Build houses on your personal three streets. Players share the same choices of house numbers and actions, but will pursue their own strategies. Show your strategy is the best by scoring the most points.

Setup

Each player has their personal game sheet. The top half of the sheet contains the three streets, each divided into several houses. The bottom half of the sheet is for scoring.

Your game sheet is for your own use only. Players never write on other players' sheets.

In every game, there are 3 shared city plans, numbered no.1 (blue), no.2 (yellow), and no.3 (red). These are goals that players may compete for points.

In addition, there is a deck of 81 construction cards. Each construction card has a number (1-15) on the front face, and an effect (6 possible effects) on the back face. Certain numbers and effects are more common than others; see #Construction card breakdown for a full table.

Game overview

The following describes the basic game. See #Variants for game variants that may change some aspects of the game.

The game is divided into turns. Every turn, all players play simultaneously. The game continues until one player triggers the end of the game.

Each turn follows these steps:

1. 1. New construction cards are revealed. There will be 3 number/effect pairs.
2. 2. Choose one of the number/effect pairs, and write in the number on one of your empty houses.
3. 3. Optionally, use the effect on your chosen pair.
4. 4. You may complete any city plan.
5. 5. All players' choices are revealed. Check if the game ends.

1. New construction cards are revealed

The construction cards are divided into 3 stacks of 27 cards each, initially showing the number side. Every turn, the top card is flipped over, turning it into the effect side while revealing the next number side.

Note: The number side of each card also shows its effect side on the corners. Because of how the cards are flipped, this means the effects on the corners are exactly the effects you'll see next turn.

If the decks run out, the top card of each discard pile (showing the effect sides) is kept, and all other cards are reshuffled to make new piles.

2. Choose a number/effect pair and write its number

Choose one of the three available number/effect pairs. Then choose one of your empty houses, and write in the number in that house.

Your house numbers must follow this rule: house numbers on a street must be strictly increasing from left to right. Duplicates are not allowed. However, gaps are allowed, including gaps that wouldn't be able to be filled with numbers. Also, numbers do not have to be consecutive; e.g. it is legal to put a 10 to the right of a 7.

You must write in the number. It is not legal to choose a number/action pair and then not write in the number.

If any of the numbers among the number/effect pairs can be written, you must choose a number/action pair. If you cannot, you will have to take a permit refusal. (See #Permit refusal below.)

3. Optionally, use the effect

You may use the effect of your chosen number/effect pair. Effects are always optional; you don't have to use the effect if you don't want to.

See #Effects for a list of all effects.

4. You may complete any city plan

If you satisfy the conditions for a city plan, you may complete it. Completing a city plan is always optional; you may choose to postpone it for a later turn if you wish.

Each city plan comes with two point values. The first player to complete a particular city plan scores the higher amount of points. If multiple players complete the city plan in the same turn, all of them score the higher amount. After this, any other player that completes the city plan will score the lower amount of points. (On BGA, city plans are displayed under each player on the sidebar. If a player completes a city plan first, they have a "1" for that city plan. If they complete a city plan later, they have a "2" for that city plan.)

If you complete a city plan and this is the first time any player completes a city plan, you may also choose whether to reshuffle the construction cards or not. If you choose to reshuffle, all construction cards are gathered together and reshuffled into 3 new piles. (This also causes the effects for next turn to be completely unpredictable.)

This option is only available the first time any player completes a city plan; there is no reshuffling option afterward. If multiple players complete a city plan at the same time, the cards are reshuffled if any one player chooses to do so.

See #City plans for more rules about city plans.

A player completing all 3 city plans is one of the game-end triggers.

5. Check if the game ends

Steps 2-4 above are all done simultaneously, and each player doesn't know what the others are doing. Once all players are finished with the turn, everything each player does is revealed. (On BGA, there is an animation showing which houses are filled by which player. Also, you can click on each player to see their game sheet.)

The game ends when any player satisfies any of the following game-end conditions:

• • They have 3 permit refusals.
• • They complete all 3 city plans.
• • They fill all houses on their sheet.

If the game doesn't yet end, a new turn begins following the same steps.

When the game ends, each player's score is tallied; the player with the highest score wins. See #Scoring for details.

Permit refusal

If you cannot do step 2 (write in a number) of your turn, you must take a permit refusal. Cross off the smallest uncrossed number in your permit refusal area, and skip steps 2-3 of your turn. (You can find the permit refusal area in the rightmost column in the bottom half of your game sheet; it is the lower one of the two tracks.)

You may still do step 4 (complete a city plan). You will also do step 5 (reveal and check game end) with the other players.

A player having 3 permit refusals is one of the game-end triggers.

Effects

There are 6 effects. Remember that all effects are optional.

Surveyor (white fence)

Surveyor allows you to draw a fence between two houses. This divides your houses into estates of various sizes.

