El Soneto

During the so called Spanish Golden Age, some of the most influential literary figures gather in Madrid. They are here to compete for acceptance amongst the general public and gain admiration and respect from fellow writers. Success within these circles requires extreme levels of merit, however Lope de Vega has organised a public competition, in honor of San Isidro, so that novice poets can rub shoulders with the greats and perhaps even earn a place amongst them.

In El Soneto players take the role of these novice poets who aspire to win Lope de Vega’s competition. In order to do this, each player must choose letter cards that are displayed within the famous gossip mills of Madrid, and with them they must create words for three rounds whilst respecting the grammatical rules that each of these rounds permits. Prestige will be given in a number of ways to players for their words: direct points for the number of letter cards used; favor of the benefactors if the word begins with one of the three letters that the benefactors have asked for; support of the writers if the word has employed one or more of the permitted literary devices; or they can advance on the Soneto marker if their words rhyme.

The literati and the benefactors that each player has earned throughout the game will be awarded additional prestige points at the end, in addition to the level reached on the rhyme marker. He who achieves the most prestige points is declared the winner of the competition.

Description in Spanish: En su Viaje al Parnaso, además de a Lope de Vega, Quevedo o Góngora, Miguel de Cervantes fue reclutando a otros muchos literatos para luchar contra los malos poetas; ¿te habría gustado formar parte de semejante grupo? Pues he aquí el concurso que podría proporcionarte un pasaje en el bajel. El Soneto no es un mero juego, es una competición donde las letras son tan importantes como el arte con el que se utilicen. Así que toma papel y lápiz, sumérgete en los populosos mentideros de la Corte de Madrid en busca de inspiración y del apoyo de los mejores literatos y los más acaudalados valedores, escribe tus palabras y consigue el prestigio necesario para estar entre los elegidos. Sólo hay pasaje para uno.