FAQ
37 answered questions7 official
Rules questions from the BoardGameGeek forum. Answers marked Official were confirmed by Allplay or the designers.
Common mistakes
- Loan interest is paid at the very start of your turn, before you collect a won Bank auction. Ruling · Rule
- If every delivery-auction bid is $0, run the runoff auction before anyone wins the cargo. Ruling · Rule
- You cannot Call Bank in the turn you trigger the end of the game — before or after the Produce. Ruling · Rule
- Buying out your own delivery pays the Bank and earns no government subsidy. Ruling · Rule
- Open loans at the end cost $11 each off your total — you can finish below zero. Ruling · Rule
- [More] Once any opponent offers you a player loan, you cannot take a Bank loan that turn. Ruling · Rule
Showing 37 of 37
Can I pass my turn or skip one of my two actions?
There is no pass action: you always take two actions. In practice you can spend a turn without changing anything — sail into the ocean and back without using the Anchor action, or take a Reprice action that leaves every container where it was.
Source: BGG thread · BGG thread
Can players hand each other money or make side deals?
Not as a rule. Cash only changes hands through the actions, auctions and loans the rulebook describes, so gifts, rebates and paid promises are not part of the game. Table talk is fine — "buy from me now and I'll buy from you" — as long as everyone treats it as non-binding. Agreeing a trading house rule before the game is up to your table.
Source: BGG thread · BGG thread
Can I build a second factory of a colour I already own?
No. Each of your factories must be a different colour. Allowing duplicates was the "Monopoly" variant of the first edition's expansion; it needs no extra pieces if your group wants to play it as a house rule.
Source: BGG thread
What can I do with no cash, no containers and two loans?
Very little: you cannot buy, produce (wages cost $1) or borrow, so your turns are reduced to moving your ship. The lesson the forum draws is to plan how a loan will be repaid before taking it.
Source: BGG thread
What are the $0 bluff cards for? Official
They hide how many cards you are bidding. If you have decided before the others, you can put your bid face down in front of you without covering it, and nobody can read its value from the number of cards. They have no other effect, and a group that keeps bids secret in another way (hiding them in a hand, as in the first edition) can leave them out.
Source: BGG thread · BGG thread · BGG thread
Do the bidders bid in turn order or all at once?
The rulebook only asks each opponent to place a secret, face-down bid and then everyone reveals together, so order does not matter; bidding simultaneously is quickest. Letting players add or remove cards while watching each other, then revealing when the seller closes the auction, is a popular house rule.
Source: BGG thread · BGG thread
What if every bidder bids $0?
That is a tie, so the tied players run a runoff auction. If they are still tied afterwards, the player delivering the containers chooses which tied bidder wins (or buys the shipment out).
Source: BGG thread
Do I get the government subsidy when I buy out my own delivery?
No. The subsidy is paid only when you accept the highest bid. A buyout means you pay the winning bid to the Off-Shore Bank and keep the containers — no subsidy.
Source: BGG thread
Can I take a loan to bid in someone else's delivery auction?
Yes. Requesting a Bank loan is a free action you may take at any time, even on another player's turn and during a delivery auction, as long as you have fewer than two loans.
Source: BGG thread
Can I repay a loan with the cash from my own delivery auction?
No. Your turn ends as soon as the delivery auction is done, and loans can only be repaid on your own turn after paying interest — so the earliest is your next turn, after one more round of interest.
Source: BGG thread
My ship is already docked at the Off-Shore Bank when I win containers. How do I load them? Official
While docked at the Bank, take a Harbor Purchase action to load any number of containers from your holding area onto your ship. "For free" means you pay nothing for them; it still uses one of your two actions. (You can also sail out and back in and use the Anchor action.)
Source: BGG thread · BGG thread · BGG thread
When I dock at the Bank, must I load all my containers from the holding area?
No. You load any number of them — choose which.
Source: BGG thread
Is there a minimum opening bid in a Bank auction? Official
Yes: at least $1 or at least one container when you start a new Bank auction. Each later bid must beat the current one by at least $1 or one container.
Source: BGG thread
Can containers sitting on the container bid tile be sold, repriced or seized? Official
No. They stay on the tile until their owner wins the auction or is outbid; meanwhile they still count against the storage limit of the district they came from.
Source: BGG thread
How exactly do I spread a payment over the Bank's lots?
$1 (or one container) at a time, starting with lot I and going left to right, back to lot I after lot III, skipping any lot that has an auction token. Make change from the supply first — you may make change at any time. Small payments such as $1 of interest therefore always land on lot I (unless it is being auctioned).
Source: BGG thread · BGG thread · BGG thread
What refills the Bank's lots?
Cash lots get loan interest, the winning bid of a container-lot auction and delivery buyouts. Container lots get the winning bid of a cash-lot auction and containers seized from players who default.
