Overview

Carpe Diem is a tile-drafting and city-building game set in ancient Rome. Players are wealthy patricians improving their city districts by selecting building tiles from a central display and placing them into a personal building board. The game runs four phases of seven rounds each, with scoring after each phase. Completed buildings and landscapes provide immediate bonuses, and scoring cards determine how points are earned. The player with the most victory points wins.

Components

• 1 game board
• 84 light green building tiles + 39 dark green building tiles
• 16 frame parts (4 per player, forming a square frame)
• 4 building boards (1 per player)
• 4 overview boards
• 60 scoring cards (types A, B, C, D)
• 24 fountain cards
• 66 victory point cards (values 1, 3, 5, 10, 25)
• 4 meeples (patricians) + 20 discs (5 per color)
• 20 wares (5 each: grapes, herbs, chicken, fish)
• 24 gold coins, 18 bread tokens
• 36 banderoles, 1 starting player token

Setup

1. Place game board centrally. Each player assembles a frame from 4 random parts, places a random building board inside (shovel pointing toward them), and covers 9 banderole spaces.
2. Prepare scoring cards by player count and place face-up on card spaces.
3. Each player places their meeple on an unoccupied semicircular space on the game board.
4. Place 4 light green tiles on each of the 7 large blueprint spaces (28 tiles total). Place 1 dark green tile on each of the 11 seal spaces.
5. Shuffle fountain cards into a face-down pile.
6. Starting player gets 8 VP; subsequent players get 9, 10, 11 VP (special: in 3-player, third player gets 13).

Turn Structure

The game has 4 phases of 7 rounds each. After each phase, there is a scoring period.

Each Round:

1. Move your meeple to one of the two opposite semicircular spaces (connected by black lines). You must move; you cannot stay.
2. Pick one building tile from the adjacent blueprint space.
3. Immediately place the tile in your district following building rules.

Building Rules:

• First tile goes on the shovel space; subsequent tiles must be placed adjacent to existing tiles.
• All adjacent sides must match (pond to pond, grass to grass, villa to villa, dwelling to dwelling). Frame edges count as grass.
• When placing on a banderole space, remove the banderole and advance 1 space on the banderole bar.

Actions

Building Completions and Rewards:

• Villas: Any size; completed when no tiles have openings. No immediate reward. Score VP at end of game.
• Landscapes (4 types): 2-4 tiles of the same type. Immediate reward = (tiles - 1) matching wares.
• Dwellings (4 roof colors):
  • Merchant (red): Return all wares to supply; receive that many coins + 1 coin.
  • Baker (brown): Receive 2 bread tokens. Bread uses: spend 1 to move meeple anywhere; spend 3 to auto-fulfill one scoring card.
  • Administrator (blue): Advance 2 spaces on banderole bar.
  • Craftsman (green): Take any dark green tile from bottom margin and place it immediately.
• Markets: Place for 1 coin. Bakeries: Place for 1 bread. Fountains: Place to draw 2 fountain cards, keep 1.

Scoring / Victory Conditions

After each phase, players score in order of banderole bar progress (highest first). Each player places a disc on an empty circle space, triggering both adjacent scoring cards.

Scoring card types:

• Green cards: You must own what is shown (e.g., completed dwellings, chimneys, villas) to receive the reward.
• Red cards: You must pay the wares shown (coins can substitute for any ware) to receive the reward.
• Multiples: If you have multiple sets of what a card requires, you receive the reward multiple times.
• Failing a card: If you cannot meet a card’s requirements, you lose 4 VP (potentially -8 per scoring).

Type details: A cards = pay same wares; B cards = pay different wares; C cards = villa-related; D cards = landscape/dwelling/market related.

Bread shortcut: Pay 3 bread to fulfill any scoring card’s requirements without actually meeting them.

End of game (after 4th scoring): Final scoring for completed villas, fountain cards, and remaining resources.

Most VP wins. Tiebreaker: highest position on banderole bar.

Special Rules & Edge Cases

• If your meeple moves to a space with no adjacent tiles, keep moving until reaching a space with at least one tile.
• In 2-player games, the last 2 tiles on a blueprint space are removed. In 3-player games, the last tile is removed.
• Discs from previous scoring periods block those circle spaces permanently.
• Coins are wildcards that can replace any ware during scoring.
• Each player decides the order to fulfill their two scoring cards (useful for gaining resources from the first to use on the second).

Player Reference

Phase	Rounds	After
1	7 rounds	Scoring period 1
2	7 rounds	Scoring period 2
3	7 rounds	Scoring period 3
4	7 rounds	Scoring period 4 + final scoring

Dwelling	Reward
Merchant	Wares -> coins + 1
Baker	2 bread
Administrator	+2 banderole bar
Craftsman	Free dark green tile

Scoring failure penalty: -4 VP per unfulfilled card