Uptown

Uptown Rulebook

Table of Contents

Components

4 street boards
96 banknotes (upcoins = $)
28 free public project cards (with a green bar)
84 project cards (with a blue bar)
Score pad
Instructions

Project card anatomy

The component diagram labels the parts of a project card: the type of project icon, the prestige value, the requirements, the income, and the cost of selected project shown on the blue bar. Each card has two projects, project I (top) and project II (bottom), and you may rotate the card to choose which one is active.

Preparation

A. Separate the public project cards from the others and stack them into a public deck in the center of the table. These cards cost zero.

B. Shuffle the remaining project cards and deal them all out evenly among the players. Place your received cards in a deck in front of you - they are your individual player deck. Don't look through your deck.

C. Take as many street boards as players, including the board with the symbol I, and randomly deal one to each player. Whoever receives the symbol I starts the game.

D. Each player takes $10 (in any desired denomination). This is each player's starting account.

E. Separate the remaining banknotes by denomination and place them within easy reach; they form the bank.

You are ready to play!

Detailed Game Rules

Sequence of play

Players take turns in clockwise order, starting with whichever player has the street board with the symbol I.

A player turn consists of doing two actions in this order:

1st action - one of:

If your player deck does not currently have upcoins $ on it, take its top card for free. You can play it on a street site or discard it. You cannot turn a project card to its back side, but you can rotate it to choose one of its two projects.
or, if your player deck has upcoins $ on it, take them to your account. While there are upcoins $ on your player deck, no one can buy a card from it.

2nd action - one of:

Buy the top project card from your own player deck or from an opponent's player deck. If you buy it from your own deck, pay the card's cost in upcoins $ to the bank. If you buy it from an opponent's deck, put the card's cost in upcoins $ onto their player deck. While there are upcoins $ on a player deck, no one can buy a card from it.
or take the top project card for free from the public pile. You can turn it over to its other side, and you can rotate it.

After doing both actions, a player's turn ends, and the next player (to the left) starts their turn.

Play a card

Choose a site on your street and place a project card there, so that the card's top project is visible, and the bottom project is covered by your street board or a previously played card.

Some projects must be placed only as the ground floor (as the first card on a site - it must touch the street board), and some other projects must be placed only on an upper floor (not as the first card - it must touch a previous card).
If a site has been finished with a roof, then no additional projects can be added there, unless a card has the symbol for a project built on top of a roof.

Earn income

When a site becomes finished with a roof, the site's owner immediately calculates the total income from all their street's sites (whether finished or not) and takes that many upcoins from the bank.

When a site becomes finished with a gift from another player, the income goes to the site owner, not the giver.

If your total income is 0, or negative, then you simply take no upcoins $ from the bank.

Example

Mario starts the game. There are no upcoins on his player deck. So he takes the top card and may discard or play it. Mario decides to play the card (A). Since this is his 1st action, taking the card is free, and he does not pay the $3 indicated on the card (B).
The card's 2 projects are an office and an apartment; Mario decides to rotate it to be an apartment (C). He decides to play it on his street's second site (D).
Now Mario does his 2nd action. His choices are: buy the top card from his own player deck (E) or from his opponent's player deck (F) or take the top card for free from the public pile (G). Mario decides to buy the card from his opponent's player deck (F). He takes $6 from his account and puts it onto his opponent's player deck (H).
Mario's street has only one empty site. The card he bought must be placed first on a site (ground floor), so he must place it on this last empty site (I). This card also finishes the site (roof), so Mario earns income from all his sites.

Example of finishing a site

The park which Mario just placed has a roof icon, so he calculates the income from all his sites: his 1st site's store gives $2 (A); his 2nd and 3rd sites give no income; his 4th site's store gives $1 per apartment on his whole street (2 on his 2nd site and 1 on his 5th site), which gives $3 (B); his 5th site gives $1 (C). So Mario's total income is $6. He takes $6 from the bank, and his turn ends.

Game end

When any player deck becomes empty, or all 5 sites of any street are all finished (roof), that triggers the final round. Complete the current round (i.e. player turns continue until the end of the turn of the last player, sitting to the right of the starting player), and then the game is over.