When you use a surveyor effect, draw any fence between two houses, if they are not yet connected by a line (see below) and if they are of different numbers (see "bis" effect below). You may draw any legal fence regardless of where you wrote your house number. (There are also free fences on the far left and far right of each street.)

A completed estate is a series of completely numbered houses (no gaps) in a single street, with a fence on the left and the right.

Estates may only be up to 6 houses in size. A series of more than 6 houses is not an estate, it has to be split up. On the other hand, even if an estate is already 6 houses (or fewer) in size, it may still be further split up.

Estates are often used to complete city plans. If some houses are used to complete a city plan, there will be a horizontal line drawn above the houses. Surveyor may not be used to draw a fence between two houses connected by a horizontal line.

Agent (purple arrow)

Agent allows you to improve the value of all estates of a specific size.

On your game sheet, the agent area contains 6 tracks, corresponding to estates of sizes 1-6. When you use an agent effect, cross off one of the numbers on any track. In each track, you must cross off numbers from top to bottom. (The bottom-most number of each track cannot be crossed off.)

The value of an estate of a certain size is equal to the top-most (smallest) uncrossed number of its track.

Landscaper (green trees)

Landscaper allows you to build parks on streets.

Each street has several parks, marked with circles on the far right of the street. When you use a landscaper effect, look at the street where you wrote your house number. Cross off the left-most park circle on that street. (The right-most number is not in a circle and cannot be crossed off.) At the end of the game, you will score the left-most uncrossed number from each street.

Note that there is a significant jump in score if you manage to cross off all park circles on a street. If all park circles on a street have been crossed off, further landscaper effects on this street do nothing; you cannot cross off parks from other streets.

Pool manufacturer (blue pool)

Pool manufacturer allows you to build pools for certain houses that can support them.

Some houses have a pool above them. When you use a pool manufacturer effect, look at the house where you wrote your house number. If it has a pool, circle the pool and cross off the smallest number in your pool scoring (found on the bottom half of your game sheet). At the end of the game, you will score the smallest uncrossed number from your pool scoring.

You may use a pool effect on a house that does not have a pool, but it does nothing. You may write a number on a house with a pool even though its effect is not pool, but that means the pool will never be circled.

Temp agency (orange construction)

Temp agency modifies the house number you're writing. Unlike all other effects, temp agency applies when you're writing the house number (step 2).

When you choose a number/effect pair with a temp agency effect, you may add or subtract 1 or 2 from the house number. For example, if you choose number 12, you may write a house number of 10-14.

House numbers may go as low as 0 (it is not allowed to write -1), and as high as 17.

In addition, cross off one space in your temp agency area (found on the bottom half of your game sheet). At the end of the game, players receive bonus points based on how often they use their temp agency.

Special case: Remember that you must write a number from the number/effect pairs if possible, but using an action is always optional. If there is a number/effect pair with a temp agency effect, where you cannot write the number normally, but you would be able to write the number using temp agency, it is allowed to decline using the temp agency, in case you prefer to take a permit refusal.

Bis (red mailbox)

Bis allows you to write duplicate numbers on the same street.

When you use a bis effect, choose a house adjacent to one of your numbered house with no fence in between. Write the same number, followed by a "b". (If a house is adjacent to two numbered houses, you may choose which number you're duplicating.)

For the purpose of the increasing order rule, duplicates made by bis are considered to still be in increasing order.

Duplicated houses may never be split by a fence. That means, when you duplicate a number to an adjacent house, there may not be a fence between them; and in the future, you may not draw a fence between these two houses any more.

In addition, cross off the smallest number in your bis penalty (found on the bottom half of your game sheet). At the end of the game, you will lose points equal to the smallest uncrossed number from your bis penalty.

Remember that effects are optional. You don't have to use the bis effect if you don't want to, and you only have to take the bis penalty if you decide to use the bis effect.

City plans

At the beginning of the game, there are 3 city plans. All players compete for the same city plans, and they are not removed or replaced during the game.

All city plans in the standard game ask you to have estates of certain sizes. To complete such a city plan, you must have the required estates on your game sheet. In addition, houses may not be re-used between different city plans. To show this, estates that are already used for city plans will have a horizontal line drawn above its houses.

When you choose to complete such a city plan, draw a horizontal line above all the houses in each estate used.

Estates may appear anywhere on your game street. There is no requirement on which street(s) they must appear on.

Variants of the game may use city plans that do not refer to estates. As a general rule, if a city plan refers to houses, then the houses are "used up" and cannot be reused for other house/estate-related city plans. If a city plan refers to something else (pools, bis numbers, etc) that a house might have, the house is not "used up". See #Variants for more information about game variants.

