Twilight City Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Game Components
• Game Setup 1. The Game Board and the Common Stocks
• Game Setup 2. Players' Setup
  • How to Affix the Stickers to the Bonus Discs
• Anatomy of the Main Components
  • The Acquisition Board
  • The Activity Board
  • The City Board
  • The Operations Board
  • The Personal Board
  • Location Cards and Extra Location Cards
  • Goal Cards
  • Police Cards
• End-of-Game Conditions
• Gameplay
  • Options in Your Turn
  • Your Own Action Discs and Temporary Action Discs
  • A1 - Play a Card
    • 1. Movement and Its Effects
    • Secret Agents, Marker Cubes and Operations Centres on the City Board
    • The Police Airship
    • Recruitment Tiles
    • Staying in Place
    • 2. Resources and Their Direct Use
      • The Operations Centres
      • Earning Points with Operations Centre Cards
      • Further Ways to Collect Resources
• The End-of-Day Process
  • 1. Collect Revenues After Location Cards
  • 2. Deduct the Price of Oxygen
  • 3. Discard the Played Location Cards
  • 4. Replace the District Token
  • 5. Reset Action Discs and Bonus Discs
  • 6. Move on the Criminal Record Track
  • 7. Draw Three Cubes from the Bag
  • Penalties at the End of the Day
  • The Final End-of-Day Process
• Solo Game
  • Solo Gameplay
  • Solo Setup
  • Solo End-Game Conditions
  • Solo End-Game Objectives
  • Solo Evaluation at the End of the Game
  • Solo Game Phases
    • Phase 1: The Player's Turn - Gameplay Differences
    • Phase 2: The Government's Response Turn
    • Phase 3: The Helpers' Turn
  • Solo Rules Summary
• District Abilities
• The Scoring Pad

Introduction

Twilight City is a competitive game with an unspecified number of rounds, in which players compete against each other to earn prestige points. After a certain number of turns, a full day passes in the game, but this is not necessarily synchronous between players. Likewise, the number of actions completed in a day also varies; some players can resolve more actions and visit more locations in the same period of time than others. Each action takes a relative amount of playing time - and players keep track of this on their personal Clock on the player board.

Players resolve a mandatory card action in their turn and may utilize multiple options deriving from it. After 12 movement points (hours) the day is over, and they independently carry out a series of end-of-day tasks before starting a new day. The primary goal of the day's actions is to earn prestige points; certain activities typically have an effect on all players.

Game Components

• 1 Game board (Acquisition Board, City Board, Activity Board, Operations Board)
• 4 Personal boards (in 4 colours)
• 90 Location cards
• 15 Extra location cards
• 4 Candelabra cards
• 24 Police cards
• 3x16 Goal cards (A, B, C)
• 15 Operations centre cards
• 15 Recruitment Tiles
• 3 Investigation Tiles
• 4 Player Aid cards
• 1 Phone Booth card
• 4 Character tokens (double-sided)
• 4x18 Resource marker cubes
• 8 Authority cubes (black)
• 4x4 Action discs (in 4 colours)
• 30 Temporary action discs
• 4 Time markers (in 4 colours)
• 2x4 Bonus discs
• 16 Penalty discs
• 7 Operations centre markers
• 5 Pneumatic railway station (PRS) markers
• 4 Gear markers
• 4 Undercover man markers
• 4 Criminal record markers
• 5x4 District tokens (backside: penalty token)
• 18 Demand tokens
• 8 Metro tickets

Game Setup 1. The Game Board and the Common Stocks

1. Place the game board in the middle of the play area. The board is built of 4 parts: Acquisition Board, City Board, Activity Board, and Operations Board.
2. Place the oblong candelabra cards next to the board.
3. Place the police cards face up next to the game board (no need to shuffle them, they are identical).
4. Select the operations centre cards appropriate for the number of players: for 2 players, remove the cards marked 3+ and 4+; for 3 players, remove only the 4+ cards. Then, shuffle the remaining cards and place 3 cards face up in the top row of the Operations Board, and 3 more cards face down in the row below it.
5. Draw one of the remaining cards and place a pneumatic railway station (PRS) marker at the corresponding location on the City Board, then insert an operations centre marker on top of it. Return this card to the box together with the rest of the cards. Place the remaining 4 PRS markers in the designated spaces on the Operations Board.
6. On the City Board, place an operations centre marker (small house) in each of the three locations displayed on the face-up cards (in the upper row), on the square spaces where the corresponding location names are shown. Place another 3 operations centre markers on the face-down operations centre cards.
7. Place all the demand tokens on the table face down. Draw 10 of them randomly, one by one, and place them face down, from left to right, on the row symbolizing a Metro-train below the operations centre cards on the Operations Board. Then, turn the first 4 tokens face up. Return the rest of the tokens into the game box.
8. Shuffle the deck of Recruitment Tiles. Draw randomly 2 cards for 2 players, 3 cards for 3-4 players, and place them in the designated spaces at the bottom of the Operations Board.
9. Choose a starting player (who last had any business with armed forces). This player places the Police Airship figure on the City Board, at a random point of intersection between the spaces. (The Airship does not move on the square spaces, but on the intersections marked with an icon.)
10. Place the Secret Agent figures on the City Board (with the white base rings attached). To determine where to deploy the Agents, draw a location card for each, and then shuffle them back into the deck. No matter if both Agents end up in the same location.

Never place 3 cards showing the same location on the Acquisition Board, neither during setup nor during gameplay. If you draw a third identical card, shuffle it back into the deck and draw a new card instead.

12. It is advisable, but not mandatory, to keep the deck of 15 extra location cards and the pile of white temporary action discs next to the location card deck, as these components may also come into play when selecting a card.
13. Place the 4 gear markers in the upper position of the 4 switches on the Activity Board.
14. In a 2/3/4-player game, drop 4/6/8 black authority cubes in the draw bag and put it aside.
15. Stack the coins, Metro tickets, black penalty discs, and coloured district tokens near the board, within reach of everyone (we recommend that you arrange them in small bowls).

Game Setup 2. Players' Setup

(Numbering in the printed manual follows the setup illustration; items are listed here in the order of the illustration.)

1. Each player takes a personal board, a set of wooden components in the chosen colour, 1 Metro ticket and 1 coin.
2. Each player chooses a character and inserts the character token in the space provided on their personal board, and attaches the base ring of appropriate colour to the character's miniature. This will be the partisan they control in the game.
3. Each player draws from the decks of A, B and C goal cards: 1 card from the "A" deck, 2 cards from the "B" deck and 1 card from the "C" deck. Place them face up beside the personal board. Return the remaining A and B goal cards back to the box, but keep the deck of C cards face down nearby. (See on page 4).
4. Place the time marker on the 6h space at the bottom of the Clock, where the hand is pointing to.
5. Stack the two grey bonus discs in the 9h position (! icon).
6. Place 1 action disc of your own colour in the centre of the Clock face; 1 disc on the 2nd level of the Tower in the middle of the Activity Board; 1 disc on the disc space at the top of your A goal card, and 1 in the Metro train row on the Operations Board, based on the number of players: stack everyone's discs on top of the token below the symbol showing 2 discs for 2 players; 3 discs for 3 players; and 4 discs for 4 players.
7. Place a criminal record marker in the first space of the Criminal Record Track on your personal board, and the undercover man marker on the Activity Board, in a space at the foot of the Tower.
8. Pile your resource marker cubes (using a small bowl is recommended) close to your personal board, then place 1 cube in the bronze container on your personal board, 2 cubes in the draw bag, and 2 cubes in a common stock with other players' cubes next to the game board.
9. To determine the starting space for your player figure, draw a location card randomly and put it in front of you. Find the given location on the City Board and place your figure in that space, then use a corresponding district token (matching colour and Roman numeral) to cover the coin value at the bottom of the card. This card represents your "home" and will remain in front of you throughout the first game day.
10. Each player draws 3 location cards from the deck, 2 with brown and 1 with turquoise icon. If you draw a card that you don't need (for example, you already have a turquoise card in hand and you draw a second one), put the latter card aside and shuffle it back into the deck once you have your 3 cards.

When the setup is complete, the starting player begins the game. The starting player's role ends here, as from now on it will be irrelevant who the first player to start was.

How to Affix the Stickers to the Bonus Discs

Before your first game, affix the 4 bonus icon stickers to the 4x2 grey bonus discs for use on the Clock face, as follows: "A" bonus disc and "B" bonus disc (the two stickers are shown as icon pictures in the printed manual).

Anatomy of the Main Components

The Acquisition Board

The Acquisition Board is where the location cards are on display, always 6 cards at a time. The two cards in the first column are free; those in the second column cost 1 coin, and those in the third column cost 1 coin plus 1 resource of any colour (taken from the player's personal board). The arrows on the board indicate card movement: when a player takes a card, the gap is filled immediately by sliding the remaining cards in the direction of the arrow, then adding a new card in the empty space. Before a new card is placed on the board from the deck, the active player has one more optional action to either get a temporary action disc or draw a location card. Keep the location card deck next to the Acquisition Board, leaving space for the discard pile.

There are two bag icons on the Acquisition Board (Bag-2 and Bag-3). These will be important in the end-of-day process, when cubes are drawn from the bag. (Read more about the bag draw and the end-of-day process on page 29).

