Sim City: The Card Game

Sim City: The Card Game Rulebook

Table of Contents

How to Play Sim City (Quick Overview)

This rulebook contains two parts. The first part will teach you how to play the game. It does not cover all the rules, but will give you what you need to play the game. The second part contains detailed rules governing the game. If you ever feel the detailed rules contradict what you learned from "how to play", use the detailed rules. In conflicts between these rules and the cards, the cards prevail. Some of the cards described or used in examples in these rules may not be in this starter deck, but are available in other starters and boosters.

Card diagram key (as printed):

Road
Power
Rail
Title
Background
Photo only
Specials Box
Stat Box
Value
Sims (Required or Provided) (printed as "Recquired" in the source)
Crime
Pollution
Complex designator
Complex Value

Background color shows the zone:

Grey: City Services
Blue: Commercial
Light Blue: Agricultural
Red: Governmental
Green: Undeveloped Land
Brown: Industrial
Gold: Special
Orange: Residential

Background color in the stat box shows the phase:

White: Settlement
Green: Village
Tan: City
Pink: Metropolis

In SimCity® The Card Game, players work cooperatively and competitively to build a city. The players play cards as blocks in the city and are paid for each new block added.

Playing the game is very simple. Each player, in turn:

draws a card
plays a card
scores the card

Play continues clockwise around the table until the game ends, when:

a player reaches $250,
the draw deck is exhausted and a player cannot play, or
the playing surface is full and a player cannot play.

The winner is the player who has the most money at the end of the game.

Before beginning play, select an area to play on. The area should be flat (tables work very well) and large enough to accommodate the city you plan to build. We recommend an area the size of a card table for this starter deck. Clear the space of extraneous stuff.

To begin play, remove the Mayor card from the deck and set it aside (see Politics in the Big City). If you have any long cards (from booster packs), separate them into their own deck (see Optional Rules). Shuffle the standard (shorter) cards and deal seven cards to each player. Place the remaining cards face down where they can be reached by all players. With more players and larger decks, you can split the deck into separate draw piles placed conveniently for any player to draw from.

Now determine who will start; we suggest you use one of the following ways:

the youngest player starts
the oldest player starts
the person who owns the deck starts
each player cuts a card and the player with the highest value card starts (for use in formal play)

Next, select one player to record each player's score on a piece of paper (which you need to supply). If you take a pack of money from another game (or get one separately from Mayfair), choose one player to be the banker; players can then keep track of their scores by being paid for each card played with the money. Players start with no money (score=0).

The first player starts the game by drawing a card, adding it to his or her hand, and choosing a card from the hand to play. Which card? At the beginning of the game, only cards which are settlement phase cards may be played.

Looking at a card: the stat box is the box whose background color indicates the first phase during which the card may be played. The only card which can be played now at the beginning of the game is one which has a white color in the stat box, indicating that it is a settlement phase card.

Additionally, you need to find out whether or not the card requires sims in order for it to be played. Again, look at some cards. Compare the second icon in the stat boxes on these 2 cards: the first symbol (the provides-sims symbol) indicates that the card provides sims (in fact, exactly 1 sim) and the second symbol (the requires-sims symbol) indicates that the card requires sims, that is, that 1 sim must be connected to it in order for it to be played. On this first play, since there are no cards to provide sims for any sim required card, the first card must be either a sim provided card or a zero sim required card (one that requires 0 sims).

After all this, the first player chooses from his hand 1 card, which is a settlement phase (white) card and which is not a sim required card. The player plays the card by placing it face up anywhere on the playing area and then scores it.

Once again, look at a card. The first icon is $, which identifies the basic value of a card (see page 2 - 3). The player playing the first card receives the value of the card (the amount following the $ icon) as his score for this play (and if you are playing with money, is paid this amount in cash). On later plays (and in a couple of rare cases, on the first play), the player will also receive one or more of five possible bonuses in addition to the value of the card. When the player has scored his card play and received the score, the player's turn is over.

Play continues clockwise around the table; after a player has finished his turn, the player to his left takes a turn.

The second player next takes a turn by drawing a card, adding it to his hand, and selecting a card to play. Every card played after the first one must be played so that either the long edge or the short edge of the card being played is aligned beside the like edge of a card already in the city and that the title bar of both cards read from the same direction.

The second player must also play a settlement phase card (you'll see why in a minute). However, if the first card played provided sims (had the provides-sims symbol), then the second player may have the option of playing a sim required card.

Look at these 2 cards. The card on the left provides sims (with the provides-sims symbol) and the card on the right requires sims (with the requires-sims symbol) for it to be played. By laying the right one next to the left, the left card provides sims to the card on the right, along the path of the road. The same would be true if both had rail, but not if one had rails and the other had road. Sims (the simulated citizens of our city) can travel across any number of cards by road or by rail, but not both. Without the sims being connected to the right-hand card, it could not have been played.

