Villa Paletti
Encyclopedia
Villa Paletti is a board game
of physical skill designed by Bill Payne and published in 2001 by Zoch Verlag. Players compete to build the villa
highest using columns from lower floors without collapsing the structure.
A double-size version of the game, Palazzo Paletti, is also available.
Each player in turn must take one of their columns from any level except the highest, and place it on the highest floor. If they cannot remove one of their columns, they may ask to place the next floor. Each opponent may challenge this decision; if they choose to do so and are successful, they may remove that piece from play, and the player misses their go. If no opponent challenges the player, they may place the next floor on top of the pillars of the current highest floor - again, it must lie completely above the base mat and cannot partially cover any column.
Once a column is placed on the second floor, the player with the most column points (one for thin, two for medium, three for large) on the highest level is the leader. If the tower is collapsed by any other player, the leader has won; if they collapse the tower, the previous leader wins. If the tower collapses before a column is placed on the second floor, or if the first leader collapses the tower, no-one has won.
2002, the Games 100
Top dexterity award, the Tric Trac gold medal 2001, Belgian game of the year 2003, finalist in Switzerland, Japan, Finland and more. The San Francisco Chronicle
picked it as their top game for 2004.
Board game
A board game is a game which involves counters or pieces being moved on a pre-marked surface or "board", according to a set of rules. Games may be based on pure strategy, chance or a mixture of the two, and usually have a goal which a player aims to achieve...
of physical skill designed by Bill Payne and published in 2001 by Zoch Verlag. Players compete to build the villa
Villa
A villa was originally an ancient Roman upper-class country house. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the fall of the Roman Republic, villas became small farming compounds, which were increasingly fortified in Late Antiquity,...
highest using columns from lower floors without collapsing the structure.
A double-size version of the game, Palazzo Paletti, is also available.
Gameplay
Each player chooses a colour (in the case of two-player games, each player chooses two colours). They then take their wooden column pieces - three thin, one medium, and one wide - and arrange them on the base mat. The players must then agree on a fair placement of the first "floor", which must lie completely above the base mat and which cannot partially cover any column.Each player in turn must take one of their columns from any level except the highest, and place it on the highest floor. If they cannot remove one of their columns, they may ask to place the next floor. Each opponent may challenge this decision; if they choose to do so and are successful, they may remove that piece from play, and the player misses their go. If no opponent challenges the player, they may place the next floor on top of the pillars of the current highest floor - again, it must lie completely above the base mat and cannot partially cover any column.
Once a column is placed on the second floor, the player with the most column points (one for thin, two for medium, three for large) on the highest level is the leader. If the tower is collapsed by any other player, the leader has won; if they collapse the tower, the previous leader wins. If the tower collapses before a column is placed on the second floor, or if the first leader collapses the tower, no-one has won.
Awards
Villa Paletti won the Spiel des JahresSpiel des Jahres
The Spiel des Jahres is an award for board and card games, created in 1978 with the stated purpose of rewarding excellence in game design, and promoting top-quality games in the German market. It is thought that the existence and popularity of the award is one of the major drivers of the quality...
2002, the Games 100
GAMES 100
The Games 100 is an annual feature of Games magazine, a United States magazine devoted to games and puzzles. The Games 100 first appeared in the November/December 1980 issue as an alphabetic list of the 100 games preferred by the editors of the magazine...
Top dexterity award, the Tric Trac gold medal 2001, Belgian game of the year 2003, finalist in Switzerland, Japan, Finland and more. The San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle
thumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...
picked it as their top game for 2004.
External links
- Zoch Verlag's Villa Paletti homepage