FAQ
34 answered questions19 official
Rules questions from the BoardGameGeek forum. Answers marked Official were confirmed by eggertspiele or the designers.
Common mistakes
- Mixing goods types in one action — one goods action uses coffee, bananas or cotton, not two of them. Ruling · Rule
- Counting the bookkeeper you are using for a book’s bookkeeper requirement — you need another one face up. Ruling · Rule
- Pooling the bookkeeping points of the book you stop on with those of the bookkeeper card — spend each as you get it. Ruling · Rule
- Using a new special track bonus in the same action that unlocked it — it works from your next turn. Ruling · Rule
- Using both special bonuses of one track — the second replaces the first; you use one or the other. Ruling · Rule
- Taking the first player space as first player on your first turn of a round. Ruling · Rule
Showing 34 of 34
How do I know which three cards start in my resting slots?
Your starting tile shows three card icons at its top left. Find those three cards in your starting hand and put one in each resting slot; that is your starting set of resting decks.
Source: BGG thread
In later games, how are the company tracks laid out?
The four track cards decide it: every letter (A, B, C, D) ends up at one random edge of the board, on side 1 or side 2, in any mix. The track belongs to the company whose edge it lies on, whatever its letter.
Source: BGG thread
Does an extra action slot also give me an extra resting slot?
Yes. Each additional action slot you unlock on the diamond or bookkeeping track has a resting slot above it that works exactly like the first three.
Source: BGG thread
Can I flip my starting tile like a book? Do I lose what it gave me? Official
Yes, you may pay 2 pounds to turn it over like any book (its back is a blank book). You keep the starting bonus it already gave you.
Source: BGG thread, follow-up
Must I fill every action slot I have in the Planning phase?
No. You may always place fewer cards than you have slots for.
Source: BGG thread
May other players look through the cards in my resting decks?
The rules do not say. The decks overlap so the top of every card is visible, so what shows is open information; ask before picking up someone else's cards.
Source: BGG thread
Does it matter which resting deck I pick up at the end of round 7, or in which slots I play cards in rounds 6 and 7? Official
No. At the end every card comes back for scoring, and share cards count wherever they are — hand or resting deck. The designer's own group skips the last pick-up.
Source: BGG thread
Does the expansion-card bonus tile have to be used together with my expansion cards? Official
Yes. It counts as an expansion card, so it is part of "use all expansion cards" and is used with them. You do not need any expansion cards to use the tile on its own.
Source: BGG thread
When I reserve a bonus tile, how long do I keep it?
Reserving it is your whole turn; you get it in the Preparation phase and use it next round. At the end of that round it goes back beside the board, even if nobody reserves it again.
Source: BGG thread
Can I use goods cards only to advance on company tracks, without buying a card?
Yes. You may spend the whole unit value on track movement.
Source: BGG thread
Can I combine coffee and bananas in one goods action?
No. One action uses goods cards of one type only. The only exception is track B1's second bonus, which lets you pay for a card with mixed goods.
Source: BGG thread
Can expansion or bookkeeper cards be spent like goods?
No. Only coffee, banana and cotton cards are goods; the other cards are used only for their own actions.
Source: BGG thread
Can I buy two cards from the display with one goods action?
No — at most one card per goods action. You can buy again on a later turn of the same round with other goods cards.
Source: BGG thread
Can I advance on the tracks first and buy a card with what is left?
No. If you buy, the card price comes first; only the units left over move your markers.
Source: BGG thread
Which number on a goods card counts — the big one or the red one?
The big number in the middle is its unit value, used to buy and to advance. The red crate value at the bottom right is only part of the card's price and of what you get for removing it.
Source: BGG thread
Can I take a MAX majority space when nobody has any of that type face up? Official
Yes: all players are tied at zero, and a tie is enough. You gain nothing from it, but you might go there to block it.
Source: BGG thread
As first player, can I take the first player space on my first turn?
No — not on your first turn of the round. On a later turn you may, if it is still free.
Source: BGG thread
The first player space says "use 1 bookkeeping point". Do I gain it? Official
Yes. You receive 1 bookkeeping point and spend it at once.
Source: BGG thread
Can I pay 1 pound for the buy-a-card space and then buy nothing? Official
Yes. You pay the 1 pound when you place the marker and simply waste it; every cost or requirement in the circle is paid or met when you place.
Source: BGG thread
What happens to a card I remove from my hand on a bonus space?
It goes face up on the discard pile and is out of your cards for good.
Source: BGG thread
When can I use the extra bonus markers from track A2? Official
From your next turn, like every special track bonus — not during the action that unlocked them.
Source: BGG thread
A majority space gives me a coin and track movement. Can I take the coin first to pay a capital call? Official
Yes. Rewards of one action may be taken in any order. But the 1 or 2 pounds of a special space on a track come only once you reach it: you cannot use them to pay the capital call that stands before it.
Source: BGG thread, special spaces
Can my ink jar stop on a flipped book?
Yes. A flipped book has no requirement, so you can enter it and stop there, but it gives no reward.
Source: BGG thread
Does the bookkeeper I am using count for a book's bookkeeper requirement? Official
No. The requirement means one more bookkeeper (or a diamond merchant) face up besides the one you are using.
Source: BGG thread
Can I add the bookkeeping points of the book I stop on to those of my bookkeeper card? Official
No. Bookkeeping points are spent the moment you get them: first the book's reward, then the card's. The only points you add together are those of several regions entered in one expansion.
Source: BGG thread, summary
Which books may I place on top of others? Official
Any book may cover an A-book; B- and C-books may cover B- and C-books. An A-book never covers a B- or C-book.
Source: BGG thread
Can I flip a book my ink jar will not reach this turn? Official
Yes, you may flip any book on your track for 2 pounds.
Source: BGG thread
Must I take all the track movement a reward gives me, even into a capital call? Official
No. It is a reward: you may decline it or take only part of it — the same goes for removing a trading post.
Source: BGG thread, partial reward, removing posts
When I advance on two tracks in one action, can money from one pay a capital call on the other? Official
Yes. Move on one track and collect what it gives, then use that money for a capital call on the next.
Source: BGG thread
I have both special bonuses of one track. Can I use both? Official
No, always one or the other. With extra bonus spaces you may put a marker on only one of the track's two spaces each round; another player who has unlocked the other may use it.
Source: BGG thread, two spaces
Is the 1 pound for reaching a special space a one-off? Official
Yes: you, and everyone who reached it earlier, collect it once at that moment. What lasts is the special track bonus you unlocked.
Source: BGG thread
Where does an ousted trading post go? Official
You pick a column of its base that still has room and put it on the rearmost empty space there (never on an emptied final space). If no space is left, it is removed from the game.
Source: BGG thread, no space left
[Cooked] Can I pay the usual 2 pounds to flip a Cooked Books book instead of paying its own cost? Official
Yes, but then its 5 or 10 pounds are gone: a flipped book shows no reward.
Source: BGG thread
[Cooked] Do Cooked Books books score only if my ink jar stops on them? Official
No. Every Cooked Books book your ink jar has reached or passed scores at the end, as long as it is not flipped.
Source: BGG thread