Tokyo Highway: Rainbow City
Tokyo Highway: Rainbow City Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Basic Rules
2 - 4 Players / 30 + min / 8 + Age
1. About This Game
Construct your own unique highway that crisscrosses the highways of other players. To win the game, build your roads cleverly and be the first player to place all of your cars down.
2. Components
- Rule Sheet 1
- Mission Board 1
- Car: 10 types x 4 colors
- Tweezers 1 (Use Tweezers as needed.)
Construction Materials
- Road-Sticks 36
- Gray Columns 80
- Yellow Columns 8
City Objects
- Tower 1
- Buildings 3
- Areas: Airport Area, Rainbow Area, Green Area
- Development Areas 5
3. Preparation
1 Distribute Components
Players choose their color and take the corresponding cars. Then, distribute Construction Materials for each player depending on the number of players.
| Material List | Cars (Basic Rule) | Cars (Mission Rule) | Gray Columns | Yellow Columns | Road-Sticks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 Players | 10 | 10 | 30 | 3 | 15 |
| 3 Players | 8 * | 10 | 25 | 2 | 12 |
| 4 Players | 7 * | 10 | 20 | 2 | 9 |
* A "Sedan" must be one of the cars chosen. Players take the same types of cars.
2 Build Starting Ramps
Players build their starting ramps to enter the highway by using one road-stick and one gray column. The middle point of the columns should be equidistant between players, based on the number of players (see below). Once players have built their starting ramps, each player places a Sedan on their road-stick.
Starting Setup — Place a "Sedan" on the starting ramp.
With 2 Players, the two starting points are set 1 road-stick length measured from the middle of the columns. With 3 Players the starting ramps form a triangle, and with 4 Players a square, each side measured the same way.
3 Determine the Starting Player
The player who most recently saw a rainbow becomes the starting player. Players take turns in clockwise order.
4 Placing City Objects
Players take turns choosing and placing city objects around the table. When all objects are placed, the game can begin!
- All Development Areas must be placed first; once players have taken turns placing all Development Areas, they can move on to placing the rest of the City Objects.
- Buildings and the Tower can only be placed on Development Areas.
- Only 1 Building or 1 Tower can be placed on each Development Area. The object can be placed freely within it, but can't stick out over the edge.
- When placing a Development Area, it must be at least 1 column width away from other Development Areas, roads, and columns.
- City Objects can't be moved during the game.
4. Turn Actions
During their turn, players do the following actions in order:
1 Build a Column
Players must first build columns to extend their roads to. The position of the new column can be anywhere as long as it's reachable from the base point, which is the column or Junction that the player placed in their previous turn. The height of the new column must be 1 higher or 1 lower than the height of the base point. Players may not build a column of the same height, or more than 1 column difference higher or lower than the height of the base point. (With exception, see 7. Building a Junction)
Players are encouraged to use a road-stick to measure the distance before placing new columns.
2 Build a Road
Build a road between the base point and the column built in 1. The position of the column built in 1 can still be adjusted at this time, but the previous base point cannot be touched. (Refer to 5. Road-Stick Placement)
3 Place a Car
If the new road that was built in 2 meets the car placement conditions, players must then place a car anywhere on that road-stick. (Refer to 6. Conditions for Car Placement)
If there's any problem with the new column / road placement, it must be resolved before moving on.
Otherwise, the next player takes their turn, and the process repeats. Players may no longer adjust the position of their columns, roads, or cars once their turn is over.
5. Road-Stick Placement
Road placement heavily affects the outcome of the game. Note the following rules:
- The ends of the road must rest on the column tops, or on a connecting road-stick.
- Road-sticks can never appear to cross over columns when viewed from directly above. (Note: This applies to your own columns as well.)
- Enclosing your road is invalid. Touching other roads or columns is invalid.
6. Conditions for Car Placement
If you place a road-stick that crosses another player's road-stick and if it meets one of the below conditions, place a car on it:
- A. The road-stick placed is the first to cross over another player's road.
