Little Factory
Little Factory Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- This rule book
- Summary sheet x4
- Cards x88
- Basic resource cards x16 (Wood x5, Wheat x3, Clay x3, Stone x3, Cotton x2)
- Level I resource cards x19
- Initial funds cards x4
- Level II resource cards x9
- Victory point cards x12
- Basic building cards x5
- Normal building cards x23
Instruction of Cards
Resource cards show an icon, a value, and (where relevant) a cost and the total number of that card in the deck.
Building cards show an ability, a value, a cost, and the victory points the building is worth.
Preparation of the Game
Setup
Put cards out as follows:
- Choose (number of players + 1) cards from the Basic building cards at random and line the cards up in a row. Remove the remaining Basic building cards from the game. Shuffle the Normal building cards and deck them, then add cards from this deck to the line of buildings so that there are 5 buildings in total.
- Shuffle the Level II resource cards and deck them, then line up cards from the deck so that there are 5 types of card in total. Do the same for the Level I resource cards.
- Prepare the fixed number of Basic resources according to the number of players (see table below), and stack them face up for each type respectively. Stack the Victory point cards face up next to the Basic resources.
Number of Basic resources per player count:
| Players | Wood | Wheat | Clay | Stone | Cotton |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4p | 5 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 |
| 3p | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| 2p | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
This is also written on the bottom right of the card.
Turn Order
Choose a starting player at random. Hereafter, the turn goes clockwise.
Initial Funds
- The Initial funds card worth 3 goes to the first player.
- The Initial funds card worth 4 goes to the second player.
- And so on — the later a player goes, the higher the Initial funds card they receive as a starting hand card.
Game Flow
In this game, players aim to get 10 victory points. Starting with the first player, the game proceeds by taking turns clockwise.
Turn Flow
At the beginning of each turn, replenish cards in play (see Replenishment of Cards below).
You can then perform the following, in any order:
Player's action — once in a turn. Perform one of the following two actions:
- Production (see below): getting a card by paying resources.
- Trade (see below): trade cards in hand for cards with equal or lesser value in play.
Elf's action — once for each building in a turn. If you have buildings, elves take their action on your behalf. In other words, you can use each building's ability once per building in a turn. You can take the Elf's action of a building you just acquired immediately, in the same turn. If you have two buildings, you can execute both of their Elf's actions and your Player's action, in whichever order you choose.
Replenishment of Cards
At the beginning of each turn, replenish cards in play from each deck so that there are 5 types in each row of "Building", "Level II", and "Level I".
Once a deck is gone, shuffle its discard pile to form a new deck. If there is no card in the discard pile at that time, you don't need to do anything. When new cards are discarded, they form the start of a new discard pile, which will later be shuffled into a new deck once the deck runs out.
Player's Action: Production
Choose a card in play and get it by paying its cost.
You can pay either of the costs shown on both sides of a "/" on a card. Costs drawn as leaning cards can be paid by just showing them (rather than discarding them).
For example, if a card's cost shows Thread payable either by discarding a Cotton or by showing a Sheep, you may pay it either way.
Discard Level I and Level II resources you pay as cost to their respective discard piles. Basic resources you pay as cost are returned to their place (the supply), not to a discard pile.
A Basic resource card is a little different: it doesn't need a cost. You can get a Basic resource card just by choosing the Production action.
If the acquired card is a Resource card, it goes into your hand. If it is a Building card, you line it up in front of you instead.
Your hand's maximum size is 7. You can't select an action that would leave you with more than 7 cards in hand, even temporarily. Don't count Building cards or Victory point cards lined up in front of you as part of your hand.
Player's Action: Trade
Trade Resource cards from your hand for cards with equal or lesser value in play.
Either the number of cards discarded from your hand or the card acquired must be exactly one (i.e. trade several cards from your hand for one card in play, or one card from your hand for one card in play — not several-for-several). You can't trade your buildings.
Cards discarded by Trade go to a discard pile, or to the deck of Basic resources, just like in the Production action.
Initial funds cards can only be used for Trade. When you discard an Initial funds card, remove it from the game (it does not go to a discard pile).
Elf's Action
When you have buildings, you can take an Elf's action (the building's ability) once for each building. You can take the Elf's action of a building you acquired earlier in the same turn immediately.
A building's ability exchanges the resource shown at the top of the building for the resource shown at the bottom of the building. This way, you can only convert cards in your hand into cards in play — cards not currently in play can't be obtained this way. Discard the cards from your hand that you exchange.
In other words, an Elf's action lets you take a fixed exchange in addition to your normal Player's action.
When you gain victory points from a Building's ability, you also gain the same number of Victory point cards from those available in play. Line up the acquired Victory point card(s) in front of you.
End of the Game
The game ends immediately when either of the following occurs:
- A player has 10 or more victory points (the sum of the victory points on their Buildings and their Victory point cards), or
- There is no Victory point card left in play.
At that point, the player with the most victory points wins the game.