Ragusa

The game board is placed in the center, featuring rural and city hexes, a market track for commodities (wine, oil, silver), and a score track. Ship cards are placed on the board, with initial commodity costs adjusted based on the number of players. Each player receives a player board, a set of houses (quantity varies by player count), towers, and three bonus cards, from which they choose one to keep and discard the others. Commodity markers are placed on the starting spaces of the player boards.

The primary objective is to accumulate the highest number of victory points by the end of the game. Points are earned through various actions during gameplay, such as trading commodities, building houses and walls, and completing specific objectives on bonus cards. Strategic planning and efficient resource management are key to maximizing your score.

During a player's turn, they must place one of their houses on an available hex on the game board. Rural hexes require one wood resource, while city hexes require one stone resource. Some hexes on the border between rural and city areas require both one wood and one stone. After placing a house, the player activates all adjacent hexes, gaining resources (wood, olives, grapes, fish, ore) or converting resources into commodities (wine, oil, silver) based on the hex type. If other players have houses on activated hexes, they also gain benefits. This creates an interactive worker placement system where players can benefit from others' turns.

Points are scored in several ways. Immediately, players gain points when they acquire ship cards by trading commodities at the market. At the end of the game, players score points for their connected walls, with each wall segment counting as one point, provided it's not interrupted by another player's piece. The Cathedral space offers end-game points based on the number of complete sets of wine, oil, and silver commodities a player has, multiplied by the total market value of these commodities. Finally, bonus cards kept from setup provide additional end-game points based on specific criteria, such as the number of certain resources or commodities a player possesses.

The game concludes immediately when any player places their last house on the board. After this trigger, final scoring commences, where players tally points from various sources including walls, the Cathedral, and their chosen bonus cards. The player with the highest total victory points is declared the winner.