Captains of Industry Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Icons
• Components
• Market Board
• Setting Up the Game
• Sequence of Play
  • One: Actions (choose one)
  • Two: End of a Round Business
  • Three: End of an Age Business
  • Four: End of the Game Business
  • Two Core Principles Apply to All Actions Taken
• Actions
  • 1: Build or Expand a Facility
  • 2. Run a Facility (Produce Goods)
  • 3. Market Research (Purchase an Advance and Re-Price)
  • 4. Market Manipulation (Draw a Captain Card and Re-Price)
  • 5. Build Real Estate (RE)
• End of Round Business
• End of an Age Business
  • 1. Determine Demand
  • 2. Score for Sector Domination
  • 3. Sell Goods to Bank and Score
  • 4. Score for Age-End Advances
  • 5. Choose Captain Card to Return
  • 6. Reset Progress Deck and Clear Progress Chips
• End of Game Business
  • 1. Reveal Market Share from Player Bank
  • 2. Score Game-End Advances
  • 3. Score Any Captain Cards Still in Hand
  • 4. Score Market Share for the Most Money
  • 5. Declare Winner
• Strategy Guide
• Credits

Icons

Players should become familiar with the following icons, which represent the goods in the game: Stone, Lumber, Steel, Oil, Corn, Research, Parts.

Components

• A. Game Board — Detailed on the opposite page.
• B. Market Research — Allows players to purchase Advances.
• C. Player Banks — Keep your Market Share safe, and secret.
• D. 5 Sets of Turn Order Markers, Goods Tokens, Pricing Markers — To bring goods to market and set their prices.
• E. Money — With $1, $5, $10, $20 and $50 notes.
• F. Facility Cards — There are 7 types, producing 7 different goods. Each type has 1 double production card.
• G. Captain Cards — Captain Cards are worth extra Market Share at the end of the game.
• H. Real Estate Cards — Bronze, Silver, Gold – each is two-sided.
• I. Progress Chips — To determine the number of Progress Cards drawn.
• J. Progress Cards — These determine the end of each age.
• K. Market Share Counters — Worth 5 points each.
• L. Age Markers

Market Board

• A. Turn Order Track
• B. Age Track — The game lasts three ages, mark them here.
• C. Markets and Market Sectors
  • C1. This is the Research Market. Players may purchase Research from this area of the board.
  • C2. There are four Consumables Markets. These make up the Consumables Sector. Players may purchase Lumber, Stone, and Steel from this area, but not Corn, as it is not needed by the players to build. Players sell Corn from the Consumables market at the end of the age.
  • C3. There are two Durables Markets. These make up the Durables Sector. Players cannot purchase from these markets, but they can sell there at the end of an age.
  • C4. There are two Energy Markets. These make up the Energy Sector. Players cannot purchase from these markets, but they can sell there at the end of an age.
• D. Progress Chip Track — Accelerates progress toward the end of an age.
• E. Market Pricing Track — Where you'll set the price for your goods.
• F. Secondary Markets — Some products have two markets. Some secondary markets start the game locked.
• G. Real Estate Zones — Commercial, Transportation, Residential, Industrial.
• H. Real Estate Purchase Levels — 1 Bronze, 1 Silver, 2 Gold. Automatic Demand.
• I. Real Estate Build Cost — Resources needed to build this Real Estate.

Setting Up the Game

• A. Place the Game Board in reach of all players.
• B. Divide the Facility Cards into separate stacks near the board, with the Double Production card of each type on top.
• C. Divide the Real Estate Cards into Bronze, Silver, and Gold stacks near the board. Players may go through these at any time.
• D. Shuffle the Progress Deck and place it face-down on the indicated area. Place the Progress Chips near the Progress Track.
• E. Place the Age Marker chips near the Age Track. Place the Age 1 chip on its spot on the track.
• F. Each player chooses a color and takes the Player Bank, Turn Order Marker, Goods Tokens, and Pricing Markers of that color. In addition, each player receives starting capital of $20 from the bank.
• G. The Captain Cards are shuffled and four are dealt face-down to each player, who may look at their own cards. The rest are placed facedown near the board to form a draw pile.
• H. Place the remaining $1, $5, $10, $20 and $50 notes next to the board to form the Bank.
• I. Randomly determine turn order for the first round, then place the Turn Order Marker to reflect this. This turn order may change in subsequent rounds.

You are now ready to play Captains of Industry.

Sequence of Play

In Captains of Industry, players each take a TURN performing one ACTION. A ROUND ends when all of the players have taken a turn. ROUNDS continue until the Progress Deck has produced 6 City Cards, signaling the END OF AN AGE. The game closes after the end of the THIRD AGE, when final Market Share is revealed. The player with the most Market Share wins!

