Cloud City
Cloud City Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Game Contents
- 96 Buildings (divided into 3 heights, 32 each)
- 93 Walkways (31 River Walkways, 31 Forest Walkways, 31 Sand Walkways)
- 48 Cloud tiles (including 4 Starting tiles, with 1 to 4 birds)
- 10 Special Request cards (for the variation only)
Object of the Game
Develop your city model, positioning buildings strategically to build the most and longest walkways between them. Each walkway will help you earn City Council votes. The player with the most votes wins the game!
Setup
Place the game box near all the players with all the equipment stored in their respective compartments. You will need this to build your city.
Remove the starting tiles from the Cloud tiles and set these aside (tiles featuring 1, 2, 3 or 4 birds in the center). Shuffle the Cloud tiles together.
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Place the Cloud tiles in a pile face down in the center of the table.
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Place 3 Cloud tiles face up in a line next to the draw pile.
The first player is the person whose head is the most in the clouds.
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Place starting tile 1 face up in front of the first player. Give a starting tile to each player, moving clockwise and in numerical order (2, 3 and 4 birds). The remaining starting tiles are placed in the game box.
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Draw the 2 buildings corresponding to the color of the Building spaces on your starting tile from the game box. Place these on their respective spaces.
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Distribute 3 Cloud tiles face down to each player to make their starting hand. Players' hands are kept secret during the game.
Leave the Special Request cards in the game box. They are only used for the "Upgraded models" variation.
How to Play
The game is played in 8 rounds starting with the player who has the starting tile 1. Gameplay continues clockwise.
On your turn, carry out the following actions in order:
- Expand the base of your city (MANDATORY)
- Choose and place buildings (MANDATORY)
- Build walkways (OPTIONAL)
- Draw a Cloud tile (MANDATORY)
1 / Expand the base of your city (MANDATORY)
Choose a Cloud tile from your hand and add it to your city face up in front of you.
Placement rules:
- Your tile must always be connected to another by at least one side.
- You can rotate your tile as you wish before placing it permanently.
- Your city cannot have more than 3 consecutive tiles (in height and in width).
At the end of the game, you will get a square of 3x3 tiles.
2 / Take and place buildings (MANDATORY)
On all Cloud tiles there are 2 Building locations. Each location is represented by a space that is the color of the building that should be placed on it. Take the 2 buildings you need from the box and place these on their corresponding locations.
3 / Build walkways (OPTIONAL)
Walkways will allow you to connect your buildings and will win you council votes. As with buildings, There are 3 types of walkways and each type can only connect to its corresponding building:
- River Walkways to connect the lowest buildings in your city,
- Forest Walkways to connect midsize buildings,
- Sand Walkways to connect the highest buildings.
All walkways are one of 5 different lengths. The longer your walkway, the more council votes you will earn (1, 2, 3, 5 or 8 council votes).
As you play, you may run out of specific walkway lengths needed to connect buildings. In this case, you will not be able to build that walkway.
How to build walkways
Take the walkway corresponding to the correct height, as well as the correct length, and connect the two buildings as shown on the example on the right.
When to build walkways
If a connection between 2 buildings of the same height is possible once your buildings have been placed on your Cloud tile, you can take the corresponding walkway and place it across the two buildings. It is possible to connect several buildings in this way during your turn.
You can build as many walkways as you want at this stage anywhere in your city as long as you follow the placement instructions.
You can also decide to not build any walkways during your turn.
Restrictions
- You cannot build a walkway if it passes over an area of your city where there is not yet a Cloud tile.
- You cannot build a walkway if it crosses another at the same level of your city.
- You cannot build a walkway diagonally.
- You cannot build a walkway between 2 buildings of different height.
- You cannot build a walkway over 3 (or more) buildings of the same height. One walkway must be between 2 buildings only.
- You cannot build more than 2 walkways per building.
4 / Draw a Cloud tile (MANDATORY)
Draw a new Cloud tile so that you always have 3 in hand. For this, you can choose either the first tile from the deck or one of the 3 tiles visible on the table. If you choose the latter, turn over a new tile from the draw pile to replace the missing tile.
It is the next player's turn.
End of the Game
When all players have built their 3 x 3 city model, votes can be counted.
Add together the council votes for each walkway built in your city, based on their length. The value of each walkway is marked on it.
The player with the most council votes wins the game.
In the event of a tie, the winner is the player with the most council votes on their water walkways. If there is still a tie, the player with the most votes on forest walkways wins. Finally if there is still a tie, the player with the most votes on sand walkways wins.
If the tie persists, the players involved share the victory.
2 and 3 Player Variation: Rectangle City
The game is played over 11 rounds instead of 8. The players must form a 3x4 rectangle of Cloud tiles instead of a 3x3 square. All other rules remain the same.
Variation: Upgraded Models
Set up your project as before. This time, the city is asking you to meet the specific requests of its inhabitants.
Meeting these requests will allow you to win more council votes at the end of the game. But beware, you can also be penalized with less votes.
Setup
Shuffle the Special Request cards together and place one face up next to the deck of Cloud tiles. Put the remaining cards in the game box as they will not be used for this game.
For a more exciting game, play with 2 Special Request cards.
Special Request Cards
Of the 10 Special Request cards, 7 can help you earn council votes, but the other 3 are likely to make you lose votes.
Most valuable route: 6 council votes
Find the most valuable route in your city on one of 2 levels (River or Forest).
A route corresponds to a connection of several buildings to each other, using walkways. Add the value of all the walkways that make up your most valuable route.
Compare this route with those of the other players. Whoever has the most valuable route earns 6 council votes. In the event of a tie, players involved earn 3 council votes each.
Most separate routes: 6 council votes
Count the number of separate routes built in your city. The player who has built the most earns 6 council votes. In the event of a tie, players involved earn 3 council votes each.
Varied routes: 6 or 8 council votes
Earn 6 council votes if you have managed to create a route that includes at least 4 walkways of different lengths (1, 2, 3, 5, 8) OR earn 8 council votes if you have managed to create a route that includes the 5 walkways lengths.
Each player can only earn this bonus once per game.
Circuits: 3 council votes per circuit
Earn 3 council votes for each circuit you have. A circuit is a closed route. It must leave from building A and pass through 3 or more buildings before returning to building A.
Blue buildings on the hill: 6 council votes
Earn 6 council votes if you are the player with the most blue buildings. In the event of a tie, players involved earn 3 council votes each.
Green buildings on the hill: 6 council votes
Earn 6 council votes if you are the player with the most green buildings. In the event of a tie, players involved earn 3 council votes each.
Minimalist buildings: 2 council votes
Earn 2 council votes per building with only one walkway built from it.
Crossed walkways: -2 council votes
Lose 2 council votes for each of your walkways that crosses another.
A walkway is considered to be crossing another when it passes over or under a walkway on a higher or a lower level.
Important: when walkways pass directly over the top of smaller buildings, this is not considered a crossing, even if walkways are connected to these smaller buildings.
Solo buildings: -2 council votes
Lose 2 council votes per building with no walkways.
Balanced walkways: -4 council votes
Lose 4 council votes if you do not have at least:
- 5 walkways worth 3 votes
- 1 walkway worth 5 votes
- 1 walkway worth 8 votes
End of Game
At the end of the game, add together the council votes for each walkway built in your city like in the original rules. Then add or subtract council votes corresponding to the Special Request card(s) used in this variation. Compare your total votes with your opponents' votes to determine the winner.