Prêt-à-Porter Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• The Goal of the Game
• Components
  • Unlimited components
• Setup
• Cards Overview
  • Contracts
  • Buildings
  • Employees
  • Designs
    • Styles
    • Clothing Types
• The Player Board
• Game Overview
• Working Round
  • 1. Planning Phase
  • 2. Action Phase
    • Actions without pawns
    • Resolving Locations
      • 1. Bank
      • 2. Contracts
      • 3. Buildings
    • Credits
      • 4. Employees
      • 5. New Designs
      • 6. Local Manufacturer
      • 7. Warehouse
      • 8. Import
      • 9. Last Minute Preparations
  • 3. Growth Phase
  • 4. Upkeep Phase
    • Loans
• Exhibition Round
  • 1. Prestige Exchange Phase
  • 2. Show Phase
  • 3. Award Phase
    • Award Categories
      • Quality of the Materials in the Collection
      • Position of the Collection in the Current Trends
      • Successful Media Presentation
    • Prestige for Award Categories
      • Ties
      • Round VI
      • Round IX
      • Round XII
  • 4. Sales Phase
    • 1. Prestige Effect
    • 2. Collection Sale
    • 3. Discard Tokens
  • Example of a 2nd Exhibition Round
  • 5. Upkeep Phase
• Last Quarter (Rounds X–XII)
• Transparent gameplay and open information
• Final Scoring
• Advanced Variant
• Credits

The Goal of the Game

Your goal is to lead your company to prosperity by showcasing the best Collections during Fashion Shows and selling them afterward. Design cards in your Collection have a sale value in Cash. You need to balance your income with the cost of preparing the Collection and the Upkeep costs of your company that must be paid the end of each round. Fashion Shows generate Prestige, giving you Victory Points and increasing the sale value of the Collection presented that round. After 12 rounds, the player with the highest combined total of Cash and Victory Points has the most prosperous company and wins the game.

Components

• 1 Game board
• 4 Player boards
• 50 Design cards
• 24 Contract cards
• 24 Building cards
• 24 Employee cards
• 10 Credit cards
• 3 Loan cards
• 4 Player Aid cards
• 10 Fashion Show tiles
• 30 Quality tokens
• 19 Trend tokens
• 15 PR tokens
• 38 Prestige tokens
• 10 Style tokens
• 4 Style Adjustment tokens
• 5 Clothing Type tokens
• 4 VP markers
• 1 First Player token
• 1 Turn Order tile
• 4 Turn Order tokens
• Cash tokens: 26 x 1, 10 x 5, 16 x 10, 8 x 20, 8 x 50, 8 x 100
• 72 Wooden Material pieces with stickers
• 12 Wooden Action pawns with stickers
• 8 Upkeep markers with stickers (-1 front, +1 back)
• 1 Calendar marker with sticker
• 1 Rulebook

Unlimited components

Tokens and pieces are not meant to be limited by the physical number of components in the game. If a certain component from the supply runs out, players may use any other replacement.

Setup

1. Place the Game board in the middle of the play area.
2. Take all Contract cards:
   • Find the Final Contract cards (the ones with the Last Quarter on their back) and put them aside.
   • Prepare the Contracts deck by shuffling the remaining Contract cards, making sure all of them are face up with the side that has an "Extend for" label at the bottom. Place them horizontally on the designated space: location no. 2.
   • Fill the location with 3 face up Contract cards from the top of the Contracts deck.
3. Take all Building cards and follow the same steps as with the Contract cards for location no. 3 remembering to put aside the Final Building cards. Place the Building cards face up with the side that has an "Upgrade to" label at the bottom of the card.
4. Take all Employee cards and follow the same steps as with the Contract cards for location no. 4 remembering to put aside the Final Employee cards. Place the Employee cards face up with the side that has a "Train to" label at the bottom of the card.
5. Each player takes 40 in Cash in any combination and the following pieces in a single chosen color:
   • 1 Player board
   • 3 Action pawns
   • 2 Upkeep markers. Put the marker with the value "-1" on the "-3" space of the Upkeep track (it indicates the cost of Starting Employees). The other marker with the value "-10" is set aside for now – it will be used if the Upkeep cost goes below -9.
   • 1 Victory Point marker. Place it on the "0" space of the Victory Point track.
6. Each player draws randomly one Clothing Type token. On the back side of each token, there are two Design card numbers – each player searches for the starting cards that match these numbers and places them next to their Player board. After that, each player puts their Clothing Type token face up on the designated space of their Player board.
7. Shuffle the remaining Design cards and place them face down on the designated space: location no. 5. Fill the location with 4 face up Design cards from the top of the Design deck.
8. Place the Calendar marker on the first space of the Calendar track, marked with "I".
9. Take all Fashion Show tiles and find the 4 tiles marked as the Last Quarter. Place them face up in any order on the yellow Last Quarter space near the bottom of the Calendar track. After that, shuffle the remaining tiles and place them randomly on the remaining spaces of each Quarter (a single tile for the III space, 2 tiles for the VI space, and 3 tiles for the IX space).
10. Place 2 Quality, 1 Trend, 1 PR, and 5 Cash tokens on the designated spaces of location no. 9.
11. Place all remaining tokens next to the Game board within the reach of all players.
12. Choose the First Player randomly, that player takes the First Player token.

