Small City Rulebook

Table of Contents

Goal of the Game
Components
Setup
Borough Board
Play
End of Game and Final Scoring
Advanced Game
Solo Variant
Rating Table
Promise Cards
Credits

Goal of the Game

Players: 2–4. Game time: about 30 minutes per player.

To win, have the most votes (victory points) after 8 rounds. Votes are earned over the course of the game by placing citizens in residential zones, by erecting cultural buildings, by keeping commercial buildings in suitable areas, and by making good on the promises you made to citizens at the start of the game. Watch pollution at all times — high pollution levels hurt your score at the end of the game.

The advanced game offers three alternate victory conditions to choose from.

Components

90 Residential Zones (5 levels of development: 1–5)
41 Commercial Zones (4 levels of development: 1–4)
37 Factories (3 levels of development: 1–3)
8 Industrial buildings (4 Refineries, 4 Harbors)
12 Warehouses
55 Parks (small, medium, and large)
4 Police Stations (2 spaces)
4 Fire Stations (3 spaces, L-shaped)
24 Cultural Buildings (4 each of School [1×1], Library [2×1], Museum [3×1], Metro Station [4-space T-shape], CliniC [5-space plus-shape], and University [3×2])
4 City Halls
4 two-sided Borough boards (easy/expert)
1 two-sided City Council Board (basic/advanced)
8 Action cards
4 Advanced Action cards (marked with a star, used in the advanced game)
4 player screens
88 13mm Citizen mini meeples (22 each of red, blue, yellow, green)
30 octagonal prisms of building material (16 white, 8 grey, 6 black)
28 discs (7 each of red, blue, yellow, green)
1 Round pawn
1 22mm Mayor meeple
16 Promise cards (purple border)
16 Special Promise cards (pink border)
48 Money (16 each of $1 small silver, $5 small gold, and $25 big silver)
8 +50 Vote tiles
4 zip bags

Setup

Place the Round pawn on Round 1 of the City Council board.
Set the 8 Action cards near the City Council board. Remove the 4 starred Action cards (used only in the advanced game).
Separate the normal Promise cards (purple border, numbers 1–16, helicopter on the back) into three decks by difficulty: an easy deck (worth 6 votes), a medium deck (worth 12 votes), and a difficult deck (worth 18 votes). Shuffle each deck and place all three face-down near the City Council board. The Special Promise cards (pink border, numbers 17–32, scooter on the back) are used only in the advanced game.
For each of the following building types, remove buildings so that only one fewer than the number of players remains available (return the extras to the box): Metro Station, CliniC, University, Police Station, Fire Station.
Choose a random start player, who takes the Mayor meeple — the mayor is coming to visit! This player is the mayor's host. Play proceeds clockwise starting with the mayor's host.
Group the remaining tiles by color (green residential, blue commercial, yellow factories, parks, etc.).

Each player then:

Decides whether to play the easy or the expert side of their Borough board. Beginners should use the easy side, since it offers more room to build; other players may prefer the expert side.
Takes one each of the following tiles and places them near their Borough board (return any extras to the box): City Hall, School, Library, Museum, Refinery, Harbor.
Chooses a player color and takes all mini meeples and discs of that color.
Places 1 disc on the leftmost space of the Borough Size track — this marks the border of the Constructible Zone, the area of the board they may currently build in.
Places their City Hall aligned to the grid, entirely within their Constructible Zone.
Places 2 discs to the left of the first column on the City Council board.
Places 1 disc on the 0 space of the Vote track on the City Council board.
Places 1 disc near the stack of Action cards — this is their Special Action disc.
Places 2 discs on their Pollution track: one on the 0 tens space, and one on the 0 ones space.
Places 3 Citizens on City Hall.
Places 11 Citizens on the Career Center of their Borough board to form their personal reserve.
Places the remaining 8 Citizens in a common pool at the center of the table; these are not yet available.
Takes starting money according to turn order (clockwise from the mayor's host): 1st player $4, 2nd player $5, 3rd player $5, 4th player $6.
Draws one card from each Promise deck and keeps only one, returning the other two to the bottom of their respective decks. Keep your chosen Promise secret from the other players until the end of the game — fulfilling its conditions earns you additional votes.
Takes a player screen, used to hide their Borough during Phase II: Build.

Borough Board

Each Borough board is divided into four areas:

Borough Grid — the large grid in the center where you construct tiles. At the start of the game your Constructible Zone includes only the smallest area marked by the solid white line; over the course of the game you can expand it to build in more spaces.
Borough Size track — reminds you of your Constructible Zone, shown by the position of your disc.
Pollution track — shows how much pollution has accumulated in your Borough; it starts at 00%.
Career Center — where you keep your available (not-yet-placed) Citizens.

Play

The game lasts 8 rounds. Each round has 8 phases:

I. Select Special Actions II. Build III. Move Citizens IV. Income V. Vote VI. Measure Pollution VII. Influence City Council VIII. Mayor's Next Visit

I. Select Special Actions

The players who are not hosting the Mayor begin this phase by agreeing where to place the Mayor meeple on the borough board of the mayor's host. A Street is an edge between two empty spaces. The Mayor is placed on a street, preventing the mayor's host from building on either of the two spaces adjacent to that street this round. If the non-mayor players cannot agree, the previous mayor's host chooses the placement. If the same player hosted the mayor last round, the Mayor meeple must remain on the same street again this round.

Next, shuffle the 8 Action cards and place them face-down in a circle to form a rondel, then flip them face-up. Each player uses their Special Action disc to claim a different Special Action, in turn order. The mayor's host chooses first and always for free. The next player clockwise may take either action card directly adjacent to the one just chosen for free, or pay $1 to skip one empty card, $2 to skip two, or $3 to skip three (thus reaching the action on the opposite side from where the mayor's host started). Each following player does the same, counting from the most recently chosen card — occupied cards don't count toward the skip cost. No two players may choose the same action, and any money owed is paid from your reserve.

