Shinjuku Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
  • Map of Tokyo
  • The Ward Cards
  • Customers
  • Player Pieces
  • Upgrade Bonus
  • Matsuri (Festival)
• How to Play
  • Setup
  • The Customer Queue
• Gameplay
  • 1. Place New Customers from the Queue
  • 2. Refresh the Customer Queue
  • 3. Move the Matsuri
  • 4. Perform Two Actions
• Player Actions
  • Action: Open
  • Action: Expand
  • Action: Move
  • Action: Income
  • Action: Upgrade
• Wildcards
• Endgame
• Endgame Scoring
  • Tie-breaking
• Advanced Variant
• Sample Game Walkthrough
• Credits & Acknowledgements

Components

Summary:

• Map of Tokyo with stations and connections
• 72 Ward cards
• 72 Customer tokens with 4 different goods: FOOD, CLOTHING, BOOKS and ELECTRONICS
• 1 Customer bag to hold all the Customers
• 32 Specialty Store tokens in the 4 player colors: 2 tokens of each Store type
• 12 Department Store tokens in the 4 player colors: 3 per player
• 64 Track markers in the 4 player colors: 16 per player
• 4 Player screens
• 11 gray Upgrade Bonus tokens
• 1 Starting Player token
• 1 Matsuri (Festival) token

Map of Tokyo

The map displays the 23 "special wards" in Tokyo and the train stations (as circles) in each Ward where Stores can be opened.

Stations are connected by lines showing potential future connections. These lines cannot be used until a player uses the EXPAND action to place Track on them, turning them into a rail connection.

The Ward Cards

The central core of Tokyo is divided into 23 Wards (known as 区 or "ku"). Each Ward card identifies a single Ward and shows its location on the map, along with the stations that are present in it. There are multiple copies of each Ward card, roughly corresponding to the population of that Ward.

Each Ward card indicates whether that Ward contains a station that can host a Department Store, and shows the location of that Ward on the map, its name, and the number of copies of this card in the deck.

Card distribution:

• 2 cards each: Arakawa, Bunkyo, Kita, Meguro, Nakano, Sumida, Taito, Toshima
• 3 cards each: Chiyoda, Chuo, Katsushika, Koto, Shibuya, Shinagawa
• 4 cards each: Adachi, Edogawa, Itabashi, Minato, Nerima, Shinjuku, Suginami
• 5 cards each: Ota, Setagaya

Customers

There are 72 Customer tokens, each with an icon identifying the type of goods that the Customer wants to purchase.

Of the 72 Customers:

• 23 Customers want FOOD
• 20 Customers want CLOTHING
• 16 Customers want BOOKS
• 13 Customers want ELECTRONICS

Some Customer tokens are marked with a "②". These act as a single Customer token during gameplay, but count as 2 separate Customers during endgame scoring.

Player Pieces

Each player color has:

• 3 Department Store tokens
• 8 Specialty Store tokens (2 of each good type)
• 16 Track tokens

In addition, each player has a player screen with a rules summary. These screens are used to hide the Customers that are earned during the game.

Upgrade Bonus

When a player upgrades a Specialty Store to a Department Store, they will receive a stack of these tokens, if available.

During endgame scoring, these tokens act as wild Customers and can be used as if they were a customer of any type.

Matsuri (Festival)

The Matsuri token identifies the current location of the festival. Cards that match the current Matsuri location can be used as wildcards.

How to Play

Setup

• Place the board in the center of the table.
• Place all the Customer tokens in the Customer bag.
• Place the gray Upgrade Bonus tokens on the numbered spaces next to the Customer Queue — one token for each star next to the number. The "3" space should have a stack of 3 tokens, the "4", "5", "6" spaces should each have 2 tokens each, and the remaining spaces each have single token.
• Shuffle all of the Ward cards into a draw deck and place this deck face-down near the Customer Queue. Leave space next to this deck for a discard pile. When the draw deck runs out during gameplay, the discard pile should be shuffled and used to recreate the draw deck.
• Each player: Choose a color and take all of the matching playing pieces and player screen.
• Deal a starting hand of four cards to each player.

