Room Share Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• 1. Goal of the Game
• 2. Components
• 3. Setup
• 4. How to Play
  • 4-1: Select a card
  • 4-2: Apply the effect of the card
  • 4-3: Eviction by the landlord
  • 4-4: Draw a card
  • 4-5: End of turn
• 5. End of the Game
  • 5-1: Last chance step
  • 5-2: End of the game
• 6. Scoring Points
• 7. Effects of the Event Cards
  • Communication
  • Departure Day
  • Forced Eviction
  • New Contract
  • Apartment Exchange
  • Renovation (Game variant)
• 8. Game Variants
  • 8-1. Add the Royal Suite and the "Renovation" Events
  • 8-2. In a 2-player game

1. Goal of the Game

If there are more than 4 people in the same apartment, the landlord will find out, and the tenants will be evicted!

Place as many of your clients as possible in apartments housing 3 people to help them save money and aim to become the best real estate agent!

2. Components

• 1 rulebook
• 36 Tenant meeples: 4 colours [red, blue, yellow, green] × 9 meeples
• 20 Key cards: 4 colours [red, blue, yellow, green] × 5 cards
• 12 Event cards: 6 types × 2 cards
• 21 Apartment cards: 14 Regular Apartments, 3 Suites, 3 Haunted Apartments, 1 Royal Suite (game variant)
• 4 Player Aid cards: 1 card per colour [red, blue, yellow, green]

3. Setup

For a standard game, remove the Royal Suite Apartment card as well as the two "Renovation" Event cards.

1. Each player chooses a meeple colour and places 8 meeples of that colour in front of them. This forms their supply.
   • In a 3-player game: Each player adds 2 meeples of the unused colour to their current meeples. These 2 meeples will not give you points in the final.
   • In a 2-player game: Each player chooses an additional colour from the remaining ones and adds 8 meeples of this colour to their current meeples. These 8 meeples will not be counted in the final scoring at the end of the game.
2. Each player takes a Player Aid card matching the colour of their meeples and places it face up in front of them.
3. Place the 6 Regular Apartments cards face up in a 3 × 2 grid.
4. Place the remaining meeple of each colour as shown in the diagram (place each meeple on the inner arrow of the Apartment cards at each corner). The order of colours does not matter; you can place your meeples as you like.
   • In a 3-player game: 3 meeples of the unused colour remain. As shown in the diagram, place these meeples on the [Top] and [Bottom] arrows of the Apartment card that already has a meeple of this colour.
5. After placing the meeples, shuffle all the remaining Apartment cards. Arrange them around the already placed cards to form a 5 × 4 grid.
6. Shuffle the Key cards and Event cards, then deal 3 cards to each player. These 3 cards form their hand. Do not show your cards to the other players. Create a draw pile with the remaining cards and place it where all players can reach it.
7. The player who has lived in a shared apartment becomes the first player. If multiple players qualify, the one who has had the most roommates goes first. In case of a tie, determine the first player randomly.

Setup is now complete.

4. How to Play

You take turns in clockwise order. On your turn, proceed as follows:

4-1: Select a card

Choose a card from your hand and place it face up in front of you.

4-2: Apply the effect of the card

Apply the effect of the card you have chosen.

• Key card: Choose an Apartment card that contains a meeple of the same colour as the played Key card, then place one of the meeples in your supply on an available arrow on that card.
• Event card: Apply the effect indicated on the card. (See section 7. Effects of the Event cards for more information.)

Note: Each Apartment card has four arrows (top, bottom, left, and right). You cannot place more than one meeple on each of these arrows.

4-3: Eviction by the landlord

If a fourth meeple is placed on an Apartment card, the landlord evicts all tenants. You must then move all the meeples that are on this card.

Note: In this game, meeples can be moved as a result of an eviction by the landlord or through an Event card ("Forced Eviction").

When you need to move meeples, proceed as follows:

1. Moving meeples: If a fourth meeple is placed on an Apartment card or if an Apartment card is subject to an eviction, you must move all the meeples that are on the card. Move each meeple to the adjacent card in the direction indicated by the arrow it is on.
2. Chain moves: After moving the meeples, if another Apartment card now has 4 meeples, then you must move all the meeples from that card as described in step 1. Repeat this process until there are no more Apartment cards with 4 meeples.
3. Special cases:
   • If an eviction occurs on an Apartment card at the edge of the play area, you must move the meeple that has no adjacent card to the card located on the other side of the play area.
   • If you need to move a meeple to a card that already has 4 meeples, leave it on its current card. However, you can still decide on which arrow to place that meeple on this card.

