Rio Grande Games 75 User Manual

Graphics: Franz and Imelda Vohwinkel
English translation: Jay Tummelson

© 2000 Simba Toys
Rio Grande Games
PO Box 45715
Rio Rancho, NM 87174 USA
All Rights Reserved.
Made in Germany

www.riograndegames.com

The office of the Doge was the highest office in Venice for over 1000 years. In the early days, the
position changed often. In the beginning, the position was similar to a duke, but later came to grow
into the status of a king. Even later, as the head of the republic of Venice, the position of Doge was
even more important. The elected advisors from the six districts, the three advisors from the Quarantia,
and the Doge came together to form the Council of Ten.
The last Doge of Venice, Ludovico Manin, lost his office when Napoleon invaded Northern Italy.

It is not surprising that the powerful families of Venice worked hard to have one of theirs in this
important position. Although the position could not be inherited, these families worked equally hard to
keep it in the family once they got it.In order to limit the importance of individual families and reduce
power of the office of Doge, a group of advisors and councilors developed a complicated system for
electing the Doge.

For this game, this system is simplified.

The Author: Leo Colovini was born in Venice in 1964, where he still lives today.
He has worked for many years with master game designer Alex Randolph.
With Alex, he developed Inkognito in 1989, which won the award for “beautiful game”
from the “Spiel des Jahres" jury.
Today, Leo Colovini is in a partnership with Alex Randolph and Dario De Toffoli in the
game company, “Venice Connection".

Overview

Venice, also called Serenissima, the most
venerable, flourished in the late middle ages as a
merchant center.The old established families
competed for political power and influence in
this city state. As the heads of these families, the
players use their power and influence to build
the most magnificent buildings and palaces
along the Grand Canal. Those that move swiftly
and cleverly may attain the highest office in
Venice: the office of the Doge!

Contents

60 houses (15 in each of

4 colors)

32 palaces (8 in each

of 4 colors)

9 advisors

28 ballot markers (ballot boxes)

(7 each in 4 colors, with the
values 0, 1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 3)

24 control rings

(6 each in 4 colors)

28 player cards

(7 each in 4 colors)

14 voting order cards

(2 sets of 7 cards)
1 game board
1 rule booklet
1 rule summary/overview

Preparation

• Place the board in the middle of the table.

• Each of the advisor figures has a symbol on

its top. Place the
advisors on the
spaces on the right
side of the board with
symbols matching
those on the tops of
the advisors.

• Each player chooses a color and takes the
houses, palaces, ballot markers, and control
rings in this color. He places them before him
on the table in his supply area.
Players place their ballot markers in their supply
area face down so that other players cannot
see their values. A player may always look at
his own ballot markers.

• Separate the 28 player cards
by the color on their backs.
Each player takes his set of 7
player cards and places them
face down in his supply area.

When playing with three
players, place the
components of the fourth
color back in the box.

• Separate the two sets of voting
order cards by their backs and
shuffle each face down.

Place the brown backed
cards face up on the 7 brown
spaces along the bottom of the board.

Place the blue backed cards face down on
the 7 blue spaces along the bottom of the
board.

2

for 3 to 4 players aged 12 and up

Official title for the Doge: his excellency, by divine right, Doge of Venice,

count of Dalmatia and Croatia, the highest venerable prince

3 2