Ulm - General game info
Ulm
2-4 players, 45-75 minutes, 10 years and older
AuthorGünter Burkhardt
IllustratorMichael Menzel
Published byHUCH!
Online since 2018-12-16
Developed byAdrian Kügel (ak15)
Boardgamegeek191876
Yucata.de owns a license for the online version of this game. A big "thank you" to the copyright owners (publisher and/or author and illustrator) who make it possible to have this game for free online here!
Note: This online implementation uses slightly changed rules!
Ulm - Rules
→ "Rules (pdf, see second section for English)
→ "Ulm Chronicle (pdf, see second section for English)
If you are reading these rules for the first time, ignore the text along the right hand side. These rules serve as a summary to help you quickly familiarize yourself with the game.

Show → summary only → detailed version only → both summary and detailed version

Ulm

Ulm at its historic heyday: There is a constant hustle and bustle in the prosperous free imperial city. At the beginning of the 16th century, the city has one of the largest municipal territories within the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation. Success and wealth are not only due to Swabian thriftiness, but mainly the result of the citizens’ business acumen and skilled craftsmanship.
Trade in works of art and commercial goods such as wood, wine, salt and textiles is flourishing; for the most part, these goods are shipped by barge or raft on the Danube river.
People are busy building the cathedral - the social heart of the city - that will at one time have the tallest church steeple in the world. Everybody of distinction meets around the cathedral. The influential guilds and patricians dominate city life; and if you want to accomplish something, you need to be in the good graces of the right people. Who will make the best use of his means and resources over time and will go down in the annals of the city’s history as an important citizen?

Adaptation for the online game:
  • If you get an extra step for your barge on the Danube as a bonus, the implementation gives you an extra barge action. This makes it possible to do another action first before taking the extra step.
  • A tower tile that affects an action changes the cost or effect of that action. It does not provide an alternative option nor a bonus effect. As an example, the tower tile that allows you to purchase one card for one coin when activating a card action changes the rule how you can buy a card, so you cannot purchase a card with action tiles in that round, but you can still use the card action to play a card.
  • In the unlikely case that there is no action tile left in the bag, and another action tile needs to be drawn, then one extra action tile of each kind is added to the bag.
Game Components

Rule Content

  1. Game Components
  2. Object of the Game
  3. Course of the Game
    1. Course of a Round
    2. The Cathedral area and its actions
    3. The cards
    4. The Danube
    5. The City Coats of Arms
    6. The Ulm Sparrows
    7. The Loading Docks
  4. Interim Scorings, End of the Game, and Final Scoring

Content of the Chronicle

  1. The City Quarters and their Privileges
  2. The Descendants
  3. The Cards
  4. The Tower Tiles – Variant for Advanced Players

Game Components

1
1
Cathedral (to be assembled)
12
Tower tiles (markers showing the rounds)
1
Oath Charter (starting player marker)
50
Action tiles
4
barges in player colors
52
seals in player colors
12
family crests in player colors
33
cards (English)
12
8
26
coins
30
1
cloth bag
1
set of instructions in 2 parts:
the basic rulebook and
the Ulm Chronicle with additional information

Content of the rules

  1. Game Components
  2. Object of the Game
  3. Course of the Game
    1. Course of a Round
    2. The Cathedral area and its actions
    3. The cards
    4. The Danube
    5. The City Coats of Arms
    6. The Ulm Sparrows
    7. The Loading Docks
  4. Interim Scorings, End of the Game, and Final Scoring

