Neue Heimat
Neue Heimat Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Contents
- 1 board
- 36 floor cubes with pips in 6 different colours (to build the floors/levels of the houses)
- 4 special cubes (special building permits)
- 1 wooden pawn (the mayor)
- 6 small coloured cubes without pips (indicate the owner of the colour)
- 17 rooftops: 12 with numbers / 5 without numbers
- 2 pouches
- 60 cheques
The special cube markings are: Mayor, Cancel Cube, and Special Building Permits I, II and III.
Preparation
- The board is laid in the middle of the table.
- The 6 small coloured cubes are put beside the short edge of the board.
- All of the floor cubes are put into a pouch. 24 of them are then taken out randomly and displayed in 3 rows of 8 cubes beside the board. The 12 remaining cubes are not used in this game and put aside.
- All rooftops are displayed on the table, their domed side down and are "shuffled".
- The 4 special cubes and the wooden pawn (the mayor) are also put beside the board.
- Each player receives 12 cheques worth 1 million each.
Course of the Game
The game is played in turns. On a player's turn, he chooses one of the displayed pieces (floor cube, special cube, mayor or rooftop) and holds an auction. He asks the other players clockwise for their bids. Each player may pass or bid for a higher sum than has been bidden before. Each player has only one bid and must bid in increments of one million. When the highest bidder is determined, the auctioneer has two options:
- He gives the piece to the highest bidder, who pays his bid to the auctioneer.
- He keeps the piece for himself and pays the highest bid to the highest bidder.
Floor cubes may only be taken from each end of the rows, making six available cubes to choose from at the beginning. You can choose any other piece (rooftops, mayor, special cubes) to auction.
Rooftops can only be auctioned, if there are houses without a roof on the board. Before the auction a rooftop is flipped number side up. If the roof has no number, it is discarded from the game and the player's turn is over.
A player who purchases a rooftop or floor cube, must immediately place it on the board. Special cubes and mayor can either be placed onto the board or discarded. If discarded, they will not be available again for the rest of the game.
When the turn is over, the next player in clockwise order takes his turn as an auctioneer.
If a player places the first cube of a new colour (not yet placed on the board), he puts the small cube of this colour in front of him, where it can easily be seen by everybody. In the final score, every building with a floor cube of this colour placed directly under the rooftop will be scored for him – either positive or negative.
In the course of the game, every player is allowed to play (choose, offer, buy, place) floor cubes of any colour, even if this colour is "owned" by another player.
A player may "own" more than one or even no colour.
How to place a floor cube
Floor cubes are placed on the square lots, starting from the street. They are placed pip side up. A floor cube can also be placed on another cube already placed, if the cube below has a higher number of pips. The colour does not matter. Theoretically there can be placed six cubes on top of each other that way.
On the building lots surrounded by a white fence it is only allowed to build a single level (cube). Naturally, you can place a rooftop on this, too. If there is a rooftop on a floor cube, you cannot place another cube on it.
In the beginning a row of houses is limited to 4 houses (from the street to the river). With the special building permits I, II and III the maximum length can be increased or decreased. The first building in each row has to be built next to the main road and you always have to build without any gaps between the houses. The players may build on any of the three rows.
How to place the rooftops
When a player purchases a rooftop with a number, he has to place it with the number side up on a house of his choice. The colour and the score of the house does not matter. He is allowed to put this rooftop on any house (yet without roof), even on a house "owned" by one of his opponents.
A row of houses is completed, as soon as all lots of the permitted length are occupied and each of the houses has a rooftop.
Starting at the street, the floor cubes are placed on the lots with their pips upside. There must be no gaps in between them. Only a single cube can be built on the lot surrounded by the white fence. The rooftop finishes the house. On other lots there may be more levels, if the number of pips on each cube is lower than of the cube directly below.
How to use the mayor and the special cubes
Mayor: The mayor is placed on the grey street in front of a row (see picture) doubling the scores of this row, either positive or negative.
Special building permits:
- I cube: shortens or lengthens the currently permitted length of a row for one house
- II cube: shortens or lengthens the currently permitted length of a row for two houses
- III cube: shortens or lengthens the currently permitted length of a row for three houses
The special building permits are placed on the board, marking the new building limit for that row, either longer or shorter. You may place more than one special cube in one row. Even a completed row may be lengthened and is then incomplete again.
It is not allowed to shorten a row, if the current development is already farther than the new length after the placement of the special cube would be.
Cancel cube: With this cube, a player may take a special cube already placed off the board, nullifying its effect. However, a special cube lengthening a row may not be taken off the board, if the permitted length after this action would be shorter than the current development, thus causing a conflict with the houses already built.
If a special cube or the mayor is purchased, they have to be placed immediately or taken out of the game.
Example: The II cube makes a row two lots shorter. The I cube makes a row one lot longer. If the II cube has first made the middle row two lots shorter, but the III cube made it three lots longer again, the row will be completed with five houses.
Illegal earnings
At the beginning of his turn, the active player may put one million into his "illegal earnings cash box". He takes one of his cheques and puts it halfway under the edge of the board. Illegal earnings may not be used anymore in this game. At the final score, each cheque in this "cash box" is worth one point.
End of the Game
The game ends as soon as two rows are completed or if it is impossible to complete any more houses (when the 12th roof is used or if all 24 floor cubes are used and have roofs).
Scoring
All houses (floor cubes and rooftops) in completed rows are scored positive, all houses (with or without rooftop) in incompleted rows are scored negative. Sometimes there will be only one completed row, in rare cases none.
A house scores for the player owning the topmost level (floor cube). Each pip on every cube of the house is worth one point. The value of the rooftop is also added.
With the mayor in front of a row, the scores of the houses are doubled - positive or negative.
Finally, the cheques of the player's "illegal earnings cash box" are added, counting one point each.
The Game in Several Rounds
If enough time is available, we recommend the game in several rounds. One round lasts averagely at least half an hour. Before the start of the game the players agree upon the number of rounds. After each round the score is written down – so hold pencil and paper ready!
The game ends early, as soon as one player has won two rounds. He is the final winner, independent from his actual score. Otherwise the player with the highest total score wins the game (if all players have negative scores, the player with the least negative score wins).
At the end of each round all floor cubes and rooftops are put in their bags again, mixed up and displayed for the next round. All special cubes, the mayor and the small colour cubes (indicators) are set up like before the first round.
The cheques are kept by the players and are not distributed again. The illegal earnings may be dissolved. The player gets these cheques back. They are available again for the operational business.
We wish you an exciting and entertaining game. Your Chili-Team
English translation by Daniel Danzer. Thanks to Chad Krizan.