City of the Living Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Contents and Game Setup
  • Player Mat Layout
  • Symbols
• Game Overview
• Game Turn
  • Improvement Tile
  • Example
• Actions
  • Example
  • Placing Tiles
  • Example
  • Example
• End of Game
• Some Tips
  • Optional Tracking Tokens
• Credits
• Quick Reference
  • Game Turn
  • End Game

Contents and Game Setup

A. Scavenging Board

Place the Scavenging board in the middle of the table.

B. 60 Improvement Tiles

Sort the Improvement tiles according to the year number on their back. Place the tiles with "ZERO" face-up next to the Scavenging board at the beginning of the game: the Scavenging level of the tile will correspond to the board's Scavenging level; if the tile's Scavenging level is written on the left, place it to the left of the board (Cooperation tiles); if the tile's level is written on the right, place it to the right of the board (Defense tiles).

C. Shuffle the tiles of each year face-down. Then make a stack starting with the SEVEN tiles at the bottom, followed by the SIX tiles, and so forth ending with the ONE tiles at the top of the deck.

Optional tracking tokens — see Some Tips.

D. 4 Player Mats (double-sided)

Each player chooses a color and takes a Player mat. If this is your first time playing, place the mat so that the smiley face is visible. For the subsequent games, all players (or only the more experienced ones at the table) can decide whether or not to play with the frowny face side (more difficult).

E. Fuel Tokens

Each player takes 2 Fuel barrels.

F. 20 Indicator Cubes (in four different player colors)

Each player takes 5 Indicator cubes of their player color. They place one cube next to the Advantage track, one cube on the lowest space of each of the two tracks of the Scavenging board, and the remaining two cubes on the darkened square of the Cooperation and Defenses tracks of their Player mats (representing the Cooperation and Defense totals of their territory at the start of the game).

G. 64 Zombie Meeples

Each player places 8 Zombie meeples, 1 on each of the spaces of their Zombies track, starting at the bottom.

The remaining Zombies and Fuel are placed next to the board, in reserve.

The player who most recently fended off a threat will be the start player, and will take the first turn of the game.

Player Mat Layout

Each Player mat shows a Territory icon (smiley face: Normal; frowny face: Difficult), Tile spaces for placing Improvement tiles, a Cooperation track, a Defenses track, and a Zombie track.

NOTE: At any point during the game, the symbols visible on a player mat correspond to the current state of their territory. These will be important at the beginning of each player's turn for scoring.

The Cooperation track is used to indicate the total result when considering all positive and negative Cooperation symbols on a Player mat.

The Defenses track is used to indicate the total result when considering all positive and negative Defense symbols on a Player mat.

Symbols

Cooperation

• Positive (green check)
• Negative (red X)

Defenses

• Positive (yellow lock)

• Negative (blue lock)

• Scavenging (binoculars)

• Advantage (shield)

• Fuel (fuel barrel)

• Buy a Tile (plus/cross icon)

• Zombie (zombie icon)

• Fight a Zombie (zombie with slash icon)

• Unusable Space (X in a box)

Game Overview

During each of the 36 turns of the game, the active player will draw an Improvement tile, apply its effects and perform two Actions. Then play will proceed to the next player. At the end of the game, the player with the most Advantage points wins!

Game Turn

Improvement Tile

The active player draws an Improvement tile from the top of the stack and announces the scoring symbol (this symbol will be white-bordered on the tile). Starting with the active player and proceeding clockwise, ALL players count how many of the called-out symbol they have represented on their Player mat and tiles, and score them as described:

Cooperation (green check / red X): if a player's Cooperation total is positive, the player gets 1 Fuel for each positive level. If their total is negative, the player must pay 2 Fuel or add a Zombie meeple to their Zombies track for each negative level.

Defenses (yellow lock / blue lock): if a player's Defense total is positive, the player removes one Zombie meeple from their track for each positive level. If there are no more Zombies left on their track, they gain 1 Fuel for each Zombie they were unable to remove. If their total is negative, the player adds a Zombie to their Zombie track for each negative level.

Note: when a player removes a Zombie, the one removed is the one on the highest space of the track. When a player adds Zombies, they fill each space starting from the bottom. An unlimited number of Zombies can be stacked on the last top space.

Fuel: for each Fuel symbol on their tiles (including the tiles pre-printed on the Player mat), the player gets 1 Fuel.

Scavenging: for each Scavenging symbol on their Player mat and tiles, the player advances their Indicator cube one space on one of the Scavenging tracks. If they have multiple Scavenging symbols, a player can freely decide to split this movement between the two tracks.

