When playing with only one other player, play continues similarly, with one twist: as well as their regular houses, each player has 2 Powerhouses they can use to give themselves an edge.

When setting up, give one player 12 Purple houses, and the other player 12 Blue houses. Then, each player takes 2 Black houses - their Powerhouses.

On any turn the players can place a Powerhouse instead of a house of their color, according to the following rules:

• Powerhouses can only be played along the walls (i.e. on the outer city house slots)

• There can only be one Powerhouse on a given hex (for example if a Powerhouse is placed between the Architect and the Silversmith, no other Powerhouses can be placed next to those hexes)

• Powerhouses don't require stone or wood to build (i.e. you can place a Powerhouse on a city area even if you already have as many houses there as you have stone)

• Powerhouses only trigger the city actions, and don't provide resources (i.e. you don't get Olive, Grapes or Fish when you place them)

• The player that places a Powerhouse will get all the actions from the hexes where the house was placed, regardless of the color of the houses already placed them (i.e. if the Purple player places a Powerhouse on the Wharf and there is already 1 Purple and 2 Blue houses there, the Purple player can sell four times and the Blue player gets no sales)

• When a regular house is placed on an area that already has a Powerhouse, the Powerhouse's activation goes to the current player, as if the house was in their color

• When counting the longest wall, Powerhouses are counted as a third color and break walls (unless one player has also a tower on the same space).

Continue Reading