Briefcase Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Overview
• Contents
• Setup
  • Setting up the Resource Market and the Decision Bank
  • Setting up the Company Card Portfolio
  • Setting up the player area
• Playing the Game
  • Turn Overview
  • A. Play decision cards
    • "Buy" Decision cards
    • "Activate" decision card
    • "Obstacle" Decision cards
    • "Hire" Decision Cards
  • Block and Unblock
  • B. Discard Decision Cards
  • C. Draw Decision Cards
• Game End
  • Game End Conditions
  • Final scoring
• Fine Points
• Company Cards
  • Company Card Descriptions - 1st-Level companies (orange frame)
  • Company Card Descriptions - 2nd Level companies (red frame)
• Company Sets
• Symbols

Overview

Players take on the roles of entrepreneurs. By acquiring and activating the appropriate companies, each player will improve his decision deck, which will help him further expand his business. The player who will create the most effective decision deck and manage to take advantage of it wins the game.

Contents

• 97 Company Cards (30 Companies)
• 29 Company Randomizer Cards
• 48 Buy Decision Cards
• 30 Activate Decision Cards
• 52 Obstacle Decision Cards
• 18 Hire Decision Cards
• 24 Personnel Resource Cards
• 20 Steel Resource Cards
• 20 Concrete Resource Cards
• 20 Paper Resource Cards
• 20 Imported Resource Cards
• 24 Energy Resource Cards
• 2 Resource Block Cards
• 2 Company Block Cards
• 1 Central Bank Board
• 20 Victory Point Cards
• 4 Resource Storage Cards
• Rulebook

Setup

Setting up the Resource Market and the Decision Bank

Set out 5 Concrete, 5 Steel, 5 Paper and 6 Personnel cards per player nearby (Imported resource cards will be used later on). These cards should be sorted into piles so as to form the resource market.

Place all the Energy cards right behind them. Energy is the only inexhaustible resource in the game. Whenever a player uses Energy, the card should be returned to its original pile.

Take the 2 resource block cards (red color) and randomly place them in front of 2 of the resource piles. These piles will be blocked for the start of the game.

Place 12 Buy cards per player and all Hire, Activate and Obstacle Decision cards in face up piles behind the resource market to form the Decision Bank.

Place the Central Bank board next to the market and place 5 victory point cards per player on the Central Bank board.

Place any remaining resource cards and victory point tokens back into the box, as they will not be used in the game.

Setting up the Company Card Portfolio

Not all company cards will be used in every game. During setup, players must select eight 1st level (orange frame) and six 2nd level (red frame) (see Company Cards) companies that will form the Company Card Portfolio.

Randomizer cards: Each company has a corresponding randomizer card. These cards offer an easy way to choose which companies are used in each game. They also contain information on how many company cards you need to use, depending on the number of players.

Choose cards: Shuffle all randomizer cards together. This must be done for each company level separately. As soon as cards have been chosen for each level, place the selected randomizer cards on the table so that all players can see them (a practical way to sort them is by their buying cost).

For each company chosen, a small company pile must be formed in the middle of the table. Place one company block (blue color) next to the Company Card Portfolio. In a 2 player game use 2 company blocks instead of 1.

Setting up the player area

The area in front of every player is called the player area.

Each player begins the game with the following: 1 Power Plant company card, 3 Buy decision cards, 3 Activate decision cards, 6 Obstacle decision cards.

Each player takes 1 Power Plant company card and places it in his player area with the deactivated side facing up (see Company Cards).

Each player takes 3 Buy, 3 Activate and 6 Obstacle decision cards from their respective piles. Each player shuffles his 12 cards and places them face-down in his player area to form his decision deck.

Each player takes a Resource Storage card of the color of his choice and places it in his player area. He can store his resources near it.

The starting player is the player who most recently attended a business meeting. In case of a tie, choose the starting player randomly. Play continues clockwise.

Playing the Game

Turn Overview

At the start of the game each player draws 4 decision cards from his Decision Deck.