You are now ready to start the game!

Cards Overview

• Buildings, Contracts, and Employees provide abilities that will help players during the game.
• Each ability may be activated only once during each round unless stated otherwise.
• Instant abilities are activated only once – when the card is acquired, or when the card is flipped over.
• All abilities are optional. Players have no obligation to activate them, though it will usually benefit them to do so.
• There are abilities that allow players to sell different items. Selling means discarding the listed item and receiving either its value, or a specified amount of Cash in return.
• Designs don't provide any abilities, but are used to gain Cash and Prestige.
• All cards are acquired during the Action phase (see page 9).
• Each Building, Contract, and Employee card has icons on the left side which tell you how, and when, is it activated.
  • pawn icon – using a pawn
  • crossed-out pawn icon – no pawn needed
  • Exhibition icon – during an Exhibition round
  • Upkeep icon – during an Upkeep phase
  • 3, 4, 5, etc. – when resolving location no. X

Contracts

Contracts are free and don't have an Upkeep cost, but they last for a limited number of rounds and their abilities (1) become less powerful (2) with time.

Newly acquired Contract cards should be placed to the left of the Player board. Each Contract gets worse at the end of each Quarter – which means that it's either flipped over (3) and has a less powerful ability during the next Quarter, OR if it is already flipped over, it expires and is discarded (4) (see more on page 18).

Note: A Quarter is a period consisting of specific rounds: I, II and III; IV, V and VI; VII, VIII and IX; X, XI and XII.

Buildings

Buildings are expensive, but in addition to their abilities (1), each Building provides an extra space for a new Employee.

They require you to pay the purchase cost (2) as well as increase your Upkeep cost (3).

Newly acquired Buildings should be placed to the right of the Player board. Buildings may be upgraded (4) in the Growth phase (see more on page 13). Players cannot freely discard their Buildings.

Employees

Employees have no hiring cost but do increase your Upkeep cost (1).

Each Player board has three Starting Employees printed on it. They have an Upkeep cost of 1. The first three Employees hired by a player are placed on the Player board, covering the Starting Employees. The Upkeep cost of the new Employee replaces the Upkeep cost of the covered Starting Employee.

If a player wants to hire more than three Employees, they need to provide a workspace for them – each Building card bought by the player has space for one additional Employee (adjust the upkeep cost by the difference).

Employees may be trained (2) in the Growth phase (see more on page 13).

Players can remove an Employee at any time if they pay a severance package of double their current Upkeep cost. Note: This is not done when replacing starting employees.

Designs

Design cards are the main income source for each company, and players want to complete as many of them as possible within the limited time and with the scarce resources at their disposal. Players start with 2 Designs and attempt to acquire more, ideally either in the same Style (1) as they already have in their possession (which allows them to sell more clothes during a Fashion Show) or with the clothing type (2) matching the one in which their company specializes, players will showcase their designs during the Fashion Shows, and sell them afterwards for the indicated amount of Cash (3).

However, to do that, players have to acquire both of the Materials required (4) to finish the Design. Some cards also have a small bonus, which is presented under the required Materials (5) (more on Design bonuses on page 15).

Styles

There are 5 different Styles: Evening, Business, Casual, Rock, and Sport.

Clothing Types

There are also 5 different Clothing Types: Jacket, Dress, Shoes, Pants, and Shirt.

The Player Board

The Player board and the space around it represents the company that you manage. It contains an Upkeep track to help you monitor the costs of each Employee hired and each Building purchased. Additionally, it has three spaces for Employees, as well as separate space for Prestige tokens and different Feature tokens gained before the upcoming Fashion Show(s).

1. A space for a Clothing Type token, which will indicate the type of clothing that your company specializes in. You gain 1 additional Trend token for each Design of that type of clothing that you include in your Collection during a Fashion Show.
2. A space for Quality, Trend, and Public Relation tokens gained from any source during the game. Players compete for the highest total number of a given Award during Fashion Shows to gain Prestige.
3. An Upkeep track where you can adjust the Upkeep marker whenever your Upkeep cost is reduced or increased.
4. Three Starting Employees, along with their Upkeep costs.

• Place your Design cards above your Player board.
• Place your Contract cards to the left of your Player board.
• Place your Building cards to the right of your Player board.
• Place your Employee cards under your Player board. The 4th employee you hire, and beyond, get placed under your Building cards.

Game Overview

A single game represents a year in the fashion industry during which companies compete with each other by presenting their Collections of Designs and winning various awards at Fashion Shows. All players attempt to sell their Collection for the highest possible price, increasing its value with each Prestige token gained during those shows.

There are 12 rounds (I to XII), each representing a month. Rounds make up quarters, with each quarter consisting of two Working rounds followed by an Exhibition round. This cycle is repeated four times, ending with an Exhibition on the last round (XII).

Both types of rounds, Working and Exhibition, are played differently, and have different phases, but players should always keep in mind that they will have to pay the Upkeep cost of their company at the end of every round.

Working Round

At the beginning of each Working round, players should fill the following locations: Contracts (no. 2), Buildings (no. 3), Employees (no. 4) and Designs (no. 5), with new cards from the top of their respective decks.

