Vegas Showdown Rules - Wizards of the Coast

CREDITSGame Design: Henry SternGame Development: Bill McQuillan andCharlie CasinoAdditional Playtesting: Mons Johnson,Mike Turian, Alan Comer, Scott Larabee,Mike Donais, Ryan Miller, Martin Durham,Peter Whitley, Cal Moore, Matt Stevens,Gwendolyn Kestrel, Jesse Decker, Paul Barclay,Brady Dommermuth, and Bill RoseEditing: Cal MooreArt Direction: Peter WhitleyCover Illustration: David HudnutGraphic Design: Scott OkumuraPhotography: Dan M c CormackBrand Management: Linda Cox (lead) andRachel KirkmanProduction Management: Kay McKee,Raini Applin, and Teresa NewbyThanks to all of our project teammembers and the many others toonumerous to mention who havecontributed to this product.Color of parts may vary from those pictured.©2005 Wizards of the Coast, Inc., P.O. Box 707, Renton, WA98057-0707. Vegas Showdown, Wizards of the Coast, and theirrespective logos are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast, Inc.,in the U.S.A. and other countries. Avalon Hill, Hasbro, and theirlogos are trademarks of Hasbro, Inc. ® denotes Reg. U.S. Pat. & Office. All rights reserved. PRINTED AND ASSEMBLED IN THEU.S.A. PLASTIC CHIPS AND WOODEN PIECES MADEIN CHINA.30095442000001 EN

AGE 12+ PLAYERS: 3–5 DURATION: 75 minutesTable of ContentsOverview 3Setup 4How To Play 51. Drop Prices 52. Flip New Tiles 53. Collect Income 64. Choose Actions 6Bidding on Tiles 6Renovate 8Publicity 95. Adjust Fame,Revenue, andPopulation 96. Pass the TurnOrder Button 9Final Scoring 10Winning the Game 11TMRULEBOOK

You are a multimillionaire.5 Fame MarkersHaving nothing better to do, you and your multimillionairefriends got together and decided to wager on who could designthe most prestigious hotel-casino on the Vegas Strip.And so you began your grand design, starting with nothing butyour brains, an empty shell of a building, and your fortune.80 Money Chips(50 white, 25 red, 5 green)You soon discovered that wasn’t enough.Local construction resources are limited,and you now find yourself biddingagainst your friends to get those resources.17 Large TilesThe competition is fierce and thestakes are high. In fact, the stakesare the very hotel-casinosyou’re building.The winner takesthem all!5 Population Markers5 Revenue Markers26 Small Tiles1 Rulebook(not pictured)33 Event Cards20 Medium Tiles

1 Game BoardGAME COMPONENTS5 Hotel-Casino Sheets5 Bid Markers2 BuildingPrerequisites Charts4 Minimum-Bid MarkersOVERVIEWThe game is played in turns.Each turn, each playerchooses an action to take,most often bidding for andpurchasing a tile.Tiles represent variousrooms, locations, and gamingstations that you can put inyour hotel-casino. They addto your Population, Revenue,and/or Fame total. Populationand Revenue help you collectmore income each turn, andFame adds to your victorypoints.You can earn additional Fameat the end of the game bycarefully placing the tileson your hotel-casino sheetwhen you acquire them,such as by connecting yourhotel entrance to your casinoentrance or creating diamondpatterns at tile intersections.The player with the mostFame at the end of thegame wins.6 No-Bid Markers1 Turn Order Button

PopulationRevenueMarkersSETUP• Put the game board on the table. Stack theRestaurant, Lounge, and Slots tiles face up on thespaces marked for them. If you’re playing with threeFameplayers, remove three tiles on each of those stacksfrom the game.Bid• Each player chooses a color and takes the hotel-casino sheet for that color, along with the Population,Revenue, Fame, and Bid markers of that color.Premier Tiles• Put your Population marker on the “8” space ofthe track on your hotel-casino sheet, your Revenuemarker on the “5” space of the track, and your Famemarker on the “0” space of the score track on thegame board.• The remaining tiles are the “premier” tiles. Thereare three different sizes of tiles and each has an“A” back or a “B” back. For each tile size, separatelyshuffle the B stack and the A stack face down, andthen put the A stack on top of the B stack. Put theresulting three stacks next to the game board.$5$1$25Money Chips• Flip the top tile from each of the three premierstacks and put those tiles on the three emptypremier spaces on the game board not marked“4–5 Players Only.” Each of those spaces has anassociated number track under it used for bidding.On each of the tracks with a tile, put a Minimum-Bid marker on the circular bidding-track numberthat matches the starting-bid price indicated onthat tile.• Put the reference charts near the game board ineasy reach of all players. Shuffle the Event deck andput it face down next to the board.• Choose a player to serve as the banker for the game.That player puts all the money chips within easyreach. This pile of chips is the “bank.”• The banker gives each player $20 worth of chips.• Randomly decide who goes first. Give that player theTurn Order Button.

