Foundations of Metropolis Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Game Setup
  • Lay out the Boards
  • Player Colors
  • Score Board
  • First Player
  • Player Count and Deed Cards
  • Deed Cards
  • Lot Markers
  • Lots for Sale Board
  • Deeds For Sale
• How to Play
  • Player Turns: Actions
  • Action: Take Income
  • Action: Buy a Deed
  • Action: Construct a Building
    • Constructing Residential Buildings
    • Constructing over buildings
• End of an Year: Scoring
  • Residential Building Scoring
  • Civic Building Scoring
  • Commercial Building Scoring
• Next Year
  • End of the Current Year
  • Replenish Deeds
• End of the Game
  • Third Year Scoring Exceptions
  • Winner
• Optional Rule
  • Deed Drafting
• Architect's Codex
  • Residential Buildings
  • Commercial Buildings
  • Civic Buildings
• Credits

Components

• 8 Score Cubes (2 per Player Color)
• 32 Lot Markers (8 per Player Color)
• 1 First Player Token
• 68 Coins (1's, 3's, 5's)
• 81 Deed Cards
• 4 Player Boards (Red, Blue, Yellow, Purple)
• 1 Double-Sided City Board
• 4 Player Aid Cards
• 1 Score Board
• 1 Lots for Sale Board
• 96 Building Tiles (Residential, Commercial, Civic)

Game Setup

Lay out the Boards

Place the City Board, Deed Board, and Score Board near each other.

• A. For 3 or 4 player games, use the Front side of the City Board with more Lots.
• B. For 2 player games, use the Back side of the City Board with fewer Lots.

Player Colors

Each player chooses a color and takes the corresponding Player Board. Player Boards contain Building Tiles and 8 Lot Markers matching their color. Players should also take the 2 Score Cubes. Place the Building Tiles and Lot Markers on the corresponding Player Board spaces.

Score Board

Place 2 Cubes on the designated spaces of the Score board matching your player color — one on the Prestige Tracker, one on the Population Tracker.

First Player

Decide who will be the first player. By default, the owner of the game chooses who it will be (and can choose themselves)! Give them the First Player Token.

• C. The starting player takes 5 Coins. Going clockwise, each player gets 1 Coin more than the previous player. So, in a four-player game, the first player takes 5 Coin, the second takes 6, the third 7, and the last player gets 8 Coins.
• D. Place the rest of the Coins in piles within reach of all players to create a common supply.

Player Count and Deed Cards

When playing with 4 players, you will play on the entire 9x9 City Board using 81 Lots (Columns A - I and Rows 1 - 9). When playing with fewer players, you will use less of the City Board and not use certain rows or columns of Lots. Depending on the number of players, you will need to remove some of the Deed Cards from the game:

• A. For 4 players, you will use the entire City Board. You will play on a 9x9 layout uses 81 Lots.
• B. For 3 players, remove all the outermost Deed Cards. You will play on an 8x8 layout using 64 Lots.
• C. For 2 players, remove all the outermost Deed Cards. You will play on an 7x7 layout using 49 Lots.

Deed Cards

Shuffle the remaining Deed Cards together and deal six to each player. Each player has their own pile of Deed Cards that they acquire during the game. Should a question arise, players can look at these piles to determine who owns each Lot on the City Board.

Lot Markers

Place Lot Markers of your color on each City Board Lot corresponding to the Deeds cards you were dealt. At this point, you will have two Lot Markers left on your Player Board.

Lots for Sale Board

Split the rest of the Deed Cards into three approximately equal piles. Place one pile each on the Year 1, Year 2, and Year 3 spaces on the Deed Board.

Deeds For Sale

Using the Year 1 pile, turn over six Deed Cards and place them face-up in the spaces of the "Deeds for Sale" area of the Deed Board.

How to Play

Foundations of Metropolis is played over three Years.

Each Year consists of multiple rounds of player turns, with each individual player taking one action per turn, starting with the first player and going clockwise. The Year continues until the stack of Deed Cards for that Year (including those on the Deed Board) runs out.