Next, players should check the Last Minute Preparations location (no. 9) for any missing tokens, and refill them.

Finally, update the player order for the current round. The First Player passes the First Player token to the player on their left. Ignore this step during the first round of the game and during the Exhibition rounds.

Each Working round is divided into 4 different phases, resolved in the following order:

1. Planning Phase
2. Action Phase
3. Growth Phase
4. Upkeep Phase

1. Planning Phase

Starting with the First Player, and continuing in turn order, each player places one of their Action pawns on a single location of their choice.

Players don't resolve those locations right away; they are resolved in the next phase. Players always place Action pawns on the first (leftmost or topmost) empty space of each location.

Note: In a 2 or 3 player game, each location has a limit of 2 spaces for Action pawns; in a 4 player game, this limit is increased to 3 (except location no. I, which can hold any number of Action pawns).

Players continue placing Action pawns in turn order until every player has placed all of their pawns. It is possible for one player to have more than one Action pawn in the same location, and to resolve that location more than once during the Action phase.

Note: Some game effects allow a player to ignore the Action pawn limit, and there are additional spaces at each location to account for that. If more than one player uses that effect at a given location, each subsequent player places their Action pawns beside that space keeping a linear order.

2. Action Phase

Once all Action pawns are placed on the board, players resolve each location, starting with the Bank (no. I) and continuing in ascending order. Going from left to right or top to bottom within a location, the owner of each Action pawn resolves the effects of the location and removes their pawn.

Note: Even if there are no Action pawns at a location, every player should carefully check the abilities of their cards, as some of them resolve the location's effect even without having an Action pawn present in that location.

Actions without pawns

When resolving a location, all players first activate – in turn order – all "no pawn needed" abilities from their cards tied to the location.

Once all of these abilities are resolved, then the action pawns present on the location are resolved as described above.

Important: there are two Contracts – "With Real Estate Agent" and "With Employment Agency", which provide "no pawn needed" abilities which are resolved AFTER the resolution of the Action pawns present on the appropriate location.

Resolving Locations

1. Bank

The player receives Credit at this location.

The limit of that Credit depends on the number of Design cards of the same Style (that potentially can form their Collection during the next Exhibition round). The player determines which single Style is most highly represented among their Design cards. They can receive credit UP TO that number, multiplied by 10. For a Credit higher than 30, take any combination of Credit cards that sum up to the Credit value.

Example: If a player has 5 Design cards with the following Styles: 1 Casual, 1 Evening, and 3 Sports; they may receive a Credit of 10, 20, or 30 Cash.

Credit card: (1) The amount of Cash received, and the Interest that must be paid during each Upkeep phase. Remember to adjust the Upkeep track. (2) The amount that must be paid back at the end of the upcoming Exhibition round.

2. Contracts

The player chooses a single Contract from the ones available at this location and places it above their Player board. The Contract's ability can be activated immediately, if applicable. Contract abilities become less powerful over time – at the end of each Exhibition round, they are either extended (flipped to the other side) or discarded (see page 18).

Note: The top cards of the decks at locations no. 2, 3, and 4 are always visible. These cards are not available during the current round, but they provide players with knowledge which allows them to plan ahead for the next round.

3. Buildings

The player chooses a single Building from the ones available at this location, pays its cost, and places it to the right of their Player board. After that, the player adjusts the Upkeep track on their Player board.

The Building's ability can be activated immediately, if applicable, and an Employee hired during this round can be placed there.

Note: All Cash paid for cards, Materials or for any other game effect is returned to the common pool.

Credits

The player may decide to receive a Credit if they use location no. I (Bank) or another game effect allows them to do so. When they do, they take a Credit card of the chosen value and the same amount of Cash tokens.

Credits help players have a constant Cash flow, but each Credit has Interest that increases the Upkeep cost of the company by 10% of the Credit's value (a 10 Cash Credit increases the Upkeep cost by 1 Cash and so on). This must be paid in the Upkeep phase of each Working and Exhibition round. Add the Credit Interest value to the Upkeep cost by adjusting the Upkeep track. Additionally, each Credit MUST be fully paid off during the Upkeep phase of the upcoming Exhibition round (see page 18).

4. Employees

A player chooses a single Employee from the ones available at this location and places them on one of their Starting Employee slots of their Player board or, if each Starting Employee spot is full, under one of their Buildings. If there is no empty slot for the new Employee, the player has to remove one of the previously hired Employees, paying Cash equal to double their current Upkeep cost. After that, the player appropriately adjusts the Upkeep track on their Player board. The Employee's ability can be activated immediately, if applicable. If a player cannot afford the new employee, or does not want to pay the severance package, they cannot hire the Employee and must forfeit the action.

5. New Designs

The player chooses a single Design card from the ones available at this location or a face down card from the top of the deck and places it face up near their Player board.

Note: If at any time the Design deck is empty and a player needs to draw from it, reshuffle the discard pile to create a new Design deck, and place it on the board.

6. Local Manufacturer

The player chooses a single type of Material (color) and buys any quantity of it, placing the tokens near their Player board. After paying for all tokens acquired, the player gains 1 Quality token (no matter how many Materials they bought) and places it on the designated space of their Player board.