Advantage: the player advances one space on the Advantage track for each Advantage symbol visible on their Player mat and tiles (including those visible on the Zombies track).

IMPORTANT: if there is at least one Zombie on the last top space of their Zombies track, the player has neglected their defenses too much and can not score Advantage points during this phase or at the end of the game while there is still a Zombie on the highest space.

The active player then places the drawn tile next to the Scavenging board, depending on the type and level of the tile (as in step B of the setup).

Example

Blue is in the situation depicted:

• In case of a Cooperation scoring, the player must pay 4 Fuel, or pay 2 Fuel and add a Zombie, or add two Zombies.
• In case of a Defenses scoring, they'll remove 2 Zombies.
• In case of a Fuel scoring, they'll get no Fuel (no visible symbols).
• In case of a Scavenging scoring, the player will move forward five spaces in total on the Scavenging tracks.
• In case of an Advantage scoring, the player advances 3 spaces on the Advantage track (two symbols on tiles, and one on their Zombies track).

Actions

The active player performs 2 actions. A player can perform two different actions, or the same one twice. The possible actions are:

Gather Fuel: the player takes 2 Fuel from the general supply.

Fight: the player removes 1 Zombie from the highest space on their Zombie track.

Scavenge: the player advances one space on one of the Scavenging tracks.

Build Community: the price of a tile is determined by comparing the position of the desired tile with that of the player's Indicator cube on the Scavenging track associated with that tile:

• If the tile is at the same Scavenging level as the cube, the tile requires the player to spend 2 Fuel to acquire it.
• If the tile is at a higher level than that of the cube, the tile costs 2 Fuel, plus 2 additional Fuel for each level it is above the cube.
• If the tile is at a lower level than that of the cube, its price is 1 Fuel (no matter how far below the cube the tile is).

Example

On their turn, Yellow performs Scavenge as their first action and reaches level 3 in Defenses. As their second action, they acquire the Machine Guns (level 4) at a cost of 4 Fuel (2 Fuel, plus 2 Fuel for the extra Scavenging level).

Placing Tiles

Once a player has spent the Fuel to acquire their tile, it is placed on their Player mat, either on an empty tile space or on a space already occupied by another tile. The placement rules are as follows:

Transport tiles: (orange border) must be placed on an orange square.

Provision tiles: (yellow border) must be placed on a yellow square.

Weapon tiles: (green border) must be placed on a green square.

Fortification tiles: (blue border) must be placed on a blue square.

Special tiles: (no border) are NOT placed on a Player mat. They are discarded after their effect is applied: gain 1 Advantage point; or gain 2 Advantage points; or remove 3 Zombies.

Example

A player covers their Bicycles with All Terrain Vehicles. That player increases their Cooperation total by 2 (the All Terrain Vehicles produces 4 Cooperation instead of 2), and reduces their Defenses total by 1 (as the All Terrain Vehicles increases their Defenses by 2 instead of 1).

Some blue spaces on a Player mat can only be built on if Weapon tiles have been added to the spaces connected to them by lines. Thus, green squares containing "Unusable space" symbols must be covered by a new Weapon tile of some sort for Fortification tiles to be placed later.

After placing their tile, the player adjusts the Cooperation and Defense totals on their Player mat according to the symbols on the new tile (and possibly of those of the covered tile, which no longer contributes its symbols after being covered up).

Example

A player covers their Knives with Spears. Their Defense total goes down by 2 (they lose the positive symbol of the Knives and gain a negative symbol). But now they'll be able to use the spaces leading from the Spears to build Fortifications.

Note: at any time, the players can recalculate their Cooperation and Defenses totals to check that they haven't made a mistake.

Note: There are tiles pre-printed on some of the Player mat spaces. These are treated like normal tiles, and may be covered up by new tiles later.

Once a player has performed both of their actions, play proceeds to the next player, going clockwise, and a new turn begins...

End of Game

The game ends at the end of the turn in which the last Improvement tile is drawn. A final scoring for each symbol, in the following order, is then made:

2x Cooperation: the Cooperation total is scored twice, gaining or losing Fuel in the same manner as it would be during the Improvement tile phase. (Evaluate it once, then evaluate it a second time).

2x Defenses: the Defenses total is scored twice, gaining or losing Zombies in the same manner as it would be during the Improvement tile phase.

REMEMBER - filling up the Zombie track prevents you from scoring anything else! This can be very bad at the end of the game.

Fuel: symbols are scored once, gaining or losing Fuel in the same manner as in the Improvement tile phase.

Then, for each full 6 Fuel they have, they gain one Advantage point. (Excess Fuel is a possible tie-breaker).