Play can be grouped into four sections…

One: Actions (choose one)

1. Build or expand a Facility
2. Run a Facility (Produce and Price goods)
3. Market Research (Purchase an Advance and Re-Price)
4. Market Manipulation (Draw a Captain Card and Re-Price)
5. Build Real Estate

Two: End of a Round Business

1. Collect Rent (Real Estate Funds)
2. Change Turn Order (if needed)
3. Draw from Progress Deck, check for End of an Age

Three: End of an Age Business

1. Determine Demand and discard excess Goods Tokens
2. Score for Sector Domination
3. Sell goods to bank and score
4. Score for Age-end Advances
5. Choose a Captain Card to return to the deck
6. Reset Progress Deck and clear Progress Chips

Four: End of the Game Business

After completing "End of an Age" steps (see above)…

1. Reveal Market Share from Player Bank
2. Score game-end Advances
3. Score Captain Cards still in-hand
4. Score Market Share for the most money
5. Declare winner

Two Core Principles Apply to All Actions Taken

First, ANY TIME a good (lumber, steel, research, etc) is purchased, it must be purchased at the LOWEST AVAILABLE PRICE. It does not matter which player produced the good. This applies to purchases made by players as well as by the bank.

Second, when any player-produced good is purchased, either by another player or by consumers (the bank), the player that produced the good receives one Market Share. However, players gain NO Market Share when buying their own goods!

Actions

Each player chooses one of five available ACTIONS on their turn.

1: Build or Expand a Facility

Facilities allow players to produce goods that will be sold to accumulate money and Market Share.

Building:

To build a Facility, the player must purchase the good shown on the Facility Card as the BUILD COST. Match the icon on the Facility Card to the MARKET PRICING TRACK with that icon. Remember, the player must purchase the lowest-priced Goods Token of that good, no matter whose Goods Token it is. If more than one player has lowest price, choose freely among them.

Players may only purchase from the Consumables Sector and the Research Market, near the center of the board. The corner Sectors (Durables and Energy) are Consumer markets and players cannot purchase there.

• When a player purchases their own Goods Token, no money changes hands. The Goods Token is returned to that player's supply, NOT scored in their Player Bank.
• If the needed good is not available on the board, it may be possible to purchase it from the bank. If the player began the turn with at least one Goods Token in the Lumber, Stone, Steel, or Research markets in the center of the board, the player may purchase an absent good by paying the bank a flat rate of $13. This means a player may only purchase from the bank if they began the turn with at least one Goods Token available for purchase by other players.

Some Facilities (Stone Quarry, Steel Foundry, and Lumber Mill) have no good indicated as a build cost. To build these Facilities, simply take the Facility Card.

To purchase goods from other players, remove the Goods Tokens from the board and return them to their owners along with the amount of money indicated on the Pricing Track for each token. Those players score those Goods Tokens by placing them into their Player Banks. Each Goods Token will be worth one Market Share each at the end of the game.

When built, any new Facility immediately produces Goods Tokens equal to its size. Place these goods in the appropriate market and price them (see PRICING, below). This is a FREE "Produce Goods" action for Normal Production only.

Expansion:

A player cannot build two Facilities of the same type. Instead, they must expand an existing Facility to a larger size, increasing its production. To accomplish this, the player must pay both the build-cost good(s) and the expansion-cost good(s). Follow the same purchase procedures used for building a Facility.

With the completed purchase, take another Facility Card of the same type and tuck it underneath the existing Facility.

Note: The first card available for each Facility is a double-production Facility. It starts the game at Size Two, but costs an additional good to expand.

Example: From now on, this Facility will produce two oil goods every time it is used. In addition, expanding this Facility from Size Two to Size Three will require the purchase of one Research good and two Steel goods.

Note: Goods May Never Be Held. Players may not stock up on a good nor store them for later in the game. Goods may ONLY be purchased and used as part of a turn action to build Facilities, expand Facilities, purchase Advances, or purchase Real Estate. If the required goods are not available at the price a player wishes, that player will have to hope for a change in pricing on a later turn.

A newly expanded Facility immediately produces the number of Goods Tokens equal to its new size. Place those Goods Tokens in the appropriate markets and price them. This is a FREE "Normal Production" action.

A player may build one Facility OR expand one Facility per turn, never both.

2. Run a Facility (Produce Goods)

To produce a good, the player must first choose which of their Facilities will be producing this turn. Next, they must choose between NORMAL PRODUCTION and OVERTIME PRODUCTION. Normal Production has no dollar cost; the Facility produces the number of goods indicated on its card(s). Overtime Production produces double the amount of goods indicated, but the player must pay the dollar cost on the Facility Card to the bank.

