Old Town
Old Town Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Brief Description
As archaeologists, together the players try to reconstruct an old, now dilapidated, ghost town. Back then the town was made up of different buildings such as a hotel, a smithy, a bank, a saloon and a cemetery. The game board shows an old plan of the site. It is made up of a typical American orthogonal network of streets, a railroad and various land uses such as buffalo pasture or cemetery.
At the start of the game, the players do not know where the individual buildings were situated. In theory each building could have stood in several places. In the course of time, the town was always changing and the buildings were given different locations, varying the layout of the buildings from game to game.
Players receive clues as to the locations of the buildings from the cards (e.g. 'The bank was on Dalton Rd.'). The cards provide information from sources such as newspaper articles, land registry entries or from stories handed down from generation to generation.
The clues on the cards are understandably vague as in the last 130 years much information has been lost. With the help of this vague information, the possible locations of the buildings will be determined and indicated by placing markers. By playing further cards in the course of the game, some of these possibilities will be ruled out and the markers of these locations removed. Once there is just one marker remaining for a building, then the location of that building is determined. This marker will be removed and replaced with the corresponding building. For each marker which is removed, the active player receives one victory point. Consequently, the more information a player supplies for the reconstruction of Old Town, the more points he receives.
At the end, when Old Town has been rebuilt, the winner is the player who contributed the most towards the reconstruction of the town.
Content: 18 different buildings, 90 markers, game board, 60 cards, rules.
Clue: Before the first play you have to clue the labels on the wooden markers and plates.
Buildings and markers: Undertaker, Laundry, Bank, Casino, Printer's, Barber, Doc, Drugstore, Hotel, Judge, Church, Prison, Saloon, School, Sheriff, Smith, Stable, Stage Coach Office.
Game Board
The game board shows the possible locations of the buildings. The exact position of the entrances of the individual buildings are marked. This is important for the placement of the buildings and for understanding the cards. See the railway, the name of the streets and the compass point. The board shows the railway, a place, the street name, an entrance, and a place for 3 markers.
Buildings
There are 18 different buildings but only 16 spaces. At the end of the game two buildings will be left over. Only one building can stand on each space.
Markers
There are 5 markers for each building. With the markers the players 'mark' the possible locations of the buildings. Each building tile shows a symbol, an entrance, and a marker matching its picture.
Cards
The cards give the players clues as to the location of the buildings. There are yellow numbers on the upper right corner of the cards. These numbers indicate the type of the cards: 4s, 8s and 8+8s. The small map shows the possible places. Each card shows a building, the possible places, and the number of the card.
Preparation
- Lay out the board on the table.
- Lay out all 18 buildings face-up next to the board.
- Sort the markers by their picture and place them on the appropriate buildings.
- Sort the cards by type (4s, 8s and 8+8s) and shuffle each type separately.
- Each player will get the following number of cards:
With 4 players: Each player gets two cards from the 4s and two from the 8+8s as their hand.
With 3 players: Each player gets two cards from the 4s and two from the 8+8s as their hand. Additionally a further three 8+8s cards and three 4s cards will be placed on top of the deck of 8s cards (Order from top: 3 x 4s, 3 x 8+8s, all the 8s).
With 2 players: Each player gets two of the 4s cards and two of the 8+8s cards as their hand. Additionally each player gets three cards of the 4s and three of the 8+8s. Each player shuffles their six cards and places them in front of themselves as their own draw-pile.
The remaining 4s and 8+8s cards are no longer needed.
The 8s cards are placed next to the board as a (common) draw-pile.
Choose a start-player.
Beginning with the start-player, each player in order first takes one building and its markers and then each takes a second, and places them face-up in front of themselves.
TIP: In their first game the players should choose the buildings for which they have the 4s cards.
