I purchased this game on a whim, a quirk, an urge. One might say that I have no self control when it comes to that 'Add to Cart' button that endlessly mocks me. Oh, but I sure showed them when I added Leonardo da Vinci by Mayfair Games to my order. The premise of the game is simple, be ingenious. I for one was ingenious twice last week, at least that's what my imaginary friend said...

Leonardo da Vinci is a strategy game set in the time period that makes all those weirdo kids from drama flock to those fairs where people dress up in gusseted pants and wear floppy hats with feathers coming out the top. Of course I am referring to the Renaissance, a veritable explosion of the arts and sciences that began in Italy and spread to the entirety of Europe from the 14th to the 17th century. The goal of the game is to be the most ingenious inventor and create that which has only been but a dream until now. The game spans over 9 turns, 7 turns of scrambling to build and improve your invention creation juggernaut and 2 turns of pure research.

Box and Box Artwork: The box is of nice quality and construction, a staple of Mayfair Games. The insert has a place for each of the components and keeps them nicely organized. Items familiar to the Renaissance such as the Vitruvian Man, the Mona Lisa, and Leonardo da Vinci comprise the box face.

Components: There are plenty of wooden pieces and cards to go around in this game. Each color (red, yellow, green, blue, and purple) comes with one (1) Master, nine (9) apprentices, and two (2) work counters. A couple of brown wooden discs are used to keep track of money and the turn count. Each color has their own set of laboratory cards which they will use to build their inventions. Sixty (60) component cards, twelve (12) per component (iron, wood, brick, rope, and glass) are used to represent the components that inventors will need to complete their inventions. Florin cards are used to keep track of money in the game and are used to determine the winner at the end of the ninth turn. The only component that seems to be out of place is the Signore della citta, or the Lord of the City. There doesn't seem to be any reason to have included this piece in the game as it does not start with any player or confer any bonus.

The board folds out in quarters and the artwork is nicely done resembling a chalk drawing of a city. All of the components and florin denominations have their place clearly marked on the board and makes setup of the game generally simple and eliminates the need to find a place to store cards to the side of the board.

Rules: You might as well just throw out the rules that come with this game. I understand that this game was first developed in Italian and then translated to English, but you will give yourself a headache if you try and open this game with new players and read through the rules. My particularly favorite part of the rules is where written setup instructions for 'Beginners' give way to a picture. The rules tend to needlessly repeat itself throughout and when you read the text aloud more times than not the person you are reading the rule to has to look at the rules themselves because what you just read could not have been English.

Game play and Mechanics: The starting order of the game is chosen by the owner of the game and each player begins with the number of apprentices, laboratories, components and florins as shown on the setup picture. Players then go through 4 phases per turn during turns 1 through 7.

Laboratory Phase: During this phase players decide if they want to build an invention, either from the face up cards on the board or begin working on an invention still in the deck. Players may also cancel work on an invention that has already been completed in this phase. To begin an invention you declare that you are starting an invention, place the appropriate number and type of cards beneath the lab that will be working on the invention, and place the work counter on the 0 of that laboratory. Inventions are to be kept secret and other players are not allowed to know how many components are underneath your lab.

Assignment Phase: During this phase players take turns in clockwise order from Leonardo and place their Master and apprentices in 1 of 8 areas on the board or onto available slots in their laboratories. On your turn you may play one or more apprentices in an area, play your master, or pass. If a player decides to pass then they are done with the assignment phase and cannot play any more pieces. Another rule is that when players place apprentices they must place the total number of apprentices that they want in that area because you are not allowed to place apprentices in that area again this turn.

Employment Phase: During this phase players go around the board starting with A (the Council) and ending with H (the ropemaker) resolving each area independently. The general mechanic in play during this phase is a form of bidding. The player who placed the largest total of apprentices and masters in an area is the winner and able to utilize the benefit of that particular area or take a component for free. If there is a tie then the player that placed their apprentices or master first in that area gets to go first. Every subsequent player may decide to gain the benefit or take a component from the area but at an additional cost. Every time an area is used the cost for the next player is increased by the value shown on the money track. For example, there are 2 people who want rope from the rope maker. Red wins 1st place and get a rope card for free and Blue is 2nd but must pay 2 Florins to gain a rope card because the area had been used previously this turn. And finally during this phase you are able to progress your laboratory the number of weeks equal to the total of apprentices and master (2 apprentices and 1 master = 4 weeks) and move your work counter respectively.

Research Phase: This is the final phase where players can reveal that they have completed the requisite number of weeks for an invention. The invention must be face up and the player earns larger amount of Florins shown on the invention card. If you are working on an invention and it it completed before you have met the requisite number of weeks you may declare that you are working on a recently completed invention, reveal which one it is and turn your component cards face up. If there are 2 or more players who complete the same invention during the same turn players bid for the card and the winner takes the card.

Final Thoughts: After you have played this game once you will begin to see how the game involves a bit of strategy. Quickly you will learn that being the player holding Leonardo isn't always the best position to be in and how earlier rounds of component gathering is the only way that you can hope to complete some of the later round inventions. Overall I would give this game a 7, not really a favorite of mine but would definitely play again.