Rio Grande Games Doge 75 - Manual (Page 4)

7
The order in which palaces are built only
influences the number of houses needed to build
them. The order has no influence on the end of
the game as the game ends at the end of a
game year, not during it.
End of a game year
The game year ends when an election has been
held in each of the 7 areas. The 7 voting order
cards for the current game year will have been
set aside and there is a set of 7 new voting order
cards face up along the bottom of the board.
These show the voting order for the next game
year.
Shuffle the 7 voting order cards that were used in
the game year just ended and place them face
down on the 7 empty spaces along the bottom
of the board. These will be turned over one by
one in the next game year as the areas conduct
their elections.
Game end and victory
The game ends when at least one player has:
- at least 1 palace in each district or
- a total of 7 palaces in 5 districts or
- a total of 8 palaces in 4 districts.
The current game year is finished.
The winner is the player who has fulfilled one of
the above three conditions.
If, at the end of the game, two or more players
have fulfilled one of the winning conditions, the
player among them who has built the most
palaces is the winner. If there is still a tie for the
winner, the player among those tied with the
most houses on the board is the winner.
Notes for the game
The game material is limited. When a player has
no more houses or palaces in his supply, he is out
and cannot retrieve them from the board,
except the houses by building a palace. Thus, a
player should carefully plan his placement of
houses so that he does not run out at a time
when he needs to place them to build a palace.
Also, players should carefully plan their palace
placements to put them in position to win.
At the beginning, it may appear that the use of
ballot markers is a bit random, but as the game
progresses, players will begin to see patterns
emerge from their opponents. By watching
others carefully, players can place their ballot
markers to their best advantage.
Control of the advisors is an important tactical
element of the game. Because the advisors vote
for the players that control them, they can be
placed in areas voting later in this game year to
strengthen a player’s chance to win an election.
Because the voting order of the areas is chosen
randomly for each game year, it is possible for an
advisor to vote twice before his area votes and
other players have an opportunity to take
control of the advisor. Thus, wise players will look
to take advantage of such situations when they
occur.
Under some circumstances, a player may be
able to win an election with just an advisor in an
area. If no players place ballot markers in an
area or the only ballot marker placed is a value
0 as a bluff, a single advisor can win the election
with his single vote!
It may be good strategy later in the game to try
to win an election in an area with a high palace
cost. The winner can abstain from taking control
of the advisor to move a house into or out of the
area and, thus, make it possible for him to build
an important palace. Also, in the later stages of
the game, winning the election for the Quarantia
with its possibility of two house moves can be
extremely important to help a player build a
much-needed palace, even in an area where he
lost an election.