Link City Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Setup
• How a Round Unfolds
  • 1. The person to the mayor's left is named First Deputy!
  • 2. Behind the screen, the mayor secretly connects each spot marked by a cone to one of the 3 new Location tiles
  • 3. The other players take the other 3 Construction tiles — blue, orange, and yellow
  • 4. RESOLUTION! The mayor reveals the Construction tiles on their side
• Continuing the Game
• Unlocking Bonuses
  • The White Cone
  • Bonus Locations
• End of Game
• A Note on Sustainability

Components

• 1 City Hall tile
• 8 Construction tiles
• 57 Location tiles
• 1 City Hall screen
• 4 Construction cones
• 6 Bonus tiles

Setup

1. Place the City Hall tile in the middle of the table, then draw 4 Location tiles at random and place them around it.

   Two tiles connected side by side complete a tree. Trees are your victory points!

2. Shuffle the 6 Bonus tiles and stack them next to the city.

   For younger players! Each Location tile shows 2 different locations, one on each side. You can always choose the side with the location you understand best.

3. Choose who will play the role of the mayor for the first round!

   The mayor places the screen in front of themself and draws 3 new Location tiles from the box, hiding them immediately behind the screen.

   The mayor also takes, behind the screen, 3 Construction tiles — blue, orange, and yellow.

How a Round Unfolds

1. The person to the mayor's left is named First Deputy!

The First Deputy places the 3 cones — blue, orange, and yellow — at 3 different spots of their choosing, among the spots where the city can grow.

IMPORTANT: A cone must always be placed next to at least one location, never diagonally.

2. Behind the screen, the mayor secretly connects each spot marked by a cone to one of the 3 new Location tiles

The mayor does this using their 3 Construction tiles.

The mayor thinks of word associations that the other players might guess. The locations neighboring each cone serve as clues. For example, the mayor might think here that the ice cream stand would go well in place of the blue cone, because the school and the pool are next to it.

The other players let the mayor make their choices without influencing them!

As soon as the mayor has made their choices, they turn over only their 3 Construction tiles, then remove the screen.

3. The other players take the other 3 Construction tiles — blue, orange, and yellow

They debate among themselves to try to guess the mayor's choices, and together place their Construction tiles in front of the 3 new Location tiles.

The mayor lets the other players discuss until their final decision without intervening!

Example table talk: "In my opinion, the stadium goes next to the hardware store." "Not sure, because the stadium is about sports, like the pool, and besides, soccer players love tattoo parlors!" "Except that after a dive, I'd rather go to the 3D cinema than the stadium!"

If the other players cannot all agree... the First Deputy decides!

4. RESOLUTION! The mayor reveals the Construction tiles on their side

• If the Construction tiles match, the mayor replaces the cone with the new location, in that exact same spot in the city.
• If the Construction tiles are different, the mayor places the new location wherever they want around the city, connecting it only diagonally to at least one other location.

Example: connecting the ice cream stand to the school and the pool completes 2 trees, scoring 2 points. No tree is completed with the 3D cinema, so it scores 0 points.

Continuing the Game

In the next round, the person who was First Deputy in the previous round becomes the mayor. The person to their left becomes the new First Deputy and places the 3 cones again.

Every round unfolds just like the first one. Your goal: grow the city by making as many connections as possible!

Example: in this example, the orange cone can score 1 point (1 tree completed), the yellow cone 2 points, and the blue cone 4 points.

Unlocking Bonuses

The White Cone

As soon as the first round ends in a "perfect" — that is, a total agreement between the mayor and the other players — unlock the white cone! From then on, you will play every following round with 4 cones and 4 new locations.

Bonus Locations

Every round that ends in a "perfect," the mayor adds the top Bonus location from the stack to the city, creating even more connections! But be careful... you can no longer build along the axis of a Bonus tile's colored zone.

End of Game

The game lasts 6 rounds. At the end of the last round, count all the trees completed by the connections in your city! 1 whole tree = 1 point.

Tip: count all the rows first, then all the columns.

Example: the illustration marks "row 1" and "column 1" to show how counting works — column 1 alone completes 2 trees, worth 2 points. In total, this example city contains 41 trees, worth 41 points!

Congratulations, your city is complete! What level did you reach?

• Under 30 points = Welcome to Bizarre City...
• 30+ points = You're good, welcome to Cool City!
• 40+ points = You're very good, welcome to WOW City!
• 50+ points = You're exceptional, welcome to LINK CITY!
• 60+ points = Congratulations, but... you cheated ;)

A Note on Sustainability

1 tree used in production = 2 trees planted with our nonprofit partner Ishpingo in the Amazon.