Seed the map with customers:

• Draw 4 random cards from the Ward deck. If there are duplicates, then draw additional cards until there are 4 unique locations.
• Draw 2 Customers from the bag for each location (8 total) and place them on the map.
• Discard all of the Ward cards that you drew.

Initialize the Matsuri:

• Draw a card from the Ward deck.
• Place the Matsuri token in that location.
• Discard the Ward card.

Initialize the Customer Queue:

• Fill the Customer Queue by drawing and placing a face-up Ward card in each of the 4 spaces.
• Add 2 Customers from the bag to the Customer Queue, as detailed in the next section.

The Customer Queue

Each time a Customer needs to be added to the Customer Queue, determine which Ward card it gets placed on by following these steps:

• Draw a Customer from the bag.
• If there is already a Customer of the same type in the Queue, place the new Customer on the same card as the matching Customer.
• Otherwise, place the new Customer on the lowest-numbered available card that does not already have a Customer on it.

If multiple Customers need to be added to the Queue, make sure to add them one at a time.

The total number of customers in the Queue is always equal to 2 plus the number of Department Stores currently on the map. The total Queue size is also shown in the Upgrade Bonus token area. When a stack of Upgrade Bonus tokens is claimed, it reveals the new size.

Customer Queue Example. For this mid-game example, we start with 6 Customers already in the Queue. On the next player's turn, Katsushika is removed from the Queue. The 3 FOOD Customers are placed in Katsushika. The player takes the Katsushika card into their hand. The 3 cards — along with their Customers — that remain in the Queue are shifted over, and a new card (Minato) is added in the ④ space.

Because 3 Customers were removed from the Queue, 3 new Customers must be added. First, a FOOD Customer is drawn and, because there are currently no FOOD Customers in the Queue, it is added to Setagaya (the next empty card). Then an ELECTRONICS Customer is drawn and added to the existing Customer on the Nerima card. And finally a CLOTHING Customer is added to the Minato card.

Gameplay

Choose a random starting player and have them take the Starting Player token.

Beginning with this player and continuing clockwise around the table, each player's turn is as follows:

1. Place New Customers
2. Refresh the Customer Queue
3. Move the Matsuri, and then
4. Perform Two Actions

1. Place New Customers from the Queue

Take all Customers on the Ward card in position ① of the Customer Queue and then place them on the board in the Ward corresponding to their card. The Customers are placed in the middle of the Ward and are not associated with any particular station.

Take the Ward card from position ① into your hand.

2. Refresh the Customer Queue

• Slide the cards in the Queue down one space: Move the card on the ② space, and the Customers on it, to the ① space. Move the card on the ③ space and its Customers to the ② space, and the card on the ④ space and its Customers to the ③ space.
• Draw a new card and place it on the ④ space.
• Draw Customers one at a time from the bag and add them to the Queue. The number of Customers added should be equal to the number that were just placed on the map.

Pro Tip: To help speed the game along, the task of refreshing the Queue can be done by the next player so that the current player can focus on their turn.

When the last customer is drawn from the bag, play continues but the game enters the Endgame (see the Endgame section below).

3. Move the Matsuri

Move the Matsuri token into a neighboring ward from its current location.

Two wards are considered to be neighboring if they share a common edge, no matter how small. Wards that meet at a single point are not considered to be neighboring.

Note that you must move the Matsuri token each turn — it cannot stay in the same location.

4. Perform Two Actions

During your turn, you can choose to perform any two of the following actions: OPEN, EXPAND, INCOME, MOVE or UPGRADE.

The same action may not be chosen twice in the same turn.

After your two actions, play passes clockwise (to the player on your left).

Player Actions

Action: Open

The OPEN action allows you to create a new Specialty Store in an empty station or move a Specialty Store to a new location.

• Discard a card that matches the Ward containing the station where you want to open the Store.
• Place one of your Specialty Store tokens on that station.

