Machi Koro: Bau dir deine Verlagswelt!
Machi Koro: Bau dir deine Verlagswelt! Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Game Idea
With dice and cards, everyone builds their own publishing world here. Do you prefer to build different departments first, or tackle one big project right away? Staff must be won and your supplier network expanded ... The more you expand your publishing house, the higher your income. Who builds the most successful publishing house?
Goal of the Game
The winner is the player who first builds their four Major Projects.
Game Components
112 Playing Cards, of which:
- 12 Starting Cards
- 16 Major Projects
- 84 Department Cards (15 different kinds)
72 Coins:
- 50 coins of value 1
- 12 coins of value 5
- 10 coins of value 10
2 Dice
Game Setup
Card anatomy (Departments): dice number, name, card symbol, person symbol, income effect, cost. Card anatomy (Major Projects): name, card symbol, benefit, cost.
Game preparation
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Before the first game, carefully detach all coins from the trays.
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Each player receives:
- 3 Starting Cards (Authors & Writers and Development Game Goods with cost 0, and KOSMOS Shop, with yellow backs)
- 4 different Major Projects (Staff, Shops, Suppliers, Customers)
- 3 coins (each with value 1)
Note: if there are fewer than 4 players, return the remaining Starting Cards and Major Projects to the box.
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Everyone lays their three Starting Cards face up in front of themselves. Above them, they place their 4 Major Projects with the grey side facing up. The Major Projects are only turned over when they are built. These 7 cards form the Start Display.
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All remaining cards are sorted by the 15 department types and placed in separate stacks as the general display in the center of the table.
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The remaining coins are set aside as the "Bank".
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The youngest player begins. Play then continues clockwise.
Setup Example for 4 Players
The rulebook shows an example of a four-player setup: each of the four players' Start Displays (labelled Start-Auslage Person A to D) around the table, the general display of Departments in the center ("Abteilungen"), and the Bank ("Bank") of coins.
Game Flow
Sequence of a Turn
- When it is your turn, roll 1 die. Important: once you have built your Major Project "Staff" (Mitarbeiterinnen & Mitarbeiter), you may always choose to roll 1 or 2 dice.
- The number rolled (with 2 dice, the sum) indicates which Departments bring in income.
- Then your Build phase follows: you may build 1 Department from the display or 1 of your Major Projects. If you have 0 coins at the start of your Build phase, you receive 1 coin from the bank for your "Kosmos Shop".
Income
Everyone receives income for their Departments in front of them, in the form of coins, when the dice number of the respective Department is rolled. Important: if a roll is made with 2 dice, only the sum of both dice counts, not the individual numbers. If you have a Department more than once, you also receive its income more than once.
The person symbols on the cards indicate when you receive income:
- Only when you yourself roll the number, or
- In every turn; that is, also when another person rolls the number in their turn.
The cards also state whether the income comes from the bank or from other persons. Place your coins so that everyone can see how many coins you have.
Note: wherever coins are mentioned, coins of value 1 are always meant. Coins can be exchanged with the bank at any time.
The Four Types of Departments
- Blue: income on every roll. These Departments bring you income regardless of which person rolled the number. That may be the person who built the Department or another person.
- Green: income only on your own roll. These Departments bring you income only if you roll the number yourself during your turn.
- Red: income only on an opponent's roll. These Departments bring you income only if another person rolls the number during their turn.
- Purple: special Departments. These Departments bring you income (or, for Management & Staff, a benefit) only if you roll the number yourself during your turn.
Order of Income Claims
If you receive income and must pay coins to other persons, all payments are made first (where possible), and only afterwards do you receive your income.
If you do not have the full required amount, you must pay only as many coins as you have. The rest is forfeited.
Example: Axel rolls a "3". Britta owns 1 Marketing Department and demands 1 coin from Axel. Because Axel has no coins, Britta receives nothing. Afterwards, Axel receives 2 coins from the bank for his two Development Game Goods Departments.
If a single dice roll produces several claims, they are handled counterclockwise (gegen den Uhrzeigersinn).
Example: Axel rolls a "3". Britta owns 3 Marketing Departments and Conny owns 2 Marketing Departments. Axel would therefore have to pay 5 coins. Since he has only 3 coins, payment is made counterclockwise. First Axel pays Conny 2 coins, then he pays Britta 1 coin. The 2 coins still missing for Britta are forfeited.