The sims on the left-hand card may travel to other cards to support their placement; the sims are not "used up" each time they travel to a newly placed sim required card. As your city grows, many sims become available to travel the roads and rails of your city; sims traveling either by road or by rail, but not some from each path, may be counted in placing a new sim required card. Except for the connections required to enable your sims to travel around your city for the placement of sim required cards (and for a few cards which have special connection requirements for placement, like the Gravel Supplier and the Lumber Mill), the roads, rails, or power lines (collectively called "services") do not ever have to link when placing the blocks in your city.

Now that the second player has played a card, it must be scored. First, the value of the card is scored. With this second card, the first (of five kinds of) bonus may be available, called the "Special Bonus". Look at these cards. Look at the Specials box on the card on the left. When the card on the right is played, in addition to its value of 3, it receives a bonus of 1 since it is "within 2 blocks" as required by this Specials box. Counting blocks is done at right angles, not diagonally; a card beneath the right-hand card is 2 blocks from the left-hand card.

Bonuses are cumulative, and a card will receive a bonus for every Special box for which it meets the requirements.

Many of the specials boxes have Add bonuses like: Add 1 to Residentials within 3 blocks. The Add means that this bonus only benefits another card played after the card with the bonus has been played; the card with the bonus never receives any benefit from an Add bonus. Also, to get the bonus, the card must be residential zone (orange), including non-house blocks like certain schools and churches, and must be located at a distance of 3 or fewer blocks from the card with the bonus. The bonus adds $1 to the amount otherwise payable on placing the card.

Contrast that to a Receive bonus like: Receive 1 for each Residential within 3 blocks, which benefits only the card just played and none other. The Receive bonus is computed when the card with the bonus is played and is added to the value of the card with the bonus (along with any other applicable bonuses) to yield its score. To compute this bonus, every block of residential zone (orange) within a distance of 3 blocks is identified and then counted; the bonus is the total count times $1. After the card with the Receive bonus is scored, the Receive bonus need no longer be considered.

After the city has grown large, it is common that a card will receive a confusingly large number of bonuses from many cards, some of which may be quite distant in the city; by slowly counting each special bonus and noting the bonuses that repeat for many subsequent cards (and with a growing familiarity with the game), the process of counting the special bonus will become easy.

The second player has completed his turn when the card play has been scored. The player to his left now takes a turn; this third player must also play a settlement phase (white) card and may play either a sim provided or a sim required card, depending on what cards have already been played and what cards he has in his hand. If, after drawing a card, a player does not have a card to play that meets these requirements (for example, none are settlement phase cards), he must pass, but does not discard. After completing his turn, either by passing or by scoring, the next player takes his turn. Play continues in this way until the end of the game, with a few high points along the way.

The first major change comes when the city has a house for each player in the game; the village phase then begins. To determine whether this phase change requirement has been met, count the number of blocks in the city with the provides-sims symbol; there must be one such card for each player in the game, with a minimum of four. After this threshold has been met, players may play cards of either settlement (white) or village (green) phase. Nothing else changes when the village phase starts.

Another high point is the scoring of zone bonuses. A zone is formed when you have four or more blocks of the same zone in a group. To receive a zone bonus, the zone must be composed of residential, commercial, industrial, or (with special restrictions) undeveloped land blocks, but may include city services blocks. To compute this bonus, count all the blocks in the zone, excluding the new card; the bonus is the total count times $1. Another group that can score you extra bonuses is the complex. For complete information on complexes and zones, read the detailed rules.

The most significant change comes as the village becomes a city. There are two parts of this phase change; the village must become a balanced community and then be powered by a power plant. The village becomes a balanced community when the number of blocks in the city with non-zero requires-sims value is two for each player in the game, with a minimum of eight. After this threshold has been met, players may play cards of settlement (white), village (green), or city (tan) phase. However, the first city (tan) card that may be played is a power plant. No other city phase cards may be played before a power plant, including event and politician cards.

In addition to being able to play city phase cards, players may now participate in the politics of a big city. The player who played the power plant is the first mayor. Players may now play Council Member cards as well as event cards. Players may also play cards on top of blocks by rezoning the existing blocks; such a play requires an affirmative vote by the city council. The particulars of all this are provided in the detailed rules, but for now the game can progress quite far without presenting any need to address these complexities of big city life.

When the city's population has grown greatly and the residential areas have become significant, the city becomes a metropolis and metropolis (pink) phase cards may be played. This phase shift requirement is somewhat complicated, so the detailed rules should be consulted for the particulars.

You now have the information you need to play SimCity® the Card Game. To learn about upgrades and the Governor, to answer any questions that remain, or to address particular requirements please consult the more detailed rules accompanying these introductory directions.

