Gaudí is a medium-weight Eurogame where every turn you decide how many spaces to advance along the ring drawn in the center of the board. Whoever ends up ahead of everyone else gets double the actions, but those who rush finish their round sooner. It is designed by Dani Garcia, the one behind Barcelona.
| Signature | 9 | Barcelona and Windmill Valley in the top thousand BGG; ludography however only since 2023. |
| Originality | 8 | Being ahead of everyone doubles the turn; tiles and card columns remain known. |
| Workmanship | 8 | 96 tiles and 99 cards at 29.99; cardboard thickness not communicated. |
| Care | 8 | Numbered setup and gameplay examples; the symbol summary is inside the booklet. |
| Autonomy | 7 | Everything uses symbols, but the 33 Religion cards require the appendix open. |
A mosaic you own and don't spend
Gaudí places a personal board in front of you, the cardboard with empty silhouettes where you build your mosaic, and a main board from which you take pieces to fill it. The pieces are called Trencadís, a Catalan word for "many little broken things," and they are 96 tiles of broken ceramic in various colors and shapes. You take one at a time and fit it into an available silhouette of the same shape, where it remains for the whole game. The Trencadís are not currency and are never spent, because they are only meant to be owned and counted.
The mosaic is used to play cards. The three decks of 33 cards tell the story of the three Pillars of Antoni Gaudí's life — Nature, Catalonia, and Religion — and each card has a number with a red border next to a color at the bottom. That number is not a cost, because it tells you how many tiles of that color you must already have on your board to place it, and you keep them all. The played card goes to the bottom of the column of its Pillar, under your board, and the numbers in the column add up, so the next card of that color will require more mosaic from you.
You win with the Grand Total, and the way it is calculated governs the entire game. Each Pillar has its own scoring track along the edge of the board, so you reach the end with three distinct scores, and at the end you add only the two lowest ones. To that sum, you add the tiles of your second and third largest groups, where a group is a chain of tiles of the same color touching along a side. In the box, you won't find dice, worker placement, or a way to take something from someone else.
| Interaction | Indirect: you cannot stop where another token is already present, and good tiles disappear. |
| Luck | Tiles drawn randomly from the bag and cards revealed on top of the decks; there are no dice in the box. |
| Weight | Medium, 3.00 out of 5 according to BoardGameGeek: few rules, many icons to learn to read. |
| Downtime | Short: those who fall behind play more turns; those who finish the circuit watch the others conclude. |
| Footprint | Square main board plus one personal board per player, with three columns of cards growing below. |
| Automa | In solo mode, Gaudí moves to the first space where it can perform the full action; in two-player mode, a token occupies spaces without acting. |
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1 · Move — in turns
You move your Chandelier token, the piece of your color, clockwise along the ring of spaces in the center of the board, as many spaces as you want.
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2 · Occupied no — always
You cannot stop on a space where another player's token is already present, so the space you wanted can be stolen.
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3 · Read symbols — on your turn
The space shows an action plus a certain number of pencils and hammers. Each pencil lets you perform the action drawn there once.
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4 · Hammers give choice — on your turn
Each hammer is worth that action, or to move a token up one space on a Chimney, the vertical tile at the top of your board, or to play a card.
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5 · Whoever is ahead does double
If, proceeding clockwise, no token precedes you, you use both the pencils and the hammers; otherwise, choose only one of the two rows.
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6 · Leave the loop — at the end of the ring
Once at the end, remove the token from the board and activate the tile in the center. The round ends when all tokens have exited.
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Where points come from
From three separate tracks, one per Pillar. Nature points come mainly from played Nature cards, Catalonia points are collected at the end of the round, and Religion points are almost all awarded at the final count. Tiles pay out at the end, based on color groups on your board.
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The points that matter are the ones you have the fewest of
This is the rule that decides where to spend your turn, so it is worth pausing for a moment. Having three separate tracks and only summing two means that the richest card on the board is useless if it raises the Pillar you are already ahead on. Your score grows at the speed of your weakest area, and it is often better to play a mediocre card in the right column instead of a brilliant one in the wrong column.
Then there is the board, which pays out at the end for the second and third largest groups. The first does not count, and that single row changes the way you place tiles, because a huge chain of yellow ones leaves you with the count reliant on two small chains. It is better to cultivate three medium-sized ones and keep them connected, while the cards keep asking for colors that are not always the right ones.
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Nature
Pays immediately: you play a Nature card and resolve the entire column, collecting the rewards at the top of each card.
