Micro City (First Edition)
Micro City (First Edition) Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Content
- 4 district cards
- 1 company card
- 1 Round Dial card
- 2 help cards
- 6 project cards
- 1 Engineer pawn
- 10 investment tokens
- 5 additional tokens
- 2 building cards (one for the challenge game mode)
- 3 d6 dice
Setup
Following setup is for a standard game. A description of how to prepare a challenge game mode may be found at the end of the manual.
- Put randomly 4 district cards faceup (side A) to form a 2x2 board setup. For the first game you may use a board setup presented in picture.
- Put the Engineer pawn at any of the residential districts – the one with a red color and a red dice icon at bottom left of the card.
- Prepare 10 tokens with the same color. Those will be your investment tokens pool. Put them close to one another, these are your available tokens.
- Put the company card close and prepare 4 tokens, which will be used to mark the resources and money in your possession. Your company starts with 0 wood, 0 coal, 0 steel and 2$.
- Next to the company cards put a building cards faceup (side A).
- Right next to the board there should be a Round Dial, put a marker on number 10. In a standard game you have 10 rounds to construct 4 buildings.
- Draw 6 project cards. You will also need some space for a discard pile.
- Get 3 d6 dice. Those will be active dice. Leave some space for the activated dice.
Basic information
District cards – 4 cards divided into 4 areas. Set up on the table they form a map of a city upon which player move his Engineer pawn. Each of the areas provides specific benefits depending of its specialty. In the game there are 3 types of the areas:
- Industrial – they provide the materials (coal, steel or wood)
- Commercial – they allow to exchange and/or sell materials
- Residential – they serve as a construction site for buildings and allow to collect taxes
District cards are double-sided. Front side (side A) is for the standard game, while the reverse side (side B) is for the advanced game.
Engineer – it's a pawn / token which player use to move around the districts and other areas. During each round player's engineer will be moving to different area and use specific action depending on the given area specialty.
Investments – 10 tokens which are to be placed on the board / buildings after a player uses an action.
If there are no investment tokens available to be placed on the board / building a player loses the game.
Building cards and the Round Dial – The aim of the game is to build all the buildings that are present on the card in the given time. The time is specified by the Round Dial, so if the Dial shows 0, the game ends and a player loses the game.
District actions
Industrial district
- Basic action: Take 1 material of the kind shown on the area (coal, steel or wood).
- Action using the dice: Take 2 materials of the kind shown on the area.
Commercial district
- Basic action: Exchange 1 material for 1 different one and take 1$.
- Action using the dice: Exchange 1 material for 2 different ones and take 1$.
Residential district
- Basic action: Take 2$.
- Action using the dice: Construct a building.
Icons used on the district cards: Engineer, investment token, any resource, planning action.
Round sequence
Every round consists of 4 phases in the given order.
Preparation phase
Roll 3 dice and, without changing the result, put 2 of them aside as the active dice. If you had done the planning action in the previous round you don't have roll the dice. Set two dice to any result and put them in active dice and one place with activated dice.
Additional actions (optional):
- Activate any of the dice. Remove one of the investment tokens from any area (this can be used once per round).
- Activating dice is by moving one of the dice from active dice to the activated ones.
- Spend 2$. Remove one of the investment tokens from any area and put it with the rest of the available tokens (this can be used once per round).
Every time when a player needs to spend a material or money, they need to mark it on the Company Card by moving the token to the left. Player cannot have less materials or money than 0. Similarly, every time when a player gets a material or money, move the token to the right. Maximum number of materials and money is 5.
Project phase
In this phase a player needs to do one of the following actions:
Use a Project Card. First, move your Engineer the number of moves presented on the card (1). Next, use one of the 3 actions:
- (2) Use the basic action of the project and discard the card.
- (3) Activate the dice with the result that corresponds to the one on the card, use an advanced action and discard the card.
- (4) Use the planning action. During next preparation phase you may set 2 dice to any result. Then discard the card.
In order not to forget about planning action during next phases we suggest to discard the card sideways (rotated in 90 degrees).
OR
Move the Engineer by one area and get back all project cards. Draw all discarded project cards and move the round marker on the Round Dial by one (to the round with the lower number).
Investment phase
If during the project phases a player choses to use planning action, skip the investment phase and move directly to Final Phase. Otherwise you may use an action corresponding to the area where the Engineer currently is, if on this area there is no investment token.
- Industrial: You receive 1 material of the given kind (coal, steel or wood, depending on the icon presented in the area).
- If you have a dice with a result corresponding to the one presented on the area, you may activate it and gain 2 materials of the given kind.
- Commercial: Exchange 1 material to 1 of any other type of materials (money are not materials). Additionally you gain 1$.
- If you have a dice with a result corresponding to the one presented on the area, you may activate it and exchange 1 material to 2 of any other types of materials and gain 1$.
- Regardless of which action you choose, you may sell 1 material for 2$.
- Residential: You gain 2$.
- If you have a dice with a result corresponding to the one presented on the area, you may activate it and construct and building. In order to do that, spend the appropriate materials and/or money. Then take 1 investment token from the available ones and put it in the building you chose.
