Men at Work
Men at Work Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
What Are We Playing With?
Base Game
- 8 supports
- 28 girders (in 4 colors)
- 16 workers, with hardhats, of course
- 36 instruction cards
- 1 Boss Rita card
- 15 safety certificates
- 13 Worker of the Month awards
- 1 rescue hook with measuring stick
- 12 wooden beams
- 12 bricks
Variant 1: Foreman
- No additional components needed
Variant 2: Crane
- 1 platform
- 1 crane
Variant 3: Skyscraper
- Bottom part of the box
Before your first game, carefully separate the components from their sheets.
Make also sure that each worker wears his helmet: safety first!
Base Game
Who Has the Steadiest Hand?
On this site, construction companies have their workers erect new buildings, girder by girder.
If you cause an accident and something falls down, you lose a safety certificate.
The winner is the first player to collect the required number of Worker of the Month awards (see When Does the Game End and Who Is the Winner?).
Alternatively, if there is only one player left with at least 1 safety certificate, he is the winner!
What's Being Built and How to Set Up the Building Site?
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The youngest player is in charge of setting up the site. In easy reach of all players, he puts three supports on the table (i.e. the playing surface) and places one girder of each color onto them. Then, he places one worker onto one of those girders. The design of the starting site is entirely up to him, as long as he keeps in mind the following rules:
- supports may be placed as he likes,
- girders may not touch the playing surface,
- the worker must touch the girder with both feet.
Place the remaining 5 supports and 24 girders to the side as a supply. Also place the remaining 15 workers here, where they wait to start work.
This is what a site could look like:
- For beginners: a simple site with just a few girders resting on supports and one worker balanced on top.
- For advanced players: a taller, more crossed arrangement of girders with a worker balanced further out.
- For experts: a precarious tower of girders balanced on edge, with a worker perched high up.
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Shuffle the instruction cards. Put the Boss Rita card roughly a quarter of the way down from the top of the deck. Then place the deck with the side showing the big orange sign facing up. Leave some room next to the deck for a discard pile.
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Each player takes three safety certificates. Expert players take only two.
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Place the following components near the play area:
- the Worker of the Month awards
- the rescue hook with measuring stick
- the beams and the bricks
What's This All About?
On your turn, you reveal the top instruction card of the deck and perform an action. An action consists of either placing a worker or a girder on the building site according to the combined instructions given by the card that is now on top of the deck AND the card that you just revealed. Sometimes additional pieces must be placed, such as supports, beams, or bricks. The details are specified on the instruction card.
ATTENTION: Do your best to avoid causing an accident in which something falls down, or you will lose a safety certificate… a player with no safety certificate is unfortunately out of the game.
The winner is the first player to reach the required number of Worker of the Month awards (see When Does the Game End and Who Is the Winner?). Alternatively, if there is only one player left with at least 1 safety certificate, he is the winner!
How to Play
Play proceeds in turns clockwise.
The youngest player starts and takes the rescue hook. The rescue hook indicates who the active player is. As long as a player has the rescue hook, he is in charge of the site. At the end of his turn, the active player must give the rescue hook to the player to his left.
When you receive the rescue hook, reveal the top instruction card of the deck and place it on top of the discard pile with the side showing 2 yellow signs facing up.
The combination of the instruction card on top of the deck and the revealed instruction card on top of the discard pile determines the action you must perform.
Note: If you are about to reveal the last card of the instruction deck, first set the discard pile aside and reveal the last card of the deck. Then shuffle the discard pile to form a new deck.
1. Instruction Cards
Deck of instruction cards
The top card on the deck specifies what you must add to the site:
- If it shows a girder, you must place a girder that matches the color of one of the 2 girders shown on the card.
- If it shows a helmet, you must place a worker onto a girder whose color matches one of the gloves shown on the card.
Revealed instruction
The revealed instruction card specifies how to place the girder or worker and if you need to use additional pieces:
- Instruction for placing girders
- Instruction for placing workers
For details see 2. Rules of Construction and the Instruction Card Overview at the end of the rulebook.
