Welcome to the Tasty Minstrel universe! Put your Elves, Dwarves and Gnomes to work in the Village and Guilds of Belfort to collect resources and build up the city!Elves collect wood from the forest while Dwarves collect stone from the quarry. An Elf and a Dwarf together can collect Metal from the mines, and either one can collect Gold. Build buildings in the five districts of the pentagonal city and hire Gnomes to run them to gain their special abilities.

Belfort is a worker placement game with area majority scoring in each district as well as for each type of worker. Buildings give you influence in the districts as well as income, but taxes increase based on your score so the winning players will have to pay more than those behind! Manage your resources and gold well, choose your buildings wisely, and help build the city of Belfort!

Buy Belfort from the Amazon.com

Belfort Promo Video

Belfort Rule Book

Watch It Played Video: How to Play

Watch It Played – Learn from Watching a Game Being Played

Grey Elephant 6 minute Quick Tutorial

Awards and Nominations

Top 200 games of all time on Boardgamegeek.com
Geekie Award for Best Tabletop Game 2014
2012 Dice Hate Me Game of the Year
GAMES Magazine Top 100 Games 2012
Ranked #1 on GeekBuzz for 2011 BGG.con
Golden Geek Best Strategy Board Game Nomination 2012
Golden Geek Best Board Game Artwork/Presentation Nomination 2012

Written Reviews of Belfort

Dice Hate Me: 17/18 – the use of variable Guilds, the broad mix of Property cards and the multitude of possible strategies and shifting tactical priorities puts Belfort in an elite category
Ender Wiggins: “Everything about this game just comes together to form something that proves to be so much more than the sum of its parts.”
Opinionated Gamer: “I’ve got quite a few plays under my belt now, and I still haven’t tired of Belfort.”
MTV: “There are so many moving parts in Belfort, yet the game still feels simple. That is because all of these parts wind up moving in harmony.”
Go Forth and Game: “Belfort is well designed and plays smoothly. The theme of the game comes through well thanks to the art and graphic design. It is easy to teach but has a lot of depth.”
Boards and Bees: “Everything feels very familiar, and that’s to the game’s credit. It makes things easier to understand as the game progresses.”
Dice Slam: “this game is precious!”
Ludocracy Now: “Three different approaches led to a very tight game at the very end—nice to see that the many roads you can take a fairly well balaned. “
A Mom’s Take: “We really liked that the game was built on a strategy rather than chance”
Snackbar Games: “what really sets Belfort apart from other Eurogames is its humor and
Shut Up & Sit Down: “In the end, Belfort is a very successful game.”
Board Game Reviews by Josh: 9/10 “With fun, strategic game play, beautiful production and an exceptional rule book, I’d recommend Belfort to almost any gamer.”
BGG User – Dan Zuccarelli – “That’s not to say that Belfort is completely without faults. For instance, there’s the…ummm…yeahhh. No, it’s pretty flawless.”
BGG User – Sean Johnson -8/10 “added to our list of favorite games”
Initial Impressions:” Belfort is a nice strategy game with sufficient strategy design space to be explored.”
Dice Tower’s People’s Choice – Top 100 Games 2012
Play Board Games: 5/6 “There is a reason Belfort was nominated for BGG Strategy Game of the Year”
Gamer Dad – Holiday Guide 2012 – “A solid game that last just long enough to be fun but not too long to drag on, I highly recommend it”
Chits n’ Bits: “Looking forward to many more plays. My 14yr old seemed to like the game a lot as well, which is a sure sign I’ll be getting this to the table at home.”
Board Game Quest: “I can see why early printings sold out.”
Grey Elephant Gaming: “I am so thrilled to have discovered this game”
Will Work for Games: “I REALLY like Belfort”
The Gamer Nerd: “Belfort is a very strong game”
Black Gate: ”Having played a number of these games at this point, I think this game is one of the more accessible of the genre”
Boards & Barley: 9/10 – “This game looks too fun to be a heavy strategy game, but that’s exactly what this is!”
Dice Monkey: “Overall, I highly recommend the game”
Troll in the Corner: “The mechanics, when taken separately, are simple and, when combined, add to the gameplay without making the system too complicated”
Throat Punch Games: 82.5% “This game is awesome. Its lots of fun and has lots of replay.”
The Gaming Gang: 8.7 “Boiling it down I say that Belfort is an innovative area majority game that keeps things very tight and tense each and every scoring round.”
Jesta tha Rogue: “I like this, especially in comparison to other worker placement games.”
RPG.net: 4/5 “Overall, there was quite a bit to like in this game”
Drakkenstrike Reviews: “It’s hard to pass on a game with such visually appealing components, and when you add in this very strong Euro-inspired game play and mechanics, Belfort really becomes a title that stands out as an exceptionally well made product.”
– – Jeremy Salinas
Cranky Old Man Review: 9/10 “Buy this game”