How to Play Sim City The Card Game (Detailed Rules)

Detailed Sequence of Play

Draw a card.
(Phases III and IV only). Buy a Council Member and draw to replace the card. Only one Council Member may be bought each turn.
Play a card or pass.
- Play a block or (during Phases III and IV) play an Event Card.
- If a player does not have any card that may be legally played, the player must pass; any player may pass at any time.
Score the play.

Some blocks allow players to play more than one card per turn. In such cases, each card is separately handled and scored, in the order played. There is no limit on the number of cards a player may hold. A player does not ever have to discard.

Beginning and Ending the Game

Every game requires a deck, composed of at least 50 standard cards. A second deck of long cards may optionally be used (see Customizing the Deck and Optional Rules).

The game ends at the end of the round in which one of the players reaches $250 (even if that player later loses money and goes below $250). The game ends immediately (not at the end of the round) if:

the playing surface is full and a player declares that he has no legal play, or
if the draw deck of standard cards is exhausted and either a player runs out of cards or has no legal play for any card in his hand.

A player declaring no legal play must expose his hand to evidence the fact. If that player has a legal play, the game continues with that player treated as having passed that turn. A card which may only be placed as the result of an affirmative rezoning vote is not counted as a legal play for this purpose. However, upgrades and rezones without a vote are considered legal plays for this purpose.

If from the impact of a card's special box a player may play more than one card in a turn, each card is separately handled and scored, in the order played. There is no limit on the number of cards a player may hold. A player does not ever have to discard.

Playing a Block

The first player to play may place the card anywhere on the table. All subsequent cards must be placed in the same orientation (with the title bar reading the same way) and adjacent to or on top of (as an upgrade or rezone) an existing block. A block may never be placed beneath an existing block.

The services (roads, rails, and power lines) on the new block do not have to connect to the corresponding services on adjacent blocks, unless required to meet the sim requirement for placement of the card or to satisfy an unusual requirement for placement of a particular card. Power lines, when present on a block, always connect to adjacent blocks with power lines both vertically and horizontally. Roads and rails, however, may connect only vertically, only horizontally, both ways, or not at all.

The specials box of a card may state a limitation on when or where a card may be placed. For example, some cards may be placed only to upgrade a particular card or adjacent to particular cards. Such limitations are usually phrased: "May only be played if...", "Must be played...", and so on. Cards satisfying the requirements for placing a card need not be maintained after such card has been placed in the city; removal (by event card, upgrade or rezone, or otherwise) of the card satisfying the placement requirements does not cause the removal of such card after it has been placed.

The service (road or rail) used to connect cards providing sims with a card requiring sims must be a continuous and homogenous (all rail or all road) route from each block providing the needed sims onto that service on the new card. The required sims can come from several different blocks, but must all use the same service (road or rail) to get to the new block. Sims will not "walk" from or across a block with no roads or rails to get to one with these services. Each sim may only be counted once, even if two or more routes can be traced to the new card. If a card playable in a complex requires sims but has no roads or rails to connect those sims to the card (like the Cracker Tower), then such card may only be placed adjacent to a card in the complex to which the requisite number of sims are connected.

Upgrades

A card may be played as an upgrade of a block already in the city by being placed on top of the prior block. The upgrade may be played during any phase and must satisfy all the following requirements:

The card being placed is the same zone as the prior block being upgraded.
The card being placed must preserve the services (roads, rails, and power lines) and equal or exceed the value on the prior block.
The card being placed must add services (roads, rails, or power lines) not on the existing block and/or must have a value greater than that of the prior block.
The block being upgraded is not zoned special (gold).
If the block being upgraded is zoned undeveloped land (green), the card being placed must be of the same type of land as that of the prior card, usually indicated by the same or similar card title. Thus, a Forest (including Forest Preserve) may be placed on a Forest, a Mountain on a Mountain, a Barren on a Barren (but not on a Plains), etc. All water-related cards are of the same type, including River, Lake, Coastline (all types), Swamp, Pond, Marsh, Bridge, and Island.
The placement is a legal card play in all other respects.

Upgraded blocks remain on the playing surface, but play no further role in the game, unless the cards specifically state otherwise or the impact of an event card uncovers undeveloped land. For example, the Oil Pipeline remains buried beneath whatever structure is built on the block by upgrade or rezone and continues to be included in the oil refinery complex (but no longer counts as an undeveloped land card for zoning purposes). To keep track of the Oil Pipeline cards after they have been upgraded, put tokens (like glass beads or coins) on the upgraded cards.

Rezoning

When a player seeks to cover a card in the city with one that has a smaller value, that reduces the services provided, that changes the zoning of the block (from residential to commercial, commercial to city services, etc.), or that otherwise does not meet the requirements for an upgrade, that action is called a rezone and may be legally made only if:

an affirmative rezoning vote is made by the city council (which is not possible before the council forms at the beginning of the city phase (phase III)), or
the prior card specifically states that it can be rezoned without a vote (like a Pasture) or the new card states that it can be used to rezone a block without a vote (like Bed & Breakfast).

