Unfair
Unfair Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Credits
Game design & development: Joel Finch
Additional development: Kim Brebach, Jaime Lawrence
Illustrations: Mr Cuddington (David Forest and Lina Cossette)
Additional card illustrations: Philippe Poirier
Graphic design: Joel Finch, Mr Cuddington (David Forest and Lina Cossette)
Card reverse artwork: Nicole Castles
Roller coaster miniature sculpt: Zibobiz, Kieran Birchley
Board, Rulebook, & Reference design: Kate Finch, Joel Finch
Proofreading: Tom Brown (lead), Brett Chaiyawat, Brooke Long, Jaime Lawrence, Jay McLeary, Rob Shankly, Susannah York, Will Sobel
Playtesters: Aaron Lim, Aidan McLeary, Aisling Taylor, Alex Finch, Alex Ward, Alannah Kearney, Allen Chang, Andras, Anthony Klemm, Ben Collett, Ben Nelson, Benj Davis, Bianca Wilson, Brendan Evans, Brent, Brett Chaiyawat, Brett Cuneo, Brooke Long, Caelum McLeary, Cathy Barbagallo, Cindy Wong, Craig Somerton, Damian Chappell, David Adams, David Ellis, David Oram, David Saltwell, Gayle Richardson, Giulio Zambon, Glenn Wykes, Hendrik Lianto, Ian Ward, Igor Ferreira Komar, Jack Clarke, Jacqueline Crancher, Jaime Lawrence, Jason Wesley Kotzur-Yang, Jen Greenham, Jeremy Rosenstrauss, Karen Perkins, Kate Finch, Kate Robinson, Kenny Sabir, Kevin Brake, Kevin O'Brien, Kim Brebach, Kimberley Duncan, Lawrence Wang, Leigh Oram, Liz Saltwell, Luke Lancaster, Malcolm Dickie, Mark Fareso, Mark Martindale, Matt Taylor, Melinda Hungerford, Michael Joss, Michael Sharp, Nathan, Neil Thomson, Paul Alchin, Paul Bradley, Paul Campbell, Paul Finch, Paul Long, Pete Wrigley, Peter Maylott, Peter Tkatsch, Phoebe Wild, Rachel McLeary, Rafal Aleksiuk, Rebecca Hopkins, Richard Vickery, Rob Gollagher, Rob Shankly, Sam McNamara, Sean Fenemore, Shannon Taylor, Stephen Farquhar, Susan Hickman, Susannah York, Sye Robertson, Tara, Tim Long, Tim Roediger, Titch Ashen, Toby Saltwell, William Oey, and everyone else who was willing to risk their time playing an unknown game.
CanCon people, BorderCon people, Gen Con people, BoardGameGeek people, and Kickstarter people – you are wonderful people! Thank you all!
Muse: Extra special thanks to my wise, awesome, and lovely wife Kate, for putting up with my special brand of crazy.
Artists: See more of the work of Mr Cuddington: www.mrcuddington.com. See more of the work of Philippe Poirier: www.philippepoirier.ca. See more of the work of Nicole Castles: nicolecastles.hypnopixel.com
Special Thanks: Thanks to Paul, Brooke, and Kate for playtesting even before it was fun. Thanks to David and Lina for your endless patience and remarkable results. Thanks to Cindy at GO Lounge in Brisbane for providing us with a supportive and fun place for many public playtest outings with the game. Thanks to Susan Hickman and Alex Adsett for contract advice. Board Game Geek microbadge aficionados: Craig Somerton, 'Arctica' Gary, and Raymond Haaken. Thank you!
What's In The Box
- 1 x Game board, double-sided
- 2 x Player Reference sheets
- 1 x Blueprint Closure card
- 5 x Game Changer cards
- 1 x old-style Current Step marker - "You Are Here" symbol
- 1 x upgraded Current Step marker - roller coaster mini
- 14 x Mesmerism tokens (for use with Vampire theme)
- 6 x Theme Randomiser tokens + spares
- 1 x Starting Player marker + plastic base
- 2 x 6-sided dice (for use with Gangster theme)
- 36 x "1 coin" tokens
- 28 x "5 coin" tokens
- 16 x "25 coin" tokens
- 6 x "125 coin" tokens
- Scorepad + pencil
- Rulebook
6 themed packs of 57 cards each – Gangster, Jungle, Ninja, Pirate, Robot, and Vampire. Each theme pack contains:
- 1 Theme Overview card
- 1 Gate card
- 1 Loan card
- 1 Round & Scoring Summary card
- 2 Showcase cards
- 3 "Funfair" City cards
- 3 "Unfair" City cards
- 5 Blueprint cards
- 13 Event cards
- 27 Park cards
Objective
Build the city's greatest theme park, whatever it takes!
Your goal is to build the park that scores the most points at game end, using three main ways to score:
- Build impressively tall attractions with lots of upgrades.
- Match your park to blueprints to achieve hidden goals.
- Buy your way to victory with good old-fashioned cash.
You can also play events to help yourself and hinder your opponents as you build your park over the course of 8 rounds. Recruit staff members to help you, or build a super attraction with a unique ability. Bribing officials and blackmailing politicians is entirely optional.
Your First Game?
Unfair has a lot to look at, and even if you are an experienced gamer who will understand the strategies of the game quickly, there are still many unique rules to learn and cards to read during your first play.
For this reason, we added the First Date Game Changer card, to be used whenever any of the players are new to the game. It shortens the game from 8 rounds to only 6, and removes some of the cards that need a longer game to give their full benefit.
This helps every player to have a smooth first Unfair experience, whether all players are new or only some of them.
Please trust us on this.
Setup
If any players are new to the game, please use the First Date Game Changer card and these themes:
2 PLAYERS: Robot, Pirate
3 PLAYERS: Robot, Pirate, Vampire
4 PLAYERS: Robot, Pirate, Vampire, Jungle
Unfair plays well with 5 players, but don't play a 5-player game if any players are new to the game. All players should be familiar with the rules and cards first.
Before starting: If you wish to use any of the optional Game Changer cards, select one or more now so that you can apply their rules during setup. We recommend using the First Date Game Changer by itself if this is your first game. (A)
Step 1: Decide which side of the board to use and place it on the table. Both sides play the same game, but one side is more colourful with a layout suited to players sitting opposite each other. The other side has higher contrast and a layout suited to players sitting beside each other.
