Overview

Canal Grande is a two-player card game based on San Marco, designed by Alan R. Moon and Aaron Weissblum and published by Adlung-Spiele. Players compete for influence in the districts of Venice using a “divide and choose” mechanism: one player splits a set of cards into two piles, and the other player chooses who gets which pile. Cards represent influence in districts, special actions, or negative points. The game ends when a player wins scoring in the same district 4 times or wins in all 6 districts.

Components

• Deck of cards showing:
  • District cards (6 different districts of Venice)
  • Action cards
  • Negative point cards
• Score tracking tokens or method

Setup

1. Shuffle the deck of cards.
2. Determine which player will be the first “divider.”
3. Each player starts with no cards in hand and no district influence.

Turn Structure

Each round follows the “I split, you choose” pattern:

1. Draw Cards: A set number of cards is drawn from the deck.
2. Divide: The dividing player examines the drawn cards and splits them into exactly two piles. The piles do not need to be equal in size.
3. Choose: The choosing player selects one pile to keep. The divider takes the other pile.
4. Play Cards: Both players play the cards they received (gaining influence in districts, using action cards, or suffering negative points).
5. Roles Swap: The divider and chooser roles alternate each round.

Actions

District Influence Cards:

• Cards showing a district are played to your personal area and represent your influence in that district.
• Unlike San Marco (where cubes stay on the board), district cards in Canal Grande are held and discarded after scoring, creating a memory element.

Action Cards:

• Perform special actions such as removing opponent’s influence, moving influence between districts, or other effects.

Negative Point Cards:

• Some cards carry negative points. When received, they penalize the player.

Scoring a District:

• A district is scored when certain conditions trigger it (typically through card play).
• The player with more influence cards in that district wins the scoring.
• Winning is tracked; cards played for scoring are discarded.

Scoring / Victory Conditions

The game can end in two ways:

• District Dominance: A player wins scoring in the same district 4 times. That player wins the game.
• Breadth of Control: A player wins scoring in all 6 different districts at least once. That player wins the game.
• If the deck runs out, the player who has won the most district scorings wins.

Special Rules & Edge Cases

• Divide and Choose Tension: The dividing player faces a dilemma: they must split the cards such that both piles are roughly equal in value, or the choosing player will take the clearly better pile.
• Memory Element: Since influence cards are discarded after scoring (unlike San Marco where cubes remain), players must remember what influence they and their opponent have accumulated.
• No Board: Unlike San Marco, there is no game board. District influence is tracked through cards held by each player, making this a compact, portable game.
• No Adjacency: There is no concept of bridges or adjacency between districts (unlike San Marco).
• Negative Card Distribution: Including negative cards in a pile creates additional tension during the split — putting too many negatives in one pile makes the choice obvious.
• Two-Player Focus: Designed exclusively for 2 players, unlike San Marco which plays 3-4.

Player Reference

Card Type	Effect
District card	Adds influence in that district
Action card	Special effects (remove, move influence, etc.)
Negative point card	Penalizes the receiving player

Core mechanic: “I split, you choose” — divider makes 2 piles, chooser picks one Win conditions:

• Win 4 scorings in the same district, OR
• Win at least 1 scoring in all 6 districts