Boomtown

Rules

Synopsis

  Players are competing to become mayor in a small town by earning, buying, or growing votes. Players have a limited resource pool, which is split between gathering resources, obtaining voting blocks, or growing the town.

Setup

  Give each player 3 dice of the same color and a Score Sheet. Choose one Township board, two small factions, two large factions, three events, and a governance Card. These can be selected randomly, or players can set up an ideal town collaboratively.

  Place all cards underneath the Township Board, with only their names revealed.

Choosing Who Goes First

  To choose which player goes first, each player closes their eyes and votes for a player of their choice. (by pointing at them) The players then open their eyes to reveal the votes. The player with the most votes goes first.

  Players take turns clockwise from the first player. After each round, the player that went first in the round will go last.

Gameplay

  The game is played over 10 rounds, with each player having three turns within each round. At the start of each round, each player rolls their three dice. On each of their turns, players place one of their dice onto Slots on Locations. If a player cannot or refuses to place any dice, they end their turn immediately. Once all players have each had 3 turns, the round ends.

Goal

  Players are competing to become Mayor of the town. They do this by acquiring Favor from factions within the town, who will then vote for them at the end of the game. Each faction can only vote for one player, so competition is fierce.

  Each faction has a population, represented by little blue meeples on the Faction Cards. Each Faction gets a vote for each Meeple. It is in the player's interest to increase the population of Factions that will likely vote for them, and decrease the population of Factions that will not.

Ending The Game

  The game concludes at the end of the 10th round. For each faction, each player counts the amount of Favor they have for that faction, and subtracts one favor for each scorn. The player with the most Favor with that faction gains all of their votes.

  The player with the most overall votes between all factions is declared the mayor and wins the game. The other players are exiled from the town.

Pulling Cards

  At the start of the game, pull out each Faction and the Governance card to its first Light-Blue meeple.

  Pull out Faction cards to the next Meeple whenever they gain a Meeple. Similarly, push the card back in when it loses a meeple. 

  Faction cards have several locations which are revealed as they are pulled. You can only use locations that have been fully revealed; Which is marked by a light-blue meeple.

Placing Dice into Locations

   During a player's turn, they can place one of their free dice into an open Slot in a Location. The dice they place must be showing a value that is equal to or higher than the number on the Slot.

  If the location has no more Slots available, the player gets all of the rewards on the location.  If that location has a Cost, the player must immediately pay the cost. If they cannot, they do not gain the reward, and must remove their dice from the location.

  Multiple players can place their dice onto the same Location if there are slots available. Once all the slots are gone, each player pays an equal share of the cost and receives an equal reward. Players can also negotiate on who pays what cost and who receives what reward.

  Red Arrows between two locations mean that the target Location (Location that is being pointed at) cannot have dice placed into it until the connected location has all of its slots filled.

  Players can choose not to remove dice placed into Golden Slots. At the start of every round, each player in the turn order can pay the cost and receive the reward of any location that they currently have dice.

Resources and Trading

  Players keep track of their resources using their scorepad. When you receive a resource, circle that resource on your Scorepad. When you lose a resource, draw an X over the circle. Do not draw multiple circles or Xs over the same resource.

  Players can trade resources, but cannot exchange Favor or Scorn. This includes any exchange, including equal trades or multiple goods for one. 

Events

  Events are unpredictable incidents that can greatly affect the town in unpredictable ways. Events come into play at the start of the third, sixth, and ninth round. The Starting Player for this round randomly chooses one Event to begin. They pull that event up to its first phase. Each card has directions for how they change phases.

Errata: 

  The Half Moons (White Circle with black half-moon) are "Any Resource." When a player receives one of these, they gain one resource of their choice.

  Event cards that include Favor (green checkmarks) repercussions should read: "All factions gain."