Alhambra has three main components: the currency deck and draw piles, the building tiles and market, and each player has an Alhambra and tile reserve board.

The currency deck is constructed at the beginning of the game by first giving each player their starting money (turn over cards until the sum is equal to or greater than 20 with the player with the lowest sum as the starting player), and then dividing into 5 equal piles, inserting the first scoring card in the second pile and the second scoring card in the fourth pile, and finally re-stacking the five piles with the fifth stack on the bottom. Four cards are turned over to form the currency draw piles.

The building tiles (all tiles except the 6 Alhambra starting tiles) are mixed and put in the bag. Four tiles are drawn at random and placed in the four spaces on the building market board.

Awards

• 2005 Vuoden Aikuistenpeli (Finland) Winner, Adult Game of the Year
• 2005 Årets Familiespill (Norway), Winner, Family Game of the Year
• 2005 Nederlandse Spellenprijs Nominee.
• 2003 Golden Ace, (France) Winner, Game of the Year
• 2003 Spiel des Jahres Winner.
• 2003 International Gamers Award Best Strategy Game Nominee.
• 2003 Essener Feder Winner.