Note: For an easier overview of the Designs and the Materials that they need, players can place the Materials needed to finish the Designs on the Design cards. But keep in mind that this is temporary and a player is free to move the Materials between their Designs and their supply. The final decision to use a Material is made during the Show phase of every Exhibition round (see page 15).

Note: All tokens gained during Working rounds (Quality, Trend, Public Relations) are placed on the Player board and will be used during the upcoming Exhibition round (see page 16).

Example: Resolving "5. New Designs" — Before resolving main actions, all players take turns in the player order to resolve their cards with the "no pawn needed" icon that are associated with this location (these cards would have the number 5 on the left side). Anna (Pink) is the first player so she goes first. She activates her Design Agency card to draw 1 Design card. Next is Greg (Orange) but he doesn't have any "no pawn needed" cards for this location. So now it's Matt's turn (Blue) - he activates his Design Agency card to draw 1 Design card.

After all "no pawn needed" cards associated with the location have been resolved it's time to perform the main action of the location in their pawns' order (from left to right). Greg (Orange) goes first. He chooses to take one of the face-up Design cards. He also activates his Designer Office card ability (requiring a pawn) to draw 1 Design card. When finished, he removes his pawn from the location. Next in line is Anna's pawn (Pink). Instead of choosing a face-up card Anna decides to draw a Design card from the top of the deck. After finishing her action she takes back her pawn.

7. Warehouse

The player can choose any of the Material types and buy a single piece of each selected type of Material, placing the tokens near their Player board. After paying for all tokens purchased, the player gains 2 Quality tokens (no matter how many Materials they bought) and places them on the designated space of their Player board.

8. Import

The player can choose a single type of Material and buy any quantity of it, placing the tokens near their Player board. After paying for all tokens purchased, the player gains 3 Quality tokens (no matter how many Materials they bought) and places them on the designated space on their Player board.

Note: Players may resolve locations no. 6, 7, and 8 simultaneously to speed up the game; the order of these locations and the order of the Action tokens usually doesn't matter. If you run out of any type of Material tokens, use any replacement – the supply of each Material is meant to be infinite.

Additionally, some game effects lower the prices of Materials at specific locations, but the price of any given Material cannot be lower than 1 Cash.

9. Last Minute Preparations

The player chooses and resolves one of the following effects:

• Gain 2 Quality tokens.
• Gain 1 Public Relations token.
• Gain 1 Trend token.
• Gain 5 in Cash.

The player takes the tokens from the appropriate space of location no. 9. Location no. 9 will be refilled at the beggining of the next Working round, so no effect can be chosen twice in the same round.

Note: Sometimes, a player might make a mistake in their calculations and place their Action pawn at a location that they can't or don't want to resolve anymore. The owner of a pawn can always remove it without resolving the effects of the location (for example, a player won't gain any Quality tokens from locations no. 6, 7, and 8 if they don't buy at least one of the Materials there).

Note: Players may choose whether they want to resolve card effects in their tableau. They don't have to resolve them if they don't want to.

The Action Phase ends once all locations are resolved.

3. Growth Phase

In turn order, each player may train one of their Employees and/or upgrade one of their Buildings. Each card has a train/upgrade section at the bottom with the train/upgrade cost followed by the description of the upgraded effect. If a player decides to train/upgrade any of their cards, they perform the following steps:

• Pay the train/upgrade cost.
• Flip the card over to its back side.
• Adjust their Upkeep track immediately.

Each card can only be trained/upgraded once. Upgrading a Building doesn't affect an Employee placed under it.

Example: How to Train and Upgrade — Matt (Pink) decides to train his Accountant. He pays the training cost (1) of 2 Cash and flips the card to the Experienced Accountant side then adjusts his Upkeep track by moving the Upkeep marker from 7 to 8 (2).

He then decides to upgrade his Designer Office. He pays the upgrade cost (3) of 3 Cash and flips the card to the Great Designer Office side (3) and adjusts his Upkeep track by moving the Upkeep marker from 8 to 9 (4).

Matt would like to train his Model as well, but he cannot do it this turn – player cannot train more than one Employee and upgrade more than one Building in a single Growth phase.

4. Upkeep Phase

Players resolve this phase simultaneously. At the end of this phase each player has to pay the Upkeep cost for their company, as shown on the Upkeep track on their Player board. Any card abilities and game effects that activate during the Upkeep phase can be activated before paying the Upkeep cost. For example, an untrained Accountant gives 5 Cash to a player, and that player may then use this Cash to pay the Upkeep cost.

Note: It is possible to have a net positive Upkeep cost, especially when hiring Accountants in the early stages of the game. In that case use the back "1" side of the Upkeep tracker or in the rare case when Upkeep income is above 9, please flip also the "10" marker to the blank side when adjusting the Upkeep cost.

Note: Players should always adjust their Upkeep track when they acquire or upgrade a Building, hire or train an Employee, and upon receiving a Credit or a Loan. It is always possible to recalculate the Upkeep cost by checking and adding the Upkeep costs of all the cards in front of the player.

If a player is unable to fully pay their Upkeep cost, they are forced to take a Loan.

