Akropolis

Overview and Goal of the Game

At the heart of the Mediterranean, rival cities seek wealth and glory. The most talented architects in ancient Greece stand ready to achieve this goal. Build housing, temples, markets, gardens and barracks, so you can grow your city and ensure it triumphs over the others. Raise its prestige with harmonious planning that conforms to specific rules, and enhance it by building plazas.

Stone is an essential resource, so make sure you do not neglect it. You’ll need enough quarries so you can build higher up, making your city stretch towards the sky.

Contents

• 61 City tiles
• 4 starting tiles
• 4 Player aids
• 1 scorepad
• Chief Architect marker
• 40 Stone cubes

Game Setup

• Take the City tiles that correspond to the number of players (refer to the backs of the tiles):
  • 2 players: 2+
  • 3 players: 2+ / 3+
  • 4 players: 2+ / 3+ / 4
• Create 11 equal stacks of tiles, placed face down (see on the right):
  • 2 players: 3 tiles/stack
  • 3 players: 4 tiles/stack
  • 4 players: 5 tiles/stack

Note: For 2- or 3-player games, you can make the game longer by using all the tiles. If so, create 19 stacks (for a 2-player game), or 15 stacks (for a 3-player game).

• Place the rest of the tiles face up in the center of the table, forming a line . This line of tiles will be called the ‘Construction Site’ from now on.
• Each player, known as an Architect, takes a starting tile and places it in front of them .
• The Architect who most recently climbed a hill takes the Chief Architect marker .
• Working around clockwise from the first player, each Architect takes the number of Stones indicated below :
  • 1st player: 1 Stone
  • 2nd player: 2 Stones
  • 3rd player: 3 Stones
  • 4th player: 4 Stones
• The remaining Stones are placed nearby .

Tip: At the start of each round, there must always be 2 more tiles in the Construction Site than the number of Architects. Here, 6 tiles are laid out for 4 players.

Round Structure

Play continues in a clockwise direction, starting with the Chief Architect.

The Architects take turns until there is only one City tile left in the Construction Site (see: Supplying the Construction Site, p.7).

Important: The last tile in the Construction Site is not played.

Architect’s Turn

Starting with the Chief Architect, the Architects take turns performing the following two actions:

1. Take a tile
2. Add a tile to their City

1. Take a Tile

On their turn, the Architect chooses the tile they wish to take and adds it to their City.

They must pay 1 Stone for each tile that precedes it in the Construction Site.

If you take the first tile, you do not need to pay anything.

Spent Stones are returned to the reserve.

Note: If an Architect has run out of Stones, they must take the first tile in the Construction Site.

2. Add the Tile to Their City

The selected tile must be added to your City. You can place it either on the 1st level or a higher level.

• A tile placed on the 1st level must border another of your City tiles along at least one edge.
• A tile placed on a higher level must be constructed on top of 3 hexes (it cannot be placed above an empty space) and must cover hexes on at least 2 different tiles.

Note: A hex that is covered by another tile no longer counts towards your City.

Construction Types

A City tile is made up of 3 Construction hexes. There are 3 types of Construction:

• Quarries, which allow you to gain Stones;
• Plazas, which multiply the value of your Districts;
• Districts, which can give you points if correctly placed.

Tip: You can find the quantities of each Construction hexes for 2 / 3 / 4 players on the player aid.

Quarries

Quarries do not score any points at the end of the game, but they allow you to gain Stones. When an Architect covers a Quarry with another tile, they take 1 Stone from the reserve.

Plazas

Plazas will multiply the points that you gain for Districts of the same type at the end of the game. The multipliers are represented by the stars. If you have several matching Plazas, their stars are cumulative.

A Plaza does not need to border Districts of the same type.

Note: You begin with a Housing Plaza on your starting tile.

Districts

There are 5 different types of District.

A District can be constructed freely but to gain points, each one must meet two conditions:

• The placement condition for its type;
• At least one Plaza of that color in your City (see: Plazas, p. 5).

Placement Conditions for Districts

Houses: The citizens of your city like to live together in one large neighborhood. You only earn points for Houses that are part of your largest group of adjacent Houses.

Markets: Merchants don’t like competition, so want to be kept separate from other markets. A Market must not be adjacent to any other Market.

Barracks: Soldiers keep watch over your city’s borders. Barracks must be placed on the edge of your city.

Temples: Priests attract followers from the surrounding area. Temples must be completely surrounded.

Gardens: Parks always enhance your city. There are no placement conditions on Gardens.

Value of Districts

A District constructed on a higher level of your City can earn you more points.

The value of a District is defined by its construction height: a District built on the 1st level would be worth 1 point, on the 2nd level 2 points, on the 3rd level 3 points, etc. (see: Calculating victory points, p.7).

Important: In contrast to the Districts, Plazas constructed on higher levels do not earn you more points.

Replenishing the Construction Site

When there is only one tile left in the Construction Site, complete the following steps:

1. Place the remaining tile in the first position, then take one stack of tiles and place the tiles face up next to each other, to replenish the Construction Site.
2. The Chief Architect marker passes to the player to the left.

Play continues around, starting with the new Chief Architect.

If there are no more stacks for you to replenish the Construction Site, proceed to the End of the game.

Important: The last City tile is not played.

End of the Game

The game ends when there is only one tile left in the Construction Site and all the stacks have been used.

Calculating Victory Points

Using the scorepad, each Architect calculates their victory points for each type of District in the following way:

1. Add up the Values of all your Districts that respect their placement condition;
2. Add up the number of stars on the matching Plazas;
3. Multiply these two numbers together.

You also gain 1 additional victory point for each Stone in your supply at the end of the game.

The player with the most points wins the game. In the event of a tie, the player with the most Stones wins.

Max adds up the victory points for his Housing tiles. In his largest group of Housing tiles, there are 5 Housing Districts on the 1st level and 2 Housing Districts on the 2nd level. Their combined value is therefore 9 (5 x 1 + 2 x 2 = 9). There are 3 stars on the matching Plazas, so he earns 3 x 9 = 27 points.

Tip: You can use our score calculator on the Gigamic Adds app.

Variants

If you wish to increase the difficulty level, you can play the variants below.

The setup and gameplay remain unchanged. Each variant adds an additional placement condition to a type of District. If your District meets this additional condition, its points are doubled; if it does not, then it scores normally.

These additional constraints do not replace the usual placement conditions. In order to score points, a District must always respect its original placement condition and your City must have at least one Plaza of that same type.

You can use several of the variants within the same game, but we suggest that you first play each variant separately.

Houses

If your group of Houses Districts has a value of 10 or more, its points are doubled.

Markets

If your Market District is next to a Market Plaza, its points are doubled.

Barracks

If your Barracks has 3 or 4 empty spaces adjacent to it, its points are doubled.

Temples

If your Temple is built on a higher level, its points are doubled.

Gardens

If your Garden is adjacent to a lake (an empty space that is completely surrounded), its points are doubled.

Credits & Acknowledgements

Game designer: Jules Messaud / Illustrations: Pauline Détraz

A big thank you goes to Benoit Turpin for having been the first one to believe in this game, and for his precious comments. Thank you to Raoul for all the great games, and to Louison and Luce for their support and their love. Thank you to Delphine for having believed in this project and for bringing it to fruition. Thank you also to MALT, and to Lola, Gaspard, Martin and Jocelyn for all their testing and feedback.