Card City XL Rulebook

Table of Contents

Contents: 186 cards
The Rules of the Simplified Game
The Rules of the Normal Game
The Rules of the Advanced Game
CCXL Options
Solitaire

Contents: 186 cards

Comprising the following:

50 x Residences
16 x Leisure buildings
8 x Parks
36 x Commerces
4 x Municipal buildings (City Halls)
8 x Pollution Clouds
24 x Industries
16 special 2-color buildings
1 x First Architect Player Tile
20 x Parking garages
4 x Rules reminders
80 Money coins: 1, 5, 25, and bank notes of 100.

The Rules of the Simplified Game

Goal of the Game

Have the most Victory Points at the end of the game by having formed large residential districts and having accumulated lots of money.

Setup

Create a deck of cards from the following cards per player in the game: 6x Residence, 4x Industry, 4x Parking, 3x Commerce, 3x Leisure.

Thoroughly shuffle the deck, and place it face down in the middle of the table.

Example: In a 3-player game, the deck will comprise 18 Residence, 12 Industry, 12 Parking, 9 Commerce, and 9 Leisure cards.

Sort the remaining Residence, Industry, and Commerce cards by color to create 3 face-up stacks, one for each type. These cards constitute the supply. Return the Parking, Pollution, and other remaining cards to the box.

Each player receives $3 and a City Hall card. Place your Municipal building in front of you to form the first district of your city. Your money is always visible to all players. The player most recently downtown takes the first Architect Player tile, and will be first; play goes clockwise.

Gameplay

The game plays out over 10 turns, each of which is divided into 5 phases:

Acquisition of New Buildings
Construction
Development
Revenue
End of the turn

Phase 1: Acquisition of New Buildings

In this phase, each player will receive 2 Buildings.

The first player draws 2 cards per player (e.g. with 3 players, draw 6 cards), then looks at them discreetly.

Then the first player lays out 2 lots of cards (see example below):

The first lot contains only 2 cards, face up. The second lot contains all the other cards, half face up, the other half face down.

The second player now chooses which of the 2 lots of cards to take:

If the second player takes the first lot of 2 face-up cards, then the first player takes the second lot, and splits it into 2 lots like before. Now, the third player chooses a lot to take.
If the second player takes the second lot, then the first player takes the first lot of 2 face-up cards, and the second player splits the stack of cards into 2 lots like the first player just did.

Repeat the split-and-offer process until each player has exactly 2 cards.

Example with the set from the top: In the second turn of a 3-player game, the first player draws the following 6 cards: R, I, L, P, C, and C. He places the R and a C face up to form the first lot. For the second lot of 4 cards, he places the P and the other C face up and the I and L face down. He offers these 2 lots to the second player. She chooses the first lot (R and C). Now the first player takes the 4 cards of the remaining lot (the second), and discreetly creates a new first lot, P and I, and second lot, C and a face-down L. He offers these 2 lots to the third player, who takes the first lot (P and I); thus, the first player is left with the C and L lot. If, instead of taking the first lot (R and C), player 2 had taken the 4-card lot, then player 1 would have received the R and C, and player 2 would have split the 4-card lot to form 2 lots from which player 3 would have chosen.

Note: For only the first turn, return any Leisure cards you draw to the deck, then reshuffle the deck.

At any time in the game, players are welcome to count the number of cards remaining in the deck.

Phase 2: Construction

Everyone plays this phase simultaneously but you can play this phase in turn order (if you feel the need). In this phase, each player places both of her new Buildings in her City before her.

General Rule: Adjacency

In these rules, the term adjacent always means orthogonally adjacent; diagonal connections are not considered adjacent.

Your City

Your city is limited to a 5x5 square of 25 Building cards.

Your City will have a solitary Municipal Building, (your starting card), which does not need to be in the center.

The different types of Buildings that will form your City are as follows:

Development Buildings: Residence, Commerce
Culture Buildings: Municipal, Leisure
Miscellaneous Buildings: Industry, Parking

Districts

A District is a group of contiguous cards (i.e. connected orthogonally — remember: diagonals don't count!) of the same type.

