Mille Fiori

Step into the world of artisanal crafts in Mille Fiori: Master Glassmaker, a board game by designer Reiner Knizia. As a glass manufacturer and trader, you'll compete against other players to create the most exquisite glass art and earn maximum profits.

The game board represents various stages of the glass production cycle, such as workshops for glass creation, houses for installation, people who support your work, trade shops for sales, and a harbor to transport your glass art to different locations. Your objective is to be present in all of these areas at the right time to maximize your earnings. The gameboard features 109 spaces, and there's a card in the deck for each of those spaces.

At the beginning of each round, each player receives a hand of five cards. You'll choose a card from your hand, then pass the remaining cards to the next player. Each player plays their card in turn, beginning with the round's start player, and places a diamond-shaped token of their color in the location depicted on that card.

In the Workshops, you'll score 1 point for each of your tokens in a connected group with the newly placed token. You can double your score if you played on a pigment field. In the Residences, you'll score the listed number of points, and if your token is preceded in the line by one or more tokens of your color, you'll score those previously played tokens again.

In the Townspeople area, you'll score 1, 3, or 6 points based on the height of your token in the pyramids. However, you can only place at higher levels if the lower spaces are filled. You'll double your points if the card symbol matches the space you've filled. Supporting tokens score again as higher tokens are placed.

In the Trade shops, four types of goods are present, and when you place a token, each token on that goods type scores for its owner points equal to the number of goods of that type now covered. In the Harbor, you'll move your ship equal to the number on the played card and score points based on the space where you land. Then, you'll place a token in one of the five rows. When that row is filled with three ships, each token in that row scores for its owner 1/3/6/10 points, depending on the number of trade goods in that row. Alternatively, you can play a card for ship movement points and not place a token on the game board.

Each player plays four cards in a round (in a 3 or 4 player game), then adds the last card in their hand to those displayed beside the game board. The start player marker rotates, and a new round begins. For each of the five areas, you can meet a certain condition that allows you to play a bonus card from those beside the game board. When you play a bonus card, you might trigger another bonus card, and then another!

Additionally, there are five different ways to score substantial bonus points for the areas, such as placing tokens on houses of four different values in the Residences or placing tokens on all three types in a pyramid in the Townspeople area. You can only score each area's bonus once, and importantly, each time a bonus is claimed, the value available for later players is reduced.

The game ends when someone has placed their final diamond token or when you can't deal a new hand of five cards to each player. The player with the most successful glass dynasty (most points) is declared the winner. Get ready to showcase your skills and creativity as a master glassmaker in Mille Fiori!