Historical background and goal

In 1703, Czar Peter the Great founded Saint Petersburg, which soon became known as "Paris of the East". The Winter Palace, the Hermitage, the Church of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, and many other buildings even today beckon visitors from all over the world. But Saint Petersburg was only a part of his numerous activities. Peter reformed the whole of the Russian Empire and brought it from the Middle Ages to a par with Europe of that time. To accomplish this, he needed a new administration and brought the aristocrats under his control. This was also a golden time for the workers as their skills were much needed to reform and build the new Russia. The players will take important roles in the building of SAINT PETERSBURG. The players acquire workers, buildings, and aristocrats, and place them in their play areas. These earn the players money, points, or both during the game. For the aristocrats, players can earn additional points at the end of the game. The player who is best able to manage his meager money supply and buy the right things at the right times, will win the game.

Preparation

• Place the game board in the middle of the table.
• Shuffle the cards by each group separately (workers, buildings, aristocrats, and trading cards). Place each group face down in a stack on the appropriate space on the board.
• Each player takes 25 rubles. Place the ramining rubles in separate stacks by denomination next to the board (the bank). The players keep their money secret from others during the game and may never tell others how much they have.
• Each player takes the 2 figures in his color. He places 1 figure on space 0 of the scoring track and the other figure in front of himself (his play area) to remind others of his color.
• One player shuffles the 4 starting player cards and deals them: 4 player game: each player gets 1 card. 3 player game: the youngest player gets 2 cards, the others get 1 each. 2 player game: each player gets 2 cards.
• When all players have their starting player card(s), each takes the corresponding starting player markers and places them in his play area. Place the starting player cards back in the box; they are not used in the rest of the game.
• The oldest player is the administrator. He draws starting cards from the workers stack and places them face up in the upper card row: 4 players: 8 cards, 3 players: 6 cards, and 2 players: 4 cards. Then, he turns the workers stack 90 degrees on the player board. The administrator's other duties in the game: he manages the money, places new cards, and moves the players' figures on the scoring track.
• The game begins with the first worker phase.

Playing the game

SAINT PETERSBURG is played over several rounds (7-10). Each round consists of 4 phases (always in the following order):

• the worker phase
• the building phase
• the aristocrat phase
• the trading card phase
  

Then the players start the next round with the worker phase.

Each phase consists of the following (in the order shown):

1. The actions: the players acquire workers, buildings, and aristocrats. They play these on the table, add them to their hands, and play them from their hands to the table. This is the main part of the phase.
2. The scoring: the players score their workers or buildings or aristocrats
3. The new cards: the administrator places new cards on the board.

All four phases play in this way, except for the trading card phase, where there is no scoring.

1. The actions

On a player's turn, he must take 1 of the following 4 actions: either

• buy: 1 worker or 1 building or 1 aristocrat or
• add to his hand: 1 worker or 1 building or 1 aristocrat or
• play from his hand: 1 worker or 1 building or 1 aristocrat or
• pass

The 4 actions in detail:

buy
The player buys 1 card, either 1 worker or 1 building or 1 aristocrat. Primarily, the workers earn the players money, the buildings earn the players points, and the aristocrats can earn the players both. A player can buy a card from either card row on the board. When a player buys a card, he pays the cost to the bank, and immediately places the card face up in his play area. The players should group the cards in his play area with all workers together, all buildings together, and all aristocrats together. Note: obviously, players may only buy worker cards in the first worker phase as there are no other cards on the board. Soon, however, cards from the other groups will be available on the board.

add to his hand
The player takes 1 card from either card row and adds it to his hand. He does not pay for this card. A player can have at most 3 cards in his hand and keeps them secret from the others. At game end, each card in a player's hand scores minus 5 points.

play from his hand
The player places 1 card from his hand face up in his play area. He now pays the cost of the card to the bank. He can play a card he has added to his hand earlier in this round or from a previous round.

pass
A player must pass when he cannot or chooses not to take other actions. Note: a player, who has passed, may pass again or take a normal action (buy, add to his hand, or play from his hand) on his next turn. When passing, the player should clearly say "pass!", so the next player knows it is now his turn. He should do this even when he has already passed previously, as he may now choose to take an action.

