Bruges

The Bruges: City of the Zwin expansion introduces four distinct modules that can be incorporated into the base game. For the 'Extra People' module, simply shuffle the new character cards into the main deck. The only setup change is creating six equal decks of 30-35 cards instead of five, then using a number of decks equal to the player count for the draw pile and the rest as an extra deck. For the '5th Player' module, add the extra board for the 5th player's canal track, include the black player components (meeples, seals, majority markers), and place the two new statue tokens (8 and 9) on top of the base game's 7-point statue. For 'The Zwin' module, separate the boat tokens by color, shuffle each color, and place them face-up next to the river section of the extra board. For 'The Market' module, shuffle the market cards and place the scroll tokens next to the deck.

The overall objective of Bruges remains to accumulate the most victory points by building houses, hiring people, completing canals, and managing threats. The expansion enhances these objectives by providing more diverse character abilities, new strategic options through the Zwin module's boat actions, and variable round benefits from the Market module, all contributing to a richer and more varied path to victory.

The basic turn structure of drawing cards, rolling dice, and performing actions remains the same. However, 'The Zwin' module introduces new actions related to canal building. When a player builds a canal, if the rolled dice for that color is a 3 or 4, a boat of that color is added to the river section of the extra board. Players can then spend a worker of any color to activate a boat's action, which provides various benefits. 'The Market' module modifies existing actions: after phase one, the first player flips a market card, and the number of scrolls on it indicates how many times its special ability can be used that round. When a player performs the action specified on the market card, they gain an extra benefit and discard a scroll token.

Scoring in the expansion builds upon the base game's system. Points are still gained from houses, characters, and majorities. The 'Extra People' module adds more character cards, increasing the variety of scoring opportunities. The '5th Player' module includes additional statue tokens (8 and 9 points), offering more high-value scoring options. 'The Zwin' module's boat actions provide immediate benefits that can indirectly contribute to end-game scoring. 'The Market' module's enhanced actions can lead to more efficient point generation or resource acquisition, influencing overall scoring strategies.

The game ends when the draw pile of character cards runs out, similar to the base game. With the 'Extra People' module, the larger deck size (six decks instead of five) means the game might last slightly longer, but the core trigger for the end of the game remains consistent. Once the draw pile is depleted, players complete the current round, and then a final scoring phase occurs to determine the winner based on accumulated victory points.