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Alhambra’s Big Box returns to Kickstarter with a second edition

A Granada ol’ time.

Acclaimed tile-placement board game Alhambra has returned to Kickstarter with a second edition of its Big Box collection, featuring new artwork and all the past expansions.

Alhambra Big Box: Second Edition provides players with an updated version of the two- to six-player game. Alongside the core game, the second edition of Alhambra: Big Box comes with new artwork for all the various cards and components as well as the main board.

The bundle also features every expansion released for Alhambra - including The Falconers, the most recent sixth expansion that was launched in 2013 - alongside a tower to hold the various tiles and two Queenie sets containing unique pieces for the game. Each expansion for Alhambra Big Box: Second Edition comes with new artwork.

Considered one of the best board games of the last 20 years, Alhambra was awarded the Spiel des Jahres - the prestigious German Game of the Year prize - when it first released in 2003.

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Set in Granada, a region of Spain, in the year 1278, Alhambra sees players attempting to construct the most elaborate complex of buildings possible. Based at the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, the players’ individual Alhambras must demonstrate their skills as an architect, requiring them to hire the best possible workers for the job.

During the game, players take turns to perform various actions, such as taking money to pay workers, purchasing available buildings from the market to place in their Alhambra or their reserve or commencing construction projects in their complex. The game ends once building tiles cannot be replenished from the main supply. Players can score points by having the most buildings in one of the six possible building categories and constructing the longest possible external wall.

Alhambra was designed by Dirk Henn, the creator behind ancient Japan-set area-control game Shogun, tile-placement game Metro - where players compete to build the longest possible networks of rail lines - and two-player title The Rose King.

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Queen Games is the publisher responsible for releasing Alhambra: Big Box - Second Edition and is known for launching titles such as 2011’s Kingdom Builder - that has players creating their own lands by placing various terrain cards - quick board game Escape: The Curse of the Temple and painting-themed game Fresco.

Earlier this year, Queen Games launched a spin-off game called Alhambra: Roll & Write on Kickstarter, that has two to six players constructing their own complex by rolling dice and choosing which buildings to place in their Alhambra. The title is expected to arrive to backers sometime this month.

The Kickstarter campaign for Alhambra: Big Box - Second Edition is live until December 23rd, with a pledge of $80 (£60) getting backers a copy of the core game set to arrive next September.

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Alex Meehan avatar
Alex Meehan: After writing for Kotaku UK, Waypoint and Official Xbox Magazine, Alex became a member of the Dicebreaker editorial family. Having been producing news, features, previews and opinion pieces for Dicebreaker for the past three years, Alex has had plenty of opportunity to indulge in her love of meaty strategy board games and gothic RPGS. Besides writing, Alex appears in Dicebreaker’s D&D actual play series Storybreakers and haunts the occasional stream on the Dicebreaker YouTube channel.
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Alhambra

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