Skyline of the World Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Overview
• Object of the Game
• Game Components
• Setup
• How the Game is Played
  • 1. Earn Income
  • 2. Build Floors
  • 3. Invest or Divest
• Explanation of the Game Materials
  • Strategic Areas
  • Penthouses
  • Neutral Floors
  • Skyline Floors
  • Bonus Cards
  • Mission Cards
• End of the Game
  • Victory Points and Winning the Game
• Remarks and Tips from The Game Master
  • Remarks on the Rules of the Second Version
  • Pay Attention to Which Player's Floor You Build On!
  • Expand If You Can
  • Adjacent Buildings Create Additional Income
  • Use Neutral Floors in Time!
• Advanced Game Variant
• Tournament Game

Game Overview

Skyline is a game in which it is important to build floors in the right position at the right time. Each player tries to reach and hold positions in one or more adjacent buildings in the emerging skyline in order to generate income every turn. Bonus cards bring direct income when the path shown on the card is completed. Prestige points can be gained by building penthouses: one point for each penthouse. At the end of the game the player who owns the highest floor of a building built on one of the three orange strategic areas scores one prestige point for each top position on these areas. Each player can also score prestige points by fulfilling his mission: two points for each player who has completed the path shown.

The game of Skyline is almost over as soon as one of the players builds his third penthouse: the other players complete the current round.

In the end the player who scores the most prestige points wins the game!

Object of the Game

Collect as many prestige points as possible. Each penthouse you have built brings you one prestige point. At the end of the game, each top position in an orange zone brings you one prestige point. You can also score two prestige points by completing your secret mission.

Game Components

• 1 game board
• 1 set of rules
• 32 floors of 1 million euro
• 24 floors of 2 million euro
• 16 floors of 4 million euro
• 12 floors of 6,000,000 euro
• 12 penthouses of 10,000,000 euro
• 6 neutral floors of 5,000,000 euro
• 8 Skyline floors (two floors for each color)
• 28 coins of 1 million euro
• 18 coins of 5,000,000 euro
• 6 mission cards
• 42 bonus cards

Setup

• Each player chooses a color.
• Each player receives 3 floors in his color: 2 floors of 1 million euro and 1 floor of 2 million euro.
• Each player receives 10 million euro in coins: 1 coin of 5 million euro and 5 coins of 1 million euro.
• Shuffle the mission cards and each player receives one mission card face down.
• The bonus cards are shuffled and each player receives 3 bonus cards; the other cards form a face-down pile.
• Determine randomly which player starts the game (for example, by flipping a coin).

How the Game is Played

Each player, on his turn, goes through the following phases:

1. Earn Income

The player earns income for a building (or a series of buildings) of which he owns the top floor. The value printed on the top of the floor(s) is the amount you receive in coins from the bank.

If you own the top floors of several adjacent buildings, you can add up the values of the various top floors to calculate your total income. You can receive income only for one building or series of buildings that are connected horizontally or vertically.

Neutral (white) floors, Skyline floors and penthouses do not generate income! A penthouse or a Skyline floor can work as a link between buildings to (indirectly) increase income, but these floors bring no direct income by themselves.

Note: it is not allowed to have more than 30 million euro in cash.

2. Build Floors

In this phase the player must build at least one floor, if possible.

It is not allowed to build a floor directly on top of another of your own floors. You must build on other players' floors, on a neutral floor, or on a Skyline floor of your own color. Every building starts at ground level, with a floor worth 1,000,000 euro. You cannot build a floor of higher value on the ground level! You pay 1,000,000 euro to the bank and place your floor on the board. From one million per floor, the values rise in the following order: 2 - 4 - 6 and 10 million euro.

The penthouse, worth 10 million euro, must be built on the fifth and highest level. It is not permitted to build another floor above it.

Note: you can only build a penthouse on top of a building in which you have already taken part by building a floor on a lower level within the building.

When you place a floor on a floor owned by another player, you must pay a compensation fee corresponding to the value printed on the floor on which you are building. You pay this fee once, to the player on whose floor you build.

The neutral floor can be built on any level and on any color, but it cannot be built on a Skyline floor or on a penthouse.

When a player builds a Skyline floor, he holds this position on the game board for his own benefit only. The Skyline floor can be built on any level and on any color, but it is not permitted to build it on an area marked in orange or on a floor that is in a building on a zone marked in orange. It is also forbidden to build two Skyline floors in the same turn.

