Viticulture: Essential Edition

  • 1-6 players

Setup

  • Each player takes (in their chosen color):
    • 5x worker meeples
    • 1x grande worker meeple
    • 1x wake-up rooster meeple
    • 1x victory point token (cork)
    • 1x residual payment tracker tokens (bottle)
    • 8x unique structure tokens
    • 1x vineyard mat
    • 3x field cards (£5, £6, £7)
    • 1x random mama card and 1x random papa card - These determine starting cards and resources. (Mama and papa cards are only used for game setup)
  • Each player places:
    • Rooster above the wake-up chart
    • Cork token on the “start” points space.
    • Bottle token in the middle of the residual payment tracker
    • Field cards field side up on the vineyard mat
  • Shuffle green, yellow, purple and blue cards and place them on the board
  • Determine start player by randomly selecting a rooster token

Game Turn

The game is played through spring, summer, fall and winter.

Spring

  • Starting with first player, each player places their rooster on the wake-up chart
  • This determines player turn order for the year

Summer

  1. Starting with the top player, each player does one of the following:
    • Place 1 worker on a summer space and then take that action
      • 2 player game, only 1 action space. (see book)
      • Grande workers can be placed on full spaces. (Bonuses are awarded as well)
    • Pass, saving worker(s) for winter (cannot play workers that season)
    • Actions:
      • Draw Vine Card - Draw one vine card. (Bonus: draw additional card)
      • Give a Tour - Gain £2. (Bonus: gain +£1)
      • Build Structures - Build 1 structure by paying the cost (Bonus: gain +£1)
      • Play Visitor Card - Play 1 summer visitor card and resolve it's effect (Bonus: play another card)
      • Sell Grapes - Sell 1 or more grape tokens from the crush pad. See board for value. (Bonus gain 1 point)
        • Alternatively you can sell an empty field or buy a new field.
      • Plant Vines - Plant 1 vine in an empty field, or stack on a previous vine.
        • A field cannot exceed it's max value (add up all vine values)
        • Vines stay planted for the game unless you use Yoke or a visitor card to Uproot.

Fall

  1. Starting with top player, each player will draw either a summer or winter card.

Winter

  • Starting with top player, each player will place 1 worker on a winter space and take that action
  • Continue until all workers are used
  • Actions:
    • Draw Wine Order Card - Draw 1 wine order card. (Bonus: Draw 1 more card)
    • Harvest Field - From 1 field, add grape tokens to crush pad based on yield (p14). (Bonus: harvest another field)
    • Play Visitor Card - Play 1 winter visitor card. (Bonus: Play 1 more card)
    • Make Wine Tokens - Turn 2 grapes on crush pad into wine. (p14/15) (Bonus: Make 1 more wine token)
    • Gain 1£ - This space is not limited to 1 worker.
    • Train a Worker - Pay £4 to hire a new worker (for next year).
    • Fill Wine Order - Fulfill criteria on wine order card and then discard it. (Bonus: Gain 1 point)

Year End

  • Age grape and wine tokens
    • Move grape and wine tokens up one
  • Return workers
  • Collect residual payments
  • Discard down to 7 cards
  • Remove rooster tokens (rotate first player token)

Goal

  • Most points win
    • Ties are broken by:
      • Most lira
      • Total value of wine in cellar
      • Total value of grapes on crush pad

Game End

  • Once someone reaches 20 victory points, the current year will be played through to the end