How to Play Lisboa | Rules & Setup Guide

Get Ready

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

Choose player color

Each player takes 1 Player Board, 1 Player Aid Book, 5 Rubble Set Markers, 8 Houses, 8 Officials, 2 random Clergy Tiles (keep 1, return 1), 1 random Royal Favour Tile, 1 random dark blue Starting Plan Tile, 1 Courtier Meeple, 1 Wigs Marker, 1 Influence Disk, 5 random Blue Political Cards, 10 Réis, and 1 Good of each of the 4 types

Place Courtier Meeple

Put on any Royal Court space

Place Wigs Marker

Put on space 5 of the Wigs Track

Optional starting task

Take 1 Random Starting Task Card from Deck A

Distribute Starting Player Tile

Randomly give to a player; play proceeds clockwise from this player

Set Influence Discs

Place 1st player's disc on space 4 of Influence Track, 2nd on space 5, 3rd on space 6, 4th on space 7

Shuffle Public Building Tiles

Place 8 Green-side up and 8 Blue-side up beside the plan space of each Architect; place top tile from each stack on Architect's plan space

Stack Plan Tiles

Place Blue and Green Plan Tiles on the Game Board, sorted with most depicted Officials on bottom to least on top

Set Price Markers

Place the 4 Price Markers on their starting spaces on the Market Track

Place City Tiles

Put 1 City Tile on each space (yellow, pink, brown, blue, small blue) to form the City Building display; stack rest near display

Place Wig Scoring Tiles

Randomly place 4 tiles in spaces at bottom of Downtown map

Draw Clergy Tiles

Draw 6 from bag and place face-up on dark spaces of Church Track

Place Cardinal Meeple

Put on the Influence Symbol on the Church Track

Stack Royal Favour Tiles

Place remaining tiles on corresponding spaces below each Noble

Place Treasury Marker

Put on space 3 of the Treasury Track

Distribute Red Political Cards

Place in their 4 respective spaces face-down; turn top card of each deck face-up

Stack Ship Cards

Stack Blue and Red Ship Cards (Blue on top of Red) based on player count:

Prepare Decree Deck

Place face-down; deal 8 cards face-up

Place Rubble Cubes

Put random cubes on every Downtown Map space, Public Building Site, and 6 in the Rubble Pile

2-Player variant

Cover row E with 2 Player Overlay; return 7 excess Rubble Cubes to box; place 1 Official in unused colour in each Noble's Office; discard Degree Cards with 2-player symbol

On Your Turn

What you can do during your turn.

Check ships at sea

For any Ships "At Sea" (with full Cargo Holds), discard all Good Tokens below them

Play a card

Play 1 Card from your Hand to perform 1 Main Action, OR discard 1 Card for 1 Gold Good to end your action

Take Political Card

Once your Action is over, take 1 face-up Political Card from the Political Card Display

Reveal replacement card

If there is a Card below the taken Card, turn it face-up

Check for Church Scoring

If Cardinal landed on or passed the Influence icon, perform Church Scoring after taking Political Card

Discard Goods

Discard any Goods on the State Actions

Refill empty spaces

Fill any empty spaces in City Tile Display, Clergy Tile spaces on Church Track, and Decree Card Display

Play a Noble Card

Play 1 Noble Card to top of Portfolio (must have at least 1 Good); discard if over limit; gain Reward or Penalty on card; then must Sell Goods or Trade with Nobles

Play a Treasury Card

Play 1 Treasury Card to bottom of Portfolio (must have at least 1 Good); discard if over limit; apply bottom effect; gain Réis equal to number right of Treasury Marker; move Treasury Marker down 1; then must Sell Goods or Trade with Nobles

Visit a Noble

Play 1 Noble Card to Royal Court; place Courtier on card; spend Influence equal to Treasury Marker position plus State Officials in that Noble's Office (minimum 0, pay Wigs for shortfall); may take 1 of 2 State Actions without paying Good; must take Noble Action; other players may Follow A Visit; return Courtier and discard Noble Card

Sponsor an Event

Play 1 Treasury Card to Royal Court; pay Réis equal to number right of Treasury Marker; perform Action/gain reward in center of Card (partial completion allowed); discard Treasury Card

Recruit State Officials

Place 1 Gold or 1 Ship icon on State Action; move up to 2 State Officials from Player Board to 2 different Noble's Offices; if Office full, move Officials of majority color to white Plaza below

Produce Goods

Place 1 Gold or 1 Ship icon on State Action; gain 1 corresponding Good from each Store you own up to Warehouse limit; drop Price Marker 1 Real for each type produced

Meet the Cardinal

Cannot take if you already have 4 Clergy Tiles; place 1 Gold or 1 Ship icon; advance Cardinal 1 or 2 spaces; take 1 of 2 adjacent Clergy Tiles; may trigger Church Scoring at end of turn