Players earn Prestige at the end of each Year and record them on the Score Board. After the third Year's scoring is complete, the game ends.

Player Turns: Actions

On your turn, you must choose one of these actions: Take Income, Buy a Deed, or Construct a Building. After you complete your action, your turn is over and the player to your left begins their turn.

Action: Take Income

You may petition the City Council for more resources. Doing so will gain you 5 Coins from the supply. In addition, you will receive Coins equal to the value of the Commercial Buildings you have constructed on the City Board.

Example: Player Yellow decides to Take Income on their turn. They get 5 Coins from the supply, plus 3 Coins for all their Commercial Buildings constructed on the board. Yellow takes a total of 8 Coins from the supply and adds them to their personal Coin supply.

Important! Coins are not component-limited; use a substitute if they run out.

Here's a Helpful Tip! Look at your Player Board to quickly tally up how many Coins the Buildings you have constructed provide. You can do this for the other types of Buildings as well.

Action: Buy a Deed

Important! You may not take this action if all of your Lot Markers are already on the City Board.

You may purchase any of the Deed Cards available on the Deed Board by following these steps:

1. Pay the amount of Coins shown above the Deed you wish to purchase. These Coins go to the supply.
2. Take the Deed Card from the Deed Board and add it to your personal Deed Card pile.
3. Slide the higher cost Deed Cards to the left on the Deed Board.
4. Fill the 10 Coin spot by turning over the top Deed Card from the deck for the current Year.
5. Place one of your Lot Markers on the corresponding Lot on the City Board.

Important! When the last Deed Card for the current Year is drawn, do not refill the Deed Board when taking this action until the end of the Year.

Example: The Yellow player sees Lot B2 for sale and wants to buy it. Yellow pays the 6 Coins to the supply, then takes the card from the Deed Board and places it in their personal Deed pile. Next, they slide the higher-cost cards down on the Deed Board, and add a new Deed Card from the current Year's deck into the 10 Coin space. Finally, Yellow places a Lot Marker on Lot B2 on the City Board.

Action: Construct a Building

You can only construct Buildings on Lots that you own.

Each player has their own supply of 24 Buildings. Buildings come in different shapes and sizes. To construct a Building, the player must first own a set of adjacent Lots that match the shape of the Building.

To construct a Building, choose the one you want to build from your Player Board. Place it on City Board where you have adjacent Lots placed in the shape of the building you want to build. Return the Lot Markers to your Player Board. These Lot Markers can be used again.

You may build on empty Lots that you own without restriction. You may also "build over" a Building you constructed earlier, but only if the new Building is bigger than any individual one you are building over. The type of Building does not matter.

There is a limited number of each Building type available. You cannot construct a Building if you do not have one in your Player Board supply.

Important! You can never construct over a Building of the same size or larger. So, you can not build a Hotel (size: 3 Lots) over a Shopping Mall (size: 4 Lots) or a Restaurant (size: 3 Lots).

Here's a Helpful Tip! There is no cost when constructing a Building. The City Council supplies all the materials and labor required for construction.

Example: The Yellow Player decides to build over two adjacent Buildings: a Coffee Shop and a House (size: both 1 Lot each) and replace them with a Statue (size: 2 Lots). They return the Coffee Shop and House back to their Player Board and place the larger Building over the now-empty Lots. This will work, because the new building takes up more Lots than the buildings it is replacing. The House and Coffee Shop can be reused again.

Constructing Residential Buildings

Typically, when you construct a Building, nothing happens immediately; however, when constructing or removing a Residential Building, players must update the Population Tracker to reflect the total value of Citizen icons across their Residential Buildings.

Constructing over buildings

Players can build new buildings on top of buildings they have already placed on the City Board. Remove the Building being replaced and return it to your Player Board, along with any of the Lot Markers. You may reuse those pieces.

When constructing over one of your own Buildings, any Lots you own remain owned by you. Place Lot Markers on Lots that become empty when a Building is constructed over.

