The board represents the New York Chinatown of the mid-60's. It is divided into 6 districts containing buildings numbered from 1 to 85.
A game is played over 6 rounds. In each round, the players receive income from the businesses they have managed to establish. To generate the maximum income, shops of the same type need to be built on adjacent buildings.
At the beginning of each round, players draw new Building cards and new Shop tiles. They must then use their negotiation skills to acquire adjacent buildings and establish businesses.
But it is not always that easy... In this game where everything can be negotiated, only the hard laws of the market prevail.
Object of the Game
The player with the most money at the end of the 6th round wins the game.
Components
- 5 English Player Aid cards
- 85 Building cards
- 80 Money cards
- 90 Shop tiles
- 1 First Player card
- 150 Ownership markers
- 1 Year marker
- 1 game board
- 1 linen bag
- 15 blank Shop tiles
Setup
- Place the game board in the middle of the table.
- Each player selects a color (red, yellow, green, white or purple) and takes the 30 corresponding markers.
- Each player receives a Player Aid card: on one side you will find the number of Building cards and Shop tiles the players receive at the beginning of each round and on the other side, the money received for each business built, depending on its size.
- Each player receives $ 50,000. The remaining Money cards are sorted out and placed next to the game board as the bank.
- The Shop tiles are put in the bag, which is then placed next to the board.
- The Building cards are shuffled and placed face down in one pile next to the board.
- The Year marker is placed on "1965" on the Chinese calendar located on the lower right side of the board.
- The last player to have visited a Chinatown ( New York, Montreal, Paris, etc ) receives the First Player card.
Shop Tiles
The tiles represent different types of shops that could be found in the New York Chinatown of the 1960's.
Each Shop tile has a number (3, 4, 5 or 6) that indicates the number of adjacent tiles (touching orthogonally, never diagonally) needed to complete a business to its maximum size.
In the game, each type of tile includes 3 more copies than its maximum size. For example, there are 6 Photo tiles and 9 Restaurant tiles in the game.
A player builds a business by placing a Shop tile on a vacant building space on the game board. You can then increase the size of the business by adding other Shop tiles of the same type on one of the vacant buildings.
The size of a business can vary from 1 to 6. The closer the size of the business is to its maximum size, the more income it generates at the end of each round.
Game Play
A game is played over 6 rounds. Each round represents one year. The game begins in 1965 (Year of the Snake) and ends in 1970 (Year of the Dog).
Each Round Is Divided Into 6 Phases:
- Deal Building cards
- Draw Shop tiles
- Trades
- Place Shop tiles
- Earn income
- Move Year marker one space
1. Deal Building Cards
The owner of the First Player card distributes new cards to the players, according to table below. These cards represent the numbered building board. There are 85 buildings devided into 6 districts.
| Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 players | 7/5 | 6/4 | 6/4 | 6/4 | 6/4 | 6/4 |
| 4 players | 6/4 | 5/3 | 5/3 | 5/3 | 5/3 | 5/3 |
| 5 players | 5/3 | 5/3 | 5/3 | 4/2 | 4/2 | 4/2 |
Proceed According To The Following:
- The number of cards varies with the number of players and the round in play.
- Each player receives the highest number of Building cards (the one on the left).
- The second number represents the number of cards that each player must keep.
- The remaining cards are discarded.
- The discarded cards are put back into the draw pile and re-shuffled for the next round.
- Each player reveals the Building cards they kept and puts a marker of his color on each corresponding
- building on the board. Once the markers are placed, the cards are discarded from the game.
Example: In a 4-player game, each player receives 6 Building cards at the beginning of the first round. They must discard 2 cards of their choice and keep 4 cards to play the round.
2. Draw Shop Tiles
Starting with the first player and continuing clockwise, each player draws new Shop tiles from the bag. The number of tiles every player must draw is shown in the table.
Proceed According To The Following :
- The number of tiles drawn varies with the number of players and the round in play.
- Each player draws as many tiles as indicated by the red number.
- Shop tiles are kept face down until every player has drawn their tiles.
- All Shop tiles are revealed simultaneously, so that trading can begin at the same time for all players.
3. Trades
In this phase, anything goes! Only the laws of the market prevail. All negotiations and trades take place simultaneously. Players can trade with the player of their choice; they can even trade with more than one player at the same time!