Each city plan comes with two point values. The first player to complete a particular city plan scores the higher amount of points. If multiple players complete the city plan in the same turn, all of them score the higher amount. After this, any other player that completes the city plan will score the lower amount of points. (On BGA, city plans are displayed under each player on the sidebar. If a player completes a city plan first, they have a "1" for that city plan. If they complete a city plan later, they have a "2" for that city plan.)

If you complete a city plan and this is the first time any player completes a city plan, you may also choose whether to reshuffle the construction cards or not. If you choose to reshuffle, all construction cards are gathered together and reshuffled into 3 new piles. (This also causes the effects for next turn to be completely unpredictable.)

This option is only available the first time any player completes a city plan; there is no reshuffling option afterward. If multiple players complete a city plan at the same time, the cards are reshuffled if any one player chooses to do so.

Scoring

At the end of the game, your score is calculated from the following. (These are in the same order as they appear on the bottom half of your game sheet, from left to right.)

• • City plans: You score points for each city plan you complete. If you're the first player to complete a city plan, you score its higher amount of points. If you complete the city plan later, you score its lower amount of points. If you don't complete a city plan at all, you score nothing for it.
• • Parks: For each street, you score the smallest uncrossed number for its parks.
• • Pools: You score the smallest uncrossed number in your pool scoring area (based on how many pools you've circled).
• • Temp agency: All players with the most crossed spaces in the temp agency area score 7 points each. All players with the second most score 4 points each, and all players with the third most score 1 point each.
• • Estates: You score points for every completed estate. The value of each estate of a specific size is the smallest uncrossed number on its track. (Remember, estates must be fully numbered to score, and estates can only be up to 6 houses in size.)
• • Bis: You lose points equal to the smallest uncrossed number in your bis penalty area (based on how many bis effects you've used).
• • Roundabouts: This penalty does not exist in the base game. In the advanced variant, you lose points equal to the smallest uncrossed number (based on how many roundabouts you've built).
• • Permit refusals: You lose points equal to the smallest uncrossed number (based on how many permit refusals you've taken).

The player with the most points wins. In case of a tie, the player with the most completed estates wins. In case of even further ties, the player with the most completed size-1 estates wins, then size-2, then size-3, etc.

Variants

The following variants can be chosen during setup. Only one "board" variant can be chosen in a game, but otherwise all of them are compatible with each other.

• • Advanced variant
• • Expert rules
• • Board: Ice cream truck
• • Board: Christmas lights
• • Board: Easter eggs

The advanced variant has additional city plans for no.1 and no.2. They are shuffled with the other city plans, and may or may not appear in a game.

Each board has additional city plans for no.3. They replace the base game's no.3 city plans, so one of them will always appear in a game.

Advanced variant

In the advanced variant, you have access to an additional action: build a roundabout. If you wish to build a roundabout, you do this before step 2 (choosing a number/effect pair) of your turn.

To build a roundabout, choose an empty house. That house is turned into a roundabout, represented using a circle with a dot. In addition, cross off the smallest uncrossed circle in the roundabout penalty area. At the end of the game, you will lose points equal to the smallest uncrossed number in the roundabout penalty area.

A roundabout separates its street into two parts. Each part must individually have strictly increasing numbers, but the numbering resets on the roundabout; the left part does not have to be smaller than the right part.

You may only build a total of 2 roundabouts during the game (represented by 2 circles in the roundabout penalty area), and you may only build 1 roundabout each turn. You may build a roundabout even if you cannot write a number afterward. Building a roundabout is always optional; however, if you build a roundabout, you might end up being able (or unable) to write a number/effect pair, and must take your turn (or take a permit refusal) accordingly.

A roundabout also comes with a fence to its left and right, similar to how streets have fences on the far left and far right of them. This may create estates. A roundabout is never a house and does not count for anything that references houses (or estates of size 1).

Advanced city plans

In an advanced variant game, city plans no.1 and no.2 may use the advanced city plans. Some notes:

• • All no.2 advanced city plans refer to pools and parks. These do not refer to houses, and thus do not use up houses. A house whose pool counts for one such city plan may still be used for another city plan.
• • Two no.1 advanced city plans require building all houses on a specific street. These do use up the houses, and its estates cannot be split further. (And note that estates are only up to 6 houses in size.) Roundabouts on the street are allowed and count toward the city plan.
• • One no.1 advanced city plan requires building the left-most and right-most houses on all streets. These do use up the houses. Unlike all other city plans, this city plan marks the houses individually. An estate containing one such marked house cannot be used for a city plan, but the marked house can be split off with a fence, and the remaining estate can still be used for another city plan.

Expert rules

In the expert rules, the rules for choosing a number/effect pair are completely changed. Each player has their own cards to choose from.

