Machiavelli

About this board game

Machiavelli is a historical power struggle for 4–8 players, set in Renaissance Italy and designed for an approximately 480-minute playing time. First released in 1977, it portrays a fast-developing and constantly shifting contest for control of the Italian peninsula.

The game brings together five major Italian powers: the Republics of Florence and Venice, the Duchy of Milan, the Kingdom of Naples, and the Papacy. In this era, the Papacy is represented as a secular power, placing it within the same wider struggle for influence and control.

Italy’s conflicts do not unfold in isolation. Three major foreign powers also compete, either singly or in combination, to shape the peninsula’s balance of power: Valois France, Hapsburg Austria, and the Ottoman Turks. Their presence expands the contest beyond the Italian states and reinforces the game’s focus on shifting alliances of power.

• Five major Italian powers: Florence, Venice, Milan, Naples, and the Papacy
• Three major foreign powers: Valois France, Hapsburg Austria, and the Ottoman Turks
• A historical struggle in which powers compete singly or in combination
• Play for 4–8 participants, with an approximately eight-hour playing time

The central premise of Machiavelli is the ever-changing balance between these states. As competing powers seek control of the peninsula, the historical setting provides a broad stage for a long-form contest of influence and ambition.

Alea Magazine issue 22 expanded the game with seven new scenarios, offering additional historical situations for groups looking to explore more of Machiavelli’s Renaissance power struggle.