Description

The year is 1808 and the prince regent of Portugal, D. João VI, has just arrived in the capital of Brazil, with all the royal family, his court, employees and dozens of nobles and influential and wealthy people of Portuguese society. With Napoleon's rule throughout Europe, this was the only way the Portuguese kingdom could survive. Now in Brazil, D. João VI intends to continue the reign by distributing titles, improving the infrastructure of the Brazilian city and creating a new Rio de Janeiro.

In Rio 1808 players take on the role of heads of important families in Rio who seek to be nominated with nobility titles by the Portuguese crown during the transfer of the capital of Portugal from Lisbon to the city of Rio de Janeiro. Players are expected to flatter royalty by offering various products through their best workers, gaining influence with the regent and other members of the royal family, as well as other important nobles of the period.

During the game, players will send their workers to various parts of the city to buy certain goods, completing the wishes of royalty and also assisting in the construction of various buildings throughout the city, such as the national museum, the national library and the botanist. garden, all of them today memorable buildings in Rio. Players also have to perform tasks to influence the church and society ("the people"). They have to hire and teach new jobs to their workers, instructing them and making them more effective in carrying out the tasks. However, more efficient workers are also more expensive and require better wages. In each round, the players receive money, send their workers to the tasks and, at the end of the day, pay their wages.

Increasing influence with the court also generates an increase in your income as the name of your family becomes more valued in commerce and more favored by the nobles. But each time you pick up some of your workers to increase their influence with royalty, they become more demanding with the presents, jealous of each other and making their task difficult.

At the end of the game, the players will add their influence in every location, sum your money and check for some objectives. The player with most influence will receive the so dreamed title of nobility.

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE GAME:
- The game is about the Brazil colonial period and it's a eurogame with mostly common mechanics (worker placement, influence control, set collection)
- The workers are dice that are not rolled (you have to upgrade the dice)
- That are a "jealous" mechanic in the game that makes the nobles/royals change their desires
- There's a "delay" mechanic in how you get resources
- Rio 1808 is a medium to heavy weight game in terms of complexity

—description from the designer