Step 2: Choose which theme packs to play. Each player can choose one pack to include, or you can mix and draw Theme Randomiser tokens to choose them at random – one pack per player. There is no "core" pack and players don't keep one pack for themselves. All cards are shared. To make setup quicker, give each player one pack to split up.
Step 3: Set aside the Theme Overview card from each theme pack. Any additional rules shown on the Overview card are active during the game, so keep them visible for reference. (B)
Step 4: Give each player:
- 20 coins. (C)
- A yellow Gate card, placed face-up. (D)
- A grey Loan card, placed face-down above the Gate card. (E)
- A double-sided Round & Scoring Summary card. (F)
Step 5: Place half of the remaining coins at each end of the board, to give all players convenient access.
Step 6: Separate the remaining cards by the design on their backs. The red Park cards from all packs go into one shared pile, green Event cards into another pile, and so on.
Step 7: Shuffle each pile separately.
Step 8: Place the red Park cards face-down on the board in the matching spot to form the Park deck. (G) Do the same for the green Event cards to form the Event deck (H) and the blue Blueprint cards to form the Blueprint deck. (I) Set the purple Showcase cards aside for now.
Step 9: Count out 4 white-and-red "Unfair" City cards face-down into a temporary pile. Put the remaining "Unfair" City cards back into the box without revealing them.
Step 10: Place the Blueprint Closure card on top of the temporary "Unfair" pile, with the "Public Notice" side face-up.
Step 11: Count out 4 white-and-blue "Funfair" City cards face-down on top of that pile. Do NOT shuffle these together. Put the remaining "Funfair" City cards back into the box without revealing them. Match this 9-card pile to its place on the board to form the City deck. (J)
Step 12: Deal 5 Park cards to each player as their starting hand. (K) If a player receives no attraction cards (that is, a card marked with the word "attraction" below its name), they may choose to reveal their cards and shuffle them back into the Park deck to draw a new hand of 5 Park cards, repeating until they have at least one attraction card.
Step 13: Deal 2 Showcase cards to each player. Players may look at their own Showcase cards, but they are otherwise kept face-down on the table until used. (L)
Step 14: Reveal cards from the Park deck to fill the 6 spaces labelled "Market" to form the Market. (M)
Step 15: Give the Starting Player marker to the person who most recently rode a roller coaster.
Starting Setup
The board has, in a row: the Event Draw space, the City space, the Event Play space, Park spaces 1, 2, 3 and 4, the Guests space and the Cleanup space. Above and below that row are the six face-up Market spaces, with a face-up Discard space at each end of the board.
This is the starting setup for a player, showing five empty attraction spaces to the right of the Main Gate card, with the game board above.
Each player starts with:
- 20 coins.
- A Gate card, face-up.
- A Loan card, face-down.
- A Round & Scoring Summary card.
- A hand of 5 Park cards.
- 2 Showcase cards, face-down.
The Cards
Gate card
Each player starts with their own Gate card. It allows you to build up to 5 attractions (including a super attraction), and also gives you 1 star and a guest capacity of 15.
Stars are part of how you get income, and guest capacity is a limit on how many guests you can fit in your park. These will be explained in detail a little later.
The Gate card shows the Gate icon, its Stars value, and its Capacity value.
Park cards
Your theme park is built out of Park cards of different types. All Park cards have some parts in common.
CARD NAME & CARD TYPE: Each Park card has a name, with its card type shown underneath.
STARS: Each Park card has a star value, to show how well it attracts paying guests.
BUILD PRICE: Each Park card has a blue price tag. Pay the price marked on this tag to build the card into your park.
A Park card shows: the card name, the card type beneath it, the star value, the build price on a blue price tag, and – where applicable – a build restriction on a black-and-yellow strip beside the price tag.
Attractions
Attractions are the main structures in your park.
Note: You can recognise attraction cards by the word "attraction" in their card type under the name. All attraction cards use this ribbon and circular icon shape.
ATTRACTION TYPES: Thrill Ride, Sideshow, Leisure Ride, Nature Area, Theatre, Hotel, Food Outlet.
POSITION: Attractions must be built in the first empty attraction space in your park, to the right of your Gate card.
If an attraction is demolished somehow, the attraction space it was built in becomes empty again. Other attractions do not slide over to close the gap.
You cannot move attractions to another space after they are built just because you want to.
RESTRICTIONS: Some attractions have restrictions on what can be built on them. These are shown on a black-and-yellow strip beside the price tag.
PANORAMA: Some attraction cards have an indicator near the bottom of the card, showing that the illustration is part of a larger panoramic scene.
Attractions cannot be moved after they are built, so if you wish to complete a panorama you will need to build the attractions in the correct order.
Future expansions will add scoring for panoramas, but they currently have no points value.
WI-FI: Some cards include a Wi-Fi symbol at the top of the card. Future expansions will use these symbols, but they currently have no gameplay value.
Upgrades
Once you have an attraction in your park, you can build upgrades onto it. Upgrades increase your park's appeal to guests, earn you more points at game end, and are often needed to match blueprints (see Blueprint cards).
Note: You can recognise upgrade cards by the word "upgrade" in their card type under the name. All upgrade cards use this ribbon and diamond icon shape.
UPGRADE TYPES: Feature, Guest Services, Quality, Theme (such as the Jungle, Pirate or Robot theme letters), Animal.
POSITION: Tuck the upgrade card under the attraction (and any other upgrade cards the attraction already has) with the striped top section of the upgrade card visible at the top. Once built, you cannot rearrange them.
Some Event cards or Park card abilities (see Event cards) allow you to move an upgrade from one attraction to another.
Whether upgrades are built or moved, always tuck them behind the top of the stack, in the next available position. Don't insert them in the middle of the stack.
RESTRICTIONS: Some upgrades have limits on how or where they can be built. Such restrictions are shown on a black-and-yellow strip beside the price tag. Some upgrades have rules that should be fully displayed.
DUPLICATE UPGRADES: You cannot build more than one upgrade with the same name on the same attraction. For example, you can have as many Guest Services check-mark icons as you wish, but you cannot have two Air Conditioning upgrades on the same attraction.
Note: A Park card is all of the types shown on its card type line. For example, a card marked "Attraction – Sideshow" is an "attraction" and a "sideshow". The dash between them makes no difference; it is included for ease of reading only.
