Santa Maria

2017

Santa Maria is a captivating Eurogame of dice drafting and strategic engine building. Establish your colony, manage resources, and strategize for ultimate victory!

90
minutes

1 - 4
player(s)

12+

Medium Heavy

About the game

Santa Maria is a captivating board game that transports you to the age of exploration and discovery. As players, you are placed in the shoes of colonial governors in the 16th century, tasked with expanding your colony, managing resources, and increasing prosperity to gain the most happiness points. With this setting, the game takes you on a thrilling journey across uncharted lands, filled with rich, thematic elements of discovery, growth, and strategy.

The core mechanics of Santa Maria revolve around an intriguing combination of dice drafting and tile placement. You will be rolling dice and using them to activate buildings in your colony. Each building provides different benefits such as resources, settlers, trade goods, or even clerics and scholars that can be used for various strategies. The placement of these buildings on your board is crucial as it determines the efficiency of your actions and the growth of your colony.

Game components Unboxing the fun!

Santa Maria is a complex and engaging board game that involves a good number of components. Here’s a detailed list of every component included in the game and what they do:

1 Game Board: This is the main playing field for ‘Santa Maria’. It is a grid that represents the colony. Players will place their buildings and other components on this board.
4 Player Boards: Each player has their own board that represents their individual colony. Players use their boards to track their progress, plan their strategies, and calculate their scores.
33 Dice (8 red, 8 blue, 8 white, 9 transparent): These are used for various actions in the game, such as planning and building expansions. The color of the dice corresponds to different action types.
80 Building tiles: These represent the buildings that players can construct in their colonies. Each building has different benefits and costs.
18 Scholar tiles: These tiles are used to gain knowledge points, which are crucial for winning the game. Scholars can be added to your colony for additional benefits.
18 Ship tiles: These tiles represent the ships that players can send out to perform various tasks. Ships can be used to explore, trade, or carry out missions.
16 Happiness markers: These markers track the happiness level of your colony. The happier your colony, the more points you can earn.
16 Export crates: These crates are used to export goods from your colony to earn points and other benefits.
80 Coins: Coins are the main currency in the game. They are used to purchase buildings, hire scholars, and perform various other actions.
1 Rulebook: This contains the rules of the game. It explains how to play, what each component does, and how they interact with each other.

In ‘Santa Maria’, players interact with these components in a variety of ways. For example, players can use their dice to plan and build expansions, use their coins to purchase new buildings or hire scholars, and send their ships out on missions. All of these actions are interconnected, creating a complex and engaging game experience.

Game setup Lay it out, line it up, let’s go

Santa Maria is a popular board game where players develop their colonies by producing and shipping goods, while also integrating their religious, scholarly, and civic lives. Here’s a step-by-step guide to setting up Santa Maria.

Step 1: Prepare the Game Board

Place the main game board in the center of the table. The main board consists of a shipping track, a bishop track, a scholar track, and a market.

Step 2: Set up the Dice and Tiles

Separate the dice by color (blue and white) and place them next to the game board. Then, shuffle the building tiles and place them in stacks on the designated spaces on the board.

Step 3: Arrange the Expansion Boards

Each player receives an expansion board. The expansion board should be placed to the left of the player’s colony board. Players must also receive a starting building tile and place it on the topmost row of their colony.

Step 4: Assign Player Roles

Give each player a set of player pieces in their chosen color. This consists of one ship, one scholar, one bishop, 12 monks, and one player marker. Place the ship, scholar, and bishop on their corresponding tracks on the main game board. The player marker goes to the score track.

Step 5: Determine Initial Resources

Every player starts with three coins. The coins are placed in the player’s personal supply next to their colony board.

Step 6: Set up the Development Track

Shuffle the development tiles and place four of them face-up next to the development track. The rest are placed as a draw pile next to these face-up tiles.

Step 7: Prepare the Happiness Track

Draw a number of happiness tiles equal to the number of players plus one from the bag and place them face-up next to the happiness track on the main board.

Step 8: Create a Supply of Goods

Sort the goods tokens by type (wheat, sugar, and grapes) and place them next to the game board to create a general supply.

Step 9: Random Elements

The order of the building tiles, development tiles, and happiness tiles that are drawn create a random element in each game, ensuring a unique gameplay experience each time.

After these steps are completed, you are now ready to begin playing Santa Maria!