Loans

Players cannot decide to take a Loan when they want to buy extra Materials or cards during the Action phase. A Loan is only granted when a player is unable to pay their Upkeep cost.

A Loan works in a similar way to a Credit. The player gets extra Cash along with a Loan card and will have to increase their Upkeep cost immediately, adding Interest equal to 10% of the Loan's value (the new Upkeep value is applied during the round in which the Loan is granted). The difference is that the size of the Loan is not flexible – it is always 20 Cash (or multiples of 20 Cash in rare cases when one Loan would not be enough to pay the Upkeep cost). Loans must be paid off during the Upkeep phase of the upcoming Exhibition round by paying 28 Cash for each Loan card (see page 18).

Example: How to resolve an Upkeep phase — First, Matt (Pink) can activate his cards with Upkeep abilities – he uses his Experienced Accountant (1) to gain 7 Cash. Then, he needs to pay his Upkeep cost which is 9 Cash (4). Matt has only 8 Cash, so he has to take a Loan. He takes a Loan card, receives 20 Cash and increases the Upkeep cost from 9 to 11 (every Loan has an Upkeep cost of 2 Cash). To mark 11 on his Upkeep track he places marker "-1" on 1 and marker "-10" on 1. Now Matt is finally ready to pay his Upkeep costs. He pays 11 Cash.

After everyone has paid their Upkeep cost, players should clear the main board, discarding all remaining cards. Place these cards on four separate discard piles (Contracts, Buildings, Employees, and Designs) somewhere close to the board, then move the Calendar marker one space down the track, and begin another round. Consult the board to determine whether it will be a Working round (rounds I, II, IV, V, VII, VIII, X, XI) or an Exhibition round (rounds III, VI, IX, XII).

Exhibition Round

There are four Exhibition rounds during the game – that's when players will (most of the time) earn back all the Cash invested during the two previous Working rounds. Keep in mind that during an Exhibition round, players shouldn't refill the board, and the First Player token stays in place until the beginning of the next Working round.

Each Exhibition round is divided into 5 different phases that are resolved in the following order:

1. Prestige Exchange Phase
2. Show Phase
3. Awards Phase
4. Sales Phase
5. Upkeep Phase

1. Prestige Exchange Phase

At the beginning of each Exhibition round, players will exchange all the Prestige tokens that they've gained during the previous Exhibition round (mostly from winning Award categories at the Fashion Shows).

During the first Exhibition round of the game, players won't be exchanging any tokens and can skip this phase.

Prestige tokens are exchanged for Victory Points. The number of VP received for each Prestige token depends on the number of players in the game:

• 2-player game: Gain 1 VP for each Prestige token
• 3-player game: Gain 2 VP for each Prestige token
• 4-player game: Gain 3 VP for each Prestige token

Adjust the position of your VP marker on the Victory Point track around the edge of the board accordingly.

2. Show Phase

In turn order, each player decides which Collection they want to showcase during the Fashion Show(s). A Collection consists of any number of Design cards that share the same Style (like Business or Casual) and can include only cards that the player is able to finish (having the required Materials listed on a card).

Example: A collection consisting of 3 Evening style cards.

Each player should place their selected Collection in front of them so that all players can see what each player will showcase during this round. The specified Materials for all Design cards in the Collection should be placed on top of those cards to indicate that the Designs are finished.

Design card bonuses – Some Design cards have bonuses pictured under the required Materials, and a player gains those bonuses (and places them on their Player board) only when they include that card in the Collection. These can be: 1 Quality token or 1 Trend token. There's also a "+2 Cash" bonus which indicates that a given Design card is more profitable, meaning that the sales margin is 2 Cash higher when compared to the cost of Materials used.

Additionally, each Design included in a Collection of the Clothing Type that matches the Clothing Type token on the owner's Player board, generates 1 Trend token. A player gains a Trend token when they include a matching Design card in their Collection and places the token on their Player board. In some cases, it is possible to gain 2 Trend tokens from a single Design if it matches a player's Clothing Type token and also depicts a Trend bonus.

Note: Some abilities allow players to change the Style of their Design cards. Players must make that decision when presenting their Collection, by placing a specific Style token or Style Adjustment token on one of their finished Design cards covering the imprinted symbol and thus including that card in the Collection. A Style Adjustment token automatically changes the style of a Design card to the one matching the Collection, meaning it can be included in any Collection.

3. Award Phase

During the Award Phase, players win awards (in the form of Prestige tokens) for one or more categories at each Fashion Show indicated by space of the Calendar track with Calendar marker.

Awards are given in four categories:

• Quality – The number of Quality tokens.
• Trend – The number of Trend tokens.
• Public Relations – The number of Public Relation tokens.
• Quantity – The number of Design cards included in the Collection.

Fashion Show tiles list all 4 categories from top to bottom in a different order (except the Last Quarter tiles, which only show 2 categories).

Depending on which round it is, a different number of Fashion Shows will be resolved and different number of categories will be judged. Only Fashion Show tiles and categories connected with a line to a current Exhibition round space are taken into consideration.

