Leonardo da Vinci

About this board game

Leonardo da Vinci is a worker-placement game for 2–5 players that plays in about 90 minutes. Set in fifteenth-century Florence, it challenges you to lead a team of inventors and create remarkable machines for the city’s lord.

Your workers can be sent to laboratories, workshops, shops, and other locations to gather resources and advance your plans. The game’s distinctive bidding mechanic keeps competition lively: if another player reaches a space first, you can commit more workers to move ahead in line. Even players at the back may still gain something, although they must pay more to do so.

The same workers who compete for resources may also power your laboratory. This creates a demanding balance between gathering what you need and maintaining enough production capacity to complete inventions. You must also watch your Florins, since successful planning depends on managing cash flow as carefully as your resources.

• Bid workers to compete for locations and resources.
• Use workers in laboratories as well as for acquiring materials.
• Plan production capacity to complete as many inventions as possible.
• Earn Florins from your inventions while controlling your spending.

The central challenge is finding the most efficient way to convert resources and labor into inventions, then use those inventions to earn more Florins. The final two rounds demand especially careful preparation because new resources can no longer be acquired, making earlier decisions crucial.

With its dynamic worker competition, resource planning, bidding, and financial pressure, Leonardo da Vinci offers a thoughtful contest for players who enjoy strategic decision-making. It was created by Acchittocca, a team of Italian game designers, and was the number-one title in the QWG Master Print Edition series.