The Game Concept You are an abbot of a medieval monastery competing with other abbots to amass the greatest library of sacred books To do so you need to have both the workers & resources to run a well-functioning scriptorium To acquire workers & resources you use a limited supply of donated gold In addition you must be on good terms with the powerful bishop who can help you in your quest Outline of Game Play The object of the game is to score the most Victory Points You win Victory Points by winning any of the 5 categories Illuminators Scribes Manuscripts Scrolls & Supplies You win a category by having the highest total number of workers (Scribes Illuminators) or resources (Manuscripts Scrolls Supplies) in that category This is determined by the numbers in the upper left corner on the cards At the start of the game each category is worth 3 Victory Points As the game progresses the values on the value Board will change & some categories will become worth more or less Victory Points than others The game is divided into 2 stages a Donation stage & an Auction stage During the Donation stage players acquire free cards according to an established plan In the Auction stage players purchase cards in auction rounds After the two stageswinners of each category are determined & Victory Points awarded The player with the most Victory Points wins Game Characteristics The game involves a good deal of strategic planning some bluffing & a little bit of luck The rules are easy to understand but you have to play it a few times to develop a playing strategy It plays differently from 2-4 players but each game is equally fun & challenging Contains 87 Total Cards 1 Scriptorium 5 Six-Sided Dice (5 different colors)1 Rule Book Card Size Standard Card Game (Magic the Gathering & similar CCG&s)