Ground Floor (Second Edition) Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
  • Cardboard pieces
  • The game board
  • The player boards
  • Supply cubes and status markers
  • A player's components
  • The cards
• Set Up
• Game Play
  • I. Receive Income
  • II. Hire Employees
  • III. Schedule Business
  • Office Remodel
  • IV. Conduct Business
  • V. Reorganize
• Game End
• City Business
  • A. Consulting Firm
  • B. Advertising Agency
  • C. Marketing Bonus
  • D. Warehouse
  • E. Factory
  • F. Stock Exchange
  • G. Economic Forecast
  • H. Retail Outlets
  • I. Construction Company
• Ground Floor Rooms
  • Advertising
  • Assembly
  • Meeting Room
  • Research & Testing
  • Storage Closet
  • Training
• Tenant Improvements
  • Stage 1 – Tenant Improvements
  • Stage 2 – Tenant Improvements
  • Stage 3 – Tenant Improvements
• Floor Improvements
  • Stage 1 – Floor Improvements
  • Stage 2 – Floor Improvements
  • Stage 3 – Floor Improvements
• Specialty Tiles
• Automa Rules
  • Automa Set Up
  • Automa Conventions
• Bonus: Era Cards
• Bonus: New Economic Forecast Cards
  • Great Depression
  • Windfall
• Bonus: Events
• Credits

Components

Each copy of Ground Floor contains:

• 1 game board
• 5 player boards
• 10 player aids (English, German)
• 20 Economic Forecast cards
• 8 Specialty tiles
• 13 Tenant Improvement tiles
• 30 Remodeled Room tiles (6 per player)
• 31 Floor Improvement tiles
• 15 Untrained tokens
• 16 Supply markers
• 10 Player markers (2 each in five player colors)
• 2 Status markers
• 5 CEO markers (1 each in five player colors)
• 125 Time markers (25 each in 5 player colors)
• 91 Money tokens (45x "1", 30x "3", 16x "5")
• 90 Info tokens (45x "1", 30x "3", 15x "5")
• 2 Rules booklets (English, German)

Automa variant:

• 3 Entrepreneur cards
• 28 Automa Office cards

Bonus components:

• 2 New Economic Forecast cards
• 5 Era cards
• 6 Event cards

Cardboard pieces

Ground Floor contains these different cardboard pieces:

• Money Tokens: Available in three different denominations – one, three, and five.
• Information ("Info") Tokens: Available in three different denominations – one, three, and five.
• Untrained Tokens: Used on the Employee Track to designate that a new employee needs to be trained.
• Remodeled Room Tokens: Used to upgrade Ground Floor rooms with better abilities.
• Specialty Tiles: Defines the starting specialty of a player's company.
• Floor Improvement Tiles: Used to add floors to a player's company and expand it's capabilities.
• Tenant Improvement Tiles: Used to equip empty floors and to upgrade Ground Floor rooms with new abilities.

The game board

The game board is double-sided – one side is English, the other German.

It shows three tracks near the top-left corner of the board, from top to bottom: the Rounds track, the Job Market track, and the Popularity track.

Near the top-right corner of the board the players find two spaces to place Economic Forecast cards – in the left box the current card is placed, the right box holds the deck of future cards.

From left to right there are various buildings with spaces where players may put time markers. These buildings are numbered A (Consulting Firm) to I (Construction Company).

The player boards

Each player has a player board. They are double-sided, too – one side is English, the other German.

On the left side are the six basic rooms which each player has in his company: Assembly, Training, Storage Closet, Meeting Room, Research & Testing, and Advertising. Each room lists what the players may do in it. To the right of the rooms is the Round Schedule, plus some Notes and reminders.

On the right side is the Employee Track, where the CEO Marker and time markers track the size of your staff.

The Specialty Tile of each company and added Floors are placed in the notch at the center of the board.

Supply cubes and status markers

Supply Cubes are necessary to produce goods. They may be stored in a player's Storage Closet and are often acquired in the Warehouse.

The Status Markers are placed in the starting spaces of the Rounds and Job Market tracks.

A player's components

In addition to a Player Board (see above) each player receives a Player Aid listing important info and reminders for the game, and, in his chosen player color, a CEO Marker, 2 Player markers, and 25 Time Markers.

Player Aids are in English and in German.

The cards

Ground Floor includes 20 Economic Forecast Cards.

The Automa Variant comes with 31 cards; the Bonus components consist of 13 cards.

Set Up

A. The players place the game board on the table.

B. Each player chooses a color to represent their business in the game and takes 1 CEO marker, 2 Player markers, and 4 Time markers in their chosen color.

In addition, each player takes 1 player board, 1 player aid, 7 Info and 1 Supply cube. They also take, at random, 1 Specialty tile and the Remodeled Room tile (or another advantage) awarded by their Specialty tile (see also chapter 10 on page 14).

They place the Specialty tile at the top of their player board, the Remodeled Room (if any) tile over the corresponding Ground Floor room, the Supply marker in their Storage Closet and the CEO together with 4 Time markers on their first space of the Employee track.

The players place the remaining Money tokens, Info tokens, Time markers, Remodeled Room tiles, Untrained tokens and Supply cubes within easy reach of all players to create a General Stock.

C. The players place one Status marker on the first space of the Rounds track.

D. The players place one Status marker on the sixth space marked 5/5 of the Job Market.

E. One player takes one Player marker of each player and stacks them, randomly, on the first space of the Popularity track. The top most Player marker determines the start player for the first Round.

