CALIMALA



OBJECTIVE OF CALIMALA: The objective of Calimala is to score more points than any other player. 

NUMBER OF PLAYERS: 3 to 5 Players 

MATERIALS: 1 Game Board, 8 Action Tiles, 55 Playing Cards, 15 Scoring Tiles, 5 Player Mats, 65 Wooden Discs, 200 Wooden Cubes, 15 Ships, 15 Houses, 10 Workshop Tiles, 1 Active Player Token, 10 White Discs, 5 Victory Point Tiles, and 2 Rulebooks 

TYPE OF GAMEArea Control Board Game 

AUDIENCE: Ages 10 and Up 


OVERVIEW OF CALIMALA 

During Calimala, players become merchants of cloth throughout medieval Florence. They will collect employees, assigning them to varying places throughout the city, ensuring that they stay there for as long as necessary. While their employees are working, the merchants will produce and deliver cloth throughout the city, aiding in the decoration and construction of many buildings in the city. The winner will have accumulated more points than all the others, can it be you? 

SETUP 

To begin setup, the youngest player is given the active player token, and it is placed in front of them. A random player will shuffle the action tiles and place them face up on the assigned space on the grid. Another player will shuffle the scoring tiles, placing them face up on the spaces of city council randomly, left to right.  

Each player will then gather a player mat, 40 cubes, 2 workshop tiles, 3 trade houses, and 3 ships in the color of their choosing. If there are three players, they will also collect 12 discs in the matching color and 3 white discs. Four players will collect 10 colored discs and 2 white discs. Finally, if there are five players, they will collect 8 colored discs and 2 white discs. Each player will then add one more disc on the zero space of the scoring track.  

The scoring cards are then shuffled and dealt. For three players there are three cards dealt, for four players there are two cards dealt, and for five players there are two cards dealt. If there are three players, one other card is placed next to the board. Finally, if there are four players, then one card is placed beside the board and the other is put into the card box. Each card will then choose a scoring card to keep.  

The players will place a single copy of wood, build, weave, marble, and brick on the table face up. The player sitting to the right of the first player will take one of those cards in their hand in clockwise order going around the group. Each player will start with one action card. The rest of the action card are shuffled and placed beside the game board. The game is ready to begin. 

GAMEPLAY 

This game is played in turns that rotate clockwise around the group. Players will choose and activate varying action spaces. During their turn, the player will place a disc on the city grid. They may then choose to conduct the adjacent actions that are connected to their disc. There are nine potential actions, with descriptions being found on the cards or on the grid.  

When a player chooses to activate an action, they must conduct at least one of the available actions. Players are allowed to stack discs, but then they must carry out both actions. If a player is unable to play an action, they must draw an action card and add it to their hand. Players may choose to skip actions as well.  

Scoring phases can interrupt player turns. If there is a fourth disc on a stack, then scoring begins. gameplay continues in this manner until all players place their discs or all scoring tiles have been triggered.  

Scoring 

There are fifteen scoring rounds in the game. If there is ever a fourth disc at the bottom of the action stack, the scoring phase begins once all three discs on top have been activated. The fourth disc is not activated, but rather relocated to a scoring tile, considered a seat on the council.  

Players will place their discs on scoring tiles beginning in the highest row and going from left to right. Colored discs are the only ones that can be placed on a scoring tile, so white discs may be traded for colored discs on the action spaces. The new active player will be the next player in a clockwise order.  

END OF GAME 

The game may come to an end if all of the players have their action discs on the grid or if the players have triggered all of the scoring tiles. Players will then tally their points by revealing their scoring cards and adding additional points. All of the scoring cards represent a city and a building.  

The players will tally their points from the cubes in the corresponding area of their score card. The player who has the most cubes will earn five points, second earns three, and third earns one. After all of the cards are resolved, the winner is determined. The player with the largest number of points will win the game! 

Ellie Phillips
Latest posts by Ellie Phillips (see all)