- B. The road-stick placed is the first to pass under another player's road.
Note A car can't be placed on a road built in a previous turn.
Only 1 car can be placed for 1 road-stick crossed over / passed under, that meets the condition A or B. Cars can be placed on the road in any position.
Even if the road doesn't meet the car placement conditions, players can still place their road-stick to cross highways.
Note — Examples of cars that can't be placed
The pink road that the blue road crossed over has already been crossed over by another pink road. The pink road that the blue road passed under has already been passed under by another blue road. Neither example road is the "first", so cars can't be placed.
Examples of placing several cars
If a blue road crosses over / passes under several pink roads, the blue player can place one car for each road with which the conditions are met. In both examples above, there are two roads that have been crossed over / under at the same time as the "first one". Therefore, two cars can be placed.
Note — Examples of a common mistake
In the picture on the left, the blue road crosses over two pink roads. But (a) has already been crossed over by (b), therefore, only (b) is the "first one" that the blue road crossed over. In this case, only one blue car can be placed.
7. Building a Junction
The yellow columns are Junctions, and can be used with gray columns (following 4. Turn Actions - 1 Build a Column.) to do the following;
1 Build a new column of any height
Players may build a column of any height difference from the base point, or even the same height.
Note A Junction can't be placed by itself. It must always be used with one or more gray columns and placed at the top.
Players may use multiple Junctions in consecutive turns. But once a regular gray column is placed, it must again follow the rule of increasing or decreasing the height by one.
2 Branching out to two highways
Using a Junction, players may "branch" their highway into two highways, creating two base points to expand from in subsequent turns. However, a Junction may only branch out once (though another Junction may be used to branch an existing branch).
8. Building an Offramp
Players can create an exit from their highway - called an 'Offramp' - from a base point of a single column height. This way, the Offramp end of the road-stick sits on the table without a column. When creating an Offramp, the player places 1 car on it as a bonus.
If an Offramp road crosses over / passes under another player's road, and meets the conditions (Refer to 6. Conditions for Car Placement), an additional car may be placed on it like usual. Note that further roads cannot be connected to an Offramp. So, think carefully about using Offramps near the end of the game, or use Junctions to branch your highway first.
9. Penalty
If a player knocks down another player's cars, columns, or roads during the game, regardless of the number of items knocked down, that player hands over 1 column (either gray or yellow) to the owner of the item(s). All players help to re-place the fallen items and the game continues. No penalty is applied for knocking down your own items.
10. End of the Game
1 A player places all of their cars
The first player to place all of their cars on their highway is the winner! The winner leaves the game and the other players continue until they've placed all of their cars, dropping out as they do so. When only one player is left with remaining cars, the game is over.
2 A player's Construction Materials run out
If a player doesn't have a column or road-stick to place during their turn, they must pass. If all other players then take a turn without penalty, the player who passed loses the game. (Whereas if another player committed a penalty of knocking over an item belonging to the player who passed, they would earn a column allowing them to continue.)
11. How to Use Areas
Development Area
Columns can be placed on Development Areas, and Offramps can be made onto them. Columns must not stick out over the edge of an area.
Green Area, Airport Area
Offramps can be placed on the Green Area and Airport Area, but not columns. Road-sticks may not be placed on the buildings, aircraft, or trees.
Rainbow Area
Neither columns nor Offramps can be placed on the Rainbow Area. Road-sticks may go through the rainbow.
Mission Rules
2 - 4 Players / 40 + min / 8 + Age
Once you've mastered Tokyo Highway with the Basic Rules, try adding the Mission Rules! The preparation and the order of play are the same as the Basic Rules, just add the Mission Board. Though unlike the Basic Rules, where players win by placing all of their cars, the winner is now the player who has scored the most points at the end of the game. Look for clever ways to maximize scoring using the Mission Board!
