Santorini: Second Edition

2-4 Players

Ages 8+

20 Minute Play Time

Santorini is an abstract strategy game with accessible rules that can offer enough depth and content for experienced gamers while remaining digestible for less experienced gamers, including children. It has been developed for over 30 years over two editions by designer Gordon Hamilton, and has only been refined in that time. 

The board that Santorini is played on resembles a work of sculpture as much as a typical game board. It depicts the Grecian isle of Santorini, with steep cliffs and stark white buildings which players take part in constructing, complete with gorgeous blue domes to cap them off. 

The gameplay of Santorini follows players in turns as they build the city, with each turn consisting of two steps:

1. Move - Move one of your builders into a neighboring space. A builder can move on the same level, up one level, or down any number of levels. 

2. Build - The builder can then construct a building in an adjacent space to the one it just moved to. When building on the third and highest level, construct a dome instead of a building and remove that space from play. 

Santorini is won when one player builds on the third level, completing a building. The win condition is simple, but because a builder can not move up more than one level, your goal is as much to complete your own building as it is to block your opponent from completing theirs. 

The game also features 40 player powers themed around Greek gods and heroes assigned at random at the start of the game which change how players can build and move.