Flip City Rulebook

Table of Contents

Overview
Components
Preparation
Game Sequence
- A: Play Cards Phase
- B: Building Phase
Turn Ends
Game End
Solo Variant
FAQ
Card Anatomy
Card Reference

Overview

1-4 Players. 8+ Years. 30-50 Minutes.

Build and improve your city – but beware, because too much construction can make your citizens unhappy!

Want to skip reading these rules? Scan the QR code on the rulebook to watch a rules explanation video by Rodney Smith of Watch It Played! Or visit http://playtmg.com/flip-city/

Game Design: Chen, Chih Fan Graphic Design/Localization: Adam P. McIver Executive Producer: Brent Lloyd English Development: TMG Development Team

Components

86 double-sided cards in 6 types. You need to fulfill certain requirements to turn a card over to a different side. It is very important to make sure you don't turn a card over accidentally during the game.

The six double-sided card types are:

Residential Area / Apartment
Convenience Store / Shopping Mall
Central Park / Station
Hospital / Church
Office / Trade Center (Optional "Office" Expansion)
Factory / Power Plant

See the Card Reference section below for each card's cost, effects, and abilities.

Preparation

1 › Form Decks: Each player takes the following cards: 1x Factory, 1x Convenience Store, 4x Residential Area, 1x Central Park, 1x Hospital, 1x Apartment.

Shuffle yours together to form your initial deck. (It is important that you keep the named side up while shuffling, don't Flip the cards over to the other side).

2 › Form General Supply: Take the following cards, sort them by category, and place them in the middle of the table to form the general supply: 12x Convenience Store, 10x Office, 12x Hospital, 8x Factory, 8x Central Park.

Playing with the Office expansion is optional. The front side of each card (with the coin in the upper right hand corner) should be face-up. Return any leftover cards to the box.

3 › Determine Start Player: The last player to have flipped a table is the start player.

Note #1: Since all cards are double-sided, you can easily see the top card of your deck while shuffling. To maintain fairness, we recommend that you shuffle your deck underneath the table, or in any manner that can block your view of the deck.

Note #2: If you cannot determine which side a card should be on (for example, if you accidentally drop a card on the floor), shuffle it back into the deck with its front side up.

Game Sequence

The start player will take the first turn, then play will proceed clockwise. On your turn, you will first Play Cards, and then Build your city.

A: Play Cards Phase

1 › Play cards from the top of your deck onto the table in front of you, one at a time, checking each card played and on top of your deck for additional rules that may apply. The cards you play provide you with cash, points, unhappiness, and other things.

Example: A Shopping Mall provides 2 cash and 1 point when played.

After you play each card, you must decide whether to play an additional card, or stop and move on to the Building Phase. You may look at the top card of your deck when making this decision.

2 › Whenever your deck has no more cards in it, you must decide whether to stop and move on to the Building Phase, or to shuffle your discard pile to recreate your deck. After shuffling, you again have the option to play an additional card, or stop and move on to the Building Phase.

3 › You have an unhappiness limit of 2. Any time during your play-card Phase, if there are 3 or more unhappiness among the cards you played, your turn ends immediately, and your played cards are placed into your discard pile. If you exceed your limit and there is still a Residential Area on top of your deck, you do not play it.

Note: The Church increases this limit during a turn in which it is played or recycled, allowing you to safely play more unhappiness.

4 › If a card has a Recycle icon in the bottom-right corner, above the text box, that means you can recycle it when it is in your discard pile. Any time during your Play Cards Phase, you can turn over a recyclable card in your discard pile to gain temporary cash or other things as indicated; the recycled card still remains in your discard pile. There is no limit on how many cards you may recycle in a single turn.

B: Building Phase

With the cash you gained in the Play Cards Phase, you may choose one (and only one) action from the following three actions. Some cards can provide you with the option to take additional actions.

BUY: Choose a card in the general supply, pay its cost, and put it into your discard pile. The cost of a card is in the coin sign in the top-right corner.
FLIP: Choose a card in your discard pile, pay its Flip fee, and turn it over to the other side. The Flip fee of a card is next to the purple arrow in the bottom-right corner above the text box. Flipped cards remain in your discard pile.

Note: Cards you played this turn are not yet in your discard pile.
DEVELOP: Choose a card in the general supply, pay its cost AND its Flip fee, and put it into your discard pile with its back side up.

After selecting and executing your action for the turn, if you satisfied one of the victory conditions (you were provided with 8 points, or you played a Convenience Store and at least 18 cards during this turn), then you win!

