Objective of the Game

In Roda de Samba, players combine creative instruments, strings, and percussion to attract great sambists to their region. By inviting sambists, players will earn fame points. At the end of the game, the most famous samba circle in the city will win.

Preparation (Setup)

• Each player chooses or randomly receives a region board.
• The player who gets "Pedra do Sal" starts. If no one gets "Pedra do Sal," the last player who attended a samba event starts.
• Shuffle the sambists cards and open 4 cards face up. Leave the rest of the deck aside facing down.
• Shuffle the instruments cards along with the malandros cards and deal 5 cards to each player. Leave the rest of the deck aside facing down.
• Open one card from the instrument deck and place it face up next to the instrument deck, forming a discard pile. If it's a malandro, shuffle it back into the instrument deck and open a new card.

Fluxo do Jogo

Starting with the first player, clockwise, each player will perform three actions on their turn, in this order: draw, play, and discard.

Ações e Como Jogar

ACTION 1: DRAW

Players can choose one of two options:

• Draw 2 cards from the top of the instrument deck, OR
• Take all cards from a color's discard pile.

Note: Discards should be grouped by color. Each color forms an independent pile.

ACTION 2: PLAY AN INSTRUMENT

Choose an instrument from your hand and place it in one of the 10 spaces around your samba circle. If the instrument already exists in your circle, stack the new card in the same space, keeping numbers visible. If not, place it in an empty space.

Important: If you have pairs, trios, or quartets of the same instrument in your hand, you can play all these cards simultaneously.

MIND THE HARMONY IN YOUR CIRCLE

When instruments are placed side by side, it is ideal that they match the same color or number. Otherwise, you will create a "crossed samba," costing 2 points at the end of the game (for each crossed samba).

Placing instruments away from others (e.g., the cuíca) won't disrupt the harmony in your circle.

If you have a pair, trio or quartet of the same instrument in your circle, maintaining harmony will be easier, as you will just need to match the color or the number of one of these instruments.

INVITE SAMBISTS TO YOUR CIRCLE

After playing an instrument, if you meet the sambist requirements (shown at the top of their card), you can invite them to your circle. Place the sambist card at the center of your circle and draw a new one to replace it on the table (so that there will always be 4 sambists available for the players).

At the top of each sambist card there is an indication of the four instruments needed to call them. Whenever there is a colored question mark, you can have any instrument of that color.

Important: You can only invite one sambist per turn.

BENEFITS OF SAMBISTS

Some sambists will bring an instrument to your circle, which can count towards inviting another sambist in your next turn.

Other sambists will give you a special action. When there is an exclamation mark, this action will be executed immediately and only once. These special actions include:

• You don’t have to discard this turn (but you can discard a Malandro if you want to).
• Immediately draw a card from the top of the instrument deck.
• Do a Malandro action and also don’t discard this turn.
• Tia Ciata and the Tias Baianas will help with any instrument to invite any other sambist.
• Dona Ivone Lara and Clementina de Jesus will help with any instrument to invite any female sambist.

Important: When you invite a new sambist, place them over the previous one. This new sambist will be in charge of your circle and you will no longer have the benefit from the previous one (but all of the fame points will be scored at the end of the game).

At the bottom of the sambist card, you will see fame points and color bonuses that the sambist will give you at the end of the match, as well as any extra benefit (instrument or special action).

ACTION 3: DISCARD

At the end of your turn, discard a card from your hand. If it is an instrument, place it in the corresponding discard pile (e.g., yellow instrument in yellow discard pile). If it is a Malandro, place it in any existing discard pile (if there is no discard pile, the Malandro cannot be discarded).

THE MALANDRO

When you discard a Malandro, charm a sambist from the table or from the top of the sambists deck. Pick the card you chose and leave it next to your circle. This way, only you will be able to invite this sambist, in any future play, when you have filled this card's requirements. If the charmed sambist has been charmed from the table, open a new one replacing them, so that there will always be 4 sambists available.

Important: You can only have one charmed sambist at a time. Thus, if you have one sambist charmed, and discard another Malandro in order to charm another one, swap the previous charmed sambist with the new sambist chosen (from the table or from the top of the deck).

Fim de Jogo e Pontuação

ENDGAME: FULL CIRCLE OR EMPTY INSTRUMENT DECK

The game ends whenever a player completes their circle with 10 different instruments, OR the instrument deck runs out. When one of these two conditions occurs, the game will end after the last player’s turn (which is the person to the right of the player who started), then all players will have the same number of turns.

SCORING

The player with the most fame points wins. In case of a tie, the player with the most instruments played in their samba circle wins.

To calculate fame points:

1. Sum up the stars from your sambists and any color bonuses.
2. Subtract 2 points for each crossed samba.

Dicas para Vencer

• The more instruments you can play at once, the better your score tends to be at the end of the game.
• Placing instruments away from others (e.g., the cuíca) won’t disrupt the harmony in your circle.