Example: Below, we have a District of 3 Residences, marked "1"; a District of 2 Commerces, marked "2"; a District of 1 Residence, marked "3". Note that Districts 1 and 3 do not form a single District, because they are diagonal from one another, and not considered adjacent.

City Size Limit

The size of your city is limited not only by the 5x5 grid, but also by the number of Buildings it can support.

This is determined by the number of Industry cards in your City, to provide the citizens jobs:

Without any Industry, your City can only have 5 cards, including the Municipal building.
Each Industry card can support 5 cards.
Your City must never exceed its size limit.
However, even if you are at your limit, you can play an Industry card, because Industry cards do not count toward this limit.

Example: This City comprises 5 cards; because it has no Industry, this City has reached its size limit. In order to add more cards, you must add an Industry, which will support another 5 cards (besides the Industry). Luckily, the next pair of cards you acquire is an Industry and a Leisure. The next turn, you add 2 Residences. Your City still has only 8 non-Industry cards, so the 1 Industry can support 2 more non-Industry cards.

Construction Rules

If you can construct a Building (place a card), you must do so.
If you cannot construct a Building (i.e. your City is at its size limit, or you would violate a construction rule), you must discard it.
You can construct your 2 new Buildings in whichever order you prefer; however, remember that you must construct as many as you can, even if you would prefer otherwise. You cannot choose an order that would reduce the number of Buildings you construct (see the first construction rule).
You cannot have an Industry adjacent to a Residence.
In order to construct a Leisure, you must pay $5; if you cannot pay, you must discard the card.
You can only place a new card adjacent to a card already in your City. Thus, each Building you place determines where you will be able to place in the future.
You cannot construct a Development Building adjacent to a Building of the same color. You may construct a non-Development Building adjacent to a Building of the same color.
Once placed, a Building card cannot be relocated.
You cannot keep cards in your hand for the next turn.

Example: In this City, limited to 10 non-Industry cards, you would be able to construct: a Leisure (by paying $5) at any numbered location. A Parking at any numbered location. An Industry at any numbered location except 6, 7, and 8 (because it would be adjacent to a Residence). A Commerce at any numbered location except 4 and 5 (because you cannot construct a Development Building beside a Building of the same color). A Residence at any numbered location except 6, 7, and 8 (because you cannot construct a Development Building beside a Building of the same color) and 2, 3, and 4 (because you cannot have an Industry beside a Residence).

Phase 3: Development

Thanks to a favorable environment and good management by the mayor (YOU!), the Residences and Commerces attract new citizens to the City, which contributes to their development.

Everyone plays this phase simultaneously (you can play this phase in turn order if you feel the need). Development enlarges Residential and Commercial Districts by adding such cards from the supply stacks to your City.

Development Rules

Whenever development is possible, it is mandatory.
Only the Development Buildings/Districts (Residences and Commerces) are eligible for development; the others do not develop.
If you have several developments available to you, you can choose the order in which to resolve them.
After you have developed a Residence or a Commerce, it is possible that you can develop further in this same turn (and remember that if you can, you must!).
Development respects the Construction Rules, and the City Size Limit, and of course your City's 5x5 layout. The one exception is that development specifically constructs Development Buildings adjacent to Buildings of the same color.

Note: Developing a Residence is the only way you can have a Residential District with more than 1 card in it, because you cannot construct them side-by-side in Phase 2.

Residential Development

A District comprising n Residence cards, which is adjacent to at least n+1 Culture Buildings (Municipal and Leisure) must be developed by taking a Residence card from the supply stack and placing it adjacent to the Residential District, enlarging it.

Example: Your City has 2 Residential Districts, each with 1 Building. Only the District marked with a lightning bolt will develop, because it has only 1 building, and is adjacent to 2 Culture Buildings (1 Municipal and 1 Leisure). You must take a Residence card from the supply stack and place it at A or B. You choose to place it at A, merging the two separate Residential Districts into a single 3-card District. In order for this Residential District to grow further, you will need to construct 2 more Culture buildings adjacent to it, so the 3-card District will have 4 Culture Buildings adjacent to it. Fortunately, your City has 1 Industry, but only 7 non-Industry cards, so your City can support 3 more cards before you need another Industry.

