Timber Town Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Objective
• Contents
• Setup
• Overview
• Gameplay
  • Main Actions
  • Free Actions
• The River
• Building Tiles
  • Tile Anatomy
  • Tile Placement
• Building Placement Rules
• Cards
  • Scoring Card Anatomy
  • Groups
• End Game
• Scoring
  • Scoring Example
• Appendix: Building Tiles
  • Brown Beaver Tiles
  • Red Construction Site Tiles
  • Green Park Tiles
  • Purple Temple Tiles
  • Orange Market Tiles
  • Blue Workshop Tiles
  • Yellow Home Tiles
• Tile Distribution
• Credits

Objective

Your town is represented by a 4x4 grid, on which you will place building tiles claimed from the river, making sure their boardwalks are connected. Each building type scores points (stars) in a unique way. When both players have placed as many tiles as possible, the game ends. The player who followed the scoring cards best will score the most stars and win!

Contents

• 2 town boards
• 2 player aids
• 4 river boards
• 48 building tiles
• 22 scoring cards
• 1 score pad
• 1 builder beaver
• 3 beaver tokens
• 11 construction tokens
  • 3 cranes
  • 3 dams
  • 1 red raft
  • 1 blue raft
  • 3 two-colour rafts

Setup

1. Each player takes a town board and player aid. Place the matching one-colour raft token on the player aid in the corresponding area.

2. The player who most recently saw a beaver goes first. Make the river by placing the river boards in a row of alternating icons between the town boards, matching the first player's town board icon with a river board — this becomes the first river board.

3. Shuffle the building tiles together and place them in three facedown stacks next to the first river board. Draw three tiles from the stacks and add them to the first river board.

4. For new players, find the starting scoring cards (marked with a starting-card icon in the bottom left corner) and place them within sight of both players.

   On subsequent playthroughs, sort the scoring cards into their colour decks, shuffle them, and deal one of each colour in sight of both players. Place any remaining cards back into the box.

   There is only one red and one brown scoring card.

5. Place all remaining tokens and score pad (not shown in set up) within reach of both players.

Overview

During a game of Timber Town, players take one turn each round, typically claiming a building tile from the river and placing it onto their town board in the matching column, following the building rules (see Building Placement Rules). The player whose icon matches the first river board takes the first turn in each round, meaning the first player swaps every round. The game ends when both players have placed their final building tile or cannot place any more tiles, after which the towns are scored.

Gameplay

Each round, both players take one turn. A turn consists of one main action and any number of free actions, which can be taken in any order. Before each round starts, the river boards move further downstream, and new building tiles are placed onto the first river board.

Ensure both players understand the scoring cards before starting!

Main Actions

Players can take one main action each turn.

Claim a tile from the river: Pick one building tile from the river and place it onto your town board in any spot in the same column, following the building placement rules (see Building Placement Rules). You may rotate a tile freely before placing.

If the tile has a token icon in the top right corner, take or place the matching token immediately (as instructed by the scoring card description: place construction tokens on your player aid, and beaver tokens on the tile which provided them). If it can be used, you may do so this turn, or on any subsequent turn.

Token icons: raft, crane, dam, beaver.

Use a raft token: Place a raft token onto a building tile in the river. This tile may only be claimed by you while the raft is on it. You may not place a raft onto a building tile which already has a raft on it.

Pass: Skip your main action this turn.

Free Actions

Players can take any number of free actions each turn.

Claim the building tile beneath your raft: Take your raft back if it is one-colour, otherwise discard it. Then, claim the building tile that was beneath your raft.

Use a crane token: Discard a crane token when claiming a tile to place it in any column of your town board, following all other building placement rules.

Use a dam token: Discard a dam token to claim one additional tile from the river this turn, following the building placement rules.

Scuttle a construction token: Use one of your construction tokens (crane, dam, or raft) by placing it onto your town board between building tiles to create a connection between them. This free action is typically taken when claiming a tile to place that tile in a spot which would otherwise be prohibited. You may scuttle the construction token that comes with a tile to assist with its placement on the same turn.

