Board, Tiles and a Turn
The board, building tiles, hotel chains and the three parts of a turn: place a tile, buy stock, draw.
The board and the tiles
The board is a grid of 108 spaces, numbered 1–12 across and lettered A–I down. Each of the 108 building tiles belongs on exactly one space (tile 6F goes on 6F). You always hold 6 tiles, hidden from the others.
Tiles are connected when they touch side by side — diagonals don’t count. A tile or group with no headquarters is independent.
Hotel chains
A hotel chain is 2 or more connected tiles with a headquarters building on one of them. There are 7:
| Chain | Price tier |
|---|---|
  | Cheapest |
   | Middle |
  | Most expensive |
A chain’s share price and its bonuses depend on its tier and its size (the info card). A chain of 11 or more tiles is safe: it can never be acquired.
A turn
Play goes to the left. On your turn:
- Place a building tile.
- Buy up to 3 stock — optional.
- Draw a tile.
Place a building tile
Put one of your tiles on its space. One of four things happens:
- Nothing — it touches no tile: an independent building.
- Found a chain — it touches only independent tiles. Pick any free headquarters from the tray, put it on one of the new chain’s tiles and take 1 free share of it (the founder’s bonus). If no share is left, take its price in cash instead. With all 7 headquarters on the board you may not found an eighth chain.
- Grow a chain — it touches one chain (and maybe independent tiles): they all join that chain.
- Merge chains — it touches two or more chains: see Mergers and Stock.
Buy stock
After your tile and any merger, you may buy up to 3 shares in any active chains — all in one chain or spread out. Each costs the chain’s current price on the info card; say what you buy and pay the bank. Each chain has 25 shares; anyone may ask how many are left in the tray.
You can never sell stock in an active chain, and there are no loans. Without money you still place and draw tiles; you just can’t buy.
Draw a tile
Draw 1 tile to get back to 6.
Unplayable tiles
At the end of your turn you may put aside, face up, any tile that would join two safe chains — it can never be played — and draw that many replacements. A tile that would found an eighth chain is only blocked for now: keep it.