Commercial Development

A District comprising n Commerce cards, which is adjacent to at least n+1 Residential Districts must be developed by taking a Commerce card from the supply stack and placing it adjacent to the Commercial District, enlarging it.

Example: The Commercial District depicted below cannot be developed, because although it is adjacent to 2 Residences, they are both in the same District: The Commerce is adjacent to only 1 Residential District.

Example: The Commercial District depicted below can be developed, because the Commercial District is adjacent to 2 Residential Districts. The only place it can grow is X, so you must take a Commerce card from the supply stack and place it at X. Now, the newly 2-card Commercial District is adjacent to 3 Residential Districts, so it must grow again; however, your 1-Industry City already has its maximum of 10 non-Industry cards, so no further development can occur until you construct another Industry.

Note: Developing a Commerce is the only way you can have a Commercial District with more than 1 card in it, because you cannot construct them side-by-side in Phase 2.

Phase 4: Revenue

Everyone plays this phase simultaneously (you can play this phase in turn order if you feel the need). In this phase, each player receives revenue from her City. This money will enable you to construct new Culture Buildings, and to construct new Industries when you desperately need to enlarge your City. Take your revenue from the supply.

Salary

Each turn, you receive $1 salary from City Hall. Don't forget it! ...and don't spend it all in one place!

Commercial Revenue

Each of your Commercial Districts provides you revenue, as well:

A 1-Building Commercial District earns you $1.
A 2-Building Commercial District earns you $1 + $2.
A 3-Building Commercial District earns you $1 + $2 + $3.
...

Example: Your City has 3 Commercial Districts. Each of the 1 card Districts earns you $1, and the 2-card District earns you $1 + $2 = $3. Therefore, your revenue for the turn is $1 salary + $1 + $1 + $3 = $6.

Phase 5: End of the Turn

In turn order, each player can buy 1 Industry from the supply stack. If it would be the first Industry in your City, then it costs $5. If it would be your second Industry, it will cost $10, etc. When the Industry card supply stack runs out, tough luck!

Now pass the Architect Player tile to the left.

End of the Game

At the end of the 10th turn, which is also when the deck is exhausted, the game has come to an end, and it is time for the final scoring. Once you are comfortable with Card City XL, you can use whichever victory condition you agree to use at the start of the game, but for your first game, you should use the Residential Victory:

Residential Victory

A 1-Building Residential District earns you 1 VP.
A 2-Building Residential District earns you 1+2 VP.
A 3-Building Residential District earns you 1+2+3 VP.
...

Trade in your money for VP: Each $5 you have earns you 1 VP. Each empty space in your 5x5 City grid is -1 VP.

The player with the most VP wins the game! In a tie, the tied player with more money left (after the conversion to VP) wins. If it is still a tie, play again to decide the victor!

Example: In your City, you have 4 Residential Districts. The two 1-card Districts each earn you 1 VP, and each of the two 3-card Districts earns you 1 + 2 + 3 = 6 VP. You have $36, so you convert $35 of that into 7 VP, leaving you with $1. You have 2 empty spaces, so that's -2 VP. 1 + 1 + 6 + 6 + 7 - 2 = 19 VP (with $1 left for the tiebreaker).

Accounting tip: In the final scoring, you can simplify the scoring by putting $5 of your money on each of your empty spaces, since $5 = +1 VP and empty space = -1 VP.

The Rules of the Normal Game

Other than the differences listed here, the rules of the simplified game still apply.

Setup

The table below shows the number of cards of each type in the deck per player, and how many turns the game will last.

