Game by Peter Lewe.
Published by GoldSieber, 1996.
Rules summary and interpretation Pete Dwyer (The Boys Room).
March 21, 1996.
for 2 - 7 players
Before the first game press out the building project cards, the journalists and the Pretzel carefully. The building cards (and journalists)are put into the felt pouch. The pretzel marker and tankard are placed beside the game board.
Everyone receives a building-mogul (coloured pawn) and a die in the same colour. Each player also receives three district council member cards numbered 1, 2 and 3 which are placed face down in front of the player. The remaining district council member cards are then thoroughly shuffled and placed face down next to the board.
The oldest player receives the felt pouch and begins.
The player with the felt pouch draws a card from it blind. If it is a journalist there is no negotiation round and the special rules in section 6 below are applied. If it is a building section, the player puts it on the board on the appropriate field announcing the value on its reverse.
How many millions this building section is worth is now calculated by adding: its value; plus one for each building section already laid on the plot concerned; plus one for the section drawn.<\P>
A building section with value 4 on the reverse is drawn and two building sections already lie on the board for that project. Add: 4 (value of drawn section); 2 (for sections already in place); and 1 (for the section drawn); = 7 millions.
If no sections have been placed on a project, the first time a card is drawn for the project, the value is calculated as the value on the reverse of the card drawn plus one.
To determine their personal negotiation strength, each player rolls their die once and adds the number of district council member cards held (not the numbers on the cards!).
A player who has 4 council member cards and rolls a 3 has a negotiation strength of 7.
The numbers on the card fronts are only used during a district council session.
A player may roll the die again by discarding one of their district council member cards to the discard pile. For each new die roll, one council member card must be relinquished.
All players confer simultaneously. Whoever wants to make a bid, puts the tankard on the corresponding field of the bidding track (the numbered track inside the money track). For each subsequently improved bid, the tankard is advanced to the corresponding space.
To make a bid, a player must bid the negotiation strength of him/herself or bring together several players in a coalition - bidding the sum of their negotiation strengths.. Each and everyone can confer, make offers, and form different (new) coalitions.
A coalition can be formed or replaced by a new one at any time.
A coalition must agree over the distribution of the millions. They should consider the share each is getting and the position of the leader on the money strip.
Each player involved in the bidding (in the winning coalition) gets at least 1 million.
A detailed example of the negotiation round is given in Die kleine Mauschelfibel below.
Members of the victorious coalition now advance their moguls markers on the money track. When the last bid stands, the millions are distributed amongst the coalition members as agreed and each moves their pawn forward on the money track accordingly.
That is, unless, a player applies for a district council meeting!
The members of the losing coalition (ie all other players) draw a new council member card from the face down deck.
Each player not in the victorious coalition draws a new council member card from the face down stack , looks at its value, and places it face down beside his/her remaining district council members cards.
When the council member stack is depleted the discard pile is thoroughly re-shuffled to form a new stack. (If there are insufficient cards, to give one to each player, then no player receives one).
Players not belonging to the victorious coalition could join together in a district council meeting to attempt to make the coalition fail. The players must put in council member cards to be used in the district council meeting. The numbers on the cards and the pretzel marker now come into use. The higher the numbers the better. The exact course of the district council session is outlined in Die kleine Mauschifibel below.
It a journalist is drawn, there is no negotiation round. Instead, each pays for district council members and determines his/her personal difference to the player owning the least council member cards.
Each player moves their mogul backwards on the money track by this number (but never beyond the start field).
In a game of five players, Peter has 3 cards, Fritz has 6, Claudia has 3, Klaus has 4, and Gaby has 5 cards. Peter and Claudia have the least cards. Fritz moves his pawn back 3 spaces on the money track, Klaus by 1 and Gaby by 2.
The journalist is then returned to the bag which is passed clockwise. If, however, three building projects are already complete, the journalist is not returned to the bag but placed on a journalist field.
The game finishes early if a second journalist is drawn. The players again move backwards as before.
As soon as four of the six building projects are completed, the game also ends.
A project is finished if all sections for it lie on the board.
The Warm Spa (Thermalbad) consists of five sections.
If a card is drawn which completes a fourth project, dice are not rolled and there is no conferring. Instead, end bonuses are given. All players add up the values on their district council member cards.
Whoever has the biggest overall influence or total (which can be several players) moves his mogul along the money track by the end bonus.
This end bonus is equal to the value of the recently drawn building section.
If the fourth project completed is the fire hydrant, the end bonus is 1 million. If it is the sixth section of the purification plant (Karanlage) the bonus is 6 million.
There is no end bonus if the game finishes through drawing a second journalist.
Whoever is furthest along the money strip wins! (There may be several winners).
The following documents sample plays to illustrate key parts of the rules.
