A beautiful city, with you as its ruler! You have grand plans. Your city will be the most beautiful, largest, and most magical city ever! But you're not the only one with ambitions. Intrigues are rampant, and none of your opponents can truly be trusted. That's why you employ characters like the King, the Murderess, or the Merchant. Each turn, one of these characters works for you, performing special actions. But who chooses which characters? And how can you outsmart everyone? In Machiavelli, you have to build buildings by paying for them with coins. The more expensive the building, the more points it will yield at the end of the game. To help you, you can choose from several characters at the start of each round. For example, the King always lets you choose a character first, the Murderess eliminates other characters, and the Merchant ensures you receive extra money. After each round, the characters are redistributed, so that another player can become King, for example. Machiavelli has been a popular game for years thanks to its strong player interaction. Cleverly estimating which characters will choose can manipulate the entire game. While you only use eight characters per game, this edition contains a whopping 27 different ones. So you can experiment to your heart's content! Note: This edition of Machiavelli is an updated version of Machiavelli De Luxe, with the same number of character cards and extras, but without the 15 circus-themed action cards. Game features • Ages 10 and up • 2 to 8 players • Playing time approx. 30 minutes