F. The players now separate the Economic Forecast cards into four piles (Depression, Recession, Stable and Boom). They shuffle each pile separately, then randomly discard half of the cards in each pile and put these back into the box (unseen) as they will not be needed in the game. Then, the players shuffle all 10 remaining cards together and place the deck face down on the Future Economic Forecast space on the game board. Then, they move the top card face down to the Current Economic Forecast space.

IMPORTANT NOTE: The players never start the game with the top card of the Economic Forecast deck being a Depression or Boom. If this occurs, they continue shuffling until a Recession or Stable card is on the top.

SUGGESTION FOR THE FIRST GAME: Instead of a random Economic Forecast deck, the players may choose to use a pre-set deck in order to ensure a less harsh economy. Shuffle each type of card separately. Then, construct the deck in this order (top to bottom), and put the remaining cards back in the box, they will not be needed:

Stable, Stable, Recession, Recession, Stable, Boom, Recession.

G. The players stack one Player marker of each player on the "No Bonus" space of the Marketing Bonus track; the order does not matter.

H. The players place one Supply cube on each of the four spaces of the Warehouse.

I. The players place the Stage 1 Floor and Tenant Improvement tiles next to the Construction Company area of the game board. They place all the Stage 2 and Stage 3 Improvement tiles off to the side.

NOTE: In a 2 or 3 player game, only one copy of each Improvement tile is available to purchase. Return additional copies of each Improvement tile to the box, they will not be needed.

J. For the first games, the players should place bonus components back into the box (2 new Economic Forecast cards "Great Depression" and "Windfall", 5 Era cards, and 6 Event cards).

K. The game is now ready to begin!

Game Play

Ground Floor is played over seven rounds, divided in three stages (1, 2, 3). Each round consists of five phases. Per phase, players will conduct several player turns.

These five phases form a round:

I. RECEIVE INCOME II. HIRE EMPLOYEES III. SCHEDULE BUSINESS IV. CONDUCT BUSINESS V. REORGANIZE

In each phase, turn order is determined by the position of the companies on the Popularity track. The most popular player/company, whose Player marker is furthest to the right on the track, goes first etc. If more than one player is on the same space, the Player Marker on top goes first.

Ground Floor ends after the Conduct Business phase of the seventh round has been completed.

IMPORTANT: Each time the rules describe costs or income, we will use the icons for all the different terms in this game. Please check the Player Aids for reference.

I. Receive Income

Players receive money according to the location of their CEO marker on their Employee track. Some Improvements provide additional money or Information during this phase.

If a player has five employees, he must pay 3 money during this phase. If the player cannot afford to do so, he has to fire an employee, discarding 3 time markers and moving the CEO marker down one space on the Employee track.

EXAMPLE: Marion already hired an employee, and now receives an income of 6 money.

II. Hire Employees

Players have the opportunity during this phase to hire new employees. In popularity order, each player may hire an employee at the current Job Market price. They move the Job Market Status marker to the right after each employee is hired (max. 7, 7).

Once all players have had the opportunity to hire, the most popular player may hire again and so forth. This continues until all players have finished hiring employees.

For each new employee that a player hires, they immediately move their CEO marker up on the Employee track to reflect the new size of their staff and place an Untrained token on the new employee's space next to the CEO.

IMPORTANT NOTE: The time markers of an untrained employee are not available for use. The player gains these time markers at start of the next round after the employee is trained, see page 11.

EXAMPLE: Marion hires her second employee. She pays 5 money, and moves her CEO to the second space of her Employee track and places an Untrained token next to the CEO. As this employee is untrained, she gets the 3 time markers only after she has trained that employee. She moves the Job Market Status marker to the next space to the right.

III. Schedule Business

Players spend this phase scheduling their Time markers and investing in tasks. Players only have a finite amount of time to spend developing their business.

The CEO is a business' first employee, and provides 4 time markers. Each additional trained employee provides 3 time markers.

During the Schedule Business phase, in Popularity order, players take turns assigning Time markers to tasks on their Player board or on the Game board. Time markers may not be assigned to Player boards belonging to other players.

On a player's turn they choose any one task and assign the number of Time markers from their Employee track indicated by that task. For tasks with multiple spaces for Time markers, the player must place their Time markers in the first available space in numerical order if spaces are marked.

If spaces are not marked with numbers, the player may place anywhere.

Later, during Conduct Business, all locations are resolved top to bottom.

• See chapter 6 City Business on page 8 for details of the tasks at these buildings.
• See chapter 7 Ground Floor Rooms on page 11, chapter 8 Tenant Improvements on page 11, and chapter 9 Floor Improvements on page 12 for details of their tasks.

Play then continues with the next most popular player etc., until each player has assigned all of the Time markers on their Employee track. Since each player may have a different number of employees, the same player may end up taking several turns in a row once their opponents have spent all of their time.

• Tasks on the Player board resolve immediately, therefore any benefit gained from these tasks may be used in upcoming turns during the current Schedule Business phase.
• All tasks on the Game board will be resolved during the Conduct Business phase.

IMPORTANT NOTE: In contrast to the tasks on the Game board, the Ground Floor Rooms on a Player Board are unlimited. This means that they can be used over and over again during the same Schedule Business phase, placing the indicated number of Time markers each time.

