Machi Koro: Bright Lights, Big City
Machi Koro: Bright Lights, Big City Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- Cards (202)
- Starting Cards (45): Starting Establishments (10), Starting Landmarks (35)
- Supply Cards (157): Major Establishments (25), Establishments (132) — dice ranges 1-6 and 7-14
- Coins (78): 1 Coin (42), 5 Coin (24), 10 Coin (12)
- Dice (3)
- Game Rules (1): this document
Card Explanation
Establishments show the following information:
- The dice roll needed to activate the effect
- Type and Name
- Picture
- Effect
Landmarks show:
- Type and Name
- Picture
- Effect
Game Setup
Each player should place their two Starting Establishment cards (one Wheat Field and one Bakery) face-up in front of their play area, along with their City Hall Landmark card. Next, each player should place their six Landmark cards facedown (under construction). This is the starting area of each player's city. Lastly each player receives 3 coins from the bank. Any excess Starting cards for a game of less than five players (Starting Establishments and Landmarks) should be returned to the box as they will not be used in the game.
Special Note: The City Hall card is considered a pre-constructed landmark. It is used as a Starting Landmark (to be used along with the Starting Establishments—Wheat Field and Bakery). Add this card to the player's Landmark section face-up (constructed); its benefit is effective as soon as the game begins. The timing for getting 1 coin is "precisely before you build" so you can use that coin to build something the same turn but are not required to do so. The City Hall card may not be demolished.
Prepare the Marketplace
- Shuffle all the 1-6 non-Starting Establishments into a single draw deck.
- Shuffle all the 7+ non-Starting Establishments into a single draw deck.
- Shuffle all of the Major Establishments into a single draw deck.
- Draw cards from the 1-6 deck to form a face-up line of Establishments. This will be the 1-6 Marketplace. (It is suggested that you arrange these in order of the die roll from smallest number on the left to largest number on the right.)
- If you draw a copy of a card that is already in the Marketplace, simply stack the new card on top of the old one.
- Once you have 5 unique Establishment cards in the line, stop drawing cards. The 1-6 Marketplace is now complete.
- Complete steps 4-6 for the 7+ card deck stopping once there are 5 unique 7+ Establishment cards.
- Complete steps 4-6 for the Major Establishments deck stopping once there are 2 unique Major Establishment cards.
Replenish the Marketplace
- If during the game any of the three marketplaces (1-6, 7+, Major Establishments) have less than the starting number of unique Establishment cards (5, 5, and 2), then that marketplace is immediately replenished in the same manner as described above.
- If any of the draw decks run out, that marketplace will no longer be refilled for the remainder of the game.
Special Note: If there are ever Major Establishments in the marketplace that can no longer be purchased (because all players own a copy and therefore may not purchase them), remove any available copies from the marketplace and replenish the Major Establishment marketplace back up to 2 unique cards. When replenishing the marketplace, if a Major Establishment that can no longer be purchased is drawn from the draw deck, discard it immediately and draw a new Major Establishment from the deck.
Game Flow
Players take turns in clockwise order. A turn consists of the following three phases:
- Roll Dice
- Earn Income
- Construction
Game End: The player to construct all six of their Landmarks first wins the game!
Roll Dice
- To begin their turn a player rolls the dice. At the start of the game each player will roll a single die.
- Once a player has built their Train Station, they may roll one or two dice on their turn.
- When rolling two dice, the dice are always summed together.
Earn Income
- Players earn income based on the dice roll and the effects of the Establishments that they own that match the dice roll.
- There are 4 different types of Establishments that earn income in different ways:
BLUE: Primary Industry — Get income from the bank, during anyone's turn.
GREEN: Secondary Industry — Get income from the bank, during your turn only.
RED: Restaurants — Take coins from the person who rolled the dice.
PURPLE: Major Establishment — Get income from all other players, but during your turn only.
Earn Income (continued)
- It is possible that multiple types of Establishments are activated by the same die roll, in this case the Establishments are activated in the following order:
- Restaurants (Red)
- Secondary Industry (Green)
- Primary Industry (Blue)
- Major Establishments (Purple)
- If a player owns multiple copies of a single Establishment, the effects are multiplied by the number of Establishments of that type owned.
- Special Note: The Shopping Mall Landmark card affects each card.
- Example: a player owning multiple copies of the Bakery card would see each copy of that card earn +1 income.
Coin Transactions Between Players
If a player owes another player money and cannot afford to pay it, they pay what they can and the rest is exempted (a player's coin total can never go below zero), the receiving player is not compensated for the lost income.