Rezoned blocks remain on the playing area but play no further role in the game, unless the cards specifically state otherwise or the impact of an event card uncovers undeveloped land.

A city council vote is taken as follows: voting starts with the player proposing the placement and proceeds clockwise around the table. Each player reports the votes of the council members that he controls, followed by the mayor's votes and the mayor's tie-breaker, if required. A player may decline to report any or all of the votes of his council members, except for that of a corrupt council member voting as directed by its card. A simple majority is sufficient to rezone city block. In the case of a tie vote, the mayor can break the tie; if the tie is not broken, the rezoning vote fails. If the rezoning vote passes, the proposed placement is made and scored. If the rezoning vote fails, the card proposed for placement is returned to the player's hand and the player's turn ends (unless the player may play a second card in a turn). See Politics in the Big City.

Occasionally the syntax of the specials box on the cards (particularly certain long cards) has been imprecisely stated, so that a play is required to be made as an upgrade or a rezone which cannot be properly made as such or is so difficult to undertake as to make the play practically impossible. Players are enjoined to treat such cases with good sportsmanship, to play such cards with the apparent intent of the designers, and to bring problems to the attention of the publisher.

Game Phases

The phases of the game represent the stages of a city's growth: settlement, village, city, and metropolis. The transition requirements between each are described below.

Phase Transition Requirements:

Settlement to Village: When the number of blocks in the city providing sims (with the provides-sims symbol) equals the number of players in the game (minimum of 4), the Village phase begins.
Village to City: When the number of blocks requiring sims (with non-zero value in the requires-sims position) equals 2 per player (minimum of 8), the Village becomes a City. The first city phase (phase III, tan) card that can be played in the City must be a Power Plant; no other city or metropolis phase card may be played before a Power Plant. The player placing this Power Plant becomes the Mayor and receives the Mayor card (see Politics in the Big City). Neither Event nor Council Member cards may be played until a Power Plant has been played.
City to Metropolis: When the total number of sims in the city (figured by adding the number following the provides-sims symbol on all the cards in the city) exceeds:
- 10 times the number of players in the game (minimum of 40), reduced by
- the value of the zone bonus of the largest residential zone in the city
the city becomes a metropolis.

Once a phase has been reached, the city never retreats to an earlier phase, even if the city no longer meets the requirement for that phase (from the impact of an event card, for example).

Scoring

Each time a card is played, the player playing the card (and occasionally another player, as the result of the specials box of certain cards) receives a score for the placement of the card. The score is the sum of five possible sources:

The value of the card, indicated in the stat box after the $ symbol.
Bonuses based on the specials box of the card placed and on the specials boxes of the cards in the city before the card was placed.
A zone bonus for an addition to a zone.
A complex bonus for an addition to a complex.
A scorched earth bonus of $5 for placing a card in an open space previously destroyed by an event card (indicated by overturned cards).

The cards "speak for themselves". That is, a player's score does not depend on his being able to accurately figure it; the score is the best, accurate score for the play. The score is final after the next player has drawn a card in the normal course of play.

During the game no players' total score can go below zero. If any required payment would reduce a player's score below zero, the player's score is reduced to zero. The score for the placement of a block can be negative, but may not reduce a player's score below zero. A Council Member may not be played if its cost would reduce the player's score below zero.

Zone Bonus

When a block is added to a zone, it may be eligible for a zone bonus. A zone is a group of cards which are all of the same zone and which are continuous (that is, each card in the zone is adjacent to another card in the zone and all of them are part of a single group (no missing links)). The bonus is not payable until the zone consists of at least three blocks (before the block being scored). The bonus is $1 for each block in the zone before the block was placed in the city; no bonus is paid for the card just placed.

A zone bonus is available if the zone is residential (orange), commercial (blue), or industrial (brown); a zone bonus is not available for governmental (red), agricultural (light blue), or special (gold) zones, unless specifically provided by a card in play.
A zone bonus is also available if the zone is undeveloped land (green) and the card being placed is of the same type of land as that of the cards composing the zone, usually indicated by the same or similar card title. Undeveloped land zones may be composed of Forests (including Forest Preserves), Mountains, Barrens (but not including Plains), etc. All water-related cards are of the same type, including River, Lake, Coastline (all types), Swamp, Marsh, Pond, Bridge, and Island.
A zone bonus is not available if the zone is only city services (gray). A city services card may not receive a zone bonus on its own placement. However, a city services card which is adjacent to a card in a zone acts as a "wild card". As such, the city service card is treated as being the same zone (and the same type for undeveloped land) as the adjacent card. The city services card acts this way whenever the zone is counted for the bonus, is counted for the three minimum size for the bonus, is considered in determining continuity, and so on. The city service card may be treated as two or more different zones in counting the bonus for a single card. Three city services cards together do act as an "instant zone" payable on the placement of any residential, commercial, industrial, or undeveloped land card adjacent to one of the three cards.

