Schichtwechsel: Die Förderung liegt in deiner Hand Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Player Pit Board and Game Board
  • Building pits (left)
  • Building pits (right)
  • Road, rail and canal
  • Working Speed
  • The miner's shift
  • Headframes
  • Central Coking Plant
• Key to Symbols
• Round Cards
• Game Preparation
• Game Sequence
  • 1. Preparation Phase (Steps I-VI)
  • 2. Action Phase
  • 3. End-of-Round Scoring
• Action Cards
  • Wagon Actions
  • Coking Plant Actions
  • Loading Actions
  • Route Actions
  • Miner's Actions
  • Pit Water Actions
  • Personal Action Card
  • The Spoil Tip: 1 Free Trade Action
  • Headframe Actions
  • Copy Actions and Change of First Player
• Final Scoring
  • Miner's Scoring
  • Route Scoring
  • Pithead Building Scoring
  • Determining the Winner
• Modifications for 2 or 3 Players
  • 3 Players
  • 2 Players
• Selection Tiles
  • Special Situations (Selection Tiles, Lower Section)

Components

• 1 game board
• 6 round cards (1 more than game rounds)
• 1 first player marker
• 4 player pit boards
• 22 action cards
• 4 action cards in each player colour
• 7 selection tiles
• 2 "Miner's shift" covering markers for 2 or 3 player games
• 2 "Coking plant" covering markers for 2 or 3 player games
• 50 tool markers
• 51 victory points
• 20 victory points
• 15 victory points
• 12 coins
• 4 miners (1 in each player colour)
• 5 pit water indicators (1 for each player + 1 for the bag)
• 4 player action tokens (1 in each player colour)
• 20 white action tokens
• 12 player discs (3 in each player colour)
• 40 coal
• 20 pithead buildings (5 in each player colour)
• 36 spoil
• 44 coke (11 in each player colour)
• 8 headframe standees (2 in each player colour) with a base clip. Insert each standee into a round base clip.
• 1 bag
• 1 rulebook
• 1 scorepad

Player Pit Board and Game Board

Each player manages a coal mine using their player board as well as their available actions. Your board consists of several areas.

In the "Underground" area (bottom left), new coal and spoil taken from the bag or acquired by selection tiles are placed on wagons. There are wagons with 1 or 2 spaces. Each wagon must be loaded with only one type of material (either coal or spoil). There is one wagon that may only be loaded with coal.

It is your job to lift coal "Aboveground", to the surface. Coal is transported on coal wagons (center left), spoil is put on the spoil tip (top left). Aboveground, coal can be delivered to the Central Coking Plant, where it is converted into coke. After its refinement, move the coke back to your player board and place it on coke wagons (top right area). Finally, you can sell your coke on the market and gain victory points (VP) for it (bottom right).

Apart from that, you have to keep an eye on your pit water (blue area at the centre of your player board): if it rises too high, you receive a penalty, but you gain VP if you manage to keep the level to a minimum. If you receive a second pit water indicator from the bag, raise your own indicator up 1 level. The additional pit water indicator is always returned to the bag afterwards.

At the bottom of each player board is the pithead building bar. During the game, place the pithead buildings on the game board's building pits to gain advantages and VPs.

On the right-hand side of each player board, there is an overview of the 6 steps of the preparation phase (see Preparation Phase). Place your current selection tile faceup next to this area of the player board.

Building pits (left)

Place your pithead buildings here during the course of the game. They award additional victory points for the final scoring.

Building pits (right)

Place your pithead buildings here during the course of the game. They award additional victory points for the final scoring.

For the building pits with 3 single spaces, remember to take into account the number of players to determine how many of the spaces can be used.

Road, rail and canal

This is where your player discs move towards the corresponding target spaces. Whenever a disc crosses a red-and-white barrier, helpful additional options and bonus actions are granted (see Route Actions).

Working Speed

Place your pithead buildings here during the course of the game to make your miner reach their end of shift faster.

The miner's shift

The miner's shift is made up by the 14 white circles arranged around the game board's centre, from the Colliery Gate Entrance to the Colliery Gate Exit circle. Move your miners along these circles towards the exit to gain various card actions, coal, coins or victory points (see Miner's Actions).

