Concordia (Board Game) Trivia Quiz

Answer: Food

Players all have storehouses with 12 slots in them in which resources can be stored. Initially, four of those slots are occupied by colonists. In order to make more room in the storehouse, players will need to buy more colonists, moving them from the storehouse to the board.

There is an alternate start to "Concordia" included in the "Historical Information" booklet (not the rule book) in which players start with more money and no resources. On their first turn, they can purchase any number of any kind of good to start their game with more flexibility. The "Historical Information" booklet was not included in the "Concordia: Venus" version of the base game.

Answer: Food

Because players start the game with one of each resource and then another food, a common first move is to use the brick and any other resource to build a house on that kind of city, and then use one of the food to build a house on a brick city. Food is used to make brick cities and colonists, so it can be very important, especially in the early game.

Answer: Players have move points equal to the number of colonists on the board

Each player starts with two colonists on the board, so if they use an Architect action as their first play (a common first move), they will have two movement points. Players could move each colonist once, or more a single colonist twice. This is another incentive to get more colonists on the board. Even if the new ones don't move, they grant more movement points for Architect plays.

Answer: The sestertii (coins) cost is doubled

Each house costs some resources and some sestertii (coins). For example, the first person to build a house in a food city will have to pay a brick, a food, and two sestertii. When a second player wants to build a house on that same city, the resource cost will stay the same, but the sestertii cost will double, so they would pay one brick, one food, and four sestertii.

The third player would pay six sesterii, and the fourth would pay eight.

Answer: The highest value good produced by a city in that province

Each resource has a fixed value of sestertii in "Concordia," which is displayed at the top of players' storehouses. When placing bonus tiles, look at each city type in a province, determine which resource is the most valuable of those, and then apply that bonus tile to the province.

Answer: Tools

Each colonist is built with food and tools. Food is used to make brick cities (which are used in all other cities), food cities, colonists, and to purchase some cards from the shop, making it a very valuable resource. Tools are mostly used for colonists, tool cities, and to purchase some cards from the shop.

Answer: Cloth

Cloth is the most valuable resource at seven sesterii. Wine is six, tools are five, food is four, and bricks are three. Cloth is used to buy some cards in the shop, and is used as an additional cost for the most recent cards to be added to the shop.

Answer: It doubles the bonus reward when using a Prefect

The Prefectus Magnus starts with the last player to play, as a bit of a catch-up mechanic. When a player has the Prefectus Magnus and plays a Prefect card to produce in a province (instead of resetting the bonus tiles for money), then that player will get two of the bonus good instead of one. Once used, the Prefectus Magnus moves to the next player, in the opposite direction of play.

The Prefectus Magnus is also used in the unlikely event of a tie at the end of the game. If a tied player has the Prefectus Magnus, they win. If neither player does, then the next tied player who would receive it wins.

Answer: The Consul lets you buy one card, ignoring the extra cost

When buying new cards there are two costs: one printed on the card, and one printed below the card (on the board). The Senator allows a player to purchase up to two cards, but both prices on both cards must be paid. The Consul, on the other hand, lets players buy just one new card while ignoring the second cost printed on the board.

As cards are purchased, cards are moved along the shop to fill the open spaces, and then new cards are added. The oldest cards have cheap additional costs (the oldest having none), while the new cards have a steep additional cost (two cloth).

Answer: Existing colonists can be moved

When playing a Tribune (which everyone starts with), only one new colonist may be built, even if that player has enough resources for more. The Colonist card (which can only be acquired from the shop) lets players build as many colonists as they have resources for. The Tribune only lets players place their new colonist in the capital city, while the Colonist card lets players place new colonists in either the capital city or any city where they have a house (useful for placing new land colonists across bodies of water without making them walk around).

Lastly, the Colonist has two possible actions when played: make new colonists or get a cash infusion. The Colonist card can be played to get the player sestertii equal to five plus the number of colonists they have on the board. Once all colonists are on the board, that's a cash infusion of eleven sestertii.

Answer: The shop Mercator gives five bonus sestertii instead of three

The Mercator lets players trade in any two of the five resources, letting them buy/sell as much as they want / can afford. The Mercator that players start with also gives them a three sestertii cash infusion before they start trading. The Mercators from the shop function the same way, but grant a five sestertii bonus instead.

Answer: Copy any other player's most recent card

When players take their turn, they play a card from their hand into a pile in front of them, and then take the action described on the card. The Diplomat lets a player copy any other visible card in front of another player.

After playing a card, players cannot use it again until they take their pile back into their hand using the Tribune card. If a player played a Tribune, they would have no face-up card in front of them for another player to use a Diplomat on.

Answer: Minerva, goddess of wisdom

Minerva is the only deity not represented in players' starting hands. The Minerva cards are the Mason (brick), Farmer (food), Smith (tools), Vintner (wine), and Weaver (cloth). When playing a specialist card, players count how many houses they have in the associated city type, and get that many of that resource. Unlike Prefects, other players do not get anything from these cards.

At the end of the game, specialist cards will grant a set number of points per house in the associated city type. For example, the Smith grants three points for each tool city in which the player has a house.

Answer: Someone buys the last card or builds their last house

Each player has fifteen houses, and the size of the deck of cards that can be purchased is adjusted for the number of players in the game. Once the last card is purchased or someone builds their last house, the end-game is triggered. The player who triggered it gets the Concordia card (seven points), and each other player gets one final turn.

After that, all the points are counted, and whoever has the most wins.

Answer: Brick

Bricks cities are the cheapest city to build (both in resources and coins). They are also the most plentiful on the map. It's easy to build a lot of houses in brick cities, but Jupiter cards will not score any of them. Architect and Consul cards are associated with Jupiter.

Answer: Diplomat

Every card, except the Diplomat, is always associated with the same deity. Architects (both the one players start with, and additional ones purchased from the shop) are Jupiter cards. The starting Diplomat is associated with Jupiter. The Diplomats in the first and third sets of shop cards are associated with Saturnus, the fourth set with Mercurius, and the fifth set with Mars.

Answer: Senator

The Senator is the starting card that lets players purchase new cards, and there are no Senators in the shop (but there are Consuls). This single Vesta card will grant one point for every 10 coins a player has (after selling all inventory) during scoring, usually around four points total.

This is a small consolation prize for being wealthy at the end of the game, but pales in comparison to the points scored by other cards. Final scores well over 100 points are common in "Concordia."

Answer: Having houses in different provinces

In the base board for "Concordia" (the map of the whole Mediterranean) there are twelve provinces, each with two or three cities. Whether a player has one house in a province or three, Saturnus cards will score one point for that province. A common strategy is to build one house in each province (taking twelve of a player's fifteen houses), and purchasing as many Saturnus cards as possible, each worth 12 points. Prefect cards are associated with Saturnus.

Answer: Having houses in different kinds of cities

There are five different types of city to match the five different resources. Mercurius cares about a diversity of city type, with each type granting two points. If a player has built a house on each of the five city types, then each Mercurius is worth ten points. Mercator cards are associated with Mercurius.

Answer: Having colonists on the board

Mars cards grant two points for each colonist on the board at the end of the game. Players start with two colonists, but can have up to six, making each Mars card worth twelve points. The Tribune card and Colonist cards are associated with Mars, which is convenient because those two let you build more colonists.