Lisboa Deluxe

Lisboa is a game about the rebuilding of Lisbon after the great earthquake of 1755.

On 1 November 1755, Lisbon was struck by an earthquake with an estimated magnitude of 8.5-9.0, followed by a tsunami and three days of fires. The city was almost completely destroyed. The Marquis of Pombal – Sebastio Jos de Carvalho e Melo – was the foreign minister at the time, and the king put him in charge of rebuilding Lisbon. The Marquis of Pombal assembled a team of engineers and architects, and you, the players, are members of the nobility; members who will use your influence in the rebuilding and business development of the new city. You will work with the architects to build Lisbon anew, with the Marquis to develop trade and with the king to open all the buildings, but the true reason you do all this is not for greatness or fame or even wealth, but for the most important thing of all at that time: wigs.

Lisboa is played on a real map of the centre of Lisbon. During the planning of the city centre project, the type of business allowed in each street was determined in advance. The economic engine is driven by the royal treasury, and this treasury is controlled by the players’ actions during the game, which makes every game a completely different experience. The game ends after a fixed number of rounds, and whoever has collected the most wigs at the end of the game wins.

Lisboa is played in rounds. Each round, all players take one turn. They can place one card on their display or replace one card from this display. During the game, players schedule hearings to gain character benefits such as trade, building and openings. The iconic buildings score the shops, and the shops give the players income. Players must manage influence, building licences, shop permits, church power, workers and money, with the cost of workers depending on the players’ prestige.