The starting player for a phase always takes the first action of the phase. For example, the first action in the worker phase is taken by the player with the starting palyer marker for the worker. Next, the other players follow in clockwise order and each must always take one of the 4 allowed actions. After all players have taken an action, it is again the starting player's turn. He may take the same action as before or a different action as he chooses. As before the others follow in clockwise order. When all players pass in player order (the first pass need not be the starting player), the actions are done and the phase moves to scoring.

Example for the complete play of an action part of a phase:

The players are in the aristocrat phase. A is the starting player. He begins the actions and buys an administrator. B has too little money to buy and passes. C buys the other administrator. D adds the secretary to his hand. A adds the ship builder to his hand. B, who previously passed, adds St Isaac's Cathedral to his hand. C had previously added a warehouse manager to his hand and now plays it, paying the cost. D passes, A passes, B passes, and C passes. All 4 players have now passed in player order. The actions for this phase are complete.

Remember:

• A player can buy 1 card or add a card to his hand or play a card from his hand; otherwise he must pass.
• A player can buy or add to his hand any of the cards on the board (upper or lower row) in any phase. He can, for example, buy a fur trapper in the building phase, if he wants and it is available.
• A player can play any card in his hand in any phase. He can, for example, play (and pay for) a shepherd in the aristocrat phase, if he wishes.

2. The scoring

What is scored? The players score either the workers or the buildings or the aristocrats that they have in their play areas. When are which cards scored? In the worker phase, the players score only their works, in the building phase, they score only their building, and in the aristocrat phase, they score only their aristocrats. All cards of the appropriate group are scored, including those played in the current round and those played in previous rounds.

What do the players earn during scoring?

The players earn money or points or both (or nothing, if a player has no cards of the kind being scored). The players get money earned from the bank. The players' figures move on the scoring track to not points earned. The administrator handles both. Note: to simplify the scoring, start with the starting player and move clockwise around the table.

3. The new cards

During the actions, the players take cards from the board. At the end of each phase, the administrator adds cards to the board until there are a total of eight on the board (regardless of the number of players - always 8!). To do this:

• He takes the new cards from the next card stack.
• He places the new cards only in the upper card row.
• He places cards so that in both card rows there are a total of 8 cards.
• Finally, he turns the card stacks to indicate which phase just ended and which will start next.

The game board after the actions:

For the following trading card phse, the administrator must add 5 cards to the board. He draws 5 cards from the trading card stack and places them in the upper card row. Note: when the players buy or add cards to their hands, they can choose from any cards on the board (in either row). To better show the new cards, the administrator should first move the remaining cards to the right (but do not change rows!).

After placing the new cards, the administrator turns the aristocrat stack back to match its place on the board and the trading card stack 90 degrees from its place on the board. Note: in this way, it is always clear which phase the game is in.

The trading card phase and the end of the round

The trading card phase runs differently than the others.

• In the trading card phase, there is no scoring. No player earns money or points. To emphasize this, there are no money or point symbols on the space for trading cards on the board. The players take actions in the trading card phase just like the other phases.
• After the actions, the administrator takes all remaining cards from the lower card row and places them on the discard space on the board. They are out of the game. Note: after the first round, there can be no cards in the lower row. It will only be in later rounds that cards may be in the lower row.
• Then he moves all the remaining cards from the upper card row to the lower card row.
• Next, the administrator adds worker cards to the upper row, making a total of 8 cards on the board.
• The players give their starting player markers to their left neighbors, changing the starting players for the next round.

The round is now ended. The next round begins as before with the worker phase. In this way, the game continues until game end.

