Setup for 2-Player a Game of Grand Austria Hotel

Generated on 2/27/2026 1:41:35 PM EST
A direct link to this setup is https://www.BoardgameHelpers.com/GrandAustriaHotel/LoadGame.aspx?id=59dc6c47b2f24111b83347b3ff6332f2

Like BoardGameHelpers.com? Maybe buy me a coffee or buy the microbadge on BGG.

Player Setup

Player Color	Turn Order	Starting Items	Player Board
Blue	1 ↗↘ Starting player Last to draft Guest card	10 on money track Strudel x1 Cake x1 Wine x1 Coffee x1	Board B
Purple	2 ↗↘ First to draft Guest card	10 on money track Strudel x1 Cake x1 Wine x1 Coffee x1	Board D

Other Setup

Dice	Total Number of Dice = 10
Politics / Objective Cards
Emperor Tiles

Your Custom Setup Script

Common Play Area

1. Place the game board in the middle of the play area. The game board features spaces for Politics/Objective cards, Guest cards, and Emperor tiles; also, the Round, Emperor, and score tracks. (The two sides of the game board differ only in looks. You can use whichever side you like best, e.g., matching the hotel boards, see step 8a.)
   1. Place the Round marker on the first space of the Round track.
   2. Place the Emperor tiles depicted above face up on their corresponding spaces (below the Round track). Return the remaining Emperor tiles to the game box—you will not need them.
   3. Place the Politics/Objective cards depicted above face up on their corresponding spaces (to the left of the Round track). Return the remaining Politics/Objective cards to the game box—you will not need them.
   4. Shuffle the Guest cards and place them in a face-down deck to the left of the game board. The Guest card deck will contain 56 total cards (+2 for revised edition):
      • 56 (+2 for revised edition) Guest cards from the base game
   5. Then draw five guest cards from the deck and place them face up on the designated spaces at the bottom, from right to left. This is called the queue.
   6. Place the victory point tiles near the game board. Use them to indicate when you reach or pass 75 and 150 victory points on the score track.
2. Place the Action board next to the game board. The Action board features six action spaces associated with dice values 1 through 6.
   1. Place a number of dice depicted above near the Action board. Return the remaining dice, if any, to the game box—you will not need them.
   2. Place the Dustbin nearby.
3. Sort the dishes and drinks and place them in separate piles near the 1 and 2 Action spaces.
4. Sort the Room tiles by color and place them in separate stacks near the 3 action space.
   If you’re having trouble with colors, take notice of the little icons differentiating the tiles.
5. Shuffle all of the Staff cards and place them nearby, face down. The Staff card deck will contain 48 total cards :
   
   • 48 Staff cards from the base game
Introductory Variant: On your first play, you should remove all staff cards marked A-D (on the front), before you shuffle the deck.
6. Place the Overview cards nearby, within reach of all players.

Personal Play Area

7. Take the Turn Order tile as depicted above.
8. Take the Hotel board depicted above, a Money track, a money marker, and the five markers in a color of your choice.
1. Place the hotel board in front of you accordingly with the side depicted above face up.
   For your first play, we recommend using the night side. Oh, and please leave a bit of space below the hotel board for guests.
2. Place the Money track next to your Hotel board and the money marker on space indicated above.
3. Place two markers on the game board: the crest-shaped marker on "0/75" on the Score track and the bust-shaped marker on "0" on the Emperor track.
4. Place the three badge-shaped markers beside your hotel board.
   You will need those markers later if you complete a Politics Card/Objective.
5. Return the remaining Hotel boards, Money tracks, money markers, and markers of unused colors to the game box—you will not need them.
9. Take the starting dishes depicted above (if any) from the supply and place these four items in the kitchen of your hotel board.
10. Draw 6 Staff cards from the deck into your hand, keeping them hidden from the other players.
    Introductory Variant: On your first play, instead of drawing from the shuffled deck, deal each player a starting set of Staff cards: the start player gets the "A" set, the next player clockwise gets the "B" set, and so on. Shuffle the remaining sets, if any, into the staff card deck.
    Expert Variant: Perform a draft after drawing the initial hand of Staff cards. Choose one of the 6 cards to keep and pass the rest to the player on your left. From the 5 cards you get from the player on your right, again choose one to keep and pass the rest to the left. Repeat this process until you have taken 6 cards.
11. Beginning with the player to the right of the start player and in counter-clockwise order, take one Guest card from the queue, ignoring the cost, and place it at a table in your café (below your hotel board). After each choice, close the gap by sliding the remaining guests in the queue to the right and placing a new guest from the deck face up on the empty space on the left. At the end of this process, all players should have one guest in their café.
12. Finally, prepare 3 Rooms in your hotel by taking room tiles from the supply and placing them, with the Vacant side up, on same-colored spaces of your hotel board. You must start with the bottom left space and any subsequent rooms must be placed orthogonally adjacent to already placed ones.
    When placing a room, pay the cost indicated at the start of the floor (i.e. row) by moving the marker on your money track down accordingly.