The token can come from your unused pool or you can relocate one of your Specialty Stores that was previously placed on the map.

Once you have a Specialty Store open in a station, you gain the following benefits:

• When Customers pass through this station, you will collect one if it matches the goods sold by this Store.
• Cards in your hand that match the Ward the station is located in become Wildcards that you can use to match any Ward (see Wildcards, below).

Note that you do not automatically gain matching customers that are already in the location where you build a store — you still need to take the MOVE action to acquire these customers.

Action: Expand

The EXPAND action allows you to expand your rail network by connecting stations.

• Place one of your track tokens on an empty connection anywhere on the map.

This creates a new rail connection that can be used by any player when moving Customers.

Note that only a single piece of track is required to enable a connection between two stations on the map regardless of how far apart the two stations are. Connections between stations on the map require only a single piece of track.

Double-Track. Optionally, you may build two connected segments of track if you can play a card that matches any of the 3 stations that you're linking.

Example: the Red player would like to place double-track from Nichi Nippori (in Arakawa) to Oshiage (in Sumida) through Ueno (in Taito). To do this, they need to play a card that matches the ward of any of these three stations: so either Arakawa, Taito or Sumida. To build double-track connected through a station, you need to play a card that matches any of the 3 stations that are being connected.

Shinjuku station (in Shinjuku Ward) is a special case when laying double-track because it has a permanent direct connection to Yoyogi (in Shibuya Ward). When placing double-track that passes through this connection, you can match any of the 4 stations involved.

Example: using double-track to connect Iidabashi (in Chiyoda) to Roppongi (in Minato) through Shinjuku/Yoyogi, the Blue player can use any of the following 4 ward cards: Chiyoda, Shinjuku, Shibuya, or Minato. Shinjuku station has a permanent direct connection to Yoyogi that double-track can pass through.

Note that this only applies when making a double-track connection that passes through both Shinjuku and Yoyogi stations. For example, a double-track connection from Iidabashi to Yotsuya cannot use a Shibuya card.

Action: Move

The MOVE action allows you to move Customers on the map along track the players have built, so that they can visit your Stores.

• Discard a card that matches the Ward where the Customers you want to move are located.
• Gather all of the Customers in the Ward that matches the card you discarded.
• Select their Starting Station within that Ward. All Customers must all start from the same station.
• Move the Customers from station to station on the map, following the track connections that players have added.
• If a station contains a Store that matches what the Customer wants, give the Customer token to the player who owns the Store.

Notes on Customer movement:

• No station may be visited more than once during this action.
• When moving multiple Customers, they must move together as a single group. This group may not be split during the MOVE.
• If more than one Customer wants what the Store at a station is selling (e.g., with a Department Store; or if there are multiple Customers of the same type), then you may choose which single Customer token is given to the Store owner.
• When starting a MOVE with a single Customer, that Customer can be delivered to a Store in the Starting Station, as long as that Store has the good the Customer wants.
• You are not required to fulfill all of the Customers that are being moved. You may stop moving Customers at any point. Any remaining unsatisfied Customers are added to the Ward that contains the final station visited, merging with any existing Customers in that Ward.
• Note that the first and last stations visited are not required to have a store.

Using Others' Track. If the player that took the MOVE action passes over any amount of track owned by other players, then those players may immediately take one free INCOME action. Each player gets a maximum of one INCOME action per MOVE regardless of how many sections of track were used. The player taking the MOVE action does not get the free INCOME action.

Move Example 1.

Options if it's Red's turn:

• MOVE the FOOD and BOOKS Customers from Chiyoda Ward starting in Iidabashi station. Go to Takadanobaba station to take the FOOD Customer. Continue to Shinjuku station to take the BOOKS Customer. Red gains 2 Customers and Green gains an INCOME action.
• MOVE from Chiyoda Ward starting from Tokyo station. Go to Yotsuya station (giving Blue the FOOD Customer). Continue to Shinjuku station to take the BOOKS Customer. Blue gains an INCOME action. Overall, Red gains 1 Customer, while Blue gains a Customer and an INCOME action. This is strictly worse for Red than the first option.