The River

At the start of each round after the first, do the following:

1. Remove building tiles on the last river board (the board furthest from the draw stack) and discard them — these buildings cannot be retrieved.

   Return one-colour rafts on that river board to their owner. Discard any other tokens on that river board.

   Place that river board to one side.

2. Slide the three remaining river boards toward the discard, roughly in line with the columns of the town board, without removing the building tiles (building tiles stay on the river board on which they are placed until claimed by a player, or discarded).

   Fill the empty slot nearest the draw stack(s) with the river board set aside in step one: it becomes the first river board.

3. Draw three random building tiles from the draw stack(s) and place them face up on the newly placed first river board.

   You can always see which player will take the first turn in a round by looking at the icon on the first river board. If the icon matches your town board icon, you go first.

Building Tiles

There are 7 types of building tile in the game:

• Brown beaver tiles.
• Green parks.
• Orange markets.
• Yellow homes.
• Red construction sites.
• Purple temples.
• Blue workshops.

Tile Anatomy

Each building tile shows: a colour-coded illustration, a token icon (red and brown tiles only, in the top right corner), boardwalks (connections, shown as arrows between the tile's edges), and the building type.

Tile Placement

Whenever you place a tile on your town board, you must follow the building placement rules (see Building Placement Rules). For example: a tile connected to A2 but not to C2, with an unconnected boardwalk facing B1, is an illegal placement. A tile connected to B1 and the town board edge is a legal placement. A tile connected to C3 and D2 is also a legal placement.

Remember! You can scuttle one of your construction tokens to form a connection between two tiles that only have 1 or 0 boardwalks between them!

Building Placement Rules

When claiming a tile from the river, you must be able to place that tile onto your town board. If you cannot place the tile following building placement rules, you cannot claim the tile. The building placement rules require you to:

• Place the building tile in the same column of your town board as the river board from which it came. For example, if you claim a tile from column 2 river board, it must be placed into column 2 of your town board. Crane tokens allow you to ignore this rule.
• Connect boardwalks depicted on tiles, so that no boardwalk ends anywhere other than another boardwalk or town board edge. You can scuttle construction tokens to create boardwalk connections where no boardwalk is depicted. You may freely rotate a tile before placing it to ensure boardwalks are connected.

Cards

Scoring Card Anatomy

Each scoring card shows: a building type title, a card title, an example, scoring text, a building type icon, and (on starting cards) a starting card icon.

Groups

When a tile is placed onto a town board orthogonally adjacent to a tile of matching colour, they form a group. The tiles do not need to be connected to form a group, only adjacent. One tile of a particular colour on its own does not constitute a group. A group of two tiles is called a pair. A group of three tiles is called a trio.

End Game

The game ends when neither player can claim any more tiles. The first player to fill all 16 spaces on their town board takes the builder beaver, which scores 5 stars. This player must pass on subsequent turns until their opponent cannot claim any more tiles (because their own town board is full, they cannot follow building rules, or all building tiles have been discarded).

Once one of these conditions has been met, proceed to scoring.

Scoring

Towns are scored based on tokens and building tile placement, as indicated by the game's scoring cards (for clarifications, see the Appendix: Building Tiles). Each tile can contribute to more than one scoring card. Each player scores for tiles using the same scoring cards, determined at the start of each game. In the case of a tie, the player who took the builder beaver is the winner, if neither player was able to take this, the win is shared.

Scoring Example

Now the game has finished, the player consults the scoring cards and their town board to score.

Red scoring card: They have 1 red tile (C2) in their town, scoring 2 stars.

Green scoring card: They have 1 green tile (A4) in corners of their town, scoring 5 stars.

Orange scoring card: They have 3 orange tiles, 1 of which is orthogonally adjacent to 3 non-orange tiles (B4), 2 of which are adjacent to 4 non-orange tiles (B2 and C3). They score a total of 22 stars.

Blue scoring card: They have 2 blue tiles. One (D3) with 2 unique non-blue tiles, scoring 4 stars. The other (C4), with 3 unique non-blue tiles scoring 6 stars. Together they score 10 stars total.

