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Citizens and Tenants (ugly working title)

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Joeyeti
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Joined: 03/25/2009

Hi all,

coming here relatively fresh with this idea of mine, but it lurks in my brain for some months now.

I have a card game in mind where you build your own small city (or town, mind you), trying to get as many Tenants in your different Buildings as possible. You need to fully fill at least 6 Buildings wiht some conditions to win.

Yes, yes, you might say "Go see this topic for a City building game!".

Yes, have seen it and it differs ;-)

The Rules of the original alpha version of my game-idea can be found on Boardgamegeek in this topic. This design evolved from that point on and I simplified and re-wrote the rules quite much. If you care to read the original also (or you already by chance have :-) you will see differencies. If not, I will not sent you there to read it before this second version.

Below I will post my current rules and if you want to you can share your oppinions on them.
I have not yet made any actual cards for the game with numbers and texts, but this will follow.

First I would like to collect some basic feedback as to the possibility that this game would be a rip-off of some other already published one.

(Just to say which games I was advised to look at on BGG when my original idea surfaced there: Sim City: The Card Game; Adobe, Stone and Steel; Big City; Chinatown; Fiifth Avenue. I did look at rules I found here and there, but did not read the whole rulesets, nor played any of those. Just got a "general" feeling as to what the games are about.)

Thx for your time!

Joeyeti
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Joined: 03/25/2009
Current ruleset...

Population
- pool of people counters in the middle of the playing board

Citizens
- individual pool of citizens belonging to each of the Players

Tenants
- Citizens, placed in Buildings

Building cards
- Tenant’s spaces - up to 10
- they contain:
o Name
o Building type (colour and/or picture): residential, commercial, industrial, cultural...
o Price (in Citizens): 0-3, some may even grant a Citizen back
o max. number of Tenants
o some special Powers (not on all cards)

Event cards
- they contain:
o Name
o Upper-left corner: number of Tenants into a new Building
o Upper-right corner: number of Tenants into an existing Building
o Lower-left segment: an Event with a double-effect (Global for all Players – weaker, Local for a single Player – stronger)
o Lower-right corner: Number of Citizens to gain from Population

At the start everyone gets:
- 2 Building cards
- 2 Event cards
- 3 Citizens (to his pool) from the Population (in the center)

End-game trigger conditions:
6 fully filled Buildings with Tenants, size 7 and more – at least 2 Residential, 1 Industrial and 1 Commercial + 2 of any type

Gameflow:

The game is played in Rounds between which the position of the starting player of the current Round moves clockwise. The next Round is thus begun by the next player in clockwise turn order. Where not stated otherwise, before moving to the next player you have to resolve a step with the current player completely (e.g. the current player may take a Building card and may then decide to sell one of his unused Buildings before the next player can take a Building card etc.).

If anytime during the game a card stack becomes depleted, shuffle the discarded pile of the given type (Events or Buildings) and create a new draw pile. Event cards are discarded face-up, Buildings face-down.

Steps in a game Round:

1. At the beginning of the Round every player gets an automatic population increase in new Citizens (from the Population) , which is equal to the lowest number of Buildings, placed in front of one of the Players. This amount may be influenced by an active Event card (a card that was not discarded when used, but remained to be discarded after its future use).

2. The starting player can lay down one Building card, for which he immediately pays an amount of Citizens from his pool, equal to the Price of the Building. Citizens do not generally like the rumble and roar of construction works, so they leave elsewhere. After the starting player all other players in turn order may lay down a Building card, immediately paying for it.

3. The starting player may then get new Tenants from the Population (not from his Citizens pool) to his newly build Building by discarding one of his Event cards in his hand. Most of the Event cards have a number of Tenants in their upper-left corner, which the player can add to a new Building. After the starting player is done every other player in turn order may get Tenants to his newly built Building this way, discarding an Event card.

4. After that the starting player can use two Event cards, each in one of the ways listed below (each choice can only be taken once-a-round):- as an Event, printed on the card
- to add some Tenants to one’s own existing Building (not to a newly built Building)
- to add some Citizens from Population to his pool

An Event printed in the lower-left portion of an Event card can be used as a Global or a Local one. The Global Event influences every other player (except the player who used it) and has a lesser effect, than the Local one. The Local Event is directed to a single player and its effect is stronger. The wording of the Event is the same, the effect has a double wording – the first part is used for a Local Event, the second part for a Global Event. The Event Card is discarded after such a use with the exception of cards, that remain active for a later use, as detailed in their description.
If the Event is used as a Local one (against a single opponent), that targetted opponent can defend against it. The first Event is resolved against the targetted opponent and after that the opponent can play one of his Events as a Local Event against the original player. The opponent cannot play his defensive Event against all players (as a Global one). It is also not permitted that two players play a Local Event against the same opponent in the same Round.

Adding Tenants to an existing Building follows the same guidelines as with the Tenants in a new Building and their amount is listed in the upper-right corner of the Event card. The player adds Tenants from his pool of Citizens, not from the general Population. The listed amount of Tenants is added to an existing Building (not a newly built one). The Event card is discarded after this use.

Addint Citizens from the Population is also governed by the same principles as adding new Tenants. The amount of Citizens is shown in the lower-right corner of the Event card. The player gets the given amount of people from the Population and adds them as Citizens to his pool. The Event card is discarded after this use.

If after finishing adding Tenants to Buildings any player fulfilled the End-game conditions (he has 6 fully-filled Buildings according to the given requirements), the game ends. If only one player fulfilled the conditions, he is the Winner. If more than one player did fulfill them in the current Round, the winner is decided by the most Buildings of the same type (residential, industrial...). If even this decision ends in a draw, the player with the most Tenants/Citizens (in this order) wins.