Headframes

Place your headframes in this area later in the game to unlock additional profitable actions.

Central Coking Plant

Using coal wagons, you deliver coal to the Central Coking Plant. The coking plant converts coal into coke, trading in 1 wagon for 1 coke. Some wagons are fully loaded after taking 1 unit of coal, others can take 2 units. Each player owns 1 coking space (in their colour), which also shows a white action token. There are also 5 grey coking spaces which everybody can use. One of the grey spaces yields 1 VP, another one causes the pit water level to rise. When refining coal into coke, you can occupy the grey spaces first. On entering the third unit of coke for conversion, players need to occupy their own space first, which causes them to gain 1 white action token less in step IV. No player can have more than 4 units of coke in the Central Coking Plant at any given time.

Key to Symbols

While playing the game, you place and transport coal, spoil and coke into the different areas of your player boards and of the Central Cokery Plant. Always pay attention to the means of transportation the tokens are shown with, e.g. on cards. In the "Underground" area, you deposit coal and spoil, which are drawn from the bag, on wagons. You can choose between single-space and double-space wagons, but there may only be one type of material on each wagon. In the "Aboveground" area, you own several railway wagons that will transport coal and coke.

You have 1 pit water cube as an indicator. If you draw a second cube from the bag, move your indicator 1 space up. After this, put the additional pit water cube back into the general supply.

• Spoil on the spoil tip
• Coke in the Coking Plant
• Coal aboveground on coal wagons
• Coke in coke wagons
• Coal or spoil on wagons, but never mixed
• Coal only
• The golden Victory points will not be scored until the final scoring!
• Place a house in one of the scoring areas on the game board
• Player action token
• White action token
• Tool markers count 2 victory points for the final scoring
• Discard one tool marker from your deposit into the general supply
• If the cube is white-rimmed, your pit water indicator falls
• If the cube is red-rimmed, your pit water indicator rises

Round Cards

At the start of each round, reveal 1 new round card (see the Game Sequence overview). At its bottom it shows which kind of achievements will be rewarded with VP at the end of the round.

Three cards show a special effect at their top, which is resolved immediately after the card is revealed:

• The crossed-out wagon: the red-and-white-rimmed wagon in the wagon area of your player board cannot be used in this round (locked). Cubes that have been put on the wagon in previous rounds remain in place but cannot be lifted.
• Pit water indicator with bag: immediately place 1 blue pit water indicator in the bag.
• Pit water indicator without bag: the pit water level of all players falls by 1.

Game Preparation

Preparing a 4 player game:

1. Place the game board in the middle and the 21 regular action cards around the board. Note the number of players at the bottom of each card. (The action card that is not used in a 4-player game remains in the game box. See Modifications for 2 or 3 Players for the additional changes necessary for 2 or 3 player games.)
2. Each player receives: 1 player board, 1 coin, 1 pit water indicator, 6 tool markers, and in player colour: 1 personal action card, 1 player action token, 2 headframes, 5 pithead buildings, 1 miner and 11 coke.
3. Player action card: place the 2 headframe standees on your personal action card so that the two rail symbols are covered. (Insert each standee into a round base clip.)
4. Place the pit water indicator on the blue space with the black dot.
5. Place the 5 pithead buildings in the circles of your pithead building bar.
6. Select a first player and give them the first player marker.
7. Place your miner in front of the Colliery gate entrance space of the miner's shift.
8. Each player places their 3 player discs on each of the canal, rail and road starting spaces.
9. In a 4-player game, put 16 coal and 4 spoil into the bag, which is then given to the first player. (See Modifications for 2 or 3 Players.)
10. Randomly pick 5 of the 6 round cards, shuffle them and put them face-down on the game board. Put the sixth card back into the box, without looking at it. Now reveal the card on top of the pile (see Round Cards).
11. In a 4-player game, openly place all of the 7 selection tiles. Now place the coal, spoil, coins, white action tokens, victory points, and tool markers next to the game board so that all players have easy access to them. They constitute the general supply.

