Canal Houses
Canal Houses Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Contents
- 30 Store cards
- 27 Roof cards
- 52 Window cards
- 1 Color Bonus card
Goal of the Game
Place your cards down to create a street, starting with the façade of a Store and finishing with a magnificent Baroque-style roof.
You'll be placing Windows between the Store and the Roof. The Windows each contain a number of the four different features: Cats, Birds, Flowerpots, Flags.
You score points in three ways: By completing the objectives on the Store and Roof cards, from your Flowerpots, and by connecting cards of the same color.
The player with the most points wins.
Setup
- Separate the cards into 3 different decks (Store, Window, Roof) and shuffle each deck. Then place the decks face down within reach of all the players.
- Each player takes a card from the Store deck and places it face up in front of themselves.
- Then each player draws 1 Store card, 1 Window card and 1 Roof card to form their starting hand.
How to Play
You begin building your street with the Store card you have placed down in front of you. You must build new Stores on the left or the right of existing Stores (never between them). Stores score points (tulip icon) if their house (the cards above the store front) meets the required conditions.
Place the Window cards above the Stores or other Windows (slide the bottom part of the card underneath the previous card).
The Window cards contain features that allow Roofs and Stores to score points.
- Cats
- Flags
- Birds
- Flowerpots
A Roof scores points if the house meets its conditions.
Playing a Turn
On each turn, all players carry out the 3 following actions at the same time and in this order:
Draw, Build, Pass your cards.
1. Draw: Draw a Store, Window or Roof card of your choice and add it to your hand.
2. Build: Choose 1 of the 4 cards in your hand and place it in your street (or discard in the canal).
The canal: When you Build, instead of placing your card into your street, you can place it face down, horizontally, under your canal. That card has now been discarded and can no longer be used.
3. Pass your cards: Pass the rest of your hand to the player on your left. You receive a new hand of 3 cards from the player on your right.
Example of a Street with 3 Houses
A street is built (from bottom to top) of a Store card, one or more Window cards, and a Roof card. Each house in the example scores its Store points if the house meets the Store's listed conditions, and the Roof scores its points if the house meets the Roof's conditions.
End of the Game
Continue taking turns until someone places the 4th Roof card on their street. That player then triggers the end of the game by announcing "Heel Mooi!" (Meaning: "very nice" in Dutch.)
Everyone completes their turn.
Place the unused cards to one side and proceed to final scoring (see p.8) to determine the winner.
Final Scoring
House Conditions
Stores and Roofs score points if their house (the set of cards placed above/below it) meets the required conditions.
In the example opposite, the middle house is "exactly 4 cards high," and has "at least 1 Cat and 2 Birds."
That means you score points for both the Store and the Roof as required (3+2=5 points).
The house on the left does not feature "at least 3 Flags" as required, so it scores 0 points.
The house on the right features "at least 1 Cat and 1 Flag" and scores 2 points.
Flowerpots
You score 1 point for each Flowerpot on your street.
Color Bonus
You score 4 extra points if your street has the largest group of orthogonally-connected cards in a color (you cannot connect cards diagonally).
If there is a tie for the largest group in a color, you all receive 2 points.
In the example opposite, the largest connected group on this street are the 3 orange cards.
Example of Final Scoring on a Street of 3 Houses
A street of 3 houses: the left house is orange, the middle house is orange, the right house is purple. Only the middle house has a Roof card (worth 3 points, requiring the house to be exactly 4 cards high).
- The left house's Store is worth 4 points and requires "3+ Flags." This condition is not met, so it scores 0 points (marked with a red X).
- The middle house's Store is worth 2 points and requires "1+ Cat and 2+ Birds." This condition is met (marked with a green check), and its Roof (3 points, "exactly 4 cards high") is also met.
- The right house's Store is worth 2 points and requires "1+ Cat and 1+ Flag." This condition is met (marked with a green check).
- Stores + Roofs = 2 + 2 + 3 = 7 points.
- Flowerpots = 1 point.
- Largest connected group = 3 cards (the orange group formed by the left and middle houses), so the Color Bonus is scored (marked with a dashed outline).
FAQ
Can I play a Roof without scoring points for it? Yes! You can do this to end the game more quickly, for example.
What happens if one of my houses doesn't have a Roof when the game ends? Your Store can still score points, and you can always score points from the Flowerpots.
Can I build a Roof and then build the Windows and the Store later? No, you can only build the house from the ground up. Otherwise, it'll collapse!
Is there a height limit? No, the local government has not yet passed a law that restricts the height of buildings. You can build your houses as tall as you like!
What happens if all the remaining Roofs have been discarded in the canal? This is very unlikely, but if the Roof deck is exhausted, you finish playing the game with the Roofs you have left in your hand and proceed to scoring as usual.
Card Icons
- Cat / Flag / Bird / Flowerpot icon: Score points if this house has at least that many Cats/Birds/Flags/Flowerpots.
- Crossed-out Cat / Flag / Bird / Flowerpot icon: Score points if this house has no Cats/Birds/Flags/Flowerpots.
- Arrow pointing down at the taller of two neighboring houses: Score points if this house is larger (has a height of more cards) than the house to its right/left (a house is built with at least one Store card).
- Arrow pointing down at the shorter of two neighboring houses: Score points if this house is smaller (has a height of fewer cards) than the house to its right/left (a house is built with at least one Store card).
- Arrow pointing down at the middle of three neighboring houses: Score points if this house is larger/smaller (has a height of more or fewer cards) than the houses on either side of it (a house is built with at least one Store card).
- Plain house icon: Score points if this house has the height required by the condition (4 cards or more, exactly 3 cards, etc).
Notes
The flag on the Window cards is the city flag for Amsterdam.