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Opera
Author: Hans van Tol
Publisher: The Game Master / Huch & Friends
Year: 2009


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We are aristocrats trying to introduce Opera to the masses. We take our task very seriously: we build opera houses in various cities, and are also responsible for the programme. The most popular pieces are performed in the most beautiful halls, while the less popular operas can be attended in the smaller halls. Which pieces are popular is subject to change, and can also be influenced by the players for example by spreading positive or negative reviews.

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The game plays in three episodes, each consisting of three rounds, and followed by a scoring phase. At the beginning of each round, all players determine the budget they would like to spend this round. They simultaneously reveal the ducats they want to add to their budget, and the markers on the budget list are adjusted accordingly. The player with the highest budget plays first. He chooses one of the six characters, and adjusts his budget marker to pay the required fee. Subsequently he carries out the action associated with this character. In some cases, the other players are also allowed to perform this action, but only if they are willing to pay a fee from their budget list.

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The impresario allows the active player to buy two music pieces from the display; the more popular the piece, the higher the price, which has to be paid in cash. The other players may also buy music pieces. Only after purchasing new opera's the players are allowed to change their programme. Pieces may be moved to different halls, or moved to and from the supply behind the players' screens.
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The architetto can be used to build one or two new opera halls, which brings immediate victory points. The players can choose between erecting a completely new opera hall in a city where they haven't built before, or adding a hall to one of their existing opera houses. The signora can be used to sell one music piece to the king, in exchange for money or victory points. The player that chooses the maestro may move the playing figure to a city of his choice; during the income phase, all operas in this city get double income!
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The critico also has a playing figure that can be moved to one of the cities; the active player may then move one of the composers performing in this city up or down the popularity-ladder.

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The esperto triggers an extra scoring phase. The active player moves the figure to a city of his choice, and all the opera houses of all players in that city score points. But, whoever chooses to do so must remove the most popular music piece from his opera house!
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When the active player, and if applicable also all other players, have performed the action, the player on top of the budget list takes his turn. This can very well be the same player that just completed his turn! When all characters have been used, or all players have indicated that they are no longer able or willing to play, the round is over. The composer with the highest presence in the opera houses takes one step up the popularity ladder. This is followed by the income phase. Everybody receives ducats for each opera house: the more full halls, the more money. After each third round a scoring takes place, where the popularity of the composers is taken into account. Every opera has one main hall, and only the opera in this hall scores points, equal to the position of the composer on the popularity ladder. The pieces in the other halls do not score points, but every empty hall results in one minus point!
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Opera is a beautiful game with an original theme that offers a multitude of strategic options. Is it better to build many small opera houses, of rather a couple of big ones? An opera house with three pieces results in more income than three opera houses with one music piece each, but since each opera house has only one main hall, many small opera houses yield more victory points than a few big ones. Also the separation of money into cash and a budget list results in interesting dilemmas: if you have a high budget, you have first choice, but do you still have enough money to buy the music pieces and opera halls of your choice?

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At the beginning of the game, when the players still have a limited number of music pieces, the income is low and the amount of money available is limited, The maestro, who doubles the income in the city where he resides, is a popular role. Players with a lot of money can spend a lot of money on their budget, and on the most popular, expensive music pieces. But money is not everything: only for the music pieces in the main hall the popularity is important for the scoring phase, and the cheaper less popular pieces suffice to fill the other halls of the opera houses.


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A minus point of the game could be that the development of the players is slightly off balance; in the beginning money is scarce and only few halls and music pieces are affordable, but toward the end everybody has so many opera houses and music pieces that the overview is lost. This is aggravated by the thin, small print of the names of the cities on the opera halls, which is impossible to decipher for a player on the other side of the table. In this stage, the number of roles that are still interesting for the players is limited since they already have way too much of everything, and they are just waiting for the game to end.
© 2010 Barbara van Vugt
Opera, Hans van Tol, The Game Master / Huch & Friends, 2009 - 2 to 4 players, 12 years and up, 90-120 minutes


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