Who goes first?
From the publisher’s rulebook

Who goes first in Villagers?

Sinister Fish English revised rules, ©2019

Whoever has lived in the same place the longest drafts first.

Read the publisher’s rulebook

Rule details

Give that person the First Player Card. Players draft one villager at a time in clockwise order.

Drafting comes before building. In the Build Phase, each player finishes their building actions before the next player acts.

At the end of the Build Phase, pass the First Player Card to the player on the left.

Solo mode uses the Countess: after drafting a card for yourself, assign a face-up Road villager to her Village before replenishing the Road.

If there’s a tie

The cited starting-player instruction does not specify a tie-break. We don’t infer one.

Source & edition

  • Villagers — Sinister Fish Games rulesSinister Fish Games · Game Setup step 6; Draft Phase; Build Phase and its end; two-player road update; Solo Mode; credits; PDF pages 1, 4, 5, 8, 11, 12, 18, 22, 23, 27 · Checked 2026-09-23

More starting rules

Browse available game rules

Found a different instruction in your edition? Send a correction with the game, edition, and source.