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Catalonia
Pays at the end of the round, when you reach the bottom of the ring and choose that reward on the center tile.
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Religion
Pays only at the end, multiplying points by how many times you satisfied a condition printed on the card.
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2 Players
A third token enters that occupies spaces without acting and always puts itself back in the lead, so almost no one gets a double turn.
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3-4 Players
No extra token: real players compete for the head of the ring, and the good spaces truly disappear.
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Solo
Three pawns on the ring, Gaudí plus the neutral token: the race dies down and optimization remains.
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The trip around the Chandelier is a budget of turns that you manage yourself. You advance by as many spaces as you want, and when you reach the bottom, your token leaves the board and the round is over for you, while the others continue to play. Whoever is ahead of everyone else uses both the pencils and the hammers of the space, meaning they take double the actions of those behind them. Every turn then repeats the same question: whether to push yourself forward to double up now or stay behind to have more turns. This is complicated by the fact that you cannot stop on a good space if another token is already there, and that after the first exit, the dark spaces at the bottom of the ring expel those who land on them. Here, players interact, and nowhere else.
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The doubt
With two players, the biggest bonus in the game is almost never taken, and the rule that produces it is on page 7. In a two-player game, a third token of an unused color enters the board, which always plays last and takes no actions. On its turn, it moves to the first space that makes it the most advanced of all, and it returns there on the next lap. The consequence at the table is that neither of the two real players is almost ever the one in front of everyone, because that token puts itself back in the lead every time. Only the person in the lead uses pencils and hammers together, so the choice around which the entire race revolves in 3- and 4-player games becomes an exception in a 2-player game. You play the same game at half power, and the same rule also applies to the solitaire mode. |
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If your table has three or four people, this game asks of you exactly what it does best.
Gaudí – ITA · €29.99
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The second game Dani Garcia dedicates to Barcelona
Dani Garcia has a short and already recognizable career. He debuted in 2023 and signed Barcelona and Windmill Valley, which after two and three years respectively are both in the top thousand of the BoardGameGeek general ranking, and which, like this one, revolve around tiles and tracks. He comes from video games, where he was a 2D and 3D artist, and he is from Barcelona, so his city appears for the second time in one of his boxes.
The illustrations are by Edu Valls and the graphic design by Sol Saavedra, the two people responsible for the readability of a game that communicates almost exclusively through icons. The edition arriving here is Italian, with Devir Italia in the credits, translation by Alessandro Barella, and two proofreaders credited in the booklet. At the end of the rulebook, there is also a three-page essay on the architect, signed by philosopher Jordi Graupera.
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What it is like
Windmill Valley, by the same author, for the circular action track on which you move a pawn. Azul for the ceramic tiles to be fitted into a personal board.
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Where it stands apart
In Windmill Valley, you upgrade the track and it remains available for the whole game; here, instead, it is consumed, because every space you pass is a turn you won't take in that round. And in Azul, a tile that doesn't fit costs you points, while here, if you don't have a shape of the same type, you put it back where you took it from and take another one.
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96
Trencadís tiles, six for each color and shape
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99
Pillar cards, 33 for each of the three themes
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3
rounds, and just as many point tracks
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What's inside for 29.99
The box contains 96 Trencadís tiles and 99 cards, four player boards, twelve Chimney tiles, seven Chandelier tiles, a cloth bag, and about thirty markers including points, Chimneys, and ring pawns. The board is double-sided, as are the Chimney tiles, because the Expert mode uses the Night side of both.
What I don't know is how thick the cardboard is, if the board cutouts are deep enough to hold the tiles in place, and if there is an insert inside. The publisher did not disclose this and I haven't opened the box, so the Craftsmanship rating stops at eight. The rest of the content, at this price, is packed.
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Included
Italian rulebook with numbered setup, gameplay examples, and symbol appendix
Expert mode on the Night side, with requirements to be met within a single group of adjacent tiles Official solitaire against Gaudí, with four difficulty levels Cloth bag for the 96 tiles |
Not included
No separate reference sheet: symbols are on the last pages of the booklet
No dice, no direct attacks, no resources to spend No official gameplay video among the sources I accessed Cardboard thickness and presence of an insert not disclosed by the publisher |
Solo: against Gaudí in person
With the materials chapter closed, all that remains is the way to play that many look at first: solo. The solitaire mode is official and is on page 19 of the booklet, where the automated opponent is Gaudí himself. He has no board or Chimneys, keeps his cards in three columns and his tiles sorted by color and shape in an area of the table, and only uses the Grand Total marker. On his turn, you advance him to the first space where he can fully complete the depicted action, and he always takes the tile of the color he has the least of and the lowest card. These are two quick visual checks, without tables or cards to flip, plus the neutral marker to move.