Turn Ends

When your turn ends, place the cards you played into your discard pile. Then the player on your left begins their turn. Cash, points, and unhappiness you gained in a turn don't carry over to subsequent turns.

Game End

Whenever a player gains 8 points or more during a single Play Cards Phase, or satisfies another victory condition printed on a card they played (such as the Convenience Store) that player will win the game if they make it to the end of that turn's Building Phase.

Solo Variant

1 › During preparation, fill the general supply with only 4 of each card (Convenience Store, Hospital, Factory, Central Park, and the Office if you choose).

2 › During the Play Cards Phase, each time you shuffle your deck, you must choose a card in the supply and remove it from the game (place it back in the box).

3 › The winning condition is the same as the regular game, but the player must achieve it BEFORE the supply runs out of cards. When the supply is empty, you lose.

4 › When Flipping an Apartment, remove it from the game.

FAQ

Q1: How do I calculate how much cash I gain from a Hospital? Simply count how many unhappiness you have when you play the Hospital, including the one on the Hospital itself. If there's no unhappiness before the Hospital, the first Hospital you play gives you 2 cash, the second gives you 3 more cash, etc.

Q2: What if I reach the unhappiness limit and winning condition at the same time? Your turn would end immediately during the Play Cards Phase. You check for victory only at the end of the Building Phase, so in this situation you would not win and it would be the next player's turn.

Q3: What if the general supply is empty? You simply can't buy any cards.

Q4: May I examine my discard pile? Yes, you may look through the cards in your discard pile at any time.

Card Anatomy

Each card shows: Card Name, Building Cost (the coin in the top-right corner), an Illustration, Things Provided (icons for cash, points, and/or unhappiness gained when the card is played), Flip Fee (the number next to the purple arrow in the bottom-right corner), a Card Number, and Setup Info, plus its Additional Functions text in a colored box.

Additional Functions icons used in each card's text box:

When this card is played...
When this card is flipped...
When this card is Recycled...
When the following condition is met...

Recycle Abilities — some cards show a small icon near the Flip Fee that grants an immediate, temporary bonus when the card is Recycled:

Gain 1 cash for this turn.
Gain 1 point for this turn.
Gain 1 unhappiness for this turn.
After Recycling this card, put it on top of your deck.
Increase your unhappiness limit by 1 until the end of the turn.

Card Reference

Residential Area

Provides: 1 unhappiness, 1 cash. Flip Fee: 1. When Residential Area is the top card of your deck, you must play it. Flips into: Apartment.

Apartment (flip side of Residential Area)

Provides: 1 cash. Flip Fee: 8. Flip this card and place it on top of another player's discard pile.

Convenience Store

Building Cost: 2. Provides: 1 cash. Flip Fee: 3. If you play 18 or more cards this turn, you win! Flips into: Shopping Mall.

Shopping Mall (flip side of Convenience Store)

Provides: 2 cash, 1 point. If your deck is not empty, you must play an additional card.

Central Park

Building Cost: 7. Provides: 2 points. Flip Fee: 5. You may Buy 1 time in addition to your action this Building Phase. Flips into: Station.

Station (flip side of Central Park)

Provides: 2 points. You may Flip 1 time in addition to your action this Building Phase. Flip fees are 1 less this turn.

Hospital

Building Cost: 4. Provides: 1 unhappiness. Flip Fee: 4. Gain 1 cash for each unhappiness you have gained so far this turn, including the one on this card. Flips into: Church.

Church (flip side of Hospital)

Recycle Ability: Increase your unhappiness limit by 1 until the end of the turn. Add +1 to your unhappiness limit this turn.

Office (Optional "Office" Expansion)

Building Cost: 3. Provides: 1 cash. Flip Fee: 4. When you would shuffle this card, you may set it aside instead, placing it on top afterwards. Flips into: Trade Center.

Trade Center (flip side of Office)

Recycle Ability: Increase your unhappiness limit by 1 until the end of the turn. Flip this card, then shuffle your discard pile into your deck.

Factory

Building Cost: 5. Provides: 2 cash. Flip Fee: 6. If your deck is not empty, place the bottom card from your deck into your discard pile. Flips into: Power Plant.

Power Plant (flip side of Factory)

Provides: 1 cash, 2 points. Recycle Ability: After Recycling this card, put it on top of your deck. Place an Apartment from your discard pile into another player's discard pile.