The eight Special Actions:

A. Mayor — the player who chooses this becomes the mayor's host (first in turn order) next round.
B. Architect — may pay one less building material (minimum 0) for one Cultural Building built this round.
C. Mediator — pays $1 less (minimum $1) for each building tile built this round.
D. Engineer — factories that produce building material this turn generate no pollution for this player (see Phase VI).
E. Supporter — must immediately take 2 votes or $1 from the reserve.
F. Urban Planner — may immediately move their Borough Size disc one space to the right, expanding their Constructible Zone for the rest of the game.
G. City Councilor — may immediately advance one of their discs on the City Council board one column, paying the indicated price and applying the effect of the new space immediately. Tiles built this way may be upgraded during this round's Build phase.
H. Opponent — a blank card with no bonus.

II. Build

Players place their player screens in front of their Borough boards to hide construction until the end of the phase. Building happens simultaneously; if two players want the last copy of a tile type, resolve it in turn order.

Each player may either build up to 3 tiles on empty spaces of their Constructible Zone, or build up to 1 tile and move their Borough Size disc one space to the right. Tiles generally cost $1 per space, with exceptions for Warehouses and Cultural Buildings.

Your Special Action affects construction cost:

The Mediator pays $1 less per tile (minimum $1 per tile); this does not affect Cultural Buildings.
The Architect pays one less building material (minimum 0) for one Cultural Building of their choice; this does not affect other buildings.

Any level: you may build Residential, Commercial, or Factory tiles at any development level, as long as the Construction Criteria for that level are met.

Influence Area: every tile has an Influence Area — the halo of spaces orthogonally or diagonally adjacent to any space of the tile. A 1-space building (e.g. a Refinery) has an 8-space Influence Area; a Level-2 Residence has a 10-space Influence Area. When something occupies a tile's Influence Area, it is "Influenced" by that tile. If any space of a tile is Influenced, the whole tile counts as Influenced. City Hall counts as a Cultural Building.

Demolition: you may replace one of your build actions with a demolition instead. Demolishing a tile costs $1 per space it occupied and immediately increases your pollution by 1 per space (this pollution does not count again in Phase VI). Return the demolished tile to the box.

Upgrades

Upgrading is free and optional, and does not use one of your 3 build actions. The tile must be inside your Constructible Zone.

Only Residential, Commercial, and Factory tiles can be upgraded; all others cannot.
The tile must already be Influenced by the correct combination required for the next level (see the per-zone Construction Conditions below). Some conditions also require the tile not be Influenced by certain other tiles.
Upgrading replaces the tile with a larger one and returns the old tile to the supply; the new tile must fully cover the old footprint without covering any other tiles. Citizens present on the old tile move to the same relative spaces on the new tile. A Factory's white-producing space must stay white and its grey-producing space must stay grey when upgraded (the tile cannot be shifted or flipped); the same applies to Commercial tiles.
You cannot upgrade a tile built during the same Build phase — but you may build the Influencers needed for an upgrade, then upgrade a previously-built tile, all in the same phase.
Chain-reactions are fine: if upgrading one tile brings it into the Influence Area of others, satisfying the next level's criteria, you may keep upgrading as long as each step's criteria are met.

Residential Zones

Green tiles, available in development levels 1–5.

Cannot be Influenced by a Factory, Refinery, Harbor, or Warehouse.
May be orthogonally adjacent to each other, but adjacent Residential Zones never merge to amplify vote totals (four R1 tiles laid out like an R4 still generate only up to 4 votes total in the Vote phase, not the 10 an actual R4 would generate).
Level 1: no requirements, but move 1 Citizen from City Hall to this tile (unless City Hall is empty).
Level 2: must be Influenced by 2 Cultural Buildings.
Level 3: must be Influenced by 3 Cultural Buildings.
Level 4: must be Influenced by 4 Cultural Buildings.
Level 5: must be Influenced by 5 Cultural Buildings.
No Citizens move when building Levels 2–5.

Special power: Citizens in Residential Zones generate votes.

Factories & Warehouses

Yellow tiles, available in development levels 1–3. They produce building materials (see Phase IV: Income).

Factories and Warehouses cannot be Influenced by Residential Zones.
Level 1: no requirements, but you must build a Warehouse in this tile's Influence Area (a free action, $0). If there's no room for the Warehouse in the Influence Area, it is not built.
Level 2: must be Influenced by a Refinery or a Harbor.
Level 3: must be Influenced by a Refinery and a Harbor.
Levels 2 and 3 do not allow building a Warehouse.

Commercial Zones

Blue tiles, available in development levels 1–4.

Level 1: must be Influenced by 1 Residential Zone.
Level 2: must be Influenced by 2 Residential Zones.
Level 3: must be Influenced by 3 Residential Zones.
Level 4: must be Influenced by 4 Residential Zones.
The influencing Residential Zones may be of any size.

Special power: Citizens in Commercial Zones produce money, or let you trade building materials for money or votes.

Cultural Buildings

Reddish tiles — School, Library, Museum, Metro Station, CliniC, University, and City Hall, each unique. They cost no money but require building materials from your Warehouses and/or City Hall (e.g. a School costs 1 white; a Museum costs 2 white and 1 grey). You may only build one of each Cultural Building.

Special powers:

Metro Station — as soon as built, you may host 2 Citizens in each opponent's Borough instead of 1. Does not need a Citizen to activate.
CliniC / University — activate by moving one Citizen onto the tile during Phase III (limited to one Citizen each). While the Citizen remains: the CliniC prevents your Citizens from dying to pollution (your Tourists elsewhere remain vulnerable); the University earns you 3 Votes in Phase V.
School, Library, Museum — no special power, but can host Citizens pursuing their own interests.

Police Station and Fire Station

You may build only one of each.

Activate by moving one Citizen (not from City Hall or the Career Center) onto the tile, either when built or during Phase III. While the Citizen remains: the Police Station returns any Tourists Influenced by it (at the moment of activation) to their owners' City Halls, or Career Centers if there's no room; the Fire Station protects your own Citizens elsewhere from dying to pollution while they are Tourists in opponents' Boroughs (see Phase VI).

