Invented by Stefan Dorra
Translated by ??
Scanned to HTML by Peter Sarrett
Have the most money at the end of the game.
Punch out the 24 shop signs and the 4 game sequence cards
Press the 24 shop signs into the 24 plastic stands
Give each player a game sequence card
Each player chooses a name (Ali, Anfa, Omar, Leila) and takes the six corresponding shop signs
All players jointly distribute the visitors:
On each of the three blue fountain spaces (the entrance spaces) must be placed three visitors. No two of each group of three may be the same color.
The remaining 45 visitors are arranged outside the city walls in a U-shaped line. The order is arbitrary, but there may never be more than three visitors of the same color next to each other in the line. This "visitor queue" may only have two ends (see the illustration) [this just means that new visitors to the city must be taken from one or the other end of the line -- they cannot be plucked from the middle, leaving a gap]
A player acts as banker, giving each player 1,200 Dirham
The blue auction stone is set next to the game board
The 25 souvenir game cards are not required for the basic game.
A player is chosen to begin. Play then proceeds clockwise.
The only action that takes place in the first round is the auctioning of shops.
The current player selects any shop and sets the auction stone on it.
The player who set the stone is the auctioneer and he or she must make the first bid. The minimum bid is 100 Dirham.
Continuing clockwise, all other players may make a bid or pass. The bids must be higher than the last bid. If you pass you are excluded from making further bids in the current auction.
The auction continues until all players but one have passed. The remaining bidder buys the shop by paying the bid and placing his or her shop sign on the shop space. The blue auction stone is given to the player whose turn is next.
The bid is paid to the bank. But: The auctioneer receives a cut based on the amount of the bid.
| BID | CUT |
| 500 Dirham or less | 100 Dirham |
| more than 500 Dirham | 200 Dirham |
If the auctioneer buys the shop, no cut is awarded and the entire bid goes to the bank.
The first game round ends once each player has been an auctioneer. It is quite possible that a player may start the real game (staring with round 2) without a shop.
Note that you may NOT auction a shop and then move a group of visitors.
IMPORTANT: If a blue (entrance) fountain is empty at the end of a player's turn, that player must bring new visitors into the town (see New Visitors).
When a player moves a visitor group, ALL visitors in that group must be moved to the same adjacent fountain space. Each game piece should be moved separately, following the same route. If a group is moved onto an occupied fountain, it simply merges with the existing group and all visitors on that fountain will thereafter move together.
Crowds move past unowned shops without incident. However, the consequence of moving past an owned shop may be different...
If a visitor passes an owned shop of the same color as that visitor, that visitor enters the shop via the first door it passes. Such a visitor is now a customer of that shop, and customers spend money. The amount a customer pays to the shopowner is based on the number of customers (including the new one) currently in the shop.
| CUSTOMERS | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PAYMENT | 100 | 200 | 300 | 400 | 500 |
Thus the first customer in a shop pays the owner 100. The third pays 300. The sixth pays 500.
Once a customer enters a shop, it remains there for the rest of the game.
If a player moves a group of visitors and causes one or more visitors to enter another player's shop, the moving player gets a cut of the shopowner's profits. The amount depends on the TOTAL profit made from ALL customers brought into the shop from that group:
| SHOPOWNER'S PROFITS | MOVER'S CUT |
| 300 or less | 50 per customer |
| over 300 | 100 per customer |
The cut is always paid by the owner of the shop from the profits earned from the customers. Obviously, no cut is awarded for visitors moved into a player's own shop.
If a shop is auctioned and there is a group of visitors at a fountain adjacent to one of its doors, then all visitors in the crowd of the same color immediately enter the shop as customers and the owner immediately receives profits.
If at the end of a player's turn one (or more) of the entrance spaces is empty, then that player must bring new visitors into the city. The player chooses one of the ends of the visitor queue and takes 2, 3, or 4 successive game figures and places them (as a group) on one of the empty entrance spaces.
As soon as no more visitors are outside the city wall, the last round begins. Each player gets one last turn. The last turn will be taken by the player who brought the last group of visitors into the city.
The winner is the player with the most cash. Shops owned do not count towards the cash total.
At each auction of a shop, the amount offered should stand in a reasonable relationship to the expected profit. Paying 500 for a shop that only pulls in three customers will only net a profit of 100.
If another player is the only owner of a shop of a certain color, than you should auction more shops of that color. Why? Because the more shops of a color ready to receive customers, the fewer customers will theoretically enter any one of them.
If you own a shop, you should try to get other players to buy shops in the same neighborhood by offering them for auction. Why? The more players who own shops in the neighborhood, the more visitors will stream into that part of town.
If its up to you to bring new visitors into the city, don't choose visitors that will only help yourself. Remember that the player to your left goes next so if you can make it worthwhile for this player to move the new crowd in a favorable direction, you'll both profit.
Support your opponents' empty shops. If you move 2 red customers into Ali's empty shop, then Ali gets 300 from which you get a cut of 100. If you think this helps Ali too much, remember that the next player may be able to profit even more by moving the same visitors. If Leila had a red shop in range of the same two red visitors, and if her shop already had 2 customers in it, then you know that she will snap them up and make a 700 profit -- and you'll get nothing.
Yellow is a popular color. There are 14 yellow visitors (vs. 10 in each other color) and the yellow souvenirs bring in the most money (see variant, below).
Tourists buy souvenirs, represented by 25 souvenir cards. In this variant, players may earn extra money by selling particular souvenirs.
The souvenir cards are shuffled and stacked face down next to the board. At the start of the game, the uppermost two cards are placed face up next to the stack so that all players can see both.
Every time a visitor enters a shop of the same color as at least one of the face-up cards, the shop owner takes the card and receives the profit printed on the card from the bank.
Once "sold", the souvenir card is removed from the game.
If two cards of the same color are both face-up, the shopowner decides which one to sell.
If a player finishes his or her turn and one or both of the souvenir cards have been sold, then the player turns over enough cards to bring the total of face-up cards back to two.
IMPORTANT: The profits from souvenir cards are added to the shopowner's profits from customers when determining the cut paid to the moving player.