Granada, 1278. At the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains, the best master builders of Europe and Arabia demonstrated their skill. In the board game Alhambra, players construct towers, map gardens, erect pavilions & arcades and build seraglios & chambers.
Object of the Game
Goal: Acquire buildings to place within your Alhambra complex
Gameplay components
Money
Four different currencies of Alhambra money
Buildings
Six types totalling 54 different Alhambra buildings
| 1. Pavilions - a highly decorated subdivision (blue) | 4. Chambers - large rooms used for public events (white) |
| 2. Seraglios - women's apartments (red) | 5. Gardens - ornamental grounds for public enjoyment (green) |
| 3. Arcades - covered arched passageways (brown) | 6. Towers - tall, narrow buildings (violet) |
Market
One Alhambra building is available for each currency type
Each turn, a player chooses one of the following actions:
1. Take money
2. Buy a building and position the tile
3. Redesign your own Alhambra
Players accumulate points during scoring rounds by:
1. having the most building types in each of the six categories
2. having the longest continuous wall surrounding their Alhambra
Play ends when the market can no longer be replenished with buildings.
Player with the highest score wins.
Builders and Foundations
Everyone who hears My words and acts on them...
He is like a man, building a house,
who dug deep and laid a foundation on the rock;
and when a flood occurred, the torrent burst against that house
and could not shake it, because it had been well-built.
- Luke 6: 47 - 48
Game Features
Basic information for this game is provided here to be used as a guide and may differ from the game box recommendations. These ratings are based on averages from thousands of players in the gaming community.
The Complexity rating is comprised of a combination of attributes related to game-play difficulty and game rule understanding. The scale ranges from 1 to 5, with 1 = easy and 5 = difficult.
Players
2 - 6; Best = 3
Time
45 - 60 minutes
Age
8+
Complexity
2.11
Game Play
Card drafting, Set collections, Tile placement
Category
A medieval, structure building game for the whole family!
Bible
2 Samuel 7: 13 God will build His kingdom, in His time, according to His perfect will.
Education
Strategic thinking, mathematics, timing & efficiency
Alhambra Overview
An 8:15 review video
How to Play
A 3:32 Alhambra instructional video
Strategy
Here are some basic Alhambra strategies:
- Tile efficiency
- Money efficiency
- Strategize based on scoring rounds
Read about general Alhambra strategies here and another article focused on Alhambra tile and money efficiency here.
Solitaire Play
Alhambra has a SoloPlay variant developed with rules and guidelines found here*.
The Alhambra Big Box has a separate SoloPlay variant with rules and guidelines to incorporate the many expansions found here*.
These rules and game-play are designed to challenge experienced Alhambra players with the goal of beating the game design, not necessarily scoring the highest number of points. As a by-product of using the SoloPlay rules, your multi-player game should improve as you hone your strategic thinking skills. Using this SoloPlay option, try different strategies and explore alternate play preferences!
*Downloading files requires registration for your own FREE account on Board Game Geek. To view content, no registration is required.
Expansions & Extras
Alhambra has a number of available expansions*:
- Twenty-one (21) different expansions are available
- The Alhambra Big Box contains the base game + four expansions
*Downloading files requires registration for your own FREE account on Board Game Geek. To view content, no registration is required.