At the start of the game, each player is dealt 3 construction cards. For step 2 (choosing number/effect pair), you choose one card for its number side and another card for its effect side.

In step 5 (reveal and check game end), you also pass your third card to the next player. This causes you to receive one card from the previous player. You draw two new cards, so you have 3 cards to choose from for the next turn.

It's unclear what happens when the deck is reshuffled, but it seems that any leftover card in players' hands remain and are not reshuffled.

Expert rules do not have their own city plans, they simply modify the rules to choose a number/effect pair. They also introduce asymmetry to the game, since players have their own cards.

Board: Ice cream truck

The board features some ice cream trucks, and houses may now request ice cream (indicated by ice cream by each house, with 1 or 2 scoops).

Each street has an ice cream truck, starting from the left or right of the street. For the bottom street, you may choose where the ice cream truck starts from, at the moment you write the first number on that street. Trucks will only move in one direction along the street, and will never backtrack.

When you write a number on a street, its truck may move along the street. If your number is further ahead than the truck, the truck will move until it stops on the house you numbered. (The movement is represented by drawing a line underneath the houses.) If the house has an ice cream, circle the ice cream. In addition, the truck skips any house in between; cross off any ice cream on those houses.

If you circle or cross off the last ice cream on a street, the truck on that street has finished its run. If you are the first player to do so for this street, circle the bonus at the end of the street. (Like city plans, if multiple players do so in the same turn, all of them get the bonus.) All other players cross off the bonus, meaning they can no longer obtain this bonus for the street. However, their respective trucks may still continue their runs, and trucks on other streets aren't affected. For the bottom street, there is only one bonus available for all players, even if they choose to move their trucks in different directions.

Roundabouts are not houses. Placing a roundabout does not move the truck, and ice cream on a roundabout can never be collected.

Scoring

You score additional points as follows:

• • Ice cream scoops: 1 point per scoop on circled ice creams. Note that some ice creams have 1 scoop while others have 2 scoops.
• • Truck bonus: If you get the truck bonus on a street, 1 point per circled ice cream (not scoop) on that street.

City plans

• • Two plans require estates that have (or don't have) ice cream cones. These refer to ice cream scoops in houses of that estate only. They count ice cream cones, not ice cream scoops. Remember that collecting ice cream is mandatory if the truck stops on that house.
• • One plan requires all ice cream cones on a street. Since it does not refer to houses, its houses can be used for another city plan.

Board: Christmas lights

You may draw Christmas lights underneath the houses.

Whenever two house numbers are consecutive (difference of at most 1) or equal (using bis effect), they are connected together with Christmas lights. (This is represented by a curved line underneath the houses connecting them.)

A string of Christmas lights is a series of houses, all connected together to the next in this way. A string must be of length at least 2 houses; if there is no connection at all, there is no string.

Roundabouts are not numbers. They will always break a string.

Scoring

You score additional points as follows:

• • Christmas lights: For each street, you score points equal to the longest string of Christmas lights on that street, counting the houses connected by it. If you have multiple strings, only the longest counts; if you have multiple longest strings, count one of them.

City plans

• • One plan requires estates, each of which has houses connected with Christmas lights. For each estate, its houses must all belong in a single string. The two estates themselves may or may not be connected together.
• • One plan requires estates, each of which has houses that are not connected with Christmas lights. Note that drawing Christmas lights is mandatory if the house numbers are suitable. The houses on the ends of the estate may be connected outside the estates.
• • One plan requires all houses on a street to be connected in a single string. Since it does not refer to houses, its houses can be used for another city plan. Roundabouts do not count; a roundabout on a street will cause this city plan to not be completed for that street, even if the roundabout is on an end of the street.

Board: Easter eggs

Some houses have 1 or 2 eggs on them. You have to circle these eggs using your house numbers.

When you write a number on a house, its "holes" may circle the eggs on that house. It is legal to write a number that does not circle the eggs (or circles fewer eggs than there are), but in that case, the eggs not circled on that house will be lost.

The following table lists each possible house number and how many eggs they can circle. As a general rule: Digits 6 and 9 can hold one egg each. Digit 8 can hold two eggs (one for each hole), and digit 0 can also hold two eggs (it's large enough to have two).

Duplicated numbers can hold eggs as normal. The "b" part of a bis effect doesn't hold any egg.

Roundabouts are not numbers. They cannot collect eggs.

Scoring

You score additional points as follows:

• • Easter eggs: Count up the number of eggs you collected. You score 5/10/20/35 points for collecting at least 6/10/14/18 eggs. (Only the largest score counts.)

City plans

• • Two plans require estates that have (or don't have) eggs. These refer to eggs in houses of that estate only. Remember that collecting eggs is mandatory if the number is suitable.
• • One plan requires all eggs on a street. Since it does not refer to houses, its houses can be used for another city plan.