Saint Petersburg

Saint Petersburg is a simple engine building game where you are trying to balance rubles (money/purchasing power) with victory points. The object is to make sure you can afford more and more as the game progresses but quickly turn money into victory by mid-game.

General

• Be aware of how much your opponents have to spend.
• Things that drop to the next level are one less.
• Each card lowers the cost of the same type of card.
• Dual functions (generate rubles and victory) are almost always good investments.
• Recognizing who goes first for each phase on the next round is important.

Worker Phase

1. Always purchase the most workers you can afford at the beginning.
2. Each worker lowers the cost of the same type of worker. This is especially important with the miner and the lumberjack, which will pay you back almost immediately after the 1st or 2nd is purchased.
3. Make sure you have the ability to trade a worker to another role.

Building Phase

1. Make sure you have a building to trade, always.
2. Do NOT overspend at the beginning but be aware of the scores acquired by your opponent per round of each building.
3. If you are falling behind it is more important to spend money on a good building that will score you more per round than a lesser building. The more rounds you can use it the more valuable it will prove.
4. When trading to a dual function building, identify what you need more at the time. Generally, at the beginning of the game, you want a little extra money to spend in the Aristocrat phase. Near the end game, you want Victory Points.
5. The Pub should be played conservatively (if at all) at the beginning and liberally at the end provided you have excesses.
6. ANY building can be traded to a better building especially ones you have no further use for.
7. The observatory is a powerful building which generally should be used for its special ability every turn unless you are falling behind in VP. Even if you can't build it, you can spoil/discard it from others getting it.

Aristocrat Phase

• Aim high—you want the maximum number of different aristocrats by the end game, which means you want close to ten. This is less likely in a multi-player game, but lacking this ability will likely ruin you.
• If you can afford a dual function card, pay for it unless your opponent seems to be holding back their money. Just don't stack your tableau with the same types.

Trade Phase

• Everything in the bottom row will be cleared, generally speaking make sure that everything at the top allows for an even amount of purchases in a worst case scenario
• Let some trade cards fall to cheaper prices and snap them up immediately in the next worker or building phase.
• Consider storage of valuable trades that you can use (or give additional slots).
• Almost NEVER consider downgrading a trade—the cost is always one ruble, but generally what you get is less than what you need. Save that money for more workers or better buildings.

End Game

• End game occurs when one stack is unable to replenish the vacancies on the board. Look ahead to see if it is likely to happen on the round. Only ONE deck needs to be exhausted.
• Make sure to clear your storage this round or face a whopping negative five (-5) per card.
• The trade phase is only important for Aristocrat diversity and that may be luck of the draw, generally speaking only the Worker, and Building Phase are important.
• Clearing workers primarily gives you more slots but they are overall not very valuable for their cost, so they generally should be avoided this round unless you are trying to trigger the end of the game.
• Rubles are only worth a single victory point for every ten. Even a five-point building will give you a better ratio unless you are trying to limit your opponent's options.
• Spend as much as you can that round—this usually means maxing your pub unless an additional Aristocrat will score you more. But if you are expecting it from the Trade phase, don't count on it.
• Tie breaker is number of rubles you have in your hand after final-game scoring (So don't buy workers in the trading phase just to do it, you might tie and lose because of it)

Final Notes

There are always exceptions to the above suggested strategies. Observing what you and your opponents need (and has) is fundamental to Saint Petersburg. Once you get good, a game can take fifteen minutes and you will discover those subtleties. In addition even taking one or two of those into account if you are new to the game will pick up your pace quickly.