A player can intervene in any negotiation at all times. Anything can be traded and negotiated: buildings (with or without Shop tiles on them), Shop tiles and money, in any combination or quantity.
When a building is traded (with or without a Shop tile on it), the owners must change the Ownership markers accordingly. A marker that is taken off the board returns to the player's supply.
Negotiations continue until all players have agreed to move on to the next phase.
Important: Once Placed On The Board, A Shop Tile Can Never Be Moved Or Removed Until The End Of The Game. However, Ownership Of The Shop May Change During The Game.
Example: Chang (red) offers Lucy (yellow) his Tea House (built on the board) and $ 10,000 for her 2 Dim Sum Shop tiles and building #20.
Lucy agrees to the deal, gives her 2 Dim Sum Shop tiles and takes the $ 10,000. Chang's red marker is removed from the board and replaced by one of Lucy's yellow markers. Lucy now owns 3 adjacent Tea Houses. The yellow marker is replaced by a red one on building #20.
4. Place Shop Tiles
Starting with the first player and continuing in clockwise order, each player places/builds the number of Shop tiles he wants. To build a shop, a player must place a tile on a vacant Building that he owns on the board.
It is very important to place an Ownership marker on the Shop tile once built. A player can build his shops in the order he chooses or decide to pass and not build anything during this phase.
A player may add a Shop tile next to a group he already owns. Adjacent Shop tiles of the same type (touching orthogonally, never diagonally), belonging to the same player, form a Business.
Example: Lucy owns 3 adjacent Dim Sum tiles. She therefore owns a Dim Sum business of size 3. She can, in later rounds, add new Dim Sum Shop tiles to that business.
However, adjacent tiles of the same type, but owned by different players, are distinct businesses.
Example: 4 Tropical Fish tiles are placed together, side by side. Chang (red) owns 3 and Simon (green) only 1. Chang has a business of size 3 and Simon one of size 1.
If later in the game, Simon trades his shop with Chang, the latter will then own a Tropical Fish business of size 4.
When a player has placed more Shop tiles than the maximum size of the business (as displayed at the bottom of the tile), they are then considered 2 seperate businesses: one business with the maximum number of tiles, and the other with the remaining tiles.
Example: Chang owns 5 adjacent Photo Shop tiles. He owns 2 Photo Shops: the first one composed of 3 tiles (maximum size) and another one of 2 tiles.
5. Earn Income
At the end of each round, players earn money for each business they have on the board. The Shop tiles that have not yet been placed and the empty Building sites are not worth anything.
A player is selected to act as banker and distributes to each player their income according to the following:
| Business | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| incomplete | 10,000 | 20,000 | 40,000 | 60,000 | 80,000 | - |
| complete | - | - | 50,000 | 80,000 | 110,000 | 140,000 |
Income is distributed according to the size of the business (from 1 to 6 tiles) and its state (complete or incomplete). A business that reaches the maximum number of tiles (as indicated) is considered complete and earns the most money.
For example, an Antique Shop composed of 6 tiles is considered complete, while a Dim Sum of 4 is not. A complete Dim Sum business is composed of 5 adjacent tiles.
Income example: At the end of the third round, Simon owns the following shops:
Simon receives $ 50,000 for his complete Seafood business but only $ 40,000 for his Laundry (size 3) since it has not yet reached its maximum size. The 2 Factory shops are considered separate businesses since they are not adjacent one to another.
Simon receives $ 20,000 for the first Factory business and $ 10,000 for the second one. The 2 factories may later be joined to form only one if Simon builds a Factory tile on building site 55 in later rounds.
Important: Money owned by the players must be kept secret during the game.
6. Move Year Marker One Space
At the end of each round, a year is completed and the Year marker is moved onto the next space of the Chinese calendar.
End of the Game
The game ends at the end of the 6th round, when the Year marker is on the 1970 space (Year of the Dog). The players receive their last income for every one of their businesses.
The player with the most money wins the game. In case of a tie, the player with the most Shop tiles on the board wins.
Suggestion
Instead of removing the Building cards from the game, it is useful to keep them in front of you while playing the game. When buildings are traded, exchange the Building cards along with the Ownership markers on the board. This way, if markers are moved accidentally during the game, it is easier to find their original place.
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