Game end and final scoring

When the administrator places the last card of a group (the last worker, the last building, the last aristocrat, or the last trading card) on the board, play continues through all phases of this round. After the round ends, the game ends and the final scoring follows. If there are not enough cards to fill 8 spaces, he places as many as there are.

The final scoring

In the final scoring, each player earns points for the aristocrats in his play area and for the money he has left.

The points for the aristocrats:

All different aristocrats earn points (same aristocrats count nothing). How many points does a player earn? The players can read the scores from the scoring table for aristocrats on the game board.

The points for the money:

For each full 10 rubles, a player earns 1 point.

Minus points:

For each card a player still has in his hand, he scores -5 points (-5, -10, or -15).

Example of a final scoring: Red has 6 different aristocrats in his play area. He earns 21 points for them. For his two warehouse managers, he earns nothing. For his 17 rubles, he earns 1 point. As he has no cards left in his hand, he has no minus points. Thus, red earns 22 points in the final scoring. He adds these to his previous total of 52 points. Red ends the game with 74 points.

The player with the most points is the winner. If players tie, the one among them with the most money is the winner.

Other importaint details: cost reduction

There are 4 possible ways to reduce the cost of a card:

• When the player already has the same card (or several same cards) in his play area, he pays 1 less ruble for each card that is the same. Example: a market normally costs 5 rubles. A player with 2 markets in his play area would pay only 3 rubles. He buys the third market, pays 3 rubles, and now has 3 markets.
• When the player buys a card from the lower card row, he pays 1 ruble less than the normal cost. Example: the theater is in the lower card row. Normally, it costs 20 rubles, but a player can buy it for 19 rubles because it is in the lower row.
• When the player has a gold smelter in his play area, he pays 1 ruble less for each red card he buys (after he has the gold smelter).
• When a player has a carpenter workshop in his play area, he pays 1 ruble less for each blue card he buys after he has it.

All cost reductions are cumulative. Example: A player buys the theater from the lower card row (-1 ruble), he already has 1 theater in his play area (-1 ruble), and he has the carpenter workshop (all blue cards -1 ruble). He pays 20 rubles minus 3 rubles = 17 rubles. The theater costs 17 rubles.

A player can never take money when the cost is less than 0. In fact, he can never pay just 0. A player must always pay at least 1 ruble to buy a card, even when its cost is 0 or less! Example: The player already has 3 lumberjacks. For the 1st lumberjack, he paid 3 rubles. For the 2nd, he paid 2 rubles. For the 3rd, he paid 1 ruble. If he later wants to buy a 4th or 5th lumberjack, he must pay 1 ruble for each.

The trading cards

The stack of trading cards has 10 workers, 10 buildings, and 10 aristocrats. To distinguish them, they have all three colors on their backs and the color of one of the 3 groups on the front. The front side makes it clear which group the card belongs to. It also has the cost and reward numbers in the appropriate places.

When a player buys a trading card or places a trading card from his hand in his play area, he must do the following:

• He must displace an already placed card of the same color from his play area. He cannot simply place a trading card in his play area as he does the other cards. He places the displaced card on the discard space. Example: the player discards the lumberjack to place the carpenter workshop.
• Each blue trading card can displace any already placed building. Each red trading card can displace any already placed aristocrat.
• With the green trading cards: a carpenter workshop can only displace a lumberjack, a gold smelter can only displace a gold miner, a weaving milll can only displace a shepherd, a fur shop can only displace a fur trapper, and a wharf can only displace a ship builder. Players can recognize the pairs by the like symbols in the upper right.
• A trading card cannot displace another trading card.

What does a trading card cost?

• When the trading card is mor expensive than the card it displaces, the player must pay the difference between the two.
• When the trading card is the same or cheaper than the card it displaces, the player must pay 1 ruble.

