Cannes: Stars, Scripts and Screens
Cannes: Stars, Scripts and Screens Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
Tiles: used to form the play area.
Goods are used to produce your movies. You may store up to five goods tokens on your schedule.
- Beer is used to write scripts and bribe critics.
- People can become stars or part of the old boys network.
- Chipsets are used to produce computers.
- Computers are used to write scripts or to make special effects.
- Scripts are used in romance movies or science-fiction (SF) movies.
- Special effects are used in SF and action movies.
- Stars are used in romance and action movies.
- Action, romance, and SF movies are used to score points.
Other Components
Each player has a schedule on which they can place goods and people.
Wooden rods: each player has five, used to develop their network.
Cigars: represent the old boys network, which can be used by anyone with the right connections.
The draw/discard area is used to store tiles.
The box office index: shows the popularity of movies in terms of revenue.
The movie ticket: represents the number of people who have seen a movie. Whoever earns the most wins the game.
Setup
Place one or two Cannes tiles in the middle of the table: one tile for two or three players, two tiles for four players. Place the two tiles against each other so that three sides touch.
With two or three players, remove a few tiles from the game and put them back in the box (see the photo on the last page, or on the back of the rules, for which ones). Shuffle the remaining tiles and place them face down as the draw pile. Take three markers representing the three movie types and place them on the box office index. All movies start at 13.
Each player takes a schedule and the five rods in their color.
Overview
The goal of the game is to produce and sell as many movies as possible. To do this, players need personal networks to recruit stars, hire the best special-effects artists, and attract the best screenwriters. These people live around Cannes. That's where the game begins. Slowly, players add new characters and locations, represented by tiles, into the game. Players do their best to connect as many of these people as possible, using both their own network and the old boys network. The latter is represented by cigars and can be used by anyone. Of course, you can make new friends each turn, but you will lose some as well.
Along the lines of these networks, players will turn an ordinary person into a star, an old computer into magical special effects, and a large quantity of alcohol into a grandiose screenplay, in order to arrive at the culmination of all human endeavor: A MOVIE.
Turn Sequence
The player who can name the most movies recently seen at the local cinema goes first. Players play clockwise.
On your turn you have the choice between:
- Placing two tiles, or
- Placing one tile, then developing your network and producing.
Tile Placement
The player whose turn it is draws three tiles from the pile and looks at them without showing them to the others. They may place one or two tiles on the table. If they play two tiles, their turn ends. If they play only one, they must then develop their network and produce. Unused tiles are placed face down on the discard pile.
Each tile must be connected to a tile already on the table by at least one side.
Objects on the table that were there at the start of the game cannot be moved; the map must be built around them.
Party tiles have invitations printed on them (an invitation is shown as an envelope). If a party tile is placed next to another one, neither may show an invitation on the side connecting them. Party areas placed next to each other form one large party.
If a player's network is connected to an agent (a space marked +1), they may place an additional tile — for example, playing three tiles and stopping there, or playing two tiles followed by the rest of the turn. If a player's network connects to two agents, they may play all three tiles and still develop their network and produce. It is never permitted to play more than three tiles in a turn.
A player is never obliged to use an agent. A player connected to two agents may freely choose to use both, only one, or neither. An agent has no effect on the number of tiles drawn — each player always draws three tiles.
When the draw pile is empty, the discard pile is shuffled and becomes the new draw pile. If the draw pile has fewer than three tiles, the player draws all of them, then reshuffles the discard pile into a new draw pile and draws however many tiles are needed to reach three. If this isn't possible, the player begins their turn with only one or two tiles. When all tiles have been placed on the table, the game ends after the end of that player's turn.
Developing a Network
A player using this action must place two rods, or move them if all of their rods are already on the board.
Rods symbolize contacts: you can visit the places you have connected in order to recruit people and acquire materials for your movies.
Rods are placed so as to connect the centers of two tiles. Only one rod may connect the same two tiles — rods belonging to different players may never be placed parallel to another rod or to an old boys network connection (that is, directly connecting the same two tiles).
A player must always place their rod so that all of their rods form one interconnected network. In practice this means the first rod can be placed anywhere on the board, but subsequent rods must follow the rules below.
Two rods are automatically connected if they are on the same tile. In addition, they are connected if:
a) Both are connected to a Cannes tile. It is not allowed to place rods connecting Cannes tiles to each other — they must be treated as a single large tile.
b) They are connected to a tile containing a phone line: if a player has a phone line in their network, they are allowed to place a rod starting from another phone tile.
c) They are connected to the same party by an invitation. A party is the set of party tiles adjacent to one another. Rods cannot connect two separate party areas to each other. Connecting from a party area to a normal area is only allowed if an invitation (an envelope) is shown on that side of the party tile.
d) They are connected to the same old boys network. The old boys network consists of all tiles connected by cigars, and can be used by anyone.
