Basilica

About this board game

Basilica is a strategic two-player board game played in about 45 minutes, in which rival medieval master masons compete while building a cathedral together.

Players create the cathedral by laying square tiles beside the board or adjacent to existing tiles. Each tile represents an element of the building and belongs to one of four colors, with the available pool changing randomly throughout the game.

After expanding the layout, players place builder pawns on the tiles. These teams include foremen, masons, and carpenters, and their values can influence who controls the cathedral’s colored areas. The central goal is to form large regions of a single color while placing more valuable pawns there than the opponent.

• Lay tiles to expand and shape the cathedral.
• Use tile actions to move or promote pawns and manipulate the layout.
• Compete for control of the largest and most rewarding colored areas.

Every tile also offers a special action that can be used instead of adding that tile to the cathedral. Choosing between construction and an immediate tactical effect is crucial, especially because both players share the same selection: anything left unused becomes available to the opponent on the next turn.

Some tiles move the special King pawn along the scoring track. When it reaches a royal-visit space, work is assessed and players receive Victory Points based on the size and number of areas controlled by their pawns. The player with more Victory Points at the end wins.

First released in 2010, Basilica was reissued in 2022 in a new version that includes the expansion.