Solar City Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Game Setup
• Key Concepts
  • Building cards & tiles
  • Public Structures
• E-Coins and Solar Points
• Game Structure
  • Player turn
  • Taking a loan
• Build a Skyscraper
  • City Activation
  • Activation markers
• Build a Public Structure
• Upgrading to a SkyGarden
• End of a Round
• End of the Game
  • Final scoring

Components

• 1 Main board
• 4 City boards
• 108 double-sided Building tiles – 12 types with 9 copies of each type (top side - Skyscraper / bottom side - SkyGarden)
• 18 Public Structure tiles – 9 types with 2 copies of each type
• 80 E-coin tokens with different values:
  • 36 tokens with value 1
  • 20 tokens with value 3
  • 14 tokens with value 6
  • 10 tokens with value 12
• 60 Solar Points tokens with different values:
  • 30 tokens with value 1
  • 18 tokens with value 3
  • 12 tokens with value 6
• 10 Loan tokens
• 12 Building cards
• 32 Activation markers (discs - depends of the version red/blue/green/black)
• 4 Skyscraper markers (black cubes)
• 4 SkyGarden markers (green cubes)
• 1 Round marker (disc - depends of the version red/blue/green/black)
• Rule book

Game Setup

1. Each player receives:

   • 1 City board
   • 1 Skyscraper marker
   • 1 SkyGarden marker
   • 8 Activation markers
   1. Each player places their City board in front of themselves.
   2. Each player places their Skyscraper marker on the bottom space of their Skyscraper track, and their SkyGarden marker on the bottom space of their SkyGarden track.
   3. Each player places their Activation markers next to their City boards.

   Note: If a game with fewer than 4 players, place all the remaining markers and City boards back inside the game box.

2. Place the Main board in the middle of the playing area and place the Round marker on the first space of the round tracker.

3. Place all of the E-coins, Solar Points, and Loan tokens in a general supply near the Main board.

4. Take the Building cards and shuffle them. Then, deal 6 of them out at random and place them in a row next to each other. Re-arrange the cards so that they are in descending order of value from left to right, with the highest value card on the left. If two or more cards have the same value, the relative order of those cards should be in the order that they were dealt out. Place the remaining Building cards back into the box.

   Note: The value of a Building card is shown by the number of pips in the middle of the card.

5. Take the Building tiles corresponding to the Building cards that were dealt out and separate them into 6 sets based on the Building name. Depending on the number of players in the game, count out a certain number of tiles from each set according to the table below:

   Number of players	2	3	4
   Number of tiles to use from each set	5	7	9 (all)

   Place these tiles in their sets above the cards with Skyscraper sides up (showing the Skyscraper icon). Put the remaining tiles back into the box, they will not be used in this game.

6. Create 3 piles by mixing the Building tiles from two different tile sets together (Pile 1 mixes two sets, Pile 2 mixes two more, Pile 3 mixes the remaining two). Shuffle each pile of Building tiles separately, ensuring that the tiles do not flip over when shuffling, and place them above the Main board into the appropriate slots. It doesn't matter which pile is placed into which slot.

   Note: When you are learning Solar City, we recommend leaving the Building cards in the play area, so everyone can see them. However, once you are experienced with the game, the Building tiles themselves should be enough, so the Building cards may be placed back into the box at this point.

You are now ready to start the game.

Key Concepts

The City board represents an urbanized part of the city ready to be used for construction. The biggest part of the board in center is the City itself - a square grid containing 16 smaller spaces, where the players will be constructing Skyscrapers, which can be turned into SkyGardens, and Public Structures. Each City board is divided into rows (1 - 4) and columns (A - D) so each space have its own unique code. For example space 3A.

• Empty space: A City space, that doesn't contain any tile (Skyscraper, SkyGarden, or Public Structure). Each empty space on your City board at the end of the game loses you 1 Solar Point.

  Note: A space containing tokens or markers but without a tile is still considered empty.

• Occupied space: A City space that contain any tile (Skyscraper, SkyGarden, or Public Structure).

