Ora Et Labora

In Ora et Labora (Latin “Pray and Work”), each player is the head of a monastery in the medieval era, who acquires land and constructs buildings – small enterprises that will earn resources and profits. The goal is to build a functioning infrastructure and manufacture prestige items – such as books, pottery, decorative items and relics – to score the most victory points at the end of the game.

Ora et Labora, Uwe Rosenberg's fifth “big” game, has gameplay mechanics similar to Le Havre, such as two-sided resource tiles that can be upgraded from a basic item to something more useful. Instead of adding resources to the board round by round, as in Agricola and Le Havre, Ora et Labora uses a numbered rondel to show how many of each resource are available at any time. At the start of each round, players turn the rondel by one segment, simultaneously adjusting the count of all resources.

Each player has a personal game board. New buildings enter the game from time to time and players can construct them on their board with the building materials they collect, with some terrain restrictions on what can be built where. Some spaces start with trees or marshes on them, as in Agricola: Farmers of the Moor, so they block development until a player clears the land, but provide resources when removed. Smart building on your personal board will affect your final score, while players can buy additional land during the game if needed.

Players also have three workers who can enter buildings to take on the action associated with that location. Workers must remain in place until you have placed all three. You can enter your own buildings with these workers, but to enter and use another player's buildings, you must pay that player an entry fee so that they move one of their workers into the building to do the work for you.

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