EXAMPLE: As her first action Marion pays 6 money and places 1 time marker from her Employee track on the first space of the Consulting Firm. Only later during the Conduct Business phase, Marion will resolve this action. Later during her turn, she places 1 time marker from her Employee track in the Meeting Room of her Player board and immediately receives 1 info.

Office Remodel

At any time during the Schedule Business phase, a player may remodel their Ground Floor rooms on the Player Board. Remodeling does not require any Time markers and is done in addition to their turn. The cost to remodel each Ground Floor room is 3 money, 3 info. After paying this cost, the player takes the desired Remodeled Room tile from the General Stock and places it on top of the corresponding Ground Floor room on their Player board. The benefit of a Remodeled room is available immediately, and has no effect on Time markers already assigned to that room.

EXAMPLE: During the Schedule Business phase Marion decides to remodel her Ground Floor Training room. She pays 3 money, 3 info and places the remodeled Training room on that space. She can immediately use that room.

IV. Conduct Business

During this phase, each area on the Game board is resolved in order:

A. CONSULTING FIRM B. ADVERTISING AGENCY C. MARKETING BONUS D. WAREHOUSE E. FACTORY F. STOCK EXCHANGE G. ECONOMIC FORECAST H. RETAIL OUTLETS I. CONSTRUCTION COMPANY

See chapter 6 City Business on page 8 for details of the tasks at these buildings.

V. Reorganize

The following steps are resolved in order during each Reorganize phase:

1. All players move any Time markers from their Player board to the General Stock. Time markers on the Game board remain there, if not otherwise mentioned in chapter 6 City Business.
2. Each player in Popularity order may downsize, moving their CEO marker down one space for each employee fired. When firing an employee, the player loses Time markers and discards the matching 3 money for that fired employee.
3. All players replenish their Time markers according to their Employee track, even if some of their Time markers remain on the Game board. Remember, the CEO provides 4 time markers, and each additional employee provides an additional 3 time markers.
4. Move all the Player markers on the Marketing Bonus track to the "No Bonus" space.
5. Add one Supply marker to the most expensive empty space at the Warehouse. If all of the spaces at the Warehouse are full, no markers are added.
6. All Player markers on the Popularity track are moved one space to the left, one by one, in reverse popularity order. Therefore any Player markers stacked in the same space will move together, keeping the order of the stack intact. Any Player marker in the leftmost space does not move.
7. Update the Job Market by moving the Status marker to the left according to the Unemployed line on the current Economic Forecast card (min. 2, 2).
8. Move the top card of the Future Economic Forecast deck face down to the Current Economic Forecast space.
9. Move the Round Status marker one space to the right.
10. At the end of the second round, add the Stage 2 Improvement tiles to those remaining at the Construction Company. At the end of the fifth round, add the Stage 3 tiles as well.

A new round is ready to begin.

Game End

The game ends after the Conduct Business phase of the seventh round has been completed.

At that point, all players add up the Prestige Points for all Remodeled Rooms, Tenant Improvements, Floors, and Achievement Floors. They also count an additional 1 Prestige Point for each full set of 3 money, 3 info.

The winner is the player with the most prestigious business, as measured by Prestige Points. In case of a tie, the most popular tied player (according to the Popularity track) wins.

EXAMPLE: Angelika scores a total of 39.

City Business

A. Consulting Firm

SCHEDULE BUSINESS: Players schedule business at the Consulting Firm for the opportunity to gain 10 info by placing 1 time marker in the top most available space in the left column and paying the indicated amount of money for that space.

CONDUCT BUSINESS: All players with Time markers in the right column receive 10 info if and only if the corresponding space in the left column is occupied. Players with Time markers in the right column without the corresponding space in the left column occupied have had their meetings cancelled and do not receive any info. Move all Time markers from the right column to the General Stock, then slide all Time markers from the left column to the right column.

EXAMPLE: During the Schedule Business phase, Angelika has two Time markers and Marion has 1 Time marker in the right column from the previous round. This round, Tanja and Angelika have both placed 1 Time marker in the Consulting Firm during the Schedule Business phase. Tanja paid 6 money and Angelika paid 5 money.

During the Conduct Business phase, Angelika collects 20 info, but Marion gets nothing because there is no Time marker in the third space of the left column. All three Time markers from the right column are returned to the General Stock, and the Time markers from the left column slide over to the right column.

B. Advertising Agency

SCHEDULE BUSINESS: Players schedule business at the Advertising Agency to boost their business' Popularity. It costs 1 money, 1 info, to place 1 time marker in any available space.

CONDUCT BUSINESS: This area resolves from top to bottom. The player with a Time marker in the top space will decide first which type of Marketing they wish to do. The player with the Time marker in the bottom space will get the advantage of choosing last.

The types of Marketing available are: Networking, Social Media, and Broadcast. Only one type may be chosen for each Time marker placed in the Advertising Agency.

• If Networking is chosen, then the player moves their 1 time marker from the Advertising Agency to the Networking space. In addition they place 1 time marker from the General Stock into the Networking space at no additional cost.
• If Social Media is chosen, then the player moves their 1 time marker from the Advertising Agency to the Social Media space at an additional cost of 1 money, 1 info.
• If Broadcast is chosen, then the player moves their 1 time marker from the Advertising Agency to the Broadcast space at an additional cost of 2 money, 2 info.