Important! When constructing over buildings, that leave empty lots behind, you must have Lot Markers available in your supply to fill these. Otherwise you cannot take this action.

Example: The Yellow player owns a Retail Shop (size: 2-Lots) and 2 adjacent unbuilt Lots marked with yellow Lot Markers. On their turn, they build a Hotel (size: 3-Lots) over the two Lot Markers and part of the Retail shop. This leaves Lot H2 empty. Mark this empty Lot with a Lot Marker to signify that Yellow still owns this Lot. Return the retail shop tile to the Player Board for later use.

End of an Year: Scoring

When the current deck of Deed Cards runs out, the Year will soon end. Continue taking turns and playing normally, including buying Deeds from the Deed Board, until all the Deeds available for purchase have been bought.

Do not refill the Deed Board when you buy the final Deed for that round.

Once the Deed Board is empty for the round, each player takes one final turn to collect income or build (including the player who purchased the last Lot on the Deed Board).

After the last Year's round is over, players score Prestige from each of the three types of Buildings they have constructed — Residential, Commercial, and Civic. Players also collect bonus Coins for their Commercial Buildings.

Here's a Helpful Tip! There is a Quick Scoring Guide for each Year printed on the Deed Board!

Residential Building Scoring

Each player counts the total value of Citizens they have across their Residential Buildings on the City Board, then confirms their total is marked correctly on the Population Tracker.

The player with the most Citizens scores Prestige equal to their current position on the Population Tracker, plus a bonus. That bonus changes each Year.

Each of the other players score Prestige equal to the number of Citizens of the player in front of them on the Population Tracker.

Population Bonus for each Year:

• Year 1: +4
• Year 2: +7
• Year 3: +10

Here's a Helpful Tip! Ties are "friendly." If two or more players are tied on the Population Tracker, they both get the same points.

Important! You must have at least 1 Citizen to gain Prestige from the Population Tracker; if you have no Residential Buildings, you do not gain any Prestige from Population at the end of an Year.

Example: It is the end of Year 1 and time for scoring:

• Purple has 13 Citizens
• Red also has 10 Citizens
• Green has 10 Citizens
• Yellow has 0 Citizens

Purple scores 17 Prestige. Add their current Population (13) + the Year 1 bonus (4 Prestige).

Green scores 13 Prestige. Green scores points equal to the position of the next marker ahead of them. Purple is the next player ahead of Green on the track, so Green scores 13 points for Purple's 13 Citizens.

Red also scores 13 points, just like Green. Red is on the same space as Green, and ties are friendly.

Yellow does not score anything; to score, they must have had at least 1 Citizen on the Population Tracker.

Civic Building Scoring

Players receive Prestige based on the icons on the Civic Buildings they have constructed.

Civic Buildings typically reward Prestige depending on the other Buildings orthogonally adjacent to them (not diagonal) on the City Board.

It does not matter which player owns the adjacent Buildings. Your Civic Buildings provide Prestige for any adjacent Buildings, not just your own!

The Civic Building icons award Prestige as follows:

• Awards points for the total number of Citizens on adjacent Residential Buildings.
• Awards points for every half the total number Citizens on adjacent Residential Buildings (rounded down).
• Awards points for the Coin value on adjacent Commercial Buildings.
• Awards points for every adjacent Civic Building.
• Awards points for every adjacent Building regardless of type!

Example: The Yellow player has built a 2-Lot School Civic Building which provides Prestige equal to the value of the total number of Citizens on adjacent buildings. The Red player's Condo building provides a population of 6 Citizens. Yellow scores Prestige equal to 6.

Example: The Yellow player has built a 1-Lot School Civic Building which provides one Prestige per every two Citizens total on adjacent buildings. Yellow built a Hotel adjacent to their School building which provides a population of 4 Citizens. Yellow scores Prestige equal to 2.

Commercial Building Scoring

Each player takes Coins from the supply equal to the total value of Coin icons across the Commercial Buildings they have constructed in the City (just like the Take Income action, but without gaining the extra 5 Coins).