Then, during his turn, each player performs the following steps:

A. Play decision cards, B. Discard decision cards, C. Draw 4 new decision cards

A. Play decision cards

During his turn, a player may play any number of decision cards from his hand, in any order. When a card is played, it is laid face up in the player area. A player may also choose not to play any cards.

"Buy" Decision cards

By playing one or more Buy decision cards from his hand, the player has the following options:

Purchase company cards

The player may purchase an unblocked company card from the Company Card Portfolio by playing a number of Buy Decision cards equal to its buying cost. Each company's buying cost is indicated with a green number on the top left corner of the card.

When a player purchases a company card, he takes the purchased card from the Company Card Portfolio and places it deactivated (see Company Cards) in his player area.

A player may only purchase a 2nd level company card (red frame) if he has activated at least two 1st level (orange frame) company cards.

Players may purchase only 1 company card during their turn.

Players may not purchase the same company card twice.

Purchase resources from the market

A player may purchase any number of resources from the market by playing one Buy card for each resource.

Personnel, Steel, Concrete and Paper cost 1 Buy card.

Imported Resources cost 2 Buy cards.

Imported Resource cards will only become available if at least one of the other resources (concrete, personnel, paper, steel) is exhausted. Place one company block (blue color) next to the Company Card Portfolio. In a 2 player game use 2 company blocks instead of 1.

After purchasing one or more resource cards from the market, the player must store the acquired resources in his player area.

Resource Card Storage Limit: A player may not store more than 5 resource cards in his player area. Energy resource cards are excluded from this rule, therefore a player may store as many Energy resource cards as he wants.

If needed, during his turn, a player may exceed his storage limit but when the turn ends he must have no more than 5 resource cards stored (excluding the Energy resource cards). Any extra resource cards must then be discarded. During the course of the game, a player may increase his storage limit by purchasing and activating companies with such an ability.

"Activate" decision card

By playing one or more Activate decision cards from his hand, a player has the following options:

Activate a company

By playing one Activate card, a player may activate one of his companies. The player must pay the activation cost by discarding the indicated resource cards (see Company Cards) from his storage. When a player first activates a deactivated company, he must flip the company card to its activated side.

Once activated for the first time, the company remains activated (unless deactivated by another company's ability) and therefore the company's ability remains in effect (unless it is a "per activation" ability). The player will score all victory points from his activated companies when the game ends. All discarded resources form a new discarded resource pile. Energy is always returned to its original pile.

Per Activation abilities: The ability of the card applies only for the time that this card was activated. To use it again, the player must re-activate the company. "Per Activation" abilities have a light bulb symbol on the bottom left corner of the ability area.

Production: Immediately after activating a Company card, the player adds to his discard pile any produced decision cards shown in the lower right corner of the Company card.

Once a Company card is activated, the player can use the special ability of this card right away. A player may activate a company more than one time (even in the same turn) in the sense of expanding that business.

The light bulbs on each side of a company's name indicate which is the activated and which the deactivated side of each company (see Company Cards).

By activating companies, a player produces new decision cards and improves his deck.

Activate the Central Bank

Once a player has activated at least two different 1st level company cards he is allowed to invest in the Central Bank. During his turn, a player may play an Activate card from his hand and discard from his hand as many Buy cards as he wants. Those Buy cards are removed from the game and placed on the Central Bank. For each Buy card removed from the game this way, the player gains one Victory point card. If the Central Bank has no more Victory Point cards, players cannot activate it anymore.

"Obstacle" Decision cards

In the beginning of the game, players may use the Obstacle cards in pairs to move the block cards for resources and companies. As the game moves on, by using company abilities, Obstacle cards become even more useful.

"Hire" Decision Cards

Hire cards can be acquired during the game through the production of some companies. By playing a Hire card, a player can hire another player's activated company.

Example: The Brokerage Firm company has a "per activation" ability. Note the light bulb on the bottom left corner of the card's ability.