3. Invest or Divest

Now you may buy new floors from the bank. You cannot build these floors in this turn, so you must plan ahead for your next turn. The values printed on the floors vary from 1 to 10 million euro.

These values indicate the amount you must pay the bank in order to add the floor to your stock. The cost of a neutral floor is 5,000,000 euro. It is not allowed to buy more than one neutral floor in a turn.

If you need money (to build in a later turn), now is the time to sell floors to the bank. This has a cost, because the bank pays only half of the floor's value, rounded down.

Note: if you were not able to build a floor in phase 2, you must buy a new floor if possible.

Your turn ends after game phase 3 and the player to your left can start with his first game phase.

Explanation of the Game Materials

Strategic Areas

The game board contains three areas marked in orange. These areas are important, since the player who owns the highest floor on one of these three areas at the end of the game scores 1 prestige point for each area.

Important notice! It is not necessary to build a penthouse on a strategic area to obtain a prestige point! However, the player who builds a penthouse of his color on one of these areas gains 2 prestige points (one for the penthouse and one for the highest property owned in this area).

Penthouses

A penthouse is a special floor: you score one prestige point for each penthouse.

Note: it is not allowed to build a floor on top of a penthouse! The penthouse, however, has an important disadvantage: it generates no income. But even without (extra) income, the penthouse can be an important link between buildings; your income could be increased when the penthouse connects several adjacent buildings. The purchase cost of a penthouse is 10 million euro, and you must invest another 10 million euro to build it. It is therefore important not to build a penthouse too quickly, and to make sure it contributes to the strategic plan to complete your secret mission.

The prerequisite is that you can build a penthouse only in a building in which you already control at least one floor. So make sure not to wait too long before placing floors, particularly in the strategic sectors.

The penthouse also has three special functions:

• If a player builds his first penthouse, he receives a Skyline floor in his color for free;
• If a player builds a penthouse, the other players draw a bonus card;
• If a player builds his third penthouse, he gains the privilege of receiving a second Skyline floor in his color for free; he can build this floor immediately; right after his turn the other players complete their turn, after which the game ends and the prestige points are counted.

Neutral Floors

White floors generate no points or income.

A neutral floor costs 5 million euro to buy and the player who builds it pays another 5 million euro to the owner of the floor on top of which the neutral floor is built. Neutral floors can come in handy! See the Game Master's tips section.

Two particular characteristics of the neutral floor:

• You can also build a neutral floor on one of your own floors. You pay 5 million euro to the owner of the floor below. If you build on your own floor, you build for free.
• A neutral floor can be built on any level: therefore also on the fifth and highest level, to block someone else's progress. The maximum position in a building is the fifth level. Consequently, even a neutral floor can never be built above a penthouse.

If you want to build on a neutral floor, you must pay the amount of the floor you are building to the bank (no player can own a neutral floor on the board).

A neutral floor also proves useful when you want to build a penthouse and no floors of 6,000,000 euro are available in another color. You can build both your own floor and a neutral floor in the same turn.

Note: you can buy only one neutral floor per turn!

Skyline Floors

A Skyline floor has the text SKYLINE OF THE WORLD on top. Each player can gain a maximum of two Skyline floors. Each player receives a Skyline floor for free when he finishes his first penthouse, and a bonus Skyline floor is gained only by the first player who manages to build his third penthouse. A Skyline floor is in your color.

It can be built on any level and on any color (also your own color), just like a neutral floor. Players cannot build their Skyline floors on positions on the board where other players have built their Skyline floors. With a Skyline floor a player controls a position on the game board, which may be of tactical strength or strategic importance. Building a Skyline floor costs you 5 million euro, to be paid to the owner of the floor on which you build. If you build on the ground level, the 5 million euro are paid to the bank, and if you own the floor on which you build, you keep the money in your pocket.

Important: it is not allowed to build a Skyline floor directly on or above a floor on one of the three strategic areas, and it is forbidden to build two of your Skyline floors in one turn.

A Skyline floor provides no (direct) income or prestige points, but it could form a connection to earn higher income or to fulfill your mission. Each player has the possibility to build a Skyline floor immediately after receiving it.

Bonus Cards

At the beginning of the game you receive 3 (blue) bonus cards. You can obtain additional bonus cards if one of the other players builds a penthouse. Only the players who do not build the penthouse receive a bonus card each.

