Skyline Rulebook

Table of Contents

Game Contents
Dice Faces
Game Goal
Game Setup
Game Round
Game Turn
Build
Game End
Game Scoring
Solo Player Rules
- Solo Levels
- Solo Scenarios
Sample Round
Credits

Game Contents

25 x Ground Floor Dice
28 x Upper Floor Dice
7 x Penthouse Dice
8 x Height 1 Buildings
20 x Height 2 Buildings
6 x Height 3 Buildings
18 x Height 4 Buildings
4 x Height 5 Buildings
4 x Height 6 Buildings
1 x Status board
1 x Status Marker

Dice Faces

Penthouse Dice: three blank faces, two blue penthouse-symbol faces, one orange penthouse-symbol face.

Upper Floor Dice: three purple building faces, three blue building faces (one of the blue faces is orange instead, showing a wider building).

Ground Floor Dice: three purple building faces, three blue building faces (one of the blue faces is orange instead, showing a wider building).

Game Goal

Build the best city skyline by grouping dice and constructing buildings in order to score the most points. Dice are rolled and placed in columns by type. Each column of dice represents a building. The taller the building, the more points it's worth. The more a player builds, the higher their score. The player with the best skyline wins!

Game Setup

Place the Status Board in the center of the play area. Place the Status Marker on the 1 space indicating that the first round is about to begin. Next, place all of the dice near the left side of the Status Board grouped into three piles by type: Ground Floor dice, Upper Floor dice, and Penthouse dice. Additionally, place all of the Building Tiles near these dice. This area is called the Construction Yard.

Next, take 3 dice from the Construction Yard, 1 of each type (Ground Floor, Upper Floor and Penthouse), to place near the right side of the Status Board. This area is called the Abandoned District.

The player who has most recently visited a high-rise building is the start player. Turns are clockwise from this player.

Beginning with this start player and proceeding clockwise, distribute 3 Ground Floor dice. Give the start player a High-Rise Ground Floor, the 2nd Player a Mid-Rise Ground Floor, and the 3rd Player a Low-Rise Ground Floor. The 4th Player does not receive any Ground Floor dice. These dice start the game as an already built part of a player's skyline. When playing with fewer than 3 players, put the excess dice back in the Construction Yard.

The game is ready to play.

Game Round

Every round, beginning with the start player and proceeding in clockwise order, each player takes 1 turn. The player whose turn it is, is known as the active player. After each player has been the active player once, the round is over. At the end of the round, move the Status Marker forward 1 space, and begin the next round with the start player again.

Game Turn

Each turn, the active player must complete all 4 of the following steps in order:

Take Dice - 2. Roll Dice - 3. Take Actions - 4. Roll Again?

1. Take Dice

The active player takes dice using one of the following two options. These will be the active dice this turn:

Any 3 dice chosen from the Construction Yard
All dice located at the Abandoned District

NOTE: If the Abandoned District is emptied, restock it with 3 dice (1 of each type) before the next turn begins.

2. Roll Dice

The active player rolls their active dice.

3. Take Actions

The active player must choose 1 or more active dice to resolve, using one of the following 3 actions:

Abandon: Move chosen dice to the Abandoned District
Build: Build chosen dice by starting new building(s) or expanding existing building(s) (See Build on page 4)
Demolish: Move chosen dice and one building from the active player's skyline to the Construction Yard (the existing building chosen may be a Building Tile or an entire column of dice)

4. Roll Again?

The active player must choose one of the following two options:

Continue: Roll any number of remaining active dice and repeat steps 3 & 4.
Resign: End the turn and move all remaining active dice to the Construction Yard

NOTE: If the active player has no more active dice to roll, they must resign during this step.

Build

When resolving dice using the Build action, the following requirements must be met:

Once a die is added to a skyline, it is no longer considered a part of a player's active dice and may never be changed.
Ground Floor dice can always be added to a player's skyline.
Upper Floor dice and Penthouse dice must be added to a column of the same type (Mid-Rise with Mid-Rise, High-Rise with High-Rise). If a player does not have a column of the desired type, then the Upper Floor or Penthouse dice cannot be added to their skyline.
Dice may never be inserted between two previously built dice.
A Low-Rise building is considered complete as soon as an Upper Floor die is built onto it (see below for details).
A Mid-Rise or High-Rise building is considered complete as soon as a Penthouse die is built onto it (see below for details).
When a building is complete, replace the dice with a Building Tile of the same height. Move replaced dice to the Construction Yard.
There is no limit to the number of buildings a player may have in their skyline.

The number of dice required to complete a building tile is represented by the black squares in the top right corner of the tile. A building requiring 4 dice (including Ground Floor and Penthouse) shows 4 filled squares.