However, in order to hire the company, the player must pay the player who owns the company. Half of the activation cost rounded up must be paid to the owner of the company. The hiring player chooses which of the activation cost's resources he will pay to the company's owner. The hiring player then gets the hired company's full production. Players may not deny the hiring of their companies. They may however choose to deny receiving any of the paid resources. Those resources are discarded immediately.

Block and Unblock

There are 4 block cards in the game, two for resources and two for companies. A player cannot purchase a resource or a company that is blocked. Imported Resource cannot be blocked.

Moving the block: A player may play any 2 decision cards of the same type to move a block card from a resource or a company card to another. The resource block may not be used to block a company and vise versa. If a block is to be moved, it must always be moved to a different company/resource than the one currently blocked.

Example: In order to unblock Steel, a player must move the block card onto either Concrete or Personnel.

Removing Blocks: When a resource (except Imported resources) is exhausted, one resource block must be removed from the game at random. When a second resource is exhausted (any one) the second resource block must be removed.

B. Discard Decision Cards

After the player is done playing cards, he takes all played cards along with any cards remaining in his hand, and places them face up next to his decision deck to form his discard pile.

C. Draw Decision Cards

In the Draw step a player draws 4 new decision cards from his decision deck. Some company abilities can increase a player's hand limit, allowing him to draw more cards during each Draw step. If a player must draw more cards than those remaining in his decision deck, he draws the remaining ones and then shuffles his discard pile to form a new decision deck to draw from. After a player has drawn new cards, his turn ends and the player to his left begins his turn.

Game End

Game End Conditions

The game ends as soon as one of the following conditions is met:

• There are only 2 types of resources remaining in the resource market.
• There are no more company cards available to buy.
• There are no more Buy cards available in the Decision Bank.

When the game end is triggered, play continues until all players have played an equal number of turns. The player on the right of the player who started the game must have the last turn.

Final scoring

• Players add the Victory point values of all their activated company cards.
• Players add any Victory points offered by their activated companies' abilities.
• Players add 1 Victory point for each victory point card acquired from the Central Bank.
• Players add 1 Victory point for every 4 resource cards (including Energy) remaining in their storage.

The player with the most victory points is the winner.

In case of a tie, the winner is the player with the most resource cards remaining in his storage (excluding all resources that already scored victory points). If there is still a tie, it is a shared victory.

Fine Points

1. When using a company ability that converts one resource to another, a player should not actually replace the converted resource. He simply announces the conversion and proceeds as if he had the converted resource.

   Exception: If the player is using a company's ability to convert a resource while hiring another player's company, he must replace the used resource with the converted one before offering it to the owner of that company. The player must take the new resource from the discard pile. If there is no such resource in the discard pile, the player must take it from the resource market. If the resource is not available in either the discard pile or the resource market, then this resource cannot be used to hire the company.

2. Players may not use company abilities to convert decision cards and resources when targeted by other players' company abilities.

   Example: Irika is targeted by an opponent's Media Company. The Media Company's ability forces her to give a Personnel card to her opponent. She has one Personnel card in her hand and an activated Steel Factory. She is not allowed to convert that Personnel card to Steel in order to avoid giving it to her opponent.

3. When activating the Central Bank, a player must always discard Buy cards. Company abilities that allow other types of decision cards to be used as Buy cards, may not be used for the Central Bank.

4. If at some point a player must take an Activate, Hire or Obstacle card and there is none available, then he doesn't get anything and the game continues.

5. A player can buy resource cards AND companies in the same turn if he has enough Buy cards in his hand to do so.

Company Cards

Each company card shows: the Company Name, its Company Status (activated / deactivated side), the Buying Cost, the Victory Point Value, the Company Level (1st-Level or 2nd-Level), the Activation Cost, the Production, and the Company's Ability.

Company Card Descriptions - 1st-Level companies (orange frame)

1. Power Plant

Special rules: Each player starts the game with one deactivated Power Plant. Once the Power Plant is activated, it cannot be deactivated for any reason.

A Power Plant produces Energy resource cards instead of decision cards. Any acquired Energy resource cards are added to the player's storage.

No special ability.

2. Newspaper

Special ability once activated: If at the start of his turn a player has no more than one Buy card in his hand, he may draw one additional card from his decision deck.

