Unreal Estate
Unreal Estate Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 60 building cards (each shows victory points and the number of cards of that type in the deck)
- 20 special building cards
- 10 counter cards for tracking victory points
- Temple cards (used in a 5-player game, see Setup for 5 players)
- First player figure
Setup
Put the "Temple" cards back in the box. They are used only in a 5-player game. Shuffle the main deck of building cards (yellow flags) without the special building cards (blue flags). Deal each player 2 cards.
Building cards have yellow flags; special building cards have blue flags.
Choose a place for the "dump", where you will put rejected building designs.
In a 2-player game, at the start of the game put 4 building cards on the dump. In a 3-player game, 7 building cards. In a 4-player game, 5 building cards. Cards in the dump are placed in stacks of identical cards so that the number of cards in each stack is visible.
Take 6 random special building cards and put all the rest back in the box. Do not turn over or look at these 6 cards; add them to the deck and shuffle it.
Place the deck where every player can reach it, and leave room for a discard pile. Take 5 cards from the deck and lay them in a row face up. This is your proposal board.
Additional Setup for 5 Players
In a 5-player game, add all the "Temple" cards to the deck of ordinary buildings before dealing each player 2 cards. Start the game with 8 cards in the dump. Lay out 6 cards on the proposal board each round.
Example Setup for 4 Players
(Illustration: Players 1 to 4 seated around the table, with the deck, discard, dump and proposal board in the middle.)
Gameplay
The most fairy-tale-like player goes first. Fairy-tale-ness is determined by the pointiest ears, a beard like a gnome's, and so on.
To begin, study the cards on the proposal board. The effect of some special building cards triggers immediately; this is indicated by a symbol. Before you begin taking cards from the proposal board, carry out the actions on these special building cards, then put them in the discard.
Players take turns, starting with the first player and continuing clockwise. On your turn, the active player must perform 1 of 3 available actions:
- Take a card from the proposal board.
- Play a special building card to carry out its effect.
- Play a building card (or cards) to score points.
Take a Card from the Proposal Board
Take one card from the proposal board into your hand. There is no hand limit.
Play a Special Building Card
There are 3 types of special building cards in total:
- Cards whose effect triggers immediately when they land on the proposal board.
- Cards whose effect triggers immediately when they are taken into hand from the proposal board.
- Cards that you can take into your hand and play for their effect later.
Special building cards are never put on the dump. Unless the special building card says otherwise, after use it is put in the discard. Special building cards remaining on the proposal board are also put in the discard.
Play Building Cards
Play one or more identical building cards (there must be at least one identical card on the dump). If you have several identical building cards in your hand, you must play all of them.
To calculate points, add up the values of all the cards played from your hand and multiply by the number of identical building cards on the dump. Record the points you get using the counter cards.
Example: Karl has 2 Magic Goods Shop cards with a value of 4 in his hand (4 x 2 = 8). There are 3 Magic Goods Shop cards on the dump: 8 x 3 = 24 points.
(Illustration: Karl's hand, 4 x 2 = 8; the dump, 8 x 3 = 24.)
To record the required number of points with the counter cards, turn the tens card with the needed side up and place it on the units card directly under the needed number. The number 24 is recorded like this: (illustration).
After counting points, put into the discard all the cards laid out from your hand and all identical cards on the dump.
Once all players have taken their turns, the round ends.
End of the Round
Put the ordinary building cards remaining on the proposal board onto the dump, and put the special building cards in the discard. Lay out a new row of proposal board cards and pass the first player token to the player on the left. A new round begins.
NOTE: in a 2-player game, players perform 2 actions per round from the 3 described above, taking turns performing one action at a time, and then put the remaining cards on the dump.
End of the Game and Determining the Winner
If at the start of a round there are not enough cards in the deck to lay out the proposal board row, each player in turn order may play cards to score points, and then the game ends. The player with the most points wins. In case of a tie, the leading player with more cards in hand wins. If the tie persists, the leading player whose cards in hand have the highest sum of values wins. If the tie still cannot be resolved, the players share the victory.