Mint Works
Mint Works Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- Rules
- Starting Player Token
- 30 Mint Tokens
- 33 Cards
- 10 Location Cards
- 21 Plan Cards
- 2 AI Cards
Overview
Mint Works is a refreshingly light worker placement game for 1 to 4 players - easy to learn, with enough depth to keep you coming back.
Players take the role of neighborhood planners working to develop the finest neighborhood in the city of Mintopia.
Anatomy of the Cards
Locations
A Location card shows its Type, its Name, its Effect, and one or more Mint Placement Spaces.
The three Location types are:
- Core (laurel icon)
- Deed (deed/scroll icon)
- Advanced (lightning bolt icon)
Plans
A Plan card shows its Name, its Type, its Cost (in mint tokens), its Effect, and its Star Value.
The four Plan types are:
- Culture (leaf icon)
- Production (gear icon)
- Utility (screwdriver icon)
- Deed (deed/scroll icon)
Set Up
- The four (4) Core Locations are placed on the table granting easy access to all players, showing the side corresponding to the number of players.
- The two (2) Deed Locations are placed next to the Core Locations, showing their 'closed' side.
- Optional: Two (2) Advanced Locations are selected at random and placed next to the Core Locations.
- All Plans are shuffled and stacked face down near the Locations forming the Plan Deck.
- Three (3) Plans are drawn from and placed face up next to the Plan Deck forming the Plan Supply.
- The Mint Tokens are placed near the Plan Supply forming the Mint Supply.
- Each player takes three (3) mint tokens from the Mint Supply.
- The Starting Player Token goes to the player with the freshest breath.
The play area is laid out with the Mint Supply, the Plan Supply and the Plan Deck, the Core Locations, the Advanced Locations (optional), the Deed Locations, and the Player Neighborhoods. When everything is set up, the play area should look something like the diagram above.
NOTE: The Mint Supply is not limited. If you run out of Mint Tokens, try taking a few from the Supplier without emptying any spaces.
Keywords
Neighborhood
A player's Neighborhood is the area in front of that player. All of the Mint Tokens, Plans and Buildings they own and have control over are considered to be in their Neighborhood.
Plan
Cards in the Plan Deck, Plan Supply and face down in players' Neighborhoods. When a plan is built, it becomes a Builiding.
Building
Face up Plan cards in players' Neighborhoods.
Gain
When a player gains something, they take it from the respective supply and place it into their Neighborhood.
Lose
When a Plan is lost, it is put face down at the bottom of the Plan Deck. Any lost mint tokens are returned to the Mint Supply.
Gameplay
Each round consists of the Development phase followed by the Upkeep phase.
Development
The player currently holding the Starting Player Token takes the first turn.
A player has two options on their turn. They may choose either the Place or Pass action. After completing one of these actions, the turn is passed clockwise to the next player.
The Development phase repeats until all players consecutively pass, ending the phase. Then proceed to the Upkeep phase.
Place
The player chooses an unoccupied Mint Placement Space and places the required amount of mint tokens on it, granting them the Location's effect.
Pass
The player's turn is over. On their next turn they will have the chance to choose Place or Pass again.
Upkeep
- If any player has seven or more stars provided by Buildings in their Neighborhood, the game ends and Scoring takes place.
- Refill the Plan Supply to three face up cards from the Plan Deck. If it is not possible to completely fill the Plan Supply, the game ends and Scoring takes place.
- Resolve all "Upkeep" effects on Buildings.
- If there are any mint tokens on Deed Locations, the Owners of those Locations gain the indicated amount of mint tokens from the Mint Supply.
- Return all mint tokens on Locations to the Mint Supply.
- Each player gains one (1) mint token.
- Proceed to the next Development phase.
Scoring
Count the total number of stars each player earns from Buildings in their Neighborhood.
The player with the most stars has the finest Neighborhood and wins!
If two or more players are tied for first place, the tied player with the smallest Neighborhood (i.e. fewest total Buildings and Plans) wins.
If there is still a tie, the tied player with the most mint tokens wins.
Still tied? Then the tied player whose age is closest to 42 wins!
Solitaire Mode
Mint Works can also be played solitaire. The game includes four different AI opponents to play against.
The solitaire play area is laid out with the Mint Supply, the Plan Supply, the Location Line, the Plan Deck, the Advanced Location (optional), and your Player Neighborhood. When everything is set up, the play area should look something like the diagram above.
Solitaire Setup
- One (1) of the four (4) AIs is selected as your opponent.
- The four (4) Core Locations and two (2) Deed Locations are placed in a line on the table, 'one player' or 'closed' sides showing. Line them up in the following order: Producer, Wholesaler, Builder, Supplier, Leadership Council, Lotto.
- Optional: One (1) Advanced Location is selected at random and placed after the Lotto
- All Plans are shuffled and stacked face down near the Locations forming the Plan Deck.
- Two (2) Plans are drawn from and placed face up next to the Plan Deck forming the Plan Supply.
- The Mint Tokens are placed near the Plan Supply forming the Mint Supply.
- Three (3) mint tokens are taken from the Mint Supply and added to your Neighborhood.
- Mint tokens equal to your opponent's Starting Mint Token Share are taken from the Mint Supply and placed into their Neighborhood.
AI Card
An AI card shows its Name / Title, its Personality Traits, its Starting Mint Token Share, and its Supplier Priority.
