In Res Publica you are the will of the people, guiding five ancient civilizations to greater heights of power and technology. Each turn, the active player makes a trade offer... and each player in turn responds in kind. Using the cards and the information gained through the trading process, players work to acquire five identical people cards in order to build a city (which increases the number of cards you can draw each turn) or five identical technology cards in order to build a monument (which garners end game victory points). At the end of the game, players total the points achieved via cities and monuments and the one who has the most wins.
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Separate the deck into People cards and Technology cards. Shuffle each deck separately. Shuffle City cards and Monument cards into their own respective piles. Deal starting hands to all players (hand size not specified in this rulebook excerpt). Place decks within reach of all players. Each player begins with no Cities or Monuments in front of them.
On your turn, you perform any or none of the following three actions in this exact order: (1) TRADE — negotiate and swap cards with one opponent; (2) SHOW SETS OF 5 — reveal one or more complete sets of 5 identical cards to earn City or Monument cards; (3) DRAW CARDS — draw up to 3 cards total from the People deck (1 card) and/or Technology cards generated by your Cities (1 per City you control). You are never required to perform any of these actions, but if you do them, they must occur in this sequence.
Most victory points wins. Tally all point sources at game end after the final round. Scoring sources: Cities: 3 points each, Monuments: points equal to the number printed on the card, Pairs in hand: 1 point per pair of identical cards
Source: Rulebook
The most useful rules for getting a first game right.
Each turn, a player may perform any or none of the following three actions, but they must be resolved in this precise order: 1. TRADE — trade and swap cards with an opponent; 2. SHOW SETS OF 5 — display one or more sets of 5 identical cards to earn City or Monument cards; 3. DRAW CARDS — draw up to 3 cards total. No action is mandatory, but the order cannot be altered.
During the Trade phase of your turn, you may negotiate and swap cards with one opponent. You must choose either to REQUEST one or more cards, OR to OFFER one or more cards. Trading is bilateral: the active player initiates, and an opponent may respond. A trade only completes if both parties agree on terms.
When it is your turn to trade, one option is to REQUEST one or more cards from an opponent. You state what you want and the opponent may respond with what they want in return. Requests must follow the naming restrictions: you may name no more than two types in any single request or response.
When it is your turn to trade, one option is to OFFER one or more cards to an opponent. You state what you are willing to give and what you want in return. Offers must follow the naming restrictions: you may name no more than two types in any single offer or response.
At any point during a trade negotiation — whether requesting, offering, or responding — a player may name no more than two card types. If two types are named, they must be combined using 'and' or 'or'. You may NOT use negative qualifiers such as 'no' (e.g., saying '1 Pair and no Romans' is illegal).
Offers and responses in a trade may specify a card category (e.g., 'People', 'Technology', 'Babylonians', 'Architecture') and/or multiples (e.g., 'Three of a kind', 'Two pairs', '3 Technology cards', 'Two Romans and Two Greeks'). Two types may be joined with 'and' or 'or'. Examples of legal trades: 'I request 1 Viking — For two Greeks or one Shipbuilding'; 'I offer 2 Alchemy or 3 Technology — For 1 Babylonian and 2 Greeks.'
During the Show Sets of 5 phase of your turn, you may reveal one or more complete sets of 5 identical cards from your hand. For each set displayed: if the 5 cards are People cards, you receive one City card; if the 5 cards are Technology cards, you receive one Monument card. The 5 displayed cards are removed from your hand. You place the earned City or Monument card in front of you on the table.
When you display a set of 5 identical People cards during the Show Sets phase, you receive one City card, which you place face-up in front of you. Cities are worth 3 points each at game end and allow you to draw Technology cards each turn.
Cities are doubly valuable: they score 3 points each AND grant an extra Technology card draw per turn. Prioritizing People card sets to earn Cities early creates a compounding advantage — more Cities means more Technology draws, which means faster access to Monument sets.
The 3-card draw cap means that having 3+ Cities makes the People draw redundant if you want to maximize Technology draws. With 3 Cities, you can draw 3 Technology cards and skip the People draw entirely, rapidly building toward Monument sets.
Because you can only name two types per trade statement, vague category terms ('People', 'Technology') give you flexibility while specific names ('Vikings', 'Romans') reveal what you need. Using categories in offers hides your set-building intentions.
Since Trade occurs before Show Sets, you can acquire the final card(s) needed to complete a set via trading, then immediately show the completed set in the same turn. Plan trades specifically to enable same-turn set reveals.
Pairs in hand score 1 point each at game end. In the final round, prioritize trading to form as many pairs as possible from your remaining cards, since incomplete sets (no longer buildable into 5s) still yield value as pairs.
Monuments vary in point value (printed on the card). If some Monuments are worth more than others, targeting Technology sets that yield high-value Monuments should be prioritized over lower-value ones, making Monument deck awareness critical.
No. Even though each City entitles you to draw 1 Technology card, the total number of cards drawn during the Draw Cards phase can never exceed 3. So with 4 Cities and a People draw, the player may draw at most 3 cards total (e.g., 3 Technology draws, forfeiting the People draw and one City draw).
No. The final round permits players to display sets, trade, and draw People cards only. Since the Technology deck is exhausted, City-generated Technology draws cannot occur during the final round.
No. The order of actions is fixed: Trade must happen first, then Show Sets of 5, then Draw Cards. A player cannot show sets before trading, nor draw cards before showing sets.
No. Two rules are violated: (1) Only two types may be named, but three concepts are named here (Romans, Greeks, Technology). (2) Negative qualifiers like 'no Technology' are not permitted.
4 identical cards form 2 pairs, scoring 2 points. Each pair of identical cards in hand is worth 1 point, so pairs are counted within the full group (4 cards = 2 pairs = 2 pts; 3 cards = 1 pair + 1 leftover = 1 pt).
Yes. The rules explicitly state you may display '1 or more sets of 5 identical cards' during the Show Sets phase. Each set earns its corresponding City or Monument card.
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