3. Steel Factory

Special ability once activated: The player may use any resource as steel.

Example: Mike wants to activate a Power Plant and does not have a steel resource in his storage. However, he has an activated Steel Factory, a personnel and a paper resource. Therefore, he may use the Steel Factory's ability and convert the paper to steel. Mike discards the paper and the personnel and activates the Power Plant adding 2 Energy resource cards to his storage.

4. Accounting Firm

Special ability once activated: Player may use 3 cards of the same type as a Buy or Activate card.

Example: At the start of his turn, Sandra has the following decision cards in her hand: Obstacle, Obstacle, Obstacle, Buy. Sandra also has an activated Accounting Firm. She uses the special ability and chooses to use the 3 Obstacle cards as a Buy. Now with two Buy Sandra can acquire either 2 resources or a company that costs 2 or 1 resource and a company that costs 1.

5. Oil Refinery

Special ability (per activation): A player selects one unused decision card from his hand. This card is then removed from the game.

Example: Dimitris has 2 Obstacle and 2 Activate cards in his hand. He can activate the Oil Refinery to remove one Obstacle card in his hand from the game. If Dimitris has enough resource cards, he may activate the Oil Refinery twice during his turn and remove both Obstacles cards.

6. University

Special ability once activated: The player may use any resource as Personnel.

7. Warehouses

Special ability once activated: A player can store up to 8 resource cards in his player area (instead of 5). Energy is always excluded from any limitation.

8. Paper Mill

Special ability once activated: The player may use any resource as Paper.

9. Contractor Firm

Special ability once activated: At the start of his turn, a player may discard a card from his hand and draw a new one. This may only be done once per turn.

Example: At the start of his turn, Vangelis has the following cards in his hand: Obstacle, Obstacle, Buy, Activate. Vangelis also has an activated Contractor Firm. At the start of his turn he uses the special ability to discard an Obstacle card and draw a new one from his decision deck.

10. Logistics Company

Special ability once activated: If a player wants to buy resources, he may use 2 cards of the same type instead of a Buy. This ability may not be used to buy companies.

Example: Giota has 2 Obstacle cards in her hand and an activated Logistics Company. Through her company's ability she uses the Obstacle cards as a Buy card to purchase 1 Steel from the resource market.

11. Insurance Company

Special ability once activated: The player's hand limit is increased by 1. When drawing new cards at the beginning of his turn, a player may draw one additional card.

12. Shipping Company

Special ability (per activation): A player may take any 2 resources (except energy) from the discard pile. The player may not take back the resources he just discarded to activate the Shipping Company.

13. Construction Company

Special ability once activated: The player may use any resource as Concrete.

14. Shopping Mall

No special ability.

15. Cargo Company

Special ability once activated: Each turn a player may ignore one resource block when buying cards from the resource market.

Example: In the resource market, both Steel and Concrete are blocked. Spyros has an activated Cargo Company and 2 Buy, 1 Obstacle and 1 Activate card in his hand. Spyros uses the special ability and chooses to ignore the Steel resource block. He plays 2 Buys from his hand and he buys 2 Steel. Spyros is not allowed to buy both Steel and Concrete because he may only ignore one resource block each turn.

Company Card Descriptions - 2nd Level companies (red frame)

16. Theme Parks

No special ability.

17. Real Estate Agency

Special ability once activated: At the end of the game, a player with an activated Real Estate Agency gets 1 victory point for each activated company in his player area.

18. Bank

Special ability once activated: The player's hand limit is increased by 1. When drawing new cards at the beginning of his turn, a player may draw one additional card.

19. Marketing Company

Special ability once activated: A player may use 2 decision cards of the same type as one decision card of any type.

20. Biology Lab

Special ability once activated: When activating a company, a player may put the production directly on top of his decision deck. The player chooses the order that the cards are placed in on his decision deck.

Example: Manos has an activated Biology Lab and a deactivated Recycling Plant in his player area. After activating the Recycling Plant he uses the Biology Lab's special ability and puts 1 Buy and 1 Obstacle card produced by the Plant on top of his decision deck.

