Istanbul het Dobbelspel rules

2 to 4 players · ages 8+ · 30 minutes · dice game

Five dice, a bazaar full of goods and a race for rubies. You can learn the rules of Istanbul het Dobbelspel (published in English as Istanbul: The Dice Game) in a few minutes, without knowing the board game. Don't have the box yet? Istanbul het Dobbelspel is in the shop.

Set up in one minute

1. Put the game board in the middle, right side up: one side is for 2 or 3 players, the other for 4.
2. Place a ruby on every round space with a red dot; with 2 players, the spaces with the 2-player symbol stay empty. The rest go back in the box.
3. Shuffle the mosque tiles, lay six of them face up and the rest in a face-down pile. Shuffle the bazaar cards into a face-down draw pile.
4. Keep the dice, lira, goods tokens and crystals within reach. Everyone gets a summary card and one crystal.
5. Choose a starting player: they get the five dice and no lira. Each following player clockwise gets one lira more than the player on their right: 1, 2 and 3.

How to play a turn

In short: roll five dice and take two actions with the symbols. Trade goods and lira for rubies. Six rubies (five with four players) and the end is in sight.

1. Do you have mosque tiles that give income? Take that first: 3 lira, 1 crystal or 1 bazaar card, depending on the tile.
2. Roll the five dice. If you have a mosque tile with an extra die, roll that one too.
3. Not happy with the roll? Hand in a crystal and reroll as many dice as you like, as often as you have crystals.
4. Take two actions (three with the mosque tile for an extra action). You use each die once, you may repeat the same action, and you finish one action before starting the next.
5. You may hand in tokens from your supply as if they were a die of that colour. Brown counts as any colour.
6. Pass the five dice to the player on your left.

What to do with which die

The dice have six faces: bazaar card, lira and the four goods: fabric (red), fruit (yellow), spices (green) and jewellery (blue).

What you hand in	Action	What you get
2 of the same goods	Store	1 token of that colour
2 different goods	Crystal	1 crystal, for a reroll
3 different goods	Joker	1 brown token (joker)
4 different goods	Double store	2 tokens of your choice, not brown
All lira coins rolled	Lira	2 lira per coin
Card symbols, as many as you like	Bazaar	Turn over 1 bazaar card per symbol; carry out 1 of them
The goods shown on a face-up mosque tile	Mosque	That tile, with a lasting advantage
Goods or lira next to the next available ruby	Ruby	1 ruby from that area

Rubies lie in six areas: one for each type of goods, a carpet where you pay one of every kind and a carpet for lira. The space next to the next available ruby tells you what to pay, and the price goes up as soon as a ruby has been taken. Your fifth mosque tile (your fourth with four players) immediately earns you a one-off ruby from the mosque area.

When does the game end?

As soon as someone has six rubies (five with four players), you finish the round so that everyone has had the same number of turns. The most rubies wins. In case of a tie, those players sell their tokens for 3 lira and their crystals for 2 lira each; whoever then has the most money wins. Still tied? Then you share the victory.

Frequently asked questions

Can I use a mosque tile straight away?

No. A tile you buy this turn only works from your next turn. You then take its income as your first step, before you roll.

What if the bazaar card asks for something I do not have?

Then you take 1 lira instead of the card's benefit. The same applies if you can pay but would rather not.

Does a brown token really count as any colour?

Yes. You hand it in as fabric, fruit, spice or jewellery, whatever you need at that moment.

What happens when the tokens or crystals run out?

Everyone who has at least one puts one back. Then you take what you need. Still not enough? Repeat.

Can I buy two rubies in one turn?

Yes, if you can pay twice; your two actions may be the same. The second ruby from the same area does cost more than the first.

Tips for experienced players

• Buy a crystal or two early on. A reroll does not cost an action, and the difference between three and four different goods is exactly one die.
• Watch what the others are saving up for. If someone empties the green area, that ruby gets more expensive for you too. Switch to an area nobody is going for yet.
• Mosque tiles pay off if you buy them early. The extra die and the extra action are the strongest, and five tiles also earn you a ruby.

Do you play a house rule that is not listed here, or have you spotted a mistake? Let us know and we will update it.