The best Alhambra variants⎇ 2026

Alhambra is a strategic board game set in the historical context of the construction of the Alhambra in Granada, Spain, during the Middle Ages. It combines elements of resource management, tile placement, and strategic planning.

Alhambra: Big Box is the ultimate collection for fans of the Alhambra board game, combining the base game with all five of its expansions. This comprehensive set offers a wide range of gameplay variations and strategic depth. The packaging is thoughtfully designed to store each expansion separately, ensuring easy organization and setup. The expansions included are The Vizier's Favor, The City Gates, The Thief's Turn, The Treasure Chamber, and Power of the Sultan, each adding unique elements and challenges to the game.

Players acquire buildings to place within their Alhambra complex. On their turn, they can take money from the open market, buy a building, or conduct building projects with buildings set aside. Points are awarded for the most buildings of each type and for the longest outer wall section.

Big Box includes various games from the Alhambra universe. It features Granada, The Gardens of Alhambra, Alhambra: The Card Game, and Alhambra: The Dice Game.

Alhambra: The Card Game is inspired by the popular and award-winning game franchise, Alhambra. This version maintains the same core rules but features different themes and minor changes from its predecessor, Stimmt So!. Players acquire shares in various aspects of a large company using a mechanism similar to Union Pacific, with different currencies and stock types rewarding majority and minority shareholders throughout the game.

Players aim to score the most victory points over five rounds, with scoring occurring after the 1st, 3rd, and 5th rounds. Using eight dice displaying six building symbols, players roll three dice each turn to collect symbols for buildings. The player with the highest roll chooses between two buildings or a building and a special token providing additional bonuses, while the second-best player receives the remaining option. Victory points are awarded based on majorities in building categories, similar to the original game.

New York follows the same gameplay as Dirk Henn's award-winning game, but replaces Spanish architecture with Manhattan skyscrapers. Players collect four types of currency to purchase tiles, creating their own mini-metropolis while connecting paved streets into a cohesive road network. The game board has been enlarged, featuring points for both covered and uncovered pieces, along with a scoring track that circles the board's edge.

Many craftsmen, merchants, and entire families have settled at the foot of the Sierra Nevada because the Alhambra Palace promises work, contracts, and prosperity. Players develop the city of Granada by purchasing building tiles to construct a town that earns the most victory points, with dynamic building values based on the number of certain types of buildings present in all players' cities.

The Gardens of Alhambra is an abstract influence game where each player is represented by a specific color. Players place stones, which depict all four colors, on fixed locations on the board, aiming to surround and capture victory point markers. Careful placement of the stones is essential to maximize points while minimizing opponents' scores, as ties result in disqualification, awarding points to the next highest color sum. The player with the most victory points at the end wins.