2 players: 7x Residence, 4x Commerce, 5x Industry, 4x Leisure, 4x Parking = 24 cards (8 Turns)
3 players: 9x Residence, 4x Commerce, 5x Industry, 4x Leisure, 5x Parking = 27 cards (9 Turns)
4 players: 7x Residence, 4x Commerce, 5x Industry, 4x Leisure, 4x Parking = 24 cards (8 Turns)

Sort the remaining Residence, Industry, Commerce, Parking, and Pollution cards by color to create 5 face-up stacks, one for each type. These cards constitute the supply. Return the remaining cards to the box.

Phase 1: Acquisition of New Buildings

In this phase, each player will receive 3 Buildings. The first player draws 3 cards per player (e.g. with 3 players, draw 9 cards), then looks at them discreetly. The first lot must always have 2 cards face up and 1 card face down.

The second lot must always be 1/3 face up and 2/3 face down.

Repeat the split-and-offer process until each player has exactly 3 cards.

Example: In the second turn of a 3-player game, the first player draws the following 9 cards: R, R, I, I, L, P, C, C, and C. He places an R and a C face up, and an R face down to form the first lot. For the second lot of 6 cards, he places the P and a C face up, and the other C, the I, I, and L face down. He offers these 2 lots to the second player. She chooses the first lot (R, C, and hidden R). Now the first player takes the cards of remaining lot (the second), and discreetly creates a new first lot (P, I, and hidden I) and second lot (C and hidden C and L). He offers these 2 lots to the third player, who takes the first lot (P and I, and hidden I); thus, the first player is left with the C and hidden C and L lot. If, instead of taking the first lot (R, C, and hidden R), player 2 had taken the 6-card lot, then player 1 would have received the R, C, and R and player 2 would have split the 6-card lot to form 2 lots from which player 3 would have chosen.

Phase 2: Construction

Your City

Your city is limited to a 6x6 square of 36 Building cards.

The different types of Buildings that will form your City are as follows:

Development Buildings: Residence, Commerce
Culture Buildings: Municipal, Leisure
Miscellaneous Buildings: Industry, Parking, Pollution, Park

Pollution Clouds

Whenever you construct an Industry, if you constructed it in the same row or column as any other Industries, you must take 1 Pollution card (no matter how many Industries were in the same row and/or column), and add it to your City. Pollution Clouds can go beside any type of card. Just like the other supply cards, when the supply runs out, no more can be taken, so turn order is important for Pollution Cloud placement.

Pollution Clouds do not count toward your City Size Limit.

Example: If you construct an Industry in a space marked with an "X", you will have to place a Pollution Cloud, as well; however, if you construct an Industry in a space marked with an "o", you will not have to take a Pollution Cloud.

Phase 5: End of the Turn

When it is your turn to buy an optional Industry, you may also/instead buy 1 Park from the supply stack for $5 (no matter how many Parks you have). When the Park card supply stack runs out, tough luck, so again turn order will matter!

Parks do not count toward your City Size Limit.

End of the Game

Empty spaces adjacent to a Park do not count as negative points.

Example: The empty spaces marked with a "0" are not -1 VP, because they are beside Parks. That means these two Parks were effectively worth a total of 4 VP!

Each Pollution Cloud card is worth -2 VP (if you play with the Residence Victory).

The Rules of the Advanced Game

These advanced rules represent the complete Card City XL! Other than the differences listed here, the rules of the normal game still apply.

Certain buildings could be considered to be of several types. For example, a restaurant would be a Commerce and a Leisure at the same time!

The advanced rules add an extra level to the strategy by integrating such bicolor, dual-function Buildings into the game. You can also rotate these cards to optimize the impact on adjacent cards!

Setup

Select the deck cards according to the rules for the normal game. Then, regardless of the number of players, remove 5 Residence, 5 Leisure, 4 Commerce, and 2 Industry. Add these removed Residence, Commerce, and Industry cards to their respective supply stacks; return the Leisure to the box. Now, add the 16 bicolor cards to the deck and thoroughly shuffle the deck.