Complex Bonus

A complex is a related group of cards all of which have the same complex designator (the italicized first words in the special box) and which are continuous (that is, each card in the complex is adjacent to another in the complex and all of them are part of a single group (no missing links)). The bonus is not payable until the complex consists of at least three blocks (before the block being scored). The blocks may be of different zones.

The number following the complex designator is the card's complex bonus. The complex bonus payable is the sum of the complex bonus of each block in the complex before the block was placed in the city, including those that are remote members of the complex; the complex bonus of the card just placed is not included in the sum.

A card may add to the value of a complex but remain remote from the complex group (and not be part of the continuous group) as a consequence of its specials box. For example, a Grain Elevator's specials box provides: Farm 4, if within 7 blocks of Farm Complex. If the Grain Elevator is within 7 blocks of any block in the farm complex, the card is treated as part of the complex for computing the complex bonus but not as an extension of the area of the complex for later played cards. Blocks played adjacent to a remote block (like the Grain Elevator) do not become part of the complex. Remote members of a complex count toward the three minimum for the bonus to become payable.
A city services block is not included in a complex unless it has the complex designator in its specials box.
Some blocks require certain conditions be met for them to be included as part of a complex. For example, the Field card's specials box provides: Farm 1, if Complex provides 1 Sim. The Field may be included in a farm complex only if the farm complex includes a card (like a Farmhouse) that provides one or more sims. The sims do not need to be connected to any other card on the zone for this requirement to be met. Thus, four Fields would not be a farm complex, but one Farmhouse and three Fields would be.

Politics in the Big City

No real city can exist without politicians and the problems that they are elected to handle, and this simulated city has many of both:

The Mayor is not shuffled into the deck but is given to the player who holds the office of mayor. The player who places the Power Plant as the first card of the city phase (phase III) becomes the first mayor and receives the Mayor card. The mayor has two votes in city council votes (in addition to any for Council Members controlled by the player) and breaks ties.
The Governor and City Council Chairman are also not shuffled into the deck and are used in conjunction with the Election event card. Because they are not shuffled into the deck, you should use another card or token in their place if you are missing one or both of them.
Each Council Member card grants one or more votes to the player who controls it. During Phases III and IV and before playing a card, a player may buy one Council Member card by paying the amount on the card (to cover campaign cost of the politician). The card is placed in front of the player, not as part of the city, and another card is immediately drawn to replace it. A player, including the mayor, may control one or more council members. A Corrupt Council Member may vote on all questions before the council but must vote as required by its card.

Event Cards

Cities are subject to random events both good and disastrous, reflected by the event cards which simulate these disasters, situations, and special events. Each event card describes the event and details the resulting effects and costs. Disasters can damage or destroy part of the city and often require the Mayor to pay for repairs. After a player has played an event card and its effects determined, the event card is discarded and has no further impact on the game.

When a block is destroyed by a disaster, all cards (other than undeveloped land (green)) at that position are turned upside-down to indicate that the block has been destroyed. When no Undeveloped Land remains after a disaster, the position is now eligible for a scorched earth bonus (see Scoring). When a block is destroyed, the block's value is the card value of the top card in the position of the block; bonuses are not added to the value of the destroyed block.

The Mayor and Civic Responsibility

With power comes responsibility, and the mayor must pay the cost associated with many events. If the mayor has insufficient funds to pay the cost, the player's score is reduced to zero and the office of mayor becomes vacant. The mayor may choose to voluntarily vacate the office and pay half the cost (rounded up); the mayor may choose to play such an event to precipitate this action. An event which does not require the mayor (specifically, not merely the player currently acting as mayor) to pay for the event will not cause the office of mayor to become vacant.

Some events (such as Fire!) damage the city over a series of turns, rather than all at once. The cost of the damage inflicted each turn must be paid by the mayor that turn; the mayor may pay half and vacate the office. Consequently, the cost for some disasters may be spread over several players as the office of mayor goes around the table (a "mayor-go-round"). Whenever the office of mayor is vacant, a new mayor must be elected. Beginning with the player to the left of the out-going mayor, players in turn buy and cast votes for the office at $1 per vote. The players must pay for all votes purchased, regardless of the outcome of the election. More than one vote may be purchased (and cast) on a player's turn. Votes may be cast for any player, not just the purchaser. The process of purchasing votes, casting them, and accumulating the results continues until all have passed, when the player with the most votes wins and receives the Mayor card. The player who vacated the office may purchase votes and may be re-elected. If no one buys any votes, the office (and Mayor card) passes to the player to the left of the out-going mayor.

Election of Governor & City Council Chairman

When the Election event card is played, a governor and a city council chairman are elected.