• Round III – resolve all Award categories on 1 Fashion Show,
• Round VI – resolve top 3 Award categories on each of 2 Fashion Shows,
• Round IX – resolve top 2 top Award categories on each of 3 Fashion Shows,
• Round XII – resolve top 1 Award category on each of 4 Fashion Shows

Award Categories

In addition to including a large number of Design cards in the Collection presented, there are three types of tokens that players should collect in order to win Prestige during the Award phase: Quality, Trend, and Public Relations.

All tokens gained up to this phase are considered for all of the Fashion Shows in this Exhibition round. For example, a Quality token gained for buying a Material, even one which isn't used to finish a Design in the Collection presented, is considered for each Fashion Show. However, if a token is depicted on a Design card, or comes from a Design matching the Clothing Type in which a player's company specializes, it is only considered during the Exhibition phase if that Design is part of the Collection presented.

There are different ways to gain each of the tokens, and we present all of them below.

Quality of the Materials in the Collection

Quality can be gained from:

• Buying Materials at locations no. 6, no. 7, and no. 8.
• Design cards with a Quality bonus included in the Collection.
• Effects of different card abilities (Contracts, Buildings, and Employees).
• Gained from location no. 9.

Note: Quality tokens gained during Working rounds are considered at each Fashion Show, whether or not the Materials bought this Quarter were used for the Designs included in the Collection.

Position of the Collection in the Current Trends

Trend can be gained from:

• Design cards included in the Collection with a Trend bonus.
• Design cards included in the Collection that match the player's Clothing Type token.
• Effects of different card abilities (Contracts, Buildings, and Employees).
• Gained from location no. 9.

Successful Media Presentation

Public Relations can be gained from:

• Effects of different card abilities (Contracts, Buildings, and Employees).
• Gained from location no. 9.

Prestige for Award Categories

The number of Prestige tokens for each Award category (from top to bottom), gained for 1st and 2nd place, depends on the number of players in the game. They are listed here and on the Player Aid cards.

2-player game:

• First category: 1st place gains 4 Prestige tokens, and 2nd place gains 1 token.
• Second category: Only 1st place gains 3 Prestige tokens.
• Third category: Only 1st place gains 2 Prestige tokens.
• Fourth category: Only 1st place gains 1 Prestige token.

3-player game:

• First category: 1st place gains 4 Prestige tokens, and 2nd place gains 2 tokens.
• Second category: 1st place gains 3 Prestige tokens, and 2nd place gains 1 token.
• Third category: 1st place gains 2 Prestige tokens, and 2nd place gains 1 token.
• Fourth category: Only 1st place gains 1 Prestige token.

4-player game:

• First category: 1st place gains 4 Prestige tokens, and 2nd place gains 2 tokens.
• Second category: 1st place gains 3 Prestige tokens, and 2nd place gains 2 tokens.
• Third category: 1st place gains 2 Prestige tokens, and 2nd place gains 1 token.
• Fourth category: Only 1st place gains 1 Prestige token.

To be considered for an Award category, a player must showcase a Collection consisting of at least one Design and have at least one of the category tokens under consideration. Meaning that (for example) in a 2-player game, if the first category is Quality, and one of the players has 3 tokens, but the other doesn't have any, then 1st place (and 4 Prestige tokens) goes to the player with 3 tokens, but none of the Prestige to the player without tokens, because they have to have at least 1 token to be eligible for Awards.

Players always compete for 1st and 2nd place for every Award category, with the essential Award category for that city being at the top of that tile and the least significant on the bottom. Players should check each Award category one by one, and check their positions.

Ties

In case of a tie between two players for 1st place, both of them are considered to be in 2nd place, with other players pushed further down the line. In case of more than two players tied for 1st place, all of them are considered 3rd place, which doesn't provide any Prestige tokens. The same thing happens when two players tie for 2nd place – they are both considered to be 3rd without any awards gained.

Round VI

There are two Fashion Show tiles but only 6 Award category awards will be judged – the top three from each of the tiles. The last Award categories listed are ignored. Players still showcase only one Collection – all its Award category tokens are evaluated simultaneously in both Fashion Shows. So when (for example) Quality is being judged in both of those cities, players will have the same rank in both of them, but depending on the order in which the Quality is listed in these cities, a different amount of Prestige may be gained.

Round IX

There are three Fashion Show tiles but again only 6 Award categories will be judged and awarded – the top two from each of the tiles. The bottom two on each of the tiles are ignored.

Round XII

There are four Fashion Shows and only the top Award category of each tile will be judged and awarded (the bottom Award categories may only be awarded when one of the players has the Journalist Employee).

Note 1: Players keep all the Prestige tokens they gain near their Player board.

Note 2: All Fashion Shows and their Award categories are visible from the first round, so it's beneficial to look and get to know which Award categories are essential for each of the different months. Players may use this knowledge strategically; for example by collecting and holding back Design cards for the Fashion Shows which will reward a particular feature the most.

4. Sales Phase

Once players have been awarded Prestige for all the Award categories being evaluated during the Fashion Show(s) in the current month, it is time to sell the Collection they presented. This is resolved in three steps:

1. Prestige Effect

Each player gains extra Cash for the Prestige that they've gained. The number of cards in the player's current Collection is multiplied by the number of Prestige tokens they have accumulated; the players gain that much Cash.