Content of the Chronicle

  1. The City Quarters and their Privileges
  2. The Descendants
  3. The Cards
  4. The Tower Tiles – Variant for Advanced Players
Object of the Game
Try to accumulate the most victory points through activities in different areas of city life in Ulm. Each round, you have three actions. The game ends after 10 rounds.
Place the gameboard in the middle of the table.
  1. Shuffle the 33 cards face down, and form a draw pile that you put on the card space.
  2. Randomly choose 4 of the 8 Descendant tiles and put them face up on the Descendant spaces in the Oath House quarter.
  3. Assemble the Cathedral and place it on the Cathedral space of the gameboard.
  4. Shuffle the city coats of arms , face down, and form a stack that you put on the coats-of-arms space.
  5. Randomly distribute 1 brown, 2 turquoise, 2 orange, 2 white, and 2 gray Action tiles in the inner 3-x-3 grid of the Cathedral area.
  6. Put one Action tile of each color in the loading docks.
  7. Then throw the remaining Action tiles into the bag.
  8. Place the coins and the Ulm Sparrows next to the gameboard as a face-up supply.
  9. Each player gets 1 barge, 13 seals, 3 family crests in his player color, 2 coins and 2 Ulm Sparrows as well as an Action tile drawn from the bag. Then he
    1. places his barge on the first Danube space;
    2. puts 1 seal as a counter on space 5 of the scoring track;
    3. lays down his remaining things in front of him as his personal supply.
  10. The most reliable player becomes the starting player. He places the Oath Charter in front of him. Then he takes 10 of the 12 Tower tiles , stacks them (for the basic game, with the front – the side with the symbols – facing down), and places this stack of Tower tiles on the designated place on the Oath Charter. The remaining 2 Tower tiles are put back into the box.
    Note: The basic game is played without the special function on the front of the Tower tiles. (The symbols of the individual Tower tiles are explained in the Ulm Chronicle.)
Course of the Game

Course of a Round

The game is played over 10 rounds.
The active player’s turn proceeds as follows:
  1. Draw 1 Action tile from the bag and push it into the 3-x-3 grid of the Cathedral area.
  2. Carry out the 3 actions of the row you have chosen
  3. optional: play 1 hand card per round

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:

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

#2 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.

#3 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.

The Cathedral area and its actions

Money action:
Take 1 coin from the general supply
Clear-away action:
Take the pushed-out Action tile(s) from any one side of the Cathedral and put it/them down in front of you
Card action:
  1. Throw any 2 Action tiles back into the bag and take the topmost card from the draw pile. For 2 tiles of the same color look at the two top cards and choose one of them or
  2. Play an additional hand card.
River action:
Move your barge forward 1 unoccupied space on the Danube; skip occupied spaces.
Seal action:
Pay 2 coins into the general supply and place one of your seals on an unoccupied space in one of the two adjacent city quarters; get the privilege of that quarter.

Rows that have already been pushed (i.e., that contain 4 tiles) cannot be pushed further, back or forth, and can be reactivated only after a Clear-Away action has removed the Action tiles outside.


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.

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.

The Cards

Acquire a card:

Activate Card action give up 2 of your Action tiles.
If you give up 2 tiles of the same color, you draw the 2 topmost cards from the pile and choose 1 of them.

1 card as a privilege if you carry out a Seal action in the Town Hall quarter or Goose Tower quarter.

Card usage:

One of two possibilities:

  1. To receive the upper card bonus during the game, play the card on the discard pile.
  2. Play the card in front of you to receive the lower card bonus at the end of the game.

Each round you may play 1 hand card; to play additional hand cards, you need card actions from the cathedral area.

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 Danube

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.

When carrying out a Seal action you have to choose between the two quarters between which your barge currently is, one northern, one southern.

The last 4 river spaces provide additional privileges; once and immediately when your barge ends up on one of these river spaces. On the "+8" river space the player receives a coin, on the "+9" river space a sparrow, on the "+10" river space the player can take an action tile from the shipyard, and on the "+11" river space the player draws a card from the draw pile.

At Game end all barges that haven’t gone under the bridge get 1 minus point for each space that their barge is before the bridge. Barges past get 1 victory point per space.

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.

The City Coat of Arms

City coats of arms, they are valid for the entire duration of the game. They provide a dual benefit:

  • immediately and possibly also late getting victory points
  • getting Ulm Sparrows

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.

Place one of your 3 family crests in the respective city quarter.
You can get a maximum of 3 golden city coat of arms.
The silver city coats of arms give you immediate points only, don’t place a family crest on the board in this case.

Later in the game (golden coat of arms only)
Carrying 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.

2. Getting Ulm Sparrows

The image of each city coat of arms is also shown on the outer spaces of the Cathedral area. When you acquire a city coat of arms, you immediately place one of your seals next to the corresponding coat-of-arms image at the outside of the Cathedral area.
Whenever a player pushes an Action tile onto this space, the owner of the applicable seal gets 1 Ulm Sparrow.