Example: Add a black or an orange girder to the site. That black or orange girder must touch two existing girders of two other colors after it has been added.
2. Rules of Construction
In General
- When adding materials or workers to the site, you may only use one hand.
- You may touch, move and lift already placed materials and workers with pieces you are adding (touching them directly with your hand is not allowed).
- When adding materials and workers, you may try and test a position before deciding.
- Anything not prohibited by the instruction card or the Rules of Construction is allowed.
- If you don't succeed on your first try but you didn't cause an accident (e.g. you knocked a brick off but it didn't hit the playing surface) you must keep trying with that same piece.
Girders
- The girder you add must be the color of one of the girders shown on the instruction card on top of the deck.
- If girders of one of the colors have run out, you must use a girder of the other color instead.
- Girders may not touch the playing surface (e.g. the table).
- You may not place a girder on a worker's hardhat.
- You may place girders on bricks and beams.
- You may not place a girder completely on top of another one so that it covers its entire surface.
Workers
- Take the worker you are adding from the waiting area beside the site.
- The worker must be placed on a girder whose color matches one of the gloves shown on the instruction card on top of the deck.
- When a worker is placed, both of his feet/legs must touch the girder.
Accident!
If any piece (including hardhats) falls off the site during your turn and lands on the playing surface or on a worker, you've caused an accident. Lose one of your safety certificates and your turn ends immediately. Give the rescue hook to the player to your left for clean-up.
If a fallen piece touches neither the playing surface nor a worker, or if just a support fell, you haven't caused an accident and may continue your turn.
When you lose your last safety certificate, you are out of the game.
Clean-Up
When you receive the rescue hook after an accident, you are responsible for cleaning up the site:
Return any workers, girders, beams, and bricks that fell onto the playing surface to the supply. Use the rescue hook to retrieve pieces from under the site. Any girders touching the playing surface with only one end can be pushed back into the site. You decide what to do with any fallen supports – either return them to the supply or leave them as they lie.
The site must be safe and tidy after the clean up, as now you begin your regular turn by revealing an instruction card.
And by the way, you can cause accidents even while cleaning up. This also ends your turn immediately.
Boss Rita
Once the Boss Rita card is revealed, she will start to hand out Worker of the Month awards. Place the card next to the awards, then reveal another instruction card and resume your turn.
At the end of each player's turn, if a material or worker he placed on that turn occupies the highest position in the site, Rita is greatly impressed: he receives a Worker of the Month award and places it in front of him. When in doubt about the height, check with the measuring stick.
When Does the Game End and Who Is the Winner?
First Possibility: The Best Worker Wins
The winner is the first player to collect the required number of Worker of the Month awards. The number of awards required to win depends on the player count:
- 2 players: 5 awards
- 3-4 players: 4 awards
- 5 players: 3 awards
Second Possibility: The Safest Worker Wins
If there is only one player with any remaining safety certificates, that player wins.
Third Possibility: Construction Halts (Rare)
If you run out of building materials or if all workers are on the site, the game ends.
Everyone adds his safety certificates and Worker of the Month awards together. The player with the highest total wins. Ties are broken in favor of the player with the most Worker of the Month awards. If there is still a tie, the victory is shared.
Variants
Variant: Foreman
What changes?
During setup, before building the instruction cards deck, give each player two random instruction cards.
Play as in the base game, with the following changes:
If a player can't or doesn't want to perform the action according to the top card of the deck or the discard pile, he may instead play one of his cards and build accordingly.
He can play his card on top of:
- the deck, to change what he has to place or
- the discard pile, to change how he has to build it and what additional pieces he may have to use.
That player does not draw a replacement for the played card.
Also, there is an additional rule throughout the game for placing workers: workers must always be placed onto the highest girder of whichever color you have chosen from those shown on the instruction card on top of the deck.
The game ends as in the base game.
Variant: Crane
What changes?
After setup, attach the crane to the platform and place it in the middle of the site.
The game is played as in the base game. In this variant, you may use all parts of the crane to support the site and reach the highest position.
A worker or material falling onto the platform of the crane counts as an accident.
The game ends as in the base game.