The governor is elected by the players. Each player has one vote in the election of the governor and may buy extra votes for $5 each. The players must pay for all votes purchased, regardless of the outcome of the election. Votes need not be cast for the player purchasing the vote. The player receiving the most votes is elected governor and receives the Governor card. If no one receives any votes, the office of governor remains vacant. If two or more players tie, they share the office.

A player elected governor has obtained no advantage. On the contrary, the governor must pay the entire cost of the next event which would otherwise be paid by the mayor. The governor must pay the entire amount and may not choose to pay half. If the governor's office is shared, the cost of the event is shared equally among those holding the office. After one such event, the burden of subsequent events returns to the mayor until the next Election card is played and election held.

The city council chairman is elected by the Council Members. Each Council Member gets one vote, and the Mayor gets two votes and breaks any tie. Additional votes may be bought for $5 each. The players must pay for all votes purchased, regardless of the outcome of the election. The player receiving the most votes is elected city council chairman and receives the City Council Chairman card. If no one receives any votes, the office of city council chairman remains vacant.

The city council chairman is granted 1 vote and breaks ties on all city council votes. Thereafter, the mayor continues to have two votes, but no longer breaks ties (even in later elections for city council chairman).

Agreements, Deals, Bribes, Blackmail & Bounties

Just as in real politics, agreements, deals, bribes, blackmail and bounties can be an important aspect of the game. By agreement, players may choose to place mountains in the north, farms to the west, and homes in the center, leaving the south and east for commerce and industry in the later phases of the game. These early agreements will give your city structure and should help all players' earnings.

After the city council forms, players may make deals with each other to support each others' rezoning requests. Players may offer bribes to get particularly valuable blocks rezoned. Blackmail may also become a valuable tool (with threats of destructive events playable from your hand). The mayor (and any other player) may offer a bounty to players who place cards that provide protection from certain events or bonuses for subsequent cards played.

In contrast to real politics, some rules must be followed regarding the agreements between players:

There is no penalty under the rules for a player failing to honor his part of an agreement; players may have their own responses nevertheless (hopefully limited to the context of the game).
Agreements must be used to improve your chances of winning. It is bad sportsmanship (and illegal in formal play) to use deals to funnel money to another player iorder to throw the game.
Agreements may be discussed at any time but must not delay the game.
Deals cannot include the exchange of cards.
If money is involved, it cannot exceed the amount that the expected play will generate.

Notes on certain cards

Unfortunately, the text on some cards already printed is missing or unclear. These notes are intended to correct these problem cards and thus, DO supersede what is printed on these cards.

Guardhouse is treated as a Police Station for all purposes, including the limitation on New Coverage Only for both the Guardhouse and Police Stations.
Nuclear Power Plant is limited in its bonus to New Coverage Only, even though the special box does not explicitly limit the bonus in this way.
Pipeline: an upgraded or rezoned Oil Pipeline is counted in an Oil Refinery complex as if it were still a visible card in the city, but is not an undeveloped land for purposes of determining its inclusion in a zone, the placement requirements of a later-placed card, or otherwise. An Oil Pipeline may not be placed under an existing block.
Rapid Transit Station permits sims to transfer between roads and rails when determining the number of sims available to meet the sim requirement for the placement of a card. More simply, consider the Rapid Transit Station to be a sim provider for the total sims connected to the station by road and by rail. Sims traveling to a block from the Rapid Transit Station must travel via the same path (road or rail) as that used by those sims not traveling via the Rapid Transit Station. Unless specifically stated, the RTS cannot be used to connect two cards for any other purpose.

Glossary

In this glossary, the number symbol has been substituted for the number actually found on the cards. If any question arises from this generalization in a specific situation, simply replace the # symbol with the number from the card in question.

Add # is a special bonus payable in the amount of # to the player of a card that:

Meets the requirements for the bonus, as stated in the specials box, and
Is played after the card with the Add bonus.

The Add bonus may be paid many times, as often as the requirements for the bonus are met by the play of a card. If more than one of a particular card is in a city (for example, three Police Stations) and a particular, newly placed card meets the requirements for the bonus from all prior such cards, then the player of the card receives all applicable bonuses (unless a card specifically states otherwise).

Adjacent: A card is adjacent to another card if it shares a common edge with that other card. Cards which touch only at the corner (on the diagonal) are 2 blocks distant and are not adjacent.

Block: A card.

Connected: A card is connected by road, rail, or power line to another card if a continuous path can be traced by road, rail, or power line (as indicated on the card) from one card to the other; there can be no breaks in the path and the path must be homogenous (all road, all rail, or all power line).

Coverage Range is the basis for determining whether a card is covered by a Fire Station or a Police Station. A card's coverage range is stated in its specials box. See Crime Factor.

