Actions
Worker actions for slaughter, land, construction, advertising, branches, labor, and politics.
Worker placement
Place one worker on an available action space and resolve it immediately. Build and Labor Contract areas have multiple spaces; most other ovals take one worker. A player may use different Build or Buy Land spaces more than once in a year if an open space remains. Retrieve all workers only in Phase III.
Slaughter
Choose a Yard with an animal and an open matching action space. Each player may slaughter cattle, hogs, and sheep once each per year, at most three types total. Remove one animal and compare its current meat value with its livestock price. Gain the difference if positive; pay the difference if negative. You must have cash for a loss.
Buy Land
Pay the listed cost and place your 3-by-2 Land Ownership card over six completely empty Packingtown squares. It cannot cover a building, viaduct, or another ownership card. Land does not block other players from building there; a rival pays you $1 per occupied square. More than one purchase is allowed if a separate action space is open and you can pay.
Build
Choose an available Building card and its matching wooden piece. Place it on empty squares in Packingtown, connected orthogonally to your slaughterhouse through your own or other players’ buildings and viaducts. Pay $1 per occupied square to the bank or landowner; building on your own land costs no rent. Each adjacent building of your colour reduces the construction cost by $1. Resolve the card’s immediate effects, then refill the display.
If the building touches rail connections, move those connections to their matching markets and turn them to the active side. A wildcard connection may use an eligible market slot.
Advertising
National advertising costs $2 and advances Brand Reputation by two spaces. Chicago advertising is free and advances it one space. Apply any meat-value improvements reached on the reputation track immediately.
Establish a Branch House
Pay $1, put one branch in an open city space, and take that city’s immediate reward. A player can have multiple branches in a city if spaces remain. A branch’s end-game score depends on the rail connections to that market.
Labor and political actions
- Wage Increase: pay $2 to return one Low Morale token and lower Union Spirit by two.
- Democratic 8-hour day: return one Low Morale token and lower Union Spirit by three while Democrats hold office.
- Republican branch action: pay $3 to place two Branch Houses, in one city or two; resolve each city reward. Available only under Republicans.
- Campaign: gain the printed savings bonus. In Phase III, take the First Player marker and choose the next year’s party.
- Labor Contract: gain the printed cash reward.
Build a Viaduct
Pay the construction cost and place a viaduct on an eligible empty grid space. Pay land rent if another player owns the square. Unlike buildings, a viaduct does not get the adjacent-building discount. Viaducts can connect your network to rail tokens.