Game Sequence

A game of Schichtwechsel ends after 5 rounds. Each round consists of 3 phases that always start with the first player and that are then resolved clockwise.

1. Preparation phase: carry out the 6 steps of this phase in the given order.
2. Action phase: players carry out 1 action each until all the players have passed.
3. Round scoring: cash in the round card and gain VP on completing the conditions.

The round ends after the round scoring. Check who is the first player, reveal the next round card and play the next round. The game ends after round 5. The last round scoring is followed by the final scoring. The winner is the player who scored the most victory points at the end.

VPs are rewarded during the course of the game, e.g. for completing the conditions of round cards, for certain action cards, special actions on your player board, on sections of road, rail and canal as well as the final scoring at the end of the game.

1. Preparation Phase (Steps I-VI)

Step I — Mining coal

In addition to the cubes that were put in the bag at game setup, the first player puts 1 black (coal) cube and 1 grey (spoil) cube into the bag for each player. Then, without looking at them, he pulls out 3 cubes for each player. As the first player, he decides which player receives the 3 cubes just drawn. These cubes are then placed on the wagons (bottom left area) of the player pit boards.

Whoever gets 1 blue pit water cube from the bag must move their pit water indicator up 1 space (the water rises). After each player has finished their coal mining process (i.e., after having drawn cubes for all players), the blue cube is returned to the bag.

Attention! For each cube a player cannot place because all of their wagons are full, they must take 1 tool marker. Return the cubes to the general supply. Locked wagons cannot be filled either. At the final scoring, each tool marker awards -2 VP. You can discard your tool markers by using certain actions and by reaching certain spaces on the game board.

Step II — Choosing a selection tile and receiving a bonus

Round 1: starting with the player to the right of the first player, and then proceeding counter-clockwise, each player chooses one of the selection tiles and places it to the right of their player pit boards. After that, they all receive their tile's bonus.

Rounds 2-5: starting with the first player, and then proceeding clockwise, each player chooses one of the selection tiles, places it next to their pit board and openly discards the tile from the previous round into the general supply. After that, they receive the bonus.

The type of bonus that each player can take from the general supply is shown in the upper part of the tile. The lower part of the tile is resolved in step VI. The upper-part bonuses available are:

• Place 1 coal on a coal wagon
• Place 1 coal on a wagon
• Pit water level falls by 1
• Place 1 coal or 1 spoil on a wagon
• Place 1 coke on a coke wagon and pit water rises by 1 and take 1 tool marker
• Place 1 coal on a wagon
• Place 1 spoil on a wagon

Step III — Raise pit water level

The pit water in your colliery rises by 1 (move the indicator up 1 space). Once the indicator reaches the top space, gain 1 tool marker and lower the pit water level by 3. Once the indicator reaches the lowest space, gain 1 VP. If the pit water indicator occupies the space with the white action token, you will receive 1 action token less in phase IV.

Step IV — Gaining action tokens

Each player checks how many white action tokens they get for the current round. Count the spaces with a visible action token in the Pit Water, Coal Wagons and Central Coking Plant areas of your player pit board. Each player can receive a maximum of 3 action tokens in this step.

Step V — Selling coke

Coke is sold in pairs. If there are exactly 2 units of coke on the 2 lower coke wagons of your pit board (the area marked with a "V"), you can sell them now and gain 1 coin and 1 white action token (note that this can only be done from round 2). Place the sold units of coke into the scoring area at the bottom, always using the 2 leftmost empty spaces.

After the sale, and also at any given time, you can move coke from the wagons above to the ones below.

Step VI — Using bonus spaces

Finally, use the unlocked bonus spaces of your pithead building bar (at the bottom of your player pit board), always from left to right. You score each space with no pithead building next to it. The rightmost space (marked with a selection tile symbol) will always give you the bonus that is currently listed on your selection card (note that you cannot use bonus spaces before round 2). The bonus spaces, left to right, are:

• Lower pit water or gain 1 VP
• Gain 1 white action token
• Advance your player disc 1 space on the Road track. If you cross a barrier in the process and are entitled to place a pithead building, you cannot use the bonus space which has just been unlocked before the next round. Or gain 1 VP
• Move 1 full wagon aboveground: move coal onto coal wagons or spoil onto the spoil tip
• Receive the bonus shown at the bottom of your selection tile (see Selection Tiles)

Note: make sure to always gain white action tokens during the preparation phase — otherwise, you might be left with only one action token in your own colour during the next action phase.

