subject: Colosseum, The Board Game [print this page] The board game Colosseum allows you to compete with others as Roman empresarios to attempt to create the biggest spectacle in ancient Rome. You must use the gain from your early events to hire better actors, buy more props and run more and more spectacular shows. Improve your theatre and lure nobles and the Emperor to your event in order to build something even more spectacular ... and to bring in the profits.
With the exception of the final round, each part of the game has five phases (the last round only has four). In each round, players must take control of their own arena, and they may need to upgrade the size in order to perform some of the more ostentatious plays. The first rounds allows people to choose between two different events, but soon you need to buy the rights to bigger shows and to buy, sell and exchange asset cards, which represent actors, animals and equipment that are used in the show.
In phase one, you need to invest in one of the following ways. Firstly, you could make your arena larger, so that bigger shows can be performed; Secondly, you might construct the Emperor's Loge, giving you two rolls of the dice in the next round; Thirdly, you could buy a season ticket, equating to five visitors per round; and fourthly, you can buy a new event card through an acution with other players. There are five markets from which to buy, laid out in the middle of the Colosseum board, and each market contains 3 assets.
After investment, players roll the dice and move a noble of choice clockwise. If you have the Loge, you can choose to combine or split your two rolls. When a noble stays in your arena for the show, you get more spectator points. If a noble lands on a special square, follow the instructions. Often you receive an Emperor's Medal to be used in later phases. Each spectator equates to a gold coin and the player with the biggest amount of gold coins at the end of all the rounds wins the game. This is not cumulative.
Now the event has run and the spectators have been counted, there is a winner and loser for that round. The loser gets to pick any asset card from the winner, but the winner receives the podium, which gives them three extra spectators at their next-round show.
