Working Round

Rounds I, II, IV, V, VII, VIII, X and XI: refilling the board, placing Action pawns, resolving the nine locations, abilities without pawns, growth, upkeep, and the Advanced Variant turn order.

The year

The game lasts 12 rounds (months). Each quarter has two Working rounds and one Exhibition round: I–II then III, IV–V then VI, VII–VIII then IX, X–XI then XII. Every round ends with an Upkeep phase.

Start of a working round

1. Fill the empty spaces of locations 2 (Contracts), 3 (Buildings), 4 (Employees) and 5 (Designs) from their decks.
2. Refill the missing tokens on location 9.
3. The First Player passes the First Player token to the left — except in round I and in Exhibition rounds.

The top card of the Contract, Building and Employee decks is always face up: you can’t take it this round, but you can plan for it.

Planning phase

From the first player, in turn order, each player places one Action pawn on a location, until everyone has placed all 3.

• Always on the first free space (leftmost or topmost) of the location.
• With 2 or 3 players each location has 2 spaces; with 4, 3 spaces. The Bank (1) has no limit.
• You may put several pawns on the same location and resolve it several times.
• The extra spaces at each location are for effects that ignore the limit (the upgraded Logistics Office); further such pawns queue up beside them.

Action phase

Resolve the locations from 1 to 9. Within a location, pawns resolve from left to right (top to bottom); each owner resolves the location and takes the pawn back.

• You may always take a pawn back without resolving the location (for example if you can’t afford anything). Buying no Material then means no Quality token.
• All Cash paid goes back to the supply.

Abilities without pawns

Cards marked with a location number work at that location without a pawn. When a location is resolved, first every player, in turn order, uses their abilities for it; then the pawns there resolve. Exception: the Contracts With Real Estate Agent and With Employment Agency resolve after the pawns at their location.

Cards with a pawn icon and a location number work only when you resolve your own pawn there — once per pawn.

Resolving locations

1. Bank

Take a Credit: up to 10 × the number of your Design cards in your most common Style (5 Designs: 1 Casual, 1 Evening, 3 Sport → up to 30). Take Credit cards of that total and as much Cash. Each Credit raises your Upkeep by 10 % of its value (a 10 Credit by 1) and must be repaid in full in the Upkeep phase of the coming Exhibition round (Credits and Loans).

2. Contracts

Take one face-up Contract and place it left of your player board. It is free and has no Upkeep; its ability may be used at once if it applies. It weakens over time (Contracts).

3. Buildings

Take one face-up Building, pay its cost, place it right of your player board and raise your Upkeep. Its ability may be used at once, and an Employee hired this round may sit under it.

4. Employees

Hire one face-up Employee: put it on one of your Starting Employee spaces, or, when those are full, under one of your Buildings. No space? Fire an Employee, paying twice your current Upkeep, or give up the action. Adjust your Upkeep. Its ability may be used at once (Employees).

5. New designs

Take one face-up Design, or the top card of the deck, and put it above your player board. When the deck runs out, shuffle the discards into a new one.

6, 7, 8. Materials

Location	You buy	Prices (green / blue / purple / red / yellow / white)	Quality
6. Local Manufacturer	Any number of one colour	2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 8	+1
7. Warehouse	One of any number of colours	3 / 4 / 6 / 7 / 9 / 12	+2
8. Import	Any number of one colour	4 / 5 / 7 / 9 / 11 / 14	+3

• The Quality tokens come once per action, however many Materials you buy — and only if you buy at least one.
• Discounts apply per piece; no Material ever costs less than 1.
• Keep Materials by your board; you may rest them on Designs as a reminder and move them freely.
• Locations 6–8 can be resolved at the same time to speed up play. Materials are unlimited.

9. Last minute preparations

Take one of what is left there: 2 , 1 , 1 or 5 Cash. Location 9 refills only at the next Working round, so each reward goes to one player per round.

All Q, T and PR tokens gained in Working rounds go on your player board for the coming Exhibition.

Growth phase

In turn order, each player may train one Employee and upgrade one Building: pay the cost shown at the bottom of the card, flip it to its back and adjust the Upkeep track. A card can be trained or upgraded only once; upgrading a Building doesn’t affect the Employee under it.

Upkeep phase

Everyone at once: use Upkeep abilities (an Accountant’s Cash, for example), then pay your Upkeep. If you can’t, take a Loan (Upkeep). Then discard every card left in the rows of locations 2–5 to their four discard piles, move the Calendar marker on, and start the next round.

Advanced Variant

An optional turn order that helps the trailing player. Use the Turn Order tile and tokens instead of the First Player token.