Building New Departments and Major Projects
At the end of your turn, you may build 1 Department* from the general display or 1 of your Major Projects.
To do so, pay the bank the number of coins equal to the build cost (the number at the bottom left of the card). Place the built Department face up in front of you. If you have several cards of the same Department type, place them so that it is clearly visible how many cards of that type you own, by laying them in a slightly offset pile.
*Note: even if Authors & Writers are not employed in the publishing house, they are referred to in the game as a Department.
Important: of most Departments you may have any number of cards. Only of the "Special Departments" (purple) may you own each card only once. So you may have 1 card each of Accounting (Buchhaltung), Organisation & IT and Management & Staff (Geschäftsleitung & Personal), but not 2 cards of Management & Staff.
Tip for the first games: to get to know the game, you may agree that you own at most 2 cards of each type of Department. This prevents one person from getting too many identical Departments, which could make them too strong. Once you know the game and the various card combinations well, you can lift this restriction so that different strategies are possible. For the "Special Departments", the limit of 1 card each still applies.
Major Projects
When you build a Major Project, turn the card over to its coloured front side. From your next turn on, the benefit printed on the card applies to you. You decide for yourself in which order you build your Major Projects.
End of the Game
As soon as you have built your 4th (and therefore last) Major Project at the end of your turn, the game ends immediately. You have won.
Further Explanation of the Major Projects
- Staff (Mitarbeiterinnen & Mitarbeiter): in every turn you may decide anew whether to use 1 or 2 dice.
- Shops: whenever you receive income from a Public Relations or Development Game Goods Department (shown by the two symbols on the card), you receive 1 coin more for each such Department that was rolled. For example, if you own 2 Development Game Goods cards, you receive 4 coins instead of 2. If you own 1 Public Relations card, you receive 3 coins instead of 2.
- Suppliers (Lieferanten): only if you have built your Major Project "Staff" may you roll with 2 dice. This allows you to roll 2 identical numbers (doubles). Then you have a complete second turn. In this second turn you may again choose whether to roll 1 or 2 dice, you receive any income, and you may build 1 Department or 1 Major Project. If you roll doubles again in this second turn, this does not apply again.
- Customers (Kundinnen & Kunden): if you roll again, you must use the same number of dice as in your first roll. Only the result of this second roll applies.
Card Overview
Starting Cards (12; yellow backs): Authors & Writers; Development Game Goods (cost 0); KOSMOS Shop. Each player begins with 3 of them (one of each).
Major Projects (16; grey side up until built): Staff (Mitarbeiterinnen & Mitarbeiter); Shops; Suppliers (Lieferanten); Customers (Kundinnen & Kunden). Each player begins with one of each.
Departments (84 cards, 15 different kinds): Authors & Writers (Autorinnen & Autoren); Development Game Goods (Entwicklung Spielware); KOSMOS Shop; Purchasing Game Goods (Einkauf Spielware); Marketing; Editorial: Advice (Redaktion Ratgeber); Editorial: Children's Books (Redaktion Kinderbuch); Editorial: Experiment Kits (Redaktion Experimentierkästen); Book Production (Herstellung Buch); Sales & Licensing (Vertrieb & Lizenzen); Public Relations; Quality & Safety; Accounting (Buchhaltung); Organisation & IT; Management & Staff (Geschäftsleitung & Personal).
- The Special Departments (purple) are Accounting, Organisation & IT and Management & Staff.
Note: the individual dice numbers, build costs and income effects printed on each Department and Major Project card appear only as card artwork in the PDF and are not reproduced as text in this rulebook. Consult the physical cards for those values.
Variant: "Komme, was wolle" (Come What May)
Anyone who has already played the game several times should try this variant, in which not all Departments are in the display.
- Since each player may own only one card of each Special Department (purple), in a 3-player game return 1 card of each Special Department to the box, and in a 2-player game return 2 cards of each Special Department to the box.
- Then shuffle all Department cards thoroughly and place them as a face-down draw pile.
- Then turn individual cards face up from this pile to form the open display.
- If a Department is turned face up that is already in the display, place this card on top of the card already face up.
- Keep turning cards over until there are 10 different Departments in the display.
- If during play a card is taken from the general display and built, and then the display no longer has 10 different Departments, cards are turned from the draw pile until there are again 10 different Departments.
- If the draw pile runs out, the general display is no longer replenished.