• Adjacent - Spaces and tiles are considered adjacent only orthogonally (vertically and horizontally).

Building cards & tiles

1. Name: The type of building.
2. Value icon: Used only during the setup of the game.
3. Set icon: Identifies whether this card is from the Base game or an expansion.
4. Activation effect: What happens when the Skyscraper is activated.
5. Upgrade effect: A one-time bonus when you upgrade to a SkyGarden.

Public Structures

1. Name: The type of Public Structure.
2. Effect: The benefit of this tile once you have built it.

A list of every Building tile and Public Structure tile along with their effects can be found at the back of this rule book.

E-Coins and Solar Points

Whenever you are instructed to gain E-coins or Solar Points, take tokens of that type and equal value from the general supply and place those next to your City boards in their resources pool.

When you need to spend or lose E-coins or Solar Points, move the required amount of tokens of that type from your resource pool to the general supply.

You may exchange your E-coins and Solar Points tokens for ones of the same total value at any time.

E-coins and Solar Points are not limited by the number of components. In the rare case that there are not enough, use something else as a replacement.

Game Structure

Solar City is played over a series of rounds, with each round divided into individual player turns.

Beginning with the starting player and continuing in clockwise order, each player takes a turn. In most cases, on one player's turn, all players will place one of their own Activation markers into a slot on their City board. A round ends once the last Activation slot is filled.

The game is played until either a certain number of rounds are played or one City board has been filled up. More details on the end of the game can be found later in this rule book.

Player turn

On your turn, you must perform one of three possible actions:

• Build a Skyscraper
• Build a Public Structure
• Upgrade a Skyscraper into a SkyGarden

You cannot skip your turn, and in most cases you will need to spend E-coins to perform an action. If you do not have enough E-coins to perform the action you want to, you must first take a loan and then perform an action.

Taking a loan

You may take one or more loans at any time during the game if you do not have enough money to pay for the action that you want to do or you need to pay a cost and you don't have enough.

For each loan you take, gain 3 E-coins and take 1 Loan token. You can pay back your loans at any time by paying 6 E-coins and returning the Loan token. Each unpaid loan at the end of the game loses you 1 Solar Point.

Example: Mandy wants to perform an action of Building a Skyscraper, she needs 4 E-coins. She doesn't have any E-coins, so she takes 2 loans and gain 6 E-coins from the general supply. If she fails to pay these loans back by the end of the game (requiring a total of 12 E-coins), she will lose 2 Solar Points.

Build a Skyscraper

This action allows you to build a new Skyscraper in your Cities. To perform this action, do following steps in this order:

1. Choose a Skyscraper and a place to build it

   Choose one of the Skyscrapers which is available to be built (the top tile on each of the piles of Building tiles). Usually there will be 3 tiles to choose from unless one of the piles is empty. Then, choose an empty space on your City board where you plan to build the Skyscraper. If that space contains any tokens, place them into your resource pool.

2. Pay the building cost

   You must pay 1 E-coin for every Skyscraper already on your City board before you place the new tile (i.e. your first one is free!). Use your Skyscraper track for tracking the current number of Skyscrapers on your board and for estimating the cost of the new one.

3. Build the Skyscraper

   Place the Building tile, Skyscraper-side up on the space previously chosen. Move your Skyscraper marker up one space on your City board to indicate how many Skyscrapers there are in your City, along with the cost of building next Skyscraper.

4. Check for City Activation

   Check the Activation slots in the row and column where you built the Skyscraper.

   • If both Activation slots have markers in them, no activation takes place and your turn is over.
   • If only one Activation slot is empty, you must place one of your Activation markers in that slot. That row or column then activates (see below).
   • If both Activation slots are empty, you must place one of your Activation markers in one of those slots (you choose). That row or column then activates (see below).

Note: While it is possible to build a Skyscraper in a row and column which have already been activated (i.e. the Activation slots are full), you usually want to be placing a new Skyscraper so that you can activate a part of your City.