When a rule talks about a "thrill ride" or a "feature upgrade", the card must have all of those words in its card type to match that rule, but it can have other words too.
Built-in upgrades
Some attractions come with upgrades already built-in, as indicated by a second or third icon on the card.
On cards with built-in upgrades, the rule box shows exactly which upgrade it is.
BUILT-IN UPGRADE PROPERTIES: Built-in upgrades do not have their own star value, and they do not have a separate build price. The star and the price belong to the attraction.
Built-in upgrades do not get the same rule abilities as the separate upgrade card with the same name. For example, a Pirate Theme upgrade card gives you 5 coins after you build it, but a built-in Pirate theme icon does not.
BUILT-IN THEMES: There is one special case. When the built-in upgrade is a theme, the letter on the icon shows which theme it is. Each theme letter icon matches only one theme name, so a separate rule box isn't needed to show which upgrade it is.
The built-in theme upgrade is considered to have the same name as the separate theme upgrade card with the same icon. You cannot add a theme upgrade with the identical letter to a theme icon already built-in.
You can have several different themes on the same attraction. Having your ride themed for Pirate Vampires or Robot Jungle Pirates is perfectly fine.
BUILT-IN UPGRADE SCORING: Built-in upgrades count toward matching blueprints (see Blueprint cards). When scoring at game end, built-in icons are counted as part of the attraction's icon size, scoring more points.
Staff Members
Staff members add their special abilities to your whole park. Place them to the left of your Gate card, on the opposite side to your attractions.
You can have as many staff members as you wish.
In addition to any abilities they have, each staff member also adds their points value to your score at game end.
A staff member card shows the staff member icon, its points value at game end, and its rule box.
Resources
Resources also improve your whole park, and are placed with staff members, to the left of your Gate card.
You can have as many resources as you wish.
A resource card shows the resource icon and its rule box.
Showcase cards
Showcase cards are unique super attractions that you can build in your park to gain powerful abilities.
Each player is dealt two random Showcase cards face-down during setup as their options for that game.
A Showcase card shows a super attraction indicator and a rule box.
5-STAR REQUIREMENT: Your park must have a star total of at least 5 from cards in your park, but not including events, before you can build one of your super attractions.
The City Planning Office requires a certain level of development before they will issue a permit. Because the City is only looking at the development of the park, it doesn't matter whether the attractions are open or closed at the time. Stars from temporary effects such as City cards or Event cards are not counted toward this 5-star requirement.
The build price for a Showcase card is marked on the blue price tag just like a normal Park card.
BUILDING LIMITS: Your Gate card sets the limit of super attractions in your park at 1, so you can't have both of them built at once. If your super attraction is demolished somehow, you can then build the other one.
Super attractions may be super, but they are also attractions, which means they are included when counting attractions against your park's 5 attraction limit.
DEMOLITION: A super attraction can be demolished in the same way as any other attraction (see Park step action: Demolish). A demolished Showcase card is removed from the game.
NO SHOWCASE BUILD: If you decide not to build any of your Showcase cards, you may return both of them to the box at any time, without revealing them, to gain an extra 10 coins. This does not take up a turn or use an action.
Blueprint cards
Blueprints provide goals that reward you for building particular combinations of Park cards. How to get them is explained in the Park step section.
To score a blueprint, the cards in your park must match the blueprint's requirements at the end of the game (not during). Each unmatched blueprint scores -10 points at game end.
A Blueprint card shows a Required section, a Bonus section, the Penalty, the Points, and a Difficulty rating.
If you complete the "Complete All Items" section, you can then also complete and score the "Bonus Target" section. There is no penalty for incomplete bonus sections.
You must have at least the items that the blueprint requires, but you can have other items too (unless the blueprint says otherwise).
If a blueprint offers more than one way to match, you can complete one or more of those choices. Options separated by "OR" don't exclude the other choices (unless the blueprint says otherwise).
You decide which blueprints you'll commit to when you draw the cards, but once you choose to keep a blueprint, it's usually permanent.
You can have as many blueprints as you wish.
Note: The difficulty rating for blueprints assumes that you have at least the required attraction already available, either built or in hand. If you keep a blueprint, even one marked Easy, without having the base attraction it requires, you may find that Easy becomes Difficult.
SECRET: Blueprints are kept secret, face-down on the table, and don't count as part of your hand.
Even if you complete a blueprint before game end, don't reveal it. Blueprints only score at game end, so it's best not to let your competitors know what items are important to you before then.
Event cards
Event cards are how you influence the game in your favour. Each Event card offers you a choice between two options. The top half is usually helpful to you straight away. The bottom half is often useful later, to interfere with your competitors.
Some events have a type, such as Intrusion, Inspection, or Injunction. You can defend against these attacks if you have a card that blocks them.
For example, Review Board is an Injunction event that tries to demolish a feature upgrade in your park. You can block it if you have Powerful Friends, or another card that blocks Injunction events.
Event card symbols include Injunction, Intrusion, Inspection, Defence and Attack markings.
You may use a defensive card to block an attack immediately after the attacking event is played, without waiting for your next event turn. Blocking an attack puts the blocking Event card into play, but does not use up your own event turn.
DELAYED EFFECT: Some Event cards have a pushpin symbol. This indicates that they don't take effect immediately and should be kept "pinned" on the table for later use. Pinned cards are discarded at the end of the round in the Cleanup step.
CLOSING ATTRACTIONS: Some events can close your attractions. To indicate this, flip only the main attraction card face-down so that the back is showing. You gain no income from an attraction while it's closed, and any abilities of the attraction card are not active.
REOPENING ATTRACTIONS: Any cards that are closed or unavailable, such as attractions and staff members, are turned face-up again in the Cleanup step at the end of each round, so your attractions will reopen by themselves at that time.
City cards
A City card is a special kind of event that affects all players at the start of each round.
The City deck acts as the timer for the game. One card is revealed each round, and when the final City card is played, the current round is the final one.
For the first half of the game, the City cards are helpful white-and-blue "Funfair" events.
In the second half, the City cards become white-and-red "Unfair" events, and are not helpful at all.
BLUEPRINT CLOSURE: The Blueprint Closure card is not a City card and is not considered part of the City deck. It is just used to give a reminder of when the Blueprint deck closes. If you need to do an activity with a card from the City deck, skip over the Blueprint Closure card.
