The Gardens of the Alhambra

About this board game

The Gardens of the Alhambra is an abstract influence game for 2–4 players, with a playing time of about 60 minutes.

Each player is represented by plants of a particular color. Using tiles that show all four colors, players place them onto fixed locations on the board, creating a shared contest for influence and points.

The central objective is to surround victory point markers and capture them. Because every tile includes all of the players’ colors, each placement can affect several players at once. Careful choices are essential: you want to increase your own color’s total while limiting the opportunities available to your opponents.

• Place multicolored tiles in fixed board locations.
• Surround and capture victory point markers.
• Balance your own scoring potential against your opponents’ influence.
• Watch for ties, which can disqualify a color from earning the points.

Ties make the contest especially demanding. When colors are tied, those players are disqualified for that marker, allowing the next highest color total to earn the points instead. A seemingly strong position can therefore fail if another color matches it.

In The Gardens of the Alhambra, every tile placement matters. Build your influence carefully, pursue valuable markers, and keep the scoring order in mind as the board develops. When the game ends, the player with the most victory points wins.