How to Play

Pax Renaissance

2-4 players 60-120 min 8.0 Board Game Geek Rating

As Renaissance bankers, players finance kings, sponsor discoveries, and join secret societies through card acquisition and tableau building. Each turn offers two actions: buy/sell/play cards or stimulate economy via trade fairs and voyages across Europe's shifting trade routes. Victory comes through four distinct paths—imperialism, globalization, religious control, or enlightenment—determining whether Europe advances or stagnates.

Published 2016

Pax Renaissance

Get Ready

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

1
Prepare the markets
Create two markets (East and West) with 6 card spaces each, placing cards face-up from their respective decks
2
Set facedown cards
Flip the leftmost card in each market facedown to create the initial market state
3
Prepare empire deck
Set aside the empire cards in a separate deck accessible to all players
4
Distribute starting florins
Give each player their starting florins (F) as specified by player count
5
Place map cards
Arrange the map cards showing the various empires and their borders, city slots, and sea borders
6
Set up victory cards
Place victory cards face-down in the play area to be activated during the game

On Your Turn

What you can do during your turn.

1
Perform two actions
On your turn, execute exactly two actions (you may repeat the same action twice)
2
Buy faceup card from market
Take a card by placing 1F on each card to its left, or on the corresponding position in the other market if empty; gain any florins already on the chosen card and add it to your hand
3
Sell card
Discard a card from your tableau or hand; discard its vassals, queens, and tokens
4
Play west/east card from hand
Place the card on the corresponding side of your tableau
5
Perform trade fair
Choose East or West market (each market can only have one fair per turn)
6
Perform ops
Choose East or West tableau whose ops haven't been performed this turn
7
Inquisitor
Move bishop of matching color to an adjacent tableau map or any card sharing the card's location
8
Commerce
Gain 1F from any card in the specified market
9
Behead
Discard a card in the specified location; if beheading an empire, discard the op card itself
10
Tax
(requires empire with free city slots) Choose a concession in the specified empire's border; owner either represses it or loses 1F, then fills an empty city slot
11
Repress
Choose a rook, knight, or concession in the specified location and place it on the corresponding empire card (or discard if empire not in play); gain 1F
12
Vote
Choose a non-vassal empire where you have the most concessions; lose 1F per repressed piece on the empire, then perform Regime Change
13
Corsair
Move a pirate from one sea border to another in the op location (no duplicate colors); remove any other pirate or concession in the destination
14
Siege
Remove a rook, knight, or pirate in the specified location
15
Campaign
Attack an adjacent map (including diagonal) that is not the attacker's suzerain
16
Declare victory
Claim victory on a face-up victory card if conditions are met
17
Trade Shift
(of non-covered busted emporium) Move the covering disk to another uncovered emporium of the same color (not Spice Island), repressing any token there first
18
Conspiracy
(civil war) Place all agents (except bishops) next to attacked map with repressed rooks and knights from the empire card
19
Peasant Revolt
(civil war) Place all agents (except bishops) next to attacked map with repressed cubes (serfs) from empire card
20
Religious War
(only in maps with tokens/pirates of different religion) Place all agents (except bishops) next to attacked map
21
Civil war aftermath
If attacked map is a theocracy, may switch to medieval side
22
Surviving pieces
Towers and knights go to empty city slots if possible; otherwise repressed to empire card if in play, or discarded
23
From empire deck
Flip to King side, move to East/West tableau extreme
24
From campaign victory
Discard queen, return vassals to empire deck, flip to King side; move as vassal under attacking empire (or attacker's suzerain)
25
From opponent's tableau
Discard queen, return vassals, flip to King side; move to your tableau extreme
26
From your own tableau
Discard queen, return vassals, flip to Republic side; move to your tableau extreme
27
Place concession
Optionally place your cube as a concession in a pirate-free border
28
Emancipation
Move repressed rooks and knights to empty city slots as desired
29
Concession emancipation
Move repressed cubes to empty border maps as desired
30
Deploy bishop
Move to the played card's location or any card in any tableau sharing that location
31
Deploy rook or knight
Choose a city slot in the map of the played card's location
32
Deploy pawn
Choose any border without a pirate in the specified map
33
Deploy pirate rook
Place in the sea border of the specified map, removing any piece already there
34
Slide cards
Move all cards (with their florins) to leftmost empty spaces in both markets (6 spaces each)
35
Refill markets
Add face-up cards from respective market decks until each market has 6 cards; use other deck if one runs out
36
Flip leftmost cards
Turn the leftmost card in each market facedown if face-up
37
Check for game end
If both market decks are empty, the game ends

Winning

How to claim victory.

1
Holy Victory
Have the most prestige in the dominant religion, which must have more bishops than all other religions combined AND more tokens on maps of its theocracy than other religions combined
2
Imperial Victory
Control at least 2 more empires than any other player (3 empires minimum in 3-4 player games)
3
Globalization Victory
Have at least 2 more Concessions than any other player AND more Discovery Prestige than any other player
4
Renaissance Victory
Control more Republics than any other player AND have at least 2 more Law Prestige than any other player
5
Declare victory action
Use one of your two actions to claim victory on a face-up victory card when conditions are met
6
End game victory
When both market decks are empty during the Refresh Market Phase, the player with the most Patron Prestige wins

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FULL rules

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