Yellow scoring card: They have 2 yellow tiles placed in a pair (B1 and C1), scoring 5 stars each.

Purple scoring card: They claimed all 6 purple tiles, scoring 24 stars. They also score 6 stars for having more purple tiles than their opponent, scoring 30 stars total!

After scoring tiles, the player scores for tokens.

Beaver tokens: They have a beaver token that can move from A1 to D4 (see dotted line). This includes their brown tile and they score 5 stars.

Unused construction tokens: They have 2 unused construction tokens (including their starting raft), scoring 2 stars total.

Builder beaver: They finished their town first and got the builder beaver, scoring 5 stars.

They have a grand total of 91 stars.

Appendix: Building Tiles

This appendix contains clarifications about the scoring cards for each building tile type. You do not need to read this appendix unless you are confused about a particular scoring card.

Each building tile type is scored differently, typically based on the placement of that tile and the tiles around it. There are four ways to score each tile type except brown tiles (which provide beaver tokens that score on their own) and red tiles (which always score 2 and provide construction tokens which score 1 if unused). Each player scores for tiles using the same scoring cards, determined at the start of each game.

Brown Beaver Tiles

Town Square (starting scoring): Brown tiles do not score. Instead, they provide a beaver token, which should be placed upon the brown tile after it is claimed from the river.

Each beaver token scores 5 stars if it can move from the left edge of your town board to the right edge (into column 1, across the board, and out of column 4) along connected boardwalks.

The path taken must include the brown tile on which the beaver was originally placed.

Red Construction Site Tiles

Yard (starting scoring): Each red tile always scores 2 stars. Additionally, each red tile provides a construction token when claimed, as shown by the icon in the top right corner.

The token is taken when the tile is claimed, but before the tile is placed, allowing you to scuttle that token to place the red tile that provided it.

Each unused construction token (including one-colour rafts) scores 1 star each.

Construction tokens can be used as per the action rules (see Gameplay).

Green Park Tiles

Garden (starting scoring): Each green tile scores 5 stars if placed in a corner of your town. Green tiles placed anywhere other than the corner spaces (A1, A4, D1, and D4) score 0.

Playground: Each green tile scores 5 stars if placed in the centre of your town. Green tiles placed anywhere other than the central spaces (B2, B3, C2, and C3) score 0.

Estate: Each green tile is worth more the further away from the draw stack it is placed, as per the table below.

Column	Score
1	2
2	3
3	4
4	5

Arboretum: Each green tile scores 5 stars if placed in a row and column with no other green tiles in that row or column. Green tiles in the same row or column as one or more other green tiles score 0.

Purple Temple Tiles

Shrine (starting scoring): Each purple tile scores 4 stars. If you have claimed more purple tiles than your opponent, you score an additional 6 stars.

Hermitage: Each purple tile orthogonally adjacent to blue, orange, or red tiles scores 0. Each other purple tile scores 5 stars.

Monestary: Each purple tile scores 1 star for each tile in the largest orthogonally adjacent non-purple group.

Purple tiles adjacent to two groups of the same size only score for one of the groups. Purple tiles do not need to be connected to groups to score, only adjacent.

Pagoda: Purple tiles score based on how many purple tiles you claimed. Purple tiles can be placed anywhere on your town board to score.

Purple tiles claimed	Score
0	0
1	-9
2	8
3	-6
4	20
5	-3
6	36

Orange Market Tiles

Food (starting scoring): Each orange tile scores 2 stars for each orthogonally adjacent non-orange tile.

Orange tiles do not need to be connected to other tiles to score, only adjacent.

Textile: Each orange tile scores 2 stars for each diagonally adjacent non-orange tile.

Flower: Each orange tile scores 2 stars for each orthogonally adjacent unique non-orange tile. Multiple tiles of a single colour only score once.

Orange tiles do not need to be connected to other tiles to score, only adjacent.

Luxury: Each orange tile scores 2 stars for each diagonally adjacent unique non-orange tile. Multiple tiles of a single colour only score once.