The Activity Board

The Activity Board is a key part of the play area. In the middle is Twilight City's governmental headquarters, the "Tower". To infiltrate the system and access higher levels, you must resort to corrupt practices (bribe money). Your undercover man is represented by a marker of your colour, waiting to be deployed at the bottom of the Tower.

On both sides of the board there are a number of action panels. These are typically accessed from "two sides". You can activate them from the inner side by a gear mechanism if a gear icon is shown in the bottom left part of the location card you are playing. Except the lowest two, these action panels are linked in pairs with a switch between them. The active panel is the one where the gear marker is: this action is free. There is a cost of switching between panels, as shown on the switch mechanism.

However, action panels can also be activated using action discs (either the player's colour disc or a white, temporary disc). These are placed on the disc space shown at the "outer" side of the panels, and are independent of the mechanical switches. However, only up to 3 discs can be stacked on a panel, and a player may only have 1 of their own discs in the stack. (Read about the available actions on page 18.)

At the top of the board there are 3 special action panels. These can only be activated by action discs, and this must be preceded by a move on the City Board. This means that the action will cost you time as well (you have to go to the nearest Newsagent, to a Metro terminus, or to a space currently monitored by the Police Airship).

The City Board

The City Board displays the map of downtown Twilight City. The area is divided into 5 districts, each identified by Roman numerals (I-V) and individual colours (purple, green, amber, red, blue). Each district comprises 5 zones. Of these zones, 3 are identified by location name, with matching location cards; there is also 1 Metro terminus and a Newsstand. The colour of each district is reflected on the corresponding location cards in the location name label, as well as on the district tokens, one of which is held by each player for the duration of a game day (see Setup - 2).

The player figures move from space to space, and all other markers are placed into the square spaces, but the Police Airship moves along the 16 intersections inside the board. Consequently, the Police Airship's movement essentially covers (it flies over) 4 spaces (zones) at a time, and never reaches the edge of the board. There is a compass in the centre of the map, making it easier for those sitting on the opposite side of the table to direct the Police Airship.

On the City Board, there are also house markers representing secret operations centres, stations of the pneumatic railway network running below the surface, and two Secret Agents, who also belong to The Thinkers organisation (the white stand reflects the symbolic colour of the group). In the course of the game, colour or black marker cubes will be drawn from the bag and also placed on the City Board.

The Operations Board

The Operations Board offers various options to collect prestige points. In the upper part of the board are the operations centre cards, 3 of which show specific locations in the City (these cards are turned face up, and there is an operations centre marker on the City Board in each of the corresponding locations). Below, 3 more face-down cards represent secret locations, with a house marker on top of each. The symbol between the two rows (arrow with checkmark) means that the card in the second row will be turned over when the mission of the upper card has been completed. (Read more about operations centres on page 16.)

Below the operations centre cards is a Metro-train panel with a row of randomly drawn tokens on it, the first 4 facing up, the rest facing down. These tokens show items needed to sabotage the Metro network. More demand tokens will become visible as soon as further Metro sections become accessible for sabotage actions. Some demand tokens show a specific item, while others are generic. (Read more about demand tokens on page 17 and 21.)

The bottom panel contains the Recruitment Tiles randomly selected at the beginning of the game. These are typically accessible only from the districts displayed on them (see a description on page 23).

The Personal Board

The personal board has three main parts. The left side features a Clock face to keep track of the time. Your day starts at the bottom position (where the hand is pointing); the Clock shows the period from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., which are the hours unaffected by the curfew. You mark the elapse of time by moving the time marker. The bonus discs are also on the Clock (both placed in the 9h position at the start of each day, and one of them will be moved to 3h later); you will also put penalty discs on the Clock if you run out of time or fail to get enough oxygen at the end of the day. Your available action discs (in your own colour) are stored in the centre of the Clock face (see more details on page 19).

On the right side of the board, 3 storage containers (bronze/silver/gold) symbolise the 3 types of components used to create the required items: tangible assets, knowledge and information.

By combining these resources, you can make (in the game's terminology: craft) specific objects. In Twilight City's symbol system, you will often see icons depicting coloured (bronze/silver/gold) cubes, although there are no such cubes in the game. In fact, all of these cubes are in the player's colour and will count as bronze, silver or gold from the moment they are placed in the appropriate container.

If a function shows a cube of a specific colour (bronze/silver/gold), it refers to the cubes stored in the respective container on your personal board. However, if only the outline of a ("transparent") cube is displayed, it refers to a cube in your stock, which has "no colour" yet.

A good example of the first is the "conversion" action in Action Panel 1., and of the second is the "bag draw/drop" in Action Panel 2. While 1. allows the conversion of cubes taken exclusively from your personal board, in case of 2. the cubes are dropped into the bag from your stock and not from the board.

The third area, at the top of the personal board, is the Criminal Record Track. Every member of The Thinkers' resistance group is listed and watched by the authorities, and any further violations can make things worse for all of them. Such is an encounter with the Police Airship; if this happens, all players (!) must move their marker 1 space to the right on the Criminal Record Track, which means one level worse conditions.

You must also move your criminal record marker forward when you close a day, as the ruling government wants to make life so unbearable for the resisters that they will soon flee the country, leaving behind a mass of opportunists. So time is not working for you. Progress on the Criminal Record Track usually means worsening living conditions, but sometimes it opens up new opportunities: you may decide to advance on the track of your own will and get a temporary action disc when passing the relevant symbol.

The row of icons above the track shows the conditions applicable to each position. At the bottom of the board, you will find a guide for the end-of-day process.

Location Cards and Extra Location Cards

Location cards have a specific structure. In general, when you place a location card on the table ("play it in the row" in front of you) the bottom part of the card applies; when you take it in hand, the top part applies. A key information when playing a card is its coin value, and whether it gives an "inner" action (gear icon), and whether the card has to be discarded or taken back in hand at the end of the day ("trash can" or "cards in hand" icon). But when picking up a card, the first thing you must check is to which direction it will move the Police Airship on the City Board, and whether you have to take the card in hand or play it directly in the row next to the cards already there (turquoise or brown icon). At the top, the item shown in the middle (always a craftable object) is relevant in case of playing the card "upside-down". (See on page 27).

The cards feature bronze/silver/gold half-rings on both sides: 2 per side on regular location cards and only 1 on extra location cards. Bronze half-rings are the most common, silver slightly less common and gold even less so. When two location cards are placed side by side in the row, 1 or 2 complete rings of matching colour may form. Complete rings show what resources (tools, knowledge or information - bronze/silver/gold cubes) you get at the given location at that time.

Below the picture, the card shows a label with a location name in a colour that refers to the district in which the location is found. Colours help identify a location on the map, but they can also provide key information in certain situations.

The extra location card deck consists of only 15 cards, with one card for each available location. Their structure is similar to that of regular location cards, but some of their functions are very different (see more details on page 27).

Goal Cards

The A-B-C goal cards all have a similar structure: the object icons shown on them are in fact the elements of a complex order. You will place a marker cube on an icon once you have crafted the object from the necessary components, or obtained it by playing a card "upside-down" (see on page 25).

Generally, the cubes remain on the card until it is fully completed, but there are functions that can be used to relocate some of them. Below the icons, tiny dots indicate the components needed to create the item (the same information is shown on the Player Aid card).

At the bottom of each card is the reward it gives when completed. Some cards only give points, others give points and coins. In the latter case, you get both for completing the task, but while points are credited only at the end of the game - as there is no score track in Twilight City -, you get the money immediately. (Keep the cards until the end of the game.)

Some cards have an icon at the top. In case of A-cards, a grey disc icon indicates that when the card is completed, you can take your own action disc previously placed on it (and use it any time, either immediately or later). For C-cards, the white disc icon indicates that you get a temporary action disc, which must be used in the current turn or the option will be lost.

Police Cards

Police cards are worth -1 point. If you receive such cards during the game, their total value has to be deducted from your final score.

End-of-Game Conditions

The final round of the game is triggered when a player achieves one of the end-of-game conditions listed below. When this happens, all other players have one more turn; then the game ends and the evaluation begins. The conditions that trigger the end of the game are:

1. A player's undercover man has reached the top floor of the Government Tower.
2. The Metro train row on the Operations Board has run out of tokens up to the mark applicable to the number of players.
3. One of the players has completed 3 (A+B+B) goal cards. (C goal cards do not count.)
4. The 5th pneumatic railway station has been built.
5. At least one player has reached space #10 on their Criminal Record Track.
6. One Recruitment Tile has been filled with cube markers in case of 2 players, and two Recruitment Tiles in case of 3-4 players.

Gameplay

Options in Your Turn

Basically, you can choose between two options when your turn begins:

A - Play a card from your hand OR B - Select a card from the Acquisition Board

If you choose to play a card, you can do it in two ways:

• A1 - Place a location card in front of you, adding it to the row of cards (see page 13.).
• A2 - Play a card upside-down under one of the location cards at the edge of the row that still has a valid coin value (see page 25).

If you choose to take a card from the display, you have three options:

• B1 - If the selected card has a brown icon, take it in hand (see page 26).

• B2 - If the selected card has a turquoise icon, you must immediately attach it to the row of cards in front of you (see page 26).

  In both cases (B1, B2), as a secondary action, you may either draw one more location card from the deck, or take a temporary action disc and use it in the current turn.

• B3 - Select an extra location card and immediately attach it to the row of cards, or play it upside down under a location card at either end of the row that still has a valid coin value. No bonus of additional card or action disc is due after extra location cards (see page 27).

