Rio Grande Games Doge 75 User manual

Graphics: Franz and Imelda Vohwinkel
English translation: Jay Tummelson
© 2000 Simba Toys
Rio Grande Games
PO Box 45715
Rio Rancho, NM 87174 USA
All Rights Reserved.
Made in Germany
www.riograndegames.com
The office of the Doge was the highest office in Venice for over 1000 years. In the early days, the
position changed often. In the beginning, the position was similar to a duke, but later came to grow
into the status of a king. Even later,as the head of the republic of Venice, the position of Doge was
even more important. The elected advisors from the six districts,the three advisors from the Quarantia,
and the Doge came together to form the Council of Ten.
The last Doge of Venice, Ludovico Manin, lost his office when Napoleon invaded Northern Italy.
It is not surprising that the powerful families of Venice worked hard to have one of theirs in this
important position. Although the position could not be inherited, these families worked equally hard to
keep it in the family once they got it. In order to limit the importance of individual families and reduce
power of the office of Doge, a group of advisors and councilors developed a complicated system for
electing the Doge.
For this game, this system is simplified.
The Author: Leo Colovini was born in Venice in 1964, where he still lives today.
He has worked for many years with master game designer Alex Randolph.
With Alex, he developed Inkognito in 1989, which won the award for “beautiful game”
from the “Spiel des Jahres" jury.
Today, Leo Colovini is in a partnership with Alex Randolph and Dario De Toffoli in the
game company,“Venice Connection".

Overview
Venice, also called Serenissima, the most
venerable, flourished in the late middle ages as a
merchant center.The old established families
competed for political power and influence in
this city state. As the heads of these families, the
players use their power and influence to build
the most magnificent buildings and palaces
along the Grand Canal. Those that move swiftly
and cleverly may attain the highest office in
Venice: the office of the Doge!
Contents
60 houses (15 in each of
4 colors)
32 palaces (8 in each
of 4 colors)
9 advisors
28 ballot markers (ballot boxes)
(7 each in 4 colors, with the
values 0, 1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 3)
24 control rings
(6 each in 4 colors)
28 player cards
(7 each in 4 colors)
14 voting order cards
(2 sets of 7 cards)
1 game board
1 rule booklet
1 rule summary/overview
Preparation
• Place the board in the middle of the table.
• Each of the advisor figures has a symbol on
its top. Place the
advisors on the
spaces on the right
side of the board with
symbols matching
those on the tops of
the advisors.
• Each player chooses a color and takes the
houses, palaces, ballot markers, and control
rings in this color.He places them before him
on the table in his supply area.
Players place their ballot markers in their supply
area face down so that other players cannot
see their values. A player may always look at
his own ballot markers.
• Separate the 28 player cards
by the color on their backs.
Each player takes his set of 7
player cards and places them
face down in his supply area.
When playing with three
players, place the
components of the fourth
color back in the box.
• Separate the two sets of voting
order cards by their backs and
shuffle each face down.
Place the brown backed
cards face up on the 7 brown
spaces along the bottom of the board.
Place the blue backed cards face down on
the 7 blue spaces along the bottom of the
board.
2
for 3 to 4 players aged 12 and up
Official title for the Doge: his excellency, by divine right, Doge of Venice,
count of Dalmatia and Croatia, the highest venerable prince
32

