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In the Florence of the 12th-14th centuries, the city's powerful and influential families don't just compete with each other in trade and politics. They also try to outdo one another by building tall, mostly square-based tower homes as status symbols.
In Firenze, you are master builders working on the families' construction commissions for such towers. Each player competes to earn the most prestige points by completing the commissions from families and the church and by placing their seals on the work they have done. When someone plays their final seal, the other builders get one more turn before the final scoring.
Colored bricks are the currency of the game, and cards can both help and hinder your progress. On a turn, a player must choose a card from the display, taking the bricks from it and paying a brick to every card skipped. There is an opportunity to exchange three bricks for one on display before the player works in their construction site. Players can have multiple towers under construction at once. However, for every brick they wish to add on a turn, there is an extra cost, and if any towers are not built upon during a turn, then they are torn down as abandoned construction. Players must pay attention to other projects so that commissions they were counting on are not snatched away before they can claim them.
This game won the second prize at the "Hippodice e.V. Authorenwettbewerb" (game designer contest) in 2008 under the name "Die Architekten von Florenz".
- The Firefly board game had a promo ship that came in Game Trade Magazine, and about a year later, it was made available to buy.
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- I hate exclusives the term means to exclude essentially I love promos though paid for or not because the main part of promos is that they're Promotional and you receive them For Your Love of the Game and you can get one if you fail at getting it the first time it may cost extra money or require going to a convention but they are findable assuming that they're not exclusive promos I just like this comment because I think well first of all there is some gray area isn't there because some promos are so hard to get they may as well be exclusive
- I don't have the extras the upgraded components all the extra figures that separate campaign and I'm going to try to get them if I can but if I don't then I'm G try to recognize the existence of some other product out there somewhere in the world and somebody else having it should not affect my enjoyment of the product that I have in front of me if I like this game not having some other element of it shouldn't change that I what I'm saying is I think a lot of it's psychological and I don't want psychological tricks or compulsions to overwhelm my enjoyment of anything
- my completionist side always seeks out the promos to go with a base game I will say that I have yet to have a gaming experience where I said wow that promo really makes this game shine most of the time we're not thinking of who played what card promo component during a certain turn because it doesn't add that much to the overall experience it's just those times that I'm admiring my collection when the Sinister completionist side comes out
- I don't want psychological tricks or compulsions to overwhelm my enjoyment of anything
References (from this video)
- clever use of the neglect mechanic as a push-pull dynamic
- smooth and streamlined feel for a euro game
- lots of strategic depth with temporary nastiness kept in check
- can become harsh with targeted disruption
- requires careful pacing and player order management
- resource scarcity and power negotiation
- abstract card-tower building on a sliding-value row
- purely mechanical/euro
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Cube tower — players construct towers; height and color scarcity drive scoring
- row/column card selection with brick cost — choose cards along a row, paying bricks to reach farther cards
- sliding scale card draw / power — cards have escalating costs or benefits; neglecting a card increases its incentive value
- tower building using colored bricks — players construct towers; height and color scarcity drive scoring
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- this is a really interesting game
- one of the best examples of that mechanism being used correctly
- infinite replayability
- timeless, evergreen status
- flows wonderfully and rewards careful planning
References (from this video)
- novel theme with tense tower-building decisions
- frequent interactions at the table
- perceived as mean or punishing due to events
- not a long-term keeper for the group
- drafting rooftop tiles to construct towers
- stylized academic/civic tower-building
- satirical, light-hearted builder-game feel
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- event_cards — events can force destruction or alteration of towers mid-game
- tile_drafting — draft colored rooftop tiles to place on your towers
- tower_building — construct towers; upkeep and eventual scoring drive progress
- upkeep_scoring — round-by-round scoring with increasing requirements; towers must be maintained to score
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- it's basically it's an auction tiling game
- it's a classic Euro but with fresh mechanics that you don't really see in newer games
- the best scoring that you can get is one building amongst all these things is is four points
- I really liked it I think the very first uh work that I scored I took it all as money and I thought like this is great I'm gonna have so much money for the rest of the game but I think that hurt me in the end
- it's mean that it was comical
- it's a very silly game
- it's a strong mix of chaos and strategy
- it's better with higher player counts
- it's one of those games where there's very limited communication; it's fully cooperative