If a player has already placed all of their rods on the board, they may move one instead of placing a new one. The rod is simply taken from the board and placed elsewhere. A player's rods must always remain interconnected — this connection can never be broken, not even temporarily, by moving a rod to break the network and then recreate it.
A player is allowed to place or move two rods per turn.
Producing
A player may use the goods on their schedule, and on any tile to which they are connected, in order to produce.
A player's network is considered connected to:
- Any tile where they have a rod.
- Any party tile that is part of a party containing at least one tile where the player has a rod.
- Any tile containing an old boys network marker connected to the player's network.
There are two types of production tiles: suppliers (yellow) and the movie industry (green).
Suppliers produce a certain number of goods each turn, as shown on the tile. They only produce if the player wants to take the goods — no surplus goods remain on the tiles. Example: a tile showing two beers produces two beers; the player takes the goods and places them on their schedule.
Note that each player may use a supplier they are connected to only once per turn.
Simple suppliers provide one item. Double suppliers provide two items.
The movie industry requires goods, which are taken from the player's schedule or from a supplier the player is connected to. For example, a special-effects studio produces one special effect if it receives two computers in exchange.
A movie-industry tile can be used multiple times during a player's turn. The special-effects studio will produce two special effects if it receives four computers, three special effects if it receives six computers, and so on. The result is then stored on the player's schedule. The goods used are discarded.
A player is free to determine the order in which they produce.
If a player produces a movie, they may present it at Cannes, provided they are connected to a Cannes tile. They may also choose to store the movie on their schedule for a later presentation.
At the end of their turn, a player may keep only five items on their schedule — the rest must be discarded. The player freely chooses what to discard.
Special Tiles
A number of tiles have special functions, which can be used by players who are connected to them:
The golf club allows a player to extend their old boys network. If a player is connected to a golf club, they may place an old-boy marker by discarding two "people" markers.
Old-boy markers are placed the same way as rods, except that they cannot be placed on a tile containing a phone. They must be connected to the network of the player who plays them, but not necessarily to another old-boy marker. Like rods, an old-boy marker cannot be placed parallel to a rod or to another old-boy marker. Once produced, cigars must be placed immediately — they cannot be stored.
Since players are free to determine the order in which they produce, they must use a newly placed old-boy marker in order to produce goods with it — for example: first attract people, then place an old-boy marker to connect to a chip factory, then take a chip marker.
On the last turn, a player may move their network so that it is disconnected from the old boys network. The old-boy markers themselves can no longer be moved once they have been played.
The "for sale" tile allows the player to place an additional tile each turn, as explained under Tile Placement.
The critic tile (phone + magazine) can be used to modify the score. For each beer offered to the critic, a player may increase the popularity of one of the three movie types by one space on the box office. The critic can only be used if the player has produced a movie during their own turn. A movie's popularity may never exceed 15.
Cannes tiles are important for presenting movies — something which is only allowed once you have produced a movie.
The party area represents suppliers on a party tile; they produce goods for anyone connected to the party.
Scoring
The only way to score points is by presenting your movies at Cannes. To do this, a player must be connected to a Cannes tile. When a movie is presented, it attracts a certain number of visitors — the more visitors, the more points you score. The revenue for each movie type is shown on the box office; the three movie types each have their own popularity level.
For each movie produced, a player takes movie tickets equal to the revenue generated. If the box office shows a revenue of 13 million euros for romance movies and a popularity of 10 for science-fiction movies, then two romance movies and one science-fiction movie earn 36 movie tickets.
After a player has presented all the movies they wish to, the popularity of each movie type decreases by one space for each movie of that type presented; popularity can never drop below 6.
By paying critics with beer, players can increase the popularity of a movie type — popularity increases by 1 for each beer used. Since the player chooses the order of their actions during a turn, they can first raise a movie's popularity level and then produce it.
End of Game
The game ends when either:
- All tiles have been placed, or
- All 10 old-boy markers have been played.
In both cases, play continues to the end of that player's turn. The player with the most movie tickets wins the game. In case of a tie, the player who would have played the next turn wins (among the tied players).
When playing with two or three players, remove the tiles indicated for lower player counts before setup (see the photo on the last page, or on the back of the rules).