Note: Paying for Production. A Facility that has been expanded to size two will produce two of its goods under normal production. Under overtime production, it will produce four of its goods instead, but the overtime costs will have to be paid to the bank.

Pricing:

For each good produced, the player takes a Goods Token of their color and places it next to a Market Pricing Track with that good's icon. The player then chooses a price for their goods by placing (or moving) their Price Marker on that Price Track. If the player produces multiples of a good, they may choose to place them in multiple markets, so long as each track has that good's icon next to it.

When a player places a Goods Token on a market, they may give it any price, even if another player has their marker on that price. If the player already has Goods Tokens in that market, they simply add the new Goods Tokens to the market and (if desired) move the Pricing Marker to any price in that Pricing Track. A player cannot have two Pricing Markers on the same track.

The goods MUST BE PLACED ON THE MARKET BOARD. The player cannot keep them. They may purchase their own goods as part of an action on a later turn if their goods are the least expensive at that time.

Locked Markets:

In the outer edges of the board, three market icons have lock symbols to indicate that they begin the game locked.

A player may not place the indicated good into a locked market without the Advance unlocking that market (see "3. Market Research"). Players may place the other good allowed in that market without any Advance.

3. Market Research (Purchase an Advance and Re-Price)

Advances give players powerful abilities. They are arranged and detailed on the Market Research Board. Although multiple players may own the same Advance, no single player may purchase the same Advance twice.

To acquire an Advance, a player must purchase the number of Research goods indicated. Follow the same purchase procedure as buying goods to build Facilities.

Advances occupy one of three levels. An Advance is not available until the game has entered the Age corresponding to its level. Some Advances have prerequisites and may not be purchased without at least one of them. Prerequisites are indicated by the lines leading up the levels of Advances.

After you have purchased an Advance, place one of your Goods Tokens on it to indicate ownership.

Example: In order to purchase the circled Advance at the top of the diagram, the game must currently be in the third age, you must already have at least one of the three Advances with a square around it, and you must purchase three Research goods.

After purchasing an Advance, the player may also adjust the price of their goods in each market. No goods are added to or removed from the markets as part of the re-price action. (See PRICING, above.)

4. Market Manipulation (Draw a Captain Card and Re-Price)

Captain Cards reward players with Market Share for satisfying conditions listed on the card by the end of the game. With careful planning, Captain Cards can be the deciding factor for victory.

The player draws 1 Captain Card, and may also adjust the price of their goods in each market. No goods are added to or removed from the markets as part of the re-price action.

5. Build Real Estate (RE)

Real Estate plays a key role in shaping the economy. The Real Estate market determines the amount of demand for the goods produced by players.

To build Real Estate, a player must first choose a zone: Residential, Commercial, Industrial, or Transportation. Each zone allows for different levels of Real Estate to be built: one Bronze Level, one Silver Level, and two Gold Levels. Players may build in any zone, but must build at the lowest level available for that zone.

Example: This is the Commercial Real Estate zone. Currently there are no commercial buildings. That means that if you chose to build here, you would have to build on the Bronze Level space.

Once the Real Estate zone and level have been identified, the player must purchase the goods indicated in the appropriate spot on the board from the Market Pricing Tracks. Follow the same purchase procedures used for building a Facility.

Note: Re-Price Is Used by Two Actions. Two different actions allow a player to re-price goods they already have in one of their markets. Both the Market Research and Market Manipulation actions end with the player re-pricing each of their markets. Remember, a player may only take 1 action per turn.

With the necessary goods purchased, the player locates the Real Estate Cards of the matching level (these may be examined by any player at any time). In this case, the player would look at the Bronze Level cards.

Example: The left card shows two Consumable Sector demands and one Durable Sector demand. The right card shows one Durable Sector demand and two Energy Sector demands. How demand affects the markets will be explained in the next section, which deals with the End of an Age.

There are three Sectors for which Real Estate generates demand: Consumables (green), Durables (blue), and Energy (yellow). Notice that the Bronze Level spaces on the board already contain automatic demand for one good of each Sector. If the Bronze Level space is never built, these demand icons will still be in effect. However, if a Bronze Level Real Estate is built over it, the demand on the card will replace the automatic demand.

Once a player has chosen which Real Estate card to build (and which side of that card), that card is placed on its space and one of the player's Goods Tokens is placed on that card. For the rest of the game, that real estate card will generate $2 in income for that player at the end of every round.

