Outline for teaching the rules for Princes of Florence

Based on Lanza's "The Finer Points of Teaching Rules" - http://www.thegamesjournal.com/articles/TeachingRules.shtml

set up

tagline
- what you do on your turn
- buying items required to create great artistic and scientific works
- the scoring
- the more required items you buy, the better the artistic/scientific work, and the more points you get

overview
- core rules, mechanics, chronology. Show connection between actions and scoring. How game ends. (No details yet)
- auctioning items on left, buying items on right
- 7 rounds, then game ends
- skim through profession card

details
- show, don't just tell! walk through turn order. flesh out the rules, demonstrate the use of the components, illustrate how points are scored, and cover the specifics that cause the game to end.
- action phase. (easier to explain this first)
- complete work: if work value 7 or more, convert to points or money.
- buy building + 3 points for $700. Not adjacent.
- buy profession card for $300
- buy freedom for $300
- buy bonus card for $300.
- auction phase. min bid: 200. max bid increment: 100. ends when everyone passes. note: last player buys item for 200.
- forest, lake, park. Extra forest/lake/park: 3 points.
- jester: increase work value by 2. Unlike forest/lake/park, useful for all works.
- builder: 50% discount, adjacency + 3 points, 100% discount + 3 points
- prestige card: 0-8 points. different from bonus card! Parentheses for ties.
- recruiting card
- game ends after 7 rounds
- review scoring summary on board

exceptions
- details about converting work value into points or money. 1 WV => $100. 2 WV => 1 point.
- max times each action can be done per turn
- freedoms are limited
- minimum work value increases with each turn
- can't put building adjacent to Palazzo
- can't buy same building more than once. Can't buy freedom more than once. Can buy forest/lake/twice more than once (3 points)
- move back 1 point for $100
- recruiting cards count when computing WV
- best work: 3 points

strategies, pitfalls

- "When in doubt, push off producing the work." (Propo Pod)

- "There are many viable strategies but you almost certainly will not win without producing a competitive number of works. And for that you need profession cards and/or recruiting cards--the earlier the better so you can plan around them." (Propo Pod)

- "Another key element is having complementary Personalities." See requirement summary on left (Pevans)

- "A Bonus card or two is useful towards the end of the game...The nature of the Bonus cards ...means that it makes sense to buy them earlier on so that you can work towards maximising their value. The same is true of Prestige cards. Again, I think it's worth having at least one of these at the end of the game." (Pevans)

- "Another way of taking your opponents by surprise is putting on two Works in a turn. Especially in the last turn." (Pevans)