Industrial Tiles

The Refinery and the Harbor. You may build only one of each, and neither can be Influenced by Residential Zones. The Harbor comprises 2 spaces of industrial building and 2 spaces of water; only the building spaces count for cost ($2) and Influence.

Parks

Light green tiles, available in three sizes (1–3).

May be Influenced by any tile.
May be orthogonally adjacent to each other, but you cannot replace two adjacent Park tiles with a single tile of the same shape.
Cannot be upgraded.

Special power: move one Citizen onto a Park during Phase III to mitigate pollution (this does not require a Citizen to activate).

End of the Build phase

Once everyone has finished, remove your player screens and announce what you built, its cost, and any upgrades performed — this lets other players confirm no mistakes were made and signals that everyone is ready to move on.

III. Move Citizens

Starting with the player hosting the Mayor and proceeding clockwise, each player moves some or all of their Citizens. Lay a meeple down once it has moved this phase (or stand it back up if your meeples start lying down), to track which have already moved.

Citizens and Tourists move only onto tiles, never onto empty spaces.
No space may ever hold more than one Citizen, even briefly.
Each Citizen must move to a new space (it can be a different space on the same tile), except Citizens in Residential Zones and Citizens activating a special-power tile (Fire Station, Police Station, CliniC, University).
A Factory or Commercial space your Citizen occupied at the start of this phase cannot be reoccupied by your own Citizen this phase, though another player's Citizen could use it.

Tourists: you may have at most 1 Citizen in each opponent's Borough (2 if you've built a Metro Station); such a Citizen is called a Tourist. An opponent's activated Police Station protects the 10 squares in its Influence Area from Tourists. In a 4-player game, you cannot send a Tourist to the Borough directly opposite you in round 1. Tourists cannot enter opponents' Residential Zones, Fire Stations, Police Stations, CliniCs, or Universities. Tourists work for their owner as if the spaces they occupy were in their own Borough, except in a Cultural Building, where they pursue their own interests and grant no bonus. Tourists must move every round; if there's no valid destination in their current Borough, they move to a neighboring Borough (clockwise or counterclockwise, respecting the visit limit) or, if that's not possible either, come home and stop being a Tourist. Citizens and Tourists sitting in a Park, School, Library, Museum, or Metro Station are merely resting.

Citizens on City Hall do not move until the end of this phase, at which point they move into any empty Residence-1 spaces.

IV. Income

Income is earned simultaneously by all players, starting with Tourist and Commercial income, then Factory income. Apply any special powers activated by your Citizens. All income comes from the reserve; because building materials are finite, take income in turn order if supplies run low (each player takes their full income before the next begins).

a. Tourist Income — each Tourist in your Borough (even in a Park) earns you $1.

b. Commercial Income — for each Citizen occupying a Commercial space:

A $1 space earns $1.
A cube/$ space lets you trade one building material from a Warehouse or City Hall for money (white sells for $2, grey for $3, black for $5).
A $/Votes space lets you buy one "lot" of 2–5 votes ($1 for 2 votes, $2 for 3, $3 for 4, $4 for 5).
A Cube/Votes space lets you trade one building material for votes (white for 3, grey for 5, black for 7).

You choose the order in which you resolve your Commercial income, allowing you to chain conversions however your Citizens permit.

c. Factory Income — each Citizen occupying a Factory space produces one building material matching that space's color (white, grey, or black). You must place it in an empty space in a Warehouse (not necessarily one adjacent to the Factory) or in an empty space of City Hall (max 4). If you can't accommodate a material produced for a Tourist, find an empty Warehouse space in the Borough where the Factory is located; if there's no room anywhere, the material is wasted and returns to the reserve. Building materials cannot be rearranged once placed — the only way to remove them is to spend them during Phase II (Build) or Phase IVb (Commercial Income).

City Hall's total capacity is 4 Citizens and/or building materials combined — one item per space.

After all players finish moving, new homes are found for Citizens waiting at City Hall: for each empty Residence-1 space in your Borough, move one Citizen there from City Hall. Then, once every player has finished their turn, each player checks for new Citizens: each empty Factory space in your Borough attracts 1 new Citizen from your Career Center to your City Hall.

V. Vote

Citizens earn votes as follows:

Residence: the first Citizen in a Residence earns 1 vote, the second 2, the third 3, the fourth 4, and the fifth 5 — so a single Citizen in an R1 always earns 1 vote, three Citizens in an R5 earn 6 votes, and a full R5 earns 15 votes (1+2+3+4+5).
University: if activated, earns 3 Votes.

Adjust your score on the track around the edge of the City Council board; take a +50 tile if you pass 50 votes.

VI. Measure Pollution

Each Citizen in your Borough (Tourists included) generates 1 pollution, except those in City Hall and those in Cemeteries. Pollution accumulates from round to round.

Each Factory that produced building material this round (even for a Tourist) generates 1 pollution, unless you chose the Engineer Special Action this round.
Each Park space generates −1 pollution, to a minimum of 0 for the round — Parks reduce this round's pollution generation but do not clean up pollution already accumulated.
If your accumulated pollution ever reaches 100%, you immediately lose the game and all your citizens die; CliniC and Fire Station protection has no effect against this.
Once anyone's accumulated pollution reaches 10% or more, Citizens start dying: whichever player generated the most pollution this round must kill one Citizen in their Borough (ties broken by higher cumulative pollution; if still tied, all tied players kill one). This can happen even if nobody generated pollution this round, as long as someone's total is 10% or higher.
You may choose a Tourist in your Borough as the one who dies. If that Tourist's owner has an active Fire Station, the Tourist goes home instead of dying (to their owner's City Hall, or Career Center if City Hall is full). If every Tourist present is protected this way, you must choose one of your own Citizens instead.
An active CliniC prevents any of your own Citizens from dying — including meaning you don't have to kill one even if all Tourists present are Fire-Station-protected.
The dead Citizen is laid to rest on an empty space (no tile) in your Constructible Zone, creating a Cemetery. A second Cemetery must be placed orthogonally adjacent to your first one, if possible.

