Carpe Diem

To set up, each player receives four random frame parts to assemble their personal city district board, placing one of the city district boards into the center with the shovel handle pointing to the top-right. Nine writ symbols on the city district board are covered with matching tokens. Each player also collects a resource board, a Patrician, and five disc markers in their color, placing the discs in their basket. Patricians are placed on any unoccupied blue frame of the main board. Forum cards are separated by letter (A, B, C, D), shuffled, and a specific number of cards (based on player count) are taken from each stack and placed face-up into the forum spaces on the main board. Remaining forum cards are returned to the box. Fountain cards are shuffled and placed face-down. Double-sided victory point cards are sorted by value. Coins, bread tokens, and goods are placed nearby. Building tiles are separated by their white or black backs, shuffled, and placed face-up on the bottom row of the main board (black-backed tiles) and face-up on the blueprint spaces (white-backed tiles). The starting player token is given to the oldest player, and players receive starting victory points based on player count.

The objective of Carpe Diem is to earn the most prestige points by the end of the game. Players achieve this by strategically collecting and placing building tiles to construct profitable buildings and beautiful landscapes within their personal city districts, aiming to create the most prestigious arrangement possible.

A turn in the Building Phase begins with the current player moving their Patrician to an adjacent unoccupied blue-framed space on the main board. Players cannot stay in the same space. After moving, the player collects any one building tile from the attached area. If the chosen space has no tiles, the Patrician immediately moves again for free in the same direction until it lands on a space with at least one building tile. Players can spend a bread token before moving to move to any space or even stay put. Collected tiles must be immediately placed on the player's city district board. The first tile is placed on the shovel symbol. Subsequent tiles must share at least one full side with an existing tile, and the artwork on the shared edge must perfectly match. Tiles can be rotated but cannot be moved once placed. If a tile covers a writ symbol, the token is returned to the box, and the player's disc advances one space on the prestige track. If a player cannot legally place a collected tile, it is placed face-down by their board and may be worth half a point at the end of the game. In a two-player game, if only two tiles remain in a section, they are removed. In a three-player game, if only one tile remains, it is removed.

Scoring occurs during two phases: the Forum Phase and the End of the Game. During the Forum Phase, players take turns placing a disc on an empty space between two Forum Cards. They then resolve both attached cards in either order, fulfilling the top half (paying goods) to gain the bottom half (victory points or resources). Red strips indicate payment, green strips indicate possession. Coins can replace any good. Unfulfilled Forum Cards result in a penalty of 4 victory points per card. At the end of the game, players score points for: unspent goods, coins, bread, and face-down tiles (divided by two, rounded down); their position on the prestige track; completed frame goals (scoring points for specific completed dwelling/landscape types that align with the frame's goals); Fountain Cards (scoring points for completed types of landscape/buildings/villas shown on the card); and completed Villas (scoring points based on the number of chimneys).

The game concludes after the fourth Forum Phase. At this point, all players calculate their final prestige scores. The player with the highest total prestige points wins the game. In case of a tie, the tied player with the most remaining writ tokens on their city district board wins. If there is still a tie, the tied player lowest on the prestige track wins.