Your Own Action Discs and Temporary Action Discs

In these rules, the above 5 options (A1-B3) are referred to as Main Actions. In addition, you can use a "gear action" if you have the possibility, and you can also play 1 of your own, colour action discs in each turn (either before or after taking/playing a location card), or any number of temporary action discs that you have earned in the current turn.

In certain cases, you can intentionally move your marker one space forward on your Criminal Record Track (you may do this from/to positions 2->3 / 4->5 / 6->7 / 7->8) to receive a white temporary action disc which you can use immediately. This is not considered an action, and may be done before your Main Action, i.e. before playing or selecting a location card.

At the end of your turn, check whether your time marker has come round on your Clock, in which case you must carry out the end-of-day process (See on page 28).

A1 - Play a Card

One of the most common options in a turn is to play a card from your hand. The card is to be placed in the play area in front of you. At the beginning of the day it is placed next to the single card serving as your current "home", and later at either end of the expanding row of cards.

Playing a card triggers a series of events, which must be resolved in this order:

1. Movement: On the City Board, move to the location displayed on the card. Mark the time spent with your move on the Clock on your personal board.
2. Resources earned: Get the resources based on the matching ring(s) where cards touch: take 1 or 2* marker cubes from your stock and place them in the container(s) of the corresponding colour(s) on your personal board. (*Some bonuses allow you to take more than one cube, and in some locations you can choose not to store the resources but to use them on an operations centre - see more details about these on page 16)
3. Action: If there is an action symbol (gear) in the bottom left corner of the card, you can do an action marked with a gear on the Activity Board.

Note: some actions can only be accessed by toggling the switch!

Example: The player's current location is the Grand Canal, and now he plays a Café Chez Marie card as a destination. The journey takes 3 hours on foot. He moves 3 spaces with the time marker on the Clock, and gets a bronze resource cube after the merged ring on the previous and new card. There is a gear icon on the new card, so he can also use an available action panel on the Activity Board.

You may also use an action disc of your own colour, once per turn if you still have any available; or if you have earned a white temporary action disc, you must use it (you cannot store it for use in a later turn).

The actions provided by the action discs and the gear icon can be resolved in any order and combination. The details are discussed below.

1. Movement and Its Effects

Each move to an adjacent square space (zone) on the City Board costs 1 hour of time. You have to mark this on the Clock on your personal board.

If your time marker stops or passes a space on the Clock which holds 1 or 2 grey bonus discs, you can choose a bonus as follows. If you find both discs at 9h, choose one of the 4 bonuses available on the 2 discs:

• Get a temporary action disc
• Get a resource of your choice
• Get 1 coin
• Draw a card from the location card deck

Set aside the disc that gave the chosen bonus and move the other "unused" disc to the space at the 3h position. When you next reach that space, you can again choose between the two remaining options, and then set aside this bonus disc too (until the end of the day). (From then on, at the beginning of every new day, place both grey bonus discs in the 9h position.)

You can also use transportation for your move:

Travel with a Metro ticket. If you have a Metro ticket, you can use the Metro by discarding it. You should be aware that in Twilight City only those have permission to use the Metro whose work requires it. Closely watched people like The Thinkers are only allowed to be in the zone where they are registered. However, the Metro drivers are secret supporters of The Thinkers movement, so they let you travel in the cockpit, which is exempt from controls. The downside is that you can only get out at a terminus, where you can leave by the staff exit, avoiding further control.

This means that you can go down to the Metro in any of the zones, but only come up to the surface in a zone with an M sign; from there, you must continue on foot to reach your destination.

Taking the Metro with a ticket to a terminus costs 1 hour of time (1 unit on the Clock), plus 1 hour for each additional step walking.

Example of using the Metro: it would take 6 hours to walk from the Machine Factory zone to the Cemetery, but you can get there in 2 hours using the Metro. By default, there is a regular Metro station in each zone, so your move from the Machine Factory to the Metro terminus south of the Cemetery will take 1 hour, and from there another 1 hour to the adjacent Cemetery zone.

Travel by pneumatic railway. As soon as at least 2 pneumatic railway stations (PRS) are built, you can use them in the same way as the Metro, but no need to have a ticket. The journey between any two PRSs always takes 1 hour, but you may need to walk more than one space to reach your destination. (Pneumatic railway stations are always built on the site of completed operations centres, and up to 5 PRS markers can be placed on the board.)

You can also travel in a similar way with the pneumatic railway (yellow), except that in this case you have to go to a PRS station first which has already been built. From there, you can travel to another PRS station nearest to your destination.

Secret Agents, Marker Cubes and Operations Centres on the City Board

If you meet an Agent at your destination, he will immediately give you a white temporary action disc, which you must use in your current turn. Then draw a location card from the deck and move the Agent figure to that location. (No problem if, as a result, the Agent is sent to a zone where another player or another Agent figure is standing, or which is being monitored by the Police Airship, or is the same zone where the Agent currently is.) When done, shuffle the card back into the location card deck. If you encounter 2 Agents in a zone, you get 2 action discs, and you have to draw separate location cards for each to move them to their new locations.

At your destination, you may find one (or more) black authority cubes. If this happens, immediately drop these cubes into the draw bag. (See page 29 for how they are placed on the board.)

At the end of your move, you might also find one or more colour marker cubes which belong to certain players (or even yourself). This means that you pick up someone's parcel there. The owner of the cube can also choose from the same resource(s) which you receive at this location, and pick up their cube from the City to place it on their personal board in the appropriate (bronze/silver/gold) container.

Examples of parcel pick-up: playing as the Blue player, you have arrived at a location and collected a bronze and a silver cube, based on the rings. But you also found the Purple player's cube on the City Board at your destination. The Purple player can now choose to take it either as a bronze or a silver resource.

If this player has more than one cube lying in the same space, he can take 1 bronze and 1 silver resource in the given example.

In the rare case that he has 3 of his cubes in the same space, after taking 1 bronze and 1 silver resource he can decide which of the two colours the third cube should be.

Obviously, if the player who triggers the pick-up by moving there earns only one resource, the owner of the "parcel" cannot choose, he can only take the same resource as the other player.

The Police Airship

When making your move, it is mandatory to avoid an encounter with the Police Airship. This means that your move cannot touch the 4 zones controlled by the Police Airship in any way. Naturally, this applies to Metro stations and Newspaper stands too. Exceptions to this are: your current "home zone" for the day, i.e. the location where you started your day; or if you received a police card earlier in the current round and it is still on your location card. (Read more details on page 26.)

Recruitment Tiles

Your destination zone, in particular the district to which it belongs, determines whether you can use one of the Recruitment Tiles, and if yes, which one. To use the option, you must make sure to be in the appropriate district as displayed on the tile. (Read more details on page 23.)

Staying in Place

The game also allows you to "stay in place". This happens when you play a location card in your turn for the same district where you currently are (whether or not the cards are placed next to each other in the row). If you decide to stay in place, play the card in the row just as you would do with any other location card. Collect the resources for the merged rings at the location, but you have to cover the coin value at the bottom of the new card with a black penalty token. (Use the reverse side of an unused district token for this purpose). These coins will not be earned at the end of your day, and you cannot play a location card upside down under such a card with a penalty token in order to get an item immediately, because the card has no valid coin value (See page 25). In addition, this action will cost you 1 hour of time to be marked on your Clock.

Note: this restriction is lifted by the ability of District I (green). See more on the abilities on page 35.

You can also finish your move in a zone where an operations centre (house marker) is located. Operations centres allow you to use the resources you have collected in the given location to earn points. (Read more about operations centres on page 16.)

2. Resources and Their Direct Use

The next phase of playing a location card (after moving in the City and advancing the time marker) is to collect resources. Resources are the bronze/silver/gold components, the raw materials for crafting objects. Resources are mainly earned after the matched (bronze/silver/gold) rings where location cards touch. To collect the resource, place one of your marker cubes in the appropriate (bronze/silver/gold) container on your personal board. (If this is not possible because you don't have enough cubes in your stock at that moment, you cannot take any resources.)

Resources are primarily needed for crafting objects (see page 21), but you can also pay with them when toggling action switches or acquiring location cards, or you can exchange them for coins on Action Panel 1 (you get 2 coins for 2 bronze or 1 silver or 1 gold resource). However, you cannot purchase resources anywhere.

The Operations Centres

An alternative use of resources (instead of storing them for later use, e.g. for crafting) is placing them directly on the operations centres.

At the start of the game, there are 3 active operations centres on the City Board (marked with a house), and a corresponding card for each on the Operations Board.

If you enter a zone where an operations centre is located, you may place the resources earned in that turn on the corresponding operations centre card (if there are still available spaces on it), instead of placing them on your personal board (see below).

Operations centre cards have space for 3 or 4 resource cubes of specific colours (bronze/silver/gold), but the spaces can be filled in any order. Anyone can put a resource cube on an operations centre card - so a card can be filled with resources from multiple players.

It is important, however, that only those resources can be placed on operations centre cards which were collected in the current turn and are related to the current location. Resources acquired earlier are not eligible. "Current resources" are primarily those resources which were earned by matched rings on the location cards; however, the number of current resources can be increased after your move by candelabra cards (acquired using Action Panel 7 and played next to the current location card), as well as by the "+1 Resource" action on Action Panel 6, or by resource markers picked up from the City Board.

The resource reward given by a grey bonus disc on the Clock does not count as current.

Resources obtained by any other method cannot be placed on the operations centres, and, naturally, only the active player can place marker cubes on them.