VII. Influence City Council

In turn order, each player may make one investment to move a disc on the City Council board, advancing their standing with one of four Councilpersons. Multiple players can occupy the same space — stack discs.

Pay the cost to move, in either money or votes (not a mix). Column 1 costs $1 or 1 vote; column 2 costs 2; column 3 costs 3; column 4 costs 4.
You may switch rows, but only by restarting at column 1 (paying $1 or 1 vote) — and you can never have both your discs in the same row. You may also restart the same row under the same rule.
Apply the bonus of the space you land on immediately; bonuses are not cumulative and you cannot claim a previous column's bonus.
Once a disc reaches the final column, it stays there for the rest of the game — it can neither switch rows nor restart in the same row.

The four rows:

Row 1 — Department of Industry: immediately receive building materials, stored in Warehouses or City Hall (return any with no room to the reserve). Column 1: 1 white. Column 2: 2 white or 1 grey. Column 3: 2 grey or 1 black. Column 4: 2 black.
Row 2 — Department of Building: immediately build a non-Cultural tile for free (no construction cost), still respecting its Construction Conditions. Column 1: build a 1-space tile. Column 2: a 2-space tile. Column 3: a 3-space tile. Column 4: a tile of size 1–4 without respecting Construction Conditions (e.g. a Factory 3 with no Harbor, or a Residence 3 with no Cultural Building Influence) — though Residential and Industrial tiles still may never Influence one another.
Row 3 — Department of Economy: immediately receive money or votes, your choice. Column 1: $2 or 2 votes. Column 2: $3 or 3 votes. Column 3: $5 or 5 votes. Column 4: $8 or 8 votes.
Row 4 — Department of Tourism: immediately receive Citizens of your color from the common reserve, hosted in City Hall (any with no room go to your personal reserve). Column 1: 1 Citizen. Column 2: 1 Citizen. Column 3: 2 Citizens. Column 4: 2 Citizens. This is the only way to exceed 14 Citizens in the base game.

VIII. Mayor's Next Visit

If no one chose the Mayor Special Action this round, the Mayor meeple moves one player clockwise; otherwise, it passes to the player who chose the Mayor action. Advance the Round pawn one space and stand all meeples back up, except those on Cemeteries. A new round begins.

End of Game and Final Scoring

The game ends after round 8. Each player then:

Reveals their Promise card: if fulfilled, add its votes (6/12/18) to their vote total; if not fulfilled, subtract points instead (3/6/12).
Subtracts their pollution level from this new total.

The player with the most votes wins. Ties are broken first by lowest pollution, then by most money.

Advanced Game

Setup

Use the expert side of the City Council board. Shuffle the pink-bordered Special Promise cards into a face-down deck near the City Council board. The players then agree on a Victory Condition: Votes (identical to the base game, but with Special Promise cards added), Economic Victory, Citizens Victory, or Cultural Victory. Advanced rules can be combined with either side (easy or expert) of the Borough boards for variety. See below for the setup changes specific to each Victory Condition.

Play

I. Select Special Actions. Shuffle the 4 starred Advanced Action cards in with the 8 base cards. Instead of always laying out 8, lay out 2x + 2 cards in the circle, where x is the number of players (6 for 2 players, up to 10 for 4 players); the rest wait face-down in the center and are shuffled in with the current face-up cards next round.

The four Advanced Special Actions:

I. Exec Assistant — may immediately merge one Residence 1 with one adjacent Residence of level n (1–4) into a Residence of level n+1, without meeting that level's Cultural Building requirement — but the two merged Residences must exactly match the footprint of the level n+1 tile. Pay $(n+1) for the merge, covering both construction and the "fee" for the mayor to overlook the zoning violation.
J. Ecologist — Citizens and Tourists in your Commercial Zones generate no pollution this round.
K. Attorney — once during the Move Citizens phase, you may place 2 Citizens in a single space of a Residential Zone, Commercial Zone, or Factory, using the space twice (once per Citizen). In a Residential Zone, this "roommate" generates votes equal to the zone's size (e.g. a full Residence 4 with a roommate scores 1+2+3+4+4=14 votes). Each Citizen must still move to a new space next round.
L. Anarchist — must immediately pay $2 or 3 Votes to calm civil unrest; if you have neither, your pollution increases by 3.

VII. Influence City Council (advanced option). Instead of paying money or votes to advance, you may take a pink Special Promise card: draw as many cards as the column's stated cost, keep one, and return the rest face-down under the deck. This becomes an additional Promise you must fulfill by game end. Fulfilling a Special Promise is worth +0; failing one costs −5. There is no limit on how many Special Promises you may take, and each requires you to be the only player who meets its condition.

Specific changes for each Victory Condition

Economic Victory

Setup: remove Special Promise card #14 ("More than $17 at the end of the game").

Play (Phase VIII): each Cultural Building and each Residential Zone generates S² dollars of Revenue, where S is its size in spaces (e.g. a Metro Station, size 4, generates $16; a Residence 5 generates $25). The number of Citizens in a Residential Zone does not affect its Revenue. Revenue is neither spendable money nor income — it counts only toward this Victory Condition.

Final Scoring: the player with the highest combined cash and net Revenue wins. Pollution is not subtracted as negative points in this variant, though reaching 100% pollution still ends the game in an immediate loss. Purple Promise cards fulfilled add Revenue ($6/$12/$18); failed ones subtract Revenue (−$3/−$6/−$12). Pink Promise cards fulfilled are worth $0; failed ones cost −$5. Ties are broken by lowest pollution, then most votes.

Citizens Victory

Setup: place 3 Citizens on City Hall as usual; place 19 Citizens on your Career Center (there is no common reserve). Remove Promise card #11.