Loan card
If you need extra money, for whatever reason, you can use your Loan card to get it.
The Loan card starts out face-down to indicate you haven't taken any loans. If you take a loan, flip the card face-up. Turn it anti-clockwise with each new loan so that the top position shows how many loans you've taken and the total points you owe.
Each loan gains you 5 coins, but costs you points at game end.
You can take a loan at any time. It doesn't use a turn or take up an action. You can take as many loans at once as you wish, but you cannot take more than 4 loans per game.
Loans are due at game end. They cannot be repaid early with coins – only payment in points will satisfy the lender.
Game Changer cards
Game Changers are optional cards with special rules that affect the way the game plays. They can change any aspect of the game and must be chosen before setting up the game.
Don't want to beat up your friends? Declare World Peace. Prefer to start with a Showcase card already built? Have a Grand Opening.
You may choose to play with more than one Game Changer at once if you wish.
How To Win
At game end, the player with the most points wins. There are three main ways to score:
- Attraction size – each icon added scores more points.
- Blueprints – build your park to match a specific plan.
- Coins – buy victory with cold hard cash.
How To Play
You have 8 rounds to build the best theme park, and to stop your competitors from doing the same.
Each round has 4 steps:
- Events step
- Park step
- Guests step
- Cleanup step
Use the Current Step marker by sliding it along the row of steps on the board as the round progresses. The game includes two Current Step markers. The "You Are Here" marker is the original version. The roller coaster mini was added as an upgrade, thanks to our Kickstarter backers.
1. Events step
The Events step has three parts: Event Draw, City, and Event Play. All three parts together form the Events step.
Draw an Event card
Each player draws one card from the Event deck in turn order.
Play the City event
The starting player reveals the top card from the City deck, and each player follows its instructions in turn order. The City card remains active for the whole round. It is not officially discarded until the end of the round, but for convenience you can place it on top of the discard pile immediately.
The City deck is the timer for the game. When the final City card is played, it signals that the current round is the final one.
Play events
Players take turns to play an event. When it is your turn, you may play one event or pass. You may play as many events as you like in the Events step, but only one at a time, taking turns with the other players.
When playing an Event card from your hand, you must choose whether to use the top half or the bottom half, but not both.
You can pass and still play an event again later in the same Events step, but the Events step ends as soon as each player has passed in a row. You cannot play again if you pass and everyone else passes too.
WHAT IS AN EVENT: Anything that occurs during the Events step is considered to be an event, whether it comes from an Event card, a City card, a Park card, or any other type of card.
ABILITIES: Park card abilities that apply to the Events step are used as if they were Event cards, and you can activate them as your turn whenever it's your turn to play an event. Other players may block them, just like normal events. Abilities of closed attractions or unavailable staff cannot be used.
EVENT TYPES: Some events have a type, such as Intrusion, Inspection, or Injunction. These are attacks that affect other players. Announce the type of the event when you play it and read out its effect, so that players can block it if they have a suitable defence.
PUSH-PIN: Some Event cards apply later in the round, during the Park or Guests step. Such cards have a push-pin symbol. Keep these cards "pinned" on the table for later use, then discard them during the Cleanup step.
MOVING CARDS: Some events can move a card from one location to another. When this happens, the card being moved keeps any tokens, coins, or any other attached item it has. If the card has an ability that has already been used this round, it cannot be used again – since the card doesn't leave or re-enter play, it's not a new card and its ability doesn't reset.
2. Park step
Players always take three actions each round, one at a time in turn with the other players. All of the Park actions together form the Park step. Each action is not a separate Park step by itself.
In turn order, each player completes their turn for Park action 1, then each player completes Park action 2, then Park action 3. Sometimes cards permit one or more players to take a Park action 4.
When it's your turn for an action, you have four choices: Take, Build, Demolish, or Loose Change. You may choose the same action more than once in a round.
Park step action: Take
Use a Take action to gain a card by doing one of the following:
- Put a card from the Market into your hand for later, then refill the Market. There is no coin cost for taking a card – you only pay when you build.
- Draw two cards from either the Park deck, the Events deck, or the Blueprints deck, and then choose one or none to keep.
- Discard any card from your hand to draw five cards from the Park deck. Choose one to keep, then discard the rest.
IMPORTANT: You are not required to keep a blueprint if you use your action to draw two Blueprint cards, but if you do choose to keep one, it's usually permanent. Blueprints can only be discarded by some rare events.
BLUEPRINT CLOSURE: You can only draw Blueprint cards as an action during the first 4 rounds (the "Funfair" rounds). From round 5 onward (the "Unfair" rounds), Blueprint cards are only available using events and abilities.
REFILLING THE DECKS: Whenever the Park, Blueprint, or Event deck runs out of cards, shuffle the matching discard pile and replace it as the new deck. Do this as soon as the deck is emptied, even in the middle of an event or action.
SPEEDY PLAY: If the player before you draws cards, you can wait to see what they discard if you wish, but if your move doesn't depend on what they do, you can take your action straight away to reduce the time between turns.
Park step action: Build
Use a Build action to place a Park card into your park, with these limitations:
- Your park can only have 1 super attraction.
- Your park can have 5 attractions in total, including a super attraction.
- You cannot repeat upgrades with the same name on the same attraction. This includes upgrades that are built-in. You can have the same upgrade on different attractions.
You can build a card from your hand, or directly from the Market. Always refill the Market immediately after a card is removed. For all practical purposes, the Market never has a blank space.
Pay the build price marked on the card's price tag, and place it into your park, face-up in front of you on the table. Check for any abilities that occur after the card is built.
If the card you build is an attraction, place it into the first empty space of your park's five attraction spaces, to the right of your park entrance. If it's an upgrade, add it to the top of an attraction by sliding it behind the existing attraction card, leaving the top section poking out. If it's a staff member or a resource, it goes to the left of your park entrance.
The sequence in which cards are built is important to some Event, City, and Park cards. Some events and abilities allow rearranging items, but you cannot move cards after they are built just because you wish to. This includes rearranging attractions into a different order, and rearranging upgrades on an attraction.
SUPER ATTRACTIONS: You can build a super attraction from your Showcase cards if your park doesn't already have one. Your park must have a star total of at least 5, not including stars from any events, before you can build a super attraction.
CLOSED ATTRACTIONS: You may build upgrades on a closed attraction if you wish.