Final phase
If the Engineer pawn is on the empty area, put 1 token from investment tokens pool on this area. If there are no more investment tokens available in pool, the game ends and player loses.
If you have 2 active dice, you gain 1$.
At the end move marker on the Round Dial. The marker always moves from higher number to lower one.
After all phases being done the game proceeds to the Preparation Phase.
Winning and Losing
A player loses the game, if:
- A market on the Round Dial has gone down to 0.
- There is no available Investment tokens in the pool to be put on the board.
A player wins the game, if they success with building all of the buildings on a building card or/and if they achieve other special objectives of the given scenario.
Project cards
Each project card shows an Engineer move number (top left), a basic action (top) and an advanced action (bottom) that is used with the matching die result shown on the card.
| Card | Engineer moves | Dice result | Basic action | Advanced action (using the dice) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 1 | Remove 1 investment token from any available area | Remove 2 investment tokens from any available area |
| 2 | 1 | 2 | Set 1 die to any result. | Remove 1 investment token from any available area OR take 1 material |
| 3 | 2 | 3 | Spend 1$ to take 1 material | Construct a building regardless of where your Engineer is |
| 4 | 2 | 4 | You do not move the market on the round dial OR exchange 1 material for 2 different ones | Develop a district (turn over the card back side to side B) with at least 1 investment token and no Engineer on it. Remove all investment tokens from the card. |
Notes on the card table: the manual prints the cost-and-gain arrows as icons; "Spend X$ to ..." is this transcription's wording for an arrow pointing from money to the stated gain or action, and "Gain 2$" is read from the unarrowed "2$ OR" text. The hourglass icon on each card's top right is not explained anywhere in the printed manual and is not transcribed as a rule.
Game modes
Standard game
The standard game has already been described above in the manual. It may however be played in 2 different scenarios, both in 2 difficulty levels. The table below represents what conditions a player needs to meet in the given scenario.
| # | Difficulty level | Preparation and target | Number of rounds |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Easy | Setup a building card frontside (side A). You have to construct all the buildings in any available order. | 10 |
| 1 | Medium | Setup a building card frontside (side A). You have to construct all the buildings in any available order. | 8 |
| 2 | Medium | Setup a building card backside (side B). You have to construct all the buildings in any available order. | 15 |
| 2 | Hard | Setup a building card backside (side B). You have to construct all the buildings in any available order. | 12 |
Advanced game
If a standard game is too short for you, you may extend it by introducing some changes to the game.
- Prepare the game the same way like you do for the standard game.
- When you construct all of the buildings on the side A of a building card, take all of the investment tokens and put them with the rest of the available tokens, next change the side of a building card to side B.
- Then, construct all of the buildings represented on the card (like you were playing another scenario).
| # | Difficulty level | Preparation and target | Number of rounds |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1+2 | Easy | Setup a building card frontside (side A). You have to construct all the buildings in any available order. Then turn over the building card to the backside (side B) and construct all of the buildings in any available order. | 25 |
| 1+2 | Medium | Setup a building card frontside (side A). You have to construct all the buildings in any available order. Then turn over the building card to the backside (side B) and construct all of the buildings in any available order. | 22 |
| 1+2 | Hard | Setup a building card frontside (side A). You have to construct all the buildings in any available order. Then turn over the building card to the backside (side B) and construct all of the buildings in any available order. | 18 |
Challenge game mode
Challenge game mode is similar to the standard one. Just choose which of the challenges you'd want to achieve. Note: unlike in the standard game, some of the conditions require constructing the building in the given order. All necessary information may be found in the table below and on the building card for the challenge game mode.
| Challenge name | Difficulty level | Preparation and target | Number of rounds |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Eiffel Tower | Easy | Put the card faceup with the side representing the Eiffel Tower. You have to construct all the pieces of the building in the given order. If you construct a piece with a bonus icon, you may use additional action described on the card. | 16 |
| The Eiffel Tower | Medium | Same as above (Eiffel Tower side, given order, bonus-icon additional action). | 13 |
| The Eiffel Tower | Hard | Same as above (Eiffel Tower side, given order, bonus-icon additional action). | 10 |
| The Empire State Building | Easy | Put the card faceup with the side representing The Empire State Building. You have to construct all the pieces of the building in the given order. If you construct a piece with a bonus icon, you may use additional action described on the card. | 16 |
| The Empire State Building | Medium | Same as above (Empire State Building side, given order, bonus-icon additional action). |
Challenge game mode quick reference
The reference sheet printed on the challenge page summarises the round sequence:
Preparation phase
- Roll 3 dice and put 2 of them aside as the active dice.
- You may spend 1$ to remove 1 investment token from any available area (only once).
- You may activate 1 dice with any result to remove 1 investment token from any available area (only once).
Projects phase
- Use a project card: move your Engineer the number of times indicated on the card.
- Perform a basic action or an action using the dice.
- OR Retrieve all project cards.
Investment phase
- Perform an action indicated on the district card where your Engineer is.
Final phase
- Put 1 investment token on the area where your Engineer is.
- If you have 2 active dice, you receive 1$.
- Move the round marker on the Round Dial.