In The Princes of Florence, players attract artists and scholars to their palace while trying to become the most prestigious family in Florence.
Over seven rounds, players attempt to score points in various ways, with most points being earned by playing profession cards to generate "work points", which can be exchanged for money or victory points. The game includes a variety of professions, such astronomers, organists, and architects; each profession is attracted to a particular combination of building, landscape feature, and social freedom, and players acquire these items via auctions. The more that a player can match these preferences, the more work points they earn — but the minimum requirement of work points increases each round, and you must meet that threshold in order to convert the work points.
- Clear step-by-step setup and rules explanation
- Comprehensive coverage of auction, tile placement, and scoring mechanics
- Rule-heavy with many details may be overwhelming for new players
- art patronage and estate building for prestige
- Florence, Italy
- instructional tutorial with demonstration
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Acquire bonus/profession cards — Pay 300 Florin to draw five cards, choose one; can take a profession as one of two actions.
- Auction / Bidding — Up to seven stacks are auctioned in each round; players bid 200 Florin starting price; increases of 100 Florin; winner pays final amount and takes item.
- auction bidding — Up to seven stacks are auctioned in each round; players bid 200 Florin starting price; increases of 100 Florin; winner pays final amount and takes item.
- Building action — Buildings cost Florins; builders can reduce costs and unlock adjacency advantages.
- Completing a work — Choose a profession, compute work value based on landscapes, buildings, gestures, recruiting cards, etc.; earn money and possibly prestige; place pawn on track.
- end-of-round scoring — After all players complete works, compare pawns; highest earn 3 Prestige; ties split; moves proceed to next round.
- Freedom tiles — Pay 300 Florin to gain a freedom tile; limit one of each type; provides actions/benefits.
- prestige track — Prestige points move on a track; moving earns Florin; 50 and 100 point disks track progress.
- Recruiting cards — Use recruiting cards to gain professions or reuse cards to complete works later; used as part of the work action.
- tile placement — Landscape, building, and other tiles are placed in the principality according to placement rules; duplicates yield prestige points.
- Track advancement — Prestige points move on a track; moving earns Florin; 50 and 100 point disks track progress.
- two-player variant — Rules differ: start wealth and available freedoms; auction starting bid and landscape group rule changes.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- "The game is played over seven rounds and each round is broken into two phases starting with the auction phase"
- "you can bid more money than you currently have but only if you can pay the difference in Prestige points"
References (from this video)
- interactive, puzzly feel
- engaging auction and card/tiles synergy
- strong thematic integration with estate-building
- economic development, family strategy, patronage
- Renaissance Florence, aristocratic estate building
- competitive, negotiation-driven engine-building
- Princes of Florence
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Auction — players bid money to acquire builders and profession cards
- Auction / Bidding — players bid money to acquire builders and profession cards
- tile placement — spend money to buy tiles and place them into your estate
- worker placement — specialists are assigned to tasks to generate income
- worker placement / specialists — specialists are assigned to tasks to generate income
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- I'm always particularly drawn to Old School Euros this particular one has had
- it's got a highly interactive puzzly feel
References (from this video)
- urgent auctions and breadth of scoring
- classic euro feel with depth
- age may require tweaks for modern audiences
- luck of draw can affect contracts
- auction and polyomino-building
- Coliseum
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Auction / Bidding — bidding for contracts and actions with urgency
- auction_bidding — bidding for contracts and actions with urgency
- Polyomino — placing tiles to fulfill contracts and build structures
- polyomino_construction — placing tiles to fulfill contracts and build structures
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- "This is a deck deconstruction game where you want to be the first player to abandon all of your artichokes"
- "hidden movement games are a strange one for me"
- "it's a very light game it's very quick bit of silly fun"
- "the more weird a theme is the heavier the game is"
- "Revive is such a great card driven Euro"
- "best game from 2022 No Doubt"
References (from this video)
- fantastic end-of-round scoring mechanic
- tight auction with meaningful decisions
- engine building through buildings, discounts, and contracts
- lucky card draws can ruin your plans and feel game-breaking
- board can feel restrictive; the game can be tight and unforgiving
- older design may feel dated to some players; it isn’t as accessible as newer euros
- building projects, contracts, and artistic patronage
- Renaissance Florence; patronage and architecture
- auction/contract-driven engine with careful risk management
- Coliseum
- Tennis Trail
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- architect contracts and bonuses — architect cards give conditions and scoring opportunities; completing sets yields points
- Auction / Bidding — auction for tiles/buildings that you place on your board
- auction bidding — auction for tiles/buildings that you place on your board
- discount and rule-bending economy — building tokens grant discounts; you balance risk and reward to plan future auctions
- end-of-round scoring and cashing — players cash in money/points strategically each round
- tile placement — tiles become buildings, gardens, lakes that unlock points and bonuses
- tile placement on a personal board — tiles become buildings, gardens, lakes that unlock points and bonuses
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- I cannot recommend this one
- the box here is way too big
- the components are very small like all the different tokens and wooden bits are a mini skill and they're quite fiddly to handle
- this game shines for me is the deck building and the Hand management part
- the strongest example of a game that I've played that has been completely debilitated by the length
- this is one of the old school Euros dating back to the year 2000
- I would rate this like a six and a half out of ten
- I actually think I prefer Coliseum to the Princes of Florence