For example, if a player presented a Collection of 2 Casual style cards, and gained a total of 4 Prestige tokens, that player gains 8 Cash.

2. Collection Sale

In addition each player gains the amount of Cash presented on the Design cards included in their Collection, then discards those cards along with Materials used to finish them (return the Materials to the general supply).

3. Discard Tokens

Each player discards all their Quality, Trend and Public Relations tokens from their Player board. These tokens are only valid during the Exhibition round of the Quarter in which you receive them.

Example of a 2nd Exhibition Round

1. Prestige Exchange Phase

Players discard all Prestige tokens collected during previous Exhibition round (1) to gain Victory Points. Matt (Blue) discards 5 Prestige and gains 10 VP. Anna (Pink) discards 6 Prestige and gains 12 VP. Greg (Orange) discards 3 Prestige and gains 6 VP. (1 Prestige is exchanged to 2 VP in a 3 player game as shown on page 14). All players advance their markers on the Victory Point track.

2. Show Phase

Players choose the Design cards they will showcase in Fashion Shows. They do it in turn order. Anna (Pink) selects 2 of her Design cards - they are in the same Style and she managed to gather all necessary materials. Since one of the Design cards has the same Clothing Type as the one her company specializes in, she receives 1 Trend token (2).

Matt (Blue) has 3 Design cards ready but they all have a different Style. He decides to choose 1 Design card with the Rock style for his Collection. In addition he activates the Great Designer Office card which lets him change a Style of one card (Business) to Rock. He places a Rock Style token on a Design card (3) and adds that Design to his Collection. Matt receives additional Quality from one of the Design cards (4) and 1 Public Relations from his Model card (5).

Greg (Orange) has 2 Design cards with the same Style, but he doesn't have all required materials to finish the second Design card (6). He selects only one Design card for the Show.

3. Award Phase

Players showcase the same Collections during both Shows. Since it's the 2nd Exhibition round, only the first 3 categories of each Fashion Show tile will be awarded.

Quantity: Anna (Pink) and Matt (Blue) tie for the 1st place in Quantity, therefore each of them receives the amount of Prestige for 2nd place. Greg is 3rd and receives no Prestige for this category.

Quality: Matt (Blue) has the most Quality tokens so he receives 2 Prestige in London and 3 Prestige in Moscow. For 2nd place Anna (Pink) and Greg (Orange) are tied for the number of Quality tokens so they receive no Prestige.

Trend: Greg (Orange) has the most Trend tokens so he wins 3 Prestige in London and 4 Prestige in Moscow. Matt (Blue) is second so he wins 1 Prestige in London and 2 Prestige in Moscow.

Public Relations: Matt (Blue) has the most Public Relations tokens so he wins 2 Prestige in Moscow. He doesn't get any from London, because this feature is not being awarded there. Neither Anna nor Greg have any Public Relations tokens so they don't win any Prestige for this category.

Received Prestige — London (round 9 tile: Quantity, Trend, Quality):

• Quantity (4 Prestige, 2 Prestige): 2 Prestige for Pink and Blue*
• Trend (3 Prestige, 1 Prestige): 3 Prestige for Orange, 1 Prestige for Blue
• Quality (2 Prestige, 0 Prestige): 2 Prestige for Blue, 0 Prestige for Orange and Pink**

Received Prestige — Moscow (round 9 tile: Trend, Quality, Public Relations):

• Trend (4 Prestige, 2 Prestige): 4 Prestige for Orange, 2 Prestige for Blue
• Quality (3 Prestige, 1 Prestige): 3 Prestige for Blue, 0 Prestige for Orange and Pink
• Public Relations (2 Prestige, 0 Prestige): 3 Prestige for Blue***

* tie on the 1st place ** tie on the 2nd place *** the only player with Prestige

4. Sales Phase

1) Prestige effect — Anna (Pink) earns 4 Cash (calculated by multiplying 2 Prestige by 2 cards in her Collection). Matt (Blue) earns 24 Cash (calculated by multiplying 12 Prestige by 2 cards in his Collection). Greg (Orange) earns 7 Cash (calculated by multiplying 7 Prestige by 1 card in his Collection).

2) Collection Sale — Anna (Pink) gains 41 Cash for Design cards in her Collection. Matt (Blue) gains 45 Cash for Design cards in his Collection. Greg (Orange) gains 17 Cash for Design card in his Collection. Players discard all Design cards that were a part of their Collections together with all materials that were used to prepare them.

3) Discard tokens — All players discard all Quality, Trend and Public Relations tokens. They keep their Prestige tokens until the Prestige Exchange phase of the next Exhibition round.

5. Upkeep Phase

As in the Working round Upkeep phase, players must now pay the Upkeep cost of their company and may activate their card abilities before they do so.

After the payment, players have to pay off their Credits and/or Loans, by spending the required amount of Cash. If a player is unable to pay them, they have to take out a new Loan(s) to pay off the existing debts. When taking such a Loan, a player receives 18 instead of the usual 20, to reflect the Interest paid after the previously paid Upkeep costs. Loans acquired during the Exhibition round will have to be paid off at the end of next Exhibition round. Once the old debts are paid off, each player adjusts their Upkeep track.