LOANS: If you need extra coins to pay the build price, you can take a loan (see Loan card).
Park step action: Demolish
Use a Demolish action to remove something from your park, perhaps to make way for a different attraction.
You can only demolish a single Park or Showcase card with a Demolish action, but if you demolish an attraction, all of its upgrades are then demolished along with it, since they are no longer attached to anything.
Park cards you demolish in this way go into the Park discard pile, not into your hand. Showcase cards you demolish are removed from the game.
When an attraction is demolished, other attractions do not move to close the gap. The attraction space is now empty, and a new attraction can be built in the space.
There is no refund for demolishing.
BUILT-IN UPGRADES: If a built-in upgrade would be demolished by an event, the attraction it's part of closes instead. The upgrade is automatically repaired by the time it opens again.
However, you cannot use the Demolish action in the Park step to target a built-in upgrade as a way of closing the attraction. When you choose Build as your action, you add one card to your park, and when you choose Demolish, you remove one card. You must demolish the attraction itself to remove the built-in upgrade or not demolish at all.
TOKENS, COINS: When a card is demolished or dismissed, it leaves play, usually going to the discard pile. A card that is not in play cannot hold tokens, coins, or other items, so any items on that card are discarded back to the central pool.
BURIED CARDS: Some abilities allow you to bury a card, tucking it face-down under another card. As with tokens and coins, when a card leaves play it cannot hold other items, so anything buried under the card is exhumed and discarded.
Park step action: Loose Change
Use a Loose Change action to gain 1 coin for each attraction in your park by picking up the lost coins that have fallen out of your guests' pockets. Loose Change counts all of the attractions in your park whether they are open or closed.
You may use an action…
When a card says "You may use an action…", it is offering an extra option for you to choose in the Park step, in addition to the normal options of Draw, Build, Demolish, and Loose Change.
If the card says "Once per Park step" you can only choose that option once each round, but if it doesn't have a limit, you can use it each time it is your turn for an action, as many times as you have actions.
You cannot combine options that say "You may use an action". You can choose one option or the other, but you cannot use the same action for more than one option at the same time.
3. Guests step
There is just one part to the Guests step. All players work out their income at the same time.
Gold stars in your park show how many people want to visit your park, and the black stars show the guest capacity, telling you how many of those people will actually fit.
People become guests once they have paid at the gate and been let inside to visit your park. They may also spend extra on things like souvenirs and snacks.
To determine your income:
1. Count your stars
To work out your star total, add up the numbers shown in the gold stars on all the open and available cards in your park. This includes attractions and upgrades, staff members, resources, and your Main Gate, along with any extra Event cards you've played (and sometimes the City card too).
DO NOT count stars on closed attractions or their upgrades, or on unavailable staff members.
2. Limit to guest capacity
Guest capacity is a limit on how many guests fit in your park in one round. Your park might have a star total of 21 (people who want to visit), but the City has fire codes and safety regulations, so the usual limit is 15 guests, and the other people go home disappointed.
- If your star total is less than your park's capacity, your number of guests is the same as your star total.
- If your star total is equal to or greater than your park's capacity, your number of guests is capped to the same as your capacity.
You can build more than 15 stars in your park, but it cannot hold more guests than its capacity allows.
Some staff members, resources, and other cards can increase your park's guest capacity.
3. Check your tickets
A ticket symbol is a reminder that a card has an ability that takes effect during the Guests step.
Cards marked with this symbol often give you ways to make more coins from your guests, beyond the price of admission. Don't forget to check the City card each round too.
4. Take your coins
Once you've worked out the number of guests, next you need to know how many coins you gain for each guest.
The normal base income for your park is 1 coin per guest. Some cards may increase that to 2 coins per guest, or more.
After you have worked out your guest income, don't forget to add any extra income from card abilities marked with a ticket that you checked earlier. There is no limit on your income.
Closed attractions and special abilities
Abilities of face-down cards such as closed attractions are not active, however any abilities of upgrades on closed attractions are still active, unless the upgrade itself says otherwise.
Income example: Stars within capacity
- Stars: Star total = 9 stars. 9 people want to visit.
- Capacity: Guest capacity of 15. They all fit! 9 guests in your park this round.
- Tickets: Example: Freak Show attraction ability gives 1 extra coin.
- Coins: Normally 1 coin per guest. 9 guests at 1 coin per guest = 9 coins. Ticket ability gives 1 extra coin. Total income: 10 coins
Income example: Stars over capacity
- Stars: Star total = 21 stars. 21 people want to visit.
- Capacity: Guest capacity of 18. Sadly, 21 people won't all fit… 18 guests in your park this round.
- Tickets: Example: Sponsorship Deal event ability gives +1 coin for each guest.
- Coins: Normally 1 coin per guest. Ticket ability gives +1 coin per guest. 18 guests at 2 coins per guest. Total income: 36 coins
4. Cleanup step
There is just one part to the Cleanup step. Do these things, in this order:
- Discard any pinned Event cards still in play.
- Reopen all closed attractions and make any unavailable cards available again by turning them face-up.
- Enact any active Cleanup step abilities.
- Discard all the cards in the Market and refill it.
- Discard cards from your hand until you are within the hand limit of 5 cards, counting both Park and Event cards. Blueprint and Showcase cards are not part of your hand — they are kept face-down on the table.
- Move the Starting Player marker to the next player in turn order.
Park Layout
How to build a theme park — a guide to the layout and operation of a tabletop funfair.
- Main gate: Your park starts with one star from this card and no loans. Good luck!
- Park size: Your park can have up to 5 attractions, including a super attraction.
- Ride height: Attractions can be as tall as you like, just don't repeat an upgrade. (The illustrated attraction has an icon size of 8 icons.)
- Upgrades: Tuck new upgrades under the top of the attraction card to make a stack like this, with the gold ribbon lined up.
- Closed attraction: Flip only the bottom card face-down to show that the whole attraction is closed.
- Special abilities: Don't forget to use the special abilities of your attractions.
- Staff & Resources: These make your park run more smoothly and more profitably.
- Blueprints & Showcase: Keep them face-down and secret.
- Loans: Flip this card when you take your first loan and rotate it for each loan you take after that.
Scoring At Game End
Total the scores for each player on the scorepad provided, or use the web app to do all the hard work.