Play: the Department of Tourism row on the City Council board lets you move Citizens from your personal reserve to City Hall. In Phase VIII, record each player's total Citizens in play.

Final Scoring: the player with the most Citizens in play (excluding those on City Hall) wins. Ties are broken by lower pollution, then more votes, then more money. Promise cards still earn normal vote points as in the base game.

Cultural Victory

Setup: remove Special Promise card #16 ("Build all 6 Cultural Buildings"). Each player takes one full set of 6 Cultural Buildings.

Final Scoring: the player with the most spaces of Cultural tiles wins. Ties are broken by lower pollution, then more votes, then more money. Promise cards still earn normal vote points as in the base game.

You still lose the game immediately if your pollution reaches 100%, regardless of Victory Condition.

Solo Variant

All rules of the basic game apply, with the following exceptions.

Setup: choose a Difficulty Level, from easiest to toughest: Citizen, Mayor, Governor, Senator, President. Use either Borough board side. Place 1 Cultural Building of each size, plus 1 Refinery, 1 Harbor, 1 Fire Station, and 1 Police Station near your Borough board. Shuffle the 8 Action cards, draw one and place the Mayor meeple on it, then lay out the next three cards clockwise from it; keep the remaining 4 face-down for next round. The Mayor visits the VIPs represented by the special action cards rather than a Borough.

Play:

I. Select Special Actions — the card bearing the Mayor is treated as chosen by an imaginary first player; you are always the second player. The two cards beside the Mayor's card are free; paying $2 lets you skip to the card directly opposite.
III. Move Citizens — there are no Tourists, since there are no other Boroughs to visit and none to send Tourists to yours.
V. Pollution — how much pollution it takes to kill a Citizen depends on your chosen Difficulty and this round's pollution increase:
- Citizen: no Citizens die, regardless of increase.
- Mayor: 1 Citizen dies if pollution increased by more than 5.
- Governor: 1 Citizen dies if pollution increased by more than 2.
- Senator: 1 Citizen dies if pollution increased at all.
- President: 1 Citizen dies per point pollution increased this round.
VIII. Mayor's Next Visit — the Mayor is visiting the VIPs on the action cards, not a Borough.

Final Scoring: the player with the most Citizens in play wins (excluding City Hall). Ties are broken by lower pollution, then more Votes, then more money. All Promise cards earn normal vote points as in the base game.

Rating Table

At the end of the game, your final score corresponds to a title:

Score	Title
50–59	Homestead
60–69	Hamlet
70–79	Village
80–89	Neighborhood
90–99	Town
100–109	Suburb
110–119	City
120–134	Metropolis
135–149	Capital
150+	Megalopolis

Promise Cards

Purple-bordered Promise cards (1–16, worth 6/12/18 votes by difficulty deck) and pink-bordered Special Promise cards (17–32, advanced game only) each state a condition to fulfill by game end:

At least 4 different sized Residential Zones.
All 3 different sized Factories.
All 4 different sized Commercial Zones.
Whole Constructible Zone available.
At least two rows complete on City Council.
Pollution level lower than 15%.
At least three dead Citizens.
Constructible Zone not expanded.
At least 3 Commercial Zones sized 4.
At least 3 Park areas sized bigger than 4.
All 22 Citizens in use (not in reserve).
Pollution level higher than 40%.
At least 3 Factories sized 3.
More than $17 Money.
All 5 different-sized Residential Zones.
All 6 different Cultural Buildings.
Largest total area of Factories.
Largest total area of Residential Zones.
Largest total area of Commercial Zones.
Fewest (or 0) dead Citizens.
Most empty spaces on Constructible Zone.
Smallest total area of Parks.
Smallest total area of Factories.
Most dead Citizens.
Fewest empty spaces in Constructible Zone.
Fewest Citizens in your Borough.
Highest Pollution level.
Smallest total area of Residential Zones.
Fewest Votes.
Most spaces in use in Constructible Zone.
Most Money.
Both Police Station and Fire Station.

Credits

Small City was designed by Alban Viard. Graphic design by Sampo Sikiö (samposdesign.com) and Todd Sanders. Illustrations by Fanny Dalle Aste. Small City © Alban Viard 2015.

Small City Rulebook

Table of Contents

Goal of the Game
Components
Setup
Borough Board
Play
End of Game and Final Scoring
Advanced Game
Solo Variant
Rating Table
Promise Cards
Credits

Goal of the Game

Players: 2–4. Game time: about 30 minutes per player.

The advanced game offers three alternate victory conditions to choose from.

Components

90 Residential Zones (5 levels of development: 1–5)
41 Commercial Zones (4 levels of development: 1–4)
37 Factories (3 levels of development: 1–3)
8 Industrial buildings (4 Refineries, 4 Harbors)
12 Warehouses
55 Parks (small, medium, and large)
4 Police Stations (2 spaces)
4 Fire Stations (3 spaces, L-shaped)
24 Cultural Buildings (4 each of School [1×1], Library [2×1], Museum [3×1], Metro Station [4-space T-shape], CliniC [5-space plus-shape], and University [3×2])
4 City Halls
4 two-sided Borough boards (easy/expert)
1 two-sided City Council Board (basic/advanced)
8 Action cards
4 Advanced Action cards (marked with a star, used in the advanced game)
4 player screens
88 13mm Citizen mini meeples (22 each of red, blue, yellow, green)
30 octagonal prisms of building material (16 white, 8 grey, 6 black)
28 discs (7 each of red, blue, yellow, green)
1 Round pawn
1 22mm Mayor meeple
16 Promise cards (purple border)
16 Special Promise cards (pink border)
48 Money (16 each of $1 small silver, $5 small gold, and $25 big silver)
8 +50 Vote tiles
4 zip bags

Setup

Place the Round pawn on Round 1 of the City Council board.
Set the 8 Action cards near the City Council board. Remove the 4 starred Action cards (used only in the advanced game).
Separate the normal Promise cards (purple border, numbers 1–16, helicopter on the back) into three decks by difficulty: an easy deck (worth 6 votes), a medium deck (worth 12 votes), and a difficult deck (worth 18 votes). Shuffle each deck and place all three face-down near the City Council board. The Special Promise cards (pink border, numbers 17–32, scooter on the back) are used only in the advanced game.
For each of the following building types, remove buildings so that only one fewer than the number of players remains available (return the extras to the box): Metro Station, CliniC, University, Police Station, Fire Station.
Choose a random start player, who takes the Mayor meeple — the mayor is coming to visit! This player is the mayor's host. Play proceeds clockwise starting with the mayor's host.
Group the remaining tiles by color (green residential, blue commercial, yellow factories, parks, etc.).