If you combine this variant with the Skyscraper variant, place the crane on the bottom of the box. For a more difficult game, place it on the edge of the box.
Variant: Skyscraper
What changes?
Instead of building on the supports, build on the bottom half of the box. Put a girder of each color on the packaging insert. The starting girders may not touch the edges of the box or the playing surface. In this variant, supports are only added to the site by instruction cards.
Play as in the base game. In this variant, use the edges of the bottom half of the box and the packaging insert to support the site.
If a material or worker touches the floor of the box or the playing surface, the player has caused an accident and loses a safety certificate. His turn ends immediately. In this variant, fallen supports also cause accidents.
Cleaning up is the same as in the base game. However, workers, bricks, and beams that fall into the insert are left there. Fallen girders and supports are returned to the supply.
The game ends as in the base game.
Instruction Cards
Additional rules:
- If the girder you place must touch other girders, it may touch them from above, below, or the side.
- In addition to the pieces that your piece must touch, it may also touch any other pieces.
- The piece you place must meet all the instructions when you finish placing it.
- Bricks and beams must be placed on worker's arms. If you have to place several bricks and/or beams, you may place them freely on the arms of the worker you just placed and may stack them on top of each other.
- If you ever can't comply with an instruction card because the site doesn't contain the pieces it mentions, reveal the next instruction card instead.
Girder Cards
- Balance — The girder must balance on only one other girder and both ends must be in the air.
- Touch the same color — The girder must touch another girder of the same color.
- Touch 2 other colors — The girder must touch two girders and each of the three must be a different color.
- Touch the highest — The girder must touch the highest girder in the site.
- With 1 worker — Place the girder anywhere, then add a worker to it.
- Strong worker — The girder must be placed on a worker's arm. Placing it on his hardhat is not allowed.
- New support + touch the same color — First place a new support in the site. Decide whether on the playing surface or on a girder, and whether standing or lying. Then place your girder. It must touch the new support and another girder of the same color.
- New support + touch a different color — First place a new support in the site. Decide whether on the playing surface or on a girder, and whether standing or lying. Then place your girder. It must touch the new support and another girder of a different color.
- New support on a girder + touch any color — First place a new support on a girder. Decide whether standing or lying. Then place your girder. It must touch the new support and at least one other girder.
- Touch a support — Touch any support already placed.
- Transporting 1 brick — Place a brick on the girder and place both in the site together. You decide the brick's position.
- Highest girder — The girder must become the highest girder. It doesn't have to be the highest piece of any type.
Worker Cards
- With 1 brick — Place a worker on a girder and load him with a brick.
- With 2 bricks — Place a worker on a girder and load him with two bricks.
- With 1 beam — Place a worker on a girder and load him with a beam.
- With 2 beams — Place a worker on a girder and load him with two beams.
- With 1 brick + 1 beam — Place a worker on a girder and load him with a brick and a beam.
- Close to an edge — Place a worker on one of the outer edges of a girder.
- Transporting 1 beam — Place a beam on a worker's shoulder and place both together on a girder.
- Connect a worker with a beam — Place a worker on a girder and take a beam. Use the beam to connect this worker to one already placed in the site.
- Additional worker — Place a worker on a girder, then place another worker on the same girder.
Credits
The designer, publisher and agency would like to thank each other for the speedy construction of this project, as well as Julian, Janis, Sophia, Leopold, Luise and Konstantin, and all the other test-workers. Special thanks to Christof "Skyscraper" Tisch, Jonas "The Boss" Herster, and the Queen of the Castle.
- Game Design: Rita Modl
- License: whitecastle.at (White Castle Games Agency)
- Producer: Sophie Gravel
- Development: Martin Bouchard
- Illustrations: Bernard Bittler & Chris Quilliams
- Graphic Design: Marie-Ève Joly
- Editing: Katja Volk
- English translation: Neil Crowley
- Development by: Pretzel Games ([email protected], www.pretzelgames.com)
©2018 Plan B Games Inc., 19 rue de la Coopérative, Rigaud, QC J0P 1P0, Canada. Made in China.