City Hall Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• The Board
• Setup
• Star Values
• Parks
• Start of Round
• Sequence of Play
• Offices
  • Tax Assessor
  • Surveyor
  • Campaign Manager
  • Lobbyist
  • Zoning Board
  • Deputy Mayor
  • Health Commissioner
• Final Round
• Election
• 2-Player Rules
  • Setup
  • Sequence of Play

Components

• 22 Land Cards
• 40 Stars
• 9 Endorsements
• 56 Staffers (in 4 colors)
• 45 Influence Cards
• 80 Money Cards
• 8 Housing Permits
• 8 Tower Permits
• 8 Factory Permits
• 4 Park Permits
• 1 Board
• 4 Player Aid Tiles

The Board

The board shows the city map, divided into Land Spaces in three boroughs: Manhattan (M1-M5), Queens (Q1-Q8), and Brooklyn (B1-B9). Bridges connect the boroughs. The board also has a Population Track, a Turn Order Track, an Approval Rating Track, the seven Offices (Tax Assessor, Surveyor, Campaign Manager, Lobbyist, Zoning Board, Deputy Mayor, Health Commissioner), the Money Reserve, Land Reserve, Influence Reserve, and Permits Reserve.

Setup

Separate the Money, Influence, and Land cards and place them on the corresponding spaces on the board. Set the Endorsement cards aside. Place a star on the Approval Rating Track space with a numbered star equal to the number of players in the game.

Each player takes all Staffers of one color, $10, and 3 Influence. Each player takes one each of the Housing, Tower and Factory cards. The rest are shuffled together with the Park cards into a Permit deck, which is then placed on its space in the board. Each player's Money, Influence, and cards are kept secret.

Place one Staffer from each player on the 1 space of the Approval Rating Track and another on the 1 space of the Population Track. Take another Staffer from each player and randomly order them on the Turn Order Track.

The player who is last on the Turn Order Track should take one extra Influence.

The players will now draft two free Land spaces each. Draw the top three cards from the Land deck and place them on the corresponding spaces of the board.

The player who is first in turn order selects one of these three spaces, discards the card from it, and places one of his or her Staffers on the space. Place $5 from the bank on each of the two spaces that were not selected. Then draw one new Land card and place it on the board so that the next player will also have three to choose from.

Then the other players follow this same procedure in turn order. If a player selects a Land space with Money on it, that Money is given to the player. If a Land goes unselected multiple times, it will gain an additional $5 each time.

After each player has drafted one free Land space, this is repeated starting with the first player again.

When the last player has drafted his second Land space, the other two remaining should each gain $5 as usual, but another Land card should not be drawn. (There should only be two cards on the board.)

Each player will now place an initial Building.

Beginning with the player first in turn order, each player takes one of the three Permit cards he or she was given at the start and places it on one of his or her owned land spaces. That player then chooses one of the two other Permit cards and returns it to the bottom of the Permit deck.

Star Values of all placed Permits are adjusted as they are placed and as other Permits are placed adjacent to them. See "Star Values" (page 6) for how to determine this.

Once all players have done this, the first round of the game begins.

Note: 2 Player games have special rules regarding setup and play. See the 2 Player section at the end of this rulebook for details.

Star Values

Buildings become more or less valuable depending on adjacent Permits. This value is called the Star Value. A Building's maximum Star Value is printed on the Permit card:

• Housing: maximum Star Value of 5
• Tower: maximum Star Value of 3
• Factory: maximum Star Value of 1

A Park is not a Building, and therefore does not have a Star Value. Parks serve to increase the Star Value of each adjacent Building, and to increase the Approval Rating of the players who build them. See "Parks" (page 7) for details.

The total Star Value of a player's Buildings determines how much Population that player brings into the city during the Health Commissioner Office action. A Building's Star Value depends on the Permits adjacent to it - orthogonally and diagonally within the same borough (Manhattan, Queens, and Brooklyn), as well as directly connected by a Bridge.

For example, a Permit on the space B1 would be adjacent to Permits on B2, B4, B5, and Q6 (via Bridge), but it would not be adjacent to a Permit on Q5 or Q7.

Each building starts with a Star Value of zero and is modified by adjacent Permits according to the chart below. All modifiers are cumulative.

The Manhattan Land Spaces are considered high-value property and are marked with a Star. The Star Value of any Building built in Manhattan is increased by 1.

Place a number of Star tokens equal to the Star Value onto that Building. A Building may never have a Star Value greater than its maximum Star Value.

The Star Value of a Building does not depend on the order in which Permits are built. A Building's Star Value can always be verified by examining which Permits are adjacent to it.

For example, the blue Tower on Q6 is not adjacent to any other Permits and is not in Manhattan, so no Star Tokens are placed on it. The black Factory on M4 isn't adjacent to a Tower or a Park, but it is in Manhattan, so it gets one Star Token. The orange Housing on M3 would also get a Star Token for being in Manhattan, but it is adjacent to a Factory, so it loses one Star Token, ending up with zero.