After a Real Estate purchase, the player must move their Turn Order Marker to the last available spot on the "Next Turn Order Track". This second order track will determine the order in which players will play the next round. Yes, purchasing Real Estate moves you to the end of the line.

Finally, the player adds a Progress Chip to the Progress Track, if possible. There are only three Progress Chips, and only one Progress Chip can be added to the Progress Track each round (see BUYING REAL ESTATE EXAMPLE, page 14).

End of Round Business

After the last player on the Turn Order Track has taken their turn, the Round ends and the following occurs:

1. Each player collects $2 per Real Estate Card owned.
2. The turn order is now adjusted, moving all players remaining on the top track to the first available positions, and moving the players on the bottom track up behind them. Since players moved to the end of the Next Turn Order Track as their turns resolved, turn order of players who built Real Estate this round will be reversed.
3. When real estate is purchased for the first time in a round, ONE Progress Chip is added to the Progress chip space in the center of the Game Progression wheel. At the end of the round this single chip is moved to the Progress Track. This ensures that only one chip is added to the Progress Track per round.
4. After adding the chip from the center of the Progression Wheel to the Progress Track, draw one card from the Progress Deck for each chip that is currently on the Progress Track.
5. There are ten cards in the Progress Deck: six City Cards and four Country Cards.

When City Cards are drawn, place them face up on the Progress Card Track. If fewer than six City Cards have been drawn, a new round begins with the first player on the Turn Order Track. Shuffle the Country Cards back into the Progress Deck and leave the City Cards face up. They will accumulate through the rounds until there are six of them.

When all six (6) City Cards have been drawn from the Progress Deck, the Age has ended. In this case, there is more business to attend to (see End of an Age Business, below).

Note: There Is Always Progress. The first marker on the progress track is printed directly on the board and counts towards the number of progress cards draw at the end of the round. Evan in the event that no chips have been placed on the track, a minimum of 1 Progress card will be drawn each round.

End of an Age Business

When six City Cards have been drawn from the Progress Deck, the current Age has come to an end. The following occurs:

1. Determine Demand

This is where the Real Estate zones and Market Sectors work together. The Sector Initials on Real Estate Cards (and automatic demand on undeveloped Bronze Real Estate spaces) will now determine how many goods are purchased by consumers and how many go to waste.

First, determine the amount of demand for the goods in each of the Market Pricing Tracks in the Consumables, Durables, and Energy Markets (Research is ignored for this phase of the game).

For each of the eight Markets, look at the adjacent Real Estate Zones. For each of the Consumables Markets, the only zone adjacent is just below. For the Durables and Energy Markets, there are adjacent zones on either side. For each Market, add up the matching Sector demand (Consumables, Durables, or Energy) in each adjacent Real Estate Zone. That total is the Consumer Demand. Goods in excess of this demand will be discarded as described in the following example.

Example: The Durables Market in the lower right is adjacent to the Industrial and Transportation areas. In those areas, there are six blue Durable Sector demand (the blue "D" icon). Two come from the Industrial Bronze card, one from the Industrial Silver card, two from the Industrial Gold card, and one comes from the automatic demand in the Bronze Transportation Real Estate space.

That means the CONSUMER DEMAND FOR DURABLES (on the lower right hand corner of the board) is six. Six Goods Tokens will be purchased from that Market Pricing Track. The rest will be discarded.

To identify which six Goods Tokens will be purchased, identify the six least expensive Goods Tokens and discard the rest. Do NOT remove the Goods Tokens that are to be purchased.

If there is a tie between players for the least expensive Goods Token, then the demand is spread evenly between all tied players. If there is not enough demand to purchase evenly, then demand is automatically increased until that can be done.

Example: Purple has two Goods Tokens at price 3. Yellow has one Goods Token at price 7. Blue and Green each have four Goods Tokens at price 7.

Since Consumer Demand for this Market Pricing Track is six, we must identify the six least expensive Goods Tokens.

Purple is the least expensive, so the two purple Goods Tokens will remain. There is four demand outstanding.

Yellow, Green, and Blue are tied for "second least expensive." Four demand remains, so they each get to keep one Goods Token on the board. There is one demand remaining.

Blue and Green each have additional Goods Tokens at price 7, but there is only one demand remaining. This means that the demand is increased so that it can be spread evenly. Therefore, Blue and Green each keep one additional Goods Token on the board.

In the end, that means that Purple keeps two Goods Tokens, Yellow keeps one Goods Token, and Blue and Green each keep two Goods Tokens. These seven Goods Tokens will be purchased, and all the other Goods Tokens (two green, two blue) are removed from the board and returned to their owners. Do not score discarded Goods Tokens. Do NOT remove the Goods Tokens that are being purchased, there is more scoring to do.

