Flatiron
Flatiron Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments and Credits
This game is dedicated to all the playtesters who have walked with us through New York. Especially Nuria, Motedu and Shelob who know that Broadway is where the money is. To the entire Ludonova team for trusting us again and especially to you, for playing Flatiron.
Ludonova would like to thank everyone who participated in testing the game, and in particular the authors themselves for placing their trust in us and for their dedication to making Flatiron the best game possible.
- Authors: Sheila Santos & Israel Cendrero
- Illustrations: Weberson Santiago
- Graphic design and layout: David Prieto
- Game development and rules: Sheila Santos, Israel Cendrero, Germán P. Millán, Juan Luque y Rafael Sáiz
- Translation: Jayne Broomhead
- Proofreading: Susan Broomhead
© Ludonova S.L., 2024. All rights reserved. San Pablo 22 – Córdoba – Spain
Components
- 32 Street Cards (8 of each of the 4 Streets, front and back)
- 10 City Hall Decree Cards (front and back)
- 9 Daniel Burnham Cards for Solo Mode (front and back)
- 1 Scoring Board
- 1 City Hall Board
- 15 Floors
- 1 Roof
- 4 Double-sided Personal Player Boards (front and back)
- 1 Manhattan Board
- 26 Coins (21 x $1, 5 x $5)
- 4 Reputation Tokens
- 28 Pillars (7 in each of the 4 colours)
- 14 Newspaper Tokens (front and back)
- 1 Paperboy
- 2 Architects
- 2 Scoring Markers
Setup
- Place the Manhattan Board [A] in the centre of the table so that the 4 Streets are visible to both players, considering that the building will grow in height. Next, place the City Hall Board [B] on one side of the Manhattan Board and the Scoring Board [C] on the other side.
- Separate the 4 starting Floors marked with the special icon and place one of them randomly face up in the central space of the Manhattan Board; this will be the active Floor at the beginning of the game. Shuffle face down the rest of the starting Floors with the regular ones, choose 4 randomly and without turning them over create a Deck with them. Return the rest to the game box.
- Place the Roof in its corresponding place on the City Hall Board and on top of it the Deck of 4 Floors you prepared earlier [A]. Next, turn over the top Floor and place it in the space next to the Deck [B].
- Shuffle all Newspaper Tokens face down to create a Reserve next to the Scoring Board [A]. Next, turn one of them over and place it in the corresponding space on the City Hall Board [B]; this will be the active Newspaper at the beginning of the game.
- Place the Paperboy on its icon on Square 10 of the Scoring Board.
- Shuffle each Street Card Deck separately, distinguishable by their back, and place each of them face up in their respective spaces on the Manhattan Board.
- Shuffle the City Hall Decree Cards, turn over 6, and display them next to the City Hall Board. Return the rest to the game box.
- Leave the Dollars, Pillars, and Reputation Tokens to one side forming a General Reserve. In Flatiron, components are limited, except for the Dollars: if at any time there are not enough Dollars, temporarily use a substitute.
- Shuffle the Player Boards and hand out 2 to each player. Next, each player chooses one of the 2 Boards and places it in their play area on the side they prefer [A]. Return the remaining Boards to the game box. For the first games, we recommend always choosing the purple side. Next, players choose a colour: place their Architect next to their Board [B] and place the Scoring Marker on the 0 space of the Scoring Board [C]. Finally, randomly choose the starting player: this player receives 7 Dollars and the other player receives 9 [D].
Game Turn
In Flatiron players, starting with the starting player, will take turns alternately until one builds the Roof, thereby immediately ending the game.
A game turn consists of 2 steps that will always be mandatory:
- Move your Architect
AND
- Perform an action where your Architect is located
Once you have completed these 2 steps, in that order, play passes to your opponent.
Move Your Architect
Move your Architect to an empty location, that is, it cannot stay where it is and there cannot be 2 Architects in the same location.
The locations are the 4 Streets of Manhattan surrounding the Flatiron: Broadway, 23rd Street, 5th Avenue, and 22nd Street, and also City Hall. If you go to one of the Streets, place your Architect next to the Deck of the Street you choose, and if you go to City Hall, place the Architect on City Hall itself.
Perform an action where your Architect is located
When visiting a location, you must choose one of these 3 options:
- Purchase a Card from that location
OR
- Activate the actions of that location
OR
- Take 2 Dollars
Note: You can find a reminder of these 3 options on the Manhattan Board.
Purchase a Card
Each card shows a Reputation points value, a Cost, and which Street it belongs to. Every card has an Upper action and a Lower action.