Note: It is possible to have more than one Skyscraper of the same type in a City.

City Activation

Every action in game has the possibility to Activate a part of the City (either a row or a column). This happens when the current player places an Activation marker in an empty Activation slot: that row or column then activates.

When a row or column is activated, every Skyscraper in that row or column is also activated (in any order). The effect of each is printed on the tile and the corresponding Building card. Each Skyscraper effect is optional and activated once only per City activation. SkyGardens and Public Structures do not get activated.

After a player has activated their City, every other player must place one of their own Activation markers on the same Activation slot around their own City boards. The other players do not activate their Skyscrapers when doing this, the marker represents which part of a City has been already used and cannot be activated by any other player until the following round.

Example: If it Round 3 and Mandy is the starting player. She chooses to build a Skyscraper and takes a Hive Skyscraper from the top of one of the piles. Then she must choose an empty space on her City board, she decides on space A2. She then pays the building cost. Since she already has 4 Skyscrapers in her City, this costs 4 E-coins. Mandy then places that tile on her chosen space.

Looking at the Activation slots for Column A and Row 2, both of them are empty, meaning that Mandy can choose either of them to place an Activation marker in. She decides to active Row 2, since this will bring her more benefits, so she places an Activation marker next to Row 2.

The Hive Skyscraper (built this turn) gains her 4 E-coins (two adjacent empty spaces), while the Cube Skyscraper generates 5 E-coins! The Hive SkyGarden does not activate.

Finally, all other players must now place one of their own Activation markers in the Row 2 slot. Mandy's turn is now over.

Activation markers

All players should remember to place their Activation markers into their Activation slots whenever any player triggers a City Activation. At the end of any player's turn, all players should have the same Activity slots filled. If, during that turn there was no City Activation, no one places any Activation markers that turn.

Build a Public Structure

This action allows you to build a new Public Structure on your City board. This action is similar to building a Skyscraper action, to perform it, do following steps in order:

1. Choose a Public Structure and a place to build it

   Choose one of Public Structures from the Public Structure pool. Usually there are 3 Public Structure tiles to choose from, unless the Public Structures pile has run out, in which case, you can only choose from the tiles remaining. If there are any tokens on the chosen tile, take those into your resource pool. Then, choose an empty space on your City board where you plan to build the Public Structure. If that space contains any tokens, place them into your resource pool.

2. Pay the building cost

   The cost of a Public Structure is always 6 E-coins, irrespective of how many Public Structures are already on your City board.

3. Build the Public Structure

   Place the Public Structure on the space previously chosen.

4. Refresh the pool

   Take the top tile from the pile of Public Structure tiles and place it face up in the now-empty slot below the Main board. Skip this step if the pile is empty.

   Note: During the game, it is okay to have two of the same Public Structures in the Public Structures pool. They only needed to be different during setup.

5. City activation

   Check the Activation slots in the row and column where you built the Public Structure.

   • If both Activation slots have markers in them, no activation takes place and your turn is over.
   • If only one Activation slot is empty, you must place one of your Activation markers in that slot. That row or column then activates (see City Activation above).
   • If both Activation slots are empty, you must place one of your Activation markers in one of those slots (you choose). That row or column then activates (see City Activation above).

Note: While it is possible to build a Public Structure in a row and column which have already been activated (i.e. the Activation slots are full), you usually want to be placing a tile so that you can activate a part of your City.

Example: Mike decides to build a Public Structure. He chooses the Museum of Trees and takes the 2 E-coins on that tile. Then he chooses where to build it, he decides on Space A2. He must then spend 6 E-coins to build the tile. He only had 4 E-coins before he chose this action, but the 2 E-coins give him the 8 he needed. He places the tile on space A2 of his City board.

The Public Structures pool is then refilled with a new tile from the top of the Public Structures pile.

Unfortunately, there is already an Activation marker in both column A and row 2, so Mike does not activate his City and his turn is over.