Five players are bargaining over 7 million (a second building section for the five plot plus a site-worth of 5 - don't forget the 1 for the drawn section). Each player has the following number of district council member cards and rolls the die as indicated:
Peter has 2 cards and rolls a 4 (negotiation strength = 6);
Claudia has 3 cards and rolls a 3 (negotiation strength = 6);
Gaby has 4 cards and rolls a 5 (negotiation strength = 9);
Reiner has 2 cards and rolls a 1 (negotiation strength = 3);
Fritz has 3 cards and rolls a 2 (negotiation strength = 5);
Reiner is not happy with rolling a 1 and puts a council member card on the discard pile and rolls again, getting a 4. Fritz also discards a card, rolls again and gets a 1 - unlucky! Fritz decides to discard another card and this time rolls a 5. All are now satisfied with their results and the situation is as follows:
Peter has 2 cards and rolled a 4 (negotiation strength = 6);
Claudia has 3 cards and rolled a 3 (negotiation strength = 6);
Gaby has 4 cards and rolled a 5 (negotiation strength = 9);
Reiner has 1 card and rolled a 4 (negotiation strength = 5);
Fritz has 1 card and rolled a 5 (negotiation strength = 6);
Gaby starts and bids her 9, putting the tankard on the 9 space on the bidding track (intending to claim the full 7 million). Fritz joins with Reiner bidding 11 and saying "4 million for me and 3 for Reiner." Immediately Peter (for 3 million) with Claudia (for 4 million) bids 12. Fritz can neither join with Peter nor Claudia because their joint negotiation strength would be 12 and that space is already occupied. Fritz offers to join with Gaby for a bid of 15 and Gaby claims 5 million for her contribution of 9 to the bid. Gaby is well ahead on the money track so Fritz suggests Peter joins him and Claudia proposing 3 million for Claudia and 2 million each for Fritz and Peter. The bid now stands at 18.
Gaby is not happy! Gaby counters proposing 4 million for Fritz, 2 million for Reiner and 1 million for herself. Fritz ignores his previous coalition partner and puts the tankard on 20. This is the last chance for Peter who offers Gaby 2 million, 3 million for Claudia and 2 million for himself. Gaby's negotiation strength of 9 cannot now be bettered and the tankard is placed on 21.
For both Fritz and Reiner this is the end of the negotiation round. A new coalition of four players could be formed, but the 7 million to be distributed amongst four would lead to very poor payouts.
The present coalition stands. Only through a district council session could anything now be changed. Fritz and Reiner abstain from calling a district council session because they only have one council member card each and therefore little influence.
Claudia, Gaby and Peter now move their building moguls on the money track as agreed (Claudia 3 spaces, Gaby and Peter 2 each).
Reiner and Fritz draw a new council member card from the deck.
Not every negotiation round is so tumultuous! It is important however that no-one is bound to an offer and the tankard is advanced for each new bid.
Normally, the players with the biggest joint negotiation strength will win the negotiation round. In a district council meeting, the minority attempts to bring down the majority coalition. A district council session can only be called by a player who does not belong to the majority coalition. All other players (not in the majority coalition) form the opposition.
1 A member of the opposition loudly calls district council session and pushes forward one of his/her district council member cards.
2 Then the negotiation strength of the opposition is determined and the pretzel marker placed on the corresponding space on the bidding track.
3 All other players of the opposition that want to attend the district council session now push forward a council member card.
4 Next all players, including the majority coalition, take their remaining cards in hand.
5 Then all players simultaneously put any number of their district council members cards on the table face down (ie still with the number concealed).
6 All players now reveal their district council member cards. The numbers on the fronts depict the individual council member strengths. Opposition and coalition determine their overall totals and add these to the present positions of their markers on the bidding strip, moving the Pretzel and Tankard markers accordingly.
7 If the coalition still has a higher (or equal) value, these players have won the negotiation round. If the opposition has the biggest value, the opposition wins.
8 All used cards are now placed on the discard pile. The players of the winning party move their building moguls forward as agreed
There are four players thus:
Fritz holds 3 cards and rolled a 6 (negotiation strength =9);
Klaus holds 5 cards and rolled a 5 (negotiation strength =10);
Reiner holds 5 cards and rolled a 4 (negotiation strength =9);
Wolfgang holds 6 cards and rolled a 2 (negotiation strength =8);
Fritz and Klaus form a coalition splitting 9 million as 4 million to Fritz and 5 million to Klaus, putting the tankard on the 19 space of the bidding track.
Reiner and Wolfgang only command a negotiation strength of 17. However they hold 11 council member cards between them whilst the opposition only holds 8. Reiner demands a council meeting and pushes a card forward. The pretzel marker is now put on the bidding track 17 space. Wolfgang also believes the coalition could fall and puts forward one of his council member cards.
Now all players take their remaining cards into their hands. The opposition players agree that if they win, Reiner will receive 4 million and Wolfgang 5 million. On the coalition side Klaus demands 6 million. Fritz mutters something but decides 3 million is better than nothing. All players now put any number of their council member cards face down on the table. These are revealed and the numbers added up for each party (coalition and opposition). The coalition puts down five council member cards and the opposition 9.
Fritz puts 2 cards valued at 1, 2 = 3;
Klaus puts 3 cards valued at 3, 3, 2 = 8;
Reiner puts 3 cards valued at 1, 1, 3 = 5;
Wolfgang puts 5 cards valued at 1, 3, 2, 3, 2, 1 = 12;
The coalition totals 11 and the opposition 17. These are added to their present position on the bidding track. The coalition achieves an overall total of 30 (11+19) and the opposition 34 (17+17). The opposition wins.
Wolfgang and Reiner move their moguls as agreed and the other two players draw a new council member card each. The used cards are discarded.
Three players form a coalition, and four the opposition. One of the opposition demands a council session. Stupidly one of the opposition doesn't participate and doesn't put a card in. Of the other three coalition players, two don't play any cards - they want them for later. The third coalition member is not very pleased but has already put in all of his council member cards.
The three opposition players win and move their moguls as previously agreed.
The three coalition players and the fourth opposition member each draw a new council member card.