The cubes are not returned to their owners from the operations centre cards until the end of the game.

Earning Points with Operations Centre Cards

If all the spaces on a card are filled by the end of the game, the owners of the marker cubes get the higher number of points on the right side; if the spaces are only partially filled, they get the lower points on the left.

When an operations centre card is completed:

1. Flip the face-down card right below the completed card (where the arrow points). (When a card in the lower position is completed, no further cards are flipped.)
2. On the City Board, place a pneumatic railway station (PRS) marker in the zone where the respective house marker is, and insert the house marker on top of the PRS marker.
3. Take the house marker from the newly flipped card (so far it was on the back of the card), and place it in the corresponding location on the City Board.
4. In the district where the new PRS has just been built, cover the Metro terminus sign with a black penalty disc (if it is already covered, nothing to do). This Metro terminus can no longer be used as a destination of a Metro trip.
5. Flip the next section (2 tokens) of the Metro train on the Operations Board. From now on, these are available to everyone.

Note: The end of the game (the last round) is triggered if all 5 PRS markers have been placed on the City Board.

Further Ways to Collect Resources

• Extra location cards may give up to 1 resource.
• One of the options of the grey bonus discs on the Clock is a resource of your choice.
• The Newsstand action gives a bronze resource or converts existing resources.
• On the City Board, you can also get resources if you have a marker cube on the location where a player (even yourself) is collecting resources (see the details on page 15).
• On Action Panel 1, you can use the actions to convert (a silver or gold) resource to 2 units, giving you an extra resource.
• On Action Panel 6, one of the actions adds +1 resource to a resource collected in the current turn.
• On Action Panel 7, you get a candelabra card which can give you 2-4 resources.
• A unique way to get extra resources is the use of the draw bag - this is how resource cubes are placed on the City Board, referred to above. 3 dice are always drawn when a player carries out the end-of-day process (see page 29).

3. Action Tools and Methods

1. The "Inner" Access with a Gear

After moving in the City, marking the time, and collecting resources, the third phase of playing a location card is resolving actions. The location card itself gives an action if there is a gear icon in the bottom left corner. (In lack of a gear on the card, the ability of District IV may nevertheless give a gear action - read more about district abilities on page 35).

In case of a gear action, you can only activate for free the action panel on which the gear switch is currently positioned. Once you have chosen the action (from the available options) and resolved it, the switch automatically toggles - i.e. you have to move the gear marker to the alternate position.

If you want to access the other, currently inactive gear action, you have to pay for the switching:

• Between Action Panels 1 and 2: with time (move forward one unit of time on the Clock).
• Between Action Panels 3 and 4, and between Action Panels 6 and 7: with a coin (discard 1 coin into the common stock).
• Between Action Panels 8 and 9: with a resource (return 1 resource cube of your colour to your stock).

Then move the gear marker to the position of the selected action panel, and when the action is finished, automatically move it back to the alternate position.

The two action panels at the bottom are also available with a gear icon, but they are not equipped with a switch, so they can always be accessed free.

In this game, actions are the various options offered by the action panels on the Activity Board. These action panels (with three exceptions) are typically accessible in two ways, from two directions:

1. By an internal mechanism on the "inner" side of the panel, activated by the gear icon on the location cards;
2. By an outside, direct impulse triggered by placing action discs in the spaces at the "outer" side of the action panels.

It is up to you to decide the order of the "inner" gear actions and the "outer" actions by action discs. Both methods have their pros and cons.

In addition to the action panels arranged in two columns, this option also applies to the 3 action panels at the top of the Activity Board.

In rare cases you may be able to resolve the same action more than once in a turn (apart from the location cards, a gear icon is also available as a bonus on the first level of the Tower).

2. The "Outer" Access with an Action Disc

If you want to do an action with your own action disc or a white temporary disc, put it in the disc space on the outer side of the action panel. In this case, the position of the switch on the inner side has no effect on the action. However, the number and type of action discs at a given disc space are limited (see Action Discs below): only up to 3 action discs can be stacked on an action panel. Once this limit is reached, no further action discs can be placed there.

At the end of the day, players must always take back their own action discs, while the white temporary discs can be removed from the board using the Reset action (Action Panel 5 - see on page 22). This action lets you discard the white discs (but never the colour ones!) from a chosen action panel; in addition, you can draw a location card in your hand from the top of the deck.

Action Discs

Colour action discs owned by players. At the start of the game, every player has 1 action disc of their own colour. You can use such an action disc in any action space. Since it is usually available to you before your Main Action (playing or selecting a card), you may use it first in your turn, prior to your Main Action. However, you can use only 1 of your own action discs per turn, and you cannot have more than 1 of them on any action panel.

Three ways to get more action discs of your colour:

• When your undercover man's marker reaches the 2nd level of the Tower (see more on page 20).
• When completing your A-card.
• In the Metro token row, under the appropriate symbol for the number of players.

Once you have acquired these action discs, you may use them immediately - unless you have already used one in the current turn. You get your own action discs back at the end of the day; place them in the centre of the Clock face.

Important: at the end of the game, all of your own action discs will be worth 1 point.

Temporary action discs. You may get multiple white temporary action discs in your turn, and these must always be used in the given turn, otherwise you will lose the opportunity they offer. This also means that you can use an unlimited number of temporary action discs in a turn to do actions, even on the same action panel. The only limitation is that only 3 discs can be stacked on a panel.

Temporary action discs are typically earned through Main Actions or movement, but occasionally (if you intentionally move forward on the Criminal Record Track) you may get and use one before starting your turn.

Ways to get white temporary action discs:

• Select it as the secondary option when taking a location card (see page 27).
• Select this option offered by a grey bonus disc on your Clock (see page 14).
• Meet an Agent (or two) at your destination on the City Board (see page 15).
• Complete a "C" goal card (see page 21).
• In your own turn, move forward intentionally on the Criminal Record Track in the 4 positions where the option is available. This can be done only once per turn. You may do this before your Main Action, so you can take the disc and use it to do an action before playing or selecting a location card.

Action Types

There are 13 action panels available on the Activity Board, described below. 10 of these can be activated by gear (in 8 cases the position of the switch also matters - see page 18), and all of them by action discs (as long as there are less than 3 discs on a given panel).

An action panel may offer one or more actions. You can activate one of these and only once, either before or after your Main Action (except for the "+1 Resource" action of Action Panel 6).

If you have no more options for action, and your time marker has not reached or passed the end-of-day mark (6h) on the Clock, the player to your left is next.

Switch between action panels: Where action panels are connected with a switch, always the one with the gear marker on it is active and free. You can switch between them by moving the gear marker, but this has a cost: time, a coin or a resource (see page 18). If there is a time cost, move the time marker on the Clock accordingly. Remember, this can have consequences in your turn: if you reach or pass the end-of-day mark, you must conclude your turn with the end-of-day process. If you reach any of the grey bonus discs, you may choose one of the available bonuses.

1. Conversion or Sale of Resources

If you choose the "Resource Conversion" action, you have the following options:

• convert 1 silver resource to 2 bronze resources
• convert 2 bronze resources to 1 silver
• convert 1 gold resource to 1 silver + 1 bronze
• convert 1 bronze + 1 silver resource to 1 gold.

You also have the option to use the "Sell Resources" action to earn 2 coins in exchange for the following resources: 2 bronze or 1 silver or 1 gold.

Note: this is not applicable in the opposite direction - you cannot buy resources for coins.

After the action, return the cubes you spent to your stock.

2. Bag Action or Tower Action

Bag action. You can choose to drop 2 of your resource cubes from your stock into the draw bag, or the opposite: draw 2 cubes from the bag (one by one). In case of a draw, place both cubes (regardless of their colour) on the City Board: the first cube in the location next to "Bag-2" icon (the zone of the location on the top left card on the Acquisition Board), and the second cube on the location next to "Bag-3" icon (the zone of the location on the bottom right card).

Tower action. Use the Tower action to move your marker (your undercover man) from the base of the Tower to as high up as possible. Each time when choosing this action, you must pay the amount shown on the arrow below the level you want to conquer. This allows you to move your marker up one level. Reaching a new level will earn you points at the end of the game; in addition, the first 3 levels give you a one-time instant bonus when you get there. More than one undercover man can be on the same level. The bonuses are the following:

• Level 1: At the end of the game you get 2 points if your marker is on this level (and you paid 2 coins to move up there). When you reach this level, you get an additional "inner" gear action to be used in the current turn, or it will be lost.
• Level 2: At the end of the game you get 5 points if your marker is on this level (and you paid 4 coins to move up there). When you reach this level, you can take your action disc placed here earlier and you may use it immediately.
• Level 3: At the end of the game you get 10 points if your marker is on this level (and you paid 6 coins to move up there). When you reach this level, take your 2 cubes from the common stock (set aside in the setup phase). Put them in your own stock - they are ready for use even in the current turn.
• Level 4: At the end of the game you get 20 points if your marker is on this level (and you paid 8 coins to move up there). Once you reach this level, you finish the game at the end of your turn. All the other players still have 1 turn, then the game finally comes to an end.

This way, with the Tower action, you can achieve an end-game condition in 4 steps.

3. Craft an Item for a Goal Card

This action allows you to craft an essential item for The Thinkers movement, based on the list displayed on your goal cards, using the resources (raw materials) you have available. (Completing the goal cards is optional.)