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

The image of each city coat of arms is also shown on the outer spaces of the Cathedral area. When you acquire a city coat of arms, you immediately place one of your seals next to the corresponding coat-of-arms image at the outside of the Cathedral area.
Whenever a player pushes an Action tile onto this space, the owner of the applicable seal gets 1 Ulm Sparrow from the general supply.

The Ulm Sparrows

Beginning of the game: Two Sparrows

Joker: Can be used 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.

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, or as a bonus on the +8 Danube river space.

Game's End: 1 victory point for each unused Sparrow.

Ulmer Spatz Ulmer Spatz 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.

The Loading Docks

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.

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.

Interim Scorings, End of the Game, and Final Scoring

You can score victory points during the game and at the end of the game.

During the game

Cards:

Victory points by playing cards onto the discard pile.

Seals:

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

City Coats of Arms:

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.

Additional victory points during the course of the game with "City Coats of Arms" with the golden rim.

Descendants:

Through the special ability of the City Guard when shoving an Action tile into the Cathedral area.

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.

At the end of the game

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

Ulm Sparrows:

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

River scoring (-1 / +1):

Barges before the bridge: Deduct as many points as fields before the bridge.

Barges past the bridge: as many points as fields past the bridge.

Card scoring:

Cathedral cards

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

Chronicle cards

See card texts.

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

Münster 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

Commercial Commercial Commercial This set is scored 15 points in total.

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

Chronicle cards

See card texts and explanations in the Ulm Chronicle.

The Winner

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.

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.

Content of the Chronicle
  1. The City Quarters and their Privileges
  2. The Descendants
  3. The Cards
  4. The Tower Tiles – Variant for Advanced Players

I. The City Quarters and their Privileges

Every time you carry out a Seal action and place one of your seals in a city quarter, you immediately obtain a specific privilege as a bonus. The privileges vary from quarter to quarter.

If you have placed all your 12 seals on the board (city quarters and Cathedral area) over the course of the game, you can no longer carry out the Seal action.

Tillage quarter:

Take 1 Action tile from the loading docks
collect 1 coin from the general supply
move forward 0 – 2 spaces (just as you like) on the Danube, in compliance with the movement rule.

Leaning House quarter:

Take 2 city coats of arms from the coats-of-arms stack, choose one of them and lay it out in front of you.
Put the other city coat of arms face down back underneath the stack.

Garden quarter:

Take 2 city coats of arms from the coats-of-arms stack, choose one of them and lay it out in front of you.
Put the other city coat of arms face down back underneath the stack.

Each city coat of arms exists twice on the gameboard: a big one (A) in a specific city quarter and a small one (B) at the edge of the Cathedral area.

Whenever you obtain a city coat of arms, you take one of your seals and place it next to the corresponding small city coat of arms at the edge of the Cathedral area. If the city coat of arms has a golden rim, you additionally mark your area of influence by taking one of your family crests from your personal supply and placing it on top of the big city coat of arms on the gameboard. You can benefit from the coat of arms during the further course of the game, scoring points and/or receiving Ulm Sparrows. (See "City Coats of Arms".)

Oath House quarter:

Getting a special ability
– here, you place a descendant at one of the laid-out professions; this gives you a special ability.

If you carry out a Seal action in this city quarter, you choose one of the laid-out Descendant tiles and lay it down in front of you. Then you put one of your seals in the place of the appropriate tile on the board.

From now on, the special ability of the descendant you have chosen is available to you.

Town Hall quarter:

Draw 1 card from the pile and take 1 coin or 1 Action tile from the loading docks.

Shipyard quarter:

Pick any one tile from the loading docks and carry out an additional Card action (buy a card or play an additional hand card).

Reichenauer Hof quarter:

You get 1 victory point for each city quarter that contains at least one of your seals, including the Reichenauer Hof quarter.

Goose Tower quarter:

Select 1 card from the discard pile or from the 3 topmost cards of the draw pile. In the latter case, the cards not chosen are put face up on the discard pile,

II. The Descendants

If you carry out a Seal action in the Oath House quarter, you choose one of the laid-out Descendant tiles and lay it down in front of you. Then you put one of your seals in the place of the appropriate tile on the board.
From now on, the special ability of the descendant you have chosen is available to you.

Abbot:

If you carry out the Clear-away action, you may take any one additional Action tile from the loading docks.