The Game
The Opening Round
The active player carries out one of the following actions:
The player plays one card from his hand. The active player places a marker on each possible location as shown on the card, removes markers from the board according to the information and when possible places buildings. The player takes all markers that are no longer needed. He places the marker covered in front of him. At the end of his turn he draws one new card from the draw-pile (in the 2-player game the player can choose between the common draw-pile and his own one).
or the player discards two cards that are no longer playable. The player is allowed to take any one marker from the board. If by this action the location of one or more buildings is exactly determined, the player receives all markers that are no longer needed. At the end of his turn he draws two new cards from the common draw-pile or his own (2-player game).
or if the player cannot play any cards, he takes one new card (he now has one more card in his hand).
The active player's turn has now ended. All played cards will be placed on the discard pile. Continue in clockwise order. It is now the player to the left's turn.
Further Rounds
All further rounds proceed in the same way as the opening round. However, the active player checks at the start of his turn the number of buildings lying in front of him. If the active player has less than two buildings lying in front of him, he makes his buildings back up to two immediately before his turn. He takes the buildings and their markers from those still available next to the board.
End of the Game
Once the town is completely built, the game ends. The player, who has collected the most points, wins Old Town.
The Cards
The cards differ in the number of possible places for the building and in the type of information. The information on the cards shows the possible places for the building(s). The small plan of the town on the card is always decisive for fixing the positions of the buildings! The locations are marked on the cards with either blue stars ('The sheriff was…') or with green dots ('My building…').
Typ 4s: There is a yellow '4' on these cards. This indicates that there are four possible locations where the building could have stood. The clues on these cards always relate to a specific building: 'The church was…' etc. The named building does not have to be lying in front of the active player in order to play such a card.
Note: The 4s cards can be played from the start since the four possible locations of the building can be marked on the board with four markers.
The 8s: There is a '7' on two of these cards and an '8' on all the others. These cards describe the position of 'my building' (e.g. 'My building was between Main St. and Cemetery Rd.'). The active player chooses one of the two buildings that are lying in front of him. If the player has the saloon and the bank in front of him, he can play the card as either 'The saloon was between Main St. and Cemetery Rd.', or as 'The Bank was between Main St. and Cemetery Rd.'.
Note: In order to be able to play the 8s cards, the possible locations (which are 7 or 8 at the start of the game) must already have been reduced to 5 or less by the placement of markers or buildings.
The 8+8s: These cards describe the relation between a specific building ('The stable was…', 'The judge lived…') and 'my building'. (E.g. 'The stage coach office was next to the railway and opposite my building next to the railway'). Again the player chooses one of his buildings. If he has the hotel and the doc in front of him he can choose between 'The stage coach office was next to the railway and opposite the hotel next to the railway' or 'The stage coach office was next to the railway and opposite the doc next to the railway' as the information.
Note: The 8+8s cards can be used during the game to define the location of several buildings and so win many points. They are the most powerful cards in the game. However, towards the end of the game they are often in contradiction to the situation on the board.
Place Markers
1) Basic Rule
The active player plays a card with information about one (or more) building(s) and there are no markers of one of this building on the board: the player places the markers of this building on all named places. If less than five markers are needed the active player will get all unneeded markers. These markers are points to win. He places the covered markers in front of him.
Example: The start player plays the card 'The church was in sight of the cemetery' (A). There are four possible spaces on which the church could have stood (B). The fifth marker will not be needed. The player can take this marker (C).
The active player now plays the 8+8 card 'The church was next to my building' (A). If the player has the sheriff and the hotel lying in front of him and he decides to use the hotel ('The church was next to the hotel') (B), he reduces the possible locations. From the original four spaces for the church, only two are now possible places, which lie directly next to the hotel. Also the two spaces for the hotel north of the railroad are ruled out. The active player is allowed to take these five markers and so receives five victory points (E).
2) Places with Buildings
Is on the place a building placed yet, it is not allowed to place a marker there (at the end of the game on every place there will be one building). Every marker that is not playable gets the active player.
3) Two Places and Two Buildings
In the illustration, if the sheriff is at the left space then the hotel must be at the right space or vice versa. A third building marker can therefore not be placed here.
Remove Markers
4) Basic Rule
All markers on the board, which are contradictory to the played card, have to be removed by the active player. These markers are points to win. It is not allowed to remove all markers of one building. This card is not playable. Markers who are removed from the board are points to win. It is not allowed to place these markers on the board again.
