How to Play

Macao

2-4 players 50-100 min 7.4 Board Game Geek Rating

In 17th-century Portuguese Macao, players are adventurers competing for prestige over twelve rounds. Each round, players select cards with special abilities and choose two dice to place colored cubes on personal ship's wheels. As wheels rotate, cubes become available to activate cards, buy city quarters, deliver goods across Europe, and perform various actions. Victory goes to whoever accumulates the most points through deliveries, building, and strategic card play.

Published 2009

Get Ready

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

Distribute gold coins

Each player receives 5 gold coins (GC)

Select dice roller

Choose one player to roll the dice throughout the game

Prepare Office cards

Fill the spaces around the board with Office cards, placed face up

Draw initial cards

Place 2 cards more than the number of players on the central board

Select starting cards

In reverse order (last player on the wall first), each player chooses 1 person or building card and places it on their personal tableau (TP)

Collect starting action cubes

Each player takes 3 action cubes (AC) in any colors desired

On Your Turn

What you can do during your turn.

Draw new cards

Take 2 available Office cards from the turn and place them on the central board, then draw 4 Building/Person cards and do the same

Calculate tribute

Sum all yellow values on the bottom left of cards to determine tribute cost; sum all red numbers to determine prestige points (PPs) exchange rate

Remove excess cards

Based on player count: 4 players remove none; 3 players remove the last B/P card; 2 players remove the last 2 B/P cards; Office cards are never removed

Select a card

First player on the wall chooses from available cards and places it on their TP; other players follow in order

Handle full tableau

If a player has no space on their TP, they must discard a card of their choice and receive a punishment marker (MP) worth -3 points

Roll all dice

Roll all 6 dice and organize them by result

Choose two dice

Select 2 dice (without removing them from the board) and receive the equivalent number of ACs in the matching colors

Place action cubes

Position cubes in front of the corresponding number on the wind rose

Rotate the wind rose

Turn the wind rose 1 space clockwise; the arrow now points to available cubes for this turn

Check for empty cubes

If the arrow points to no cubes after rotation, receive a punishment marker (-3 PPs)

Spend action cubes

Execute actions using only the ACs the wind rose arrow points to; unused cubes are discarded

Activate cards

Pay the exact AC cost to move a card from TP to the activated area; once activated, cards can be used once per turn for free until game end

Claim a city quarter

Pay the AC cost to take the good (place it on your TP as ship cargo) and place an ownership marker on the quarter

Advance on the wall

Pay 1 AC (any color) to move 1 space; pay 2 ACs for each additional space

Move your ship

Pay 1 AC (any color) per space moved in any direction; ships may occupy the same space

Deliver goods at ports

When your ship reaches a port, unload matching goods for free and place them on the highest available value space; score corresponding PPs

Purchase prestige points

Once per turn, buy PPs with GCs at the rate shown by the beige discs on the tribute track

Use activated cards

Apply effects of any activated cards in any order, but only once per turn each

Pass

End your turn when finished with actions

Winning

How to claim victory.

Penalize remaining cards

Receive 1 punishment marker (-3 PPs) for each card still on your TP at game end (the 'Abbot' card protects against this penalty)

Apply punishment markers

Deduct 3 PPs for each punishment marker collected

Score end-game cards

Calculate points from all activated Building/Person cards with "game end" effects

Score city ownership

Earn 2 PPs for each marker in your longest connected, uninterrupted line of ownership markers in the city

Determine the winner

The player with the most prestige points wins

Break ties

If tied, the player furthest ahead on the wall wins

Macao

Get Ready

On Your Turn

Winning

watch & Learn

Dara Teaches How To Play: Macao

Macao

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