HOW TO PLAYEach turn, do the following in order:1. Drop prices.2. Flip new tiles (if needed).3. Collect income.4. Choose actions.5. Adjust Fame, Revenue, and Population.6. Pass the Turn Order Button.1. Drop PricesSkip this step on the first turn.The first player (the player with the Turn OrderButton) starts each turn by dropping the prices ofeach premier tile on the game board. To do so, movethe Minimum-Bid marker for each premier tile on theboard to the next-lower circular space (skipping thenext-lower square space). For example, lower a markerthat’s on 18 to 12, not to 15.Symbols on TilesStarting-Bid PriceWhen a premier tilegoes up for auction,put a Minimum-Bid marker on thematching space ofits bidding track.PopulationThis represents thenumber of patronsyou can comfortablyaccommodate inyour hotel-casino,based largely onthe food servicesyou offer.RevenueThis shows theamount of moneyyou can potentiallyearn, given enoughpatrons.FameThe player with themost Fame at theend of the game wins.If you lower the marker from the “3” space, remove thetile on that space from the game.2. Flip New TilesFor a 3-player game, leave the space marked “4–5Players Only” empty for the entire game.In all other cases, fill an empty premier space on thegame board by drawing 1 card from the Event deck.Then, follow the instructions on that card, completingany actions it says to take.Theme BonusFit tiles with thesesymbols togetherto create diamondor partial diamondshapes, earningyou bonus Fame atthe end of the game(see “Final Scoring,”page 10).

If an Event card says you can’t bid on acertain type of tile or take a particularaction this turn, put a No-Bid markeron the affected tiles or action as areminder. If you can’t complete an actionimmediately, leave thecard in play until youcan complete it.After you’ve completedthe Event card action,look at the symbol inthe center of the card.Flip the top tile of thepremier stack indicatedby the symbol and fillan empty premier spacewith it. Then put aMinimum-Bid markeron the circular biddingtracknumber that matches the startingbidprice of the newly placed tile.Small TileMedium TileLarge Tile4. Choose ActionsStarting with the player with the TurnOrder Button, each player in clockwiseorder chooses one of the following actions:1. Bid on Tiles2. Renovate3. PublicitySome Eventcards have specialrules that override thegeneral rules.Repeat the tile-flipping process for eachempty premier space.Discard completed Event cards face upnext to the deck.If you can’t replace a tile because no tilesof the indicated stack remain, then thegame ends (see “Final Scoring,” page 10).3. Collect IncomeThe banker gives each player an amountof money chips equal to the lesser of thatplayer’s Population and Revenue numbers($5 to start).Green chips are worth $25, red chips areworth $5, and white chips are worth $1.How much money a player has is publicknowledge.Once you’ve chosen an action, you can’tchange that action unless you are outbidfor a tile.Bidding on TilesTo bid on a tile, put your Bid marker on thebidding-track space that shows the amountof money you want to bid for that tile.To bid for a premier tile, you must bid anamount equal to or greater than the priceindicated by the Minimum-Bid marker forthat tile. To bid for a non-premier tile, youmust bid an amount equal to or greaterthan the price indicated by the minimumbidspace (in yellow). If another player hasalready bid on a tile you want to bid on,you must bid higher than that player.You can’t bid a higher amount than yourcash on hand, and you can’t bid higher

Green bids 25 for apremier tile. Yellow outbidsGreen with a bid of 29.Green has to wait untilhis turn in the player orderbefore he can bid again orchoose a new action.than the highest space on the biddingtrack. It’s okay, however, to make a bid that’shigher than the minimum-bid price to tryto “lock out” other players from the tile.Each time you are outbid on a tile, youmust wait for your turn to come up againin the player order. Then you pick up yourBid marker and choose an action again(including bidding higher for the tile youwere outbid on, if you want).Bidding is complete once each player hastaken an action and no players have beenoutbid for a tile.The second bidding track for Slots is usedonly in a 5-player game. The two tracksare independent of each other and bidsare made separately on them, making itpossible for two players to purchase aSlots tile in a turn.Purchase & Placement of TilesOnce bidding is completed, each playerwith a bid on a tile pays the bank theamount of the bid, then either placesthe tile on his or her hotel-casino sheet,or puts it to the side for later placement.There’s no limit to the number of tiles aplayer can have off to the side.If you purchase a tile but don’t place it(because you choose not to or you don’tmeet the prerequisites for it), you mayinstead place a tile onto your sheetthat you had earlier put off to the side.Tiles must be placed as follows:You can’t place a premiertile if your hotel-casinosheet doesn’t have anyof the tiles shown abovethe premier tile on theBuilding Prerequisitesreference chart. On thechart, a tile and itsprerequisites are connectedby a white line. Forexample, to place a FancySlots tile, you must havea Slots tile on your hotelcasinosheet. And toplace the Dragon Roomtile, you must have Slotsand Fancy Slots on yoursheet. The number nextto each premier tile onthe reference chart is thenumber of copies of thattile included in the game.You must be able to tracea route along anuninterrupted path oftiles from your yellow(casino) entrance to eachyellow tile you placewithout passing through any tile walls.The same rule applies for blue (hotel)tiles, but hotel tiles must connect tothe hotel entrance. The same rule appliesto green tiles, but green tiles mustconnect to either entrance.