Crime Factor is the number that defines the crime potential of the block and is primarily used to determine whether the block is within the coverage range of a Police Station (or Guardhouse). To determine whether a card is covered, first count the distance from the card to the Police Station. If the crime symbol is black add its crime factor to the distance; if the crime symbol is blue, subtract its crime factor from the distance. The block is covered if the result is less than or equal to the Police Station's coverage range (stated in the Police Station's specials box). The crime factors of intervening blocks do not affect the determination of a block's coverage.

Deduct # is a special reduction in the amount of # from the amount otherwise payable to the player of a card that:

Meets the requirements for the deduction, as stated in the specials box, and
Is played after the card with the Deduct reduction.

This reduction is the opposite of the Add bonus and may be applied many times, as often as the requirements for the reduction are met.

New Coverage Only: Certain cards including Power Plant, Telephone Company, Police Station, and Fire Department, have receive bonuses limited to New Coverage Only. Players placing such cards receive the bonus only for coverage of blocks which had not been covered by a provider of such service immediately prior to the placement of the new block. Blocks which had previously been covered by a provider which is no longer in play (due to rezoning, disaster, or otherwise) may be counted as new coverage. Upgrading or rezoning one of these providers by another of the same type does not usually yield new coverage. For example, rezoning a Power Plant with a Power Plant will not yield new coverage; however, upgrading a Guardhouse with a Police Station usually yields new coverage since the coverage area for the Police Station is larger than that of the Guardhouse.

Limit of # means that only # of such cards may be placed within the scope of the limitation. If one such card is subsequently removed from play, another card may be played within the limitation.

Lose # is a special deduction in the amount of # from the player playing the card; it is the opposite of receive #. For example, Lose 3 if city has no Police Station subtracts $3 from the amount otherwise payable for the placement of the card, but only if the city had no police stations. The lose deduction is subtracted only once, when the card is played, and not at any other time.

Pollution Factor is the number that rates how the block contributes to the city's pollution problem; the number adds to the pollution problem if the symbol is black and subtracts from the problem if the symbol is blue. The pollution value is primarily used in determining the impact of certain event cards.

Receive # is a special bonus payable in the amount of # to the player playing the card. For example, Receive 2 if placed adjacent to a Lake adds $2 to the amount otherwise payable for the placement of the card, but only if the card had been placed adjacent to a Lake. The receive bonus is paid only once, when the card is played, and not at any other time.

Remove a card from the city requires the player (who next takes a turn after the condition prompting the card's removal is satisfied) to take the card from the city and discard it. A card that will be removed immediately (within the current position of the cards in a particular city) may nevertheless be played; it would then be removed on the next player's turn. For example, a Country Schoolhouse (which must be removed when a Grade School or High School is played in the city) may be played after a Grade School or High School is in the city, but would be removed when a Grade School or High School were again played.

Rezone a card is done by a player as one of the ways to play a card in the city, see Rezoning.

Sims are the simulated citizens who live and work in the city, travel its roads and rails from home to work, and frequent the shops in the city.

Turn:

In determining how long something lasts which is measured in turns, one turn continues from the moment a card has been played by a player until the end of that player's next turn to play (in the ordinary course of play and absent the impact of other cards). For example, when George plays the Winter Event card which provides: No cards may be placed adjacent to Lake or River for the next 3 turns..., no player may place such cards until after the end of George's third turn following playing of the card.
In following a card's instructions to move or remove one card each turn (or any similar instruction), one card is moved or removed during the turn of each subsequent player, not just on the turn of the player who played the card. The card may be moved or removed at any time during a player's turn.

Within # blocks: In counting the distance from one block to another, the count begins with 1 for a block adjacent to the card being played and continues 1 block at a time, turning at right angles (and not on the diagonal) along the shortest path to the block in question. Cards which touch only at the corner (on the diagonal) are 2 blocks distant and are not adjacent. Unless the specials box otherwise requires, road and rail connections are ignored. When counting through holes (places where no card has yet been played or where a disaster has destroyed all cards), allow for the number of standard blocks that would fit in the space.

Other Ways to Play

Alternative Endings

Players may choose to play to greater or lesser amounts, to a time limit instead of an earnings limit, to the end of the deck, until the table is covered, or to any other rule agreed to by all the players before the beginning of the game.

Long Cards

The booster packs contain special, long cards which can be used to build cities featuring the very large buildings and areas characteristic of great, metropolitan cities (as well as some very special places). When you play with these cards, these special rules apply:

A separate deck must be assembled from your collection of long cards. As you pick cards for this deck, pay special attention to any requirements for their placement, to insure that any prerequisites can be met with the cards included in the standard and long card decks that you are playing with.
At the beginning of the game, shuffle the deck and place it next to the standard card deck. A long card may be drawn in place of a standard card during later phases of the game. The first phase during which cards can be drawn from the long card deck is the phase before the earliest phase appearing on the long cards being used. Presently, all long cards are Phase IV (metropolis, pink) and the first phase during which they may be drawn is the city phase (phase III).
Long cards are played differently than standard cards; they must be placed over two existing city blocks, in the same orientation as the underlying cards and over the middle so that services can be seen. The services on the underlying cards define the services available to the long card. Long cards count as a single block and completely replace the stat and specials boxes of the underlying cards, unless either card specifically provides otherwise (such as Oil Pipeline).
In tracing sims to a long card, the sims must be traced to either of the standard cards on which the long card is being played.
Because long cards count as single blocks, they can shorten the horizontal distance between blocks when counting blocks in the city.
Since long cards have no services, they may automatically upgrade two blocks if:
1. the value on the long card exceeds the sum the values on the two blocks it upgrades,
2. the long card is the same zone (not special (gold)) as both of the two cards, and
3. nothing on any of the three cards specifically prohibits the upgrade.