Game flow Round and round we go

Santa Maria is a strategic board game that involves building a prosperous colonial city. The game is played over several rounds, each consisting of two phases: the Action Phase and the Refresh Phase.

Action Phase: During this phase, players take turns to perform actions until all players pass. Each player can perform one action per turn. The possible actions are:

Expanding: Players can expand their city by adding a new building tile from the common pool to their own city grid. They must pay the cost indicated on the tile.
Activating: Players can activate a row or column in their city by placing a dice on it. The dice value determines which row or column is activated. All buildings in the activated row or column are activated and provide resources, goods, or special actions to the player.
Shipping: Players can ship goods by placing a good on a ship card. Each ship card requires a specific combination of goods. Once a ship card is filled, the player receives victory points and possibly other rewards.
Using a specialist: Players can hire a specialist by paying the cost indicated on the card. Each specialist provides a unique power that can be used once per round.

Refresh Phase: After all players have passed, the Refresh Phase begins. During this phase:

All players retrieve their dice from their city grids and roll them for the next round.
All players reset their specialists, allowing them to be used again in the next round.
New building tiles and ship cards are placed in the common pool.
The player order for the next round is determined by the current victory point standings, with the player with the least points going first.

The game ends after a set number of rounds. The player with the most victory points is declared the winner.

Players'turn One turn to rule them all

In the board game Santa Maria, each player’s turn consists of several potential actions and strategic choices that can significantly impact the progression of the game. The game is a mix of resource management and strategic planning, where players take on the roles of colonial governors trying to build the most prosperous colony.

1. Activating a Building:

One of the main actions a player can perform during their turn is to activate a building in their colony. Each building provides various benefits when activated, such as resources, trade goods, or advancements in religion, happiness, or wealth.

Activating a building requires the player to spend a die matching the row or column where the building is located. Once a building is activated, it cannot be activated again during the same round. This decision requires strategic planning as the player must choose which buildings to activate and when, considering both the immediate rewards and the long-term benefits.

2. Expanding the Colony:

Another action a player can take is to expand their colony by purchasing a new building tile from the market. This action costs a certain amount of resources, indicated on the tile, and the new building must be placed immediately in the colony.

Expanding the colony not only provides more buildings to activate but also increases the player’s ability to generate resources and score victory points. Therefore, deciding when and where to expand the colony is a crucial strategic decision.

3. Shipping Goods:

Players can also choose to ship goods during their turn. This action requires the player to spend one or more trade goods of the same type and place them on a ship tile. Once a ship is fully loaded, the player scores victory points according to the ship’s value.

Shipping goods is a way to convert resources into victory points, but it requires careful timing and planning. The player must balance the need to accumulate goods for shipping with the need to use those goods for other purposes, such as expanding the colony or activating buildings.

4. Using Bishop’s Favor:

Finally, a player can choose to use the Bishop’s favor during their turn. This action costs a certain amount of resources, and allows the player to activate any one building in their colony without using a die.

While this action is costly, it offers flexibility and can be a powerful tool when used strategically. For instance, it can allow a player to activate a building that has been blocked by other players, or to activate a building that they could not otherwise activate due to a lack of suitable dice.

Summary:

In Santa Maria, each player’s turn is filled with strategic decisions. Whether they choose to activate buildings, expand their colony, ship goods, or use the Bishop’s favor, each action can have a significant impact on their overall strategy and their chances of winning the game.

End of the game All good games must come to an end

The game of ‘Santa Maria’ ends after the third year (round) is completed. At this point, all players should have had an equal number of turns and the game moves into the final scoring phase.

Victory Conditions:

In ‘Santa Maria’, players accumulate victory points throughout the game through various means. The player with the most victory points at the end of the game is declared the winner. Victory points can be gained from the following:

Shipping Goods: Players earn points for each good they ship. The exact number of points depends on the ship they use.
Building Constructions: Players earn points for each building they construct. Each building has a specific value.
Activating Colonists: Players earn points each time they activate a colonist. The exact number of points depends on the colonist.
Completing Missions: Players earn points for each mission they complete. Each mission has a specific value.

Before the final scoring, players should take the following actions:

Resource Conversion: Players can convert any remaining resources into coins. Every three resources can be converted into one coin.
Final Activations: Players can activate any remaining colonists or buildings that have end-of-game effects.
Mission Completion: Players can complete any remaining missions that they are able to fulfill.