2. Action Phase

Starting with the first player and proceeding in clockwise order, each player will perform 1 action, using exactly 1 of the available action cards placed around the table (or their own). In order to use an action card, you must pay the costs indicated on the card. See the Action Cards sections below for an overview of the action cards available. Always place the payment (action tokens and/or coins) directly on the card, so that everyone can see which cards have and which have not been used already. Some of the cards can be used several times per round (see Action Cards).

Paying costs: actions (action cards) must be purchased with coins, player action tokens or white action tokens. You can always use 1 coin instead of 1 player action token or 1 white action token. You can use 1 player action token instead of 1 white action token. Your player action token is always returned back to you at the beginning of a new round.

Passing: players who have run out of coins or action tokens or do not wish to spend any more coins must pass. Flip your character tile in order to show this. After all players have passed, continue with phase 3 (end-of-round scoring). Note: you can save coins for the next round, but white action tokens cannot be saved. Your player action token is always returned back to you at the end of each round.

3. End-of-Round Scoring

For the end-of-round scoring, use the current (faceup) round card. Players gain VP from the general supply for fulfilling the goals shown on the cards.

Overview: the cards numbered 1-3 award 2 VP for 3 road, 2 rail or 2 canal spaces respectively. Card No. 4 awards 2 VP for all discs in first position of road, rail and canal. Card No. 5 awards 1 VP per 2 spoil in the pit (no matter where it is currently located). Card No. 6 awards 1 VP per 2 coke that a player has produced (no matter where). 5 out of the 6 round cards are used in each game.

End of round and new game round: after the end-of-round scoring, remove all coins and action tokens from action cards and return them to the general supply. The player action tokens are returned to their respective owners. All of the headframes used reveal covered action spaces on the game board. Reveal 1 new round card. The first player starts a new round by resolving step I of the preparation phase. Resolve the final scoring after round 5 (see Final Scoring) to determine the winner of the match.

Action Cards

Depending on the number of players, there are up to 21 action cards placed around the game board. Additionally, each player has their own action card. White-rimmed cards can be purchased and used several times per round, but this always counts as a separate action. This "multi-person function" means that the card can be used by different players, but also several times by one player within the same round. All the other cards can only be used once per round. The players' personal cards can only be used by the corresponding player, no other player may place action tokens there.

Each card shows: the costs to use it; its effect; the number of players required for using the card in a game; and, on some cards, a copy-protection symbol (meaning the card cannot be copied by copy actions) or a white rim (meaning it has the multi-person function).

Wagon Actions

The wagon cards are used to transport coal to coal wagons and/or spoil to the spoil tip. You can only move full wagons at any time.

You can redistribute coal after reaching the surface (the area above the wagons). Spoil is put on the spoil tip (the area above the coal wagons). You cannot use locked wagons until the next round.

Purchasing a "big action" allows you to lower the pit water by 1. The "small action" makes your pit water rise by 1. The "small action" can be used several times, but the pit water level rises by 1 for each use.

Spoil is piled up row by row from bottom to top on the spoil tip.

Coking Plant Actions

These cards let you transform full coal wagons into coke. Put the coal cubes back into the general supply, take coke cubes in your player colour and put them onto the coking spaces of the Central Coking Plant. You can only transform full wagons. The exchange ratio is 1 coal wagon for 1 coke.

Loading Actions

The loading actions allow you to retrieve coke from the Central Coking Plant and store it on your player pit board's coke wagons. You always use the 2 lower wagons (next to the "V") first.

If there is coke on the lower 2 wagons during preparation phase V of a round, you can sell them and gain 1 coin and 1 white action token in reward. Note: after selling the coke, and at any time you wish, you can move coke from the wagons above to the lower wagons.

With the "big action" you earn 1 additional VP for the loading action. The "medium action" lowers the pit water. The "small action" does not award you any bonus, but can be used several times.