At the end of the Exhibition round's Upkeep phase, each player has to both weaken all of the Contracts they acquired in the current Quarter by flipping them over, and discard any Contracts that were flipped over in the previous Exhibition round. Move the Calendar marker one space down the track, and begin next round.

Example of resolving an Upkeep phase during an Exhibition round — Upkeep during the Exhibition round looks similar to Upkeep during the Working round, only this time all Loans and Credits need to be paid off. Matt (Blue) activates his Experienced Accountant card to gain 7 Cash. Then he pays 11 Cash for his Upkeep cost. After that he returns 28 Cash to pay back his Loan, discards the Loan card, and adjusts his Upkeep cost on the Upkeep track from 11 to 9.

Last Quarter (Rounds X–XII)

Once the third Exhibition round (IX) is over, players enter the Last Quarter during which they will try to maximize their income and gain as much Cash as possible.

Retrieve all Final Cards (with the Last Quarter depicted on their back) that were placed aside during setup, and shuffle each deck separately to place them on the designated locations no. 2, no. 3, and no. 4.

Place each deck face up. Now players continue to the next Working round. Last Quarter Employee and Building cards cannot be trained or upgraded, and Contracts will not become less powerful, because the next Exhibition round is the last. Upon its completion players resolve the Final Scoring.

Transparent gameplay and open information

During a game of Prêt-à-Porter there's no such thing as hidden information. A player can at any moment ask their opponents how much Cash they have, or how many Trend tokens they could gain, at most, on a Collection right now. Players should inform their opponents about the best possible outcome considering the current state of the game; this includes their Design card bonuses, card abilities and extra tokens for Designs matching their Clothing Type token. Obviously, there are exceptions – a player doesn't need to inform others if they are going for location no. 9 (Last Minute Preparations) or what they are going to choose if their Action pawn is already there, but apart from that all current information regarding their Player board and the area around it should be open.

For the best experience, we recommend playing with clear and transparent information for everybody to see, using the tokens on cards that can qualify those Designs during a Fashion Show – for example, placing a Trend and Quality token on the card matching your Clothing Type token and Quality bonus. Move the tokens from these cards to your Player board only if you decide to include these Designs in the Collection during the Show phase. With different tokens on all of the cards at a player's disposal, each player has open and transparent information about whether or not they can even compete for a specific Feature, or whether they should focus their strategy on something else.

Final Scoring

After the end of the last round (XII), before players count their Cash and Victory Points, one final Prestige Exchange Phase is carried out, meaning that the Prestige tokens gained during the last round should be exchanged for Victory Points using the usual ratio.

If any player has any unpaid Loans remaining which they cannot pay off at this point, their company has gone bankrupt and they aren't included in the Final Scoring.

Finally, each player totals their final score by adding up all their Cash and Victory Points: the player with the highest total value wins the game!

In the case of a tie, a tied player with more Victory Points on the track wins the game: their company is the most prestigious!

Advanced Variant

In this variant, the turn order of players depends on their accomplishments.

During game preparation, the Turn Order track tile is placed next to the board and each player receives a Turn Order token in their color.

In round I the turn order is set during setup. The only difference is that instead of using the First Player token, each player places their Turn Order token on the Turn Order track (i.e. player going first on the "1" space, player going second on "2" and so on).

In round II, the player order is reversed, with the first player becoming last, the second becoming second to last and so on. Update the Turn Order track accordingly. In Exhibition rounds III, VI, IX, XII the turn order does not change (similarly as in the regular variant of the game).

In rounds IV, VII and X (the first Working rounds after the Fashion Show rounds) the Turn Order depends on the players' accomplishments. The player with the lowest score calculated as the sum of Victory Points and Cash becomes the First Player. The other players will take turns in ascending order of their scores, thus the player with the highest score will be the last to take actions in this round. In the case of a tie reverse the current turn order between the tied players. Update the player Turn Order markers on the Turn Order track accordingly.

In V, VIII and XI (the second Working rounds after the Fashion Show rounds) the Turn Order is again reversed, the First Player becomes last, second becomes second to last and so on. Update the Turn Order track accordingly.

Note: The turn order does not change during the Exhibition rounds, ignore this phase.

Example of determining turn order in the Advanced Variant — It's the beginning of round VII. Players sum up their VP and cash. Anna (Pink) has a total of 35. She will become the first player. Greg (Orange) has a total of 48. He will become the second player. Matt (Blue) has a total of 70. He will become the third player. Players place their Turn Order tokens on the appropriate spaces of the Turn Order tile.

At the beginning of round VIII turn order will be reversed. Anna (Pink) will become the third player, Greg (Orange) will remain the second player, Matt (Blue) will become the first player.

In round IX turn order doesn't change, as it is the Exhibition round.

Credits

Game design: Ignacy Trzewiczek

Artwork: Kwanchai Moriya, Mateusz Kopacz, Maciej Janik

Graphic design: Mateusz Kopacz, Rafał Szyma

Production manager: Grzegorz Polewka

Project manager: Rafał Szyma

Rules: Matt Dembek, Vincent Salzillo, Grzegorz Polewka, Yves Tourigny

© 2019 Portal Games Sp. z o.o., ul. św. Urbana 15, 44-100 Gliwice, Poland