The crafting process: In Twilight City, this kind of do-it-yourself activity is called "crafting". With this action, you can do a single crafting operation, using the resources you have available. If you choose this action, take the required resource cubes of the appropriate type (colour) from your personal board, in the composition shown on the Player Aid card, and return them to your stock; then place a cube from your stock on the goal card where the image of the created item is.

As shown on the Player Aid card, you can make two types of items: 2-component (simple) items and 3-component (compound) items. The "A" and "B" cards mostly require 3-component items, while "C" cards 2-component items.

The marker cubes cannot be removed from the goal cards (and usually cannot be relocated) until the card is finished (completely filled). At the end of the game, no reward is due for incomplete cards, and the cubes have no value.

If you have created all the items displayed on a card (they are all covered by a marker), the card is complete and you get the following reward:

• A-cards: they give prestige points at the end of the game, and an action disc of your colour when completed.
• B-cards: they give prestige points at the end of the game, and coins when completed.
• C-cards: they give prestige points at the end of the game, and coins + a temporary action disc when completed.

When an A/B/C goal card is complete, proceed as follows:

• If you have completed an A-card or B-card, remove the markers (return them to your stock), then turn the card face down to indicate it is ready. If you have completed all three goal cards (1 A-card and 2 B-cards), you finish the game with the end of the turn. All other players still have 1 turn, then the game comes to an end.
• If you have completed a C-card, turn the card face down, draw a new "C" card and place it in front of you.

4. Craft an Item for the Demand Token Row

This action allows you to fulfil the demand shown on the next token in the Metro-train row on the Operations Board by crafting the object needed for the sabotage of the underground. The requests on the tokens must be fulfilled in a specific order, proceeding from left to right. The item to be created next is always the token in the leftmost position.

The crafting process is described under the "Craft an item for a goal card" action. With this action, once the item is crafted, take the demand token and put one of your marker cubes from your stock in its place. This marker will not be returned to you from the board. At the same time, crafting the item for the given demand token opens the way to the next demand that anyone can fulfil.

There are two types of demand tokens in the game:

• Object: for assembling the object on the token, you will get the prestige points shown on the token as an end-of-game reward.
• Prestige point: you can pick up these tokens by crafting a 3-component (exclusively) item of your choice.

At the start of the game, only the 4 face-up demand tokens in the first section are accessible. The further 3 sections, each containing 2 tokens, become available when new pneumatic railway stations are built in the City. From then on, another Metro section can be targeted.

The demand token row can also trigger the end of the game. If, in a 2/3/4-player game, you take the token in position 6/8/10, respectively, you will finish the game at the end of your turn. All other players still have 1 turn, then the game comes to an end.

You can also get an action disc of your colour in the demand token row. In the setup phase, each player placed an action disc on the token in position 5, 6, or 7, depending on the number of players. If you fulfil the demand of that token in that particular place, you can take (and may immediately use) your own disc. Then move the rest of the discs to the next space on the right, allowing other players to get theirs next time.

5. Reset

Choose this action to remove the white temporary action discs from the outer disc space of an action panel. In addition, draw a location card from the top of the deck.

You cannot remove players' colour action discs from there. The randomly drawn card will not affect the movement of the Airship, and it cannot be added to the row of cards in front of you even if it has a turquoise icon (as you would normally do after taking it from the Acquisition Board).

The limit on the number of discs also applies to the Reset action panel. When full, the panel can be used with the "inner" gear action mechanism. The action panel can also "reset itself".

6. Change Items or +1 Resource

Change items. Choose this action to move a marker cube on a goal card from one icon to another icon, either on the same card or on a different one. However, you can only do this if the marker cube is originally on a "simple" (2-component) item, and its new position will be on a "compound" (3-component) item. (You may do this action even before your Main Action.)

+1 Resource. You may do this action only after playing a location card (your Main Action), and only if the location card gives you a resource. The action allows you to take 1 (and only 1) more unit of a resource you have earned in this turn.

As this action gives an additional resource at the location where you arrive, you may also use it to deliver the requirements of an operations centre (if there is one at the location).

7. Accelerate or Candelabra Card

Accelerate. Use this action to move your time marker 1 step back on the Clock, as if your move had taken 1 hour less. This way you can delay the end of your day or reduce your excess time beyond the start of the curfew, though it may happen that you will not be able to reach the grey bonus disc.

Example of reducing time: you have 2 hours left before the curfew starts, but the location card you played would take you to a zone 2 steps away. This means you would end your day without having collected enough coins for oxygen. So you choose the Accelerate action to only count 1 step in the time spent. This lets you stop 1 hour before the deadline, so you still have the chance to play a location card in the next turn. Your day will end only after that.

Candelabra card. Choose this action to take a candelabra card, which you must play immediately at either end of the row of cards. Take the resources for any matched rings or place them on the Operations Board on the appropriate operations centre card - if there is one in the zone (see page 16).

Each player can only use one candelabra card per day. At the end-of-day evaluation, candelabra cards are worth -1 coin, and they must be returned to the common stock when the day ends.

Of the resources earned by the candelabra card, only those are considered current (collected at the current location) which result from connecting with the new, current location card.

Two examples of the use of a candelabra card:

1. You still have one of your own discs, so you play it before your Main Action on Action Panel 7. This allows you to take a candelabra card. You must place it in the row immediately when you pick it up, so you put it next to one of the edge cards and get the bronze and silver resources. Then, as your Main Action, you play your location card and move accordingly to the Waterfront zone. You place this new card next to the candelabra, so the second connection is linked to the Waterfront location. You take the silver and gold resources, which can also be used to support the operations centre located here. However, the bronze and silver resources earned with the previous card are not linked to this zone.
2. In this situation, you want to go to the Waterfront zone. Playing the Waterfront location card, you get a bronze and a gold resource - so these are already earned in the Waterfront location. Then you use your own action disc on Action Panel 7 to take a candelabra card. By placing it in the row immediately, you get the bronze and silver resources. As these are also linked to the current location, you could use both on the operations centre in that zone - or even all four units in this turn, and what is not needed goes to your personal board.

8. Buy a Metro Ticket or Move the Police Airship

Buy a Metro ticket. Choose this action to buy 1 Metro ticket for the price of discarding 1 coin. If the action is done before your Main Action, you may use it immediately.

Move the Police Airship. Choose this action to move the Airship 1 step (to the next intersection) for the price of 1 coin. This action itself does not count as a regular "encounter with the Police Airship", so no one has to move forward on the Criminal Record Track, unless a player is caught in the Airship's line of sight (see page 26 for the outcome).

9. Recruitment

Use this action to place a marker cube on one of the Recruitment Tiles at the bottom of the Operations Board. Recruitment Tiles have two sections. The lower section becomes available when all the slots in the upper section are filled. You can place your own marker cube in either section by this action, but while the lower part requires traditional crafting - "simple items" only -, all you need is an available marker cube in your stock for the upper part.

And there is one more condition: you must be in the appropriate district when doing this action. Each Recruitment Tile is associated with a specific district and requests a specific "simple item". The set of tiles, randomly selected at the start of the game, can feature any combination of these criteria: it may happen that they are all linked to the same district or require the same item to be crafted, or they can be entirely different.

Placing marker cubes on a Recruitment Tile. If you choose the Recruitment action when you are in the district shown on the tile, and there is an empty slot available in the tile's upper section, you can use this action to place one of your cubes from your stock in the first empty slot there.

If, in the same situation, a slot is only available in the lower section of the tile, when selecting this action you must craft the required item (these are always 2-component "simple items"). Only then can you place a marker cube on the next empty slot in the lower section.

Evaluation of Recruitment Tiles at the end of the game. The upper section of the Recruitment Tile gives points at the end of the game based on the number of your cubes on it. If you have 1 cube on a given card, it will give you 2 points. If you have 2 cubes, you earn 5 points, but if all three slots are filled by your cubes, you earn 8 points.

The lower section of the tile gives equal points (3/4/5) for each cube - depending on the item that was crafted for the tile.

All players can place cubes on the Recruitment Tiles. The end of the game is triggered if 1 tile in case of 2 players, and 2 tiles in case of 3-4 players have been completed. If you were the one to place the very last cube, you finish the game at the end of your turn. All other players still have 1 turn, then the game comes to an end.

Apart from Action Panel 9, the lower section of the Recruitment Tiles can also be filled by playing a location card "upside-down" as a Main Action, but it must be an extra location card (see page 27).

10. Collect a Coin

Use this action to take 1 coin from the common supply and add it to your own stock. You may use the coin from the current turn. There is no switch mechanism for this action; you can access it any time with an "inner" gear action.

The following 3 actions are not available as "inner" gear actions; they can be activated only with action discs (of player colour or white, temporary). All of them require movement on the City Board, so there is also a cost of time involved (unless the condition is met in the zone where you are standing). These actions can only be resolved once per turn, regardless of whether you would be able to do them repeatedly with additional action discs.

11. Newsstand

In addition to placing the action disc, you must go to the nearest Newsstand on the City Board and move your marker forward on your Clock by the number of steps. You can then choose one of three options:

• get a bronze resource
• exchange a bronze resource for a silver one
• exchange a silver resource for a gold one

12. Ticket Seller

In addition to placing the action disc, you must go to the nearest Metro terminus on the City Board. At the same time, move your marker forward on your Clock accordingly. Then take a Metro ticket and add it to your stock.

