Theming: What’s the point?
In this 2-4 player city-building game, make the highest-scoring city over three rounds. You place Buildings into the eight four-space blocks of your personal City board, then score the two current Goals, your Landmarks, and your Services each round.
Teaching focus
- Take from the current topmost non-empty Building row: everyone gets one Building on every turn.
- A completed block gives its owner a Boat, which pays for Services and can recover spent Action tokens.
- Landmarks need a Requirement tile. Its placement preference and neighbouring-Building preference determine its score every round.
Setting up: How to get started?
Place the Architects board centrally. Shuffle the Goal cards and lay out three pairs above it; only these six Goals are used. Shuffle the Service deck, reveal three cards, put all Buildings in the bag, and make the round-one Building rows: two rows of 10 for two players, three rows of 9 for three, or four rows of 8 for four. Draw six Buildings for Backup Plans.
Table checklist
- Shuffle the Requirement tiles. Reveal one for every Landmark in the first Building row and Backup Plans combined; leave the rest facedown as a stack.
- Give each player a City board, scoring token, and six Action tokens. Put two tokens in their play area and four aside for later rounds.
- Put Boats within reach. Give the First Player card to whoever most recently held a hammer.
- Each City block has four spaces: two by the river and two by the mountains, and is either green or grey. Buildings may go in any free space.
- When taking a Landmark, choose an available Requirement tile and put it beside that Landmark’s block. A block can hold at most four Buildings, irrespective of type.
Rounds and Phases
Play three rounds, each with an Action, Scoring, and Cleanup phase. Beginning with the first player and proceeding clockwise, a player must take one Building from the current topmost non-empty row and place it. When that row empties, reveal Requirement tiles for the Landmarks in the next row and Backup Plans, pass first player left, and continue with that new first player. Scoring begins once the final row is empty.
Action phase order
- On a turn, take and place one Building from the current row. Filling the final space of a block gives you one Boat; put it by that block.
- Before or after taking that Building, spend up to two Action tokens, one per action. Overhaul swaps two City Buildings; if a Landmark moves, move one Requirement tile from its old block to its new block.
- Backup Plan swaps one City Building with a displayed Backup Plan Building. Take a Requirement tile if the incoming Building is a Landmark; return one from its block if the outgoing Building is a Landmark.
- Relocation moves one Building to a free City space. If this newly fills a block without a Boat, gain that Boat.
- Demanding Residents reveals two extra Services. You may then spend two Boats for one of the five; discard or refill the other extra cards as directed by which card you take.
- At any time on your turn, spend two Boats for one available Service, immediately refilling the three-card offer. You cannot own duplicate Services. Alternatively, spend one Boat to recover two used Action tokens; both Boat options may be used any number of times.
Cleanup
After rounds one and two, turn the scored Goals facedown, return all Backup Plan Buildings to the bag and draw six replacements, then create the next round’s Building rows. Round two uses 2x8, 3x9, or 4x12 Buildings; round three uses 2x10, 3x9, or 4x8. Discard leftover Requirement tiles, reveal replacements for Landmarks in the new first row and Backup Plans, give every player two Action tokens, and pass first player left. Skip Cleanup after round three.
Scoring
Score at the end of every round, in the same order. Goals award their printed points for every qualifying block or set of blocks. Each Landmark Requirement scores separately: one point for its Landmark’s correct block/location preference, plus up to three points for Buildings of either indicated type in that Landmark’s block. A Landmark can score only its own Requirement tile. Each Service scores two points per indicated pair of Building types anywhere in your city; the same Building can contribute to several Services.
Scoring order
- Score both face-up Goals for the round.
- Score every Landmark Requirement tile.
- Score every Service.
- After round three, add two points per unused Boat and one point per unused Action token.
- The highest total wins. On a tie, the player with fewer Landmarks wins; any remaining tie is shared.
Terminology
- Building Plans: The rows of Buildings from which players must currently choose.
- Landmark: A black Building that receives a Requirement tile when taken.
- Backup Plans: The six-Building alternative display used by the Backup Plan action.
- Boat: A token earned for completing blocks and spent on Services or recovering Action tokens.
- Service: A scoring card bought with two Boats.
Official rules
This teach covers the base multiplayer game; the Residents, Events, scenario, and solo material are separate rulebook variants.