Builder:

You may draw 2 Action tiles (instead of 1) from the bag and then choose which of the two you want to push into the Cathedral area. Put the other tile back into the bag.

Scholar:

Instead of the Action tile you have drawn, you may choose to push an Action tile from your personal supply into the Cathedral area and keep the Action tile you have drawn.

Merchant:

Per round, you may exchange 1 of your own Action tiles for 1 tile from the loading docks.

Mint Master:

Every time you activate the Money action , you may take 1 additional coin (this doesn’t apply to bonuses that are aresult of privileges or cards).

Councilman:

If you buy a card during the Card action, you may choose 1 out of 2 cards even if you give up two tiles of different colors.

City Guard:

You earn 2 victory points if – on your own turn – you push an Action tile into the Cathedral area in such a way that at least one new line-of-3 in one color is formed in the inner 3-x-3 grid of the Cathedral area – either vertically, horizontally or diagonally; that means that there are now 3 tiles of the same color lying in one line.

Barge driver:

Every time you activate the River action , you may make 1 additional move (this doesn’t apply to bonuses that are a result of privileges or cards).

III. The Cards

There are 3 types of cards::

1. Cathedral cards

The Cathedral cards symbolically stand for the population’s personal commitment for the Cathedral (which was exclusively financed by citizens of Ulm) and their donations and endowments for the 3 different sections of the church building. The Cathedral cards can be used during the game. By throwing one of the two Action tiles indicated into the bag and putting the card on the discard pile, you get 6 victory points in return.

Muenster If you play the card and lay it out in front of you instead, it remains there until the end of the game (for this, you don’t give up any Action tile); in this case, a single laid-out Cathedral card gives you 3 victory points in the end. If you manage to take part in 3 Cathedral projects in different sections of the church – i.e., use 3 cards to build a Cathedral – you additionally gain a bonus of 9 victory points (a complete Cathedral consisting of 3 cards is scored 18 victory points in total).

2. Trade cards

In order to use Trade cards during the game, you have to throw one of your own Action tiles of the applicable color into the bag. In return, you get the yield indicated and put the card on the discard pile.

Trade cards that you lay out in front of you count only at the end of the game (you don’t give up any Action tile for this). A single Trade card that you have lying in front of you in the end gives you 3 points. For certain sets that you have collected, you additionally earn bonus points:

Fustian Fustian Fustian If you have (at least) 3 of the same kind of goods (i.e., 3 bales of fustian, or 3 works of art, or 3 commercial goods), you additionally get 6 bonus points for this set; so, 3 bales of fustian, for example, are scored 15 points.

Fustian Art Commercial If you have a set of 3 goods of different kinds (i.e., 1 bale of fustian, 1 work of art, and 1 commercial good), you additionally get 3 bonus points for this set; that means that such a set gives you 12 points in total.

Each Trade card can only be part of one set (either the same or different Trade cards).

3. Chronicle cards

Each Chronicle card has special abilities both during the game as well as at the end of the game. Details see card texts.

The cards in detail

Cathedral cards

Choir I
during the game:
Put one of the shown Action tiles you own back into the bag and get 6 Victory Points

or at game end:
This card: 3 Victory Points
Full Cathedral set: 9 additional Victory points for the full set
Choir II
during the game:
Put one of the shown Action tiles you own back into the bag and get 6 Victory Points

or at game end:
This card: 3 Victory Points
Full Cathedral set: 9 additional Victory points for the full set
Choir III
during the game:
Put one of the shown Action tiles you own back into the bag and get 6 Victory Points

or at game end:
This card: 3 Victory Points
Full Cathedral set: 9 additional Victory points for the full set
Nave I
during the game:
Put one of the shown Action tiles you own back into the bag and get 6 Victory Points

or at game end:
This card: 3 Victory Points
Full Cathedral set: 9 additional Victory points for the full set
Nave II
during the game:
Put one of the shown Action tiles you own back into the bag and get 6 Victory Points

or at game end:
This card: 3 Victory Points
Full Cathedral set: 9 additional Victory points for the full set
Nave III
during the game:
Put one of the shown Action tiles you own back into the bag and get 6 Victory Points

or at game end:
This card: 3 Victory Points
Full Cathedral set: 9 additional Victory points for the full set
Steeple I
during the game:
Put one of the shown Action tiles you own back into the bag and get 6 Victory Points

or at game end:
This card: 3 Victory Points
Full Cathedral set: 9 additional Victory points for the full set
Steeple II
during the game:
Put one of the shown Action tiles you own back into the bag and get 6 Victory Points

or at game end:
This card: 3 Victory Points
Full Cathedral set: 9 additional Victory points for the full set
Steeple III
during the game:
Put one of the shown Action tiles you own back into the bag and get 6 Victory Points

or at game end:
This card: 3 Victory Points
Full Cathedral set: 9 additional Victory points for the full set