Scavenging: each player advances a number of spaces on both Scavenging tracks equal to the number of Scavenging symbols visible on their Player mat and tiles. Then for each track, the player with the highest Indicator cube scores 3 Advantage points, and the second highest player scores 1 Advantage point. In case of a tie for first place, all tied players score 2 Advantage points (and no points are awarded for second place). In case of a tie for second place, none of the tied players gain points.

Advantage: the Advantage symbols are scored once, advancing on the Advantage track in the same manner as they would be during the Improvement tile phase.

Once the final scoring is completed, the player with the most Advantage points on the Advantage track is the winner. In case of a tie, the leftover Fuel is used for breaking ties. Further ties are broken by fewest Zombies. If still tied, the victory is shared.

Note: if a player would go beyond the end of the Advantage track, move their marker back to the beginning of the track and continue adding points to the 50 earned when reaching the end of the track. There is no limit to how many points can be earned. Also note that while you cannot exceed the last space on either Scavenging track, you might have more symbols for other things than your tracks can accommodate - in this situation, it is the number of symbols you have in total that matters, and not the track.

Some Tips

• Advantage symbols are key to winning the game. Don't wait too long to develop them. Controlling Zombies is an important part of this, by uncovering additional Advantage symbols there - and most importantly, avoid reaching the last space which voids all Advantage scores.
• The tiles linked to Cooperation (on the left of the Scavenging board) have a Fuel and Cooperation focus. Tiles linked to Defense (on the right of the Scavenging board) have a Scavenging and Defenses focus.
• For each year (ONE, TWO, THREE...), there are 5 tiles, and each scoring symbol will be present exactly once.

In year SEVEN, there is a sixth tile (with an Advantage symbol). Depending on the scoring already done from a year, you can deduce the scoring symbol still to come and plan your actions accordingly.

Optional Tracking Tokens

Optionally to keep track of the symbols that have already been scored in each year you can use the included double-sided tokens.

Start each year with the colored icon face-up and flip the tokens over to the gray side when the symbols have been scored. Reset between each new year of Improvement tiles.

This token is only used during year SEVEN (the Advantage token).

Credits

Game Design: Reiner Knizia, Sebastian Bleasdale Illustration: Thomas Verguet Game Producer: Chris Zephro Game Setting Developer: Joe Stoken Graphic Design: Jody Henning Project Management: Andy Van Zandt Special Thanks: Reiner Knizia and Sebastian Bleasdale would like to thank all testers who have contributed to the development of this game, especially Iain Adams, David Brain, Chris Dearlove, Drak, Caroline Elliott, Gavin Hamilton, Martin Higham, Ross Inglis, Kevin Jacklin, Simon Kane, Nils Knop, Chris Lawson, Paul Mansfield, Matthew Reid, Dave Spring, Ian Vincent, and Matthew Woodcraft.

© 2023 Dr. Reiner Knizia. All rights reserved.

Quick Reference

Game Turn

1. Draw Improvement Tile — Check scoring symbols (highlighted in white) and score the single matching category as indicated below:

• Cooperation: Gain 1 Fuel per positive level, lose 2 per negative level, or gain 1 Zombie.
• Defenses: Remove 1 Zombie per positive level, add 1 Zombie per negative level (or gain 1 Fuel if no Zombies).
• Fuel: Gain 1 Fuel per Fuel symbol on your player mat and tiles.
• Scavenging: Advance 1 space on either Scavenging track for each Scavenging symbol on your player mat and tiles.
• Advantage: Advance 1 space on the Advantage track for each Advantage symbol on your player mat and tiles.

2. Place Tile Next to Scavenging Board — Cooperation tiles on the left side, Defense tiles on the right side.

3. Perform 2 Actions (2 different, or same action twice).

• Gather Fuel: Gain 2 Fuel.
• Fight: Remove 1 Zombie.
• Scavenge: Advance 1 space on either Scavenging track.
• Build Community: Buy a tile based on your position relative to it on the Scavenging track, and place it on your mat. Same level tile costs 2 Fuel. Higher level tile costs 2 Fuel, plus 2 Fuel per level. Lower level tile costs 1 Fuel.

End Game

At the end of the turn after the last tile is drawn, score:

• Cooperation twice.
• Defenses twice.
• Fuel once. Then gain 1 Advantage point for every 6 fuel.
• Scavenging once on each track. Then highest on each track gains 3 Advantage points, second highest gains 1 Advantage point. Ties for first score 2 Advantage points, with no second place. Ties for second score nothing.
• Advantage once.

Most Advantage wins. Leftover unscored Fuel breaks ties.