The game is played over 10 rounds. Each round proceeds in the following way:

At the beginning of the round, the starting player takes one Tower tile – as a counter for the round – from the Oath Charter and puts it on the Cathedral (with the symbol facing down in the basic game). This way, the Cathedral tower gets taller and taller over the game.

After that, the active player’s turn proceeds as follows:

Draw 1 Action tile from the bag and push it anywhere into the 3-x-3 grid of the Cathedral area.

Carry out the 3 actions of the row you have chosen in any order you wish. The Action tiles in the inner 3-x-3 grid of the Cathedral determine the 3 possible actions; the 4th Action tile – the one that has been pushed out – doesn’t give you any action.

Once you have acquired cards during the course of the game, you may play 1 hand card per round (at any time during your turn).

1. and 2. are always carried out by the player, but he may resign from using certain actions. 3. is optional.

Then you pass the bag with the Action tiles to the next player.

There are 5 different Action tiles, and the corresponding actions can be combined in any way, depending on how the disposition in the Cathedral area allows it. You always activate and execute only the 3 actions of the row into which you have just pushed in an Action tile.

Money action:
Take 1 coin from the general supply.

Clear-away action:
Take the pushed-out Action tile(s) (1 to 3) from any one side of the Cathedral area and put it/them down in front of you. If there are 2 white Action tiles among the 3 activated Action tiles, you may clear away the tiles from 2 outer rows of the Cathedral area, etc.

Card action:

1. In order to buy a card, you throw any 2 Action tiles from your personal supply back into the bag and take the topmost card from the draw pile. For 2 tiles of the same color, you may have a look at the two top cards, choose one of them and put the other face up on the discard pile.
2. Instead of buying a card, you may instead play an additional hand card (you are allowed to play one hand card per round anyway without activating an Action tile).

River action:
Move your barge forward 1 unoccupied space on the Danube. Spaces that contain other players’ barges are skipped and not included in the count.

Seal action: Pay 2 coins into the general supply and place one of your seals on an unoccupied space in one of the two city quarters (north or south of the Danube) between which your barge currently is. Then you get the corresponding privilege of that quarter (as shown on the gameboard) as a bonus.
The meaning of the individual privileges can be looked up in the Ulm Chronicle, if necessary.

Note: You should consider that you need to push in your Action tile in such a way that you can make use of as many of the three actions as possible in a rewarding way. It could happen that – especially with the Card action and the Seal action – you don’t have the resources required (tiles or money) and thus can’t carry out the action; in this case, the action goes to waste.

Rows that have already been pushed (i.e., that contain 4 tiles) cannot be pushed further, back or forth.

These rows can be reactivated only when the Action tiles outside the inner 3-x-3 grid have been cleared away – e.g., when a player has used a Clear-away action to take the Action tiles from one outer row of the Cathedral area. As long as pushed-out Action tiles have not been taken by anybody, with every turn there remain fewer shoving possibilities for the players.

If the situation arises that it is no longer possible to push in a tile, all pushed-out tiles are thrown back into the bag.

You can acquire cards in two ways:

The Card action: 2 tiles = 1 card

You can acquire cards during the course of the game through the Card action. In order to be allowed to take the topmost card from the draw pile, you have to activate the Card action and give up 2 of your Action tiles. You throw these tiles back into the bag. If you give up 2 tiles of the same color, you draw the 2 topmost cards from the pile and choose 1 of them. The second card is put face up on the discard pile.

1 card as a privilege

Besides this, you get a card as a privilege if you carry out a Seal action in the Town Hall quarter or Goose Tower quarter.

This is how the cards are used

All cards can give you one of two possible yields – depending on how they are played:

1. If you put a card on the discard pile , you obtain the upper bonus of the card during the game.
2. If you place a card in front of you, you obtain the lower bonus of the card at the end of the game.

All cards are played face up.

Any cards that players still hold in their hands at the end of the game remain unused and are put on the discard pile.

Normally, you may play 1 hand card per round. If you want to play additional hand cards on the same turn, you need to activate the corresponding number of Card actions in the Cathedral area.

For each Card action, you may either play one hand card or buy another card from the draw pile.

The individual (types of) cards are explained in more detail in the Ulm Chronicle.

The river is navigable only in one direction. It is not possible to move backwards. A river space can’t contain more than 1 barge. Other players’ barges are jumped over.

The river divides the gameboard into a northern and a southern part. If you want to carry out the Seal action, you can choose between a southern or a northern city quarter, namely, the two quarters between which your barge currently is.

The last 4 river spaces provide additional privileges; you immediately receive such a privilege if your barge ends up on one of these river spaces through the use of an Action tile or a card (each move triggered by an Action tile is executed individually; if triggered by a card, you advance your barge the total of steps at once). At the end of the river, the rule that no more than 1 boat may be on a river space still applies. If you have already reached the end of the river, the River action is no longer of use.