Blue Workshop Tiles

Cooper (starting scoring): Each blue tile scores 2 stars for each unique non-blue tile in the same column.

Tailor: Each blue tile scores 2 stars for each other blue tile in the same row and column.

Carpenter: Each blue tile scores 2 stars for each unique non-blue tile in the same row.

Blacksmith: Each blue tile scores 2 stars for each unique non-blue tile in diagonal lines. Diagonal lines must include the scoring tile, and extend in any direction for any length.

Yellow Home Tiles

Cottage (starting scoring): Each yellow tile scores 5 stars if in a pair (each pair of yellow tiles scores 10 stars total). Single yellow tiles, and groups of three or more yellow tiles, score 0.

Yellow tiles do not need to be connected, only adjacent, to form a pair.

Cabin: Each yellow tile scores 5 stars if in a trio (each trio of yellow tiles scores 15 stars total). Single yellow tiles, pairs of yellow tiles, and groups of four or more yellow tiles, score 0.

Yellow tiles do not need to be connected, only adjacent, to form a trio.

Chalet: Each group of connected yellow tiles scores based on the number of yellow tiles it contains, using the group size table below. Yellow tiles in a group must be connected to score. Yellow tiles which are not connected to other yellow tiles do not score.

Being connected means having a boardwalk connection or scuttled construction token joining two adjacent tiles.

Lodge: Each group of orthogonally adjacent yellow tiles scores based on the number of yellow tiles it contains, using the group size table below.

Yellow tiles in a group do not need to be connected to score, only adjacent. Single yellow tiles do not score.

Group size	Score
2	5
3	8
4	12
5	17
6	23
7	30
8+	40

Tile Distribution

Building Type	Type Totals	Connections	Qty
Park	6	2 adjacent	3
		2 opposite	3
Beaver	3	4	3
Construction	9	4	3 (crane)
		4	3 (dam)
		4	3 (raft)
Temple	6	2 adjacent	3
		2 opposite	3
Market	6	2 adjacent	2
		2 opposite	2
		3	2
Workshop	8	2 adjacent	2
		2 opposite	2
		3	2
		4	2
Home	10	1	3
		2 adjacent	2
		2 opposite	2
		3	2
		4	1

"Connections" shows how many boardwalks each tile variant has, and whether two boardwalks (where present) sit on adjacent or opposite sides of the tile.

Credits

• Designer: Ryan Boucher
• Developers: Caezar Al-Jassar, David Digby & Joshua Parry
• Co-editor: Liam Collins
• Artist: Isabelle Overturf (@Phinnze)
• Graphic Design: Florentyna Butler & Isabelle Overturf (@Phinnze)
• Logo Design: Javier Inkgolem
• Meeple Design: Rory Muldoon
• Special Thanks: James Versace, Jess Kirwan & Josh Sacco
• Play Testers: Amanda Fyock, Amy C Robinson, Avis J Clarke, Beniot Briere, Clarice Sam-Yue, Daniel Chamberlain, Dylan, Jack Rosetree, James Versace, Jay Bendixen, Jennie Florez, Jess Kirwan, Kenneth Zieres, Nicholas Nesbitt, Oleg Domansky, Pam Malone, Peak Distapan, Ryan Pearson, Sean Ogden, Tim Smith, Tony Tse, Zach Hoekstra, Alex Washtell, Lizzie Moore, Jack Spearing, Jeremy Dobler, Paul Otter, Joelle Alcaidinho, Allan Siao Ming Witherick, Sam Parry, Chris Ingold, Sam Ali, Mary Ann Pham, John Robinson, 61Prime, Ruth Richards, St.John Skeates, Steve Danes, Dale Haxton, Maciej Hermanowicz, Deborah Smith, ACG Discord Server community, ACG Letchworth Playtest community, ACG Harrow Playtest community

For Australia: Seabrook Studios Pty Ltd, PO Box 110, Flinders Lane, 8009, Melbourne, Victoria. [email protected], seabrook-studios.com

Published by Alley Cat Games Ltd, 2025.