Final Scoring:

During the final scoring, players add up their victory points from the following sources:

Coins: Each coin is worth one victory point.
Constructions: Each building is worth the number of victory points indicated on it.
Missions: Each completed mission is worth the number of victory points indicated on it.
End-Of-Game Bonuses: Some buildings and colonists provide bonus victory points at the end of the game. These are added to the player’s score.

The player with the most victory points is declared the winner. In the event of a tie, the player with the most coins is the winner. If there is still a tie, the victory is shared.

Scoring Did you outsmart your rivals?

In the board game ‘Santa Maria’, points are awarded in a variety of ways, and the player with the most points at the end of the game is declared the winner. The scoring system is as follows:

1. Building Tiles:

Each building tile you own awards you points equal to the number of stars present on the tile.

2. Colonist Tiles:

Each colonist tile you own awards you points according to the number of duplicates of that tile you have. The more duplicates, the higher the points.

3. Completed Rows and Columns:

Players earn points for each completed row or column on their player boards. The number of points awarded depends on the number of buildings in the row or column.

4. Bishop’s Favors:

Bishop’s Favors are special tiles that award points at the end of the game. The points awarded vary depending on the specific tile.

5. Ships:

Ships award points based on their individual point value indicated on the ship tile.

6. Money:

At the end of the game, each player earns one point for every 10 coins they have.

In case of a tie, the tie-breaking rules are as follows:

1. Most Coins:

The player with the most coins left at the end of the game wins the tie.

2. Fewest Buildings:

If there is still a tie, the player with the fewest buildings on their player board wins.

3. Player Order:

If there is still a tie after applying the first two tie-breakers, the player who is earliest in the player order wins.

Particular Cases and Exceptions Wait… is that legal?

While playing ‘Santa Maria’, there are a few rare or special rules, exceptions, and rule clarifications that you should keep in mind:

1. Activating Buildings:

To activate a building, you must place a die on it. The die’s value does not affect the building’s effect, but it does affect the cost, which is equal to the die’s value. Note that a building can only be activated once per round.

2. The Bishop’s Favor:

The Bishop’s favor, which allows you to activate a building without using a die, can only be used once per round. Also, it cannot be used to activate a building that has already been activated in the same round. This is an exception to the standard rules.

3. The Missionary:

The Missionary power, which allows you to take an extra action, can only be used once per round. Also, the extra action must be taken immediately after the action that triggered it. This is another exception to the standard rules.

4. End of Round:

At the end of each round, all players must feed their colonists. Each colonist requires one food. If a player does not have enough food, they must pay 2 coins for each food they are short of. If they cannot or do not want to pay, they lose 2 victory points for each food they are short of.

5. End of Game:

The game ends after the third round. At this point, players receive additional victory points for their buildings, as indicated on their building tiles. They also receive 1 victory point for every 10 coins they have, rounded down. This is an important rule clarification.

6. Ties:

In case of a tie, the player with the most coins wins. If there is still a tie, the player with the most leftover resources (excluding coins) wins. If there is still a tie, the player with the most colonists wins. If there is still a tie, the player who took the first player marker last wins.

Tips and tricks Play smarter, not harder!

Advanced Strategies

Santa Maria is an intricate board game that rewards strategic thinking. Here are a few advanced strategies:

Exploit the bishop cards: They are powerful tools that can provide essential resources or privileges.
Pay attention to the end-game: The final scoring round can change the outcome dramatically. Always keep an eye on the potential points from it.
Focus on resource management: Resources are crucial for building and expanding your colony. Spend them wisely.

Beginner Tips

If you’re new to Santa Maria, here are some helpful tips:

Start with a simple strategy: Focus on producing resources and expanding your colony.
Use your dice wisely: They are essential for performing actions. Think carefully before using them.
Pay attention to the other players: Learn from their strategies and adapt accordingly.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Here are some common mistakes that players tend to make:

Ignoring the bishop cards: These cards can provide significant advantages if used effectively.
Over-expanding too early: This can lead to a shortage of resources later in the game.
Forgetting the end-game: The final scoring round is a crucial part of the game. Don’t overlook its importance.

Ways to Optimize Gameplay

Here are some ways to optimize your gameplay:

Plan your moves: Think about your future turns and plan accordingly.
Balance your strategy: Try to strike a balance between expansion, resource production, and scoring points.
Practice: The more you play, the better you’ll understand the game’s mechanics and tactics.