Attraction size
Score each attraction separately for the total number of icons included in its ribbon, counting all upgrades, including built-in upgrades, and the attraction icon itself.
Count every icon on its ribbon, then look up the corresponding score for that size.
Staff members, resources, and the Main Gate score nothing for size – only attractions and their upgrades are counted.
Attractions with more than 25 icons score the maximum points.
| Icons | Points |
|---|---|
| 1 | 5 |
| 2 | 8 |
| 3 | 12 |
| 4 | 16 |
| 5 | 20 |
| 6 | 25 |
| 7 | 31 |
| 8 | 38 |
| 9 | 46 |
| 10 | 55 |
| 11 | 65 |
| 12 | 76 |
| 13 | 88 |
| 14 | 101 |
| 15 | 115 |
| 16 | 130 |
| 17 | 146 |
| 18 | 163 |
| 19 | 181 |
| 20 | 200 |
| 21 | 220 |
| 22 | 241 |
| 23 | 263 |
| 24 | 286 |
| 25 | 310 |
Blueprints
Reveal your blueprints and show that you have completed them. If your park matches the "Complete All Items" section, score the points shown. If you fail to match the requirements, subtract 10 points instead.
If you complete the "Complete All Items" section, you can also score the "Bonus Target" section if you have also met its requirements. There is no penalty for incomplete bonus sections.
Coins
Score 1 point for every 2 coins you've earned.
Other cards
Staff members all have points marked on them. Some other cards have extra scoring noted in their abilities.
Cards in your hand score nothing.
Loans
If you have taken any loans during the game, deduct the points shown on your Loan card.
Tie-breaker
In the event of a tie, the winner is the player with the largest star total in their park.
If still a tie, most completed blueprints wins.
If still a tie, most coins wins.
If still a tie, all of those aspects of their parks being equal, the tied player who is wearing the most items of Unfair merchandise wins.
In the unlikely event that it's still a tie, it's winner-takes-all Rock/Paper/Scissors for victory.
Scoring Web App
Free! Available at the Unfair website: www.unfair-game.com/scoring
Bookmark it to your phone's home screen.
Packing Up
Each card has a theme pack indicator in the bottom right corner. Separate the cards into piles with the same theme pack indicator and put them back into their slot in the box.
End-of-game etiquette for Unfair is that all players take some of the cards and help to sort them back into their theme packs. Packup time is only a few minutes if all players help out.
Since you will sort the cards by colour when setting up the next game, there's no need to sort by colour when packing up.
Updated Cards
Some cards have one or more dots marked beside the theme pack indicator, to show the rules for that card have been updated. Your game may already be pre-updated with these, or you may get them through future expansions. If you receive updated cards separately, always keep only the version of the card with the most dots.
FAQs
Only 15 guests?! Only 1 coin per guest?! What kind of shabby theme park is this?
The capacity of your park is actually measured in tens of thousands of guests, so a full park can have 150,000 guests each month. For simplicity, we just say "15 guests".
Likewise, you can consider coins to be worth $100,000 each. To minimise the maths, we've kept the money to single digits.
How could I build a restroom on a roller coaster?
Each attraction represents a section of your park. You're not actually adding toilets to your roller coaster cars when you add a Restrooms upgrade; you're just building a restroom conveniently nearby.
The Golden Rules
#1: Cards can change the rules.
If a rule on a card contradicts a rule written in any Unfair rulebook, the card wins.
A rule on a card that says you cannot do something takes priority over a rule on a card that says you can do something. For example, if you have an Event card that says you can demolish something, and a Park card that says you cannot demolish it, the "cannot" rule wins.
#2: What's done is done.
You must carry out all required game actions. For example, collecting your income is not an optional task, so if you forget to take your coins in the Guests step you must fix that oversight.
However, if a card says you may do something and you don't do it, there's no rewinding to change it.
If you discover an error, such as incorrect placement of an upgrade on an attraction where it cannot be placed, correct the mistake with the fewest changes possible and continue.
#3: It's not a memory game.
The existence and number of cards, coins, tokens, and any other items in your park is public knowledge.
You may hold and place your cards and tokens in whatever manner is most convenient to your play space, but you must not obscure any items completely from view to conceal their existence or number, and you must correctly report the count of those items and their face-up or face-down status whenever asked. In short, place things how you like, as long as people can see them.
You must allow other players to examine any face-up item in your park so they can review its rules or requirements, but you are not required to show the face of cards whose identity is private, such as Showcase, Blueprint, buried cards, or hand cards.
Cards in a discard pile are public knowledge and can be searched by any player at any time. Searching between turns is encouraged to allow for speedy play. Cards in discard piles have no set sequence, and can be rearranged if you wish.
Rule Interpretation Guide
For maximum detail on rules questions: www.unfair-game.com/guide
The Guide is kept up-to-date online.
Glossary
Unfair has a searchable online glossary: www.unfair-game.com/glossary. It includes entries from all rulebooks.
ABILITY – An effect created or an option granted by a rule on a card; something that the card rule allows or requires the player to do. This includes events, which are abilities played in the Events step. Sometimes card rules say "events and abilities"; this is a reminder, not an important distinction between the two.
ACTION – Each round, in the Park step, players get three actions in total to draw cards, build or demolish something in their park, or to look for loose change. Actions are taken one at a time, in turn with other players. Events or abilities may sometimes allow a player to take a fourth action.
ADDED – When a card is built or moved so that it is in a location where it was not previously, then it has been added. See: Build, Move.
ADJACENT – An attraction card is adjacent to another if it is placed directly beside it, on either side. For example, the first attraction you build must be adjacent to your Main Gate. Staff members and resources don't have a fixed location, and are not considered adjacent to anything.
AFFECTED – An event affects you if the rules of that event would make a measurable change to anything you own or control, and the event is not blocked. You probably want to know if you can use Instant Karma on someone who just tried to hit you, and the answer is "only if they actually succeeded".
AFTER – Directly subsequent to, straight away. This does not mean any other time later in the game.
ATTRACTION – A Park card that has the word "attraction" in its card type. A card with "Super Attraction – Thrill Ride" is still an attraction; it's just not a basic attraction.
ATTRACTION SIZE – See: Icon size.
ATTRACTION SPACE – A space in which an attraction can be built. The park limits marked on your park entrance set the maximum number of attractions, and other cards may increase or decrease that limit. Your park always has a number of attraction spaces equal to its maximum number of attractions, and those attraction spaces exist even when they are empty.