21. High-Tech Company

No special ability.

22. Consulting Firm

Special ability once activated: After playing all cards from his hand, a player may choose one of those cards and put it on top of his decision deck.

Example: Nikos has 3 Buy and 1 Obstacle card in his hand and has activated his Consulting Firm. Nikos plays his 3 Buy cards and buys a Recycling Plant. He then uses the Consulting Firm's special ability and puts one of the three played Buy cards on top of his decision deck.

23. Import Company

Special ability once activated: Once per turn a player may use any resource (except Energy) as any resource (except Energy).

24. Investment Company

Special ability once activated: At the end of the game, a player with an activated Investment Company gets +1 victory point for each Buy card in his decision deck.

25. Law Firm

Special ability (per activation): Each time a player activates a Law Firm, all his opponents must discard either a Buy or an Activate card from their hand. The player looks at each opponents hand in clockwise order and if a player has both, chooses which card must be discarded.

26. Recycling Plant

Special ability once activated: A player may use any resource as Energy.

27. Media Company

Special ability (per activation): A player may take one Personnel card from each opponent's storage.

28. Venture Capital Firm

Special ability once activated: At the end of the game, a player with an activated Venture Capital Firm gets 1 victory point for each Buy appearing in the production of all activated companies in his player area.

29. Financial Services

Special ability once activated: Once per turn, a player may use any decision card as a Buy.

30. Brokerage Firm

Special ability (per activation): Each time a player activates a Brokerage Firm, he may choose to deactivate one 1st-level company from each opponent.

Exception: A player may not choose to deactivate an opponent's Power Plant.

Company Sets

Instead of choosing cards for each game using the randomizer decks, players may also play with the following company sets:

Simple Game	Faster Game	Complex Game	Light Interaction Game	Heavy Interaction Game
Steel Factory	Cargo Company	Contractor Firm	University	Contractor Firm
Construction Firm	Insurance Company	Accounting Firm	Newspaper	Newspaper
Cargo Company	Newspaper	Logistics Company	Insurance Company	Cargo Company
Shopping Mall	Shopping Mall	Warehouses	Warehouses	Paper Mill
Logistics Company	Oil Refinery	Shipping Company	Shopping Mall	Oil Refinery
Warehouses	Paper Mill	Newspaper	Construction Firm	Shipping Company
Accounting Firm	Contractor Firm	Steel Factory	Contractor Firm	Accounting Firm
Insurance Company	University	Oil Refinery	Accounting Firm	Construction Firm
Theme Parks	Bank	Bank	Import Company	Media Company
Marketing Company	Marketing Company	Import Company	Consulting Firm	Law Firm
Bank	Financial Services	Recycling Plant	Marketing Company	Brokerage Firm
High-Tech Company	Consulting Firm	Biology Lab	Media Company	Marketing Company
Financial Services	Theme Parks	Investment Company	Real Estate Agency	Bank
Real Estate Agency	Venture Capital Firm	High-Tech Company	Theme Parks	Investment Company

Symbols

The manual illustrates its rules with pictograms for the game's decision-card types, resources, and card states. In this transcription they are written out as words wherever they appear in the rules text above: Buy Decision, Activate Decision, Hire Decision, Obstacle Decision, Victory Point, Decision Card (any), Personnel, Concrete, Steel, Paper, Energy, Imported, Flip, Company Block, Resource Block, Activated, Deactivated, Start of Turn, All Opponents, Opponent, Play a Decision Card, Draw a Decision Card, Get a Personnel Card from Opponent, Pick a Buy Card from Opponent, Pick an Activate Card from Opponent, Discard a Decision Card, Remove Decision Card from the Game, Two Decision Cards of the Same Type, Three Decision Cards of the Same Type, Resource Discard Pile, End of Game, 1st Level Company, 2nd Level Company, Activated 1st Level Company, Activated 2nd Level Company, Deactivated 1st Level Company, Deactivated 2nd Level Company, Production.