Upside Town
Upside Town Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Introducing the Building Units
- The SINGLE: Has + Positive and - Negative Poles on opposite ends. Works slower but it always works as you can turn it upside down.
- The DOUBLE: Has + Positive Poles on both ends. It is impossible to stack 2 DOUBLE Units on top of each other! (They repel and don't work with their own kind!)
- The TRIPLE: Has - Negative Poles on both ends. It is impossible to stack 2 TRIPLE Units on top of each other! (They also repel and don't work with their own kind!)
Main Game Components
- 50 Building Units: 28 Single (Level) Units, 12 Double (Level) Units, 10 Triple (Level) Units
- 52 Contract Cards: 28 Tier 1 Contract Cards, 24 Tier 2 Contract Cards
- 4 Player Aids
- 8 Town View Cards (Advance Mode)
- 16 Free Construction Tokens
- 4 Building Streets with 5 Building Sites each
- 4 Units Storage (punch out)
Game Setup
1. Contract Cards Display
Separate the Contract Cards by their tiers/colors (1, 2) into 2 different decks. Shuffle the 2 decks separately.
Take a number of Tier 1 and Tier 2 Contract Cards according to the number of players as shown in the table:
| Players | 2 | 3 | 4 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 cards | 16 | 20 | 24 |
| Tier 2 cards | 12 | 16 | 20 |
For example: For a 3-player game, take 20 Tier 1 and 16 Tier 2 cards. Put the remaining Tier 1 and Tier 2 cards back into the box.
Draw and display (face-up) a row of 4 cards per tier. Put the remaining cards (face-down) as a Draw Deck on the left.
2. Building Units Supply
Separate the units (Single, Double, Triple) and put them near the card display as the Supply. Put the Free Construction Tokens beside.
3. Player Setup
The start player takes the "1ST STREET" Building Street. The next player in clockwise order takes the "2ND LANE" followed by the 3RD BOULEVARD and so on...
Give each player a Player Aid Card, Units Storage with the Starting Building Units (2x Single and 1x Double). Place them in front of you. Each player has a Building Street with 5 Building Sites and space for 3 Contract Cards below it, a space for Completed Contracts (face-down), and a Units Storage (max. 4 units, NO stacking here).
4. Advance Game: Town View Cards
Once you have played a few games, we'd suggest adding the Town View Cards for a deeper experience. Shuffle the Town View Cards and give 2 to each player. Players choose 1 of the Town View Cards and place it face-up in front. Put the unchosen and remaining cards back to the box.
Gameplay
Starting from the first player (with the 1ST STREET) and going in clockwise order, each player will take their Turn as follows:
Choose and take any 2 actions among the 6 MAIN Actions described below (may repeat the same action). Before or after each Action, but not in-between, players may take any number of FREE Actions.
Note: Building Units in the supply are limited. If it runs out, you may take a "smaller" one, if available. Triple > Double > Single. However, if the "Single" is unavailable, and you need/want to take one, a Supply Crunch happens. (See Supply Crunch.)
MAIN Actions (Take 2 per turn, may repeat)
TAKE (Storage Limit: 4) Take 1 SINGLE (Level) Unit from the supply pool, if available, and add to your Storage. Your Storage Limit is 4 units. If exceeded, discard (any unit/s) down to 4 immediately. Note: Do NOT stack the units in the Units Storage.
UPGRADE Upgrade 1 of your Units in Storage: from a SINGLE to a DOUBLE Unit OR from a DOUBLE to a TRIPLE Unit.
SPLIT Split 1 DOUBLE Unit in Storage into 2 SINGLE Units, OR split 1 TRIPLE Unit in Storage into 3 SINGLE Units or 1 DOUBLE + 1 SINGLE Unit. Add the new units to your Storage (discard down to Storage Limit of 4 units, if exceeded).
BUILD Any/All (CONSTRUCTION) Build ANY NUMBER of Units from your Storage onto any of your Building Sites with the following rules:
- New Players: Be aware of the starting street polarity as it determines the Units you can start building on.
- Once built, the orientation/arrangement cannot be changed.
- You may stack Units to make the buildings taller.
- Note: The SINGLE unit always works as you can turn it upside down. It is impossible to stack 2 DOUBLE Units or 2 TRIPLE Units on top of each other! (They don't work with their own kind!)
DEMOLISH 1 (CONSTRUCTION) Remove the top unit/s (of any size) on 1 building and return it to the SUPPLY. You can remove multiple units on the same building as long as it is from the top. OR tear down an entire building and return the unit/s to the SUPPLY.
GAIN (Contract Limit: 3) Gain 1 Contract Card from the Display; then replenish the row with a card from the same tier's Draw Deck immediately OR gain the Top card of any of the 2 Draw Decks. Put your Contract Card/s below your Building Street. The Contract Card limit is 3. If you already have 3, you cannot take this action.