Options if it's Green's turn:

• MOVE the CLOTHING Customer from Shinjuku Ward starting in Yotsuya station. Go to Tokyo station to take the CLOTHING Customer. Since this travels over Blue track, Blue gains an INCOME action.
• Green could also start from Shinjuku station. This has the same result as the first option: Green gains a Customer and Blue gains a single INCOME action (even though 2 Blue track segments were used).
• Starting this MOVE action from Takadanobaba station would give the same result for Green (a single Customer) but would give both Red and Blue an INCOME action.

Options if it's Blue's turn:

• MOVE the 2 Customers from Chiyoda Ward starting in Tokyo station. Go to Yotsuya station to claim the FOOD Customer. Blue could then continue moving the BOOKS Customers on to Shinjuku station, but since that would only benefit Red (by giving them a Customer) it is more advantageous to stop here. The remaining BOOKS Customer is added to Shinjuku Ward to join the existing CLOTHING Customer. Since only Blue track was used, this triggers no INCOME actions.
• Blue could also start the MOVE in Akihabara and claim the BOOKS customer. Since there is no track leading out from Akihabara, the MOVE action would need to end here and the remaining FOOD customer would be returned to Chiyoda.

Move Example 2.

Options if it's Green's turn:

• MOVE the 3 Customers from Chuo Ward starting at Kachidoki station and ending in Roppongi. Green can't avoid giving a Customer to Blue in Shimbashi, but can choose to give the single BOOKS Customer so that Green gets the CLOTHING Customer. Ending in Roppongi drops off the double BOOKS Customer in Minato Ward. Both Red and Blue gain INCOME.

Options if it's Blue's turn:

• MOVE from Chuo Ward starting at Kachidoki and ending in Shibuya (giving INCOME to Red and Green). At Blue's Department Store in Shimbashi, Blue can choose any one of the three Customers:
  • Choosing CLOTHING and letting the two BOOKS Customers pass through deprives Green of the CLOTHING Customer when they visit Roppongi. Blue could claim the double BOOKS Customer in Shibuya. Blue would gain 2 Customers and leave the final BOOKS Customer in Shibuya Ward.
  • Choosing one of the BOOKS Customers would give the CLOTHING Customer to Green, but Blue would gain both BOOKS Customers. This might be advantageous if Blue already has too many CLOTHING Customers and needs more BOOKS Customers.
• Blue could also end the MOVE in Shimbashi, taking only one Customer but depriving Green of INCOME.

Action: Income

The INCOME action replenishes your hand with cards.

• From the draw deck, refill your hand to 4 cards. If you already have 4 or more cards in your hand, draw a single card.

Your turn ends immediately once you take this action, even if you had one more action available.

Pro Tip: Avoid taking INCOME as your first action.

Action: Upgrade

The UPGRADE action allows you to upgrade a Specialty Store to a Department Store, allowing you to sell all types of goods and collect all types of Customers.

• Discard a card that matches the Ward where the Specialty Store is located.
• Take one of your Customers that matches the type of the Store being upgraded and add it to the Customer Queue, following the same rules for adding a new Customer to the Queue.
• Remove the Specialty Store token from the station and replace it with one of your unused Department Store tokens.
• Claim the next stack of Upgrade Bonus tokens, if any remain.

Important: Only Specialty Stores located in a station with a Department Store (Sakura) icon (like Shibuya or Naka Meguro) can be upgraded to a Department Store.

Example: on the map, the Blue FOOD store in Shibuya can be upgraded to Department Store if Blue spends a Shibuya card and a FOOD Customer. However, the Green CLOTHING store cannot be upgraded because Ebisu does not permit Department Store upgrades. Only stations with a Sakura icon (like Shibuya or Naka Meguro) allow Department Store upgrades.