Solitare-Specific Rules
The standard rules apply to the solitaire mode of Mint Works. There are, however, a few exceptions:
- When a Plan is taken from the Supplier and not replaced by another effect, immediately replace it with one (1) from the Plan Deck.
- When the AI performs the Place action, it will always place in the first available Mint Placement Space in the Location line that it can use, starting with the Producer.
- If the AI is unable to use any Location, it chooses the Pass action.
- When performing the Place action for the AI, place the required amount of mint tokens from the AI's Mints on the corresponding Mint Placement Space.
- During the Upkeep phase, if there are no mint tokens on the Supplier before returning all mint tokens to the Mint Supply, put the two (2) Plans in the Plan Supply at the bottom of the Plan Deck, and replace them with two (2) new Plans from the Plan Deck.
- The AI will always build the oldest Plan in its Neighborhood first.
- The AI will buy Plans based on their Supplier Priority, checking first for the Cost of available Plans. If there is a tie for Cost, it then checks the Type of Plan. If there is still a tie, it will buy the Plan closest to the Plan Deck. Only Plans the AI can currently afford are taken into consideration.
Locations in Detail
Builder (Core)
The player builds one Plan in their Neighborhood.
Crowdfunder (Advanced)
The player gains three (3) mint tokens from the Mint Supply, then each other player gains one (1) mint token from the Mint Supply.
Leadership Council (Core)
The player gains the Starting Player Token from its current holder. They also gain one (1) mint token from the Mint Supply.
Note: If a player already has the Starting Player Token, they may use Leadership Council to retain it.
Lotto (Deed)
The player gains the top card from the Plan Deck into their Neighborhood. They do not have to reveal this card until they decide to build it.
During the Upkeep phase, if there are any mint tokens placed on this Location, the owner gains two (2) mint tokens from the Mint Supply.
Producer (Core)
The player gains two (2) mint tokens from the Mint Supply.
Recycler (Advanced)
Placing here allows the player to take any one Building or Plan from their Neighborhood and place it at the bottom of the Plan Deck.
They gain mint tokens from the Mint Supply equal to the sum of the Plan's printed mint token cost and star value.
Supplier (Core)
The player gains a Plan from the Plan Supply into their Neighborhood. The number of mint tokens placed is determined by the desired Plan's Cost.
Locations Continued
Swap Meet (Advanced)
Placing here allows the player to take any one Building or Plan from their Neighborhood and place it into the Plan Supply. Then they gain one Plan from the Supply and place it into their Neighborhood.
Temp Agency (Advanced)
The player may utilize another Location's ability as though they had placed on that Location.
The required number of mint tokens to be placed is one (1) plus the desired Location's cost.
A Location must have at least one occupied space in order to be targeted by the Temp Agency.
Wholesaler (Deed)
This Location functions identically to the Producer with the following exception:
During the Upkeep phase, if there are any mint tokens placed on this Location, the owner gains one (1) mint token from the Mint Supply.
Plans/Buildings in Detail
Assembler
Plans bought from the Supplier are placed into this Neighborhood as Buildings.
Bridge
Counts as two (2) Culture Buildings in all scenarios, including, but not limited to: Museum, Obelisk, Corporate HQ and Tiebreakers.
Co-op
During the Upkeep phase, gain one (1) mint token from the Mint Supply. Then choose another player to gain one (1) mint token from the mint supply.
Corporate HQ
During the Upkeep phase, gain one (1) mint token for each Building in the same Neighborhood.
Crane
Pay one (1) mint token fewer when building Plans at the Builder.
Plans/Buildings Cont.
Deeds (Wholesaler, Lotto)
When a Deed type Plan is built, the corresponding Location becomes open (flip it over to its 'open' side), the player with this deed is considered the Owner of that Location.
The newly-available Location may now be used like any other Location.
Gallery
During the Upkeep phase, take one (1) mint token from the Mint Supply and place it on Gallery. Gallery has stars equal to the number of mint tokens placed upon it.
Landfill
Reduce the number of stars provided by each Culture Building in the same Neighborhood by one (1), to a minimum of zero (0).
Museum
Provides one (1) star for each Culture Building in the same Neighborhood.
Obelisk
Provides one (1) star for each Building in the same Neighborhood.
Truck
Pay one (1) mint token fewer when buying Plans at the Supplier, to a minimum of one (1) mint token.
Vault
Gain two (2) stars for each Plan (face down) in the same Neighborhood.
Credits
Game Design: Justin Blaske
Game Development: Five24 Labs, LLC
Graphic Design: Felix Janson, Justin Blaske
Art: Thomas Tamblyn, Delapouite
Testers
Matthew Bach, Jeremy Berven, Andrea Blanchard, Matt Canaday, Davita Dick, Justin Dykema, Ryan Dobesh, Matthew Greenleaf, David Jespersen, John Kimmel, Jim Kottas, Tom Kruse, Tony Lawhorne, Jeremy Lepper, Mel Primus, Tyler Sheets, Tim Smith, Nate Welch
Solitare Testers
Adrian Porter, Adrian Schmidt, Allen Erb, Andrew Bernhardt, Austin McKenzie, David Kompolt da Silva, James Sander-Cederlof, Javier Altman, Joshua Roots, Nathan Rucci, Paul Schreter, Sean Gewecke
Special Thanks
R4D6 on BGG for the contest that resulted in the creation of Mint Works and the thousands of backers that believed in this project as much as I have.
©2016 Five24 Labs — http://www.five24labs.com