Example: A Commerce/Industry constructed as depicted would prevent Residences from being built at locations 1 and 2, and no Commerces could be built at 3 or 4. By placing the card rotated 90 degrees, locations 2 and 3 would be unable to accommodate Residences, and you would not be able to construct Commerces at 4 or 1.

Phase 1: Acquisition of New Buildings

In politics, as in commerce, money plays an important role in decision making. This is where corruption enters the scene.

Whenever it is your turn to create the two lots, you can add your own money to one of the lots in order to make it more attractive. Of course, the player who ends up with this lot ends up with the cash incentive, as well.

Phase 2: Construction

The bicolor cards are trickier to construct legally, because both colors' rules must be respected.

Note: The bicolor cards always count as 1 card for your City Size Limit, even if the card is half Industry.

Example: At the start of the first turn, you construct a Parking garage and a Residence/Commerce, both adjacent to your Municipal (City Hall). In the second turn, you are allowed to construct neither an Industry nor a Residence at location 1. You also are allowed to construct neither an Industry, a Residence, nor a Commerce at location 2. Constructing a Residence at location 3 would enable the Commerce to its right to develop! Note that your City currently counts as having 4 cards, because the Commerce/Industry counts as one; on the other hand, the Industry portion of it allows your city to have 5 more non-Industry, non-Park buildings (and of course, Pollution Clouds never count).

Phase 3: Development

The bicolor cards respect the rules for both colors. Even though the Residence or Commerce only occupies half of the card, it still counts as 1 card, not 1/2 card.

Example: The Residence at 1 is adjacent to two Culture Buildings (your Municipal Building and the Leisure at 2). It must develop into location 3 by taking a Residence card from the supply.

Example: The Residence/Commerce adjacent to the Commerce/Industry form a 2-card Commerce. So, although it is adjacent to 2 Residential Districts, this is not enough to trigger growth.

Phase 4: Revenue

In addition to your salary ($1) and Commercial revenue, City Hall has decided to install parking meters to raise more revenue.

A Parking District earns you revenue according to the number of colors adjacent to it (City Hall counts as 2 colors: both purple and red), except for Pollution and Parks, of course:

1 color: $0.
2 colors: $1.
3 colors: $2.
4 colors: $3.
5 colors: $4.

Just as with development, each bicolor card with Commerce counts as 1 card, not 1/2 card.

Example: The Parking District is adjacent to 3 colors, and earns $2. The Commercial District earns $1. With your salary, that's a total of $4.

End of the Game

Just as with development and revenue, each bicolor card with Residence counts as 1 card, not 1/2 card.

Example: The 3-card Residential District formed by A, B, and C earns 1 + 2 + 3 = 6 VP.

CCXL Options

1) 3 Complexity Levels

The rules so far have explained the 3 levels of complexity at which you can play Card City XL: Simplified, Normal, and Advanced.

2) 5 New Victory Conditions

You can alter the victory condition. Before the game, agree to which victory condition you will use. All five victory conditions are viable for the simplified, normal, and advanced game, so have fun trying all 15 combinations!

Residential Victory

It's the normal victory condition. Each of your Residential Districts provides you with victory points:

A 1-Building Residential District earns you 1 VP.
A 2-Building Residential District earns you 1+2 VP.
A 3-Building Residential District earns you 1+2+3 VP.
...

Trade in your money for VP: Each $5 you have earns you 1 VP. Each empty space in your City grid is -1 VP.

The player with the most VP wins the game! In a tie, the tied player with more money left (after the conversion to VP) wins.

Economic Victory

Instead of counting victory points from the Residences, the richest player wins. Ties go to the player with more cards in her City.

Each empty space in your City grid is -$5.
Each empty space adjacent to a Park is +$5.
Each Pollution card is $0, but still occupies a space.

Industrial Victory

Instead of counting victory points from the Residences, the player with the greatest total number of Industry and Parking cards in her City wins. During this endgame scoring (and only then), the halves of the bicolor cards only count as 1/2 card. Ties go to the richer player (there is no conversion of money to VP), then to the player with more cards in her city.