You choose the difficulty before starting from four levels, and only the final score changes. At easy, normal, and hard, you remove three, two, or one card respectively from each of his columns, and his total is multiplied by three, or by four if you chose insane; Gaudí's behavior remains identical. What does vary is the table setup, with three out of seven Chandelier tiles and Chimney tiles distributed randomly, although you only play with the Expert rules in solo mode. The real point is something else, because the neutral marker resets to the front of everyone each round and the double turn almost never happens. The race fizzles out, and what remains is an optimization puzzle against a target score.
Ninety-six pieces of broken ceramic that aren't spent, and three scores, two of which count.
The game is all there, in the distance between the space you want and the one they leave free for you.
| Buy it if | you like deciding how far to run knowing that every space skipped is a turn you won't take, and if your table is almost always three or four people. |
| Skip it if | you almost always play with two, because a neutral marker is almost always in the lead and you don't get the double turn, or if you are looking for a game with real conflict. |
| Is it released in Italian? |
| Yes, and it is the edition this page discusses. Devir Italia is in the booklet credits, with translation by Alessandro Barella and two credited proofreaders. |
| Do you need to know English to play it? |
| No. Tiles, boards, and the main board use icons, and the rulebook plus the symbol appendix are in Italian. |
| Can you play solo? And how? |
| Yes. The automated opponent is called Gaudí, he moves his marker to the first space where he can fully perform the action, and has four difficulty levels that only change his final score. You only play with the Expert rules. |
| How long does it really take, and how long to explain? |
| 60-100 minutes stated over three rounds. The rules are few and can be explained quickly; time is spent learning the symbols, and for this reason, the booklet appendix stays open during the first few games. |
| How is it different from Azul? |
| In the way incorrect tiles punish you. In Azul, a tile that doesn't fit costs points; here, if you don't have a cutout of the same shape, you put it back where you took it from. And here tiles don't score points on their own: they are needed to satisfy card requirements, and they pay off at the end with color groups. |
| How many games does it last? |
| The three Chandelier tiles drawn from seven change, as do the face-up cards above the three decks of 33, and in Expert mode, even the randomly distributed Chimney tiles. The ring of spaces, however, is always laid out the same way. |
| Is it worth the price? |
| At 29.99, the content justifies it: 96 tiles, 99 cards, four boards, and the double-sided board and Chimneys. It's not suitable for those who almost always play with two, because the double turn is rarely taken there, nor for those looking for a game with conflict. |
| Better to start with the Normal mode or the Expert one? |
| From Normal, and the choice must be made before setting up the table because it changes the side of the board. The Expert mode requires the requirement tiles to be within a single group of adjacent tiles and adds permanent effects on Chimneys. |
In short — Gaudí is a board game by Dani Garcia, with illustrations by Edu Valls and graphic design by Sol Saavedra, published by Devir in 2026 and available in an Italian edition managed by Devir Italia. For 1 to 4 players, ages 10 and up, 60-100 minutes. You move a marker along a ring of actions, collect Trencadís ceramic tiles, and play cards on the three Pillars of the Catalan architect's life: Nature, Catalonia, and Religion.
| Players | 1 to 4; in two-player and solo games, a third neutral marker enters. |
| Duration | 60-100 minutes stated, spread across three rounds. |
| Structure | Three rounds; each ends when all markers have left the ring. |
| Language | Italian edition; icon-based components, rulebook and symbol appendix translated. |
| Box | 96 tiles, 99 cards, 4 player boards, cloth bag. |
| Solitaire | Official, automated opponent and four levels; only with Expert rules. |
In English — Gaudí is a medium-weight eurogame by Dani Garcia, illustrated by Edu Valls and published by Devir in 2026, for 1 to 4 players, ages 10 and up, 60 to 100 minutes. Players move a marker clockwise around a central ring of action spaces, choosing how far to travel: the player ahead of everyone else performs twice as many actions, but a full lap ends that player's round. Collected Trencadís tiles let you play cards on three pillars — Nature, Catalonia, Religion — and only your two lowest pillar scores count. This article is written in Italian.
Gaudí · Dani Garcia · Edu Valls · Devir · tile placement · rondel · Calibro · 2026 · Frogames
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