Moderne Zeiten
Moderne Zeiten Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Game Contents
- 75,000,000 dollars of play money
- 105 Share cards
- 100 player markers (10 big squares and 10 small squares in each color)
- 6 Zeppelins (five player pawns, 1 share tracking and scoring pawn)
- 1 Business Initiative Card (startplayer marker)
- 1 die
- 1 rules booklet
- [also, 1 gameboard - PC]
Set-up
Each player gets a Zeppelin, 8 Share cards, and 15 million dollars. All players take the markers (big and small squares) in the same color as their Zeppelin. Each player places his Zeppelin on the start space on the gameboard.
The white Zeppelin is placed as a share tracking pawn on the first space of the share tracking/scoring strip on the right edge of the gameboard. All remaining Share cards are placed in a face-down stack next to the board.
The Game Round
Each round begins with an auction of Share cards.
The startplayer takes the Business Initiative Card and begins the game by rolling the die. The number on the die indicates how many Share cards should be drawn from the stack. These cards are laid out face-up in a row on the table (see illustration).
These cards are then auctioned off. The players make bids in turn order one after the other. The startplayer makes the opening bid. The auction ends when all players have passed.
[Trans. note: The rules booklet doesn't say so but the Jumbo reps at Essen taught that the startplayer may pass instead of bidding, bids may be raised by any amount, and bluffing in bidding is not allowed - PC]
Once a player passes, he may no longer participate in the current auction. The player making the high bid takes all the Share cards laid out in that auction into his hand. Then, he pays his bid to the other players by giving them one bill at a time, in turn order starting with the player to his left, until the full bid is distributed.
[Trans. note: For example, in a 4 player game, a high bid of 7 would mean that the high bidder would pay each other player 2 million with the player on his left getting the extra 1 million. Money in the game is fixed, it never goes out and no more ever comes in - it's just redistributed amongst the players. - PC]
The winner of the auction then takes the Business Initiative Card and will be the startplayer in the next round.
[Trans. note: this player starts play in the current round (drawing or playing cards, etc.) and starts the auction in the next round – PC]
Play of the Game
Each player gets 8 Share cards at the start of the game. These are held in his hand and not revealed to the other players. There are five different industries (Shipping, Aviation, High Rise Construction, Automobile, and Telecommunications).
The number of Share cards of each industry laid out in front of each player indicates each player's level of interest in an industry, with the player displaying the most shares having majority control.
On his turn, a player has two different possible actions, A or B. Action B is divided into several steps.
A. Draw Two Share Cards From the Stack
If a player cannot or chooses not to play any Share cards, he draws two Share cards from the stack. Afterwards, he may no longer play or draw cards in that round. Play then passes to the next player on his left.
B.1. Play as Many Share Cards as He Wishes
If a player does not draw cards from the stack, he may play as many Share cards in as many industries as he wishes. A player takes majority control of an industry if he lays out more Share cards in that industry than any other player.
Example: As the first player, Player A plays three Automobile cards (he also plays two Telecommunications cards, an Aviation card, and a Shipping card). By doing so, he takes majority control in the Automobile industry (as well as in the other three industries) since no other player has yet laid out a Share card in any of these industries. If Player B now wants to take overtake Player A and seize majority control of the Automobile industry, he must play at least 4 Automobile cards. If Player C then later plays 5 Automobile Share cards, he will then gain majority control of the Automobile industry.
B.2. Movement on the Gameboard
The player then moves his Zeppelin on the gameboard to the next unclaimed space of a city showing an industry in which he currently has majority control.
[Trans. note: If a player has no majority control, he may not move his Zeppelin. Also, it's not clear if Zeppelin movement is forced if a player has majority control, though the rules text implies such. However, to further muddy the issue, the Jumbo reps at Essen taught that you had to play at least one Share card in any industry in order to be able to take advantage of an existing majority. That is, if it was your turn and you still had a majority in one or more industries based on cards you had previously played, you would not be able to move your Zeppelin unless you played at least one Share card, in any industry, on this turn. Using this rule, you could avoid forced movement of your Zeppelin even when you had a majority simply by not playing any Share cards - PC]
He then covers this space with one of his big square markers.
[Trans. note: According to the Jumbo reps at Essen, only one space may be covered by each player per turn - PC]
The other players may not then move to this space - it is now claimed and must be jumped over.
For example, if at the start of the game, the startplayer took majority control in Aviation and wished to claim the next unclaimed Aviation space, he would move his Zeppelin to Berlin (the Berlin space showing the Aviation industry) and place his large square player marker in that space.
In the middle of the gameboard is a scoring table. It shows how many points each industry is worth in each of the six metropolises. Every time a player claims a space on the movement track by placing one of his big squares, he also places one of his small squares on the matching space on the scoring table.