ATTRACTION TYPE – If you are allowed to choose an attraction type, you can choose anything that occurs in the card type text on an attraction card, other than "Attraction" itself. Super, Theatre, Sideshow, Thrill Ride, Leisure Ride, Food Outlet, even just Ride by itself, are all acceptable choices.
AVAILABLE – This has the same meaning as "open", but is used to refer to items other than attractions, such as staff members. A staff member is available when they are face-up in the park. See: Unavailable.
AVAILABLE COINS – The coins you have ready to spend. Your available coin total doesn't include any coins that have been placed on your cards by abilities, nor does it include coins you could get by taking a loan.
BLOCK – To prevent an event from affecting you. When an event is blocked, it is not cancelled. Any effects it has on other players still happen.
BUILD – To place a Park or Showcase card into your park that wasn't in play previously. The new card can come from the Market, your hand, your Showcase cards, or another source if a card allows it. Building usually requires paying the build price marked on the card's price tag, but in some cases it's discounted or free. See: Recruit.
BUILD PRICE – The build price of a Park card is the price marked on the card in the blue price tag, adjusted by any events or abilities that change the price.
BURY – To place a card face-down under another card in play. Once buried, the card is no longer active and has no special abilities. It is not turned face-up in the Cleanup step. Buried cards cannot be concealed completely from view, and the number of buried cards must be visible to competitors.
CAPACITY – See: Guest capacity.
CARD TYPE – Each Park card has a line of text under its name indicating the type of that card. A card is all of the types indicated by each word in this line. For example, a "Super Attraction - Thrill Ride" is a "Super" card, an "Attraction" card, a "Thrill" card and a "Ride" card. Sometimes these types are used in pairs, such as "close all thrill rides". To be affected, a card must have both types, not just one of them.
CITY EVENT – Each round a City card is revealed and played. These are events initiated by the City, not by any player. Any cards that talk about events, particularly blocking those events, work equally well on City events as on regular events.
CLOSED – When an attraction is closed, guests can't use it. None of its stars are counted, including those on all of its upgrades. The attraction card is turned face-down when an attraction is closed, and any abilities on that card are not active, but abilities on the upgrades remain available.
COINS – The standard currency. Yes, when it says "gain 1 coin", a "25" coin is technically one coin, but you know what it means, and so do the people you're playing with. [stern look] Yes, they could have been called "dollars" or "bucks", but they're not.
COMPETITOR – A player who is competing with you; specifically, any player except you.
DECK – A pile of cards, face-down, of one particular type such as Park, Event, Blueprint, or City.
DEMOLISH – To remove a Park card from play. When a card is demolished it usually goes to the discard pile. However, some attraction cards have built-in upgrades; if a built-in upgrade would be demolished, the attraction closes instead and the card does not leave play. When a card that has something buried under it is demolished, all buried cards are exhumed and discarded. See: Dismiss.
DISCARD – To place a card into its matching discard pile from wherever it currently is. Demolishing something usually leads to discarding it, but demolish and discard are not the same.
DISCARD PILE – Cards that have been used and are no longer in play are added face-up to the discard pile for that card type. Cards in any discard pile are public knowledge and can be searched by any player at any time. Once the Park, Event, or Blueprint deck has been emptied, its matching discard pile is shuffled and turned face-down to become the new deck.
DISMISS – This has the same meaning as Demolish but is used to refer to staff members only. Demolishing people just sounds wrong.
DRAW – To take one or more cards from the top of the specified deck. If an ability instructs you to draw cards, and gives no further instructions, then you keep them. Whether the cards become part of your hand depends on the type of card. Park and Event cards can go into your hand, but Blueprint and Showcase cards are placed face-down on the table in front of you. If an ability gives other instructions, such as 'choose one to keep and discard the rest' only the specified cards ever enter your hand, not all of them.
EMPLOYER – This has the same meaning as Owner, but is used to refer to staff members only.
EVENT – An ability that occurs in the Events step. The phrase 'events and abilities' is used with the intention of reminding that events are included, not to indicate that events are separate from abilities.
EXHUME – To remove a buried card from under a card in play. Where it goes afterward is determined by the card that exhumed it. If no instruction is given, the card is discarded. When a card that has something buried under it is demolished, all cards buried under it are exhumed and discarded.
EXTRA COST – Some events or abilities require some additional price to be paid before they can be used, either in coins, or by discarding cards or some other expenditure of resources. The extra cost is not an effect of that ability, it's a cost to activate it in the first place.
"FUNFAIR" ROUND – A round in which the current City card is a white-and-blue "Funfair" City card.
GAIN – Take coins or other tokens from the central pool. If a card gains a coin or other token, it is placed on the card.
GUEST – There's one born every minute. Calculate the number of guests in your park by counting your park's star total, and limiting it to your park's guest capacity. Each guest pays an admission price to enter your park, measured in coins per guest. The base income rate is normally 1 coin per guest.
GUEST CAPACITY – The maximum number of guests your park can hold. This is not the same as your maximum income, since there is no maximum to your income.
HAND – A collection of Park and Event cards you hold in secret. The usual hand limit is 5, enforced during the Cleanup step at the end of each round. Blueprint and Showcase cards are not part of your hand. Ever.
ICON SIZE – An attraction's icon size is how many icons its gold ribbon contains, including those on the attraction card itself and all of its upgrade cards. The total includes built-in upgrades – count every icon in the attraction's ribbon. The phrases "icon size" and "attraction size" are used interchangeably sometimes to prevent awkward phrasing.
IMMEDIATELY – As part of the same turn or action.
IN PLAY – Park cards and Showcase cards are in play once they are built and until they are demolished. Event cards are in play once they are played until they are completed and discarded. Blueprint cards are in play once they are chosen by a player to keep, until they are discarded. Buried cards are in play until they are exhumed. City cards are in play from the time they are revealed as the current card until the end of that round. A card is still in play even if its abilities are not currently active.
INJUNCTION EVENT – A bureaucratic attack; the City Planning Office altering the city building codes and using the legal system to suit themselves. It can be blocked by having Powerful Friends or another Injunction blocker.
INSPECTION EVENT – A regulatory attack; the city enforcing the existing city codes. It can be blocked by having an appropriate Safety Certificate or another Inspection blocker.