When upgrading, the Specialty Store token returns to your supply and may be used again on a future OPEN action. The Customer that is spent for the Department Store upgrade must be one that you have earned previously in the game (from a MOVE action).

Wildcards

A Wildcard can be used to match any Ward on the map whenever a card is required (for example, for OPEN, EXPAND, MOVE or UPGRADE actions). There are no explicit Wildcards in the deck, but there are three ways to create Wildcards: from the cards in your hand, from your Stores on the map, or from the current location of the Matsuri.

Wildcards from Cards. You can spend any 3 cards from your hand as a single Wildcard.

Wildcards from Stores. If you have a Store (Specialty or Department) on a station, the cards for the Ward containing that station become Wildcards for you.

Because the card frequency varies based on the population of that Ward, some cards work better as Wildcards (because you're more likely to draw them into your hand).

Wildcards from the Matsuri. Cards that match the current location of the Matsuri (festival) serve as Wildcards for you.

Endgame

When the last Customer is drawn from the bag, it is added to the Customer Queue as usual. Play continues until the last Customer from the Queue is placed on the map.

When the last Customer is placed on the map, the current player finishes their turn and then play continues until you reach the player with the Starting Player token. In this manner, all players take the same number of turns.

During these final turns, no new Customers will be placed on the map, but players will still draw a card from the Queue as usual.

Any Customers that would be added to the Customer Queue during these final turns (for example, from an UPGRADE action) are instead removed from the game.

Endgame Scoring

Customers are scored based on the sets collected:

• 10 pts for each set of 4 different Customers
• 6 pts for each set of 3 different Customers
• 3 pts for each set of 2 different Customers
• 1 pt for each remaining Customer

Customers marked with a "2" count as if they were separate 2 Customers.

When scoring, first construct as many 4-sets as possible, then create 3-sets from the remaining Customers, and then 2-sets. After creating as many 4/3/2 sets as possible, all leftover Customers are worth 1 point each.

Each Upgrade Bonus token acts as a wild Customer and can be used in place of any of the four Customer types.

Scoring Examples:

• 2 Upgrade Bonus tokens: 5 sets of 4 = 50 pts, 1 set of 3 = 6 pts, 1 set of 2 = 3 pts. Total = 59 pts.
• 5 Upgrade Bonus tokens: 5 sets of 4 = 50 pts, 1 set of 2 = 3 pts. Total = 53 pts.

Tie-breaking

If there is a tie for most points, then the tied player who was first to claim an Upgrade Bonus token is the winner.

Advanced Variant

Experienced players can increase the challenge by making the following rule adjustments:

• Remove the Matsuri
• Remove the Upgrade Bonus tokens

Sample Game Walkthrough

This section describes the first 7 turns of a sample 2-player game (Red vs. Blue) to demonstrate the various player actions.

Pre-Game Setup. The 11 Upgrade Bonus tokens are placed on the board to form stacks as shown. The "2" at the top indicates the total number of Customers in the Queue.

The cards are shuffled and the Customer Queue is initialized by drawing a card for each of the 4 slots and then adding 2 Customers. The first Customer (BOOKS) is placed on the first card (Minato). The next Customer (FOOD) goes on the next card because it doesn't match the first.

At this point, 4 cards need to be drawn to seed the board with an initial set of Customers (2 in each location drawn). To simplify this sample walkthrough, we will assume that these Customers are all placed in wards along the outer edge of the board (Ota, Nerima, Katsushika and Edogawa) so that we can ignore them.

And finally, a card is drawn to determine the initial location for the Matsuri. The Suginami card is drawn so the Matsuri token is placed there.

Each player now draws 4 cards into their hand:

• Blue draws Edogawa, Katsushika, Setagaya, Ota.
• Red draws Adachi, Shinagawa, Ota, Chiyoda.

Blue is chosen to go first, and claims the Starting Player token.

Turn 1 - Blue. Cards in hand: Edogawa, Katsushika, Setagaya, Ota.

Queue: Blue starts by adding Customers to the map from the Queue. They take the BOOKS Customer from the Minato card and place it in Minato. Blue then takes the Minato card into their hand.