EXAMPLE: Nikki, Angelika, and Marion have Time markers in the Advertising Agency from the previous round. From top to bottom, Marion, Tanja, and Nikki have Scheduled Business there this round. During Conduct Business Marion must choose first which type of marketing to do.

Choosing Networking gets Marion 1 additional time marker in the Networking box from the General Stock. Next, Tanja chooses Broadcast, paying an additional 2 money, 2 info. Finally, Nikki decides to move to Networking as well, moving her 1 time marker there as well as 1 additional time marker from the General Stock.

After players have decided where to place their Time markers, each marketing type is resolved one at a time as follows. Resolve Networking for all players first, then Social Media, then Broadcast.

For each marketing type, in popularity order, advance each player's Popularity marker once for every:

• 3 time markers in Networking
• 2 time markers in Social Media
• 1 time marker in Broadcast

Advance the player's Popularity marker one additional space if that player had the single most Time markers in that marketing type. If multiple players are tied for the most Time markers, none of them receive this additional Popularity boost.

IMPORTANT NOTE: For each Marketing type, after all Time markers are accounted for and the Popularity track adjusted accordingly, move all Time markers that contributed to advancing in Popularity (including all Time markers of the player with the single most) to the general stock. Any excess Time markers remain at the Advertising Agency and may contribute to Marketing in future rounds.

EXAMPLE: While conducting business, first Networking is resolved. Marion advances first as she is the most popular. Marion advances one space on the Popularity track for her 3 time markers. Nikki is next most popular, and advances two spaces (one for having 3 time markers, and another for having the most Time markers in Networking). Angelika only has 1 time marker, and therefore does not advance in Popularity.

Next, Social Media is resolved: Angelika only has 1 time marker, which is not enough to advance in Popularity. However, she does have the most Time markers in Social Media, so she does advance one space.

Finally, Broadcast is resolved: Tanja has 1 time marker, which meets the requirement for Broadcast and is the most Time markers there, so Tanja advances 2 spaces on the Popularity track.

All Time markers are returned to the General Stock, except for Angelika's Time marker in the Networking box. It did not contribute to Popularity, so it remains in the Networking box for next round.

C. Marketing Bonus

SCHEDULE BUSINESS: The Marketing Bonus area is not available to players during the Schedule Business phase.

CONDUCT BUSINESS: In Popularity order, each player, except the least popular, chooses a Marketing bonus. Bonuses are awarded immediately, and each bonus may be chosen by only one player.

Marketing bonuses:

• Remodel 1 Room (for 1 money, 1 info)
• Supply: Gain 1 supply cube
• Money: Gain 2 money
• Information: Gain 2 info
• Temp: Gain 1 time marker for the next round

IMPORTANT: In a 2-player game Marketing Bonuses are not used. Neither player will receive a marketing Bonus, no matter how popular they are.

D. Warehouse

SCHEDULE BUSINESS: Players schedule business at the Warehouse in order to acquire new supplies. These supplies vary in cost. Players choose to spend money or info (never both) to place on any available space.

CONDUCT BUSINESS: Players collect the supply cube next to their Time markers.

When a player acquires a new supply cube, they must have a place to store it on their Ground Floor. If no storage space in their Storage Closet is available, then the supply cube must be discarded back to the General Stock.

E. Factory

SCHEDULE BUSINESS: Players schedule business at the Factory to create products to sell at the Retail Outlets. Players pay 2 money, 2 info, and 1 supply cube to place 1 time marker in the first available space in numerical order.

CONDUCT BUSINESS: In numerical order, players move their Time markers representing products from the Factory to Retail Outlets. At this time they have the opportunity to set the price for the product they are selling. There are four different price brackets, separated by a white line.

Later, the customers will purchase the products within the least expensive price bracket before buying products within a more expensive price bracket.

Player icons (3 people) and (4 people) dictate how many spaces are available at the Retail Outlets for the number of players in the game. For instance, in a 3-player game, players may place Time markers up to and including the spaces marked with the 3-people icon on it, but not on spaces marked with the 4-people icon.

On each space, only one player can place a Time marker. If Retail Outlets become completely full while resolving the Factory, further Time markers may be placed in the Liquidation space, where they immediately sell for 3 money.

EXAMPLE: During the Schedule Business phase, Angelika placed first, and Nikki last.

The Conduct Business phase resolves by moving from the Factory to Retail Outlets. Marion has a leftover Time marker from the previous round.

Angelika resolves first and picks the 8 space. Tanja picks the 12 space, Nikki chooses the 8 space, Angelika chooses the 12 space and finally Nikki chooses the 6 space.

F. Stock Exchange

SCHEDULE BUSINESS: Players schedule business at the Stock Exchange to get info. Players pay money and/or info to place 1 time marker on any of the four spaces.

CONDUCT BUSINESS: All Time markers placed during Schedule Business move up into the Stock Exchange track one space at a time. This movement is not related to the Economic Forecast. Therefore the Time marker in the first space moves up, then the Time marker in the space below etc., follow the arrows from box to box. Each time a new Time marker enters the track, it pushes all Time markers directly above them one space up.

Then, all Time markers on the Stock Exchange track, including the ones that just entered, move up according to the current Economic Forecast:

• DEPRESSION: 0 spaces
• RECESSION: 1 space
• STABLE: 2 spaces
• BOOM: 3 spaces

Finally, in Popularity order, each player with at least one Time marker on the Stock Exchange track decides whether to keep or remove any number of their Time Markers. Any Time marker that is kept on the track will stay there for the next round. Any Time marker that is removed will gain the player a multiple amount of money according to the current Economic Forecast. Gaps are possible on the track due to this removal.