Trading Cards

Works of Art I
during the game:
Put a River action tile back into the bag. Get one coin and 2 Victory Points and move your barge 0-2 spaces.

or at game end: Get
3 Victory Points for this card.
15 Victory Points altogether for a set of Works of Art cards.
12 Victory Points altogether for a set of different Trading cards.
Works of Art II
during the game:
Put a Card action tile back into the bag. Get one coin and 2 Victory Points and move your barge 0-2 spaces.

or at game end: Get
3 Victory Points for this card.
15 Victory Points altogether for a set of Works of Art cards.
12 Victory Points altogether for a set of different Trading cards.
Works of Art III
during the game:
Put a Seal action tile back into the bag. Get one coin and 2 Victory Points and move your barge 0-2 spaces.

or at game end: Get
3 Victory Points for this card.
15 Victory Points altogether for a set of Works of Art cards.
12 Victory Points altogether for a set of different Trading cards.
Works of Art IV
during the game:
Put a Clear-away action tile back into the bag. Get one coin and 2 Victory Points and move your barge 0-2 spaces.

or at game end: Get
3 Victory Points for this card.
15 Victory Points altogether for a set of Works of Art cards.
12 Victory Points altogether for a set of different Trading cards.
Works of Art V
during the game:
Put a Money action tile back into the bag. Get one coin and 2 Victory Points and move your barge 0-2 spaces.

or at game end: Get
3 Victory Points for this card.
15 Victory Points altogether for a set of Works of Art cards.
12 Victory Points altogether for a set of different Trading cards.
Commercial Goods I
during the game:
Put a River action tile back into the bag. Get 3 coins and move your barge 0-2 spaces.

or at game end: Get
3 Victory Points for this card.
15 Victory Points altogether for a set of Commercial Goods cards.
12 Victory Points altogether for a set of different Trading cards.
Commercial Goods II
during the game:
Put a Card action tile back into the bag. Get 3 coins and move your barge 0-2 spaces.

or at game end: Get
3 Victory Points for this card.
15 Victory Points altogether for a set of Commercial Goods cards.
12 Victory Points altogether for a set of different Trading cards.
Commercial Goods III
during the game:
Put a Seal action tile back into the bag. Get 3 coins and move your barge 0-2 spaces.

or at game end: Get
3 Victory Points for this card.
15 Victory Points altogether for a set of Commercial Goods cards.
12 Victory Points altogether for a set of different Trading cards.
Commercial Goods IV
during the game:
Put a Clear-away action tile back into the bag. Get 3 coins and move your barge 0-2 spaces.

or at game end: Get
3 Victory Points for this card.
15 Victory Points altogether for a set of Commercial Goods cards.
12 Victory Points altogether for a set of different Trading cards.
Commercial Goods V
during the game:
Put a Money action tile back into the bag. Get 3 coins and move your barge 0-2 spaces.

or at game end: Get
3 Victory Points for this card.
15 Victory Points altogether for a set of Commercial Goods cards.
12 Victory Points altogether for a set of different Trading cards.
Fustian I
during the game:
Put a River action tile back into the bag. Get 2 coins and 1 Victory Point and move your barge 0-3 spaces.

or at game end: Get
3 Victory Points for this card.
15 Victory Points altogether for a set of Fustian cards.
12 Victory Points altogether for a set of different Trading cards.
Fustian II
during the game:
Put a Card action tile back into the bag. Get 2 coins and 1 Victory Point and move your barge 0-3 spaces.

or at game end: Get
3 Victory Points for this card.
15 Victory Points altogether for a set of Fustian cards.
12 Victory Points altogether for a set of different Trading cards.
Fustian III
during the game:
Put a Seal action tile back into the bag. Get 2 coins and 1 Victory Point and move your barge 0-3 spaces.

