SiliconVania

About this board game

SiliconVania is a city-building board game for 2–5 players, with games lasting about 90 minutes. Across eight rounds, players compete to transform Transylvania into a thriving technology haven for vampires and animal life.

Each round, you bid on a pair of building tiles and add the tiles you win to your personal 4×4 city grid. Placement matters: once buildings are down, they are difficult to move, so every new addition must fit into your developing plan. Your city can feature all seven building types, blood banks, housing, and a range of animals and animal meeples.

• Bid on building tiles and place them in your city grid.
• Bid specialist cards for their abilities while gaining new specialists.
• Commit specialists to pursue end-of-game scoring conditions.
• Collect vampire and pet meeples and provide them with suitable places to live.

Specialist cards offer a choice between immediate abilities and scoring opportunities. Stronger bids provide weaker abilities, while weaker bids unlock stronger ones, creating an important balance between what you need now and what may earn points later. Committing a specialist also reveals the types of buildings you are seeking to your opponents.

When the eight rounds are complete, every city grid is full. Players score for collecting the seven building types, creating a broad blood-bank network, and housing the vampire meeples brought by their specialists. Biodiversity matters too, with points available for varied animals and animal meeples.

Additional scoring opportunities come from specialists and from developing innovations, discovering artifacts, and building castles and train stations. In SiliconVania, careful placement, flexible bidding, and a well-organized city may help you win the Vampire Council’s approval.