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Nidavellir
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Senators
2017
Rules assistance for Senators
Plain-language explanations of turns, card effects and disputed situations, with official source references and saved question history.
- 3–5 players
- 45–60 min
- 12+
- Complexity 2.1/5
For 3 players
Rules assistant for Senators
What would you like to know?
Answers come from the official rulebook, with the page to check.
Senators is a board game released in 2017 for 3–5 players, 45–60 minutes per game, and ages 12 and up. It was designed by Rikki Tahta and Haig Tahta and its main mechanics are Set Collection, Push Your Luck, and Auction / Bidding.
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About the game
It is the late Republican period of Rome, and you are the leader of one of the factions in the city, competing for power in the Senate. You are increasing your wealth by buying up resources, then using your position to sell them to the state for fat profits. With the resulting cash, you then "buy" more Senators, controlling yet more votes in the Senate. Rome is constantly in conflict, and you know that at some point wars will increase to the point that the Senate will choose to centralize power and appoint a single leader. At that moment, the leader of the faction with the most Senators will be made Caesar. Senators is best described as an adversarial bidding game. Players earn money by purchasing resources at auction, extorting them from other players, then selling them in sets to the bank. Cash is required to support wars, defend against aggressive bids, and most importantly to buy more Senators. The game lasts a variable number of turns, and when the fourth war is revealed it immediately ends. At that point, the player with the most Senators wins. On their turn, a player first draws an event card from the deck, then takes one of three actions: a) launching an auction by putting new cards up for sale, b) extorting cards from other players, or c) cashing in sets of cards and buying new Senators. The game is simple, relatively short, and highly interactive. The key decisions are both tactical — how to value the cards at auction and how to bid for the wars, deficits, and other events given your relative position — and strategic: choosing which Senators to collect and how long to build sets versus when to cash in and buy Senators. Everyone is transacting all the time, and the game integrates different bidding systems including an open step bid (like many worker placement games) at the market auctions, blind bidding at the wars, an innovative high/low blind bid at the budget deficits, dutch auctions when new Senators arrive, and shotgun offers (similar to Kuhhandel or Medici v Strozzi) when players extort from each other.
Mechanics
Designers
Publishers
- New Games Order, LLC
- DMZ Games
- Ferti
- Indie Boards & Cards
- La Mame Games
Questions and answers
Senators supports 3–5 players according to the catalogue. This range comes from the publisher’s listed player count, so the game can be set up for any group size within it. Some setups, rules and scoring details may still vary by player count, so check your edition’s rulebook for the exact configuration.
The listed playing time for Senators is 45–60 minutes. This is the publisher’s estimate for a full game. The actual duration depends on the group, the player count and familiarity with the rules: first sessions usually run longer, while experienced groups often finish faster. Setup and teaching time are not included in this estimate.
The catalogue lists Senators for ages 12 and up. This is the publisher’s recommendation and reflects reading demands, rule complexity and small components rather than theme alone. Younger players can often join with help from an adult, so check the age guidance on your edition and consider your group’s experience with board games.
Senators has a complexity rating of 2.1 out of 5 from BoardGameGeek players, which makes it a medium-light game. The rating reflects how much rules knowledge, planning and decision-making a typical game demands. Expect a longer first teach for heavier games, and use a preparation guide before game night.
Senators belongs to these categories: Card Game and Ancient. Its main mechanics are Set Collection, Push Your Luck, and Auction / Bidding. Categories describe the theme and setting of a game, while mechanics describe what players actually do on their turns. Each mechanic links to a catalogue hub with similar games, which helps when you want something comparable.
The credited designers of Senators are: Rikki Tahta and Haig Tahta. These credits come from the published game data and name the people responsible for the game’s design, not its illustrators or publishers. Designer pages on MeepleRules collect other titles by the same designers, which helps when you enjoy a game and want to find similar ones.
The catalogue lists Senators as a base game. It can be played on its own with the components in the box and does not require any other title. Expansions, if any exist, add new content or rules on top of it and are listed separately in the catalogue with a link back to this base game.