7
The order in which palaces are built only
influences the number of houses needed to build
them. The order has no influence on the end of
the game as the game ends at the end of a
game year, not during it.
End of a game year
The game year ends when an election has been
held in each of the 7 areas.The 7 voting order
cards for the current game year will have been
set aside and there is a set of 7 new voting order
cards face up along the bottom of the board.
These show the voting order for the next game
year.
Shuffle the 7 voting order cards that were used in
the game year just ended and place them face
down on the 7 empty spaces along the bottom
of the board. These will be turned over one by
one in the next game year as the areas conduct
their elections.
Game end and victory
The game ends when at least one player has:
- at least 1 palace in each district or
- a total of 7 palaces in 5 districts or
- a total of 8 palaces in 4 districts.
The current game year is finished.
The winner is the player who has fulfilled one of
the above three conditions.
If, at the end of the game, two or more players
have fulfilled one of the winning conditions, the
player among them who has built the most
palaces is the winner.If there is still a tie for the
winner, the player among those tied with the
most houses on the board is the winner.
Notes for the game
The game material is limited. When a player has
no more houses or palaces in his supply,he is out
and cannot retrieve them from the board,
except the houses by building a palace. Thus, a
player should carefully plan his placement of
houses so that he does not run out at a time
when he needs to place them to build a palace.
Also, players should carefully plan their palace
placements to put them in position to win.
At the beginning, it may appear that the use of
ballot markers is a bit random, but as the game
progresses, players will begin to see patterns
emerge from their opponents.By watching
others carefully, players can place their ballot
markers to their best advantage.
Control of the advisors is an important tactical
element of the game. Because the advisors vote
for the players that control them, they can be
placed in areas voting later in this game year to
strengthen a player’s chance to win an election.
Because the voting order of the areas is chosen
randomly for each game year, it is possible for an
advisor to vote twice before his area votes and
other players have an opportunity to take
control of the advisor. Thus, wise players will look
to take advantage of such situations when they
occur.
Under some circumstances, a player may be
able to win an election with just an advisor in an
area. If no players place ballot markers in an
area or the only ballot marker placed is a value
0 as a bluff, a single advisor can win the election
with his single vote!
It may be good strategy later in the game to try
to win an election in an area with a high palace
cost. The winner can abstain from taking control
of the advisor to move a house into or out of the
area and, thus, make it possible for him to build
an important palace. Also, in the later stages of
the game, winning the election for the Quarantia
with its possibility of two house moves can be
extremely important to help a player build a
much-needed palace, even in an area where he
lost an election.

6
If two or more players tie for first in the voting, no
player takes control of the Quarantia’s advisors.
All 3 become neutral and are placed on their
symbols on the right of the board.
The players tied for first may each move 2 of their
houses. Each house may be moved from any
district to any other district.
In this case, there is no runner-up.
If there is a single winner,but two or more players
tie for runner-up, no player takes control of the
runner-up’s advisor. Instead, it remains neutral.
Each of the tied players may move 1 of their
houses. Each house may be moved from any
district to any other district.
Elections in the districts
The winner of the election takes control of the
district’s advisor and stands it in the area of his
choice (not its home district). If he abstains, he
neutralizes the advisor and moves 1 house to or
from this district. He then may place 2 houses
from his supply in this district.
The runner-up may now place 1 house from his
supply in this district.
All other players get nothing.
If two or more players tie for first in the voting, no
player takes control of the advisor.It is neutralized
and placed on its symbol on the right side of the
board. Neither player may move a house. Each
of the tied players may place 2 houses from their
supplies in the district.
In this case, there is no runner-up.
If there is a single winner,but two or more players
tie for runner-up, each tied player may place 1
house from their supply in the district.
When a player has the opportunity to place a
house, but has no more houses in his supply, he
must abstain from placing the house and, thus,
loses the opportunity to place a house.
Building palaces
Whenever a player places or
moves a house into a district, he
immediately checks to see if he
may build a palace there. Players may not build
palaces in a district at any other time.
To build the first palace in a district, a player
needs 3 houses in the district (note the number
on the place for the first palace). For the second
palace in a district (regardless of who built the
first), a player needs 4 houses in the district (note
the number on the place for the second
palace). The third palace requires 5 houses and
so on. This represents the need for each
subsequent palace to be greater and grander
than those preceding it.
In each district the players may only build 5
palaces on the 5 available spaces numbered 3
to 7. Beyond that, a player is not limited in the
number of palaces he may build in a district nor
is he required to build any palaces in a district,
If a player has enough houses in a district to
build a palace, he removes the required number
of his houses and returns them to his supply. He
places one of the palaces from his supply on the
next available palace space in the district. If he
has extra houses (beyond those needed to build
the palace) in the district, they remain.
A player who has the necessary houses to build
a palace may abstain. He may, for example, plan
to move them later to another district.
If several players tie for first or runner-up and they
can build palaces,they build at the same time
and each “pays” the same number of houses to
build their palace. The number of houses needed
is the number shown on the first available
building space.
example:
There are 2 palaces In San Marco. Thus, the next
palace will “cost” 5 houses.Anna has 4 houses in
San Marco and Bernd has 3 houses there. Both
tie for first in the election. Each places 2 houses in
San Marco, giving Anna 6 and Bernd 5. Both now
build a palace for 5 houses each, placing them
on the 5 and 6 numbered palace spaces. This
leaves Anna with 1 house in San Marco.