INTRUSION EVENT – A physical attack; terrible people breaking into your park and then breaking things in your park. It can be blocked if you have Security Guards or another Intrusion blocker.
KEEP – If you keep a Park card or an Event card, it becomes part of your hand. If you keep a Blueprint card, it is placed face-down in front of you. Cards are not part of your hand until you keep them. If you are told to keep a certain number of cards from those you drew and no other instruction is given about them, then the cards not kept must be discarded to their corresponding discard pile.
LARGEST ATTRACTION – Refers to an attraction having the largest icon size, not any other measure.
LOSE – Put coins or other tokens you own into the central pool of tokens. The opposite of gain.
MARKED COIN PRICE – When the price to build a Park card is shown on its price tag using coins, the card has a marked coin price. If the price is marked in some other currency, then you must pay in that currency to build the card. If a card does not have any build price marked at all, or if the build price is not marked in coins, the correct marked coin price is "not applicable" rather than zero. You cannot choose such a card if an ability requires a card with a marked coin price. Discounts that affect the marked coin price do not affect cards that do not have a marked coin price. See: Build price.
MARKET – The six card spaces on the board where Park cards are displayed face-up. Cards revealed here can be built directly into your park without being taken into your hand, or they can be taken into your hand for later use. The Market is always refilled as soon as a card is removed.
MAY – Indicates an optional part of a rule. The choice to exercise the option must be made before proceeding to the next sentence.
MOVE – A card moves when it's already in play and changes location from one attraction to another or from one park to another. The card does not go out of play when it moves, and it is not built or demolished, recruited or dismissed. Any special abilities that have already been used before the card is moved do not reactivate after moving. Any coins or tokens on the card or other items attached to the card move with it.
OPEN – When an attraction is open, guests can use it. All of its special abilities are available, and its stars can be counted as part of your park's star total, along with those on all of its upgrades. See: Closed.
OWNER – The player in whose park the card is located, or who played an Event card, is its owner. See: Employer.
PANORAMA ATTRACTION – Any attraction card that has a panorama indicator on the bottom line of its card frame.
PARK – Your park consists of the park entrance card (usually your Main Gate) plus the Park cards in play that you own, such as attractions, upgrades, staff members, and resources. Blueprints you have chosen to keep are also part of your park, along with any Event cards that have been played but not yet completed.
PAY – To spend coins, other tokens, or other items from your available supply to receive some benefit. You cannot pay more than you have, and you can only pay with items you have available. Specifically, you cannot pay with items that are attached to cards, since they are not available to you. Items used as payment go back into the central pool unless otherwise specified.
PLAY – Playing a card means making the card active, usually using up your turn to do so.
PIN – To pin an Event card is to put it into play in your park, where it then stays active until it is discarded in the Cleanup step. Only Event cards that are marked with a pin symbol can be pinned; other Event cards are played and enacted immediately, then discarded once completed.
RANDOM – When asked to choose at random, shuffle the options and take the top one. Watching your opponent's face while you hover your hand over each card is not random.
RECRUIT – This has the same meaning as build, but is used to refer to staff members only.
REDUNDANT – This glossary entry.
REOPEN – To set an attraction to its open state. The attraction card is turned face-up when an attraction is reopened.
REVEAL – To show the face of a card to all players. If the card is revealed from a deck, it is removed from that deck and displayed to all players. If the deck is emptied in this process, it refills immediately as usual, even if the revealed card is later returned to the deck. If an ability instructs you to reveal a card and gives no further instructions, then the card is returned to its source after the ability ends.
RESOURCE – A Park card that has the word "resource" in its card type. Resources are placed to the left of your park entrance and benefit the entire park.
SEARCH – To look through each item in a collection, usually a deck or pile of cards. This is not the same as revealing items one at a time until a certain item is found. When you search, you may look at all of the relevant items at once.
STAFF MEMBER – A Park card that has the words "staff member" in its card type. Staff members are placed to the left of your park entrance and benefit the whole park. They are not attached to any attraction. They can be recruited into your park or dismissed from it.
STAR – Each star value shows how attractive a Park card is to potential guests. Park cards have their star value marked with a gold star symbol. If a card does not have a Star value marked on it, or in the case of a built-in upgrade on an attraction, the star value is "not applicable" rather than zero. You cannot choose such a card or built-in upgrade if the ability requires a star value.
STAR TOTAL – The star total of any item, whether it is a staff member, an attraction, or the entire park, is the total of the numbers on all the gold stars related to that item. For a park specifically, the star total in the Guests step excludes any closed attractions and their upgrades, and face-down cards such as unavailable staff members.
STEAL – Take cards, coins, tokens, or other items from another player.
SUITABLE – Used to indicate that all current rules still apply, usually in relation to placement of a card or token. If a rule would be broken by placing an item in that position, it is not a suitable position. When you build or move upgrades, they must end up attached to a suitable attraction, meaning that all rules of the attraction and the upgrade must be followed. For example, a Picnic Area is not a suitable attraction to have any upgrade because a Picnic Area says on the card that it cannot be upgraded. Likewise, any thrill ride would not be a suitable attraction for Air Conditioning, because Air Conditioning says that it cannot be built on a ride.
TURN ORDER – Players take turns in a clockwise sequence beginning with the starting player. Yes, it's clockwise as viewed from above the table. No, these rules are not from a mirror universe.
UNAVAILABLE – This has the same meaning as closed, but is used to refer to staff members. It just sounds nicer.
"UNFAIR" ROUND – A round in which the current City card is a white-and-red "Unfair" City card.
UPGRADE – A Park card that has the word "upgrade" in its card type. Upgrades can only be built onto attractions in your park and must follow the suitable attraction rules. They cannot be built by themselves.
VISITING – Once people pay admission, they become guests and are visiting your park. However, even if lots of people want to visit your park, you cannot have more guests visiting than you have guest capacity to hold them.
YOU – Refers to the owner of the card. In the case of cards not owned by any player, "you" refers to each player individually when the rule is applied to them.
Resources
- Up-to-date rulebooks: www.unfair-game.com/rulebook
- Unfair strategy guide: www.unfair-game.com/strategy
- Scoring - free web app: www.unfair-game.com/scoring
Version 20230725. Copyright © 2018 2am Gameworks. All rights reserved. "Unfair" is a registered trademark of 2am Gameworks.