On a Street
Pay the price in Dollars of the top Card of the Street Deck where your Architect is located and add it to the column on your Board corresponding to the Street of that Card [A], always oriented in the direction of the icons (it cannot be rotated). When adding it to your Board, you must decide whether to place it at the top of the column, leaving only the upper action of the Card visible [B], or at the bottom of the column, leaving only the lower action visible [C]. That is, the action you have not chosen should remain hidden under the Board or the last Card that was placed on that Street.
Note: The Decks contain Cards from any Street.
In the City Hall
The Cards that can be purchased at City Hall are Decrees and they cost 3 Dollars [A]. These grant Victory Points [B] (from now on referred to as VP) at the end of the game.
Decrees can be placed on any Street [C], as described above, but with the following restriction: each Street can only hold 1 Decree.
IMPORTANT: Each Street on your Board can hold a maximum of 3 Cards in total, including Decree Cards, and once placed, they cannot be relocated.
Activate Actions
On a Street
Activate all visible actions in the column of your Board corresponding to the Street where your Architect is located.
You must complete them one by one and from top to bottom. If you do not want to or cannot perform an action, simply ignore it.
Example: The green Architect has moved to Broadway and this allows her to activate the 4 actions of that Street on her Board, from top to bottom.
In the City Hall
Activate the action of the active Newspaper.
Take 2 Dollars
At any location, including City Hall, you can take 2 Dollars and do nothing else.
Newspaper Tokens
Additionally, and at any time during your turn, but never in the middle of an action, you can spend any number of Newspaper Tokens you possess to perform the actions they indicate. If you use more than one, you must complete one of them before starting the other: take one of your Tokens, remove from the game the Newspaper Token from the City Hall Board, place yours, and perform its action. This will now be the active Newspaper.
You will obtain Newspaper Tokens each time you or your opponent reach the Paperboy on the VP Track or through a Floor bonus, as explained later.
Basic Actions of Your Board
The three basic actions of Flatiron are as follows: Buy or Sell a Pillar, Build Pillars, and Build a Floor. These actions are on your Board along with another specific action, which will vary depending on the chosen side of the Board. On the Street Cards, you will find variations of these basic actions and many others; all these more specific actions are described in more detail under Specific Actions on Your Board and Street Cards.
Buy or Sell a Pillar
Buy the Pillar of that colour at the indicated price [A], take it from the General Reserve, and place it in its Warehouse on your Board [B]. If you already have a Pillar of the indicated colour, you cannot buy another.
Sell your stored Pillar of that colour at the indicated price [A], returning it to the General Reserve, and obtain that number of Dollars from the Reserve [B].
Note: The price of each type of Pillar will be different for each player since this value is determined by each player's Board, which are different from each other.
Build Pillars
You can build 1 or 2 Pillars as indicated by the activated action. To build a Pillar, follow these steps:
- Pay the cost indicated by the action.
- Place a Pillar from your Warehouses into a free space on the active Floor of the Manhattan Board.
- Obtain as many VP as indicated by the Warehouse from which you took the Pillar.
- Afterwards, obtain the bonus associated with the space where you placed the Pillar. All Floors have 3 spaces to place Pillars, and each has a different bonus.
If you use the action that allows you to build up to 2 Pillars, place the first one first, resolving all the steps described, before placing the second one.
Example: The player, by activating Broadway, performs the Build Pillars action: first they pay the dollar indicated by the action (1) and then they choose the orange Pillar and place it in a free space on the active Floor (2). As indicated by the orange Pillar Warehouse they get 4 VP for placing it (3) and 2 more VP for the bonus of the space where they place it (4).
IMPORTANT: There cannot be two Pillars of the same colour on the active Floor.
Floor Bonuses
Each of the 3 spaces on a Floor grants a bonus when a Pillar is placed there. The possible Floor bonuses are:
- Obtain the additional indicated VP.
- Take a Reputation Token that you can place on one of your Streets at the end of the game.
- Obtain the indicated number of Dollars.
- Obtain a random Newspaper Token from the Reserve (keep it hidden).
- Purchase the top Card of a Street Deck.
- Activate the action of the active Newspaper.
- Obtain the additional indicated VP only if you place a Pillar of the required colour on that space. You can place a Pillar of any other colour, but in that case, you will not receive this bonus.
Build a Floor
For this action to take place, it is essential that the active Floor already has 3 Pillars. Pay 5 Dollars [A], take the Floor that is face up on the City Hall Board and place it on top of the 3 Pillars [B]. This action earns you 6 VP [C]. This Floor becomes the new active Floor.
