Fight City
Fight City Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
To Begin
Each player chooses a deck and shuffles it. You can play the "A" vs. "B" deck, or use two decks of the same type. You can also create your own deck using any assortment of Fight City cards, as long as you keep it between 50 and 60 cards.
Each player draws a starting hand of seven cards. Set the rest of your deck aside, with space for a discard pile beside it.
Each player starts with a "Bank" of ten dollars (ten coins or counters). There is also a central area for money called the "Pot," which starts empty.
The Object of the Game
Your goal is to run your opponent out of money, i.e., to reduce his Bank to zero. You will do this by using Fighters and other cards to chip away at his Bank, while trying not to spend or lose too much of your own. The first player with an empty Bank loses the game.
Note: Money you are using to support cards in play is no longer in your Bank!
On Each Turn
There are three different kinds of turn: Build, Draw, and Fight. Each turn type has two things in common: Events, which get played before the turn begins, and Cleanup, which happens after it ends.
Before the Turn: Events
Before you take any type of turn, you can play Event cards that are specific to that turn. For example, before a Draw turn, you can play Draw Turn Events.
Most Events require that you have a particular symbol in play. This symbol must be showing on at least one of your own cards in play before you can play the Event.
You can play several Events on the same turn.
Every Event card describes exactly what it does. Once played, Events go into your discard pile.
After the Turn: Cleanup
After every turn, both players must perform a "Cleanup" step, in which unsupported cards are removed from play.
With the exception of Events and Surprises, which are discarded immediately after use, all the cards in Fight City are designed to stay in play if they are supported. Each of these cards has at least one input, something like Cash or Fear, that must be covered to keep that card in play. Most cards also have at least one output, which can be used to support other cards.
Inputs are located in the bottom corners of most cards, and up the left side of Weapons and Guards. They are represented by a white symbol in a black circle. Inputs are satisfied by the outputs of other cards, with the exception of "Cash", which you cover with coins from your Bank.
Outputs are found in the top corners of most cards, and are represented by a black symbol. Outputs can satisfy the inputs of other cards, keeping those cards in play.
The sheet's icon key labels three of these symbols: Mastery, Cash, and Pressure.
[Diagram: example cards, a Fighter, a Weapon, a second Fighter and two Locations, with their input and output corners labelled and an arrow from one card's output to another card's input.]
To keep your cards through Cleanup, you must cover every input with an appropriate output of the same type, as shown above. During Cleanup, any cards whose inputs are not covered must be removed from play, to your discard pile.
To save your cards during Cleanup, you can move unsupported cards into unused outputs, and put cash on cards that need it. But you cannot split up cards in play or rearrange them to make new outputs available. That's only legal during a Build Turn. If a card is unsupported in Cleanup and there are no free outputs to catch it, that card will be discarded.
If a card has multiple inputs, they must all be covered to keep the card in play.
If a Card with money on it goes away during Cleanup, or at any other time except during its owner's Build Turn, the money on that card falls into the Pot.
During a particularly hairy Cleanup, you may notice a cascade effect as several cards that support each other disappear one after another. Work through this process one step at a time, because you may reach a situation where the remaining cards can now be supported by a free output.
The Build Turn
On a Build Turn you can bring cards into play, rearrange the cards you have in play, and divest from the cards you no longer wish to support. During a single Build Turn, you can play any number of Fighters, Locations, Guards, and Weapons from your hand, and arrange and rearrange all the cards you have in play, even leaving them unsupported if you wish. You are also allowed to remove the money from any card you control, if you no longer wish to support it. Removing this money puts it back into your Bank.
Note: You will notice that the more powerful cards are generally harder to bring into play.
Uniqueness: Many cards have "Unique" in their description, such as "Unique Location" or "Unique Fighter." Uniqueness means that there can be only one of this card in play (on the entire table) at a time. If anyone plays a new copy of a unique card, the older copy of that card is discarded.
For example, Benson Cleaners is a unique Location. You will never be able to field more than one copy of Benson Cleaners at the same time. However, this also means that getting rid of another player's Benson Cleaners is as simple as bringing your own into play. Even if you don't intend to pay for it!
Ending Your Build Turn: Since it's never clear when you are finished with a Build turn, it helps to tell your opponent that you are finished. Then both players go through a Cleanup step.
Note: If a new card requires Cash, or any other input, you do not technically have to cover it until Cleanup. In fact, there are sometimes good reasons to bring cards into play that you do not intend to support, only to let them be discarded at the end of the turn.
The Draw Turn
Draw is the simplest turn type. Before the turn, you can play Draw Turn Events. The turn itself consists of discarding as many cards as you wish from your hand, and then drawing your hand back up to seven cards, or whatever your current hand size is.