Meeples are moved by the player whose turn it is. When you move meeples, you also decide:

• On which arrow to place each meeple on the adjacent Apartment card.
• Which Apartment card to start moving from, if multiple cards contain 4 meeples.

4-4: Draw a card

Discard the card you played and draw a card from the draw pile in order to have 3 cards in hand again. If the draw pile is empty, take all the discarded cards, shuffle them to form a new draw pile, and then draw a new card.

4-5: End of turn

Once this is done, your turn ends. Then, the next player in clockwise order starts their turn.

5. End of the Game

If, at the end of their turn, a player has placed all the meeples from their supply (both of their own colour and of the other colours in a 2- or 3-player game), the game ends after the Last chance step, as indicated below.

5-1: Last chance step

With the exception of the player who has placed all their meeples, each player can perform the following action, one after the other, in clockwise order:

You may place one of your meeples on an Apartment card that contains a meeple of your colour.

During this step, you cannot place a meeple on an Apartment card that already has 3 meeples.

5-2: End of the game

After the Last chance step, the game ends, and you can proceed to the scoring phase.

6. Scoring Points

Each player calculates their points as follows:

• Regular Apartment: You gain 1 point for each meeple of your colour placed on a Standard Apartment card that contains exactly 3 meeples.
• Suites: You gain 2 points for each meeple of your colour placed on a Suite Apartment card that contains exactly 3 meeples.
• Haunted Apartments: You lose 2 points for each meeple of your colour placed on a Haunted Apartment card.
  • Note: You lose 2 points for each of your meeples on a Haunted Apartment card, regardless of the number of meeples present there.
• Royal Suite (game variant): You gain 3 points for each meeple of your colour placed on a Royal Suite Apartment card that contains exactly 3 meeples.

Note: Meeples of other colours in your possession in a 2- or 3-player game, as well as any meeples you have not placed, do not score at the end of the game.

Each player announces their total score. The player with the highest score wins the game.

• In the event of a tie, the player with the fewest meeples remaining in their supply wins.
• If there is still a tie, the player who played first during the Last chance step wins.

7. Effects of the Event Cards

Communication

Effect: Treat this card as a Key card of the colour of your choice.

Departure Day

Effect: Take one meeple of your choice and return it to the supply of the player that owns meeples of that colour.

You cannot take a meeple that is the only piece of its colour in the play area.

If you choose a meeple of a colour that is not specific to a player (in a 2- or 3-player game), consider that meeple to be of your colour.

Forced Eviction

Effect: Choose an Apartment card and move all meeples on it to adjacent cards, following the usual movement rules.

New Contract

Effect: Choose one of the following two actions:

1. Place one of your meeples on an Apartment card that does not contain any meeples.
2. Treat this card as a Key card of your colour.

Apartment Exchange

Effect: Swap the position of 2 meeples placed on the same Apartment card or on different Apartment cards.

Renovation (Game variant)

Effect: Freely rearrange the meeples on the Apartment card of your choice.

8. Game Variants

8-1. Add the Royal Suite and the "Renovation" Events

To add more options, you can include the Royal Suite and the 2 "Renovation" Event cards in your games.

If you want to play with the Royal Suite Apartment card: Before setting up, replace one Apartment card of your choice with the Royal Suite Apartment card. At the end of the game, you gain 3 points for each meeple of your colour on this card if it contains exactly 3 meeples. With the addition of a high-scoring apartment, the competition is even more intense!

If you want to play with the "Renovation" Event cards: Add the 2 "Renovation" Event cards to the others before shuffling the Event cards with the Key cards.

8-2. In a 2-player game

If you enjoy strategic games like Othello and Shogi, you can also play without cards in hand and without using Key cards or Event cards.

Ignore steps 4-1: Select a card and 4-2: Apply the effect of the card. Instead, on your turn, choose an Apartment card that contains at least one meeple. Then, place a meeple on an available arrow on that card.

If you choose this game variant, you will have no cards in hand. In this case, ignore step 4-4: Draw a card.

In case of a tie at the end of the game, the player who played first at the beginning of the game wins.