Scoring

After the game ends, sum the prestige points (star) for all projects on your street. Add 1 prestige point for every $3 in your account.

You can write your scores on the included score pad. The score sheet has these lines:

players' names or initials
prestige points (star) from sites 1-5
prestige points (star) from remaining upcoins $
total scores.

Whoever has the most prestige points (star) wins.

In case of a tie for high score, the tied player with the tallest building wins. If there is still a tie, they enjoy a shared victory.

A printable score sheet is available for download.

Explanation of Symbols

Project types

Office (blue, paperclip icon)
Apartment (green, house icon)
Store (red, bag icon)
Coffee shop (pink, cup icon)
Hotel (gold, crown icon)
Service (brown, gear icon)
Roof - finishes a site; the owner earns income from all their street's sites.
Gift - you can place this only on an opponent's site.
Double - some projects count as two offices / apartments / stores / coffee shops / service.

Requirements

Ground floor - this project must be built only as the first card on a site. (It must touch the street board.)
Upper floor - this project cannot be built as the first card on a site. (It must touch a previous card.)
Must be built on top of a roof - this project must be built on top of a roof.
No gifts - no gifts can be built on this site.

Income

$1, $2, $3, $4, -$1, -$2 - each time any site on your street is finished, you gain or lose the indicated number of upcoins $.
$1 per floor below (and -$1 per floor below) - each time any site on your street is finished, you gain or lose $1 for each floor below this card.
$1 per project of the indicated type on this site (office or apartment) - each time any site on your street is finished, you gain $1 for each project of the indicated type on this site.
$1 per office, $1 per apartment, $2 per store, $2 per coffee shop on your whole street - each time any site on your street is finished, you gain the indicated number of upcoins $ for each project of the indicated type on your whole street.
$1 if on the ground floor - each time any site on your street is finished, you gain $1 if this card is on the ground floor.

Project cost

If you buy the top card from your own player deck, pay its cost to the bank. If you buy the top card from an opponent's player deck, put the upcoins $ onto their player deck.

Prestige

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 prestige and -1, -2, -3, -4 prestige - at the end of the game, gain or lose the indicated prestige.
1 prestige or -1 prestige per office at this site, 1 prestige or -1 prestige per apartment at this site, 2 prestige per store at this site, and 2 prestige per coffee shop at this site - at the end of the game, gain or lose the indicated prestige for each project of the indicated type at this site.
1, 2, 3 prestige per project on all your sites - at the end of the game, gain the indicated prestige for each project of the indicated type on all your sites (office 1, service 2, coffee shop 2, store 2, gift 2, apartment 1, hotel 3).
1 prestige per floor below this card - at the end of the game, gain 1 prestige for each floor below this card.
1 or 2 prestige if on the ground floor - at the end of the game, gain the indicated prestige if this card is on the ground floor.

Rule Summary

Goal

Gain the most prestige points (star) from projects on your street.

Sequence of play

In clockwise order, starting with the player with the street board with the symbol I, players take turns.

Player turns

If you buy a card from your own player deck, you pay the bank. If you buy a card from an opponent's player deck, you put the upcoins onto their deck. REMINDER: if a player deck has upcoins on it, no one can buy a card from it.

In your turn, do 2 actions in order:

1st action

If your player deck has no upcoins, take the top card for free. Discard it or place it on one of your street's sites.
or, if your player deck has upcoins, take them to your account.

2nd action

Buy and play the top card from a player deck (yours or an opponent's).
or take and play the top card from the public pile for free.

When a site becomes finished with a roof, the site's owner immediately earns income from all their sites (whether finished or not).

Game end

When any player deck becomes empty or all 5 sites on any street become finished (roof), the final round is triggered. Finish the round, so that the last player (sitting to the right of the start player) takes the last turn of the game.

Scoring

Score prestige points (details on pages 5 and 7). Whoever gains the most prestige wins.

Street layout

Each street board has 5 sites. When you play a project card, choose a site and slide the card halfway under the street board (if it's the first card there) or under the previous card played there. Each additional floor makes a building taller. You cannot change the positions of cards after playing them.