• DEPRESSION: 0
• RECESSION: 1
• STABLE: 2
• BOOM: 3

Each time a Time marker is pushed above the top most space, the player has to Buy Out this Time marker and gets twice the amount of money according to the current Economic Forecast.

EXAMPLE: During the Schedule Business phase, Nikki places a Time marker on the first space, and Tanja in the third space.

Marion and Nikki have Time markers in the Stock Exchange from the previous round. During the Conduct Business phase, first Nikki moves her Time marker onto the first space of the Stock Exchange, then Tanja, whose Time marker both pushes Nikki's and Marion's Time markers one space up.

The current Economic Forecast is "Stable", so all Time markers move 2 spaces up.

Finally, Nikki decides to remove both her Time markers to get 12 money. Both Marion and Tanja decide to keep their Time Markers on the Stock Exchange.

G. Economic Forecast

SCHEDULE BUSINESS: This area is not available to players during the Schedule Business Phase.

CONDUCT BUSINESS: Once the Stock Exchange is completely resolved, reveal the Economic Forecast card in the current space.

H. Retail Outlets

SCHEDULE BUSINESS: Retail Outlets are not available to players during the Schedule Business phase.

CONDUCT BUSINESS: According to the Economic Forecast card, a number of consumers will buy products at the Retail Outlets based on the number of players in the game. Each consumer is attracted to the best deal, and will therefore buy from the businesses in the lowest price bracket. Within the lowest bracket, each consumer will purchase from the most popular business in that bracket. For each product sold, the player receives money as printed on the space, removes the matching Time marker from the Retail Outlet, and places it back into the General Stock.

This continues until all consumers have bought one product each or all products have been sold, whichever comes first.

Any remaining Time markers at the Retail Outlets (representing products that did not sell) drop down to any lower price bracket (including Liquidation), from the lowest price bracket up, in Popularity order within a bracket. Players may choose which price within the new bracket to place their Time marker on. Any Time marker dropping into the Liquidation space immediately sells for 3 money.

EXAMPLE: During the Conduct Business phase, the revealed Economic Forecast card is a "Stable", which brings 3 Consumers in this 4-player game.

The first consumer buys Angelika's product from the lowest price bracket for 8 money, as Angelika is the most popular. Marion is the next most popular player with a product in the lowest bracket, so the second consumer buys Marion's product for 6 money. Nikki is the only player left with products in the lowest price bracket, so the third customer will buy her cheapest product for 6 money.

After the third consumer has bought, three products remain in the Retail Outlets. From the lowest price bracket up, those products drop in price. First, Nikki's product drops from 8 to the Liquidation box and sells immediately for 3 money. Then, since Angelika is more popular than Tanja, Angelika's 12 product drops to a lower price bracket. Angelika may choose to set the new price at 8 money, 6 money, or Liquidation for 3 money right now. Finally, Tanja must choose a new price (8 money, 6 money, or Liquidation) as well.

I. Construction Company

SCHEDULE BUSINESS: Players schedule business at the Construction Company in order to expand their business with a new Improvement. Players pay 4 money and 4 info to place 1 time marker in the first available space in numerical order.

Player icons (3 people), (4 people) and (5 people) dictate how many spaces are available for the number of players in the game. For instance, in a 4-player game, players may place Time markers up to and including the spaces marked with the 4-people icon on it, but not on the space marked with the 5-people icon.

CONDUCT BUSINESS: In numerical order, each player has the option of buying an available Improvement. Starting with space 1, a Tenant Improvement can be bought for 1 money, 1 info, or a Floor Improvement can be bought for 2 money, 2 info plus 2 money, 2 info per existing Floor on a Player's Player board. Players pay the cost for their chosen Improvement, add it to their Player board, and move their Time marker to the General Stock. Floors are placed on top of their building (move the Specialty tile up to make space), and Tenant Improvements replace a Ground Floor room or may be placed on an Empty Floor tile.

See chapter 8 Tenant Improvements on page 11 and chapter 9 Floor Improvements on page 12 for details of their tasks.

NOTE: Players start with the Ground Floor and the Specialty tile; they are not purchased. Additionally, the Specialty tile is not considered to be a floor!

EXAMPLE: Angelika's building consists of the following floors. During the game, she paid the following costs for each floor:

A. Ground Floor: Not purchased B. 2nd Floor: costs 4 money, 4 info C. 3rd Floor: costs 6 money, 6 info D. 4th Floor: costs 8 money, 8 info E. 5th Floor: costs 10 money, 10 info F. 6th Floor: costs 12 money, 12 info G. Specialty tile: Not purchased

In the first stage of the game, only Stage 1 Improvements are available. Beginning in the third round, the Stage 2 Improvements become available, and beginning with the sixth round, the Stage 3 Improvements become available as well.

Players may purchase one Improvement per Time marker in the Construction Company, and may never build an Improvement already on their Player board. If a player cannot afford to or chooses not to buy an Improvement, they simply move their Time marker to the General Stock.

Ground Floor Rooms

Each player can use these these six rooms on their Player boards. During the game, each Player can remodel any of their rooms to get access to upgraded benefits.

When one or more Time Markers are required, all required Time markers must be placed at once. Once the Time marker requirement has been met, all Ground Floor Rooms provide their respective benefit immediately. These rooms have unlimited use.

