Essential Edition combines the second edition of Viticulture with a few elements from Tuscany: Mama & Papas, Fields (Properties), various Visitor cards, & Automa (solo variant).

This is basically a more robust version of Viticulture without adding the complexity of some of the 'heavier' Tuscany expansions. Mamas & Papas gives players different starting resources. Field cards let you sell fields you're not using for an influx of money. A larger set of visitor cards offer a lot more variety, and we've selected only the most balanced cards so there's never a bad draw.

Changes:
Aesthetically, the box art is slightly different and the rulebook is more detailed. Otherwise everything is the same as the second edition (tons of custom wooden components and glass beads).

The game board is slightly different in that the 'Buy/Sell Grapes' action now reads 'Sell at Least One Grape or Buy/Sell One Field.' It also has English on one side and and German on the other. The vineyard mat is similarly double sided in English/German. Otherwise the game is in English.

In terms of components, the Essential Edition includes 36 Mama & Papa cards (these determine your starting resources-you no longer start with anything else by default), 18 Field cards (previously known as 'Properties'), and 24 Automa cards (solo variant).

There are 76 visitor cards in the Essential Edition. These cards replace the original, advanced, and new visitors found in Viticulture and Tuscany. The Promoter card has a slight word change (€œand€ changed to €œor€), as does the Homesteader card ($3 discount instead of $1).

Mechanics include hand management, variable phase order and worker placement.

Players: 1-6
Recommended Age: 13+
Playtime in minutes: 45-90

Contents:

Cards (232 total)

• 42 vine cards (green deck)
• 36 wine order cards (purple deck)38 summer visitor cards (yellow deck)
• 38 winter visitor cards blue deck)
• 18 field cards (large size; field on front & back)
• 24 Automa cards (large size; beige back)36 mama and papa cards (large size; pink & blue deck)

Boards

• 1 game board
• 6 vineyard mats

Pieces

• 30 worker meeples in 6 different colors and 1 gray temporary worker
• 6 grande worker meeples
• 50 grape and wine tokens (glass)
• 6 wake-up tokens (roosters)6 victory point tokens (corks)
• 6 residual payment tracker tokens (wine bottles)
• 48 wooden structure tokens (8 unique tokens for each color)
• 72 punch board lira coins (52 bronze 1 coins, 12 silver 2 coins, 8 gold 5 coins)
• 1 first-player token (grapes)
• Rule Book & Quick-Reference Guide