Empty spaces in your City grid do not count against you; however, each empty space adjacent to an Industry is called a virtual warehouse and counts as 1 Industry for the final total.

Commercial Victory

Instead of counting victory points from the Residences, the player with the greatest total number of Commerce and Parking cards in her City wins. During this endgame scoring (and only then), the halves of the bicolor cards only count as 1/2 card.

Ties go to the richer player (there is no conversion of money to VP), then to the player with more cards in her city.

Empty spaces in your City grid do not count against you; however, each empty space adjacent to a Commerce is called a virtual warehouse and counts as 1 Commerce for the final total.

Happiness Victory

Instead of counting victory points from the Residences, victory will be decided by having the happiest city. Each Residential District with all of its needs met will generate Happiness Points equal to its size. In order to have all its needs met, the Residential District must be adjacent to at least the following: 1 Leisure, 1 Parking, and 1 Commerce.

Example: A 4-card Residential District adjacent to at least 1 Leisure, 1 Parking, and 1 Commerce generates 4 Happiness points.

Note:

There is no benefit for having additional Leisure, Parking, and/or Commerce adjacent to a Residential District; it will not generate extra Happiness Points.
Bicolor cards make it easier to generate Happiness Points.
A Residential District adjacent to at least 1 Pollution does not generate Happiness Points.
A Residential District adjacent to at least 1 Park generates double Happiness Points. The same Park can double the happiness of multiple Residential Districts.
Empty spaces in your City grid do not count against you.

3) 4 Variants

You can mix and match any of the following variants, using none, all four, or any combination in between. Remember, for your first game, you should use no variants. The more variants you include, the more realistically the game models real life!

Just don't choke yourselves by trying too many new variants at once; real life is hard....

1) Support of the Architect

The First Player tile plays the role of the Architect, with whose support you can extend your city a little more creatively.

If you are the first player, and thus have the Architect tile, you can place the Architect temporarily in a space adjacent to a card in order to build adjacent to the Architect — even if that means the new card is not yet adjacent to any other card.

Example: If you place the Architect tile below the Parking, you could construct a Building at a, after which you could construct a Building at b. If you are playing the normal or advanced game, the third Building from your lot could be built at c, for example, allowing you to work on independent "twin cities".

Note: Even if you keep working on separate "twin cities", they must still fit in your square City grid.

2) Ecological City

Certain cards generate pollution once they are built in your City:

There are 4 different illustrations on the Industry cards in CCXL. Each illustration has a different Level of Pollution percentage.

Each Commerce card counts as 1% Pollution.
Each Pollution card counts as 5% Pollution.
Each Park card counts as -5% Pollution.
Residence and Parking cards do not affect the Level of Pollution (they count as 0%).
Suburbs (or virtual warehouse) do not affect the Level of Pollution (they count as 0%).

The Level of Pollution % affects all Victory Conditions as below:

Residential Victory: Subtract your Level of Pollution % from your Victory Points (it can make you go negative!).
Economic Victory: Subtract your Level of Pollution % from your money (it can make you go negative!).
Industrial Victory: Add your Level of Pollution % to your total.
Commercial Victory: Add your Level of Pollution % to your total.
Happiness Victory: If your City's Level of Pollution is above 30%, you automatically lose the game. You can pay money to lower your Level of Pollution in order to stay at 30% or under. -1% costs $5. Money returns to the box. Among only those players with 30% Pollution or lower, the player with the most Happiness Points wins.

3) Leisure Crisis

The Leisure Buildings cost more and more to construct. They are priced the same way as buying an Industry: Your first Leisure costs $5 to construct, as usual. Your second Leisure costs $10, etc. If you have the money, you must pay to build the Leisure card.

4) Unity City

All players work together to build a single City: Unity City! This variant adds player interaction during construction and development.

Setup

The following illustrations show the initial setup, and how the City is divided between the players.

In each case, each player is still building a full-size (5x5 or 6x6) borough, so in a 2-player normal or advanced game, the final City will be 6x12, and in a 4-player game, the final city will fit in a 12x12 grid (the 3-player game is a bit special, as you will see in a moment). The final City in a 2-player simplified game would be 5x10. For a 3-player game, you will need to use a hexagonal layout.