The bridge across the Danube divides the reach of the river into two sections. For barges that haven’t gone under the bridge by the end of the game, players get 1 minus point for each space that their barge is before the bridge. Barges that have passed the bridge give their owners 1 victory point per space.

Since opportunities for carrying out Seal action are limited in each quarter, it is important to plan your advancement on the Danube carefully.

Once you have acquired city coats of arms, they are valid for the entire duration of the game. They provide a dual benefit: First, you get victory points – immediately and also later on, if applicable (i.e., through Seal actions); second, you can obtain Ulm Sparrows when you push Action tiles out of the 3-x-3 grid of the Cathedral area).

1. Getting victory points

Immediately
As soon as you obtain a city coat of arms, you immediately get the victory points indicated on the top left of that coat of arms.

Each of the golden coats of arms shows one building that is located in a specific city quarter on the gameboard. In order to mark your influence in this city quarter, you place one of your 3 family crests on the coats-of-arms space in the respective city quarter.
With this, you can profit from Seal actions that you or one of the other players carries out in this quarter in the future (see below). If you already have all of your 3 family crests on the board, you cannot pick any more golden city coats of arms, but only silver ones (provided they are available).

The silver city coats of arms give you immediate points only, but no further victory points through Seal actions later on, since they are not assigned to the game-relevant city quarters. Therefore, you don’t place a family crest on the board if you have chosen a silver city coat of arms.

Later, over the course of the game (golden coats of arms only)
As soon as you carry out a Seal action in a city quarter that has already been marked by a family crest, the owner of this crest immediately gets the victory points indicated on the top right of the respective city coat of arms; this can be you or another player.

2. Getting Ulm Sparrows

At the beginning of the game, each player has 2 Ulm Sparrows.

During the game, you can use a sparrow as a joker by giving it up and then exchanging the Action tile you have drawn from the bag for any other Action tile in the loading docks. You push this Action tile into the Cathedral area, instead of the Action tile drawn. The Action tile originally drawn is put in the loading docks.

Note: You can use the sparrow only for exchanging an Action tile that you have drawn from the bag at the beginning of your turn for another tile, but not for exchanging one of your own Action tiles for a different one (for instance, in order to redeem a card).

You can get additional sparrows if you have acquired coats of arms and if an Action tile is pushed from the Cathedral area onto the corresponding coat-of-arms space (see above). This can happen during your own turn or another player’s turn. Moreover you can get a sparrow as a bonus on the +8 Danube river space.

At the end of the game, each sparrow that you have not used as a joker gives you 1 victory point.

You can take Action tiles from here when you:

• use a sparrow;
• carry out a Seal action in the Tillage quarter, Town Hall quarter or Shipyard quarter;
• have the ‘Abbot’ special ability and carry out the Clear-away action;
• have the ‘Merchant’ special ability.

An empty space in the loading docks is immediately refilled with an Action tile drawn from the bag.

Cards:

It is possible to obtain victory points by playing cards onto the discard pile. What cards give you which points is shown on the cards themselves and in the Ulm Chronicle.

Seals:

Seal actions in the Reichenauer Hof quarter give you immediate victory points.

City coats of arms:

You get victory points when you acquire city coats of arms in the Leaning House quarter or in the Garden quarter. Each city coat of arms gives you immediate victory points.

City coats of arms with a golden rim make it possible to earn additional points during the course of the game – see the "City Coats of Arms" section.

Descendants:

Through the special ability of the City Guard, the owner of this tile can generate points when shoving an Action tile into the Cathedral area – see the section Descendants in the Ulm Chronicle.

The game ends after 10 rounds; then the final scoring takes place. The following things are taken into account:

• the number of Ulm Sparrows you have in front of you;
• the position of your barge on the river;
• the cards that you have lying face up in front of you.

Cards still in your hand are put on the discard pile without scoring.

Ulm Sparrows:

For each Ulm Sparrow that you own, you score 1 victory point.

River scoring (-1 / +1):

Depending on how far you have advanced on the Danube, you get plus points or minus points. The bridge across the river is considered the dividing line. Players with barges that still are before the bridge at the end of the game get deducted 1 point for each space that their barge is before the bridge. Players with barges that have passed the bridge by the end of the game gain 1 victory point for each space their barge has reached after the bridge.

Card scoring:

Cathedral cards

3 points per Cathedral card; if a Cathedral is complete, + 9 bonus points

A complete three-part Cathedral thus is scored 18 points.

Trade cards

3 points per Trade card; for a set of 3 Trade cards of one type (fustian, works of art, or commercial goods), + 6 bonus points; for a set of 3 different Trade cards, + 3 bonus points

This set is scored 15 points in total.

1 x Fustian, 1 x Works of art and 1 x Commercial goods: This set is scored 12 points in total.

See card texts and explanations in the Ulm Chronicle.

The player with the most points wins.
In case of a tie, the player whose seals are represented in more city quarters than those of any other player wins. If there is still a tie, the players involved share victory.