Belfort

To set up the game, first place the main game board in the center of the playing area. Arrange the resource tokens (wood, stone, metal, and gold) and money tokens in their respective supply areas, easily accessible to all players. Shuffle the building cards, guild cards, and permit cards, placing them face down in their designated spots on the board. Each player selects a color and takes their corresponding starting resources, including workers, money, and building materials. Crucially, players place their scoring marker on the 6th space of the scoring track, rather than the 0 space, as a rule tweak for this expansion. Finally, deal out the assistant cards according to the number of players plus one, placing them face up in the center of the table, and return any unused assistant tokens to the box.

The primary objective of Belfort: The Expansion Expansion is to accumulate the most victory points by the end of the game. Players achieve this by constructing various properties, managing and collecting resources, and strategically gaining influence within different guilds and districts across the city. The expansion introduces new ways to earn points through assistants and permits, adding layers to the core strategy of building and resource management.

Each round in Belfort: The Expansion Expansion is divided into four distinct phases: Calendar, Placement, Actions, and Scoring. In the Calendar phase, players will draft new assistant cards, which provide unique, temporary player powers for that round. During the Placement phase, players take turns placing their workers on action spaces to reserve actions or gather resources. The Actions phase is where players execute the actions they reserved, such as building properties, collecting resources, or interacting with guilds. Finally, the Scoring phase occurs after every two rounds, where players tally points based on their built properties, collected resources, and influence majorities in districts and guilds. The game now plays for six rounds instead of seven, making each round's decisions more impactful.

Scoring in Belfort: The Expansion Expansion happens at the end of every two rounds, specifically after rounds 2, 4, and 6. Players earn victory points for several aspects: the properties they have successfully built, the resources they have managed to collect, and their majority influence within the various districts and guilds. The new permit cards, once built, also contribute to scoring by providing additional points based on specific conditions. The rule change of starting the scoring markers on the 6th space ensures that players are taxed from the beginning of the game, adding a constant pressure to generate income and manage finances effectively.

The game concludes immediately after the 6th and final scoring phase. Once all points have been tallied from properties, resources, district majorities, guild majorities, and any bonuses from built permits, the player who has accumulated the highest total number of victory points is declared the winner of Belfort: The Expansion Expansion.