Strategy in Alhambra revolves mostly around using your money wisely and prescient placement of building tiles into your Alhambra.

Wise use of money

1. It is often wise to forego the purchase of a building tile when you do not have the exact price. Waiting until you have the exact price enables you to take another action.

2. It can be helpful to collect a significant number of different denominations of the same type of money. This will help you to be the first to act when a new building becomes available for the monetary type.

Some tips (learning players)

1. Plan the next turn in advance. Pick the money that sets up an exact purchase.

2. If given a choice, aim toward the purple, green, and white. Those are more expensive but score higher.

3. A couple of small money (Less than 5) can be stronger than a 9 because it sets up for an exact purchase or two. The bigger money is still needed for the bigger costs, but small money provides flexibility.

4. If way ahead in a color, look to buy a different color.

Next level tips:

1. First scoring is not very important. Players score 3 - 10 pts. Winning scores are 120 - 150. So early on, there is no need to focus on a specific color.

2. Walls are good and bad. Good because they continually score. Bad because they limit expansion. Flexibility is often recommended.

3. After the second scoring (or about 15 tiles) remaining, look to see what is left and what to buy to ensure a first or second. Sometimes, a building type will only have one tile left -- if players are competing for that type. Buy quick -- even if it is not exact. (one exception to the pay exact rule).

4. A small price building (4 or less) can block activity in that color of money, since players may not buy that building (not exact money). Collecting more than 3 or 4 cards in this color is not productive. Focus on other money until the "log jam" clears.

4b. Another exception to pay over rule is to break a log jam as described, especially if the player has a lot of cards in that currency.

5. Controlling the end of the game can make a difference in the gain of a tile or two. Knowing which of the three last tiles are likely to be gained can make a difference. Depending on cards on hand, it may be smart to initiate game end by overpaying.

Some comments:

1. If more players simply paid exact more often, they would do better. The extra action is worth the effort.

2. Sometimes the good cards and tiles just do not flip right and go to your opponents. It is random. Just smile and accept and offer to play again.