These hexagonal layouts allow fair competition between the 3 players, but be aware that each card now can have 6 cards adjacent to it, rather than just 4: specifically, 2 above, 2 below, 1 to the left, and 1 to the right.

This also means that orthogonally split bicolor cards behave a bit differently:

Rotated one way, each half will only be adjacent to 3 other cards (and the other half of this card, of course);
Rotated the other way, each half will be adjacent to 4 other cards (and the other half of this card).

Each half of a diagonally split bicolor card will only be adjacent to 3 other cards (and the other half of this card).

Example: 1. The Industry prevents a Residence from being built in the three adjacent spaces marked with X. 2. The Industry prevents a Residence from being built in the four adjacent spaces marked with X. 3. The Industry prevents a Residence from being built in the three adjacent spaces marked with X. 4. The Industry prevents a Residence from being built in the two adjacent spaces marked with X (there's already a Municipal building in the third space adjacent to the Industry).

Gameplay

Phase 2: Construction

You must play this phase in turn order: Start with the First Player and go clockwise.
All of the construction rules apply within each player's borough, and between the boroughs. Example: If Player 1 has an Industry on her border with Player 2, Player 2 can build adjacent to that, but cannot build a Residence there.
In a 2-player game, once one of the players has established the "width" of the City by having 5 (simplified) or 6 (normal and advanced) Buildings parallel with the border, the other player cannot construct outside that width.

Example: In a normal game, the right player has established the width of the City, which establishes the City's grid as illustrated.

Example: If the right player builds a card in A, then the left player will be able to build a card in B.

Phase 3: Development

Development Rules:

You must play this phase in turn order: Start with the First Player and go clockwise.
A Leisure constructed along a border can help enable development of a Residence on the other side of the border.
A Residential District along a border can help enable development of a Commerce on the other side of the border.

Note: Your Commercial and Residential Districts never grow into an opponent's borough; however, it is possible that your opponent's Commercial District and your Commercial District merge as they reach the border (same with Residential districts). As always, once the different players' Commercial District merge, they are a single District, requiring more Residential Districts to grow; similarly, once different players' Residential Districts merge, more Culture Buildings (Municipal and Leisure) will be required to make the merged District grow.

Example: Player 1's 3-card Commercial District is adjacent to 4 Residential Districts; however, it cannot grow into an opponent's borough. Because it is penned in by those, the Leisure, the Parking, and the border, it will never grow larger than 3 cards... unless Player 2 builds a Commercial District that grows to merge with Player 1's!

Phase 4: Revenue

The unified City generates revenue as a whole, ignoring borough borders; however, each player earns her portion of the revenue, according to how much of the Commercial District is in her borough, rounded down (the accountants want their share).

Example: The 4-card Commercial District earns $1 + $2 + $3 + $4 = $10. 1 of the 4 cards is in Player 2's borough, so Player 2 will earn 1/4 of that, rounded down: $2. The other 3 cards are Player 1's, so Player 1 will earn 3/4 of that, rounded down: $7.

Example: The 6-card Residential District earns 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 = 21 VP. 1 of the 6 cards is in Player 3's borough, so Player 3 will earn 1/6 of that, rounded down: 3 VP. 2 of the 6 cards are in Player 2's borough, so Player 2 will earn 1/3 of that, rounded down: 7 VP. The other 3 cards are Player 1's, so Player 1 will earn 1/2 of that, rounded down: 10 VP.

Note: Parks, Commerce, and Industries on the border still affect adjacent boroughs in the final scoring.

Examples:

For the Economic Victory Condition, if your neighbor has a border Park adjacent to an empty space in your borough, it increases the value of your empty space by $5.
For the Commercial Victory Condition, if your neighbor has a border Commerce adjacent to an empty space in your borough, it creates a virtual warehouse in your empty space.
For the Industrial Victory Condition, if your neighbor has a border Industry adjacent to an empty space in your borough, it creates a virtual warehouse in your empty space.