Each remodeled Ground Floor Room is worth 2 Prestige Points at the end of the game.

Advertising

STANDARD: Place 1 time marker on Advertising to place 1 time marker from the General Stock into the Networking box at the Advertising Agency.

REMODELED: Place 1 time marker on Advertising to place 1 time marker from the General Stock into the Networking box at the Advertising Agency OR place 2 time markers on Advertising to place 1 time marker from the General Stock into the Social Media box at the Advertising Agency.

Assembly

STANDARD: Place 3 time markers on Assembly to acquire 1 supply cube. A newly acquired supply cube must have a place in the Storage Closet to be stored or it is discarded.

REMODELED: Place 2 time markers on Assembly to acquire 1 supply cube. A newly acquired supply cube must have a place in the Storage Closet to be stored or it is discarded.

Meeting Room

STANDARD: Place 1 time marker on the Meeting Room to gain 1 info.

REMODELED: Place 1 time marker on the Meeting Room to gain 1 info, or place 2 time markers on the Meeting Room to gain 3 info.

Research & Testing

STANDARD: Place 1 time marker on Research & Testing and spend 1 supply cube from your Storage Closet to gain 3 info.

REMODELED: Place 1 time marker on Research & Testing and spend 1 supply cube from your Storage Closet to either gain 4 info, or gain 2 money, 2 info.

Storage Closet

STANDARD: Store 1 supply cube indefinitely with no time cost.

REMODELED: Store up to 2 supply cubes indefinitely with no time cost. When remodeling the Storage Closet, the remodeled Storage Closet comes into play with 1 new supply cube on it.

Training

STANDARD: Place 2 time markers on Training to remove 1 Untrained token from your Employee track. The Time markers for this trained employee are available for use at the start of the next round.

REMODELED: Place 1 time marker on Training to remove 1 Untrained token from your Employee track. The Time markers for this trained employee are available for use at the start of the next round.

Tenant Improvements

There are two of each regular Tenant Improvement tile, and only one Tenant Improvement Achievement tile.

IMPORTANT NOTE: In a 2 or 3 player game, only one copy of each Tenant Improvement tile is available for purchase.

When players expand their business with a new Tenant Improvement, they can either place it on an "Empty Floor" Improvement space or on top of another room. This other room (either a previous Tenant Improvement or a Ground Floor room) becomes inaccessible to the Player; its ability cannot be used nor can it be remodeled. However, its Prestige Points will still count at the end of the game.

Each regular Tenant Improvement tile is worth 3 Prestige Points at the end of the game. Respectively, the Tenant Improvement Achievement tile is worth 1 Prestige Point, but grants additional bonus Prestige Points.

Stage 1 – Tenant Improvements

HUMAN RESOURCES

During the Hire Employees phase of each round, Human Resources allows the owner to hire at a discount of 3 money, 3 info, to a minimum cost of 0 money, 0 info.

EXAMPLE: Marion already owns the Human Resources office, when she hires her third employee. Instead of paying the actual costs for hiring of 5 money, 5 info, she only needs to pay 2 money, 2 info.

INTERNSHIP PROGRAM

During the Receive Income phase of each round, the owner of Internship Program receives 1 additional time marker. This 1 time marker does not count as an employee and therefore does not affect the Employee Track or the player's Money income. This 1 time marker functions exactly the same as any other time marker in the game.

NETWORK ADMIN

During the Receive Income phase of each round, the owner of Network Admin receives an additional 2 info.

Stage 2 – Tenant Improvements

NICHE MARKET

During the Conduct Business phase of each round, the owner of Niche Market is not required to drop the price of any of their products that do not sell at the Retail Outlets. This ability is optional and may be applied to one or more of the owner's products.

PREMIUM PRODUCT

The owner of Premium Product receives an additional 2 money for each product sold at the Retail Outlets. This includes any Liquidated products.

PUBLIC RELATIONS

During the Reorganize phase at the end of each round, the owner of Public Relations does not move their Player marker down on the Popularity track.

Stage 3 – Tenant Improvements

TENANT IMPROVEMENT ACHIEVEMENT

At the end of the game, the owner of Tenant Improvement Achievement scores an additional 1 Prestige Point for each Tenant Improvement they have purchased, including Tenant Improvement Achievement.

Floor Improvements

There are two of each regular Floor Improvement tile, only one of each Achievement Floor tile.

IMPORTANT NOTE: In a 2 or 3 player game, only one copy of each Floor Improvement tile is available for purchase.

When players expand their business with a new Floor, they place it above their Ground Floor, below their Specialty Tile. Each subsequent Floor will be placed above the last one etc.

Each Floor Improvement tile is worth between 2 and 8 Prestige Points at the end of the game, as written on the different tiles. Most Achievement Floor tiles also grant additional bonus Prestige Points.

Stage 1 – Floor Improvements

EMPTY FLOOR

The Empty Floor comes with one free Tenant Improvement of the owner's choice. The Tenant Improvement must be from the Stages currently available for purchase next to the Construction Company area of the game board. The Tenant Improvement is placed on one of the two spaces on the Empty Floor tile. The second space may be filled with another Tenant Improvement purchased at a later time.

Stage 2 – Floor Improvements

ASSEMBLY LINE

Place 1 time marker on Assembly Line to acquire 1 supply cube. A newly acquired supply cube must have a place to be stored in the Storage Closet or it is discarded. Assembly Line may be used a maximum of two times each round.