The Queue is then refreshed by sliding the cards (and Customers) over, drawing a new card (Bunkyo) and then adding a Customer to replace the one placed on the map. Blue draws a FOOD Customer, which matches a Customer already in the Queue, so it is placed on the same card.

Matsuri: Blue updates the Matsuri by moving it from Suginami to Nerima.

Action 1: Blue would like to acquire the BOOKS Customer in Minato, so they discard their Minato card to OPEN a BOOKS Store in Shimbashi station. Note that Blue does not automatically gain the Customer just because there is a matching Store in the same ward. Blue will need to follow-up with a MOVE action to acquire the Customer.

Action 2: EXPAND track from Shimbashi station to Tokyo station.

After turn 1 is complete, the map is updated accordingly.

Turn 2 - Red. Cards in hand: Chiyoda, Adachi, Ota, Shinagawa.

Queue: Red takes the 2 FOOD Customers from the Queue and places them in Shinjuku, draws the Shinjuku card into their hand, and then refreshes the Queue. Because 2 Customers were placed on the map, 2 Customers need to be added to the Queue. They are added one at a time with the first (a double ELECTRONICS) going on Chuo and the second (FOOD) on Taito.

Matsuri: Red chooses to move the Matsuri from Nerima to Toshima.

Action 1: Discard the Shinjuku card to OPEN a FOOD Store in Shinjuku station.

Action 2: EXPAND track from Yotsuya station (in Shinjuku) to Tokyo station (in Chiyoda). Placing a single track like this doesn't cost a card, but Red would like to place 2 segments of track with this action. To do this, Red needs to pay a card that matches either end of the first track segment (Shinjuku or Chiyoda in this case). Red pays the Chiyoda card and adds a second track segment connecting Yotsuya to Shinjuku station.

Turn 3 - Blue. Cards in hand: Katsushika, Edogawa, Setagaya, Ota.

Queue: The ELECTRONICS Customer is placed in Chuo. Blue draws the Chuo card into their hand and refreshes the Queue by drawing another card (Chuo, again) and 1 Customer — a CLOTHING Customer that is placed on the Bunkyo card.

Matsuri: Moves from Toshima to Kita.

Action 1: Blue would like to acquire the BOOKS Customer in Minato, but does not have the Minato card that the MOVE action requires. Blue chooses to discard 3 cards from their hand as a wildcard to act as a Minato card. Blue decides to keep the Edogawa and Chuo cards in their hand and discards the other 3 cards.

This allows Blue to take the MOVE action in Minato: Blue takes all the Customers in Minato (only one in this case) and chooses a starting station (Shimbashi). There is a Store that matches the Customer, so the Customer is given to the Store owner. There are no more Customers to move, so the MOVE action ends.

Blue gains the BOOKS customer and places it behind their player screen.

Action 2: Blue has only 2 cards in hand, and takes the INCOME action to draw back up to 4 cards. Blue draws from the deck and gains a Chiyoda and Minato card.

Turn 4 - Red. Cards in hand: Adachi, Shinagawa, Ota.

Queue: Red places the FOOD Customer in Taito and draws the Taito card. The Queue is refreshed with a new card (Shibuya) and a new Customer (double BOOKS) placed on the Nakano card.

Matsuri: Moves from Kita to Adachi.

Action 1: Red discards the Taito card to OPEN a FOOD Store in Ueno station.

Action 2: Red wants to get the FOOD Customers in Shinjuku but doesn't have a matching card. Having moved the Matsuri into Adachi, Red can now use that card as a wildcard.

Red pays the Adachi card (as if it were Shinjuku) to MOVE the customers, starting in Shinjuku station. Both Customers match the Store, but each Store can only accept one Customer per MOVE action, so Red takes a single FOOD Customer. Red could continue moving the remaining Customer along track to another station, but the other Red FOOD Store is not connected so they cannot get both Customers this turn. Red decides to end the MOVE here and adds the remaining Customer to the ward of the last station visited (which happens to be the same as the starting ward).