In step V of the preparation phase, having 2 units of coke awards you 1 coin and 1 action token once per round. Coke is always placed on these spaces first. Place additional coke on the wagons above.

Route Actions

After paying the cost of an action, advance your disc(s) as many spaces on the route as are indicated on the card (1 space per symbol). If there is more than one disc on a space, they are stacked. When your disc crosses a red-and-white barrier, you gain an advantage. Some cards allow you to gain 1 VP as an alternative to advancing. The first player disc reaching the final space of a route is placed on the "8 VP" circle. All other discs will be placed on the "5 VP" circle.

Using the three routes, you can unlock a number of advantages. You will gain additional VP in the final scoring if your discs have reached the respective intermediate targets or the target space.

Route advantages: sooner or later, your disc will cross a barrier with a house symbol appearing on each of the routes. When this happens, take 1 pithead building located at the bottom of your player board and place it on a building pit or in the "working speed" area at the centre of the game board.

On each route, players have 4 times the opportunity to advance their miner immediately (potentially with a higher working speed) and to use the miner's shift space where they end their movement, or to bring one of their own headframes into play.

Headframes give players 2 advantages: 1. You uncover the rail spaces on your personal action card. 2. You can use the "Headframe" action cards.

The last barrier of the Road awards 2 VP as an alternative to the headframe. Alternatively, some barriers let you immediately discard one of your tool markers into the general supply.

Miner's Actions

By using the miner's actions, you advance your miner along the spaces of the miner's shift towards the Colliery Gate Exit. After paying the required costs, move your miner 1 space plus a number of additional spaces if you have an increased turn range. Your miner's turn range is increased by 1 space for each pithead building that you own in the "working speed" area at the centre of the game board.

When moving your miner, you can always choose to use the full number of additional spaces or to end their movement earlier, for example because you wish to use a certain space. Your miner skips all the spaces occupied by other miners (exception: the "Colliery Gate Exit" target space).

Spaces of the miner's shift: the 14 spaces of the miner's shift come with different advantages, e.g. additional card actions, VPs, coins, coal, spoil, lowering the pit water level or removing tool markers. Only use the space on which your miner ends their movement. The spaces showing action cards allow you to use (copy) any action cards without copy protection, regardless of whether there are any action tokens placed on them or not.

Pit Water Actions

You need to keep the rising pit water in check. The following cards help you doing so:

• 4 players: two cards allow you to lower the pit water directly. It can be lowered by 3 spaces for 1 white action token or, if you include the player action token, by up to 4 spaces (0 spaces are possible). Additionally, you gain 2 VPs.
• 2 or 3 players: there is only one action card which can be used only once per round, either by spending 1 white or 1 player action token.

Note that you will only get an additional victory point if your pit water token reaches the last space on your player pit board. You don't get a victory point if the indicator is already on the lowest space and an action would allow you to lower the pit water.

Personal Action Card

At the beginning of the game, your 2 headframes cover the rail symbols of your action card, which limits your ability to lower pit water through your card to 1x. If you remove your headframes during the game (by passing the barriers, see Route Actions, place the headframe inside the headframe area of the game board), you may advance up to 2 additional spaces on the rails by using the action card (at the cost of 1 white action token).

For the first headframe that you place on the game board from your card, you may immediately put 1 spoil from the supply on the spoil tip. Placing the second headframe grants you 2 VP.

The Spoil Tip: 1 Free Trade Action

Before or after your own action you can trade spoil that is deposited on the spoil tip. Spoil is always stored on the spoil tip in a pyramid-like structure. You have the following trade options:

• For 3 spoil you can advance 1 road or 1 rail space or gain 1 VP.
• For 5 spoil, gain 1 VP and advance 1 road or 1 rail space.
• For 6 spoil, take 1 coin.

You can only conduct 1 free trade action per turn. That means you cannot trade 6 spoil to advance 2 rail spaces, for example. After the trade, spoil cubes are placed in a lower position if the cubes below them have been removed.

Headframe Actions

Note: you can only start using these action cards once you have placed at least 1 headframe in the headframe area of the game board. Once this is achieved, move your headframes onto available bonus spaces in the top row or left column. You can only have 1 headframe in each of the two areas.