All normal cost reductions apply to trading cards. Example: the player displaces the market with the St Issac's Cathedral. The difference in cost is 10 rubles. The player takes the card from the lower card row (-1 ruble). He also has the carpenter workshop, saving him another ruble. Thus, he can subtract 2 rubles from the normal cost of 10 rubles and pay only 8 rubles. He places the market on the discard space.

several special cards

Mariinskij Theater - The aristocrats love theater: When scoring the buildings, the player earns 1 ruble for each aristocrat that he has in his play areas.

Tax Man - Unattractive job, but important: When scoring the aristocrats, the player earns 1 ruble for each worker that he has in his play area.

Potjomkin's Village - The virtual village pays for itself: The player pays 2 rubles when he buys/places the card. If he displaces the card with a trading card, it is worth 6 rubles.

Warehouse - Good, but dangerous: The player can have up to 4 cards in his hand.

Pub - Don't spend too much: Immediately after each scoring of buildings, the player can buy up to 5 points. Each point costs 2 rubles. (The player cannot "buy" 2 rubles for 1 point.)

Czar and Carpenter - Czar Peter can do it all: He can be displaced by any green trading card.

Observatory - 1 secure point or a good opportunity: The observatory is worth 1 point in scoring if the player does not use the following: once, during the blue actions, he may draw the top-most card from the stack of his choice (it may not be the last card in the stack). He must immediately either buy and place the card or add the card to his hand or discard the card. In each case, he turns the observatory card over and will score not points for it. To begin the next round, he turns it face-up so it is again available for scoring or its special ability.

SAINT PETERSBURG for 2 or 3 players:

The game runs exactly as with 4 players, but with the following changes: Before the first worker phase, the administrator places only 6 worker cards with 3 players and only 4 worker cards with 2 players. But, in the other phases, he always adds to 8 cards. The starting player marker distribution is done for 3 or 4 players as indicated earlier.

Tips and tactics suggestions:

• In the first worker phase, each player should buy 2 workers! A player with fewer than two workers will find himself running after his opponents with two. Workers have the best cost/reward ratio.
• Expensive cards have higher reward ratios. 1 point with a market costs 5 rubles, 1 point with a customs house costs only 4 rubles, etc. Thus, a player can do well to save money to buy more expensive cards later.
• In the first building phase, the question will arise: should a player invest in an expensive building? Such building always earn the player many points in the scoring of buildings. However, such a player will have little money for a while and that can be very dangerous.
• Trading cards are mostly good. Players should try to save some money for the trading card phase. But, players should be careful not to spend all their money in this phase as there is no scoring and no mney gained in the phase. Without money, a player will be unable to buy the new worker cards that will be available in the first phase of the next round.
• When a player is faced with the decision to buy a card or add it to his hand, in addition to the points and/or money the card will earn the player, he should also consider the following: when a card is removed from the board, it makes room for a new card in the next phase. Does the player wnat this? When the player is the next starting player, he has little interest in leaving many places for new cards. However, a player sitting far from the starting player may want more new cards available.
• Adding a card to his hand is often important for a player. In this way, a player can hold the card for a later turn when he has the money to pay for it. Of course, it can be dangerous to speculate too much, as nothing is more painful than for a player to have a card in his hand at the end of the game that he could not use and, thus, he earns minus points for the speculation.
• SAINT PETERSBURG is a game with permanent money shortages. This is good, as the game would be very boring if players always had plenty of money to spend on the cards.

Special case: no cards are bought or added to players' hands.

It can happen, that the players neither buy nor add cards to their hands from the board in a phase; they only pass or play cards from their hands. This does not change the play of the game. When all have passed, the players score as normal. In such a case, the administrator will add no new cards to the board. He will, however, turn the card stacks to indicate which phase the game is in. The game then continues with the next phase, until all have again passed. It could even rarely occur that no cards are again taken from the board. Again, the players continue as normal with scoring, but no new cards are again placed. Eventually, with scoring, players will acquire more money and begin buying again. After all, the only way for a player to win is to buy cards to place in his play area.