Additionally, players gain a flat amount of Prestige for some of their Commercial Buildings in the City. The amount of Prestige a Commercial Building is worth is printed on the Player Board.

During the final Year 3 scoring, players gain bonus Prestige instead of Coin for their Commercial Buildings (in addition to the printed Prestige). For example, in the final Year the Retail Shops is worth a total of 3 Prestige.

Commercial Building yields:

• Year 1 & 2: 2 Victory Points and 1 Coin.
• Year 3: 2 Victory Points and 1 Victory Point.

Next Year

End of the Current Year

Continue a Year until all the current Year's Deed Cards on the Deed Board have been bought. Once the Deed Board is empty for the round, each player takes one final turn to collect income or build (including the player who purchased the last Lot on the Deed Board). Once this last round is over, players can score for the Year.

When the final Deed Card has been purchased, move the First Player Token to the player to the left of the player who made the final purchase.

Replenish Deeds

After all players have collected their Prestige and Coins, refill the Deed Board using cards from the next Year's deck. A new round begins with the player who has the First Player Token. Start the new Year!

End of the Game

The game ends after the third Year.

During the final Year's scoring, players gain Prestige as normal through end of round scoring, with two exceptions:

Third Year Scoring Exceptions

Commercial Buildings: Instead of collecting Coins for their Commercial Buildings, each player scores bonus Prestige equal in value to the Coins they would have received in the final round (in addition to the printed Prestige). (Example: 2 Victory Points and 1 Victory Point.)

Empty Lots: Players score 1 Prestige for each Lot Marker they have on the City Board (marking an empty Lot they own). (Example: 1 Victory Point and 2 Victory Points.)

Winner

The player who has the most Prestige is appointed Grand Architect! In the event of a tie the player with the most leftover Coins is the winner.

Optional Rule

Once you are familiar with the game, and are ready for new challenges, you can add the following optional rule to the game.

Deed Drafting

You may use this optional setup rule if you would like a less random start to the game:

Like the normal game, shuffle the Deed Cards and randomly deal six to each player, but deal them all face-down. Hold your cards in your hand, hidden from the other players.

Simultaneously, each player chooses one Deed Card from their hand and places it face-down on the table in front of them. Once all players have selected a card, players simultaneously flip their cards face-up to reveal their selection. They then place a Lot Marker on their revealed Lot and add the Deed Card to their personal pile.

Next, each player passes the remaining Deed Cards in their hand to the player on their left.

Continue selecting and passing cards until all of them have been chosen. At this point, each player will own six empty Lots on the City Board and will have six Deed Cards in the pile in front of them.

Architect's Codex

Use this Guide to help familiarize yourself with the Building Tiles in Foundations of Metropolis, including how to initially set up your Player Board.

Residential Buildings

• A. 2 Small Houses — 1 Lot
• B. 2 Houses — 2 Lots
• C. 2 Hotels — 3 Lots
• D. 1 Apartment Complex — 4 Lots
• E. 1 Condo — 4 Lots

Commercial Buildings

• F. 2 Small Coffee Shops — 1 Lot
• G. 2 Retail Shops — 2 Lots
• H. 1 Restaurant — 3 Lots
• I. 1 Fast Food — 3 Lots
• J. 2 Shopping Malls — 4 Lots

Civic Buildings

• K. 1 Market — 1 Lot
• L. 1 Statue — 1 Lot
• M. 1 School — 1 Lot
• N. 1 Park — 1 Lot
• O. 1 Marketplace — 2 Lots
• P. 1 Statue — 2 Lots
• Q. 1 Park — 2 Lots
• R. 1 School — 2 Lots

Credits

Game Design: Emerson Matsuuchi

Game Development: Bryan Pope, Benjamin Pope, Walter Barber

Product Development: Robert Geistlinger

Production: Dustin Wessel

Marketing: Bree Goldman

Art Direction: Stevo Torres

Graphic Design: Stevo Torres, Nadia Carrim, Stephen Gibson

Illustration: Joe Shawcross

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