Thurn and Taxis

Overview

Thurn and Taxis is a route-building board game where 2-4 players construct postal networks across southern Germany and neighboring regions. Players draw city cards, build routes by chaining adjacent cities, close completed routes to place post offices, and acquire carriage upgrades. The game ends when a player places their last house or acquires the highest-value carriage. The player with the most victory points wins.

Components

• 1 Game board (map of southern Germany with cities and provinces)
• 80 Wooden houses (20 per player in 4 colors)
• 4 Principal firm cards
• 20 Carriage cards (values 3-7)
• 66 City cards
• 30 Bonus tiles (province and length bonuses)
• 4 Summary cards
• Rulebook

Setup

1. Place the board centrally.
2. Arrange bonus tiles in ascending order on designated spaces.
3. Shuffle city cards; deal 6 face-up with the remainder as a draw pile.
4. Sort carriage cards by number (3-7) in ascending stacks.
5. Each player receives 20 houses, a summary card, and a principal firm card.
6. Determine starting player.

Turn Structure

Each turn consists of three mandatory phases:

Phase 1: Draw a City Card

• Take one face-up city card from the display, OR
• Draw the top card from the supply deck.
• Replace any taken face-up card immediately.
• Postmaster ability: Draw 2 cards instead of 1 (keep both).
• Administrator ability: Discard all 6 face-up cards and replace from the supply before drawing.

Phase 2: Play a City Card

• Start a new route by playing a city card, OR
• Extend an existing route by adding a card to either end.
• The new city must be directly adjacent to a city at one end of the current route (connected by a road on the board).
• Routes cannot branch; cities may only be added to the ends.
• You must close your current route before starting a new one.

Phase 3: Close Route (Optional)

If your route has at least 3 cities, you may close it and perform:

A. Place Houses: Choose one option:

• Place 1 house in 1 city per province represented in the route, OR
• Place houses in ALL cities within 1 single province of the route. A player may only have 1 house per city (regardless of how many routes pass through it).

B. Collect Bonus Tiles:

• Length bonuses for routes of 5, 6, or 7+ cities.
• Province bonuses for completing all cities in a province or province pair.
• Game-end bonus for the first player to acquire the value-7 carriage or place their last house.

C. Acquire Carriage: If the route length meets or exceeds the next available carriage value, take that carriage card. Carriages are taken in ascending order (3, 4, 5, 6, 7).

• Cartwright ability: Acquire a carriage requiring 1-2 fewer cities than listed.

D. Discard Route Cards: Place used route cards on the discard pile. Reduce hand to maximum 3 cards.

Actions

• Draw Card: Take a city card from display or deck.
• Build Route: Play city cards to extend your route chain.
• Close Route: Score houses and bonuses from completed routes (minimum 3 cities).
• Use Officials: Activate Postmaster (draw 2), Administrator (refresh display), or Cartwright (carriage discount) abilities. Each official can be used once, then passed to the next eligible player.

Scoring / Victory Conditions

The game ends immediately when:

• A player acquires the value-7 carriage, OR
• A player places their final house.

The current round finishes, then score:

• Carriage card value (3-7 points)
• Bonus tiles (various point values)
• 1 point per house remaining (unplaced houses score nothing; placed houses score based on bonuses)

The player with the most victory points wins.

Special Rules & Edge Cases

• Route Adjacency: Cities must be connected by a road on the board map. Route cards cannot be rearranged or inserted mid-route.
• One House Per City: A player can never have more than 1 house in any city, regardless of how many routes pass through it.
• Mandatory Closure: You cannot start a new route while an old route is open. If you cannot extend and cannot close (fewer than 3 cities), you must discard your entire route and start fresh next turn.
• Hand Limit: After closing a route, reduce hand to 3 cards maximum.
• Card Exhaustion: When the draw pile runs out, shuffle the discard pile to form a new deck.
• Bonus Tile Scarcity: Bonus tiles are first-come, first-served. Once claimed, they cannot be taken by other players.
• Official Transfer: Each of the 3 officials starts with no player. When a player qualifies to use an official, they claim it until another player qualifies.

Player Reference

Phase	Action
1. Draw	Take 1 city card (or 2 with Postmaster)
2. Play	Add card to route (must be adjacent)
3. Close	Optional: place houses, collect bonuses, acquire carriage

Route Minimum: 3 cities to close

Officials: Postmaster (draw 2), Administrator (refresh display), Cartwright (carriage discount)

Game End: Value-7 carriage acquired OR last house placed