Count of Nine

About this board game

Count of Nine is a solo economic city-building Euro-style game for one player, playable in about 20 minutes. With no board, dice, cubes, or meeples, it delivers a compact challenge using only nine double-sided cards.

You are the Count or Countess of the small territory of Nine. Search your land for resources, then use them to construct basic structures that provide more resources. Build up your village over multiple rounds and develop it into a powerful economic force.

Each card can show up to two resources and up to two structures on each side. During a game, you use resources on adjacent cards alongside resources provided by structures you have already built. Carefully develop your available options as you work toward a chosen high structure.

• Castle
• Cathedral
• Monument
• Harbour
• Town Square

A match consists of two separate games. At the start of each game, select one of the five high structures as your goal, then play through the remaining cards in rounds. Gather what you need to construct that goal while continuing to build for additional victory points.

Victory points come from points shown on structure cards, each different structure you build, and pairs of identical structures. Building a second high structure awards five additional points. Your score for each game is reduced by the number of rounds played, and the match score is the combined total of both games.

Created for the 2018–19 Card Nanogame Print and Play Contest, Count of Nine is designed for travel and focused solo play. Its structure art comes from the 1493 Nuremberg Chronicle.