Overview

Alhambra is a tile-buying and city-building game where players construct their own Alhambra palace complex. Players use money cards in four currencies to purchase building tiles from a market, placing them to form their palace while building walls for defensive points. Three scoring rounds award points for having the most buildings of each type and the longest contiguous wall. The player with the most points wins.

Components

• 1 Game board with counting row, building market (4 spaces), and money card spaces
• 6 Starting tiles (Lion Fountain)
• 6 Figures for marking victory points
• 54 Building tiles in 6 types: Pavilion, Seraglio, Arcades, Chambers, Garden, Tower
• 108 Money cards in 4 currencies (blue, green, orange, yellow) with values 1-9
• 2 Scoring round cards
• Point tables
• 1 Bag
• Reserve board spaces for each player

Setup

1. Each player takes 1 Lion Fountain starting tile and 1 figure in their color. Place figure on the counting row.
2. Place the game board centrally.
3. Put all 54 building tiles in the bag. Draw 4 randomly and place them on the 4 numbered building market squares (starting with square 1).
4. Take the 2 scoring cards from the money card pack and set aside.
5. Deal starting money to each player: deal cards one at a time face up until a player’s total is 20 or more. Continue for all players. (No player receives more than 28 or less than 20.)
6. Place 4 money cards face up beside the building market.
7. Divide remaining money cards into 5 roughly equal piles. Place the 1st Scoring Round card into the 2nd pile and the 2nd Scoring Round card into the 4th pile. Stack piles (5th on bottom, 1st on top) as the draw pile.

Turn Structure

On your turn, you must do exactly one of three things:

1. Take money from the face-up cards
2. Buy and position a building tile
3. Redesign your Alhambra (rearrange tiles)

After your turn, refill any empty building market spaces and money card spaces from their respective supplies.

Exact payment bonus: If you pay the exact price for a building tile, you immediately take another turn (choose any of the 3 options again). This can chain – up to 5 actions per turn (4 exact payments + 1 final action).

Actions

Take Money

Take any 1 money card from the face-up display, OR take multiple money cards whose total value is 5 or less (currency does not matter).

Buy and Position a Building Tile

• Choose a tile from the building market.
• Pay at least the price shown on the tile using cards of the matching currency (color next to the tile’s market space). No change is given.
• If you pay exactly, you get another turn.
• Place the purchased tile in your Alhambra or on your reserve board.

Building Rules:

• All tiles must face the same orientation (roofs pointing up).
• Adjoining sides must match: both must have a wall OR both must not have a wall.
• Every tile must be reachable “on foot” from the starting tile without crossing a wall and without leaving the tiles.
• Each new tile must be joined by at least one full side (not just a corner).
• You must not create enclosed empty spaces (holes) surrounded on all sides.

Redesign Your Alhambra

You may do one of:

• Move a tile from your reserve board to your Alhambra
• Remove a tile from your Alhambra to your reserve board
• Exchange a tile in your Alhambra with one from your reserve (new tile must go in the exact same position)

Building rules still apply. The starting tile cannot be removed or exchanged.

Scoring / Victory Conditions

Three Scoring Rounds

Scoring occurs when a Scoring Round card is drawn from the money pile.

1st Scoring Round: Points awarded only for 1st place in each building type. 2nd Scoring Round: Points for 1st and 2nd place. 3rd Scoring (end of game): Points for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place.

Building	Count	1st Round (1st)	2nd Round (1st/2nd)	3rd Round (1st/2nd/3rd)
Pavilion	7	1	8/1	16/8/1
Seraglio	7	2	9/2	17/9/2
Arcades	9	3	10/3	18/10/3
Chambers	9	4	11/4	19/11/4
Garden	11	5	12/5	20/12/5
Tower	11	6	13/6	21/13/6

Ties: If players tie, add the points for all tied positions, divide by the number of tied players, round down. Each tied player gets that amount.

Wall Scoring

In every scoring round, each player scores points for their longest contiguous external wall. Count wall segments on the outer edge of your Alhambra. Only the longest continuous section of wall counts.

Game End

The game ends when there are not enough tiles to refill the building market. Perform the 3rd scoring round. The player with the most points wins.

Special Rules & Edge Cases

• You must have at least 1 building tile of a type to score points for that category.
• The price of a building tile is irrelevant for scoring – only the count matters.
• Tiles on your reserve board do NOT count for scoring.
• The Lion Fountain starting tile has no walls and is treated like building tiles for placement purposes.
• When the money draw pile runs out, shuffle the discard pile to form a new pile.
• Money in hand is kept secret.

2-Player Rules

A third “virtual” player named Dirk participates. When it is Dirk’s turn, draw a tile from the bag matching the next currency in order and place it in Dirk’s area. Dirk does not collect money. During scoring, count Dirk’s building tiles just like a regular player.

Player Reference

Turn Options: Take money (1 card any value OR multiple totaling ≤ 5)

Buy a tile (pay in matching currency, no change)

Redesign (swap between Alhambra and reserve)

Exact Payment: Grants another immediate turn.

Wall Scoring: Count longest contiguous external wall segment.

Placement Rules Checklist:

• Same orientation as starting tile
• Matching sides (wall-to-wall or open-to-open)
• Reachable on foot from starting tile
• Connected by at least one full side
• No enclosed empty spaces