In all three of these examples, your empty space that has been enhanced helps your score, so thank your neighbor!

End of the Game

The unified City generates VP as a whole, ignoring borough borders; however, each player earns her portion of the Revenue, according to how much of the Residential District is in her borough, rounded down (it works just like revenue from Commercial Districts).

Solitaire

Other than the differences listed here, all the rules still apply. As usual, choose the level of play, victory conditions, and variants you will play.

Simplified Game

Setup

Use the Setup of the Multiplayer Simplified rules but for 1 player, i.e. 6 Residences, 4 Industries, 4 Parkings, 3 Commerces and 3 Leisures.

Gameplay

Phase 1: Acquisition of New Buildings

Draw 3 cards, choose 2, and tuck the other card under the deck. As usual, in the first turn, shuffle Leisure cards back into the deck.

End of the Game

Check the table below.

Normal and Advanced Game

Setup

Create the deck from the following cards: 7x Residence, 5x Industry, 4x Parking, 4x Commerce, 4x Leisure.

The game will last 8 turns.

Gameplay

Phase 1: Acquisition of New Buildings

Draw 4 cards, choose 3, and tuck the other card under the deck. As usual, in the first turn, shuffle Leisure cards back into the deck.

End of the Game

Check your score against these rankings to see what level your City attained, depending on which Victory condition you have chosen:

Victory Condition	Residential	Economic	Industrial	Commercial	Happiness
Wide Spot in the Road	0-29	0-59	0-29	0-19	0-9
Hamlet	30-39	60-79	30-34	20-29
Village	40-49	80-99	35-39	30-39	10-14
Town	50-59	100-109	40-44	40-49
Large Town	60-69	110-119	45-49	50-59	15-19
City	70-79	120-129	50-54	60-64
Large City	80-89	130-139	55-59	65-69	20-24
Metropolis	90-99	140-159	60-64	70-74	25-29
Conurbation	100-119	160-169	65-69	75-79
Megalopolis	120+	170+	70+	80+	30

Solitaire Variants

You can play all 4 variants provided by the multiplayer game except Unity City (of course) which is replaced by the Established Suburbs.

Established Suburbs

Setup

Before creating the deck, set up the suburbs surrounding the City as illustrated, which for the simplified game requires 8 Residence, 8 Parking, and 8 Commerce, and for the normal and advanced games requires 10 Residence, 9 Parking, and 9 Commerce. Place your Municipal Building (City Hall) on any of the spaces marked with an "x".

Note: Cards in the suburbs do not count for the City size, but they all count for the building rules and development rules. When you manage to integrate the Residence and Commerce from the suburbs into your Residential and Commercial Districts during the game, the suburban cards will count both for your Revenue and final scoring; however, until a suburban card is part of a district in the City, it only applies its influence according to the Construction Rules.

Example: During the first round, you get a Residence and an Industry card which you build as depicted. Of course, it is not allowed to build an Industry next to a Residence of the Suburbs. During the revenue phase, you only get your $1 salary for the City Hall. You don't get the revenue of the 8 suburban Commerce Districts. If the game were ending right now, and you were playing the Residential Victory Condition, you would have only 1 VP for the downtown Residence District. During the second round, you get a Commerce and a new Residence. During the development phase, the Residence card from the suburb causes your downtown Commerce to develop into (a). This integrates a suburban Commerce into the district! Now you have a Commerce District of size 3 which you will earn you $1+$2+$3 = $6 during the Revenue phase. Later in the game, you could build a Leisure card in (b), then develop the Residence on the left side of City hall into (c) in order to have a Residential district of size 4, worth 10 VP, were the game to end now.

Cumulative Totals Reference

Size	Total	VP/$
1	1	1
2	1+2	3
3	1+2+3	6
4	1+2+3+4	10
5	1+2+3+4+5	15
6	1+2+3+4+5+6	21
7	1+2+3+4+5+6+7	28
8	1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8	36