Example: The startplayer in the first round of the game has the ability to gain majority control in any industry by playing one Share card in that industry. If he should actually play one Share card from each industry, he then has the option of claiming any one of the first six spaces on the movement track by moving to the next available industry space in the appropriate New Orleans, Chicago or Berlin city spaces (since each industry is represented in one of those three cities in the first six spaces on the movement track).
[Trans. note: the player would then place one of his small markers on the space on the scoring table that corresponded to the space he claimed on the movement track, e.g. if he claimed Telecommunications in Chicago (2nd space on the movement track) he would cover the space on the scoring table that was the intersection of the Chicago row and the Telecommunications column – PC]
B.3. Market Crashes
For each Share card played, the white Zeppelin is moved up one space on the share tracking/scoring strip. The number where the white Zeppelin is located on the share tracking/scoring strip should always exactly equal the total number of Share cards played in front of all players.
If the number of played Share cards rises too high, a Market Crash will result.
In a 3 player game, if the number of played Share cards exceeds 21, a Market Crash occurs. In 4 or 5 player games, the crash occurs if the number of played Share cards exceeds 25.
[Trans. note: According to the Jumbo reps at Essen, you don't check for a Market Crash until after a player has played Share cards and had an opportunity to move on the movement track. For example, if the number of Shares in play in a 4 player game was 23 and a player played 1 Automobile share, 1 Aviation share, and 1 Shipping share thus gaining majority control of Automobiles, that player would first get the opportunity to move his Zeppelin on the movement track before the Market Crash occurred. Then, since there would now be a total of 26 shares in play, all shares for the industry with the most shares in play would be shuffled back into the draw deck. In this example, if the Automobile industry had the most shares in play with 10, those 10 would be removed from play and shuffled into the draw deck. That would leave a total of 16 shares in play and the white zeppelin would be moved to the 16 space on the share tracking/scoring strip - PC]
When a Market Crash occurs, all Share cards for the industry with the greatest number of Shares in play are shuffled back into the Share stack. For example, if there were 3 Aviation, 4 Shipping, 5 Automobile, 10 High Rise Construction, and 6 Telecommunications cards in play, then the 10 High Rise Construction cards would be removed from play and shuffled back into Share stack.
[Trans. note: According to the Jumbo reps at Essen, if two or more industries have an equal greatest number of shares in play, then all shares from those industries are shuffled back into the Share stack, e.g. in the example above, if there had also been 10 Automobiles in play, then all Automobiles as well as all High Rise Constructions would have been shuffled back into the Share stack – PC]
Once the cards have been put back into the stack, the white Zeppelin is moved down a number of spaces equal to the number of cards removed from play. As always, the number where the white Zeppelin is located on the share tracking/scoring strip should always exactly equal the total number of Share cards played in front of all players.
B.4. Next Player Turn
The current round continues after the Market Crash as normal (i.e. there is no new auction until the start of the next round). Each remaining player has the same options described above, A or B, on his turn.
End of the Round
Once each player has had his turn, the round ends and another begins with a new auction. The player who won the last auction (and is now holding the Business Initiative Card) rolls the die, draws the required number of cards from the Share stack, and makes the first bid in the auction.
End of the Game
When a player nears the end of the movement track and there are no more unclaimed cities displaying an industry in which he has majority control available to him (i.e. between his Zeppelin and the last space on the track), he may move his Zeppelin to the last space on the track, so long as he has majority control in at least one industry. Once a player has done this, the game ends, points are counted, and the winner is determined. Market Crashes caused by any cards this player plays on the turn when he ends the game are ignored.
Awarding of Points and Determination of the Winner
Each player moves his Zeppelin from the movement track to the zero space on the share tracking/scoring strip. All players count their money.
The player with the most money moves his Zeppelin up three spaces on the scoring strip.
Players having majority control of each industry move up one space for each industry they control. For example, player A has the majority of Share cards in Aviation and Player B has majority of Share cards in Telecommunication. They each score one point.
The player who ended the game moves up one space.
On the scoring table, points are awarded to the players having the most small markers in each industry (columns, vertically) as well as each city (rows, horizontally) (see illustration): for example, the yellow player has two small markers in the city of Paris (horizontal row) which is the greatest number of markers owned by one player in that row, so he gets four points for Paris.
[Trans. note: The German text refers to Berlin rather than Paris but the illustration shows the markers in the Paris row – PC]
The blue and green players each have only one small marker in this row and one space is unclaimed.
[Trans. note: The German text here doesn't match anything in the illustration, though it is closest to that of the Shipping column. I believe the intent was to show that, if yellow had two markers and blue and green each had only one, only yellow would score for that row or column – PC]
Should two or more players tie, e.g. each player has claimed the same greatest number of spaces in a row or column on the scoring table, they have the same largest amount of money, or they have an equal number of majority shares in an industry, then all tied players get one point for that scoring category.
Example: The black, blue, and green players have each claimed one square in the Berlin row. All those players receive one point each. The blue and black players have each claimed one square in the Shipping column and receive one point each.
The player with the highest number of points wins the game.