13. Police Airship (Report Someone)

In addition to placing the action disc, you must go to the nearest zone on the City Board that is monitored by the Police Airship and move your marker forward on your Clock accordingly.

Then, take 4 coins, move the Airship 1 space in any direction, and draw a police card (-1 point at the end of the game).

The action is an "encounter with the Police Airship", so all players have to move forward 1 space on their Criminal Record Track - including the player who activated the action. In this case, you cannot place the police card on your location card, so the protection does not apply.

If, as a result of the action, the Police Airship has detected one or more player (it has moved to a point where an unprotected player figure is in one of the 4 zones it controls), each detected player takes 1 police card (plus any additional penalties that may become applicable on the Criminal Record Track). Then, all players (including the player who initiated the action) must move one space forward on the Criminal Record Track.

Important: If you are detected by the Police Airship in a location that is not linked directly to the location card you played last, place the police card on your last location card, as per the rule above, but you will be protected in the zone where your figure is actually standing.

Important: As a result of the actions on Action Panels 11, 12 and 13, you will move to a zone that is different from the one displayed on the location card you last played (except in the rare case that you are already in that zone at the beginning of your turn). Nevertheless, in your next turn the options of the current location card will apply, while your movement should be calculated from the actual zone.

A2 - Play a Card Upside Down

In your turn, you may decide to play a location card from your hand upside down under a card already in the row to get a pre-assembled (3-component) "compound item". To do this, the card in the row:

• must be at the end of the row on either side
• must have a valid coin value.

When playing the location card in this manner, the coin icon on the card above and the object icon on the card below will touch to indicate you have bought that particular item for this price. Also, you must be able to use this object immediately either on one of your goal cards (and to mark it with a cube), or in the demand token row on the Operations Board (in the latter case, take the next token and put a marker cube in its place). As a result, you get a specific item without resolving an action or spending any resources on crafting.

Although you remain in place, this Main Action costs 1 hour of time: move your time marker 1 space forward on the Clock.

In addition to this Main Action, you can still do action(s) in this turn by playing action discs (if you have the option).

As a result of the action, the coin value of the card on the top is used up, therefore it is not counted in the total amount collected at the end of the day. Naturally, you can no longer play an upside-down card below such a card that has no valid coin value.

Select a Card (B1/B2)

In your turn, you can decide to select a card as your Main Action instead of playing one. In this case you must always select the card from the display on the Acquisition Board. The cards in the first column are free; they cost 1 coin in the second, and 1 coin plus 1 resource (stored on your personal board) in the third column.

B1 - Take a card in hand. Cards with a brown icon must always be taken in hand. Although you will not move on the City Board, picking a card this way costs 1 hour of time (mark it on the Clock accordingly). Taking a card in hand as a Main Action does not involve movement in the city, but you can of course use a white action disc (if you have earned any) or your own action disc to resolve as many actions as you want or are able to.

Important: If you have taken a card by the B1 method and you are in a zone where an operations centre is located, you cannot place on it any resources obtained by other actions in this turn, because the prerequisite for this is to activate the zone with a location card.

B2 - Select a card and add it to the row. When selecting a location card with turquoise icon, it must be placed immediately in the row of cards in front of you - and not taken in hand. However, in a B2 action the selected card must not be played in the upside-down way.

The cards with turquoise icon essentially count as cards played from hand, so everything else happens the same way as in case of playing a card (see A1 Main Action, page 13): go to the location on the City Board, mark the time spent on the Clock, earn resources for the rings on the card; then you may continue with actions - if you have any action discs.

Remember: location cards with a turquoise icon have no gear symbol, so they don't give an "inner" action (unless the ability of District IV applies - see page 35).

The Selected Card Moves the Police Airship

Whenever you select a card from the Acquisition Board, first of all it will make the Police Airship move in the direction shown in the top left corner of the card.

As the encounter with the Airship is prohibited, make sure not to draw it upon yourself. If there is no more marked space in the given direction, the Airship will stay in place (it never flies to the edge of the City Board).

If, as a result of the move, the area under the Airship's control is extended to zones where one or more player figures are standing, the detected players receive police card(s): 1 card by default, plus 1 or 2 more cards in addition to this base penalty, depending on which level the player is on the Criminal Record Track.

The affected player puts the police card (temporarily) on the location card where they were caught. For some time, this will protect them against further control. The police card will only be removed at the end of the players' own next turn.

Finally, if at least one player was penalised, all players must move forward on their Criminal Record Track (including the one who was detected, the one who made the move, and those who had nothing to do with the event.)

(Illustrated examples: the Orange player's "home" zone; Purple has already been detected once in this round; the Police Airship was moved from the east by Red; Blue is unprotected.)

Note: Those players are exempt from penalty who are detected in their "home" zone or are currently protected by a police card on their location card for the given zone. (Under the protection of the police card, you may even direct the Airship upon yourself as if you were "at home", or you may walk through the monitored zones.)

Two Optional Secondary Actions

After selecting a card, slide the remaining cards on the Acquisition Board to the left (in the direction of the arrows) to fill the gap. But don't replenish the row yet. The icons in the last card slot indicate that the active player still has a decision to make, as selecting a card comes with additional options. As a secondary action, you can choose between drawing one more location card or taking a temporary action disc (the latter is to be used in the current turn).

If you choose a temporary action disc option, take a white disc and use it in the current turn.

Only replenish the empty space in the row once the active player has chosen one of the two optional secondary actions. The missing card has no effect on the decision, but it is a good reminder not to overlook this important phase in the multitude of possible actions.

If you choose to draw another location card, always draw it in your hand, from the top of the deck. This card has no effect on the Police Airship or time. You can play the card from your hand later, regardless of whether it has a turquoise or brown icon.

B3 - Select an Extra Location Card

In your turn, you can choose to select and play an extra location card as your Main Action. This special action is a combination of the Main Action types described earlier.

If you choose this Main Action, you can freely select one of the extra location cards that are still available in the deck.

Differences in playing an extra location card:

• Extra location cards never move the Airship.
• Extra location cards never give more than 1 resource.
• Extra location cards give only 1 coin income.
• Extra location cards never give an "inner" gear action even if the ability of District IV would allow it (see the abilities on page 35).
• Extra location cards only feature "simple" item icons - these are used in case of upside-down play only.
• There is only one matching card for each location in the extra location card deck, and the cards can only be used once, then they are removed from the game.
• Taking an extra location card does not come with the secondary benefits of drawing one more card or taking a temporary action disc.

Despite the limitations, extra location cards can open up great strategic opportunities or even an escape route in certain scenarios.

Just like in case of a card with turquoise icon, never take the selected extra location card in hand. Place it immediately in the row of cards (at either end) or play it upside down under an edge card that has a valid coin value.

If you choose to play the card in the regular upright way, place it in the row as usual. It will function like another location card in every respect - with some limitations.

Extra location cards played upside down. When you take an extra location card, you can immediately choose to play it upside down under another card (unlike regular location cards); this way you can use them to acquire (essentially: buy) a specific "simple" item shown at the top of the card, without an action or crafting. If you choose this option, the same procedure applies as for the upside-down play of cards (see A2 Main Action on page 25):

• Your action costs 1 time on the Clock.
• The coin value of the upper card (under which the upside-down card is played) is lost at the end of the day.
• Place a marker cube on the icon of the item you have purchased either on one of your goal cards or on a Recruitment Tile (if the crafting section is already active and you are in the appropriate district).

If you are unable to cover any icon of the acquired item with your marker anywhere, or you have no marker cubes available, you cannot choose this action. (You can use the 2-component "simple objects" on "C" goal cards and Recruitment Tiles.)

Naturally, if you have an action disc of your own or earned a temporary action disc in this turn, you still have the option to do actions.

The End-of-Day Process

At the end of each turn, check whether you have reached or passed the start point on your Clock (at the 6h position - where the hand is pointing). If so, you have to do a series of tasks to close your day; this is the end-of-day process. Follow the pictogram guide at the bottom of the personal board.

1. Collect Revenues After Location Cards

The first task at the end of the day is to collect revenues. Add up the number of coins shown at the bottom of the cards in the row in front of you.

Important: ignore the coins on the cards that are blocked in any way (covered with a district token or penalty token, or those on cards under which you played another card upside down).

2. Deduct the Price of Oxygen

After adding up the coins on unblocked cards, subtract the current price of the pure oxygen you need to take: this is 6 coins at the start of the game, but goes up to 8-10-12 coins later. If you have earned more money than you need, take the excess in coins (from the common stock). If you collected less, you can make up the difference from the coins you have in your stock. If you still fall short, put a black penalty disc on the Clock for each missing coin starting from the first hour of the next day (7h), but not more than 6 discs - including any penalty discs received after excess time (see Penalties at the End of the Day below).

3. Discard the Played Location Cards

Next, discard all location cards played in the row to the discard pile, with a few exceptions:

• Leave the location card you played last on the table (showing the location where your figure presumably is).
• Pick up those cards that have no trash can but a card icon in the bottom right corner and their coin value is not covered.
• Return the candelabra card to the common stock.
• Return the extra location card into the game box.

4. Replace the District Token

Discard your previous "home" district token and choose a new one matching your current position; place it on the card to cover the coin value. This will be your new "home zone" for the next day. (It may happen of course, that this new location is in the same district or even the same zone as the previous one.)

5. Reset Action Discs and Bonus Discs

Take back all your own action discs from the Activity Board. If possible* (see Penalties at the End of the Day), put the two grey bonus discs back onto your Clock (in the 9h position).