Each player then:

Decides whether to play the easy or the expert side of their Borough board. Beginners should use the easy side, since it offers more room to build; other players may prefer the expert side.
Takes one each of the following tiles and places them near their Borough board (return any extras to the box): City Hall, School, Library, Museum, Refinery, Harbor.
Chooses a player color and takes all mini meeples and discs of that color.
Places 1 disc on the leftmost space of the Borough Size track — this marks the border of the Constructible Zone, the area of the board they may currently build in.
Places their City Hall aligned to the grid, entirely within their Constructible Zone.
Places 2 discs to the left of the first column on the City Council board.
Places 1 disc on the 0 space of the Vote track on the City Council board.
Places 1 disc near the stack of Action cards — this is their Special Action disc.
Places 2 discs on their Pollution track: one on the 0 tens space, and one on the 0 ones space.
Places 3 Citizens on City Hall.
Places 11 Citizens on the Career Center of their Borough board to form their personal reserve.
Places the remaining 8 Citizens in a common pool at the center of the table; these are not yet available.
Takes starting money according to turn order (clockwise from the mayor's host): 1st player $4, 2nd player $5, 3rd player $5, 4th player $6.
Draws one card from each Promise deck and keeps only one, returning the other two to the bottom of their respective decks. Keep your chosen Promise secret from the other players until the end of the game — fulfilling its conditions earns you additional votes.
Takes a player screen, used to hide their Borough during Phase II: Build.

Borough Board

Each Borough board is divided into four areas:

Borough Grid — the large grid in the center where you construct tiles. At the start of the game your Constructible Zone includes only the smallest area marked by the solid white line; over the course of the game you can expand it to build in more spaces.
Borough Size track — reminds you of your Constructible Zone, shown by the position of your disc.
Pollution track — shows how much pollution has accumulated in your Borough; it starts at 00%.
Career Center — where you keep your available (not-yet-placed) Citizens.

Play

The game lasts 8 rounds. Each round has 8 phases:

I. Select Special Actions II. Build III. Move Citizens IV. Income V. Vote VI. Measure Pollution VII. Influence City Council VIII. Mayor's Next Visit

I. Select Special Actions

The eight Special Actions:

A. Mayor — the player who chooses this becomes the mayor's host (first in turn order) next round.
B. Architect — may pay one less building material (minimum 0) for one Cultural Building built this round.
C. Mediator — pays $1 less (minimum $1) for each building tile built this round.
D. Engineer — factories that produce building material this turn generate no pollution for this player (see Phase VI).
E. Supporter — must immediately take 2 votes or $1 from the reserve.
F. Urban Planner — may immediately move their Borough Size disc one space to the right, expanding their Constructible Zone for the rest of the game.
G. City Councilor — may immediately advance one of their discs on the City Council board one column, paying the indicated price and applying the effect of the new space immediately. Tiles built this way may be upgraded during this round's Build phase.
H. Opponent — a blank card with no bonus.

II. Build

Your Special Action affects construction cost:

The Mediator pays $1 less per tile (minimum $1 per tile); this does not affect Cultural Buildings.
The Architect pays one less building material (minimum 0) for one Cultural Building of their choice; this does not affect other buildings.

Any level: you may build Residential, Commercial, or Factory tiles at any development level, as long as the Construction Criteria for that level are met.

Upgrades

Upgrading is free and optional, and does not use one of your 3 build actions. The tile must be inside your Constructible Zone.

Only Residential, Commercial, and Factory tiles can be upgraded; all others cannot.
The tile must already be Influenced by the correct combination required for the next level (see the per-zone Construction Conditions below). Some conditions also require the tile not be Influenced by certain other tiles.
Upgrading replaces the tile with a larger one and returns the old tile to the supply; the new tile must fully cover the old footprint without covering any other tiles. Citizens present on the old tile move to the same relative spaces on the new tile. A Factory's white-producing space must stay white and its grey-producing space must stay grey when upgraded (the tile cannot be shifted or flipped); the same applies to Commercial tiles.
You cannot upgrade a tile built during the same Build phase — but you may build the Influencers needed for an upgrade, then upgrade a previously-built tile, all in the same phase.
Chain-reactions are fine: if upgrading one tile brings it into the Influence Area of others, satisfying the next level's criteria, you may keep upgrading as long as each step's criteria are met.

Residential Zones

Green tiles, available in development levels 1–5.

Cannot be Influenced by a Factory, Refinery, Harbor, or Warehouse.
May be orthogonally adjacent to each other, but adjacent Residential Zones never merge to amplify vote totals (four R1 tiles laid out like an R4 still generate only up to 4 votes total in the Vote phase, not the 10 an actual R4 would generate).
Level 1: no requirements, but move 1 Citizen from City Hall to this tile (unless City Hall is empty).
Level 2: must be Influenced by 2 Cultural Buildings.
Level 3: must be Influenced by 3 Cultural Buildings.
Level 4: must be Influenced by 4 Cultural Buildings.
Level 5: must be Influenced by 5 Cultural Buildings.
No Citizens move when building Levels 2–5.

Special power: Citizens in Residential Zones generate votes.

Factories & Warehouses

Yellow tiles, available in development levels 1–3. They produce building materials (see Phase IV: Income).