The Roof is considered another Floor of the Flatiron and, therefore, is built with the Build a Floor action and in the same way as with any other Floor. Once the turn in which the Roof is built is completed, the game ends immediately.
IMPORTANT: After placing the Floor (if it's not the Roof), take the top Card from each of the Street Card Decks and place each one at the bottom of its Deck, thus revealing 4 new Cards. Then, reveal the top Floor from the City Hall Deck and place it in the adjacent space.
Floor Effects
Each Floor has an associated effect that affects both players while it is active. It can be cumulative with other effects. The possible Floor effects are:
- When visiting the City Hall, the option to Take 2 Dollars grants 4 Dollars instead of 2.
- When visiting the indicated Street, you immediately obtain 1 Dollar.
- You can coincide with the other Architect in the locations.
- Each Street Card you buy grants you 1 VP.
- Each Pillar you sell earns you 2 Dollars more.
- Each Decree Card you buy costs you 1 Dollar less.
- Each Pillar you buy costs you 1 Dollar less, its cost never being less than 0.
- On this Floor, Pillars of the same colour can be placed.
- If you place a Pillar of the indicated colour in the space, you obtain the additional indicated VP.
The Paperboy
Newspaper Tokens can be obtained through a Floor bonus, as seen before, or, more commonly, when a player's Marker reaches the position where the Paperboy is located on the VP Track.
If at any point during the game you reach or surpass the Paperboy with your Marker, move them to the next marked space on the Track with their icon (20, 30, 40, or 50). When this happens, draw 2 Newspaper Tokens randomly from the Reserve, choose one for yourself, and give the other to your opponent; both of you will keep the Tokens hidden until you decide to use them. When you reach the Paperboy on space 50, the final newspaper delivery is made; immediately remove the Paperboy from the game afterward.
As noted earlier, you can use Newspaper Tokens at any time during your turn, even when you have just obtained them.
Newspaper Token Actions
- Obtain 3 Dollars.
- Exchange one Pillar from your Warehouse for another from the Reserve.
- Obtain 2 Dollars and 1 VP.
- Pay 1 Dollar to build a Pillar from your Warehouses.
- Purchase the top Card of a Street Deck for 1 Dollar less.
- Purchase a Decree Card for 1 Dollar less.
- Purchase a Pillar of any colour for 1 Dollar.
End of Game
The game ends immediately at the end of the turn of the player who has built the Roof, leading to final scoring.
To the VP obtained during the game, add those you have obtained from your Company's Reputation and from the City Hall Decrees.
Your Company's Reputation
If you have one or more Reputation Tokens, add them to the Streets of your Personal Player Board by distributing them as you wish. Then, evaluate each Street separately, adding or subtracting their Reputation Points, including the Tokens you have added. If the result of a Street is positive, you gain 5 VP for it; if the result is negative, you lose 3 VP. If the result is zero, you neither gain nor lose anything.
Example: On 23rd Street, the player has a negative Reputation (-2 +1 = -1) and loses 3 VP; on Broadway, he has a positive Reputation (+2 +1 = +3) and gains 5 VP.
City Hall Decrees
Obtain points for the City Hall Decrees you have added to your Streets.
Decree Scoring
- Obtain 1 VP for every 2 Street Cards added to your Board. Decree Cards do not count.
- Obtain 1 VP for every Street Card added to your Board. Decree Cards do not count.
- Obtain 1 VP for every 2 Dollars you still have at the end of the game (maximum 12 VP).
- Obtain 1 VP for every Dollar you still have at the end of the game (maximum 12 VP).
- Obtain the indicated VP for each Decree added to your Board (including this one).
- Obtain the indicated VP.
- Obtain the indicated VP for each Pillar in your Warehouses at the end of the game.
- Obtain 3 VP for each Floor containing the indicated pair of Pillars.
- Obtain 1 VP for each positive Reputation Point you have among all your Streets, including Reputation Tokens and ignoring negative points.
- Obtain 1 VP for every 2 positive Reputation Points you have among all your Streets, including Reputation Tokens and ignoring negative points.
- Obtain 2 VP for each Pillar of the indicated colour built in the Flatiron.
The player with the most VP is the winner. In case of a tie, the player who placed the Roof is the winner.
Specific Actions on Your Board and Street Cards
The following actions are all specific actions that you can find both on your Board and on Street Cards.
- Obtain the indicated number of Dollars.
- Obtain 1 Dollar for each constructed Floor, including the Starting Floor and the Roof.
- Exchange one Pillar from your Warehouses for another from the Reserve.
- Obtain 1 VP for every 2 Floors constructed, including the Starting Floor and the Roof.
- Buy a Pillar of any colour for the indicated price.