Low-Rise Buildings

Must be made of dice with only Low-Rise sides showing
Maximum Height 2
Minimum Height 1
Does not need a Penthouse die to be complete

Mid-Rise Buildings

Must be made of dice with only Mid-Rise sides showing
Maximum Height 4
Minimum Height 2
Must have a Penthouse die to be complete

High-Rise Buildings

Must be made of dice with only High-Rise sides showing
Maximum Height 6
Minimum Height 3
Must have a Penthouse die to be complete

Game End

The game ends with one of the following two events:

The end of the 9th round
The end of the round in which a player has completed a building that is 6 dice high (which is only possible with a High-Rise building)

After this last round, each player counts their skyline's score. The player with the most points wins! If two or more players' scores are tied, the player among them with the most completed buildings wins.

Game Scoring

Each player scores their own skyline following these steps:

Replace any remaining Low-Rise dice with Building Tiles
Discard any remaining dice that are a part of incomplete buildings
Add the points (silver numbers) at the bottom of each Building Tile

Example: a skyline of seven completed buildings scoring 9, 1, 16, 16, 16, 4, and 1 points totals 83 points. An unfinished mid-rise building in the same skyline did not score.

Solo Player Rules

The standard rules are still valid except:

In a 1 Player game, when resolving dice, the Abandon action is not available. This means the Abandoned District will not be used at all in a solo game. Additionally, since there are no opponents, the solo player is challenging themself to achieve the best score. Here are some levels to gauge performance:

Solo Levels

40 Points = Project Manager
50 Points = Junior Architect
60 Points = Senior Architect
70 Points = Principal Architect
80 Points = Urban Planner
90 Points = Master Planner
100 Points = Urban Overseer

Solo Scenarios

Dubai: Finish with at least three Buildings of Height 3
Essen: Finish without using the "Demolish" action
New York: Finish with at least two Buildings of Height 5 or 6
Sao Paolo: Finish with at least four Buildings of Height 4
Shanghai: Finish with no Low-Rise Buildings built
Toronto: Finish with only 7 total Buildings built
Tucson: Finish with no High-Rise Buildings built

Sample Round

It is the beginning of the 3rd Round of a 3 player game. There are 3 dice at the Abandoned District.

Eileen's Skyline

Eileen is the start player. Her skyline looks like this (see "Before" image).

She chooses to take 3 Upper Floor dice from the Construction Yard.

She rolls them and gets: a High-Rise result, a High-Rise result, and a Mid-Rise result.

She likes her results and decides to Build all 3 dice.

Her skyline now looks like this (see "After" image).

She resigns. Her turn is over.

Tim's Skyline

Tim is the 2nd player. His skyline looks like this (see "Before" image).

He chooses to take 1 Ground Floor and 2 Mid Floor dice from the Construction Yard.

He rolls them and gets: a Mid-Rise result, a High-Rise result, and a Low-Rise result.

Since he is unable to build the High-Rise and the Low-Rise, he decides to Build the Mid-Rise.

He rerolls his two remaining active dice and gets: a Low-Rise result and a Low-Rise result.

He is unable to build either of those results, so he decides to Abandon.

He rerolls his one remaining active die and gets: a Mid-Rise result.

He Builds this. His skyline now looks like this (see "After" image).

He resigns. His turn is over.

David's Skyline

David is the 3rd player. His skyline looks like this (see "Before" image).

He chooses to take all dice from Abandoned District which includes 1 Ground Floor, 1 Penthouse and 2 Upper Floor and Dice.

He rolls them and gets: a Mid-Rise result, a Low-Rise result, a Low-Rise result, and a blank Penthouse result.

He Builds the Mid-Rise.

He rerolls his 3 remaining active dice and gets: a Low-Rise result, a Low-Rise result, and a Mid-Rise Penthouse result.

Since he cannot build the two Low-Rise results and does not want to build the Mid-Rise Penthouse, he decides to Demolish one of his Height 2 Building Tiles. He discards one Low-Rise die and one Height 2 Building Tile.

He decides not to reroll the Mid-Rise Penthouse, so he only rerolls his one other active die left and gets: a Mid-Rise result.

He Builds both the Mid-Rise die and the Mid-Rise Penthouse die.

He moves this 3 height Mid-Rise to the Construction Yard and replaces it with a Height 3 Building Tile. His skyline now looks like this (see "After" image).

He resigns. His turn is over.

NOTE: Restock the Abandoned District at this time.

Credits

Game Design: David Short

Artwork: Gavan Brown

Notable Playtesters: Eileen Short, Dennis Conners, Seth Jaffee, Rob Hoy, Matt Manis, Josh Martin