Rio Grande Games Doge 75 - Manual

Graphics: Franz and Imelda Vohwinkel
English translation: Jay Tummelson
© 2000 Simba Toys
Rio Grande Games
PO Box 45715
Rio Rancho, NM 87174 USA
All Rights Reserved.
Made in Germany
www.riograndegames.com
The office of the Doge was the highest office in Venice for over 1000 years. In the early days, the
position changed often. In the beginning, the position was similar to a duke, but later came to grow
into the status of a king. Even later, as the head of the republic of Venice, the position of Doge was
even more important. The elected advisors from the six districts, the three advisors from the Quarantia,
and the Doge came together to form the Council of Ten.
The last Doge of Venice, Ludovico Manin, lost his office when Napoleon invaded Northern Italy.
It is not surprising that the powerful families of Venice worked hard to have one of theirs in this
important position. Although the position could not be inherited, these families worked equally hard to
keep it in the family once they got it. In order to limit the importance of individual families and reduce
power of the office of Doge, a group of advisors and councilors developed a complicated system for
electing the Doge.
For this game, this system is simplified.
The Author: Leo Colovini was born in Venice in 1964, where he still lives today.
He has worked for many years with master game designer Alex Randolph.
With Alex, he developed Inkognito in 1989, which won the award for “beautiful game”
from the “Spiel des Jahres" jury.
Today, Leo Colovini is in a partnership with Alex Randolph and Dario De Toffoli in the
game company,“Venice Connection".