Some Rules Questions

I’ve had enough feedback to get some questions and people asking some clarifications on some of the rules. I really appreciate the feedback since this is the first game and rulebook I’m made for public consumption. Some of these suggestions I’ve gone ahead and added to the rulebook. Sometimes its hard to see these things as the writer just because you are so close to it. Even though this game has been been playtested for almost a decade now and it’s been through all sorts of stress tests and editing we are still finding room for improvement. I don’t feel I have enough content for a full FAQ page so lets start here.

Auction- The auction phase of the game get the most questions and since they all are similar I’ve edited the rules to help clarify a few things. That won’t help people who have already purchased the game so lets let’s clear things up here.

If a player declines to bid on a certain property that player may not bid again for that property. However, they can bid on another property that comes up for sale after the property they declined to bid on.

A player sent in a scenario that they had a question on.

Lead Player bids on a property but loses the auction to Player 2.

Player 2 has already bought a property so is unable to bid on another so the round skips to Player 3.

Player 3 bids on a property that Player 1 is uninterested in and wins the bid.

Player 4 bids on a property and wins that auction.

Now Player 1 is left with a property that no one has bid on. Since Player 1 did not decline to bid on that property yet, they are able to buy the property of the minimum bid price since all other players have a property. Even if another player was able to bid against them since Player 1 had not declined to bid on that specific property they may attempt a bid.

When talking about a round during the auction phase we are talking about each player gets a chance to bid or pass. So as soon as the option to bid would come back to the lead player that means that is a completed round. Each phase of the game contains a round allowing all players a turn.

Yes you can buy a property on the last year even though you could lose money. It’s a gamble but some lands are super cheap and you could have a way of manipulating the market in your favor. If a player buys a property and losses money then that was a poor business decision.

Opportunity Cards- I had a couple questions about hand size. The hand limit is four cards in which the player must discard down to four cards at the end of their main turn. there is no minimum hand size. I will try to make that clearer in the next rules update.

Trading- Yes! Players may absolutely trade anything they own except for a contract already in play.

Inclusivity- It was pointed out that they way I wrote the rules using the s/he pronouns may make some people feel excluded. I have no problem changing them to a more gender neutral wording when I update. Please bear with me.

Thanks for the questions everyone and keep ‘em coming.