or at game end: Get
3 Victory Points for this card.
15 Victory Points altogether for a set of Fustian cards.
12 Victory Points altogether for a set of different Trading cards.
Fustian IV
during the game:
Put a Clear-away action tile back into the bag. Get 2 coins and 1 Victory Point and move your barge 0-3 spaces.

or at game end: Get
3 Victory Points for this card.
15 Victory Points altogether for a set of Fustian cards.
12 Victory Points altogether for a set of different Trading cards.
Fustian V
during the game:
Put a Money action tile back into the bag. Get 2 coins and 1 Victory Point and move your barge 0-3 spaces.

or at game end: Get
3 Victory Points for this card.
15 Victory Points altogether for a set of Fustian cards.
12 Victory Points altogether for a set of different Trading cards.

Chronicle Cards

1. Ulm Chronicle
during the game:
Without activating a Seal action, you may place one seal for one coin; this has to be done in one of the two city quarters between which your barge currently is.

or at game end:
You get 2 victory points for each city coat of arms you own.
City Wall
during the game:
If you carry out a Seal action, you may place a seal once in a city quarter of your choice – regardless of where your barge currently is on the Danube. (Pay 2 coins for the Seal action.)

or at game end:
Each city quarter in which you have the sole majority of seals gives you 2 victory points.
Construction Freeze
during the game:
You may take 2 coins from the general supply or draw 2 Action tiles from the bag.

or at game end:
You get 1 victory point for each of up to 6 coins that you have lying in front of you.
Fishermen’s Jousting
during the game:
You may advance your barge up to 4 spaces (other players’ barges are jumped over).

or at game end:
If your barge is furthest ahead on the Danube, you get 6 victory points. If your barge ends up in second position, you get 3 victory points.
Patrician
during the game:
Instead of drawing blindly, you may pick a tile of your choice from the bag.

or at game end:
You get 4 victory points.
Reformation
during the game:
You may take up to 2 pushed-out Action tiles of your choice from the Cathedral area.

or at game end:
You get 2 victory points for each Cathedral card that you have lying in front of you.
Siege
during the game:
You may convert up to 3 coins into victory points. For each coin that you put back in the general supply, you get 2 points.

or at game end:
You get 1 victory point for each card that you have lying in front of you (incl. this card).
Swabian League
during the game:
You may carry out one additional action. You can choose the action according to the Action tiles that you have collected in front of you; however, you don’t have to give up the respective tile.

or at game end:
You get 2 victory points for each color in which you have Action tiles lying in front of you.
Ulm Sparrow
during the game:
You may convert up to 5 sparrows into money. You get 1 coin per sparrow from the general supply.

or at game end:
You get 2 victory points (instead of 1) for each of up to 5 sparrows that you have lying in front of you.

IV. The Tower Tiles

Variant for Advanced Players

In contrast to the basic game, the variant is not played with the roof side, but with the symbol side facing up.

At the beginning of the game, the starting player mixes all 12 Tower tiles face down and puts two of them back into the box, unseen. After the starting player has counted the 10 Tower tiles and piled them up, he turns the entire stack over and places it on the Oath Charter in front of him. He immediately puts the topmost tile on the Cathedral.

The event depicted on the tile applies to the first round. Besides this, the tile for the next round is already visible on the stack on the Oath Charter; that means you already know what event will occur in the next round, so you can get prepared for this.

If you activate the River action in the Cathedral area in this round, you may move your own barge one additional space on the Danube. This applies once for each activated turquoise Action tile.
If you activate the Money action in the Cathedral area in this round, you may take one additional coin from the general supply. This applies once for each activated gray Action tile.
In this round, each player may buy the topmost card of the draw pile for only 1 coin if he activates a Card action.
In this round, each player may buy the topmost card of the draw pile for only 1 Action tile if he activates a Card action.
In this round, each player may carry out a Seal action without having to activate the applicable Action tile (it is an additional action).
In this round, the Seal action costs one coin less.
In this round, the Seal action costs one coin more.
In this round, each player has to give up 2 Action tiles. If somebody is not able or willing to do this by the end of his turn, he loses 5 victory points.
In this round, each player has to pay a tax of 2 coins. If somebody is not able or willing to do this by the end of his turn, he loses 5 victory points.
In this round, the active player may take the Action tile he has just pushed out.
In this round, each player may pick one Action tile of his choice from the bag.
In this round, players may carry out a Seal action also 3 spaces in front of or 3 spaces after the current position of their own barge.