Perform the above procedure for each of the eight Markets (ignore Research) separately.

Now that demand has been determined, it is time to move on to the rest of the end of the age.

2. Score for Sector Domination

Determine which player has the most Goods Tokens in the Consumables Sector (all four Consumables Markets combined). That player gains five bonus Market Share. (Place a 5-point chip in their Player Bank to track this.)

Determine which player has the most Goods Tokens in the Durables Sector (both Durables Markets combined). That player gains five bonus Market Share.

Determine which player has the most Goods Tokens in the Energy Sector (both Energy Markets combined). That player gains five bonus Market Share.

If two or more players are tied for the most Goods Tokens in a Sector, no one gains the bonus Market Share for that Sector.

3. Sell Goods to Bank and Score

After rewarding dominance in the Consumables, Durables, and Energy Sectors, players sell their goods to the bank, collecting money and placing the sold Goods Tokens in their Player Banks. In the earlier demand example, green would sell the two Goods Tokens to the bank for $7 apiece and score them.

4. Score for Age-End Advances

If players have Advances that give bonus Market Share at the end of each Age, they score those now. Players can take Goods Tokens from their reserves or 5-point chips and place them in their Player Banks to indicate this.

5. Choose Captain Card to Return

Each player must choose one of their Captain Cards and return it to the deck. That deck is then shuffled.

6. Reset Progress Deck and Clear Progress Chips

Take all Progress cards (including the ones previously set aside) and shuffle them back into the Progress deck. Remove all of the Progress Chips from the Progress Chip Track. Add the next Age marker to the Age Track.

The next Age now begins, or, if these tasks completed the Third Age, the game ends (see End of Game Business, below).

End of Game Business

After the third age has ended and the End of an Age business has been completed, there are some additional scoring steps.

1. Reveal Market Share from Player Bank

Players empty their Player Banks and add up the tokens and chips. Goods Tokens are worth one Market Share each and chips are worth 5.

2. Score Game-End Advances

If players have Advances that give bonus Market Share at the end of the game, they score those now. Add to the Player Bank total from the previous step.

3. Score Any Captain Cards Still in Hand

Total any applicable bonuses from Captain Cards and score them now. Add to the total from the two previous steps. Note: Captain Cards that reward specific Facilities have bonuses listed. These bonuses are cumulative! For example, a player whose size 5 Farm is their largest and the largest Facility in the game will score all three bonuses listed, for a total of 14 Market Share!

4. Score Market Share for the Most Money

The player with the most money gains a 20 Market Share bonus. The player with the second largest amount of money gains a 10 Market Share bonus. The player with the third largest amount of money gains a 5 Market Share bonus.

If two players tie for a reward level, they split the reward for that level and the one below. If three players tie for a reward level, they split the reward for that level and the two below, and so on.

Hang on to that money in case there's a tie in the next step.

5. Declare Winner

The player with the most Market Share wins the game. If there is a tie, whichever player has the most money remaining is the winner. If there is still a tie, the tied player earliest in turn order wins.

Strategy Guide

Remember, only Stone, Steel, Lumber, and Research will sell before the end of the first Age, so if you need money, produce goods in those Markets.

Producing goods for your own use seems natural, but will put you at a scoring disadvantage. Other players buying your goods will be your single largest source of market share.

Building Real Estate pays off in the long run by allowing you to control demand.

Being last in turn order is an advantage, especially late in each Age.

A player with a monopoly on a good will have an advantage if no one challenges them.

Pay close attention to the Progress deck. Predicting when the Age will end will help you avoid the feeling of wishing you could do one more thing.

Credits

Game Design: Michael R. Keller

Game Development: Seth Jaffee

Art and Graphic Design: Bryan Fischer, Daniel Solis, Rob Lundy

Rulebook Design: Daniel Solis

Special Thanks: Daniel Glaser, Jeffrey Sam, Double Exposure, Russell Knox, Bret Nelson

Thanks: NYC Board Game Designers, Jared Greenberg, Dan Cassar, Andrew Parks, Todd Rodgers, Spielbany, Cynthia Wang, Zhen Wang

Playtesters: Raaid Ahmad, Paul Birnbaum, Elliot Black, Phil Cofield, Norm Coleman, Sam Dixon, Kristy Eckert, Doug Faust, Anni Foasberg, Jon Grover, John Heder, Gil Hova, David Irving, Kiratbir Khurana, John Moeller, William Murdock, Benson Lee, Odelia Lee, Christopher Parks, Sarah Parks, Mandy Proctor, Larry Puccio, Cyndie Russo, Mark Salzwedel, Suzanne Zinsli