Overview
At a glance
Is this game right for my group?
ABG editorial scores on a 1–5 scale.
Harder to teach
High replayability
Highly interactive
Scales well
Deep strategy
More strategic control
How it plays
How does it play?
Run a Lisbon fado house, move managers through a bump-driven worker-placement system, hire musicians, attract customers, build ensembles, and promote tomorrow’s stars.
Core mechanisms
Key systems that shape the decisions players make.
Market
Buy and sell through a shared supply whose availability or prices can change.
Worker Placement
Commit limited workers to action spaces before opponents occupy them.
Commodity Speculation
Buy or influence goods whose values change before they are sold or scored.
Open Drafting
Select cards or items from a shared face-up display.
Set Collection
Gather related items that become more valuable when scored together.
Solo / Solitaire Game
Provide rules and objectives designed for a single player.
Read the full game description
House of Fado puts each player in charge of a Lisbon restaurant where dinner and Portugal’s soulful fado music share the same evening. Managers assign staff to action spaces, using a bump mechanism inspired by The Gallerist: entering an occupied location can displace another worker and reshape the timing of both players’ plans. Restaurants attract customers, recruit fadistas and guitarists, assemble ensembles, improve décor, and manage a market whose musicians and songs grow more valuable as their reputation rises. Dice, notation tiles, critics, and billboard scoring create tactical openings, while the restaurant board asks for a coherent long-term identity. Solo rules preserve the economic puzzle without a full table. After the final performances, prestige from promoted talent, customers, restaurant development, and scoring objectives determines which casa de fado has become Lisbon’s most celebrated night out.