6. Move on the Criminal Record Track

Move one space forward on your Criminal Record Track. In certain situations, this has immediate effects shown by an icon above each position: you can drop two of your marker cubes in the bag, or get a Metro ticket, or take an action disc of your own colour. In other cases, only the price of oxygen or the penalty for an encounter with the Airship increases (+ police card) as you progress.

7. Draw Three Cubes from the Bag

Finally, draw 3 cubes from the bag, one by one, as described below. At the beginning (see under Setup), the draw bag contains 4/6/8 black authority cubes for 2/3/4 players, plus 2 colour cubes per player. To add more of your own cubes into the bag, the best option is to use the Bag action (Action Panel 2). But reaching level 6 on the Criminal Record Track will also allow you to drop 2 cubes into the bag. (You can also use the Bag action to draw 2 cubes from the bag.)

Always draw the cubes one by one:

• If the first cube is black, put it aside; it will be removed from the bag for now. If the cube belongs to a player, the owner can make an immediate decision in which resource container (bronze/silver/gold) to place it on their personal board.
• Put the second cube (whether black or colour) on the City Board in the location displayed on the top left card on the Acquisition Board (Bag-2 icon).
• Likewise, put the third cube (whether black or colour) on the City Board, in the location displayed on the bottom right card on the Acquisition Board (Bag-3 icon).

Then, if the first cube was black, drop it back into the bag. The colour cubes on the City Board provide additional option for collecting resources (see details on page 15).

This concludes the end-of-day process.

Remember: the days in the game are asynchronous between players; it may happen that while a player still plays the first day, another is about to close the second. This has no effect on the events of the game, but it is worth keeping an eye on when the others will be preparing for the end-of-day process, if only for the ritual of the bag draw, as the result can affect the others.

Penalties at the End of the Day

In the end-of-day process, not only the penalties for unpaid oxygen (1 black penalty disc per missing coin) can take away useful spaces on the Clock face, but also the penalties for running out of time (passing beyond the start space at the 6h position.) When this happens, stop your time marker at the start space (6h) and place a black penalty disc on the Clock for each hour in excess of the time limit. This way, penalties for missing coins and excess hours are cumulated; however, the number of discs placed on the Clock cannot exceed 6. The effects of the black discs are the following:

• Your next day starts at the first available hour beyond the black discs (then, put them back in the stock). This means that you have less time left for your activities.
• *If you have 3 or more black discs on the Clock, the 9h space will be covered, preventing you from placing the grey bonus discs on the Clock in the end-of-day process (so you will get no bonuses that day).
• If black penalty discs are placed on the Clock in the final end-of-day process of the game, 2 discs will mean -1 point at the evaluation.

Example: Blue has 3 hours left of the day (3 coins), which he adds to the amount (6 coins) earned on his cards. The total is 9 coins. He adds 1 coin of his own (all he has) for a total of 10 coins. This is less than the price of the daily oxygen (12 coins), so he receives 2 penalty discs, which will mean a -1 point deduction at the final evaluation.

The Final End-of-Day Process

The end of the game is triggered when a player achieves one of the end-game criteria (see page 12). At this point, all other players can still play a full turn.

Short end-of-day process. Before the final evaluation begins, those players who didn't close the day in their last turn will carry out a "short end-of-day" process:

• In this process, you get 1 coin for each space on the Clock between your time marker's current position and the start point (i.e. the time remaining until the end of the day).
• Pay the current price of the oxygen from your revenues earned on the cards and your existing coins as in the usual end-of-day process.
• Take the excess earning, if any, in coins.
• If you cannot pay the amount in full, you receive black penalty discs (1 disc per missing coin).

Solo Game

The Thinkers movement of Twilight City residents is not just an umbrella organisation for lone wolves to act. In fact, smaller or larger groups are also involved in anti-authoritarian movements. In the solo version of the game, you challenge the ruling power as the leader of such a group. A well-coordinated team is much more effective than a lone fighter, but as the government is aware, the risk is greater. A special Investigation Task Force has been set up to track down and dismantle these action groups.

So time is not working for you. Especially not now, when the Governor prepares for the inauguration ceremony for his new term. But right here there might be a chink in the armour! Now you have just three days to hit the enemy where it hurts with your partisans, else you will all end up in the dungeon below the infamous Government Tower. Your goal is to carry out a successful, complex mission - under less than ideal conditions and with no time to lose

Solo Gameplay

Twilight City's solo mode lasts exactly three in-game days. A day proceeds as follows:

• Phase 1 is the player's turn: You can resolve 1 Main Action, which opens up further options.
• Phase 2 is the Government's response turn.
• In Phase 3 a member of the group is activated.

These three phases always take place in that order. If 12 hours (movement points) elapse in the meantime, an end-of-day process must be performed and a new day begins. The mission should be accomplished before the end of the third day, but it only takes one small mistake for the Investigation Task Force to catch you before you can make it.

Solo Setup

The following is a description of the differences from the base game, assuming the player is familiar with the multiplayer rules of Twilight City.

• Demand tokens in the bag. The demand tokens in the Metro train on the Operations Board show the targetable sections of the Metro network, but the tokens are added in the course of the game, not at the beginning. Drop all (18) demand tokens in the draw bag along with 8 black authority cubes and 2 marker cubes of each colour.
• Recruitment Tiles replaced by Investigation Tiles. Time is too short for recruiting; instead, your partisan group will focus on monitoring and obstructing the movement of the Investigation Task Force. In the place of the three random Recruitment Tiles, place the three Investigation Tiles on the board in the appropriate order (1-2-3 from left to right). Place a black penalty disc in the start space to represent the Detective's character.
• Action Panel 13: Police Airship - Report Someone replaced by Phone Booth action. Manipulation by reporting the others is also out of the question; cover Action Panel 13 with the Phone Booth card, which is described later.
• District tokens. Place one district token for each district randomly next to the Activity Board so that the tokens line up with Action Panels 1-5.
• An action disc on the Operations Board. Place only one of your own action discs on the Operations Board in the Metro train row, where the symbol of 4 discs (used in the 4-player game) is displayed.
• Level of difficulty set by operations centre cards. Select the operations centre cards for the desired level of difficulty based on the icons showing the number of players, and use these to fill the 6 card slots in the same way as in the base game:

Level	Cards
Easy	2-player cards
Medium	2 and 3-player cards
Hard	3 and 4-player cards

Assign the remaining player colours to each of the top three (face-up) operations centre cards by placing the corresponding time markers on them, and place an action disc for each on the City Board in the zones corresponding to the cards.

• Player figures. Fix a colour base ring on all of the remaining player figures and place them in the zones marked with their matching colour discs. They will be the members of your group, referred to as Helpers.
• Helpers. Assign the Helpers an area on the table or a bowl where you will keep their common stocks, and fill it up with coins and resource marker cubes in the colour of each Helper, according to the chosen level of difficulty, as follows:

Level	Stock
Easy	1 coin + 2 marker cubes per Helper
Medium	1 coin + 1 marker cube per Helper
Hard	1 marker cube per Helper

Place a police card face up next to the Helper stock.

Solo End-Game Conditions

Any of the following events will trigger the end of the game:

• The Detective character reaches the last space on the Investigation Tiles.
• You reach the last (#10) space on your Criminal Record Track.
• The last (3rd) end-of-day process has been carried out.
• All 4 end-game objectives are met.

Solo End-Game Objectives

Your team's efforts are effective if you can achieve the following goals together in the time available:

• Your undercover man reaches the top floor of the Government Tower.
• On the Operations Board, the entire Metro train is filled with demand tokens.
• You have completed the missions of your A-B-B goal cards.
• The 5th pneumatic railway station is built.

Solo Evaluation at the End of the Game

As the final stage of the game, a special bag-draw phase begins. For this purpose (partially based on the conditions developed in the course of the game) fill the empty draw bag with the following elements:

• 8 black authority cubes
• 2 cubes of the appropriate colour per each (unjailed) member of the group (yourself and the Helpers)
• 1 of your marker cubes for every achieved objective.

Proceed as follows: Draw 3 cubes from the bag four times and evaluate these draws one by one:

• Give The Thinkers 1 point if the black cubes are in the minority (+1).
• Give the Government 1 point if the black cubes are in the majority (-1).

If your total score is higher than the Government's, your mission was successful.

Solo Game Phases

Phase 1: The Player's Turn - Gameplay Differences

• Tower action (Action Panel 2). In a Tower action on Action Panel 2, you may pay all or part of the costs using coins from the Helpers' stock.

• Investigation Task Force action (replaces the Recruitment action - Action Panel 9). As there are no Recruitment Tiles in solo mode, Action Panel 9 is used for crafting items for the Investigation Tiles.

  On the spaces where the Detective moves, you only find 2-component (simple) object icons and general symbols. You can only deliver the demand of the space that is the next destination of the Detective's move. (Take into account that the Detective moves on the tiles 1 or 2 spaces at a time, and you can also create simple objects for these tiles by playing extra location cards upside down).

  Use Action Panel 9 in the usual way (either with an inner, gear action or with an outer, action-disc action), and place the marker cube for the crafted object in the space showing the given item. (In case of a general symbol, you can craft any simple object.) Read more about the consequences on page 32, where false evidence is discussed. (Helpers can also interfere with the Detective's work by crafting false evidence - see their method on page 34.)

