house tokens on your player board

Hold action cards

Keep all 6 action cards in your hand (not secret)

Retain plot markers

Keep 3 plot markers on your player board

Assign guilds

Use guild setup cards to assign 3 guilds to each player; in reverse turn order players choose sets, then in turn order place guild tiles on player boards

Distribute starting money

First player receives 40 groschen, second 41, third 42, fourth 43

Determine starting player

Give starting player marker to whoever was most recently underground, or choose randomly

Set up 2-player events (if applicable)

Separate event cards into A and B decks, shuffle both, deal face-down events above each rounds track space except the last, reveal round 1 event and apply any tax increase

On Your Turn

What you can do during your turn.

Play action cards

On your turn, choose one action card from your hand and play it, selecting one of its two printed actions

Manage card usage

Play 2 cards on your first turn, 2 cards on your second turn, and only 1 card on your third turn; played cards cannot be reused until next round

Take the Mine action

Check your miner pool first; if empty, pay the current permit price to move up to 2 miners from storage into the pool

Take the Rights action

Choose an available building tile from the town hall board (topmost only) that belongs to one of your guilds or is a public building

Take the Plot action

Claim a plot in Kutná Hora by paying the cost shown on the highest-cost adjacent building, or 5 groschen if no buildings exist or all adjacent plots are claimed

Take the Building action

Choose one of your plots and return the plot marker to your board's rightmost empty space

Take the Income action

Add up total commodity production and collect that many groschen from the bank

Take the St. Barbara action

Use 1 purple-side-up pelican token by flipping it to silver side, then resolve the current St. Barbara tile's effect

Use the Joker action

Lose 1 reputation (unless reputation is 6+), then take any other action

Respond to economic adjustments

When starred numbers appear on decks, note price changes; when building icons appear, move the indicator right and discard top tile from that stack; when X appears, that building type cannot be built; when turn-over icon appears, flip the entire deck

Track reputation effects

Gain 2 points whenever reputation would go above maximum; lose 2 points whenever it would go below minimum

Winning

How to claim victory.

End the game

The game ends after 5 rounds (4 players) or 6 rounds (2-3 players)

Pay end-of-round taxes

At each round's end, either pay the current tax amount (plus 3 groschen per extra plot marker) or lose the indicated reputation

Score patricians at round end

During the final 3 rounds, after taxes, score for each patrician on the council:

Score Kutná Hora buildings

For each building you own, gain 1 point for each matching dot on adjacent buildings or board edges

Score mine rows

Count total stars in each row to determine row value, then award points by rank (first/second/third place); players with no stars score nothing; ties receive full place value

Score final income

Calculate total income at game end, divide by 10 (round down), and score that many points

Score reputation

Gain or lose points based on final reputation track position as printed on the track

Score extras

Gain 1 point each for unbuilt building tiles in slots, unclaimed plot markers, and unused pelican tokens

Determine the winner

The player with the most points wins; break ties by most groschen remaining; further ties may be settled by jousting or declared a draw