By paying 1 coin, you can use the "double" action card in order to gain an available "big bonus" from the top row with the first headframe and, in addition, gain an available small bonus from the left column with the second headframe. Cover the headframe spaces with your headframes, they are no longer available to other players.

By using the "single" action card, you can move exactly 1 headframe either to the bonus area to the left or at the top. Note that you can never have both headframes in the same area.

The big bonus spaces at the top award:

• Gain 1 miner's action without target space usage (exception: the removal of tool markers, see also Special Situation in Final Scoring)
• Gain 1 coke on a coke wagon, pit water level rises
• Gain 1 coke on a coking space
• Advance 1 canal space and gain 2 VP

The small bonus spaces on the left award:

• Gain 1 coal on a coal wagon
• Gain 1 spoil on the spoil tip
• Discard 1 tool marker
• Gain 1 VP

It is possible to use the headframe actions several times, so you can relocate a headframe that has already been placed (regardless of whether it is currently located on a small or big bonus) and thus gain another bonus.

Copy Actions and Change of First Player

Some spaces of the miner's shift and the copy action allow you to use certain action cards that have no copy protection. It does not matter if the card has already been used by another player or not. One copy card copies 1 large action card; another copies 1 small action card. Note: you can only copy cards that do not have a copy-protection icon.

Example — Miner's shift: if you move your miner to the "Lamp Room" space, you can immediately use a large action card that costs exactly 1 player action token, and gain 1 tool marker. If you then choose to use a big route action, you can immediately advance 2 road + 1 channel spaces.

Copy card: the copy action of the first player card costs 1 player action token. As a reward, you can copy (and use) 1 medium or 1 small action for free and additionally gain the first player marker. The player holding the first player marker at the end of the game gains 2 VP in the final scoring.

Advantage of the starting player: the starting player draws cubes from the bag and decides on the distribution!

Final Scoring

After round 5, following the scoring of the last round card and beginning with the first player, the building pits are scored. You can score an area if you own a pithead building there. Use the scorepad for this and adhere to the order as it is presented below.

Miner's Scoring

If you have a pithead building in the "miner movement" scoring area, resolve 1 last miner movement including any turn range bonuses, but without using the target space. An exception to this is the removal of tool markers, e.g. if you happen to end your movement on the end-of-shift space.

After that, score the miner as follows: 8 VP for the miner who reached the Colliery Gate Exit first. 5 VP for all other players who have reached the colliery gate.

Special situation: if a miner has already reached the Colliery Gate Exit during the game, they are awarded 2 VP and may remove 1 tool marker for each additional miner movement after reaching the target space. This is even possible by using a miner's action without target space usage during final scoring.

Route Scoring

Score the 3 routes: road, rail and canal.

• Road: 8 VP for the player who reaches the target space first. 5 VP for all other players who have reached the target space. 3 VP for discs that have at least reached the space with the third-tier symbol. 2 VP for discs that have at least reached the space with the second-tier symbol. 1 VP for discs that have at least reached the space with the first-tier symbol.
• Rail: 8 VP for the player who reaches the target space first. 5 VP for all other players who have reached the target space. 4 VP for discs that have at least reached the space with the third-tier symbol. 3 VP for discs that have at least reached the space with the second-tier symbol. 2 VP for discs that have at least reached the space with the first-tier symbol.
• Canal: 8 VP for the player who reaches the target space first. 5 VP for all other players who have reached the target space. 3 VP for discs that have at least reached the space with the third-tier symbol. 2 VP for discs that have at least reached the space with the second-tier symbol. 1 VP for discs that have at least reached the space with the first-tier symbol.