CONFERENCE ROOM

Place 2 time markers on Conference Room to gain 5 info. Conference Room may be used a maximum of two times each round.

CONSTRUCTION ADMIN

Place 3 time markers on Construction Admin to place 1 time marker from the General Stock in the next available space at the Construction Company. Construction Admin may be used a maximum of three times each round.

IN-HOUSE FACTORY

Place 2 time markers on In-House Factory and spend 1 supply cube from your Storage Closet to place 1 time marker from the General Stock in the next available space at the Factory. In-House Factory may be used a maximum of two times each round.

INVESTOR

During the Receive Income phase of each round, the owner of Investor receives an additional 3 money.

I.T. DEPARTMENT

During the Receive Income phase of each round, the owner of I.T. Department receives an additional 4 money.

MARKETING DEPARTMENT

Place 2 time markers on Marketing Department to place 1 time marker from the General Stock into the Broadcast box at the Advertising Agency. Marketing Department may be used a maximum of three times each round.

ONLINE STORE

Place 3 time markers on Online Store and spend 1 supply cube from your Storage Closet to gain 6 money. Online Store may be used a maximum of two times each round.

RESEARCH LAB

Place 1 time marker on Research Lab and spend 1 supply cube from your Storage Closet to gain 3 money, 3 info. Research Lab may be used a maximum of three times each round.

TELECOMMUNICATIONS

Place 1 time marker on Telecommunications to gain 3 info. Telecommunications may be used a maximum of three times each round.

Stage 3 – Floor Improvements

CORNER OFFICE ACHIEVEMENT

Corner Office Achievement is worth 8 Prestige Points.

CORPORATE MERGER ACHIEVEMENT

Corporate Merger Achievement is worth 8 Prestige Points.

EXECUTIVE ACHIEVEMENT

At the end of the game, the owner of Executive Achievement scores additional 2 Prestige Points for each "Achievement" Floor Improvement they have purchased, including Executive Achievement.

IMPROVEMENT ACHIEVEMENT

At the end of the game, the owner of Improvement Achievement scores additional 1 Prestige Point for each Remodeled Room on their Ground Floor. Tenant Improvements do not count toward this bonus.

MARKETING ACHIEVEMENT

At the end of the game, the owner of Marketing Achievement scores additional 2 Prestige Points for each Popularity level they have attained. The Popularity track has three levels, divided by vertical black lines.

OFFICE RENOVATION

Place 2 time markers on Office Renovation to remodel 1 Ground Floor room. Place the Remodeled Room tile over the Ground Floor room on the Player board. Office Renovation may be used a maximum of 3 times each round.

PRODUCTION ACHIEVEMENT

At the end of the game, the owner of Production Achievement scores additional 3 Prestige Points for each Supply cube in their Storage Closet.

RETENTION ACHIEVEMENT

At the end of the game, the owner of Retention Achievement scores additional 1 Prestige Point for each employee in their staff, according to the CEO marker on the Employee track. It does not matter if the employees have been trained.

SKYLINE ACHIEVEMENT

At the end of the game, the owner of Skyline Achievement scores additional 1 Prestige Point for each Floor Improvement they have purchased, including Skyline Achievement.

Specialty Tiles

The players start the game with one of these Specialty tiles, giving them different advantages.

The Specialty tiles always are on top of the players' buildings, representing the type of company controlled by the players. These Specialties are not considered to be floors and do not affect the costs for new Floor Improvements.

E-COMMERCE

The owner of this specialty starts each round with 1 additional time marker. However, this player does not start the game with any Ground Floor rooms remodeled.

EMERGING TECHNOLOGY

The owner of this specialty starts the game with the remodeled Research & Testing Room tile and places that tile on their Player board.

INDUSTRIAL

The owner of this specialty starts the game with the remodeled Assembly Room tile and places that tile on their Player board.

INHERITANCE

The owner of this specialty starts the game with an additional 3 money, 1 info, for a total of 3 money, 8 info. However, this player does not start the game with any Ground Floor rooms remodeled.

NON-PROFIT

The owner of this specialty starts the game with the remodeled Training Room tile and places that tile on their Player board.

PUBLISHING

The owner of this specialty starts the game with the remodeled Advertising Room tile and places that tile on their Player board.

RETAIL

The owner of this specialty starts the game with the remodeled Storage Closet Room tile and places that tile on their Player board. Remember: A remodeled Storage Closet comes with a free supply cube, which means this player starts the game with 2 supply cubes.

WEB BASED

The owner of this specialty starts the game with the remodeled Meeting Room tile and places that tile on their Player board.

Automa Rules

Ground Floor may also be played by 1 to 3 players by adding 1 or 2 Automas, competitive Entrepreneurs who are played by the game itself.

All of the base game set up and game rules apply, with the following modifications.

Automa Set Up

1. Set up the game for the number of players playing, including any Automas. For example, if there is 1 human and 1 Automa, then set the game up for 2 players.

2. Choose an Entrepreneur to represent each Automa. These Automas have different difficulty levels: Pei is easy, Gropius medium, and Hadid is hard to beat. By default, each Automa places its CEO on the first space on the Employee track and places four Time markers next to that CEO.

   Hadid also gets one of the Internship Program Tenant Improvements. When playing with 2 or 3 players, use the extra copy in the box, so the other Internship Program is available in the General Stock. This means that Hadid's CEO plays with 5 Time markers for the entire game.

