The Ta' Xbiex palazzo: a seafront mansion on two floors

The seafront mansion at Ta' Xbiex is now the top of the housing ladder in Malta Living, and it's the first home in the game with two floors. It's a palazzo: Maltese limestone outside, dark and modern inside, with rooms round an open courtyard and a staircase that takes you up. Anyone can rent it. Here's what's inside, what it costs, and how players get there.

Where it is

Ta' Xbiex is a small town on the harbour between Msida and Gżira. Its seafront faces the yacht marina, and its streets are known for big old houses and embassies. In the game the palazzo stands on that seafront, by the marina, a short walk from Msida.

Two floors, round a courtyard

On the ground floor, the rooms sit round an open courtyard with a fountain in the middle: a library, a dining room, the kitchen, a cinema, a bathroom, and the halls at the front and back. From the back hall, a double staircase climbs to the loggia, a gallery round the courtyard where you can look down on whoever's below.

Upstairs are the master suite and its dressing room, two guest rooms, a games room, a second bathroom and a spare room. To go up, tap the stairs: you walk over and climb. The Ground and Upstairs switch at the top of the screen does the same in one tap. The bed's in the master suite, so going to bed means going up.

The rooms have real walls and doorways, cut low so you can see into every one. Like every new home, it comes with the basics only (a mattress, a toilet and shower, a fridge, a cooker and a light). Everything else is yours to choose in Buy mode.

A game room, and the grounds

Buy has new pieces made for the games room, and they fit any home with the space:

• a full-size snooker table (€3,000), which plays a frame of Snooker;
• Bus Rush and Merge Drop arcade cabinets (€800 each), which open their games;
• a ping pong table (€400);
• a card table (€300), where you deal a hand of Bixkla.

Outside, the garden runs the width of the house. Its pool is for swimming, as the villa's is: 🏊 Swim in your pool, 🛟 Just float and 🦶 Feet in the water. Swim with friends and you each gain Social. There's also a court, a DJ terrace, a fire pit and a berth on the jetty, plus a garage that shows up to six of your cars.

Guests and the upstairs

The ground floor and the garden are for guests. The upstairs stays yours until you switch Upstairs on under Guests can use, or say yes when a guest asks to come up. The master suite is always private, whoever's over. House parties and visits explains the rest of hosting.

What it costs

• Rent: €4,500 a week. As with the other big homes, you pay a week's rent as the deposit, plus the agent's fee, when you move in.
• Buy: €1,500,000. Its value grows a little every day, as the penthouse's does.
• Let it out: €1,000 a day once you own it and live somewhere else.
• Bills: €200 every four weeks, the biggest bill on the ladder.

Anyone can rent it: a tourist, a permit holder or a local. Buying is different. Ta' Xbiex isn't a Special Designated Area, so, as with most homes in Malta, a buyer from abroad needs a buyer's permit first. That's the main difference from the sky penthouse at Pender Place, one step below at €2,500 a week, which non-residents can buy straight away.

Getting there

Most players start in a room or a small flat and move up as their money does. Renting in Sliema walks through the ladder and how a loan to own works. If you'd rather own the palazzo than live in it, investing in property, cabs and businesses covers how buying and letting work.

What's next

The grounds get their games next: shoot-outs on the court, races in the pool, sets on the DJ terrace and stories round the fire pit. The jetty's berth waits for the boats.

New to the game? Start with what Malta Living is, or play Malta Living free and work your way up from a room of your own.

Questions people ask

What's the biggest home in Malta Living?

The palazzo at Ta' Xbiex: two floors round a courtyard, three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a garden with a pool and a garage for six cars.

How do I go upstairs in the palazzo?

Tap the stairs at the back of the courtyard, or Upstairs at the top of the screen.

Can a tourist live in the mansion?

Yes. Anyone can rent it, at €4,500 a week. To buy it from abroad you need a buyer's permit, as for most homes in Malta.

Can guests go upstairs?

Only when you let them. The master suite is always private.