Pithead Building Scoring

1. Gain 1 VP and 1 VP per unit of spoil on the spoil tip if you own a pithead building on this building pit.
2. This building pit awards 4 VP.
3. This building pit awards 2 VP (different players can have houses here, and more than 1 house per player is possible, too).
4. Perform 1 free loading action per pithead building that you own on this building pit. Then you can sell coke units in pairs, as many times as you have pithead buildings on this building pit.
5. After that you gain VP in your pit for the coke you have sold. Refer to the bar at the bottom to see the number of VP you will receive for each double unit of coke. Example: if you sell 6 units of coke (columns 1-3 are occupied), you will receive 17 VP (4+6+7). Thus, by selling coke you can gain a maximum of 36 VP (4+6+7+9+10).
6. Each fully loaded coal wagon awards 1 VP. Each unit of coke still placed on a coking space or coke wagon awards 1 VP.
7. If you own a pithead building on this building pit, you can now discard up to 3 tool markers into the general supply. Remaining tool markers award -2 VP each.
8. The current owner of the first player marker gains 2 VP.

Determining the Winner

In a clash of pit management skills and efficient coal production, the player who has gained the most victory points at the end of the game is the winner. If two players are tied, the player who is seated farthest from the first player in a clockwise order wins the game.

Modifications for 2 or 3 Players

3 Players

At the beginning, fill the bag with 12 coal and 3 spoil.

• Exclude all action cards and selection tiles showing a "4" at the bottom from the game.
• You cannot place pithead buildings on building pit spaces that are reserved for 4 players.
• Use a covering marker to cover the first "Manwinding" space on the game board. Miners skip this space.
• Cover 1 of the Central Coking Plant's grey coking spaces without an extra symbol. The space cannot be used during the entire game.

2 Players

At the beginning, fill the bag with 8 coal and 2 spoil.

• Exclude all action cards and selection tiles showing a "3+" and/or "4" at the bottom from the game.
• You can place pithead buildings only on building pit spaces that are designated for 2 players.
• Use covering markers to cover up the "Overman" space and the first "Manwinding" space on the game board. Miners skip these spaces.
• Cover 2 of the Central Coking Plant's grey coking spaces without an extra symbol. The spaces cannot be used during the entire game.

Selection Tiles

Each selection tile consists of two sections. The upper section (II) awards you a bonus in step II of the preparation phase. The lower section (VI) allows you to choose one of two available bonuses in step VI of the preparation phase, on condition that there is no house on the rightmost space of your pithead building bar. Take the bonuses for both sections (if applicable) from the general supply. The selection tile must be changed in each round. Bonuses always have to be taken as a whole.

• Train driver — Upper: 1 spoil, or 1 coal on a wagon. Lower: advance 1 rail space (only applicable if the disc does not cross a barrier), or 1 coal on a coal wagon.
• Mine rescue team — Upper: 1 coal on a coal wagon. Lower: 1 VP and lower pit water level, or remove 1 tool marker.
• Gatekeeper — Upper: 1 coke on a coke wagon, pit water level rises, gain 1 tool marker. Lower: advance 1 road space (only applicable if the disc does not cross a barrier), or lower pit water level.
• Coal vendor — Upper: lower pit water level. Lower: advance 1 canal space (only applicable if the disc does not cross a barrier), or 1 VP.
• Overman — Upper: 1 coal on a wagon. Lower: 1 coke on a coke wagon and gain 1 tool marker, or 1 spoil on the spoil tip.
• Hauler — Upper: 1 spoil on a wagon. Lower: 1 coke on a coking space (only applicable if there is currently at least 1 of the player's coke in the Central Coking Plant), or 1 coal on a wagon.
• Hewer — Upper: 1 coal on a wagon. Lower: 2 spoil on the spoil tip (only applicable if there is currently at least 1 of the player's spoil), or 1 spoil on a wagon.

Special Situations (Selection Tiles, Lower Section)

• Train driver: if all coal wagons are full, gain 1 tool marker instead.
• Mine rescue team: you can also just gain the VP without lowering the pit water level.
• Gatekeeper: if you can neither advance nor lower your pit water level, you gain nothing.
• Overman: if the spoil tip is full, you need to choose the coke and tool marker option.
• Hauler: if there are 4 units of coke in the Coking Plant already and all the wagons are full, you have to gain 1 tool marker.
• Hewer: if the spoil tip (6 spoil) and also all of the wagons are full, gain 1 tool marker. Note: spoil on the spoil tip can only be traded during the action phase (before or after an action), but not during the preparation phase.