Housing

• -1 per Factory
• +2 per Housing
• +1 per Tower
• +1 per Park

Tower

• +1 per Tower
• +1 per Housing
• +1 per Park

Factory

• +1 per Tower
• +1 per Park

Park

• Cannot have stars

Parks

Parks help to increase the flow of population into the city by increasing the Star Value of all adjacent Buildings (but never beyond the Building's maximum Star Value). The Park itself never has a Star Value.

Note: Housing, Towers, Factories, and Parks are all Permits. However, the term "Buildings" in this rulebook and on your reference card refers only to non-Park Permits.

Building a Park may also increase a player's Approval Rating. At the moment a player builds a Park, that player's Approval Rating is increased by 1 for every 2 Buildings adjacent to the new Park.

From that point forward, that player's Approval Rating also increases by 1 for each new Building built adjacent to the Park by any player.

Start of Round

At the start of each round, except for the first round, the following occurs:

1. If a player won the bidding for Deputy Mayor in the previous round, move that player to first on the Turn Order Track. The other players slide backwards in the same relative order to one another. If Deputy Mayor was not activated in the previous round, the turn order does not change.

2. Each player takes one Influence from the bank.

3. Add one influence from the bank to each City Hall Office space (Tax Assessor, Health Commissioner, etc.) which was not activated in the previous round (these spaces will not have a Staffer on them).

4. Return player's Staffers from the City Hall Office spaces to the players.

5. Check final-round conditions:

   • Is the Approval Rating Track Star on the right-most (5) space?
   • Is at least one player's Staffer on the right-most (5) space?

   If either of those is true, go to "Final Round" (page 11). Otherwise proceed to Sequence of Play (page 8).

Sequence of Play

After Start of Round actions, Player 1 take completes all of the following steps before passing the turn to the next player.

1. Place a Staffer on one of the seven City Hall Offices that does not already contain another player's Staffer.

2. Take any Influence cards on that Office (placed there during step 3 of the Start Round actions).

3. If the Surveyor or Zoning Board contain a Staffer, complete pre-bidding actions for those Offices.

4. Put the Office action up for bid. Clockwise from the player whose turn it is, each opponent may bid Influence for control of the Office action associated with that Office. Influence bids are placed face up on the table to show the amount of each bid.

   Each opponent may pass, match the current high bid (which starts at zero), or make a higher bid. Players may not bid more influence than they currently hold.

5. After each opponent has had one chance to bid, the player whose turn it is may either: a) Keep control of the Office by discarding Influence to the bank equal to the high bid. Each unaccepted bid is returned to that player's hand.

   OR

   b) Accept the high bid (choosing among them if multiple players bid the same amount). Take the Influence from the high bidder. That player gains control of the Office. Each unaccepted bid is returned to that player's hand.

   Regardless of who has control of the Office, the Staffer is not removed from the space. It remains there until the start of the next round. That player has bargained away the Office action in return for Influence.

6. The player who now controls the Office takes the associated action(s) (page 9).

7. Pass the turn to the next player in turn order. After each player has taken a turn, the round ends.

Example: Michael chooses to activate the Surveyor Office, which has 3 influence on it. He collects the 3 Influence and then puts the Office action up for bid.

Mark bids 3 Influence. Eve bids 5 Influence. Carol also bids 5 Influence. Michael has 3 options. He may...

... ACCEPT EVE'S BID, taking 5 Influence from Eve. Eve then performs the Surveyor action.

... ACCEPT CAROL'S BID, taking 5 Influence from Carol. Carol then performs the Surveyor action.

... KEEP CONTROL OF THE OFFICE, paying 5 Influence (the amount of the highest bid) to the bank and then performing the Surveyor action himself.

If Michael does not have at least 5 Influence in hand, he must accept a bid! Michael may not accept Mark's bid because it was not one of the highest bids.

Whether he accepts a bid or keeps control of the Office, Michael's turn is over. He will not choose another Office this round. However, he may still win bids and perform Office actions on other players' turns this round.

Offices

Here is a complete description of the available Offices. An abbreviated description appears on the Player Aid Tiles.

This indicates a pre-bidding action that occurs in Step 3 of the Sequence of Play, before players bid Influence for control of the Office. The player whose Staffer is on the Office completes the pre-bidding action.

• This indicates an action taken by the player who wins control of the Office.

Tax Assessor

The Tax Assessor Office is the primary way to collect Money in City Hall. Money is used when campaigning and buying Land.

• Collect $1 for each Population (according to your Population marker) + $3 for each Tower you own + $7 for each Factory you own

  $1/Population + $3/Tower + $7/Factory

You may choose to move your Staffer down 1 space on the Approval Rating Track in order to triple your tax income. If your Staffer is on space 1 of the Approval Rating Track, then you may not triple your tax income, but you may double it. Staffers never move below space 1 on the Approval Rating Track.