5. The starting player may draw one Building card. Additionaly he can decide to sell one of his unused Buildings in his hand. He can offer it to the other players, but he may not tell them exactly which Building he sells. He can only reveal the amount of Tenants the Building can hold (the capacity of the Building). If any player is interested in buying this Building, he can pay the original owner either with one Event card, or with two Citizens. If two or more players are interested in a sold Building, they can add up the price to pay for it, but they can never decrease the minimum price (Event card or 2 Citizens). If no one is interested in the Building, it remains with the original owner.
Afterwards all other players in turn-order may draw a Building card and they may also want to trade an unused Building to others.

6. If after the potential Building sale any player has more than two Building cards in his han, he has to discard the excess Building(s) to the Building discard pile. Building cards are discarded face-down.

7. Every player draws new Event cards depending on how many of them he has in his hand. If a player has less than two Event cards, he draws two new Event cards. If he has two and more Event cards, he draws only one Event card. There is no hand-limit on Event cards.

8. The current Round ends and the position of the Starting player moves to the next player in clockwise turn-order. Start the new Round again from step 1.

Joeyeti
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Anyone had chance to look at

Anyone had chance to look at the rules?

If so, please feel free to comment and/or criticize. I am quite open for reactions (even dismissive ones) :-)

Thx!

Joeyeti
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Joined: 03/25/2009
First Event cards are here...

Hi all,

Finally got to start creating the Event cards.
Here is what I have so far. Please comment on what you like/don't like/see will not fit in there...

Please note:
Active - means that the card is out on the table until its use (mostly in the next turn)

All - applies to all Opponents / a selected Opponent (in case two numbers are divided by a slash, where the first Number is for ALL, the second for ONE), or applies to all Opponents (if no numbers are given)

One - applies to one Opponent

Self - applies to the acting player, who played the card

-------------------------
-------------------------
Event cards
--------------------------
--------------------------
Low Rent
Active: in the next turn the Citizens gained from Population are +1

Lower Taxes
Active: Commercial Buildings gain +1 Tenant

High Rent
Active: in the next turn the Citizens gained from Population are -1 (min. 1)

Economic Crisis
All: remove 1/2 Tenants from the biggest Building (to a minimum of 1 Tenant)

Rapid Building
Self: exchange a smaller Building for a bigger one of the same type, Tenants stay

Earthquake
All: empty a Size 3/5 Building, owner chooses

Landslide
All: remove 1/2 Citizens and 2/3 Tenants from one Building per player, owner chooses

Fire
All: remove 1/2 Tenants from two Buildings per Player (to a minimum of 0 Tenants)

Flood
One: remove 1 Tenant from all Buildings (to a min. of 1)

Hurricane
All: 1/2 Citizens of a Player are put back into Population

Civil Riots
All: 1/2 Citizens of a Player are transferred to the acting player

Shooting in the Neighbourhood
All: 1/2 Tenants are removed from a Building of the acting player's choosing

Gas Explosion
One: the player's smallest Building is emptied and in the next turn no Tenants can be added there

War Ordnance Explosion
One: the smallest player's Building is destroyed and half of the Tenants transfer to another Building of that player; the rest goes back to Population

Chemical Alert
One: the chosen player cannot use his current Citizens (but can add new ones)

Airplane Crash
All: remove 2/3 Citizens

Demonstrations
One: player can use only 2 Citizens next turn

Plundering
All: Commercial Buildings lose 1/2 Tenants

Young Family Support
All: increase Tenants in Residential Buildings

Investment Credit
Self, Active: next Building to be built will cost 1 less

Economic Growth
Self: add 1 Tenant to two biggest Buildings

Inhabitation
Self: add 2 Tenants to a Building with 0 or 1 Tenant

Building Redesign
Self: add 2 Tenants to a Commercial Building

Joeyeti
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First playtest (solo)

Yesterday I finally came to a solo playtest with an ugly-BW-on-regular-paper cards and some glass beads instead of small 6mm cubes (which are on order for further playtests :). I made some basic Building distribution, basically until now only with the capacity and cost (no names or spacial powers) - 39 cards so far.

What I found out from the first game:

1. i will have to create more Residential Buildings as the vicotry conditions demand 2 instead of 1, so that the ratio among Buildings is bigger

2. maybe I will add the rule that for 10 "people" you can upgrade a Building to +1 capacity and perhaps even to +2 for additional 15. this way even if good cards are not coming to a player, he can turn his Size 5-6 Buildings into 7-8 ones for the victory-contidions purpose.

3. I will have to clarify some card texts and mainly that when you discard Tenants from Buildings, they do not return to the player's Citizen pool, but they go to the Population main pool (if the card does not state otherwise)

4. maybe I will raise the numbers on the Event cards slightly (Tenants/Citizens to Buildings/pool), but this may be already solved by the above... will have to test

I will keep testing and also get some family members to show it to them to hear some oppinions.

And also I will have to continue making the Event cards (until now around 25) to up to 50 or so vor variety. Maybe I will double some of them, if they seem useful and not too strong as Events, but rather to get some resources.

Joeyeti
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Last week we ran a playtest

Last week we ran a playtest with my father and my brother with a fresh set of cards already with some graphics. I must say it went quite well. There were of course some problems, but this was expected, as this was the first live playtest with someone else, than myself.

Here is the art for the cards:
http://images.boardgamegeek.com/images/pic499664_md.jpg
http://images.boardgamegeek.com/images/pic499663_md.jpg

And here one shot from the game itself:
http://images.boardgamegeek.com/images/pic500427_md.jpg

If you are interested in reading the playtest report that I wrote on BoardGameGeek, you can head to the Game entry of Joe's City.

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