Combat Play (Dueling Suburbs)

In this variant, each player takes the role of a suburban mayor. Gone is the need to slowly grow a well-balanced city for the good of the sims of the city. Now, you must outgrow your rival mayor for maximum economic return. In this variant, all rules apply except (and these are very significant):

Each player plays from his own deck into his own city. As the cities grow close together, no further cards may be played which would overlap a card in the other player's city.
Phase changes are ignored; each city begins in Phase III and can not advance to Phase IV. Long cards are not used.
There is no city council. Cards may be placed as rezones only when the card specifically permits the rezone without a vote.
Event cards can be played to affect either the player's own city or the opponent's city.
Certain cards have been included in the mix of cards to enable uncivilized activities commonly undertaken by unscrupulous mayors in furtherance of their plans and may be included in players' decks for special, offensive activities. In the case of InterCity Station and InterCity Highway, players may place cards in their opponent's city in vacant spaces adjacent to existing blocks in addition to the ability stated on the card to upgrade cards in an opponent's city; any such block placement must be legal in all other respects. Identify cards played in the other player's city with a marker (like a glass pebble).

As players gain experience with this style of play, certain new cards and/or changes to existing cards may appear desirable; if these are communicated to Mayfair together with any rules questions particular to this style of play, we will endeavor to post and/or otherwise share this information with other players who enjoy this style of play.

Solitaire

In this variant, a single player tries to maximize the score achieved from a play deck. Cards are played as in the standard game, but the player's hand is limited to seven cards. If there is no legal play, the eighth card must be discarded. Also, the top card on the discard pile may be drawn in lieu of drawing from the regular draw pile. The object of the game is to score the maximum amount possible for the deck.

We recommend that a relatively small, well-balanced deck be used in this variant. Players may share the composition of their favorite solitaire decks and the maximum scores attained with Mayfair, and we will endeavor to post and/or otherwise share this information with other players who enjoy this style of play.

Customizing Your Deck

SimCity® The Card Game is a collectable card game with over 600 different cards now available and more coming all the time. Players can acquire cards by buying starter and booster packs, by collecting promotional cards from anyone having them, and by trading cards with other players and collectors.

Not every card is produced in the same quantity as the others; consequently, some are rarer and more collectable than others. The cards in the 120-card, city-specific starter packs (and related special products) are not randomly sorted, but are preset; each city-specific deck has the same cards as every other deck for the same city (but different cities have different cards!). The cards in the limited edition, 60-card starter pack and the booster packs are randomly selected from over 500 different cards; each pack contains a different selection of cards. Every promo card is unique and does not duplicate any card in any commercially available pack.

Ordinarily, a player can acquire several packs and use the cards to personalize his decks. The great variety of cards enables players to pick a city to build, to model that city using cards in their collection, and to customize it according to their own vision for that city. For example, the deck could be designed to produce a great seaport (like Seattle), a large industrial center (like Cleveland), a quiet university town (like State College), and so on.

After deciding on a theme for the city, the player should anticipate the number of players that will be playing; about 25-30 cards per player is recommended in the deck. Next, cards necessary for smooth phase transitions need to be included:

3 Settlement (white) phase, sims-provided cards for each player in the game (12 minimum).
4 Settlement or Village (white or green) phase, sims-required (non-zero requires-sims value) cards for each player in the game (16 minimum).
Cards totaling 10 sims for each player in the game (40 minimum).
1 Power Plant per player; be sure to be sensitive to the placement requirements for certain cards (for example, hydroplants need to be next to rivers or lakes).

For ease of play, at least 30% of the deck should be settlement (white) cards, so that the game begins smoothly (unless of course you intend to build a deck that begins slowly).

Finally, the combinations of cards in the deck should be considered so that prerequisites for card placement, add and receive bonuses, and complex building can be met. For example, the Grade School card can only receive a 15 point bonus if the Preschool, Kindergarten, High School, and College are in the city, so at least one of each needs to be in the deck before they can be in play! Also, cards that work together need to be in the deck; for example, the Gravel Supplier may only be placed if it can be connected to a Mountain by rail, and so a deck with a Gravel Supplier should have several Mountains with rails.