- Pay 3 Dollars to build 2 Pillars; you gain 2 additional VP.
- Pay 1 Dollar to activate any other action on your Personal Player Board or Street Cards.
- Pay 2 Dollars to build 1 Pillar; you gain 1 additional VP.
- Pay 1 Dollar to activate any action from the 4 visible Cards on the Manhattan Board.
- Pay 1 Dollar to build 1 Pillar; you can repeat a colour already present on that Floor.
- Pay 1 Dollar to activate one of the 3 possible actions of City Hall.
- Pay 3 Dollars to build one Floor; you gain 4 VP instead of the usual 6.
- Activate the action of the active Newspaper.
- If at least 1 Pillar of the indicated colour has been built on the active Floor, obtain the indicated VP.
- Obtain as many Dollars as squares with the Paperboy icon you have reached or exceeded with your VP Marker (maximum 5 Dollars).
Solo Mode
Take on Daniel Burnham, the architect of the Flatiron! Will you be able to surpass the creator of the iconic New York building?
Setup
Setup the game as usual, with the following exceptions:
- After choosing your Personal Player Board, take another one at random and choose the side you want and assign it to Daniel;
- Next, shuffle Daniel's 9 Action Cards and form a Deck face down next to his Board;
- Finally, Daniel is the starting player, but he does not receive any money, so you start with 9 Dollars.
Game Turn
Daniel's actions are governed exclusively by his Deck of 9 Action Cards. On each of his turns, he reveals the top Card of his deck and applies its effect in this order:
- He moves his Architect to the main location [A]. If he is already at that location, he moves him to the alternative location [B]. Daniel does not follow the rule that prevents players from sharing a location, so his Architect can coincide with yours, and if it does, he also gains 2 VP [C].
- He performs the main action [A]. If that action cannot be performed, he performs the alternative action [B]. Daniel neither uses nor receives money, so he performs his actions with no cost.
Main action: Daniel earns as many VP as the Popularity Points he accumulates with his revealed Cards, including this one.
Alternative action: There is no alternative action.
Example: Upon revealing the 22nd Street Card, Daniel gains 3 VP since he accumulates 3 Popularity Points with his revealed Cards.
Daniel builds a Pillar of the indicated colour from the General Reserve. He must respect the rule that prevents building Pillars of the same colour on the active Floor.
The Floor itself indicates the order of preference when choosing the space to place the Pillar, starting with number 1; if it cannot be placed there, it moves to 2; if that's not possible either, it moves to 3.
Daniel earns the corresponding VP for that Pillar colour according to his Board and also gains an additional 1 VP, but he does not receive any Floor Bonus when placing the Pillar.
If the colour of that Pillar is already present or if the active Floor already contains 3 Pillars, then Daniel earns as many VP as the Popularity Points he accumulates with his revealed Cards.
Daniel builds the Floor that is face up on City Hall and earns 6 VP. Logically, the active Floor must contain 3 Pillars to perform this action. He always ignores the effect of the active Floor.
If the active Floor does not contain 3 Pillars, then Daniel receives a Decree Card from City Hall: shuffle the available Cards, draw one randomly, and place it next to his Board.
- Finally, leave the revealed Card alongside those previously revealed from his Deck, so that all are visible. If the Card that was just revealed corresponds to a main location that you have previously revealed (there are 2 cards of each Street in his deck), you must proceed as follows:
- If it is the first time a Street is repeated, Daniel obtains the top Card from the Deck of the Street where his Architect is located, if possible; he places the Street Card next to his Board.
- If it is the second time a Street is repeated (different colour), Daniel again obtains a Street Card as indicated before, and additionally, you must collect all his revealed Action Cards and shuffle them with those remaining in his Deck to form a new one.
The Paperboy (Solo Mode)
Daniel does not obtain Newspaper Tokens, but:
- If it's you who reaches the Paperboy, you draw the 2 Tokens as usual, choose one for yourself, and use the other to replace the City Hall Newspaper as the active Newspaper.
- If Daniel reaches the Paperboy, he first draws one Token and uses it to replace the City Hall Newspaper as the active Newspaper; then, draw a second Token and keep it for yourself.
Final Scoring
To the VP obtained during the game, Daniel only adds those obtained from the Cards he acquired: add up the costs of all his Street and Decree Cards, and those will be his end-of-game VP.
Example: In this example, Daniel would obtain 16 VP.
Do you want an even greater challenge? If you consider that you have easily beat the architect of the Flatiron Building, add the positive Reputation Points shown at the top of the Street and Decree Cards obtained by Daniel (3 VP in the previous example) and add them to his final score. Good luck!