Placing an action tile

The action tile which you can place is displayed in the action panel (scroll background). To place an action tile into the 3 x 3 grid of the cathedral area, you need to click on one of the arrows surrounding the grid. The action tiles in the grid will be pushed into the direction of the arrow, and the new action tile will be placed in the newly formed gap. If it is not possible to place the action tile, a button will appear next to the lower left corner of the grid which allows to remove all pushed out action tiles.

Action panel

The action panel (scroll background) shows actions which either still need to be performed, or are currently available. It is notably used to activate the 3 action tiles, which can be chosen in this round due to the placement of the action tile in the cathedral area. Moreover the effects of descendant tiles and tower tiles will be handled through the action panel.

Playing a card

When you can play a card, a button with the caption "Play card" appears in the action panel. In case a card action tile has just been activated, playing a card will use the action of this tile, otherwise it will use your ability to play one card each round. You can always play a card for its end game bonus. To play a card for its one-time bonus and then put it on the discard pile, you may need to pay one action tile. If you don't have that required action tile, the option to use the one-time bonus will not show up in the UI. Also, there are two cards where the one-time bonus is tied to a certain action. For the "Patrician", you will be asked at the beginning of your turn whether you want to use him. For the "City wall", you will be asked during a seal action whether you want to use it.

Pass

If you do not want to activate all action tiles (e.g. you cannot pay for a card, but also do not want to play a card), you can click the "Pass" button in the lower right corner of the window.

Descendant tiles

The descendant tiles which have already been chosen by a player have a border in the color of the corresponding player. If you can choose a descendant tile, it has a smaller blue border.

Seal actions

If a player has his family crest in a city quarter in which a seal action is performed, that player receives 2 points. An exception to this is the Shipyard quarter, in which the player with the family crest receives only 1 point. This is also shown on the city coat of arms, but the city coat of arms collected by each player are not shown in this implementation.

Tower tiles

The tower tile for the current round is displayed in the top left of the cathedral area next to the 3 x 3 grid. The tower tile for the next round is displayed in the bottom right of the cathedral area.

Animations

Animations can be turned on and off (to do that, click on the heart icon in the side panel). You can also configure the animation speed there.

Last round

In the last (10th) round the round marker has a red background. You should take care in the last round, because it might not be worthwhile to buy a card if you do not have enough actions to play all your handcards and the newly bought card. Only played cards are worth victory points!

Help and info popups

There are many game elements with rule excerpt popups. To open such a popup, click on the symbol next to the game element. The info popups for game elements can be opened with a click on the symbol. In some popups, there are links to the rules. To use the link, click on the symbol. This opens the rule tab in the side panel, and it automatically scrolls to the corresponding position in the rules. Since the rules sometimes need to be loaded first, the scrolling might not immediately hit the correct position, but with the second click it should scroll to the correct position.

Finish turn

There are some actions (e.g. play a card, or the action of the merchant) which you can still use if you have done all your other actions. In that case, the info text shows "Finish your turn", and you can decide if you want to immediately finish your turn, or use one of those optional actions first.

Player info

The player infos are shown in turn order (with the "own" player info on top). Left of the name of the starting player the string "(S)" is displayed.

In the upper right you can see how many points a player has gathered. In brackets you see the number of points under the assumption that the game would finish in that moment. If you click on the info symbol, you get a popup with an overview how the preliminary end score is calculated.

In the second row of the player info the current number of sparrows and coins are displayed, followed by the number of remaining seals and the number of remaining family crests. Rightmost in the line is the number of cards the player has played in front of him, and the number of hand cards. If you click on the info symbol, you see those cards in a popup.

In the third row of the player info you can see how many action tiles of each kind a player owns.

Bag content

Since the number of action tiles is known, and all action tiles, which are not in the bag, are openly displayed, the implementation shows you how many action tiles of each kind there are in the bag. This is displayed below the player infos. In addition to that there are help popups for each kind of action tile which explain what each action tile does when it is activated.
 
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