As soon as you complete a path shown on one of your bonus cards during your turn, you can show the card and receive the amount printed on it. You must have reached the top floor (at that moment) on a series of buildings in order to earn these 5 (or 8) million euro. The player puts the card aside; it is now out of the game.

You can immediately use the money you receive from the bank to build new floors or buy new floors for the next turn. You can only hand in one bonus card per turn! You can hold any number of bonus cards if you want, but it is not allowed to hand in two bonus cards with the same path in the same turn. In order to earn the bonus, you may also build more than one path.

Example: You own the top position in four buildings in a row while you only need three to get the bonus. In this case you receive the bonus. So there is no need to build on intermediate positions if you draw the bonus card "US Bank Tower". The main rule is: the icon on the Bonus Card must match the icon on the game board. The icon can be part of a larger pattern.

If you cannot complete your patterns on the bonus cards and you need money, you can give three bonus cards to the bank and receive 5,000,000 euro from the bank in exchange. You can use this money to build on your turn.

Mission Cards

Each player receives a mission card at the beginning of the game and tries to complete the pattern of buildings on the card. If a player has completed his mission and still holds it at the end of the game, he gains two prestige points. As with the bonus cards, the player must own the highest positions in the four buildings on the path received. These buildings need not be penthouses.

End of the Game

As soon as one of the players has built his third penthouse, he receives his second Skyline floor and is also allowed to build it directly. Now all the other players complete their turn. At the end of this last round, all prestige points are counted. The player with the most prestige points wins the game.

Victory Points and Winning the Game

At the end of the game each player can collect the following prestige points:

• Each penthouse built: one prestige point each
• The top position in a building in a strategic zone: one prestige point for each strategic area
• Mission completed at the end of the game: two prestige points

The player with the most prestige points wins the game.

In case of a tie in points, the player with the most penthouses on the board wins. Still no winner? Then the player who has completed his mission wins the game. If there is still a tie, the Game Master suggests a rematch.

Remarks and Tips from The Game Master

Remarks on the Rules of the Second Version

The rule set of the first version of Skyline has been modified in some points to increase the enjoyment of the game. The main changes are some restrictions in the rules to avoid the possibility of slowing down the progress of the game. This is done by limiting the possibility of delaying construction and/or of investing in floors. The accumulation of money has also been limited, and the rule limiting purchases to only one neutral floor at a time are important restrictions that stimulate the pace of the game.

The introduction of the Skyline floor improves the chances of winning the game for the more progressive player, because building a penthouse is more interesting. The player who ends the game has decidedly better chances of winning than with the old rule set.

And last but not least: the strategic advantage of the game is improved, because the Skyline floor forces players to plan ahead in an earlier phase of the game to increase their chances of completing their mission.

Pay Attention to Which Player's Floor You Build On!

You pay a compensation fee to the player on whose floor you build. This player may see his income cut, but a disadvantage of this action is that you pay that player a fee for it. With this money the player could obtain the funds to build on one of your floors. So if you build on someone else's floor(s), make sure that player does not have floors ready to take revenge!

Expand If You Can

It can be useful - to keep all options open - to have floors of all values (and levels) in stock.

Adjacent Buildings Create Additional Income

You can increase your income by building floors on adjacent positions. If you have the top position on a series of buildings connected horizontally and/or vertically, you increase your income.

Example: In the first formation the player with the dark color of floors collects 7,000,000 euro at the start of his turn. In the second formation this player's income increases by 3 million euro. This is because the player connects the buildings by placing a 2 million euro floor in the middle. (See page 4 of the English rules.)

Use Neutral Floors in Time!

Neutral floors have an important function. Do not forget to buy them, because their number is limited! With a neutral floor you can build a penthouse, even if nobody wants to build on top of the fourth level. You first build the neutral floor, then your penthouse on top.

You can also use a neutral floor as a block, for example to block another player who is trying to build a penthouse. You can also use a neutral floor to separate a series of adjacent buildings in one color - thereby reducing an opponent's income.

Advanced Game Variant

After playing Skyline of the World a couple of times, and if you think you have understood the winning strategy, try playing the game "covered". For a covered game, hide your floors and coins. Now try playing without knowing the material and means of your rivals. A good memory is a precious asset here. You will still face some heavy surprises!

You have to stay alert in this more hard-fought variant of the game.

Tournament Game

If you play Skyline of the World in a tournament and you need a decision on who is the winner of a game, there must always be a winner. In case of a tie in the number of penthouses and the mission, the player who is the first to manage to build his third penthouse wins the game.

Enjoy the game!