Notes: The term "hand size" is meaningful only in the Draw turn. Your hand size is normally seven, but can be modified by cards like Benson Cleaners. It's not a permanent maximum or minimum hand size, only the number you fill up to when taking a Draw.
If you exhaust your deck, you will no longer get to draw cards, but you can still take Draw Turns if you want to play Draw Turn Events.
After you draw, both players do a Cleanup step.
The Fight Turn
In the Fight Turn, everyone gets to fight. Before the turn, the active player (the player whose turn it is) can play Fight Turn Events. During the Fight, both players can play Surprises, as described below.
Fighters and Guards have three stats that pertain to the Fight: Speed, Hit, and Block. These numbers range roughly from 1 to 12, and can be modified by Weapon cards, Events, and Surprises.
At the beginning of the fight, the active player adds one half point to the stats of all his Fighters. This bonus will persist until the end of the turn. It prevents any ties between the stats of combatant Fighters, giving the active player the edge.
The Meaning of Speed: Everything in a Fight takes place in a particular sequence, depending on its Speed. Higher speeds go first, with "Speed 100" defined as a pre-Fight moment before any Fighters strike. This is a critical time, because it's when both players are allowed to play their fastest "Surprises."
Surprises: Surprises are like Events, but with two differences: they are played during a Fight, and either player can use them. Each player may play as many Surprises as he wishes. Speed-100 Surprises must be played first by the player who called the Fight, (At Speed 100.5), then by his opponent. Other Surprises play with the Speed of the Fighter they affect, since they say "Play as a Fighter is taking his Strike." Some Surprises require that the Fighter they affect have a certain symbol. They will read "Fighter must have (X)."
The Fight Itself: In descending order of Speed, each Fighter gets to make one Strike. Remember that the active player gets a half-point advantage, so all of his Fighters will strike before the opposing Fighters of the same basic Speed. If you control more than one Fighter of the same Speed, you choose which one goes first.
Striking: Fighters can strike opposing players, or they can strike opposing Fighters. Fighters can also "pass," meaning they make no Strike at all. When a Fighter strikes a player, that player pays $1 to the Pot. When a Fighter strikes another Fighter, compare the Fighter's Hit to his target's Block, remembering to include the half-point advantage as appropriate. If the Hit is bigger, the defender is killed, and sent to the discard pile. If the Block is bigger, the strike has no effect.
If a Fighter is killed before his chance to strike, he does not get to strike.
If a Fighter with money on him is killed, that money falls into the Pot.
If a Fighter loses his support card before he takes his Strike, he still gets to strike. In general, unsupported cards are still functional, but they may wind up being discarded in Cleanup.
After the slowest Fighter has taken his strike, the Fight Turn is over and both players take a Cleanup step.
Note: The Speed of every Fighter is locked at the beginning of the Fight, and can not be altered except by Speed-100 Surprises, until the end of the turn. Read the sidebar below about changing Speeds if this bugs you. It will matter about once in every hundred games.
Why can't Speeds change?
We have to be specific about assigning every Fighter a Speed at the beginning of the Fight, and then sticking to it.
With the exception of Speed-100 Surprises, which can explicitly alter a Fighter's Speed, nothing else that happens in a Fight has an immediate effect on a Fighter's Speed. Why?
Consider the case in which a Weapon conveying a bonus to a Fighter's Speed is destroyed in the course of a Fight (maybe with a Grenade). Let's say the Fighter has a basic Speed of 5, but the Weapon gives him a +5, for a Speed of 10. The Fighter takes his strike at Speed 10, as he is supposed to. Then, at Speed 7, another Fighter destroys his Weapon, and his basic Speed becomes 5. Can he now strike again at Speed 5? Well, that's a neat trick, but we think it's silly. So, we say that his Speed is fixed at 10 until the end of this turn, giving that Fighter exactly one chance to take his Strike.
Hit and Block, on the other hand, are allowed to change in the middle of a Fight. So when a Fighter strikes another Fighter, all that matters are their respective hit and block at that moment.
Miscellaneous Notes
Fight City is primarily a 2-player game, but it can also be played by 3 or more (see below). That's why you will often find phrases like "another player" even though there is only one other player. In general, the rules language in Fight City is written to cover general cases, many of which happen very rarely.
We also plan to make new and unusual cards over time. That's why you'll find generalities in the rules like "Most Events require a symbol in play" when in fact, as of this writing, they all do. Our intent is to leave the door open for cards that have not yet been created. This kind of language can make the rules seem a little mushy and hard to grasp, so we try to keep it to a minimum.
