Gamehelplostcities

The Deck

• There are 5 suits (yellow, blue, white, green, and red; each corresponding to one of the coloured expedition maps on the centre board).
• Each suit consists of 12 cards: 9 cards numbered 2-10, plus 3 investment cards marked with a handshake symbol.

Play

• Each player maintains a hand of 8 cards.
• There is a shared draw deck.
• You will sort your cards by suit, by tucking them under your side of the centre board.
• Your opponent will do the same on their side of the centre board.
• Each expedition map on the centre board represents a discard spot for the corresponding colour.
• Both players use the discard piles jointly.
• On your turn, you must:
  1. Add one card from your hand to a suit, by placing it below the corresponding colour on the centre board OR discard one card to the appropriate discard pile on the centre board.
  2. Draw the top card from the shared draw pile OR from a discard pile on the centre board.
  • Both actions are mandatory.
• Cards must be added in ascending sequence.
• Number gaps are permitted.
  • e.g. 3-5-6-9 is allowed
• Investment (handshake) cards are played before the corresponding suit cards.
  • i.e. in the same position where one would play a card numbered 0
  • Investment cards can no longer be added to a suit after the player has added any numbered card(s) to the suit.
• Players need not embark on all 5 expeditions (colours); only those that are embarked on by a player count toward that player's score.
• The round ends immediately when the last card is picked up from the draw pile.
• The game continues until the players have completed three rounds (or the number of rounds selected during game setup).

Scoring

Your score for each round is the sum of the points you scored for each of the five expeditions, counted as follows:

1. Take the sum of all your numbered cards in the expedition
2. Subtract 20 if you played any cards to it (including investment cards)
3. Multiply the result from step 2. by (number of investment cards + 1). Note that the negative values is also multiplied!
4. Add 20 if the expedition contains 8 or more cards