Acquire a Plan

Place 1 Gold or 1 Ship icon; take top Plan from either Architect's stack; place on corresponding space on Player Board

Build a Ship

Place 1 Gold or 1 Ship icon; pay different Goods equal to Hull size of top Ship Card; may upgrade existing Ship paying difference; place in empty slot or discard a card; move Treasury Marker up 1 if possible; earn total Influence on all Cards on top of Player Board

Get a Royal Favour

Place 1 Gold or 1 Ship icon; take any 1 Royal Favour Tile and place on Player Board (only 1 per Noble at any time)

Build a Store

Select available City Tile from display; place on empty Land Space with notch touching matching color; may gain Reward on Land Space; gain 1 Rubble Cube from right of row or column (not Public Building); place in leftmost empty Portfolio space (discard if unavailable); pay Réis equal to Treasury Marker plus total Rubble cost in Site column; move 1 House from bottom of 1 of 3 columns onto City Tile; multiply Public Buildings (1-3) matching Street color by Scoring Tile for Wigs

Take a Decree

Select 1 Decree Card from face-up display; place next to Player Board; may discard 1 Rubble Set Marker on Blue Noble to take 2nd Decree

Open a Public Building

Take both Rubble Cubes from Public Construction Site; place in leftmost empty Portfolio spaces (discard if unavailable); may gain Reward on Site; select 1 incomplete Plan; take matching top-most Public Building Tile; return State Officials indicated on Plan (pay Réis for any missing); flip completed Plan to Completed Plans space; score based on City Tiles facing Street

Return Royal Favour

Return current Noble's Royal Favour to stack

Spend Influence

Pay Influence as indicated for visiting that Noble

Choose action

Take 1 of 3 options: either State Action (without paying Good), or the main Noble Action

Spend Wigs for Influence

At 0 Influence Points, spend Wigs (1 for 1) for any remaining Influence needed

Spend Réis for Influence

Move Influence Marker left to next space depicting a Real

Gain Influence cap

Gain maximum 1 Wig each time Influence reaches or would exceed 10

Portfolio capacity

Hold total of 3 Noble or Ship Cards in top, 3 Treasury Cards in bottom

Starting limits

Begin with only 2 Cards total in Portfolio (top and/or bottom), 2 Goods of each of 4 types in Warehouse

Increase limits

Each complete set of Rubble Cubes increases Portfolio and Warehouse size by 1; move Rubble Set Marker to Blue Marquis Portrait

Trigger condition

Perform when Cardinal lands on or passes Influence icon

Discard Clergy Tiles

Must discard 1 or more of your Clergy Tiles

Earn tile Wigs

Earn Wigs depicted on back of each discarded Tile

Earn card Influence

Earn total Influence depicted on all Cards (including Ship Cards) on top of Player Board

Stand Cardinal up

Return Cardinal to upright position

Choose Ship Card

Select 1 Ship Card in any player's Portfolio that has space for Goods

Move Good Token

Move 1 Good from your Warehouse onto empty Dock Space below Ship Card

Gain Réis

Receive Réis equal to Good's current Market Price plus any modifier on Ship Card

Check for At Sea

If Goods on Dock equal Ship's Hull size, Ship is "At Sea"; flip all Good Tokens; owner gains 1 Wig per flipped Token

Winning

How to claim victory.

Trigger condition

When a player completes 2 complete sets of Rubble Cubes (Brown, Red, Blue) OR 3 Political Card Decks are exhausted, End of First Period occurs at end of that player's turn

Gain Wigs for Rubble

Each player gains 3 Wigs for each complete set of 3 Rubble Cubes

Discard cards

Starting with triggering player, each player may discard any number of cards from hand

Earn bottom rewards

Earn Reward at bottom of 1 of each type of Noble Card discarded (partial rewards allowed, ignoring penalties)

Discard Ship Cards

Remove remaining Ship Cards from Ship Yard; stack Purple and Brown Ship Cards based on player count

Draw Purple Cards

Each player draws Political Cards from Purple Deck up to Hand Limit (5 Cards)

Distribute Brown Cards

Place Brown Political Cards in respective spaces face-down; turn top card face-up

Game end condition

When a player completes 4 complete sets of Rubble Cubes OR 3 Political Card Decks are exhausted, End Game is triggered; play to end of Round so each player has equal turns, then each player takes 1 more turn

Score Ships

Gain Wigs equal to Hull sizes of Ships in Portfolio

Score Rubble Sets

Gain 3 Wigs for each complete set of Rubble Cubes (Brown, Red, Blue)

Cash out Influence

Gain 1 Wig per 5 Réis (rounded down) without moving Influence Marker

Score Decrees

Gain Wigs from fulfilled Decree Cards

Score Royal Favours

Gain 2 Wigs for each Royal Favour Tile on Player Board

Score Stores majority

Gain Wigs for having more Stores of a type than opponents: