Squaring Circleville Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Components
  • The Game Board and Section Tiles
  • The Structures
  • The Action Tiles and the Bag
  • The Player Aids
  • The Player Mats and Solo Player Mats
  • The Equipment Tiles
  • The Achievement Tiles
  • The Year Bonus Tiles
  • The Wooden Player Components
• Game Concepts
  • Action Levels
  • Sections
  • Quadrants
  • Supervisors
• Set Up
• Sequence of Play
  • Step 1: Move Your Assistant on the Courthouse Rondel
  • Step 2: Take Actions
    • Basic Actions
    • Alternate Actions
    • Completing a Section
  • Step 3: (Optional) Take a Bonus Action
  • Step 4: Add an Action Tile to Your Player Mat
• Game End and Final Scoring
  • Final Scoring and Determining the Winner
• Solo Mode
  • Setup
  • Sequence of Play
  • Increasing the Difficulty
  • Solo Player: Bertha
  • Solo Player: Carsten
  • Solo Player: Denzel
  • Solo Player: Katherine
• Glossary
  • The Equipment Tiles
  • The Achievement Tiles
  • The Year Bonus Tiles
• Notes on the Theme

Game Components

A copy of the game includes:

• 1 game board
• 20 section tiles
• 33 structures (5 golden, 6 silver, 7 brown, 15 natural)
• 22 equipment tiles
• 23 achievement tiles
• 19 year bonus tiles
• 64 action tiles (16 in each of four action colors)
• 1 cloth draw bag
• 1 first player marker
• 4 player mats (also serving as solo player mats on the reverse), one per player color
• 200 cubes (50 per player color)
• 4 supervisor pawns, one per player color
• 4 assistant pawns, one per player color
• 4 scoring discs, one per player color
• 16 quadrant markers (4 per player color)
• 8 player aids (4 in English, 4 in German)
• 4 solo player aids (English on one face, German on the other)
• 2 rule booklets (English and German)

The Game Board and Section Tiles

The main board shows the town of Circleville split into 20 numbered sections. Every section displays colored icons matching the structures standing in it, plus red and blue squares that track the deconstruction of the old roads and the construction of the new grid, and a box listing how many victory points can be earned for finishing that section. The town is also divided into four quadrants, each with its own quadrant track for recording work done in sections that quadrant has completed; a scoring track for victory points runs around the outside of the town.

Beside the town sits the courthouse rondel, where players pick their actions each turn, and below it the structures queue, a holding line where razed structures wait until someone builds them. The year track charts the game's progress and offers up year bonus tiles and achievement tiles as it goes; claimed achievement tiles are then displayed on the achievements table. Whenever a section is finished, its matching section tile is set onto the board — completed section tiles join together into a finished quadrant, which players can then decorate and build new structures on wherever an empty plot remains.

The Structures

Squaring Circleville includes four kinds of structures: 15 natural, 7 brown, 6 silver, and 5 golden. Each one must first be razed and later rebuilt on a completed section.

The Action Tiles and the Bag

Both the spaces around the courthouse rondel and the stacks of action tiles sitting beside them determine what actions you can take. At the close of every turn you slot an action tile onto your player mat, raising your action level in that tile's color. Action tiles themselves are drawn blind from the bag and set out in stacks around the rondel.

The Player Aids

The player aids summarize the turn sequence and catalogue every equipment, achievement, and year bonus tile. The solo player aids likewise summarize each solo player's special abilities and how to set them up.

The Player Mats and Solo Player Mats

Each player mat displays the available levels for the four basic actions and the five alternate actions, which rise as you fill columns with action tiles. Three slots on the right side of the mat hold equipment and/or achievement tiles, and the number printed beside each action level shows what that level of the corresponding basic action is worth. Flip a mat over to find one of the four solo players' boards.

The Equipment Tiles

Equipment tiles grant their holder an ongoing ability for as long as they keep the tile. A player may hold at most 3 tiles total between equipment and achievement tiles combined.

The Achievement Tiles

Achievement tiles unlock extra ways to score at the end of the game, and likewise count toward the shared 3-tile limit with equipment tiles.

The Year Bonus Tiles

Finishing a section as the active player earns you a year bonus tile, each granting a one-time special ability. The tile worth "3 victory points" is printed on a different back and is always the final tile on the year track.

The Wooden Player Components

Supervisor pawns mark the section where a player is currently allowed to act. Assistant pawns move around the courthouse rondel and determine what actions are available on a turn. Cubes of a player's color record their work directly on sections; once a section is complete, cubes also get placed on that section's quadrant track using the quadrant markers, which show a "+10" symbol on their reverse for tracking past ten. A scoring disc on the scoring track records each player's running victory point total, and whoever goes first takes the first player marker to keep as a reminder for the rest of the game.

Game Concepts

Action Levels

Wherever a rule refers to the "level" of an action, it means the number of filled spaces (with action tiles or year bonus tiles) in that color's column on your player mat. Level 1 is filled in from the start, so a color can never fall below level 1.

Sections

The town is broken into 20 numbered sections, each bounded by solid lines representing the old circular roads. Two sections count as adjacent only when a single road separates them; sections separated by a road intersection are not adjacent, even if they touch at a corner.

Quadrants

Circleville is split into four quadrants. Once a section is scored and its section tile placed, it becomes part of its quadrant, and it merges with any adjacent completed sections from the same quadrant into one large completed area for purposes of moving supervisors — an area still bounded by the original circular roads. The four quadrants are referred to (and marked with icons) as the first, second, third, and fourth quadrant.

Supervisors

You may normally only work in the section currently holding your supervisor pawn (some year bonus tiles override this). You may move your supervisor to an adjacent section once per action — before, during, or after that action, including bonus actions, alternate actions, and even the final action of the game.

Set Up

1. Place the game board on the table.
2. Each player picks a color, takes the matching player mat and components, and piles their color cubes beside the mat as a personal supply.
3. Everyone sets their scoring disc on the zero space of the scoring track.
4. Everyone places their assistant on the green space (the one marked with a smokestack) of the courthouse rondel.
5. Everyone sets all four quadrant markers "+10" side down on the zero space of each quadrant track.
6. For a first game, place section tile 10 on its matching section and put every supervisor there to start. Keep the remaining section tiles in a pile near the board. (In later games, pick any one of section tiles 1, 10, 15, or 20 as the shared starting section instead.)
7. Sort the structures onto their matching color icons across the 19 other sections of the board, then place the two leftover natural structures into the two leftmost slots of the structures queue.
8. Shuffle the achievement tiles and deal one face up to each slot on the year track; return the rest to the box.
9. In a 2-player game only, remove equipment tile 22 from the game entirely. Then shuffle the remaining equipment tiles and reveal 3 per player face up beside the board, returning the rest to the box.
10. Find the "3 victory points" year bonus tile and set it on the "1856" space of the year track. Shuffle the remaining year bonus tiles and deal one face up to every other empty space on the track, except the "1837" space, which stays uncovered.
11. Fill the bag with 32 action tiles (8 per color) and mix them thoroughly. Draw them out and deal a stack of 4 onto each rondel stack slot. Return the other 32 tiles to the bag, shuffle again, and deal 4 tiles face down onto the single "upcoming" stack slot; the rest stay in the bag until that slot needs refilling.
12. Randomly choose a first player, who takes the first player marker and keeps it as a reminder for everyone until the game ends.

With setup complete, the Circleville Squaring Company is open for business.

Sequence of Play

Squaring Circleville proceeds in turns, starting with the first player and moving clockwise. On your turn you are the active player and carry out four steps in order:

1. Move your assistant on the courthouse rondel.
2. Take your actions.
3. (Optional) Take a bonus action.
4. Add an action tile to your player mat.

Once your turn ends, play passes to the player on your left. The game continues until the ending condition is triggered and every player has taken the same number of turns.

Step 1: Move Your Assistant on the Courthouse Rondel

This step sets up your choice of actions for the turn. Move your assistant forward from its current rondel space — normally 1 or 2 unoccupied spaces clockwise, though certain equipment or year bonus tiles can change this. Spaces already holding another player's assistant may be skipped over without counting against your movement, or you may choose to land on an occupied space along with other assistants. You must move your assistant every turn.

The color of the space where you stop, together with the color of the action tile sitting on top of the stack next to that space, gives you the two action colors available this turn. Late in the game a stack next to your space may be empty, in which case you get only a single action instead of two.

Step 2: Take Actions

Take your two actions, moving your supervisor between sections as allowed (once per action) and checking after each action whether you've just completed a section. For either action you may pick the basic action of the corresponding color, or any alternate action at or below your current level in that color. You decide the order of your two actions. Using equipment tiles and year bonus tiles during an action is always optional, and you never have to move to a different section partway through an action just to keep placing cubes — the same holds true when razing or building structures.

Moving your supervisor: Once per action you may move your supervisor to an adjacent section, at any point before, during, or after the action, regardless of whether the action is basic or alternate — this movement is never mandatory. Specifically, you may: move across a road of the original circle grid to an adjacent section (never straight across a road intersection); move between a completed large section of a quadrant and an adjoining unfinished section in either direction; or move from one completed large section into a completed large section of a neighboring quadrant. While your supervisor sits inside a completed large section, you may act anywhere within that whole section without spending a move.

Running out of cubes: If you run out of your color's cubes mid-action, you may either leave the remainder of the action undone, or pull cubes back off red or blue squares in unfinished sections to finish the current action — those roads will then need to be redone by someone later, since the work was spread too thin to hold.

Basic Actions

Basic actions always take place in whichever section currently holds your supervisor, and you must place every cube the action calls for in that one section (unless too few empty squares remain to hold them all).

Red — Deconstruct Roads. Place cubes on red squares up to the number shown by your red action level; these squares represent tearing out the old circular roads.

Blue — Construct Roads. Place cubes on blue squares up to your blue action level; these squares represent laying the new rectangular street grid.

Orange — Raze Structures. Clear a number of structures equal to your orange action level, taking them from any section holding your supervisor regardless of color, and mark each cleared spot with a cube. Slide any gaps in the structures queue closed, then add the structures you just razed to the end of the queue in whatever order you like. If the queue's 12 slots are all full, you cannot raze anything further until someone frees a slot by building.

Green — Build Structures. Take a number of structures equal to your green action level from the front of the structures queue and place them on empty build plots in a completed large section that holds your supervisor, marking each with a cube. Advance your quadrant marker one space for every cube you place this way (flipping it to show "+10" if it passes ten). You cannot take this action while the structures queue is empty.

Alternate Actions

Instead of a basic action, you may take any alternate action at or below the level of the color you're using for that action. You may still move your supervisor once per alternate action, exactly as with a basic action.

Alternate Level 1 — Move Your Supervisor. Move your supervisor up to 3 adjacent sections. Since level can never fall below 1, this alternate action is always available regardless of color.

Alternate Level 2 — Take an Equipment Tile. Take an unclaimed equipment tile and slot it into one of the three slots on your player mat. If all three are already full, first return one equipment tile to the unclaimed pile (achievement tiles already installed can never be returned). Each equipment tile grants a permanent personal ability, usable once or repeatedly on your turn as its text specifies, but only ever active on your own turn; using an equipment ability is always optional, and you may use one immediately after taking it.

Alternate Level 3 — Beautify a Completed Section. Place a cube of your color on an empty beautify icon in a completed section that holds your supervisor, then advance your quadrant marker one space (flipping past ten as usual).

Alternate Level 4 — Improve a Structure. Place a cube on the empty second square beside a built structure (not an empty plot) in a completed section holding your supervisor — each structure can carry at most two such cubes — and advance your quadrant marker one space.

Alternate Level 5 — Claim an Achievement Tile. Take any available achievement tile from the achievements table (see the Completing a Section step below for how the table fills) and install it in one of your three tile slots, returning an equipment tile first if all three are full (an installed achievement tile itself can never be returned). If the achievement tile comes from the color row matching the color you used for this action, immediately score 2 victory points — meaning tiles taken from the multicolored row always score 2 points. All installed achievement tiles are scored again at game end.

Completing a Section

A section is complete once every old road square has been deconstructed, every new road square has been constructed, and every structure originally in it has been razed. Check for this after each action. When you complete a section, pause your turn and resolve the following four steps in order before continuing.

Step I — Score Victory Points. Everyone with cubes in the section scores victory points per the section's scoring box: most cubes scores first place, second-most scores second place, and so on. Ties on cube count are broken first in favor of whoever has more cubes sitting on structure icons, and any tie still remaining is broken clockwise starting from the active player. (In a 2-player game, skip the highlighted second-place value and use the next rank down instead.)

Step II — Take the Year Bonus Tile. The active player collects the next year bonus tile off the year track and sets it beside their player mat. A year bonus tile can be used once, at any time on any turn — even the turn you receive it — and using one is always optional. Using a year bonus tile (except a new-plot tile) flips it face down; at the end of the turn in which you use it, add the flipped tile to any column on your player mat exactly as though it were an action tile, where it raises that column's level and can later be returned as part of a bonus action. If no free space exists on your mat for it, discard it from the game instead. Note that you cannot flip and place a year bonus tile without actually using its effect — but any tile you never use at all is still worth 1 victory point at game's end.

Step III — Place the Achievement Tile on the Achievements Table. If an achievement tile sits next to the year bonus tile just taken, move it onto any open slot of the achievements table, making it available to any player as an alternate level 5 action target.

Step IV — Clean Up. Every player removes their cubes and supervisor from the section. The active player sets the matching section tile onto the board, then returns every supervisor that had been there onto the new section tile — the section is now complete. Whoever scored first place in Step I places one cube of their color on the square beside the section number and advances their marker one space on the matching quadrant track (flipping past ten as usual). The active player then resumes their turn. If an action happens to complete more than one section at once, the active player chooses the order to resolve them in.

Step 3: (Optional) Take a Bonus Action

If your player mat holds at least one action tile in every one of the four columns, you may spend this step on a single bonus action. Return the top tile of each of the four columns to the game box, then immediately take one more action — basic or alternate, with supervisor movement allowed as usual — at the new (lower) level of whichever color you choose. A flipped year bonus tile sitting on your mat counts the same as an action tile of that column's color for this purpose.

Step 4: Add an Action Tile to Your Player Mat

Take the top action tile from the stack next to your assistant's current rondel space and place it on the lowest open space of the matching color column on your player mat; if that column has no room left, return the tile to the box instead. This is how your action levels — and your access to new alternate actions and stronger basic actions — grow over the game.

If that stack is now empty, slide the "upcoming" stack into its place and refill the upcoming slot with four fresh tiles from the bag. Should the bag itself run dry and there be nothing left to refill the upcoming slot with, that slot simply stays empty for the rest of the game.

Your turn is now over, and play passes to the next player.

Game End and Final Scoring

The game's end is triggered the moment the last section of Circleville is completed. The round in progress still finishes so that every player has had the same number of turns — the player to the right of the first player always takes the final turn.

After the final round, each player takes one last action at whatever level their mat currently allows. Do not move your assistant on the rondel and do not collect any further action tiles; this closing action will most often be an alternate action, though a basic action is allowed too, and you may still move your supervisor and spend any unused year bonus tiles.

Final Scoring and Determining the Winner

Everyone now scores for their accumulated work across all four quadrants.

Supervisor bonus: First, advance your quadrant marker one space on whichever quadrant track matches your supervisor's final location (flipping past ten if needed).

Scoring quadrants: For each of the four quadrants, compare all players' positions on that quadrant's track, from highest to lowest, and award victory points as listed in the end-game scoring box on the board. Anyone still sitting on the "0" space of a track scores nothing for it. Ties are broken first in favor of whoever beautified more sections in that quadrant; if a tie still remains, add together the points for the tied ranks and split the total evenly among the tied players, rounding up if needed. (In a 2-player game, again skip the highlighted second-place value and use the next rank down.)

Scoring achievement tiles: Next, score every achievement tile you claimed during the game.

Scoring unused year bonus tiles: Finally, score 1 victory point for every year bonus tile still sitting unused beside your player mat.

Whoever holds the most victory points after all this scoring wins. A tie is broken in favor of whoever has more action tiles on their player mat (flipped year bonus tiles don't count for this); if the tie still stands, the tied players share the victory.

Solo Mode

Squaring Circleville can be played solitaire against one, two, or three named "solo players." Each behaves much like a human opponent but follows its own special rules, so read and understand the full multiplayer rules before attempting the solo game. Play against a single solo player the first time out; later games can add a second or third for extra challenge.

Setup

Set up as for a multiplayer game, with these changes:

1. Choose which solo player (or players) you'll face — one for your first game, two or three afterward for more challenge.
2. For each solo player, take its mat and matching components, set them within reach, pile its color cubes as its supply, and place its scoring disc and quadrant markers on the tracks like any other player.
3. Remove equipment tile #22 from the game regardless of player count. Shuffle the rest and reveal a total of 6 tiles face up, no matter how many solo players are in the game.
4. Follow whatever additional setup each solo player's own rules call for below.
5. The human player always goes first.

Sequence of Play

Every solo player follows the same shared framework, even though their specifics differ, and they only ever act during Steps 1, 2, and 4 of the turn sequence — solo players never take a bonus action in Step 3.

Taking actions: When a solo player's action can't be completed (or attempted at all) in its assigned quadrant, it keeps trying that action in the other quadrants, moving clockwise through them, until it finds one where the action can happen. If it truly cannot be done anywhere, the solo player scores victory points instead, per its own rules for that situation. Likewise, if a solo player runs out of cubes partway through an action, it places as many cubes as it can and then scores the "action failed" victory points on top of that. The final turn's action for every solo player is always to simply score 3 victory points. Whenever a solo player must choose a structure to interact with, it follows the structure-priority order printed in the corner of its own player mat. Solo players never use year bonus tiles, achievement tiles, or equipment.

Completing a section: When a solo player is the active player and finishes a section, it returns the year bonus tile and the achievement tile straight to the box (never keeping either) and scores victory points for them according to its own rules below.

Final scoring: At game end, solo players only score victory points for their final rank on each quadrant track — they don't get achievement-tile or unused-year-bonus scoring.

Increasing the Difficulty

To make a solo player tougher, start it higher on the quadrant tracks instead of at zero — 4 is the suggested starting point on every track, though you can raise or lower that number to dial in the challenge you want.

Solo Player: Bertha

Bertha's focus is beautifying finished sections and improving newly built structures.

Setup: Draw an action tile from the bag and place Bertha's supervisor on the solo mat's quadrant icon matching that tile's color, then return the tile to the bag. Place a white cube on the topmost space of the extra action track beside the solo mat's action spaces. Place Bertha's assistant on the same starting rondel space as the human player's.

Step 1 — Move the assistant: Bertha's assistant advances clockwise to the next rondel space whose stack shows an action tile matching the color currently next to Bertha's supervisor. If no such space exists, it simply advances one space instead.

Step 2 — Take 2 actions: Bertha acts in the quadrant outlined on its supervisor's space on the solo mat, always in the highest-numbered available section of that quadrant. It takes two actions in turn: first whatever color its assistant's rondel space calls for, then whatever color sits atop the stack next to that space, both at level 3. Bertha completes each action as far as it can if it can't be finished fully, and only scores 3 victory points if an action is entirely impossible. If a rondel space has no action tile stack next to it at all, Bertha instead scores 5 victory points for the missed action.

Completing a section: As the active player, Bertha returns the year bonus tile and achievement tile to the box, scoring 1 victory point for the year bonus tile and 2 for the achievement tile.

Step 4 — Add an action tile and take a special action: Bertha takes the action tile from the stack at its supervisor's rondel space and places it in the action space next to its own supervisor, returning whatever tile was previously there to the box. It then advances its supervisor one space. If this moves the supervisor off the fourth (final) space of its track, Bertha immediately performs two bonus actions — the alternate level 4 Improve a Structure action and the alternate level 3 Beautify a Completed Section action — in the quadrant marked by the tile beside the white extra-action marker, scoring 1 victory point instead for any of these that can't be done at all. Bertha then advances the extra action marker one space and restarts its supervisor at the beginning of the track.

Solo Player: Carsten

Carsten's habit is collecting equipment tiles whether or not it ever uses them.

Setup: Draw an action tile from the bag and place Carsten's supervisor on the solo mat's quadrant icon matching that tile's color, then return the tile to the bag. Place Carsten's assistant on the same starting rondel space as the human player's.

Step 1 — Move the assistant: Carsten's assistant simply advances one space clockwise on the rondel each turn.

Step 2 — Take up to 3 actions: Carsten acts in the quadrant outlined by its supervisor's space, always in the lowest-numbered available section of that quadrant, following its own printed structure priority (golden, silver, brown, natural) whenever it interacts with structures. What Carsten does depends on how the three relevant colors compare — its rondel space's printed color, the color atop the adjoining tile stack, and the color of the action space next to its own supervisor on its mat:

• All three colors different: Carsten performs three separate level 1 actions in this order — the rondel space's own color first, then the adjoining stack's color, then its own mat's color — scoring 1 victory point for any that can't be done at all.
• Two colors match, one differs: Carsten first performs the odd color out as a level 1 action, then resolves the matching pair as follows:
  • Two red: take the alternate level 2 action (take an equipment tile), claiming the lowest-numbered unclaimed equipment tile and scoring 3 victory points; if Carsten already holds 3 equipment tiles, skip taking one and just score the 3 points.
  • Two blue: take the alternate level 4 action (improve a structure), scoring 2 victory points instead if it's impossible.
  • Two orange: take the alternate level 3 action (beautify a completed section), scoring 2 victory points instead if it's impossible.
  • Two green: advance Carsten's supervisor 1 space on its own solo action rondel and score 3 victory points.
• All three colors match: Carsten takes the lowest-numbered achievement tile of that color from the achievements table and returns it to the box; if none of that color remain, it scores 10 victory points instead.

If there's no action tile stack at all next to Carsten's rondel space late in the game, it scores 5 victory points for the missed action.

Completing a section: As the active player, Carsten returns the year bonus tile and achievement tile to the box, scoring 1 victory point for the year bonus tile and 2 for the achievement tile.

Step 4 — Add an action tile: Carsten takes the action tile from its rondel space's stack, places it next to its supervisor (returning whatever tile was there before to the box), and advances its supervisor one space clockwise.

Solo Player: Denzel

Denzel's approach is finishing sections ahead of everyone else's schedule.

Setup: Place Denzel's assistant on the same starting rondel space as the human player's, and set Denzel's supervisor beside its solo mat rather than on the board.

Step 1 — Move the assistant: Denzel's assistant advances clockwise to the next rondel space whose stack top matches whichever color currently has the fewest tiles on Denzel's own solo mat, breaking ties by choosing the first tied color reached going clockwise. If no stack shows that color on top anywhere, the assistant just advances one space.

Step 2 — Take 3 actions: Denzel acts in whichever quadrant matches the printed color of its assistant's rondel space, always in the lowest-numbered available section, following its own structure priority (brown, natural, golden, silver). You may use Denzel's supervisor pawn simply to mark where its work is happening. Denzel takes three level 1 actions total: two of the color from its rondel space, then one of the color atop the adjoining stack — scoring 3 victory points instead for any action that's wholly impossible, or 5 victory points if there's no stack there to draw from at all near the end of the game.

Completing a section: As the active player, Denzel returns the year bonus tile and achievement tile to the box, scoring 1 victory point for the year bonus tile and 2 for the achievement tile.

Step 4 — Add an action tile and take a special action: Denzel places its drawn action tile into an empty space of the matching color column on its solo mat. If this is the third tile of that color, Denzel immediately completes whatever section it last placed cubes in (i.e., wherever its supervisor currently sits), always claiming double the first-place score regardless of how many cubes it actually has there — everyone else scores normally, but starting from second place. As the active player, Denzel also collects the year bonus and achievement tile rewards (1 and 2 victory points) as usual, then cleans up the section and places its tile on the board. Since Denzel always takes first place on these forced completions, it places a cube beside the section number and advances its quadrant marker one space (flipping past ten as needed). If the section where Denzel last placed cubes is already complete, it instead completes the next higher-numbered unfinished section in the same quadrant; if no such section exists in that quadrant, or if Denzel took no actual actions this turn (having only scored victory points), Denzel scores 8 victory points instead. If forcing this completion leaves structures with nowhere to go on a full structures queue, those structures are built immediately in the section instead, with Denzel placing cubes and advancing its quadrant marker accordingly — if the queue has room for some but not all of them, the rest follow Denzel's structure order onto the queue and only the overflow is built immediately. Finally, Denzel returns all three tiles of that color from its solo mat to the box.

Solo Player: Katherine

Katherine's rhythm alternates between bursts of activity and comparative idleness.

Setup: Place Katherine's supervisor on the quadrant icon marked with the supervisor symbol on its solo mat, and its assistant on the same starting rondel space as the human player's.

Step 1 — Move the assistant: Katherine's assistant always advances 2 spaces clockwise on the rondel.

Step 2 — Take 2 or 4 actions: Katherine ignores the rondel colors entirely for choosing actions — its assistant's position there only matters for Step 4. Instead, Katherine acts in the quadrant outlined by its supervisor's space on the solo mat, taking level 1 actions for every color found in the row or column next to its supervisor (2 or 4 actions depending on which), working from the section closest to its supervisor outward to the furthest, always taking the highest-numbered section available. Following its own structure priority (natural, golden, silver, brown) for any structure interactions. Any action that's entirely impossible instead scores Katherine 3 victory points.

Completing a section: As the active player, Katherine returns the year bonus tile and achievement tile to the box, scoring 1 victory point for the year bonus tile and 4 for the achievement tile.

Step 4 — Add an action tile and take a special action: Katherine takes the action tile from its rondel-space stack, places it beside its supervisor (returning the old tile there to the box), then advances its supervisor one space. If this puts the supervisor onto the quadrant icon marked with the supervisor symbol, Katherine immediately removes the two lowest-numbered achievement tiles matching the colors in its mat's relevant row or column from the achievements table and returns them to the box — scoring 5 victory points instead for any color with no matching tile left on the table.

Glossary

This section catalogues every equipment tile, achievement tile, and year bonus tile in the game.

The Equipment Tiles

Equipment tiles sit to the right of your player mat; you may hold at most 3 tiles total between equipment and achievement tiles, and using an equipment ability is always your choice.

1. When taking an alternate Beautify a Completed Section action, you may beautify that section a second time (each section can be beautified at most twice this way); place your cube next to the first one and advance your quadrant marker as normal.
2. Before taking your actions, you may flip the action tile stack at your rondel space over.
3. During your action, you may move your supervisor one additional section — either as a single 2-section move, or split so you move the supervisor twice around the chosen action.
4. When you complete a section as the active player, you may swap the current year bonus tile for a different one further down the track (never the "3 victory points" tile) before taking it. 5-8. Treat the specified action column as though it held one extra action tile, though you can never push a column past level 5. 9-10. When taking the specified red Deconstruct Roads or blue Construct Roads action, place 2 additional cubes on the matching squares. 11-12. When taking the specified orange Raze Structures or green Build Structures action on silver and/or golden structures, place one extra cube on the appropriate icon (or, if razing, two cubes total on the structure's icon; if building, cubes on both spots beside the structure so no one else can later take the alternate level 4 Improve a Structure action on it).
5. When moving your assistant on the courthouse rondel, you may move up to 3 unoccupied spaces instead of the usual 1 or 2, following all the normal movement rules otherwise.
6. When taking a bonus action, you only need to discard 3 action tiles of different colors instead of 4 (flipped year bonus tiles count for this); if you have tiles filling all four columns, you choose which color to keep.
7. When moving your assistant, you may move counter-clockwise instead of clockwise — you have the choice of either direction.
8. After taking a red Deconstruct Roads or blue Construct Roads action in a section, if no squares of either road type remain to be filled there, place one additional cube near the road squares in that section.
9. After moving your assistant but before taking your actions, you may swap the tile stack at your assistant's space with the stack waiting in the upcoming slot (any tile stack moved into the upcoming slot need not be topped up to four tiles).
10. Once per turn, you may swap any action tile on your player mat for the top action tile of any rondel stack (not the upcoming slot, and not a flipped year bonus tile); slide tiles down within a column afterward to close any gap this leaves.
11. Once per turn, you may swap the positions of any two structures sitting in the structures queue. 20-21. When taking an action of one of the two colors named on the tile, you may use either of those two colors' levels as though it were the color you're actually acting with — useful for reaching a higher level than your actual color allows.
12. If you're the only player with cubes in a completed section, you score double the victory points for it. (Do not include this tile in a 2-player game, or in any game with solo players.)

The Achievement Tiles

Achievement tiles sit to the right of your player mat alongside equipment tiles, sharing the same 3-tile cap; once claimed, an achievement tile can never be returned, and it scores at the end of the game.

1-4. Score 1 victory point for every natural structure standing in the matching quadrant, no matter who built it. 5-8. Score 2 victory points for every brown structure standing in the matching quadrant, no matter who built it. 9-12. Score 2 victory points for every silver structure standing in the matching quadrant, no matter who built it. 13-16. Score 2 victory points for every golden structure standing in the matching quadrant, no matter who built it. 17. Score 1 victory point for every natural structure you built where you have at least one cube on either of the two spots beside its plot. 18. Score 2 victory points for every brown structure you built with at least one of your cubes on either spot beside its plot. 19. Score 2 victory points for every silver structure you built with at least one of your cubes on either spot beside its plot. 20. Score 2 victory points for every golden structure you built with at least one of your cubes on either spot beside its plot. 21. Score 1 victory point for every beautify icon carrying one of your cubes. 22. Score 1 victory point for every action tile on your player mat (flipped year bonus tiles don't count). 23. Score 3 victory points for every achievement tile you've claimed, this one included.

The Year Bonus Tiles

The active player collects the next year bonus tile off the year track whenever they complete a section; using one is always optional.

• New Plot: Place this tile in any completed section, regardless of where your supervisor is. Place a cube of your color on the marked square and advance your quadrant marker one space. Whoever later builds a structure on the newly opened plot places the second cube there.
• New Equipment: Take an unclaimed equipment tile and install it in a slot on your player mat, returning a different equipment tile first if all your slots are full and at least one already holds one.
• Flexible Supervisor: Move your supervisor to any section on the board, in addition to (not instead of) its normal movement — so you can jump it clear across town at the start of your action and still move it again normally during or after.
• Flexible Assistant: In Step 1 of your turn, move your assistant to any rondel space you choose, including the one it already occupies.
• Increase to Level 5: Treat a single one of your actions this turn as though its column were filled to level 5; this affects only that one action, so taking two actions of the same color leaves the other action at its normal level.
• Raze a Structure: Remove any structure from any unfinished section and send it to the back of the structures queue, placing your cube as usual. This does not count as one of your chosen rondel actions — you may do it in addition to them.
• Build a Structure: Build any structure currently in the structures queue onto any open plot in any completed section, placing your cube on the left square beside it and advancing your quadrant marker. This likewise does not count as a rondel action and may be done in addition to them.
• 3 Victory Points: Immediately score 3 victory points and trigger the end of the game.

Notes on the Theme

Squaring Circleville is grounded in real history. The board layout closely follows G.F. Wittich's historic map of the town, with a few tweaks to structure and road placement made purely for the sake of gameplay. The octagonal courthouse depicted in the game is real — Circleville actually had several octagonal buildings over its history, and one survives today, moved from its original site. And while the game requires every structure in a section to be razed before that section counts as finished, real life was messier: some original buildings survived the regrading, with the new street grid built around them, and at least one such holdout still stands, its rear wall angled to a point from having originally faced the center of the old circle.

The loss of the Circleville earthworks themselves was a genuine tragedy, and there's little sign the townspeople of the day gave much thought to preserving them — their focus was simply on getting a street layout that served them better. The designer and publisher want to be clear that depicting this history in a game is not an endorsement of the earthworks' destruction, and recommend that anyone interested in seeing a Hopewell earthwork survive intact visit the Hopewell Culture National Historical Park in Chillicothe, Ohio.

Design: Matt Wolfe. Development: Uli Blennemann and Henning Kröpke. Graphics: Harald Lieske. Layout: Gamerock Studio, s.r.o. Published by Spielworxx GmbH.