Turn 5 - Blue. Cards in hand: Edogawa, Chuo, Chiyoda, Minato.

Queue: Blue adds the CLOTHING Customer to Bunkyo and takes the Bunkyo card. The Queue is refreshed with a new Customer (BOOKS) which is placed on the same card as the existing BOOKS Customer.

Matsuri: Moves from Adachi to Katsushika.

Action 1: Blue discards the Chiyoda card to OPEN a FOOD Store in Tokyo station.

Action 2: Because Blue has a Store in Minato, the Minato card in-hand can be used as a wildcard. Blue uses this Minato card (as if it were a Shinjuku card) to MOVE the remaining FOOD Customer out of Shinjuku. Blue chooses to start in Yotsuya station to bypass the Red FOOD Store in Shinjuku station. Blue crosses the Red track over to Tokyo station and then the Blue track down to Shimbashi where Blue claims the FOOD Customer.

Because Blue made use of Red's track, Red immediately gains an INCOME action and draws their hand back up to 4 cards. Since Red has 2 cards, they draw 2 new cards: Nerima and Setagaya.

Turn 6 - Red. Cards in hand: Ota, Shinagawa, Setagaya, Nerima.

Queue: Red places the 2 BOOKS Customers in Nakano and draws Nakano into their hand. The Queue is refreshed with 2 customers: CLOTHING and ELECTRONICS.

Matsuri: Moves from Katsushika to Sumida.

Action 1: Red wants to UPGRADE the Store in Shinjuku to a Department Store, but doesn't have a matching card. Red discards 3 cards (keeping Nakano and Nerima) from their hand to create a wildcard. The UPGRADE action also requires that Red sacrifice a Customer that matches the Store being upgraded (FOOD, in this case), so Red gives up the FOOD customer acquired on turn 4.

When upgrading to a Department Store, the old Store is returned to the player (so it can be used again). The player also takes the next available stack of Upgrade Bonus tokens (3 tokens, in this case). The Customer that is sacrificed for the UPGRADE is added to the Queue, increasing its size for the rest of the game. So Red places the FOOD customer on the Nakano card (because it doesn't match any of the existing Customers).

Action 2: EXPAND track from Shinjuku to Nakano.

Turn 7 - Blue. Cards in hand: Edogawa, Chuo, Bunkyo.

Queue: Blue places the CLOTHING Customer in Chuo and draws the Chuo card. The Queue is refreshed with 1 Customer — keeping the total Customers at 3.

Matsuri: Moves from Sumida to Edogawa.

Action 1: Blue discards a Chuo card to OPEN a CLOTHING Store in Hatchobori.

Action 2: Blue would like to MOVE the Customers from Nakano, and has a choice of 2 possible wildcards to use: either the Chuo card (because Blue now has a store there), or the Edogawa card (because the Matsuri is there). Blue decides to use Edogawa because once the Matsuri moves it will no longer be wild, whereas Chuo will remain wild as long as Blue has a store there.

Blue takes the Customers in Nakano and crosses the Red track over to Shinjuku station. Red has a Department Store here, which can match any Customer type, so Blue must give Red a Customer. Blue chooses to give the single BOOKS Customer. Blue continues across the track to Yotsuya, to Tokyo (where the Store doesn't match) and finally down to Shimbashi, where Blue claims the double BOOKS Customer.

Blue made use of Red track, so Red once again gains an INCOME action, drawing 2 cards into their hand.

After turn 7 is complete, the gameboard is updated accordingly.

Credits & Acknowledgements

Game Design: Gary Kacmarcik

Game Development: Adam Blinkinsop

Rulebook: Gary Kacmarcik

Rulebook Editing: Travis D. Hill and Donny Behne

Special thanks to all the early playtesters for their feedback and suggestions, especially Adam Blinkinsop; Jeff Bowden; Sverre Rabbelier; Adrian Kacmarcik; Ken Kuhn and Joshua Yanchar.