Factories and Warehouses cannot be Influenced by Residential Zones.
Level 1: no requirements, but you must build a Warehouse in this tile's Influence Area (a free action, $0). If there's no room for the Warehouse in the Influence Area, it is not built.
Level 2: must be Influenced by a Refinery or a Harbor.
Level 3: must be Influenced by a Refinery and a Harbor.
Levels 2 and 3 do not allow building a Warehouse.

Commercial Zones

Blue tiles, available in development levels 1–4.

Level 1: must be Influenced by 1 Residential Zone.
Level 2: must be Influenced by 2 Residential Zones.
Level 3: must be Influenced by 3 Residential Zones.
Level 4: must be Influenced by 4 Residential Zones.
The influencing Residential Zones may be of any size.

Special power: Citizens in Commercial Zones produce money, or let you trade building materials for money or votes.

Cultural Buildings

Special powers:

Metro Station — as soon as built, you may host 2 Citizens in each opponent's Borough instead of 1. Does not need a Citizen to activate.
CliniC / University — activate by moving one Citizen onto the tile during Phase III (limited to one Citizen each). While the Citizen remains: the CliniC prevents your Citizens from dying to pollution (your Tourists elsewhere remain vulnerable); the University earns you 3 Votes in Phase V.
School, Library, Museum — no special power, but can host Citizens pursuing their own interests.

Police Station and Fire Station

You may build only one of each.

Activate by moving one Citizen (not from City Hall or the Career Center) onto the tile, either when built or during Phase III. While the Citizen remains: the Police Station returns any Tourists Influenced by it (at the moment of activation) to their owners' City Halls, or Career Centers if there's no room; the Fire Station protects your own Citizens elsewhere from dying to pollution while they are Tourists in opponents' Boroughs (see Phase VI).

Industrial Tiles

Parks

Light green tiles, available in three sizes (1–3).

May be Influenced by any tile.
May be orthogonally adjacent to each other, but you cannot replace two adjacent Park tiles with a single tile of the same shape.
Cannot be upgraded.

Special power: move one Citizen onto a Park during Phase III to mitigate pollution (this does not require a Citizen to activate).

End of the Build phase

III. Move Citizens

Citizens and Tourists move only onto tiles, never onto empty spaces.
No space may ever hold more than one Citizen, even briefly.
Each Citizen must move to a new space (it can be a different space on the same tile), except Citizens in Residential Zones and Citizens activating a special-power tile (Fire Station, Police Station, CliniC, University).
A Factory or Commercial space your Citizen occupied at the start of this phase cannot be reoccupied by your own Citizen this phase, though another player's Citizen could use it.

Citizens on City Hall do not move until the end of this phase, at which point they move into any empty Residence-1 spaces.

IV. Income

a. Tourist Income — each Tourist in your Borough (even in a Park) earns you $1.

b. Commercial Income — for each Citizen occupying a Commercial space:

A $1 space earns $1.
A cube/$ space lets you trade one building material from a Warehouse or City Hall for money (white sells for $2, grey for $3, black for $5).
A $/Votes space lets you buy one "lot" of 2–5 votes ($1 for 2 votes, $2 for 3, $3 for 4, $4 for 5).
A Cube/Votes space lets you trade one building material for votes (white for 3, grey for 5, black for 7).

You choose the order in which you resolve your Commercial income, allowing you to chain conversions however your Citizens permit.

City Hall's total capacity is 4 Citizens and/or building materials combined — one item per space.

V. Vote

Citizens earn votes as follows:

Residence: the first Citizen in a Residence earns 1 vote, the second 2, the third 3, the fourth 4, and the fifth 5 — so a single Citizen in an R1 always earns 1 vote, three Citizens in an R5 earn 6 votes, and a full R5 earns 15 votes (1+2+3+4+5).
University: if activated, earns 3 Votes.

Adjust your score on the track around the edge of the City Council board; take a +50 tile if you pass 50 votes.

VI. Measure Pollution

Each Citizen in your Borough (Tourists included) generates 1 pollution, except those in City Hall and those in Cemeteries. Pollution accumulates from round to round.

Each Factory that produced building material this round (even for a Tourist) generates 1 pollution, unless you chose the Engineer Special Action this round.
Each Park space generates −1 pollution, to a minimum of 0 for the round — Parks reduce this round's pollution generation but do not clean up pollution already accumulated.
If your accumulated pollution ever reaches 100%, you immediately lose the game and all your citizens die; CliniC and Fire Station protection has no effect against this.
Once anyone's accumulated pollution reaches 10% or more, Citizens start dying: whichever player generated the most pollution this round must kill one Citizen in their Borough (ties broken by higher cumulative pollution; if still tied, all tied players kill one). This can happen even if nobody generated pollution this round, as long as someone's total is 10% or higher.
You may choose a Tourist in your Borough as the one who dies. If that Tourist's owner has an active Fire Station, the Tourist goes home instead of dying (to their owner's City Hall, or Career Center if City Hall is full). If every Tourist present is protected this way, you must choose one of your own Citizens instead.
An active CliniC prevents any of your own Citizens from dying — including meaning you don't have to kill one even if all Tourists present are Fire-Station-protected.
The dead Citizen is laid to rest on an empty space (no tile) in your Constructible Zone, creating a Cemetery. A second Cemetery must be placed orthogonally adjacent to your first one, if possible.

VII. Influence City Council

Pay the cost to move, in either money or votes (not a mix). Column 1 costs $1 or 1 vote; column 2 costs 2; column 3 costs 3; column 4 costs 4.
You may switch rows, but only by restarting at column 1 (paying $1 or 1 vote) — and you can never have both your discs in the same row. You may also restart the same row under the same rule.
Apply the bonus of the space you land on immediately; bonuses are not cumulative and you cannot claim a previous column's bonus.
Once a disc reaches the final column, it stays there for the rest of the game — it can neither switch rows nor restart in the same row.