FREE Actions (No Limit, Before or After a MAIN Action)
FULFILL Contract Show that you have the same buildings pattern on your Building Street. Count the number of colored stripes on each building to determine how many "levels" there are. (The color or direction does not matter.) For example: A 3-level building should have 3 colored stripes.
Collect any free Building Units and/or Free Construction Permit indicated at the top of the card. Flip the Card face down and put it aside on your Scoring Pile. They will be revealed and scored during Game End.
(Card layout: the top of the card shows the Prestige Points and the Free Building Units; the lower part shows the Building Levels pattern of the five buildings.)
Advance Game: COMPLETE Town View Card Show that you have the same 5-buildings pattern on your Building Street. Collect the Free Construction Permit as indicated on the top of the card. Flip the Card face down and put it aside on your Scoring Pile. It will be revealed and scored during Game End.
USE a Free Construction Token You may spend a Free Construction Token to take a free Construction Action. (BUILD Any/All or DEMOLISH 1, see above.)
The Contracts
- Tier 1 Contracts (Pink): give minimum points but lots of free building units.
- Tier 2 Contracts (Blue): provide more points, less building units and a Free Construction Token.
- Advance Game: Town View Cards (Purple): offer lots of Prestige Points and a Free Construction Token.
Each card shows Prestige Points, Free Building Unit/s (optional) and, on Tier 2 and Town View cards, a Free Construction Token.
Units Supply Crunch
If the SINGLE building unit runs out and a player wants or needs to take one, the following happens:
- ALL players return one SINGLE from their Storage to the supply;
- If there aren't any Single units in their storage, they have to demolish and remove one SINGLE unit from the top of one of their own building/s (of their choice) to the supply.
- If there aren't any Single unit on top of their buildings, nothing happens. You are protected from the Supply Crunch!
Game End and Scoring
Each player will continue to take their turn in clockwise order until one of the Contract Card Draw Decks is depleted. Continue playing as usual and finish the round so that every player has an equal number of turns, then play one more Final round.
Count up all your Prestige points from your Scoring pile of completed Contract Cards and Town View Card (Advance Game). The player with the most points is the Winner and the best builder of Upside Town.
If there is a tie, the tied player with the most completed Tier 2 contracts wins. If there is still a tie, then the one with the least number of leftover pieces and tokens wins. If there is still a tie, share the victory or play another game to determine the winner.
Special Projects Expansion Module
Randomly select one of each A, B and C Special Project Cards and put it face-up above the Contract Cards Display. The Special Projects Cards will be scored at the end of the game. Players who fulfilled the project/s on their Building Street at the Game End state will be awarded the indicated Prestige Points to add to their final Prestige Points total.
Special Projects Cards A (Can only score ONCE)
Score the Prestige Points indicated at the top left corner if you have the EXACT Building on your street at Game End.
- 1 2 3 Building: 3 points
- 3 2 1 Building: 2 points
- Christmas Rise: 2 points
- Sunshine Gardens: 3 points
- Red Singles Loft: 2 points
Special Projects Cards B
Score the Prestige points based on the number of Single, Double or Triple Units you have on your buildings at Game End.
- Singles Solace: 0-3 Single Units: 3 points; 4-6: 1 point; more than 6: 0 points.
- Double Happiness: x1 point per Double Unit.
- Triple Joy: x1 point per Triple Unit.
Special Projects Cards C
Score the Prestige points based on the number of Positive or Negative Polarities on the top of your Buildings at Game End. Note: Empty Sites do not score.
- Maximum Positivity: x1 point per Positive polarity on top of your Buildings.
- Negativity Nights: x1 point per Negative polarity on top of your Buildings.
Solo Game
Setup the game as usual with just one Building Street for yourself and choose 1 out of 2 Town View Cards for the Advance game. Also, setup with the same starting Building Units in your Storage. For the Cards Display, use all the Contract Cards. Take 12 turns and see how many Prestige Points you can gain at the end of the 12 turns.
Special Rule: After every turn, remove the right most contract card of each row, slide the remaining cards to the right, and reveal a new card (from the respective Draw pile) on the now-empty left-most space for each of the 3 rows.
You may use spare Single Building Units to track the number of turns. Start with 12 units and remove one after every turn.
After 12 turns, total up your Prestige Points like the multiplayer games. Check the table below to see how well you have done.
| Basic Game | Adv. Game (+Town View Cards) | Expansion (+ Special Project Cards) | Achievement |
|---|---|---|---|
| < 11 PP | < 14 PP | < 20 PP | You have turned the Town Upside Down, Try again! |
| 12 - 14 PP | 14 - 18 PP | 21 - 25 PP | You did the bare minimum |
| 15 - 19 PP | 19 - 23 PP | 26 - 30 PP | Mediocre Builder |
| 20 - 24 PP | 24 - 28 PP | 31 - 35 PP | Very Capable Builder, you can be proud of yourself! |
| >24 PP | >28 PP | >35 PP | Master Builder of Upside Town! |