1. Preparation
First, following the Basic Rule [3. Preparation - 1 Distribute Components.] Players start with 10 cars each, regardless of the number of the players. The Mission Board may be stood up to be visible for all players. All other preparations are the same as in the Basic Rules.
2. Order to Play
The game proceeds in the same way as in the Basic Rules, but players also aim to complete missions on the Mission Board to score points. The missions and their scores are as follows.
Only yellow missions have an immediate effect during the game.
3. End of the Game
The game ends when any of the following conditions are met:
- All players have placed all of their road-sticks.
- One player has placed all of their cars.
In that case, finish the current round of turns, then end the game. After the game ends, players check their scores. (There is a Score Road on the back of the game box which can be used as a scoreboard. Use the remaining cars as player markers and count the scores.)
The player with the highest total score is the winner. In case of a tie, the winner is the player with more cars on the highway.
What if a player's columns run out during the game?
Unlike in the basic rules, the player doesn't lose. On their turn, the player instead places 1 road-stick next to the Mission Board. (This road-stick can't be used from then on). On a future turn, if the player receives a column via a penalty, they can take a turn again.
4. Missions and their Scores
Mission colors work as follows:
- Blue mission: The number of times a mission is completed is scored.
- Green mission: It does not matter how many times a mission is completed, it only gets scored once.
- Yellow mission: Once a mission is completed, it has an immediate effect during the game.
DRIVE (blue, 1) — Placing a car
1 point for each car placed on the road.
DEVELOPMENT (blue, 1) — Placing a column on a Development Area
1 point for each Development Area where a column is placed. Even if the same player places multiple columns on a Development Area, they only score 1 Point.
BUILDING (blue, 1) — Surrounding buildings
Surrounding buildings with connected roads scores 1 Point x the number of buildings. The roads must be intersecting and completely surround the building when viewed from directly above. It's also valid to loop several buildings in a figure 8 shape.
STOCK (blue, 1) — STOCK
1 Point for every 5 columns left in a player's supply. Includes Junctions.
TRAFFIC JAM (green, 2) — Placing cars in a row
2 Points if 3 or more roads on which cars are placed are connected. A connection in a branched Y-shape is valid.
* Additional connections by the same player do not increase the score.
RAINBOW (green, 2) — Driving through the rainbow
2 Points if a car is placed on a road that goes through the rainbow.
* The same player doesn't receive more points if they place more than 1 car.
OFFRAMP (green, 2) — Making an Offramp on the Airport Area
2 Points for building an Offramp on the Airport Area. Points are not increased if the same player makes more than 1 Offramp on the Airport Area.
OFFRAMP (green, 2) — Making an Offramp on the Green Area
2 Points for building an Offramp on the Green Area. Points are not increased if the same player makes more than 1 Offramp on the Green Area.
TOWER (green, x2) — Surrounding the Tower
If connected roads can surround the Tower, the score the player gets for the BUILDING mission is doubled. If no buildings are surrounded, the tower does not score any points.
HIGHEST (green, 2) — Building the tallest columns
2 Points for the tallest gray columns. Columns using Junctions are invalid. If multiple players are tied for the tallest, they both receive 2 Points.
SAME TYPE (yellow) — Driving the same type of car
If player A places a car and it's the same car type that player B already has on the road that player A crossed over / passed under, player A gets 1 column from player B.
* Only 1 column can be taken from each (same type crossed over/under) player per turn, if those players have no columns, then the player can't receive one.
Car Types
Sedan, Sports Car, Electric Car, Food Truck, Family Wagon, Limousine, Delivery Van, Construction Truck, Jumbo Trailer, Highway Bus.
Credits
- Game Design: Naotaka Shimamoto / Yoshiaki Tomioka
- Art work: Yoshiaki Tomioka
- Direction: Naotaka Shimamoto
- Development Crew: Masayuki Ikegami / Itsuka Takeuchi
- Project Coordination: Tomomi Adachi
- English Rules Editing: Nick Suttner
- English Proofreader: Mandy Tong
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