In Cartagena, Colombia, the doors speak! Not with words, but with the grandiose knockers that adorn them. In Spanish colonial times, the knockers announced your occupation and your social status. Lions, lizards, sea creatures, and hands proclaimed the homes’ occupants as Soldiers, Nobles, Fishermen, and the Clergy. The beautiful Door cards depict some of the most recognizable historic aldabas, brought to life through the art of Colombian artistJuan Vargas.
Aldabas is a puzzly tableau-builder in which you seek to fill your neighborhood with the most influential citizens. On each turn, you’ll take actions to build your neighborhood or increase your wealth. Clever placement will unlock bonuses, but only if you build up your influence with the different professions wisely… it’s not enough to merely win over a profession, you must also satisfy its conditions well, to really reap the rewards it has to offer! Each profession has different priorities, so make sure that you keep an eye on how to score best from the ones that you favor!
The Aldabas campaign will not have any Stretch Goals. The game will be produced at high quality from the start, and the game system is so tightly designed that added content of the sort that Kickstarter campaigns usually feature (new characters, scenarios, etc) are not really suitable. Aldabas stands strong as a finished project without the need to ‘stretch’ into anything beyond what we are presenting here.
There are a few Kickstarter Enhancements that will make the Kickstarter Edition of Aldabas more deluxe than the (still gorgeous) version that will go to retail. Scroll down below the Game Elements to see what is special in the Kickstarter Edition!
Game play is simple. On your turn you will take two of the three available actions (either two different actions, or the same one twice):
1) Gain two Coins. Take two coins from the supply into your purse.
2) Buy a Door. There are five cards available for you to choose in the dock. The first two are free, then the remaining three increase in cost from one to three coins. Pick a card, pay its cost, and take it to hand.
3) Play a Door card to your block. You must follow the placement rules: No empty block spaces may be below or to the left of the new Door, and a Door can’t go beside or above another Door of the same color.
When you add a Door to your block, you can activate the Power of the new door, and the powers of the doors that are right next to it.
The game will end in one of three ways:
- One player completes their tableau (four cards wide by three cards high)
- The coins in the supply run out
- The deck is depleted and the dock cannot be completely filled
The triggering player finishes their turn, every other player gets one more turn, then the game ends and scoring begins. Coins in your vault are worth 2 points each. Some Doors award points directly. Having the most Influence overall will get you a reward. But the most important way to earn points is from the Professions. Each Profession rewards the player with the most Influence over it; you will resolve them one at a time. If you have the most Influence over a Profession, you’ll benefit from its unique scoring method; second place gets a weaker version of the benefit.
