Up Too High
Up Too High Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 7 President Cards
- 7 Airport Cards (these are level I airports)
- 95 Airplane Share Airport Cards (ASA-cards)
- 1 First Player Card
Goal of the Game
In Up Too High your goal is to grow the companies you hold shares in as much as possible. By cleverly buying shares you can take advantage of the bigger airports, or make the decisions as a company president. If you have the most shares in a company, you decide on the company's actions. You can invest in airport expansion, purchase airplanes, and distribute dividend. The larger a company grows, the more valuable its shares become. The player with the most valuable shares, wins the game.
Set Up
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Shuffle the ASA-cards and deal 8 cards to each player. Place the remaining cards as a draw deck (7) in the center of the table.
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Shuffle the 7 Airport Cards and arrange them in a wide circle around the draw deck.
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Place the President Cards under the Airport Card with the corresponding letter.
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Under each Airport Card, place a face-down card from the draw deck. This is the company's capital pile.
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Then, for each company, check which companies are next to it. For each adjacent company with a letter that follows later in the alphabet, add an extra face-down card from the draw deck to the company's capital pile. This is the company's starting capital.
Example: Company C is between A and F. Since F comes later in the alphabet, add one card to Company C. Now Company C's starting capital is two.
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Determine the starting player, give them the First Player Card and the game can begin.
Gameplay Overview
The game is played in rounds. Each round consists of two phases: a Share Phase and a Company Phase. In the Share Phase, players buy shares to expand their portfolio. In the Company Phase, companies take action in alphabetical order to generate income, make expansions, and distribute dividend. When the draw deck is empty for the third time and reshuffled during a round, this is the final round. The game ends when Company G has been in action in this round.
Playing a Round
A round consists of two phases:
- Phase 1: Share Phase
- Phase 2: Company Phase
Phase 1: Share Phase
- All players choose an ASA-card from their hand with a share. Starting with the first player, each player places this share face-up on the table. If a player has no shares in hand, they draw cards (one by one) from the draw deck until a share is found. The remaining drawn cards are placed on the discard pile.
- Next, all players in clockwise order, again starting with the first player, make a bid with cards from their hand. Each player places the cards they bid face down in front of them. You are allowed to bid zero cards.
- In order from highest to lowest bid, players choose one of the shares and place it face-up in front of them. If two or more players bid the same amount, the player who placed the bid first chooses a share first. All bid cards are placed on the discard pile.
Becoming President
By gaining shares, you can also become the president of a company. If the President Card is still with the company when a player gets a share from this company, this player takes the President Card. By exception, the cards used for bidding are then placed on the company's capital pile instead of the discard pile.
If the President Card of the company is already with a player and another player now has more shares in that company than the current president when gaining a share, the new player takes the President Card. The bid cards are placed on the discard pile like usual.
Phase 2: Company Phase
After the Share Phase, companies come into action in alphabetical order. All actions of a company are performed by the player holding the President Card for that company. If the President Card is still with the company, it does not come into action.
When the company takes action, the president takes the following steps:
Step 1: The company earns income based on the level of the airport. Draw a number of cards equal to the airport's level from the draw pile and place them face-down on the company's capital pile. An airport without upgrades is already a level 1 airport.
Step 2: If an airplane is present, the company can then fly the airplane. An airplane does not have to fly, but if it does, it must fly as far as its level. For example, a level 3 airplane must make 3 stops.
The president decides whether the airplane flies clockwise or counterclockwise. For each stop the airplane makes, draw two cards: one for the company it flies from and one for the company it stops at. These are added to each of the companies' capital. Note: the airplane is not physically moved.
Example of step 2, flying: Linda is the president of Airport E. She decides to fly to the right. Airport E has a level two airplane, so she makes two stops. Company E receives two capital, and Companies G and A each receive one capital.
Step 3: After generating income, a company can spend its capital on upgrading the airport or purchasing/upgrading an airplane. The card(s) used for the upgrade(s) have to come from the hand of the president. The costs for this are equal to the level of the card and are paid from the company's capital. Levels can be skipped, but the full cost must be paid.
Example of upgrading in step 3: Sarah is the president of Airport C and wants to upgrade this airport from level I to level III using a card from her hand. To do this, she must pay the cost of the new level (three cards) + the cost of the skipped level (two cards). The total cost of this upgrade is therefore five cards, which are paid from the capital of Company C.
Step 4: From the remaining capital, a company may distribute dividend to shareholders if the company capital allows this. For each share, players receive cards equal to the airport's level. The number of cards must be equal for each share for all shareholders. The president may choose to pay out less or no dividend per share.
Example of step 4 dividend: Company C has six cards on the company's capital pile. The airports level is III. For each share, a maximum of three cards can be paid out. However, there are three shares of this company in play, so only two cards per share can be paid out as dividend. The president has 2 shares in the company and thus receives 4 cards in dividend. Mike, with 1 share, receives 2 cards in dividend.
End of a Round
After both phases are completed, the first player card is passed to the player to the left of the current first player. The next round then begins.
End of the Game
When the draw deck is empty for the third time, the round in which this occurs becomes the final round. When Company G has been into action, the game ends. The discard pile is shuffled (as often as necessary) to replenish the capital of companies where needed. Then scoring takes place. Each share is worth points. The number of points depends on the airport's level plus the company's airplane level. These are added together, and the total is the share's value.
The players add up the value of all their shares, and the player with the most points wins. In case of a tie, the player with the most cards still in hand wins. If there is still a tie, these players share the victory.
Example of final score: Company B has a level III airport and a level 3 airplane. The value of this company is then 3+3=6 points. Ben has two shares in Company B, giving him a total of 12 (2x6) points.
Company B is worth 6. Ben scores 12 points with his shares in B.
Game for 2 Players
For a two-player game, there is a modification in the Share Phase. In addition to the shares played by the players, each player also reveals a share from the draw pile. If a card without a share is revealed, it is discarded and a new card is drawn until a share is found. The player with the highest bid then chooses one of the four cards. The other player chooses from the remaining three. Then the player with the highest bid chooses a second card. The remaining card goes to the other player. The Company Phase is played without changes.
If capital from a player must be divided between the two gained companies, because the President Card for both companies is still with the companies, this is done proportionally. In the case of an odd bid amount, the player chooses which of the two companies receives the extra card.
Game for 5 Players
For a five-player game, the discard pile is shuffled a fourth time. The round in which the draw pile is emptied for the fourth time, becomes the final round. When Company G has been into action, the game ends.