Source: BGG thread · BGG thread
Which comes first on my turn — paying interest or winning my Bank auction?
Interest. Pay loan interest first, then win the auction; you cannot use the winnings to pay this turn's interest.
Source: BGG thread
Can I Call the Bank and then end the game with a Produce action in the same turn?
No. You may not take a Call Bank action in a turn in which you end the game, whichever order you take the two actions in. If your Produce would empty a second colour, you cannot also have called the Bank.
Source: BGG thread
If I take a loan in the middle of my turn, when is the first interest due?
At the start of your next turn. You can borrow at any time (up to two loans) and repay as a free action on your own turn once interest is paid.
Source: BGG thread
What if I can't repay my loans at the end of the game?
You lose $11 for each outstanding loan ($10 plus $1 interest) in final scoring, even if that takes your total below zero. The default rules (seizing containers) are not used at the end.
Source: BGG thread
Where do the three starting Off-Shore Bank containers come from?
From the supply you just counted out for your player count and game length — not from the unused containers in the box. That keeps the same number of each colour in play.
Source: BGG thread
Can Container be played with two players?
No. The game is for 3–5 players; it relies on several sellers and buyers competing.
Source: BGG thread
In the Classic variant, must I take a loan to make the minimum $1 delivery bid?
No. You must bid at least $1 only if you have cash in hand; with no cash you may bid nothing, and you are not forced to borrow.
Source: BGG thread
In the Classic variant, must a runoff bid add at least $1?
No. Your first bid stays on the table; in the runoff you may add $0.
Source: BGG thread
[More] How many player loans can I lend out at once? Official
Three at most — one per player loan card. Once all your cards are lent, you cannot offer another loan until a borrower repays and returns a card. A borrower can still hold only two loans in total.
Source: BGG thread · BGG thread
[More] Can I still take a Bank loan when another player offers me one?
No. When you ask for a loan, any opponent with at least $10 in hand may offer one; if anyone does, your choice that turn is to accept a player loan or take no loan. You go to the Bank only if nobody offers.
Source: BGG thread
[More] Do players offer loans in turn order?
No. Anyone may offer, in any order. If more than one player wants to lend, they compete with an incentive auction.
Source: BGG thread
[More] What happens to an unpaid player loan at the end of the game?
In final scoring you repay the loan plus $1 interest to the lender; whatever you cannot pay, the lender takes from the supply. Loans are settled after your containers have been turned into cash, and the forum reads the shortfall as coming off your own final total, so a player loan costs the same $11 as a Bank loan.
Source: BGG thread · BGG thread
[More] How many normal containers go in a five-player extended game with Luxury Containers? Official
17 of each colour. The expansion rulebook's 13 is a misprint.
Source: BGG thread · BGG thread
[More] Can I trade for a gold container after my second action?
Yes. The trade (two containers from one district for one gold container) can be made once per turn at any time during your turn, including after your second action. Only a delivery auction ends your turn early.
Source: BGG thread
[More] How do gold containers count when I bid containers at the Bank?
Each gold container counts as 1.5 normal containers, so four gold containers (worth 6) beat a bid of five normal ones.
Source: BGG thread
[More] Can a gold-container trade put a colour back in the supply after my Produce emptied it?
No. Once a second colour has run out, the game ends at the end of your turn; trading containers back into the supply does not undo it.
Source: BGG thread
[More] How many Truck Company auctions can run at once?
One, on top of the normal number of Bank lot auctions for your player count. With five players a cash, a container and a Truck Company auction can all be open at the same time.
Source: BGG thread
[More] How many Truck Companies can I own, and can they change hands?
Up to three (you have three trucks). Each company has one owner, and once a player owns it, it never changes hands. So in a game only as many companies as there are players can be owned.
Source: BGG thread · BGG thread · BGG thread
[More] When I start a Truck Company auction, do I name the company?
Yes. You auction a specific independent company — its auction token marks which one — and the winner takes that company.
Source: BGG thread
[More] Who receives the $1 trucking fee on a Factory Purchase?
As the expansion rulebook is read on the forum: the buyer pays $1 to the Truck Company beside the buyer's own board. While that company is independent, the money piles up next to it (the next winner takes the pile); if another player owns it, the fee goes to that player; if you own it yourself, you pay nothing. A pre-release forum explanation had the fee go to the seller's company instead; play the printed rule unless your group agrees otherwise.
Source: BGG thread · BGG thread
[More] Can I use Truck Companies in the Classic variant (no Off-Shore Bank)? Official
There are no official rules for it. Allplay says a house rule works: keep the Truck Company bid tile, reserve tokens and auction token in the middle of the table, and pay winning bids to the supply (containers bid this way leave the game).
Source: BGG thread