IncorrectPlacementRenovateIn this example, a Lounge was in aposition that wouldn’t have allowedthe blue player to fill her Hotel section.By renovating, she can place theNight Club in a way that fillsher Hotel section.CASINODOORThe FancyRestaurant can’t gonext to the Lounge. It must beconnected to the blue (hotel) entranceby an uninterrupted path of tiles withoutpassing through any tile walls.The Night Club tiles have specialplacement requirements. In addition tothe prerequisites listed above, a NightClub tile must be placed so that one of itsentrances connects to a Lounge or FancyLounge entrance.Once you place a tile on your hotel-casinosheet, you can’t remove it or rearrangeit in any way unless you later take theRenovate action.RenovateTo take the Renovate action, put your Bidmarker on the Renovate space on thegame board. Any number of playersmay choose to renovate on anygiven turn.When you renovate, youmay take 0, 1, or 2 tiles off yourhotel-casino sheet, and then place0, 1, or 2 tiles you own from off yoursheet onto your sheet. You don’t have totake the same number off as you put on,and the tiles you put on your sheetmay be any of the tiles youremoved on previous turns.

Final ScoringOnce the game ends, players score Fame in thefollowing categories:Filled Casino SectionYou score 5 Fame if theyellow shaded section onyour hotel-casino sheet iscompletely filled in with onlyyellow and/or green tiles.Filled Hotel SectionYou score 5 Fame if the blueshaded section on your hotelcasinosheet is completelyfilled in with only blue and/orgreen tiles.Each Full $10You score 1 Fame for eachfull $10 you have in cashat the end of the game.Turn it into the bank afterscoring it. (Keep any leftoveramount in case there’s a tieat the end of the game. See“Winning the Game,” page 11.)Connected Hotel-CasinoYou score 3 Fame if youcan trace a route along anuninterrupted path of tilesfrom your casino entrance toyour hotel entrance withoutpassing through anytile walls.EachYou score 1 Fame for eachthree-quarters diamondshape you have at the endof the game.Highest PopulationThe player with the highestPopulation scores 5 Fame,second place scores 3, andthird place scores 1.Highest RevenueScore this just like Population,except this is for Revenue.1st2nd3rdEachYou score 3 Fame foreach full diamondshape you have atthe end of the game.

GAME ENDThe game ends immediately when either ofthese two conditions applies:A player completely fills his or her hotelcasinosheet with tiles.You try to replace a premier tile, but notiles from the stack indicated by theEvent card remain.Scoring TiesIf two players tie when scoring highestRevenue or Population, they split the Famefor that place and the next place down(round fractions down). Each scores 4 Fameif tied for first place, 2 Fame if tied forsecond, and 0 Fame if tied for third.If three or more players tie for a place, theysplit the Fame for that place and each placedown. Add the Fame for those places anddivide the total by the number of tied players(round fractions down). For example, if threeplayers tie for first, each scores 3 Fame.QUESTIONS?U.S., Canada, Asia Pacific & Latin Americawww.wizards.com/customerserviceWizards of the Coast, Inc.P.O. Box 707Renton WA 98057-0707U.S.A.Tel: 1-800-324-6496 (within the U.S.)1-206-624-0933 (outside the U.S.)U.K., Eire & South AfricaHasbro UK Ltd.Caswell WayNewport, Gwent NP9 0YHUKTel: + 800 22 427276Email: wizards@hasbro.co.ukAll Other European CountriesWizards of the Coast p/a Hasbro Belgium NV/SA’t Hofveld 6D1702 Groot-BijgaardenBELGIUMTel: +32.70.233.277Email: custserv@hasbro.beWinning the GameThe winner is the player withthe most Fame at the end of thegame. If there’s a tie, then theplayer with the most cash leftis the winner. If there’s still a tie,the game is a draw.avalonhill.comKeep these addresses for your records.