5) Discards Two Cards
If the player has cards in his hand that are no longer playable, he is allowed, as his turn, to discard two of these cards on to the discard pile and to take any one marker from the board. Unplayable cards are ones which are confirmatory or contradictory.
Place a Building
6) Last Marker
If only a single marker of a building remains on the board, the location of this building is established beyond doubt. The active player replaces the marker with the corresponding building. This can be a building that is laying in front of another player or next to the board. Aren't the markers of this building placed yet, the player will get all these markers. If the position of one or more buildings is established by removing one of the markers, the player is allowed to take all the markers that must then be removed from the board.
Example: The active player plays the 8+8 card 'My building was east of Cavendish St. or south of Cemetery Rd.' (A). If the church and the smithy lie in front of the player and he decides to use the church, the clue becomes 'The church was east of Cavendish St. or south of Cemetery Rd.'. The location of the church is restricted to the space on the southern edge (B). The active player takes the marker by the railroad (C). Now that there is only one marker for the church on the board, its location is definite. The active player can replace the church marker with the church building. Before doing so he must remove the smithy marker since the definite site of the church rules this out as a possible position for the smithy (D). The complete game turn brings three victory points (E).
A Card Is Not Playable
7) Location Is Occupied
At the end of a turn no more than three markers are allowed on each building space. If there are already three markers on a building space, a card which requires a further marker on this space cannot be played (for the moment).
Example: The card 'The casino was between Cemetery Rd. and the railway' cannot be played, because otherwise there would be four markers on the location south of the station (bank, smith, church, casino).
8) More Than 5 Markers Necessary
There are only 5 markers for each building in the game. Consequently it is not allowed to play a card that will require more than five possible locations for a building.
9) Contradictory to Markers or Buildings
Cards may only be played when their information does not contradict buildings or markers already placed on the board.
10) My Building
The 8s and the 8+8s cards always relate only to the buildings which a player has lying in front of him. As soon as a player has placed 'his' building, it can no longer be used as 'my building'.
11) Confirmation / Contradictory Cards
Cards which do not alter the situation on the board (the number and type of buildings and markers are not altered) are called Confirmation cards.
Cards whose information is in contradiction to the situation of the buildings and markers on the board are called Contradictory cards.
It can happen that 8s or 8+8s cards are temporarily not playable (e.g. more than 5 markers are necessary or on the place lay 3 markers). These cards are not Confirmation or Contradictory cards.
Confirmation or Contradictory cards are not playable. But these cards can be discard.
Example: The card 'The Sheriff lived north of Main St.' is a contradictory card. There are markers placed South of the Main St. and this is contradictory to the situation on the board.
The card 'The Sheriff lived north of Main St.' is a confirmation card. This is no new information. No markers can be removed or buildings placed.
Further Rules
12) Information from Cards That Have Already Been Played
May not be referred back to. They are no longer applicable for reconstructing the town.
13) Mistake
Sheriff markers and hotel markers remain only on a single space. It is obviously not possible for two buildings to stand on one space. This situation can happen if the players have not noticed that the location of one or more buildings had already been confirmed.
14) Points Overseen
Before the next player's turn, another player can call 'STOP', when on the grounds of a logical conclusion, one or more markers can be taken from the board. He explains the situation to the other players and takes the appropriate markers for himself.
15) Draw Pile Is Used
Should the draw-pile be used up before the end of the game, the already played 8s cards will be shuffled and replaced as the new draw-pile.
16) My Building
The 8s and the 8+8s cards always relate only to the buildings which a player has lying in front of him. As soon as a player has placed 'his' building, it can no longer be used as 'my building'.
Buildings or markers which are laying in front of a player are placeable by other players. The name of the building has to be named by his name (e.g. "the prison was...") on the card. The text "my building..." can't refer to buildings of other players.
If the number of buildings still available next to the board is at the most the same as the number of players (with 4 players that would be 4 buildings), a player is only allowed to take one new building and only when he has no more buildings lying in front of him.