Surveyor

The Surveyor allows you to purchase a plot of Land.

The activating player may spend an Influence to search the Land deck and choose a card to be revealed, shuffling the rest. If the activating player does not spend an Influence, reveal a random new Land card from the top of the deck. Place the Land card on the corresponding City Board space.

• You may spend $20 to purchase one of the revealed Land spaces, placing a Staffer on it. If there is any Money already on that Land space, you may use that Money to help purchase that space. If there is more than $20 on it, you may keep the extra.
• Whether or not you actually buy a Land space, place $5 on each of the available Land spaces that were not bought.

Campaign Manager

The Campaign Manager allows you to pay Money for increased Approval Rating.

• Pay $0 → Advance 1 space on Approval Rating Track
• or Pay $10 → Advance 2 spaces on Approval Rating Track
• or Pay $30 → Advance 3 spaces on Approval Rating Track

Lobbyist

The Lobbyist allows you to buy and sell Influence.

• Collect Influence equal to your current Approval Rating.
• Spend $10 to gain one Influence. (No Limit)
• Discard one Influence to gain $7. (No Limit)

Zoning Board

The Zoning Board allows you to build on empty Land you already own.

Reveal the top three cards of the Permit deck.

Choose one of the following:

• Take two of the revealed Permit cards into hand.
• Take one of the revealed Permit cards into your hand, then place any one Permit card from your hand onto an empty Land space you own.
• Place two Permit cards already in your hand onto two different empty Land spaces you own.

For each Permit built this turn, move the Star Token one space to the right on the Approval Rating Track.

Also, adjust the number of Star Tokens on any newly placed Buildings and adjacent Buildings to reflect changes in their Star Value.

Finally, place all revealed Permits which were not taken face down underneath the Permit deck in any order.

Deputy Mayor

The Deputy Mayor allows you to jockey for turn order.

• At the start of the next round (or the end of the game if this is the last round), the player who controls the Deputy Mayor Office moves his or her Staffer into the first position of the Turn Order Track. All other players' Staffers slide back in the same relative order to one another.

Health Commissioner

The Health Commissioner allows you to bring new population into the city. This is the only Office that affects all players.

• Each player totals the Star Value for all of his or her Buildings. The player who controls the Health Commissioner this turn may either add three to this total or double this total.

Players then compare Star Value totals and advance on the Population Track:

• Highest Star Value → +4 Population
• 2nd highest Star Value → +2 Population
• 3rd highest Star Value → +1 Population

In the case of a tie, each tied player receives the greater Population bonus, and no player receives the next bonus.

For example, Eve and Mark both have a Star Value of 10, Carol has a Star Value of 8, and Michael has a Star Value of 7. Eve and Mark each gain 4 Population, as they are tied for the highest Star Value. Nobody receives the 2nd bonus, and Carol gains 1 Population for 3rd highest Star Value. Michael gains no Population.

Final Round

At the start of each round, check for the end-game conditions:

• if the Star Token has reached the right-most position (5) on the Approval Rating Track
• if any player's Staffer has reached the right-most position (5) on the Approval Rating Track

If either of these is true at the start of the round, then this will be the final round.

During the final round, all seven Offices in City Hall will be activated. This means that after each player has activated an Office, instead of the round ending as usual, players will continue in turn order to choose Offices to activate and process until every one has been executed. (Some players will get to activate more Offices than others.)

After all seven Offices have been activated, there will be one additional Health Commissioner activation. For this last activation each player totals the Star Value of his or her Buildings and moves forward on the Population Track as normal. However, no player receives the bonus for controlling the Office.

Election

After all Offices have been activated during the final round, the election occurs.

Each player's total vote count is calculated as follows:

(Approval Rating x Population) + 10 per endorsement

Each Endorsement card lists the criterion a player must meet to gain that Endorsement. If two or more players tie for an Endorsement, no one gets it.

The player with the highest vote count wins and becomes Mayor of New York City.

In the event of a tie whoever among the tied players is closest to first position on the Turn Order Track wins and becomes Mayor.

For an example of how to calculate vote totals, see Overview (page 3).

2-Player Rules

It is highly recommended that your first game of City Hall be played with more than two players.

The following rules are changed for 2-player games.

Setup

Players take turns choosing free Land Spaces as normal during Setup. However, instead of choosing two free Land Spaces, each player will choose 3 Land Spaces.

After Land Spaces have been chosen, players take turns placing two of their starting Buildings onto their Land Spaces (instead of only placing one).

Instead of returning the third starting Building to the deck, in a two player game players keep their third Building in hand.

Sequence of Play

Each round, instead of activating one Office apiece, Player 1 will activate two Offices in a row, and then Player 2 will activate two Offices in a row.

Like the normal game, Deputy Mayor will not change the turn order until the end of the round.