The four rows:

Row 1 — Department of Industry: immediately receive building materials, stored in Warehouses or City Hall (return any with no room to the reserve). Column 1: 1 white. Column 2: 2 white or 1 grey. Column 3: 2 grey or 1 black. Column 4: 2 black.
Row 2 — Department of Building: immediately build a non-Cultural tile for free (no construction cost), still respecting its Construction Conditions. Column 1: build a 1-space tile. Column 2: a 2-space tile. Column 3: a 3-space tile. Column 4: a tile of size 1–4 without respecting Construction Conditions (e.g. a Factory 3 with no Harbor, or a Residence 3 with no Cultural Building Influence) — though Residential and Industrial tiles still may never Influence one another.
Row 3 — Department of Economy: immediately receive money or votes, your choice. Column 1: $2 or 2 votes. Column 2: $3 or 3 votes. Column 3: $5 or 5 votes. Column 4: $8 or 8 votes.
Row 4 — Department of Tourism: immediately receive Citizens of your color from the common reserve, hosted in City Hall (any with no room go to your personal reserve). Column 1: 1 Citizen. Column 2: 1 Citizen. Column 3: 2 Citizens. Column 4: 2 Citizens. This is the only way to exceed 14 Citizens in the base game.

VIII. Mayor's Next Visit

End of Game and Final Scoring

The game ends after round 8. Each player then:

Reveals their Promise card: if fulfilled, add its votes (6/12/18) to their vote total; if not fulfilled, subtract points instead (3/6/12).
Subtracts their pollution level from this new total.

The player with the most votes wins. Ties are broken first by lowest pollution, then by most money.

Advanced Game

Setup

Play

The four Advanced Special Actions:

I. Exec Assistant — may immediately merge one Residence 1 with one adjacent Residence of level n (1–4) into a Residence of level n+1, without meeting that level's Cultural Building requirement — but the two merged Residences must exactly match the footprint of the level n+1 tile. Pay $(n+1) for the merge, covering both construction and the "fee" for the mayor to overlook the zoning violation.
J. Ecologist — Citizens and Tourists in your Commercial Zones generate no pollution this round.
K. Attorney — once during the Move Citizens phase, you may place 2 Citizens in a single space of a Residential Zone, Commercial Zone, or Factory, using the space twice (once per Citizen). In a Residential Zone, this "roommate" generates votes equal to the zone's size (e.g. a full Residence 4 with a roommate scores 1+2+3+4+4=14 votes). Each Citizen must still move to a new space next round.
L. Anarchist — must immediately pay $2 or 3 Votes to calm civil unrest; if you have neither, your pollution increases by 3.

Specific changes for each Victory Condition

Economic Victory

Setup: remove Special Promise card #14 ("More than $17 at the end of the game").

Citizens Victory

Setup: place 3 Citizens on City Hall as usual; place 19 Citizens on your Career Center (there is no common reserve). Remove Promise card #11.

Play: the Department of Tourism row on the City Council board lets you move Citizens from your personal reserve to City Hall. In Phase VIII, record each player's total Citizens in play.

Cultural Victory

Setup: remove Special Promise card #16 ("Build all 6 Cultural Buildings"). Each player takes one full set of 6 Cultural Buildings.

You still lose the game immediately if your pollution reaches 100%, regardless of Victory Condition.

Solo Variant

All rules of the basic game apply, with the following exceptions.

Play:

I. Select Special Actions — the card bearing the Mayor is treated as chosen by an imaginary first player; you are always the second player. The two cards beside the Mayor's card are free; paying $2 lets you skip to the card directly opposite.
III. Move Citizens — there are no Tourists, since there are no other Boroughs to visit and none to send Tourists to yours.
V. Pollution — how much pollution it takes to kill a Citizen depends on your chosen Difficulty and this round's pollution increase:
- Citizen: no Citizens die, regardless of increase.
- Mayor: 1 Citizen dies if pollution increased by more than 5.
- Governor: 1 Citizen dies if pollution increased by more than 2.
- Senator: 1 Citizen dies if pollution increased at all.
- President: 1 Citizen dies per point pollution increased this round.
VIII. Mayor's Next Visit — the Mayor is visiting the VIPs on the action cards, not a Borough.

Rating Table

At the end of the game, your final score corresponds to a title:

Score	Title
50–59	Homestead
60–69	Hamlet
70–79	Village
80–89	Neighborhood
90–99	Town
100–109	Suburb
110–119	City
120–134	Metropolis
135–149	Capital
150+	Megalopolis

Promise Cards

Purple-bordered Promise cards (1–16, worth 6/12/18 votes by difficulty deck) and pink-bordered Special Promise cards (17–32, advanced game only) each state a condition to fulfill by game end:

At least 4 different sized Residential Zones.
All 3 different sized Factories.
All 4 different sized Commercial Zones.
Whole Constructible Zone available.
At least two rows complete on City Council.
Pollution level lower than 15%.
At least three dead Citizens.
Constructible Zone not expanded.
At least 3 Commercial Zones sized 4.
At least 3 Park areas sized bigger than 4.
All 22 Citizens in use (not in reserve).
Pollution level higher than 40%.
At least 3 Factories sized 3.
More than $17 Money.
All 5 different-sized Residential Zones.
All 6 different Cultural Buildings.
Largest total area of Factories.
Largest total area of Residential Zones.
Largest total area of Commercial Zones.
Fewest (or 0) dead Citizens.
Most empty spaces on Constructible Zone.
Smallest total area of Parks.
Smallest total area of Factories.
Most dead Citizens.
Fewest empty spaces in Constructible Zone.
Fewest Citizens in your Borough.
Highest Pollution level.
Smallest total area of Residential Zones.
Fewest Votes.
Most spaces in use in Constructible Zone.
Most Money.
Both Police Station and Fire Station.

Credits

Small City was designed by Alban Viard. Graphic design by Sampo Sikiö (samposdesign.com) and Todd Sanders. Illustrations by Fanny Dalle Aste. Small City © Alban Viard 2015.