Andy Merritt's House Rules for Sim City - Common Deck Game Only --------------------------------------- Be aware that I mostly play with 2 or 3 players, and sometimes 4, never more. Thus these rules are likely to be best suited for that range. 1) The size of the hand is limited to 10 cards. If at the end of your turn you have more than 10 cards then you must discard down to 10 cards. [This stops ever having huge hands which can be thoroughly [confusing for beginners and can make the game drag as experienced [players attempt to check which of the large number of cards in [their hand is the optimal play. Most of the time this rule [doesn't some into effect. 2) If playing the common deck game, then consider splitting the deck further as follows: One pile for Phase 1 & 2 cards + Phase 3 Power Plants + Council Members One pile for Phase 3 & 4 cards + Events One pile for Long cards You may draw from the Phase 1 & 2 deck anytime You may draw from the Phase 3 & 4 deck in phases 2-4 You may draw from the Long Cards in Phases 3 & 4 [This eliminates drawing unwanted Phase 3 & 4 cards drawn at the [start of the game - which is often a real pain - while not having [to boost the common deck with heaps and heaps of Phase 1 and 2 [cards, in turn are unwanted later on in the game!. Phase 3 Power [plants are in the Phase 1 & 2 deck because they are needed to get [into Phase 3. Council Members are in the Phase 1 & 2 deck to make [the politcs fun as soon as you get into Phase 3. Events are in [the Phase 3 & 4 deck because it seems most appropriate to me. You [may say that these rules are only useful in poorly constructed [decks - but I disagree: they are VERY useful in poorly [constructed decks, and fairly useful even in well constructed [decks! [The two rules above work together towards the same goal- I suspect [that having both is unnecessary - still I like it this way, and [these are MY house rules :-) Anyway what they are trying to do is [make up for either badly constructed decks or poor shuffles of [well constructed decks. Thus I recommend these rules [particularly to less experienced deck constructors. 3) Mayor gets 1 vote + casting vote with 2-3 players 2 votes + casting vote with 4+ players [We found the Mayor was overly strong with 2-3 players, even when [the incentives below for using Event cards are used 4) You may play _one_ event card in addition to placing a block on your turn. [There has been quite a lot of discussion on this, and I am still [100% in favour of making the play of event cards free. However, [be aware that I play the 'common deck' game with a deck which is [constructed to have a relatively small number of events - events [could get overwhelming if you use this rule and have piles and [piles of events! [I also considered the 'play events as soon as drawn and then take [another card and continue your turn' option, but don't like this [as it eliminates an element of strategy from the game - namely [deciding when to play an event card. 5) Entry to Phase 4 Playing up to $200: 5 x Number of players Sims (min 20). Playing up to $250: 6 x Number of players Sims (min 24). [We _never_ got into Phase 4 with the standard rules - but then [again we don't suffer from huge residential zones much, which [makes it harder to get into Phase 4. I also prefer a straight [number of Sims entry condition rather than a more variable [entry condition dependent on having a huge residential zone, [which is after all something to avoid if game play is to be [interesting! 6) Option for added interest: All players start with 2 randomly dealt long cards in their hand, and the game cannot end until the end of a round at a point when: * At least one player has played and/or discarded 2 long cards, and also has reached the winning amount of money. At this point the winner is a player who has played and/or discarded the 2 long cards and of those the one who has most money. Discarding a long card costs $50. You need not play / discard the two long cards you started with - any 2 long cards will do. [This was inspired by Rick Vogel and some other people who [discussed similar schemes! After a game with a previous rule I [changed this to avoid the possibility of negative playing [stopping the game from ending - my last rule variant for this [was broken - sorry if you tried it. 7) Zones and Complexes: * Minimum size of a zone or complex before it counts as a zone / complex is 2. City Services are wild for all zones in the normal way. * The Zone and Complex Bonus are calculated normally, except that only cards which are within 2 blocks of the block being played count as within the complex / zone for purposes of calculating the bonus. [While I have never had _really_ bad problems with huge zones or [[complexes because I play with constructed decks, they do somewhat [spoil the game for me - since adding another residential / [commercial to a big zone is clearly the best thing to do almost [always. Thus I am limiting the bonuses you can obtain - in a way [suggested by others on the list - I like some of the other [suggestions people have made too, but I am happy enough with this [one. Note that starting zones and complexes at size 2 should help [to encourage numerous smaller zones and complexes too. 8) Partially Reuasable Sims - for added strategy and a more complex game. When a block which provides sims is played, place 3 x No. Sims Provided sim points on that block (use dice). Whenever a sim from that block is traced to a card which requires sims, reduce the number of sim points on that block appropriately. The number of sim points on a block may not be reduced below zero. Note - if a block woth sim points on it is upgraded / rezoned / removed then those sim points are lost. Also the original number of sims provided is still used for phase transitions rather than the number of sim points available. Optional: Maximum number of sim points from one zone is 20. You may not add a sim provider to a zone / complex which already has 20 or more sim points available - however it possible to take the total above 20. [This is another rule 'just for fun' - it adds extra strategy since [the city changes more - you can't rely on a single well connected [appartment block always providing sims for a whole commercial zone [- the sims in that block only have so much money! I have played [this and enjoy it - why not try it before condemning it! The [extra optional maximum sim points rule tries to make overcrowded [areas less popular to new sims arriving in the city - it's an [extra option use it if you want! 9) Global Agendas - extra complexity for extra fun [As soon as Individual Agendas (ie. different Agenda for [different players) were mentioned ages ago, I both loved and hated [the concept. They could add a very great deal to the game, but [also I cannot see any way to make them balanced considering that [the 'power' of different agendas would differ radically with each [deck! However, what is possible is to choose a global agenda for [all players at the beginning of the game - this will ensure things [are fair, while still adding a unique element to that game. Here [are a couple of not yet fully tried out ideas: Green City All players start with a pool of 'pollution points', say 5. Whenever a block is played, the player has to spend (the pollution value of the block - 1) in pollution points. If you can't pay for it then you can't play it! Playing 0 or negative polution point blocks gets you pollution points back to use later! Crime Conscious City All players start with a pool of 'crime points' say 10. Whenever a block is played, the player has to spend (the crime value of the block - 1) in crime points. If you can't pay for it you can't play it. Playing negative (are there any ?) or 0 crime point blocks gets you crime points back for later use. 10) Corrupt Council Members - making them corrupt! Change the way in which Corrupt Council Memmbers work to: Corrupt Council Members always vote for any rezone which involves their area of interest as specified on their card. However, for any other rezone vote (ie. ones which do not involve their area of interest), the player who is calling the vote (ie. the active player - only) may choose to bribe any unaligned CCM's $5 each and get their vote. Note it is entirely possible to bribe other people's CCM's to get through your rezone! [I think this will allow more people to get rezoning accepted - [especially in 2-3 player games, which is what I tend to play [mostly. I have not played this one yet, but do intend to!