Rialto is a card‑driven board game that drops you into the heart of Renaissance Venice, where the goal is to collect the most victory points. The board displays the six districts of the city, and you can earn VPs in three main ways: placing council members in districts, building bridges or gondolas that connect the districts, and erecting buildings that grant special abilities. The game unfolds over six rounds, each split into three phases. First, players pick a set of eight cards (six face‑up, two face‑down) and trim their hand to seven cards. Each card depicts a character – Architect, Merchant, Doge, etc. – or is a wildcard. In the second phase there are six sub‑phases, one for each character, and players decide how many cards of that type to play. Playing more cards of a character gives a free‑action bonus, and ties are broken by who is furthest along the Doge track. Actions range from gaining gold with Merchant cards, placing councilors with Council cards, buying buildings with Architect cards, and so on. The final phase lets you activate the powers of the buildings you own, paying gold for each use. Points are collected during the game from special buildings and bridges, but the big score comes at the end: each district has a value that rises as bridges (3‑6 VP) or gondolas (1 VP) are added. The player with the majority of councilors in a district receives the full district value, the second‑place gets half, and so on. Thus, securing area majorities and manipulating district values are two fronts you must balance. The game blends hand management, auction bidding and open drafting, all wrapped in a strong political‑Renaissance theme. With a light weight (2.5/5) and roughly 45‑minute playtime, Rialto appeals to fans of area control as well as those who enjoy negotiation and route building.