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Notre Dame

2-5 players 45-75 min 7.3 Board Game Geek Rating

Players lead influential Parisian families near Notre Dame cathedral in the 14th century, competing for prestige and prosperity. Using action cards strategically, families develop their boroughs while balancing various priorities. Neglecting public health brings penalties, especially as plague threatens. After nine rounds of difficult choices and trade-offs, the family with the highest prestige wins.

Published 2007

Notre Dame

Get Ready

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

1
Select Notre Dame tile
Place the 3/4/5-sided Notre Dame tile in the center for the corresponding player count
2
Arrange borough tiles
Put one borough tile per player around Notre Dame, matching edges by length
3
Place rat markers
Put one black rat marker on 0 of the rat counter track in each borough's harbor spaces
4
Distribute player components
Give each player 3 coins and all pieces in their color (1 trusted friend, 1 carriage, 4 messages, 9 action cards, and 14 influence markers)
5
Position the carriage
Place your carriage in the center market (grey buildings at street intersection) of your borough
6
Place messages
Put your 4 messages face-up randomly in the 4 perimeter markets of your borough
7
Create your cache
Place trusted friend and 4 influence markers near you as your cache
8
Create your supply
Place the other 10 influence markers away from you as your supply
9
Prepare grey person cards
Separate the 9 grey cards by letter (A, B, C), shuffle each group, stack facedown with A on top
10
Determine first player
Randomly give the bellringer (first player marker) to a player

On Your Turn

What you can do during your turn.

1
Play three periods
Complete periods A, B, and C, each with preparation, three rounds, Notre Dame scoring, and reset
2
Shuffle brown person cards
Shuffle the 6 brown cards and stack facedown
3
Shuffle action cards
Each player shuffles their 9 action cards facedown
4
Reveal brown cards
Draw and display 2 brown person cards, covering previous ones
5
Reveal grey card
Draw and display 1 grey person card from current period's stack
6
Draft cards
Draw your top 3 action cards, keep 1, pass 2 left facedown
7
Continue draft
From 2 cards received, keep 1, pass 1 left facedown
8
First card play
Once around from first player, each player discards 1 card face-up and executes its action
9
Second card play
Once around again, discard 2 cards face-up (concealing bottom one), play the top card
10
Cloister school
Move 1 IM from cache to sector; move IMs from supply to cache equal to influence there
11
Bank
Move 1 IM from cache to sector; take coins from supply equal to influence there
12
Residence
Move 1 IM from cache to sector; take prestige equal to influence there
13
Carriage house
Move 1 IM from cache to sector; move carriage up to influence number of markets, collecting permitted messages
14
Hotel
Move 1 IM from cache to sector; choose one benefit (IM to cache, coin, or kill rat); with 3-4 influence gain a second benefit
15
Trusted friend
Move TF to different sector and activate it as if its card was played with IM moved there
16
Park
Move 1 IM from cache to sector; kill a rat; gain +1 prestige per 2 influence whenever gaining prestige
17
Hospital
Move 1 IM from cache to sector; kill a rat; additionally kills rats equal to influence at round end
18
Notre Dame
Donate 1/2/3 coins for 1/3/6 prestige and move 1 IM to Notre Dame sector; or play and do nothing
19
Hire a person
Optionally pay 1 coin to hire 1 displayed person card for its benefit (any player may hire any card)
20
Adjust rat count
Move rat marker up by rats on person cards minus hospital influence (minimum 0)
21
Suffer rat overflow
If exceeding 9, stay at 9, lose 2 prestige, move 1 IM from highest-influence sector to supply
22
Pass first player
Give bellringer to player on left
23
Calculate prestige share
Divide Notre Dame prestige (8/10/12 for 3/4/5 players) by total influence there, round down
24
Distribute prestige
Each IM in Notre Dame earns its player the calculated prestige
25
Return influence markers
Move all IMs from Notre Dame to their owners' supplies
26
Reclaim action cards
Sort and return all action cards to their respective players

Winning

How to claim victory.

1
Most prestige wins
The player with the highest prestige total at game end wins
2
Break ties
Compare total coins plus influence markers in the player's cache; highest total wins

watch & Learn

Let the pros teach you with these top videos.

Notre Dame (gioco da tavolo) - Tutorial italiano

Notre Dame (gioco da tavolo) - Tutorial italiano

Instructional

Peaky Boardgamer Episode #110 - Notre Dame - Full rules explanation (English)

Peaky Boardgamer Episode #110 - Notre Dame - Full rules explanation (English)

Instructional

MORE VIDEOS

FULL rules

Looking for the full details? Grab the complete rulebook as a downloadable PDF.

PDF RULEBOOK

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