Example: Player A rolls a "3". Player B owns a Cafe in their town, so Player A is charged one coin. However, Player A has no coins, so they do not have to pay anything. Afterwards, Player A receives two coins from the bank for the two Bakeries in their town.
As a reminder, if multiple Establishments are activated on the same die roll, Restaurant (Red) Establishments are activated first, followed by Primary/Secondary Industry (Blue/Green) and finally Major Establishments (Purple). So payment to other players is processed prior to earned income from other Establishments.
If payment is owed to multiple players at the same time, payment is processed in reverse player order (counter clockwise).
Example: Player A rolls a "3". Player B owns 3 Cafes, and Player C owns 2 Cafes. Player B charges 3 coins and Player C charges 2 coins, but Player A only has 3 coins. Payment is processed in counter-clockwise order. Player A first pays Player C two coins. He has one coin left, which he pays Player B. The remaining two coins Player A owes Player B are exempted.
Building New Establishments and Completing Landmarks
To conclude a player's turn, he or she may pay to construct one single Establishment card or pay to finish construction on a single Landmark by paying the cost shown on the lower left-hand corner of the card.
Once constructed, an Establishment is taken from the supply and added to the player's play area. When constructing a Landmark, the Landmark card is turned right-side up (full-color side) and the Landmark's effects are now active.
Landmarks may be constructed in any order the player chooses.
Players may not construct more than one of each type of Landmark card in their town. A player may construct as many unique Landmark cards as they choose, but may never construct a second of the same Landmark card.
Players may construct multiple copies of all other Establishment types as described in the Earn Income section of these rules. Stacking cards of the same type vertically one on top of another in the player's area may be a useful way to keep track of this.
Ending the Game
Play continues clockwise until one player wins the game by completing all six of their Landmarks first.
(REMEMBER: Landmarks can be completed in any order!)
Notes on the Establishments
Harbor
If the dice total 10 or more, you have the option to add 2 to the total die roll if you choose. You cannot add just 1. This will affect the total of the die roll for all players and their Establishments, as well as your own. You can only choose to apply the effects of the Harbor on your turn; you cannot raise the value of another player's die roll.
Tax Office
You get half the amount rounded down. Which means the player who gives you money retains half rounded up.
Example: A player who has 21 coins pays 10 and keeps 11.
Flower Shop
With the effect of the Shopping Mall, the Flower Shop causes you to get 2 coins per Flower Orchard you have.
Example: If you have a constructed Shopping Mall, 3 Flower Orchards and 2 Flower Shops, you would receive 12 coins from the bank because your Flower Shops receive 2 coins for each Flower Orchard due to the Shopping Mall.
Tuna Boat
The dice rolled to determine income for the Tuna Boat do not affect and are not affected by any other Landmark or Establishment. The roll does not activate anything, including the Amusement Park on a roll of doubles. You only make this roll once, even if you have several Tuna Boats.
Example: You have 3 Tuna Boats. If the income roll was 8, you will gain 24 coins (8x3). Other players who have a finished Harbor will also get 8 coins per Tuna Boat.
Moving Company
When the Moving Company activates, you have to give another player one of your non-Landmark Establishments. Which Establishment you choose to give and to whom is up to you.
Note: The Moving Company can be given to other players.
Tech Startup
At the end of every turn (after you've constructed the Tech Startup) you may place 1 coin from your supply onto this card. When this card is activated, all players must pay you coins equal to the number of coins on this card. Activating the Tech Startup card does not remove any coins from it.
Note: You can never retrieve money that has been placed on the Tech Startup. Once you've invested it you cannot use the money to buy Establishments or pay other players if you owe them money.
Credits
Game Design: Masao Suganuma
Game Development: Nathan McNair and Molly Wardlaw
Product Development: Jerry Bennington and Nate Murray
Editing: Jerry Bennington, David Hedgecock, Nathan McNair, and Nate Murray
Graphic Design: Taro Hino
Graphic Design by IDW Games: Sam Barlin
Logo Design: Sam Barlin
Photography: Delaney Mamer
Cover Illustration: Noboru Hotta
Card Artwork: Noboru Hotta
Machi Koro: Bright Lights, Big City Artwork: Chuck Kerr
Production Management: Shauna Monteforte
Special Thanks To: Ted Adams, Greg Goldstein, Chris Ryall, and Robbie Robbins
Copyright © 2016 Grounding Inc. All rights reserved.