Place the gameboard in the middle of the table.

Shuffle the Roof Cards and deal out two to each player. Place the remainder of the Roof Cards in a stack face up near board. Shuffle the Floor Cards and deal out two to each player. Place the remainder of the Floor Cards in a stack face up near the board. Shuffle the Permit Cards and deal out four to each player. Place the remainder of the Permit Cards in a stack face up near the board.

Give each player a STOP Card.

Each player takes one set of Roofs. Each player should take 6 Floors. Each player creates the following buildings on the table in front of him with these 6 Floors and four of his Roofs: a one story building with a round roof, a two story building with a round roof, a one story building with a triangular roof, and a two story building with a triangular roof. Place the remaining Floors in a pile near the board.

Place the Fountains, Amphitheaters, and Temples in the matching spaces on the side of the board.

Decide who will be the First Player during the first Round of the game and give him the First Player Marker.

PLAYING THE GAME

The game is played in 4 Rounds. Each Round has a Construction Phase, an Improvement Phase, a Scoring Phase, and an End Phase.

CONSTRUCTION PHASE. Beginning with the First Player and proceeding clockwise around the table, each player performs one of the following actions.

1. A player may play a Floor Card. He may then take two Floors and use them to add to the heights of existing, incomplete buildings or start one or two new buildings.

2. A player may play a Roof Card. He may then place one of his Roofs on any building he has previously built. This building is then complete.

3. A player may play a Permit Card. He may then place one of his complete buildings on the board in an area matching the color of the Permit Card.

4. A player may PASS. He then performs no actions for the rest of the current Construction Phase.

A player may continue to perform actions as long as he has cards to play, even if all other players have passed.

A player may play any card and not perform the action. For instance, a player could play a Roof Card even if he didn't have any Roofs.

The Construction Phase ends when all players have passed.

IMPROVEMENT PHASE. There are three Auctions each Improvement Phase.

1. In the first and second Rounds of the game, the first auction is for a Fountain, the second auction is for a Fountain, and the third auction is for an Amphitheater.

2. In the third and fourth Rounds of the game, the first auction is for a Fountain, the second auction is for a Fountain, and the third auction is for a Temple.

END PHASE. Beginning with the First Player and proceeding clockwise around the table, each player draws 6 cards. The First Player draws all his cards, then the player to his left draws all his cards, etc. After all players have drawn their new cards, the First Player passes the First Player Marker to the player on his left who becomes the First Player for the next Round.

CONSTRUCTION RULES

1. When a player plays a Floor Card and places his two Floors, once he states he is satisfied, the placement is final and cannot be changed.

2. The player may use the two Floors to add to the heights of existing, incomplete buildings or start one or two new buildings.

3. A building is considered incomplete if it does not have a Roof on it. An incomplete building can have more Floors added to it. However, Floors may never be removed.

4. When a player plays a Roof Card and places a Roof on one of his buildings, the building is then complete and may not be changed.

There are nine areas on the board. Three areas are blue, three are pink, and three are purple.

When a player plays a Permit Card, he may place a building on the board within the following rules.

1. The building must be placed in an area that matches the color of the Permit Card.

2. He must place the building on a vacant space (a small space). Buildings may not be placed on the large spaces or on Fountains.

3. When the first building is placed in an area, it can have either a round or triangular roof. All subsequent buildings placed in the same area must have the same type roof. An area may never contain buildings with both types of roofs.

4. In the three blue areas on the board, there must be one area with round roofs and two areas of triangular roofs, OR one area with triangular roofs and two areas of round roofs. The same is true for the pink and purple areas. In other words, all three areas of the same color may not have buildings with the same type of roof.

5. The first building placed in each area must have one Floor and only one Floor. Subsequent buildings placed in an area must be the same height as the tallest building in the area or one Floor taller. Example: There are two buildings in an area, a building with one Floor and a building with two Floors. If another building is placed in this area, it must have two or three Floors.

There are three Auctions during the Improvement Phase of each Round. Each Auction is conducted within the following rules.

1. Players use any or all of the remaining cards in their hands to bid.

2. Only the numbers on the cards are relevant during bidding. The type of card (Floor, Roof, Permit) has no meaning.

3. All players arrange their remaining cards and their STOP Card in a face down stack on the table in front of them. Cards that are placed above the STOP Card are part of the player's bid. Cards that are below the STOP Card are not part of the player's bid. Example: A player has cards with values 4, 6, 7, and 8 left in his hand. He decides to bid 11 so he places his cards in a stack with the 7 on top followed by the 4, followed by the STOP Card, followed by the other two cards in any order.

4. After all players have arranged their cards, each player turns over the top card on his stack, then the second card, then the third card, etc., until he turns over his STOP Card.

5. If a player does not want to place a bid during an auction, he places his STOP Card on the top of his other cards. So the first card he turns over is his STOP Card.

6. Each player's bid is the total value of all the cards he turned over before he turned over his STOP Card.

7. If two or more players are tied for the highest bid, the tie is broken in favor of: 1) the player who played the highest value individual card, or 2) the First Player or the player closest to the first Player in clockwise order around the table.

8. The player with the highest bid wins the auction. He discards all the cards he used to bid with. All the other players take back all the cards they bid. All players take back their STOP Cards.

There are four Fountains on the board at the start of the game.

When a player wins an auction for a Fountain, he must place the Fountain in any vacant small space on the board. An area may contain any number of Fountains.

During Scoring, each Fountain is worth 1 Point to both the player with the most Floors and the player with the second most Floors.

AMPHITHEATERS

When a player wins an auction for an Amphitheater, he must place the Amphitheater in any vacant large space on the board (there is only one of these spaces in each area).

Each Amphitheater allows players to draw extra cards during the End Phase of each Round. The player with the most Floors in each area with an Amphitheater draws 2 extra cards and the player with the second most Floors draws 1 extra card. Ties are broken using the same rules to break ties during Scoring.

TEMPLES

When a player wins an auction for a Temple, he must place the Temple in any vacant large space on the board (there is only one of these spaces in each area).

During Scoring, players receive double points in areas that contain Temples.

CARD RULES

The number of cards each player has in his hand is public knowledge. However, players may keep the exact type of cards in their hands secret.

When a card is played, it is revealed then discarded face down next to the matching stack of cards. The cards are never reshuffled. When a stack is exhausted, simply turn the discard pile face up.

When drawing cards during the End Phase of a Round, a player draws one card at a time. The next card of each of the three types is always visible which will influence the player's choice of which card to draw.

SCORING

There is a Scoring Phase at the end of each Round.

During each Scoring Round, each of the nine areas on the board is scored. Players score points as follows:

1. First Place Points - The player with the most Floors scores 2 Points plus 1 Point for each Fountain in the area.

2. Second Place Points - The player with the second most Floors only scores 1 Point for each Fountain in the area.

3. If two or more players are tied for most Floors in an area, the player with the tallest building wins the tie and receives the First Place Points and the other players receive the Second Place Points.

4. If two or more players are tied for the most Floors and their tallest buildings are all the same height, all of the players receive the First Place Points and no player receives the Second Place Points.

5. If only one player receives the First Place Points and two or more players are tied for the second most Floors in an area, all of the tied players receive the Second Place Points.

6. If an area has a Temple, the points received for this area are doubled.

7. The number of buildings has no influence. Only the number of Floors matters.