3. The players create each default Automa deck as follows:

   1x CONSULTING FIRM 1x ADVERTISING AGENCY 1x WAREHOUSE 1x FACTORY 1x STOCK EXCHANGE 1x CONSTRUCTION COMPANY

   Hadid starts with an extra Factory in her deck. Pei starts with one Automa Office card in his deck. Gropius does not start with any additional cards in his deck. Place the remaining cards sorted by type into the General Stock.

4. An Automa receives the E-Commerce Specialty, other Automas receive one Specialty randomly.

5. An Automa always starts as the first player. Randomize the player order for remaining humans and other Automas.

Automa Conventions

An Automa always follows the base game rules, with the following modifications.

DURING THE WHOLE GAME

• An Automa never keeps or gains any money, or info, or supply cube. It has an unlimited pool of each of those.
• An Automa starts each round with a thoroughly shuffled deck.
• An Automa never activates any abilities of its floors or Tenant Improvements during the game.
• At the start of Stage 3, add an extra Construction Company card into each Automa deck.
• When an Automa remodels or gains a Tenant Improvement, it does not matter where it goes, because Automas do not activate abilities anyway.
• If an Automa deck is ever exhausted during a turn, reshuffle its cards and continue the round.

I) RECEIVE INCOME

• An Automa never receives income.

II) HIRE EMPLOYEES

• Pei never hires employees.
• Hadid never hires employees.
• Gropius hires if the Job Market is at 2 money, 2 info. If Gropius hires, shuffle an extra Factory card into his Automa deck. Afterwards, Gropius never hires again.

III) SCHEDULE BUSINESS

• When an Automa takes its turn, turn over the topmost card of its deck and by default place 1 time marker on the best available space of the building specified on the revealed Automa card.
• F) When placing at the Stock Exchange, an Automa places 1 time marker on a space in this priority: 1 money, then 1 money, 1 info, then 1 money, 2 info, and finally 1 info.
• When an Automa's turn is over, discard all revealed Automa cards into a discard pile. Note, each Automa will have their own individual deck and discard pile.

IV) CONDUCT BUSINESS

• B) When resolving the Advertising Agency, turn over the next Automa card and reference the bottom left corner to see what type of marketing is done.
• C) If a Marketing Bonus is awarded, an Automa takes bonuses in this priority: Remodel, Temp, Supply, Money, Info.
• E) When resolving the Factory, if all products are guaranteed to sell, then the Automa will place its 1 time marker on the Retail Outlet at the highest price available. Otherwise, for each Automa Time marker turn over the next Automa card and reference the bottom right corner to see what bracket to place in.
• F) When resolving the Stock Exchange, an Automa only sells during Boom, Stable, or at a Buy Out. It stays in otherwise.
• I) When resolving the Construction Company, an Automa always buys a random Floor from the current stage during Boom and Stable. Otherwise it will buy a random Tenant Improvement from the current stage in all other economies. If an Automa goes to the Construction Company more than once in the same round, then in all subsequent visits it will buy a random Tenant Improvement from the current stage.
• I) When resolving the Construction Company during Stage 3, an Automa will always buy a random Achievement Floor from Stage 3 with each and every Time marker.
• Each time an Automa buys a Floor or Tenant Improvement, shuffle an extra Automa Office card into its deck.
• If an Automa reveals an Automa Office card on its turn, simply put 1 time marker anywhere on its player board. It does not matter where it goes, because Automas do not activate abilities anyway.

END OF THE GAME

An automa scores Prestige Points like any other player. When scoring their Achievement Floors, score them as if they are maxed out.

Bonus: Era Cards

Before the game begins, the players shuffle the Era cards and choose one at random. The chosen Era will direct the construction of the Economic Forecast deck for the game.

Bonus: New Economic Forecast Cards

The players may add these cards as desired. Check chapter Set Up, bullet point F on page 4 for details.

Great Depression

During the construction of the Economic Forecast deck, before shuffling each type of card, replace one Depression card with Great Depression. This means Great Depression might not be in the final deck. During a Great Depression there will be no customers, therefore no products will sell at the Retail Outlets. In addition, unemployment is at its highest, so during Reorganize the Status marker at the Job Market is moved all the way to the left (to the 2 money, 2 info space).

Windfall

During the construction of the Economic Forecast deck, before shuffling each type of card, replace one Boom card with Windfall. This means Windfall might not be in the final deck. During a Windfall, customers will be plentiful, therefore all products will sell at the Retail Outlets. In addition, unemployment is at its lowest, so during Reorganize the Status marker at the Job Market is moved all the way to the right (to the 7 money, 7 info space).

Bonus: Events

Each Event card alters the rules for one of the Game board areas.

Before the game begins, the players shuffle the Event deck and choose one Event card at random. The chosen Event will indicate which board area is affected for the game. Place the card on the board above the affected area as a reminder and reference.

Credits

Author: David Short

1st edition Development: Seth Jaffee 2nd edition Development: Henning Kröpke, Uli Blennemann Graphics: Harald Lieske Layout: Filip Stransky Notable Playtesters: Nathan Emmerich, Chris Hall, Matt Manis, Josh Martin, Jon Peoble, Eileen Short, Mike Tunison

Copyright 2018 Spielworxx, Nielande 12, D-48727 Billerbeck www.spielworxx.de