Understanding the Card Texts
Many cards have powers and abilities that are only briefly hinted at in these rules. Some are even designed to contradict the basic rules, which is fine. Following is a short glossary to help with any questions you might have about the function of these cards.
Any text in italics is just for flavor. The non-italic rules text pertains to the game, but when we have the space, we usually can't resist telling you a little more about the game world. So we do it in italics.
Optional Instructions: If a card tells you that "you may" do something, then it is an optional effect. If it does not say so explicitly, then the instruction is not optional. For example, Fight City Hall says you may draw one card each time a Fighter you control is killed. You can, but you don't have to.
Impossible Instructions: If you are ever instructed to do something impossible, like taking money from an empty pot, or drawing from an empty deck, you can just ignore the instruction.
Sequential Instructions: If the instructions on a card are in sequence, you must follow them in that order. For example, Burglary tells you to put $1 in the Pot, then take money off a card in play. You must pay the $1 first. If you have only $1 in your Bank, you would lose the game by playing the card.
"Any Player"/"Another Player": "Any Player" includes you. "Another Player" does not.
Basic Speed: The number printed on the Fighter card is its Basic Speed.
Control: Control means ownership of cards in play. Each player "controls" the cards in front of him.
Discard: This word can mean discarded from your hand, or from play. During a Draw Turn, you are normally only allowed to discard cards from your hand.
Glossary
The sheet prints these terms in its first panel without a heading. They are the short glossary the preceding section refers to.
Destroy: If a card is "destroyed" that means it gets discarded from play. Destroy is not synonymous with kill.
Guards: Guards count as Fighters, but they can't strike players. Their primary functions are to hit other Fighters, and guard the locations that support them. Anything that refers to "Fighters" also includes Guards.
In Play: All the cards on the table are "in play," including cards controlled by other players. Cards in decks, hands, and discard piles are not in play.
Kill: Fighters are typically only "killed" in a Fight, though they can also be explicitly "killed" by a card like The Very Clever Pipe Game. If a Fighter is discarded during Cleanup, or leaves play for any reason other than being struck in a Fight or specifically "killed," it is not considered killed. It therefore won't trigger effects like those of Mister Ho's Chop Shop or Fight City Hall.
Sacrifice: To "Sacrifice" a card means to discard it from play for a particular effect.
Speed 100: "Speed 100" is defined as a moment in the Fight before any Fighters take their Strike. Although it's currently impossible, even if a Fighter had Speed greater than 100, Speed 100 Surprises would still go before him.
"Take the Money": Unless a card tells you to put money into the Pot, when you "Take the Money" from somewhere, it goes into your Bank.
Unguarded: Some cards can only affect "unguarded" Locations; these are exactly as they sound, Locations that don't have Guards built on them. A normal Fighter attached to a Location does not technically guard it. That Location must have a Guard.
Unique: Only one copy of any unique card can be in play at the same time. If a second copy comes into play, the first is discarded.
Changes for Multi-Player Games
If there are more than two players in the game, the following rules are added:
- When a player calls a Fight turn, he chooses only one opponent. The other players do not participate in that Fight.
- The game ends when one person's Bank is empty. At that point, the player with the most money in his Bank wins.
- If there is a tie at the point where one player drops out, then only the tied players remain in the game, and they continue playing until one wins.
Now, go beat people up.
Deck A List
The Deck A card list as printed on the sheet. The companion Deck B sheet prints the Deck B list and is not transcribed here.
Fighters: Black Tigers, Fight City Yacht Club, Gail Stanton, Jack Bitterman, Jocelyn Culvert Stone, Joshua Reed, Oceola, Peter Stone, Porky the Pinhead, Pug Mahone, Red Tigers (x2), Sea Dog (x2), Tom Purdue, Torgo the Bastard, Xavier Craigdarroch.
Guards: Pedro Conscience Alvarez, Renta Cop, Slacker.
Locations: Asphy & Morehead (x2), Banco Nationale di F. C., Benson Cleaners (x2), FCP&L (x2), Fight City Tribune, Ghicciaroni's (x2), MaxCorp (x2), St. Charles Brewery (x2).
Surprises: Bubbly Green Stuff, Gun in my Pocket, Hail of Bullets.
Events: Burglary (x2), Dig, Downsizing, Dubious Accounting (x2), Opportunity Creep, The Very Clever Pipe Game.
Weapons: Automatic Pistol, Blow-'Em-Up Kit (x2), Molotov Cocktail, Poison Darts, Satellite Uplink (x2), Sawed-Off Broadsword, Sherman Tank.