Little Italy
Little Italy Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Contents
- 1 Board
- 1 Police Marker
- 1 Money Marker
- 6 Cars (1 of each color)
- 6 Dice (1 of each color)
- 12 Control Cards (2 of each color)
- 40 Money Tokens (17 valued at 1 point, 23 valued at 3 points)
- 10 Variable Scoring Discs (Optional)
- 1 Dice Cup
Object of the Game
Enter the world of 1950's Little Italy and become the head of one of the powerful crime families during that time. Players compete to collect the most valuable money drops. But the money isn't just there for the taking — if you drive into a police set up, you'll have to bribe them with your hard-earned cash. The player who finishes the game with the most money wins.
Set Up
Place the board in the center of the table. The board shows the streets of Little Italy. The road consists of many spaces, some of which are marked with a scoring circle showing either a positive or negative number. At the beginning of the game, place the Money Marker (indicated by money) on the road space with the "1" circle and the Police Marker (indicated by handcuffs) on the road space with the "-1" circle.
Each player receives two 3-point Money Tokens, totaling six points, which they place in front of them, and the rest are put near the board.
Cars and Control Cards
During the game, each player controls two cars. The exact set up depends on the number of players.
- Two players: Each player chooses two different cars and displays one of the respective Control Cards for both cars face up in front of them. The second copy of each Control Card, as well as the remaining two color cars (and their Control Cards), is removed from the game.
- Three players: Each player chooses two different cars and displays one of the respective Control Cards for both cars face up in front of them. The second copy of each Control Card is removed from the game.
- Four or more players: Two players control each car, and each player displays one of the respective Control Cards. Therefore, each player controls two cars: one shared with their neighbor to the left, and one with their neighbor to the right. Four cars are used with four players, five with five players, and six with six players.
For each chosen color, put the matching car on the alleyway in the center of the board and place the corresponding die in the dice cup. The cards, cars and dice of unused colors stay out of the game.
Example: In a four-player game Andrew chooses a yellow and a blue Control Card, Bill (on Andrew's left) displays the matching blue card plus a green card, Chris (on Bill's left) displays a corresponding green card and a red card, and Denise takes a red and a yellow card to match her two neighbors (Andrew and Chris).
Game Play
Select one player to start. At the beginning of each player's turn, the player rolls the dice. They then select one of the dice, place it in front of themselves, and move the matching car as described below. Any player may move ANY car of their choice, as long as the die has not already been used this round. Then they hand the cup with the remaining dice to the player to their left who proceeds similarly. In this way, play progresses clockwise from player to player. When a player is handed the cup with only one die, they return all of the dice to the cup before starting their turn.
Moving
At the beginning of the game a car may exit the alleyway in either direction, following the arrows. Cars move clockwise by the number of spaces shown on the die. Spaces occupied by other cars are not counted. Only one car is allowed on each space.
Example: Denise selects the red die, which shows a 3. She goes to move the red car three spaces clockwise, but two other cars are present on its path, so it actually moves five spaces, jumping those cars. In this way the cars continue moving around and around the board.
Once all cars have left the alleyway, it may only be used by one car at a time. When a car reaches one of the two entrances to the alleyway, it may continue on around the road or follow the arrow into the empty alleyway where it immediately stops, regardless of the number rolled. When leaving on a later turn, the car must follow the arrow out from the opposite end. Moving into or out of the alleyway counts as moving one space; however, entering the alleyway always stops a car's movement.
Money
When a car enters a space containing a marker, it immediately stops there. The moving player receives a reward of 1 point. Then the car scores. If the car has reached a Money Marker, then each player who has the matching car on their Control Card receives the number of points shown in the scoring circle. If the car stopped on a Police Marker, then each player who has the matching car on their Control Card loses the number of points shown in the scoring circle. If a player does not have sufficient Money Tokens, they must remove those they do have, but they do not go below zero.
The marker is then immediately placed on the space with the next higher circle of its type. If a car is present on this space it scores immediately (but no player receives the reward, since nobody actually moved it there), with the marker moving on to the next higher space.
Example: Bill selects the yellow die, showing 5, and places it in front of himself. He moves the yellow car around the road, but on the second space he reaches the Money Marker, which is in the space with the "3" scoring circle. The car stops on this space, and Bill receives the reward of 1 point. The owners of the yellow car, Andrew and Denise, both receive 3 points. The marker is placed on the space with the "4" scoring circle, which is already occupied by the green car. Bill and Chris (the owners of the green car) each receive 4 points, and the marker moves to the space with the "5" circle, which is unoccupied.
Winning the Game
The game ends immediately when either the "7" or the "-7" score is scored in the alleyway or when both the Police and Money Markers reach the alleyway (even if they are not scored). The winner is the player with the highest total of points.
Optional Setup
When you have played the game a number of times, try varying the arrangement of the scoring circles. Take the Variable Scoring Discs and place them face up randomly onto the scoring circles on the board, leaving the 1s and 7s unaltered. Then play as normal.