Metropolis Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Contents
• Goal
• Setup
• The Buildings
• The Scoring Chart
• Rules of Play
  • Free Choice up to the 5th Lot per District
  • Claim by Neighboring Lots from the 6th Lot Onward
  • Giving Away a Lot
• Building
• Negotiating
• End of the Game

Contents

• 1 game board
• 80 lot cards
• 25 buildings:
  • 8 houses
  • 3 shops
  • 2 schools
  • 4 apartment buildings
  • 3 factories
  • 2 office buildings
  • 2 hospitals
  • 1 department store
• 110 chips in 5 colors (30 white, 30 green, 20 blue, 15 yellow, 15 pink)
• 6 scoring charts (3 per language)

A game of strategy for 2–5 players.

Goal

The lots on which the new city will be built are handed out to the players, one by one, in a kind of draw. Being neighbors gives a certain claim to adjoining lots, on which the larger building projects can also be realized. The first buildings are soon put up. Depending on what goes up on the neighboring lots, buildings can gain or lose value. Whoever has the highest total value of buildings at the end of the game wins.

Setup

The scoring charts are laid out where all players can see them. The buildings are kept off the board, as a shared supply for everyone. The 80 lot cards are shuffled well. The cards and chips are dealt out as follows:

• With 2 players — 12 cards each. The players receive the white and green chips.
• With 3 players — 8 cards each. The players receive the white, green, and blue chips.
• With 4 players — 6 cards each. The players receive chips of their choice.
• With 5 players — 5 cards each. All chips are distributed.

Each player places one chip of their color on each of the lots that were assigned to them by the dealt cards. This creates a random starting situation that's new for every game. The dealt cards are no longer needed during the game and are set aside.

The rest of the cards are placed as a face-down stack next to the game board. Then 4 cards are taken from the stack and placed face up next to the board. This forms the first offer.

The players agree on who goes first.

It is recommended to study the starting situation closely and to become familiar with the scoring chart and the floor plans of the buildings.

The Buildings

The rulebook illustrates the lot outline each building needs. Sizes range from a single lot up to the six-lot department store:

• House — 1 lot
• Shop — 2 lots
• Apartment building — 3 lots (drawn in two different, mirrored shapes)
• Factory — 4 lots
• School — 2 lots
• Office building — 3 lots
• Hospital — 4 lots (drawn in two different, mirrored shapes)
• Department store — 6 lots

Both hospitals and 2 of the apartment buildings are mirror images of each other and do not fit on the same lots as their counterpart.

The Scoring Chart

The scoring chart is the guide for all planning and tactics in the game. It lists all the possible values for every building.

Each building has a base value, which is tied to its size and to how difficult it is to fit such a building in. The base value changes according to the more or less favorable location, and according to the surrounding area.

Location raises the base value of some buildings. This is already reflected in the building's name, for example "house with a view of the park."

• The following lots have a view of the park: 15 to 19, 25, 40, 45, 70, 60 to 64. An apartment building on 25, 20, 21, for example, counts as an "apartment building with a view of the park."
• The following lots lie on the river: 45 to 49, 55 to 59, 70 to 74, 80 to 84.
• The center consists of lots 40 to 49 and 50 to 59.

The surrounding area — that is, how the remaining lots in the same district are built up — raises or lowers a building's base value.

• A district is the 10 adjoining lots that share the same first digit, for example 40 to 49.
• "No" means that those buildings are not allowed in the same district: no school with a factory, no hospital with a factory — and vice versa, depending on which was built first.

Rules of Play

Players take their turns clockwise. Whoever's turn it is chooses one of the four face-up lot cards, i.e. one of the four offered lots. The choice depends on whether the player is allowed to take the lot (see Claim, below) and whether it allows for valuable building projects (see The Scoring Chart, above).

The new owner (which is not always the player whose turn it is!) receives the lot card and marks the lot with one of their chips. A new card is then turned face up from the stack for the next player, so that four lots are always on offer.

Free Choice up to the 5th Lot per District

Players may take possession of any offered lot, as long as fewer than 5 lots in the corresponding district are occupied.

Claim by Neighboring Lots from the 6th Lot Onward

From the 6th lot onward in a district, being a neighbor gives a claim to a lot. When two players have equal claim, whoever's turn it is decides.

"Neighboring" means lots that lie directly next to each other, for example 11 and 12 — but not lots that only touch at a corner, for example 11 and 15.

Consider an example where lots already belong to 4 players (A, B, C, D):

• Lots without a neighbor can be taken by any player when it is their turn. In the example, only lot 15 has no neighbor.
• Lots with one neighbor can only be taken by that neighbor. Only player B can take lot 10, and only player A can take lot 19.
• Lots with several neighbors can be taken by any of those neighbors, when it is their turn. Lot 16 can be taken by B or C, lot 18 by C or D. Lot 12 can be taken by B, C, or D. It does not matter whether a player owns the majority of the neighboring lots.

Giving Away a Lot

Whoever's turn it is may also choose a lot to which they themselves have no claim. They must then "give it away" to one of the players who does have a claim, and may freely decide which one receives it. For example, if it is player A's turn and lot 12 is on offer, A can give it to B, C, or D. The lot card is handed to the chosen player, who marks the lot with a chip of their color.

Sometimes a player is forced to "give away" a lot because none of the face-up cards allows them to take one for themselves. But it is also quite normal to give away a lot to a fellow player without being forced to, as part of a trade.

Building

Building can begin at any point during the game. Only the player whose turn it is may build. After choosing a new lot, they may put up any building they like. The conditions are:

• The building type must still be available — "first come, first served!"
• The player must own the matching lots for it (possibly together with a fellow player).
• The building type must be allowed in that district (for example, no school next to a factory — see The Scoring Chart).

The player removes the chips from the lots they want to build on. They take the matching building from the general supply and place it on their lots. To mark their ownership, they place one of their chips on the building.

Players may try out whether a building fits on certain lots. Once it has been placed, it may not be moved afterward.

Negotiating

Players may negotiate with each other at any time (even when it is not their turn), for example to trade lots or to agree on buildings that favorably influence each other's value, or that dampen a fellow player's chances somewhat. Players may also agree to pool their lots in order to jointly put up a large building and split its value (in proportion to the lots each contributed). This is only allowed when the building occupies 4 or 6 lots.

End of the Game

If all lots have been given out but buildings are still available, every player gets one more turn to put up one of the remaining buildings on their lots, if they can.

The game can also end earlier, namely when no more buildings can be put up:

• because no buildings are left, or
• because the remaining buildings no longer fit on the lots that are still available.

The value of each individual building is then determined from the scoring chart and credited to its owner (or owners, who must split it as agreed).

The player with the highest total is the winner.