# Gentes

Gentes is a board game for 1–4 players. It plays in 90 minutes and is meant for ages 12 and up. Ludoya players call it best with 4. It is rated 7.1 out of 10 by 28 Ludoya reviewers. The cheapest copy in stock is $41.84 (United States).

- **Players:** 1–4 (best with 4)
- **Playing time:** 90 minutes
- **Minimum age:** 12+
- **Complexity:** 3.2 out of 5
- **Year published:** 2017
- **Categories:** Civilization, Ancient
- **Mechanics:** Solo / Solitaire Game, Action Drafting, Income, End Game Bonuses, Open Drafting, Action Points, Tile Placement, Hand Management, Contracts, Set Collection, Tags, Variable Set-up, Turn Order: Claim Action, Market
- **Ludoya rating:** 7.1 out of 10, from 28 reviews
- **Owned by:** 67 Ludoya players
- **Plays logged on Ludoya:** 107
- **Unique players:** 142

**Designers:** Stefan Risthaus

**Artists:** Adam P. McIver, Harald Lieske

**Publishers:** Spielworxx

## Where to buy in United States

| Shop | Price | Link |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Board Game Bliss | 58.95 $ | https://www.boardgamebliss.com/products/gentes |
| Magia de Tinta | 39.95 € | https://www.magiadetinta.com/es/juegos/5491-gentes-8436578813681.html |
| Fantasiapelit | 50.8 € | https://www.fantasiapelit.com/index.php?main=ai&kat=single&mista=indeksi&etsittava=_178985 |

## Expansions

- [Gentes: New Cities](https://www.ludoya.com/games/gentes-new-cities)
- [Brettspiel Adventskalender 2017](https://www.ludoya.com/games/brettspiel-adventskalender-2017)

## Similar games

- [Gentes: Deluxified Edition](https://www.ludoya.com/games/gentes-deluxified-edition)
- [The Ancient World (Second Edition)](https://www.ludoya.com/games/the-ancient-world-second-edition)
- [Millennia: Tracks of Time](https://www.ludoya.com/games/millennia)
- [Terraforming Mars](https://www.ludoya.com/games/terraforming-mars)
- [Tiletum](https://www.ludoya.com/games/tiletum)
- [Ants](https://www.ludoya.com/games/ants-4)
- [Nations](https://www.ludoya.com/games/nations)
- [Everdell](https://www.ludoya.com/games/everdell)
- [Fest Season](https://www.ludoya.com/games/fest-season)
- [Papyria](https://www.ludoya.com/games/papyria)
- [Hallertau](https://www.ludoya.com/games/hallertau)
- [Men-Nefer](https://www.ludoya.com/games/men-nefer)

## Rules questions

### Can I voluntarily pass during the heyday if I don't want to take any action?

No — you may not voluntarily pass; as long as you have at least one free space on your time track you must take a main action, and if no action tiles are available you must take the Tax Collector or become the New Starting Player until your time track is full (p.6).

### When I take an action tile, how do I place the action and time tiles — and can I change them later?

Place the chosen action tile on the leftmost empty space of your time track and then place the required time tiles (single- or double-hourglass) on subsequent free spaces; once placed you may not flip or exchange those time tiles (p.6).

### If I build a city, do I activate my other cities in that region (and the new one)?

Yes — when you build a city you place a house on the matching site and then activate all of your cities in that region, including the newly built city, receiving each city's rewards (temple/oracle cubes, coins, or VPs) (p.8).

### Can I take civilization cards from the discard pile, and how many can I take with the Scribe action?

Yes — with the Scribe action you must choose either to take from the face‑up display or from the discard pile (not both); depending on the cost you paid you may take 1–3 from the display or 1–2 from the discard pile as allowed by the action cost (p.9).

### How many civilization cards can I hold and what happens at cleanup and at game end?

During the heyday you may hold any number of cards, but at the decline phase you must place a time tile (an hourglass) for each card beyond three (p.9, p.11); at game end you may play cards from your hand that you meet the requirements for at half their listed points (rounded up), and for any remaining hand cards whose requirements you cannot meet you lose half their VP value (rounded up) (p.11).

### If I'm missing people to meet a card's requirements, can I use cubes from my temple/oracle and do those count as population?

You may satisfy missing person requirements by returning wooden cubes from your temple and/or oracle to the general stock (these are treated as 'virtual' persons to meet the card), but you do not record them on your population chart; for the 18‑people bonus the condition must be actually met at the end of the action on your population chart (p.9, p.10).

## Links

- [This page](https://www.ludoya.com/games/gentes)
- [Gentes in the Ludoya app](https://app.ludoya.com/g/gentes)
- [BoardGameGeek entry](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/217780)

_Data from Ludoya, updated 2026-09-24. Ratings, ownership and play counts are Ludoya's own._