Once a Public Structure has been built, it gives an ongoing effect that may be used whenever certain conditions are met. This is summaries on the tile itself and a full description can be found at the back of this rulebook.

Upgrading to a SkyGarden

This action allows you to upgrade one of your Skyscrapers into a SkyGarden.

To perform this action a player must do following steps in this order:

1. Choose a Skyscraper on your City board

   Choose a Skyscraper on your City board that you want to upgrade into a SkyGarden. You can only upgrade a Skyscraper if least one of the Activity slots in the row or column of that Skyscraper is empty. If there are any tokens on that tile, place them in your resource pool.

2. Pay the upgrade cost

   You must pay 2 E-coins for every SkyGarden already on your City board before taking this action (i.e. your first one is free!). Then, move your SkyGarden marker up by 1 space on their City board and your Skyscraper marker down by 1 space.

3. Resolve its effect of the SkyGarden

   Flips the chosen Skyscraper tile over to the SkyGarden side and immediately resolve its effect. Note that this is a one-time effect, it does not trigger again when you activate your City.

4. City Activation

   Check the Activation slots in the row and column with your new SkyGarden.

   • If only one Activation slot is empty, you must place one of your Activation markers in that slot. That row or column then activates (see City Activation above).
   • If both Activation slots are empty, you must place one of your Activation markers in one of those slots (you choose). That row or column then activates (see City Activation above).

Example: Carol wants to upgrade one of her Skyscrapers into a SkyGarden. She has 4 Skyscrapers on her City board: Hive at space A2 and A3, Cube at space A1 and Helios at space B3. Since there are already Activation markers in column A, B and rows 3 and 4, she cannot upgrade any other Skyscrapers than the Hive. Row 2 does not have a marker in it, so she can upgrade one of her Hive Skyscraper.

Since there are already 3 SkyGardens on Carols City board, the cost of upgrading is 6 E-coins. After paying the cost, she flips the Hive tile on the other side and resolves its effect: she gains 3 Solar Points. After that, she adjusts both her SkyGarden and Skyscraper markers on her City Board. She places an Activation marker in the slot for Row 2 and would activate all her Skyscrapers in that row if there would be any. All other players must then also place one of their own Activation markers in their slot on Row 2 but do not activate their own cities. Carols turn is over.

End of a Round

A round ends at the end of any player's turn when all Activation slots have Activation markers in them.

At this point, the following steps need to be performed:

1. Resolve the effects of any Public Structures which happen at the end of a round.

   Note: If this was the last round of the game, stop here and proceed to final scoring.

2. All players remove their Activity markers from Activity slots and place them next to their City boards.

3. Place 2 E-coins on every Public Structure tile available in the Public Structures pool. If a Public Structure already has 6 E-coins on it, place 1 Solar Point on it instead.

4. Advance the Round marker by 1 space.

A new round now begins. The player to the left of the player who took the last turn and triggered the end of the round takes the first turn in the new round.

End of the Game

A game of Solar City ends in one of two ways:

• The game has been played for a certain number of rounds depending on the number of players:

  Number of players	2	3	4
  Number of rounds	5	7	9

• One player has 16 tiles on their City board, filling it. If this happens, the game ends at the end of that player's turn, proceed to final scoring. In the rare case that a player fills up their City board in the last turn of the last round, resolve an end of a round before proceeding to final scoring.

Final scoring

At the start of final scoring, each player has the opportunity to pay off any loans they took during the game. For each Loan token a player has, they may pay 6 E-coins to return the Loan token to the general supply.

Players now score points as follows:

• For each Loan token you have, lose 1 Solar Point collected during the game.
• For each SkyGarden on your City Board, gain 1 Solar Point.
• For each empty space on your City board, lose 1 Solar Point.
• For every 12 E-coins you return to the general supply, gain 1 Solar Point.

Each player then counts all their Solar Points and the player with the most wins the game!

In case of a tie, the tied player with the most E-coins wins. If there is still a tie, the tied player with the fewest empty spaces on their City boards wins. And in the rare case there is still a tie, all tied players share the victory.