• "Phone booth" action (replaces the "Police Airship - Report Someone" action). In the setup phase, you covered Action Panel 13 with the special Phone Booth card. If you choose this action, you don't have to leave your current zone - you can stay informed about developments from a local phone booth: Cover the coin value on your current location card with a penalty token (the black reverse side of a district token) and do the following, depending on the amount covered:

  • For 1 coin, discard the two cards in the third column of the Acquisition Board and draw two cards from the deck to replace them (first in the upper, then in the lower slot).
  • For 2 coins, replace the four cards in the second and third columns of the Acquisition Board in the same way;
  • For 3 coins, replace all six cards on the Acquisition Board.

  Note: you cannot choose a lower-cost option than the one that applies to the coins spent. This action, like those on Action Panels 11 and 12, can only be done once in your turn.

In all other respects, the turn (Phase 1 in the round) is the same as described in the rules of the multiplayer mode.

Phase 2: The Government's Response Turn

Every turn of the player is followed by the Government's response turn. Proceed in the following order:

A. Move the Police Airship. Draw a location card from the top of the deck and move the Airship one step in the direction indicated on it.

If, as a result of the move, the area monitored by the Airship is extended to the zone where your figure or a Helper's figure is standing, move your octagonal marker 1 space forward on the Criminal Record Track on your personal board. You are exempt from this penalty in your "home" zone or if you are protected by a police card acquired in the previous turn; Helpers are exempt in the zone where their colour disc is located.

If any of the Helpers are detected by the Police Airship, place 1 marker cube of each affected Helper from the Helper stock onto the police card next to it. (This will protect the affected Helper until the next Helper phase exactly the same way as the police card does when placed on a location card in multiplayer mode). Also, draw police card(s) for yourself depending on your position on the Criminal Record Track, and place it on your current location card.

You can ignore the penalty for a detected Helper, as well as the movement on the Criminal Record Track, if the Helper is sent to prison. This can happen if at least 1 Investigation tile has been turned to the Prison side and the cell is empty. If you choose this option, move the Helper's figure to the Prison tile, remove all the cubes of this Helper from their stock and from the bag, and also remove the Helper's discs from the boards. This Helper can no longer be used.

B. Action panels blocked. In the lower part of the Activity Board, the two action panels in each row have been assigned to one of the 5 district tokens placed beside the board. Panels 1 & 6 to the first, 2 & 7 to the second, and so on.

Instead of other players' action discs, the Government's penalty discs are stacked on the action panels' outer disc spaces, as follows. Where the Police Airship stops on the City Board, some of the 4 controlled zones typically belong to the same district (so the number of zones of a particular colour is greater). This is called the "dominant controlled district". In case of parity, (there are 2 such point on the board) the player may decide which of the controlled districts should be "dominant".

On the Activity Board, place a black penalty disc on the disc space on the left action panel (with the lower number) in the row of panels assigned to the "dominant controlled district" in the current position of the Airship. The priority is always the panel on the left; but if there are already more discs (of any colour) on the left panel than on the right panel, place the penalty disc on the right panel.

These black discs will function like the temporary (white) action discs in the base game: they take up space, since only 3 discs can be placed on a panel (including the player's own discs), and they can be removed in the same way, by the Reset action.

In the example, District III (purple) is the "dominant controlled district" because it has 2 zones in the controlled area, while the blue and amber districts have only 1. The District III token is assigned to the first row of action panels. As there are more discs on Action Panel 1 on the left, the new disc must be placed on Action Panel 6.

C. Place a new demand token on the board. Randomly draw a demand token from the bag and place it on the zone corresponding to the location card that was drawn for the Government's turn.

Note: only 1 token can be in a zone, so if there is a token in that location already, no further tokens can be placed there.

Phase 3: The Helpers' Turn

A. Update. In the Helpers' phase, first return all colour marker cubes (if any) from their police card to their stock.

B. Activate Helpers. Then, you can activate the Helper who is closest to the Police Airship. If there are two Helpers at the same distance from the Airship, you can choose between them or, if there is at least 1 coin in the Helper stock, you can spend it to activate another Helper instead.

C. Play a location card and move the Helper. Select an available location card for the Helper either from the Acquisition Board (all cards are free for Helpers), or from the deck of extra location cards. The selected card is immediately regarded as played, even if it has a brown ("in hand") icon. First, the card makes the Airship move; then you have to move the Helper figure to the destination.

If the Helper meets a Secret Agent at the destination, the Agent gives a marker cube of the Helper's colour to be placed in their stock. Then send the Agent to another location by drawing a location card the same way as in the base game.

D. The Helper's action. In the destination zone, the Helper can resolve one of the following 4 actions:

1. Take 1 coin (put it in the Helper stock). If there are no cubes of the Helper's colour in the stock, only this option is available.

   To do any of the following actions, there must be a marker cube of the active Helper's colour in the Helper stock.

2. If there is a demand token at the destination, the Helper can produce the item shown on it; to do this, simply move the active Helper's marker cube from the Helper stock to the next slot in the Metro train row, and place the demand token itself below it. (Helpers don't have to craft objects; they can create a 3-component item for the Metro train with each of their cubes.) When making the item for a demand token, the state of the pneumatic railway network must be taken into account, like in the base game: until the second pneumatic railway station is built, only the first 4 spaces can be filled with tokens (and cubes). Each additional pneumatic railway station opens up two more token spaces on the Metro train.

3. If the Helper arrives at the zone where your own figure is, you can choose between two options:

   • Obstruct the investigation: take the active Helper's marker cube from the Helper stock and put it on the Investigation Task Force tile in the space where the Detective will move next in order to hinder the progress of the investigation with the obstacle.
   • Let the Helper assist you with a task: place the Helper's marker cube on an icon shown on one of your (A-B-C) goal cards. (Helpers can produce 2-component items for the Investigation Tiles using any of their marker cubes, without crafting.)
     • If a Helper finishes your A-card, you get your own action disc.
     • If a Helper finishes your B-card, you get the coin.
     • If a helper finishes your C-card, the coin reward goes into the Helper stock and the white temporary action disc, for the time being, goes to the middle of your Clock; you can (and should) use in your next turn.

4. If the Helper arrives at a location where there is an operations centre, this Helper can support it with a marker cube. (The Helpers' marker cubes can be used as any resource, so they can be placed in any of the spaces on the operations centre cards.) If the active Helper has more than one cube in the Helper stock, you can place their cubes in more than one free space.

If, as a result, an operations centre card is completed, the procedure is the same as in the base game: a pneumatic railway station is built and, in most cases, a new operations centre opens up (and a new section of the Metro train becomes targetable). In solo mode, however, you have to move the Helper's time marker to the location of the new operations centre if another card has been turned face up.

After the Helpers' turn, the player's turn follows again.

Solo Rules Summary

1. The player's turn: (Mostly the same as in the multiplayer mode - changes are detailed in the rules)

2. The Government's response turn:

   • A. Move the Police Airship (by card draw).
   • B. Action panels blocked (Based on the dominant controlled district in the Police Airship's position).
   • C. Create new demand (draw a demand token and place it on the board).

3. The Helpers' turn:

   • Activate the Helper closest to the Airship.
   • To activate another (any) Helper, pay 1 coin.
   • Select a location card for the Helper and move the figure in that zone (ignore the time).

   Choose one of the following actions for the Helpers at a location:

   • A. Take 1 coin (any time).
   • B. Place a demand token on the Metro train (if there is a demand token at the Helper's destination and a marker cube of the Helper's colour in the Helper stock).
   • C. Produce an item for your goal cards or for an Investigation Tile (if the Helper meets your player figure in the City and has a marker cube).
   • D. Place a marker cube on an operations centre card (if there is an operations centre in the location and the Helper has one or more marker cubes).

District Abilities

Each player has a "home" zone marked by a token that covers the coin value on their starter card, but it also links the player to a specific district while that location is their residence (this may change from day to day). But the district also gives unique abilities to those players whose "home" is there:

• District I (green): when you remain in place (playing a location card for the same zone as your current location) you don't have to cover the new card's coin value and there is no time cost for your action.
• District II (blue): oxygen costs you 2 coins less on that day (payable at the end-of-day process), and when using the "inner" gear action, you can switch between Action Panels 3-4 or 6-7 for free (the panels where switching would cost a coin otherwise).
• District III (purple): a trip using the Metro will cost you 1 hour less; in other words, you can travel with the Metro at no cost, and pay with time only for the steps on foot. Further, when using the "inner" gear action, you can switch between Action Panels 1-2 and 8-9 for free, where switching would cost time or resources otherwise.
• District IV (red): you can use the "inner" gear action even if there is no gear icon on the card you are playing. (However, it has no effect when playing extra location cards - this district ability does not apply to them.) In addition, at the start of your day, you must place 1 penalty disc on the 12h position on the Clock.
• District V (amber): You get 1 more silver resource after each silver resource earned with the location card or candelabra card you played. (This ability is not applicable to any other resource collection method.)

The Scoring Pad

• Points earned on A-cards.
• Points earned on B-cards.
• Points earned on C-cards.
• The total of points earned on demand tokens from the Metro train.
• Points due on the level of the Tower reached by the undercover man.
• The total of points earned on the operations centre cards.
• Points collected on Recruitment Tiles.
• Every 2 remaining coins are worth 1 point.
• Each of your own action discs you have acquired (including the one you have from the start) is worth 1 point.
• Every 2 penalty discs on the Clock are worth -1 point.
• The total of minus points collected on police cards.