Notre Dame: 10th Anniversary

To set up Notre Dame, players first select a Notre Dame tile that corresponds to the number of players (e.g., a specific side for 2 or 4 players, or a unique tile for 3 or 5 players). Each player then chooses a color and receives a set of action cards in that color, nine influence markers, a carriage, and a plague marker. Starting gold is distributed, and message tokens are shuffled and placed face-up on designated market spaces around the board. The plague marker for each player is placed on the '0' space of the plague track.

The primary objective in Notre Dame is to gather the most prestige points by the conclusion of the game. Players achieve this by strategically managing their resources, influencing various districts of Paris, and mitigating the effects of the plague. Each action taken should ideally contribute to increasing a player's prestige or hindering their opponents' progress.

A game of Notre Dame is played over nine rounds, divided into three eras (A, B, C), with three rounds per era. Each round consists of five phases: 1. Drawing and passing character cards: Players draw three character cards, keep one, and pass the remaining two to an adjacent player. This continues until each player has three cards. 2. Playing character cards for actions: Players simultaneously reveal one character card and perform its associated action, such as placing influence markers, moving their carriage, or collecting message tokens. 3. Hiring people: Players can pay gold to hire special characters from a central display, gaining immediate benefits. 4. Determining plague effects: The plague marker advances on the track, potentially causing players to lose prestige or influence. 5. Preparing for the next round: Used cards are discarded, and new character cards are drawn.

Prestige points are accumulated throughout the game and at the end. Players gain prestige by placing influence markers on district spaces, collecting sets of message tokens, and utilizing the abilities of hired characters. Some actions may also cause opponents to lose prestige. The player who has the highest total prestige points at the end of the game is declared the winner.

The game concludes after the third era (Era C), which consists of three rounds. Once all nine rounds are completed, players tally their final prestige points from all sources, including influence markers on the board, collected message tokens, and any bonus points from character abilities. The player with the highest total prestige points wins the game.