Designed by Wolfgang Kramer
Published by Franckh
Transcription by David Sidore
Stick the 4 stickers for a Concern on 1 building block. This represents the parent house of the Concern.
Place the 8 Concern chips on the blue start space on the scoring chart.
Place the 8 Parent houses and shares next to the board.
Place the 92 building counters in the bag.
The 90 building cards are shuffled.
Each player receives the 2 property flags of their color, 30 million as starting capital and 12 building cards (to be kept secret from other players).
When it is your turn you have 2 choices: you may either play a building card or buy one.
(1) If purchasing a building card then pay 5 million to the bank and take the top card from the draw pile. No other actions may be taken this turn.
(2) If you play a building card you can either found a Concern, or increase the size of a Concern. In addition, you can buy up 2 shares of any founded Concern or acquire the Concern founded or increased.
Founding a Concern: You may found 1 Concern per turn. To found a Concern, you must first play a building card (ground plot card with a number). A building counter is placed on that spot and the Concern's parent house is put on top of it. The player of the card then adds 2 more building counters to the Concern either on each side of it or both on the same side of it. IMPORTANT: The founding player must not have possession of either of the cards relating to the plots so covered. These cards are not necessary for the founding of the Concern. Once the Concern has been founded, there must be at least 3 empty plots between it and any other neighboring Concern.
The appropriate Concern chip is now placed on the scoring chart to indicate the current value of the Concern. The value of the Concern is measured by the number of building counters it contains (not counting the parent house). Therefore, a newly founded Concern will always have a value of 3. The founder of the Concern receives its value as a one time payment. Note, the Concern does not belong to him. See Acquiring a Concern below.
Increasing the size of a Concern: Each player may increase the size of a Concern regardless of whether it belongs to him or not. This may be achieved in one of two ways: extending the Concern vertically or horizontally. If extending horizontally, a player must play a ground plot card with a number for a plot adjacent to the existing counters of the Concern. To extend vertically, a player may either play the ground plot card for a plot that already has one or more counters on it or by playing an appropriate Story [Etage] card. In each instance, a counter is added atop the plot.Once the increase has been completed, the value of the Concern is adjusted based on the level of the piece played. Thus, adding to the ground or first floor adds 1 to the value of the Concern. A second story piece adds 2 to the value, and so on. [Note: the rules I am copying, in fact, merely say increase the value of the Concern by 1, but I have always played that the increase was relative to the level of the piece placed]. The player responsible for the increase receives a lump sum payment equal to this new value. He may now buy shares or acquire the Concern.
Buying a share: A player that has played a building card may choose to buy 1 or 2 shares from any founded Concern or Concerns. These need not be Concerns that the player already owns or has had dealings with in the past. These shares cost either 5 million or the current value of the Concern, whichever is the greater. Shares may not be sold once bought.
Acquiring a Concern: A player may only acquire a Concern if he founded or extended that Concern during that turn. A player pays 15 million for the first Concern he buys and 30 million for the second. No player may own more than 2 Concerns. Place the player's property flag on the parent house once it has been purchased. No Concern may be sold once bought. Owning a Concern is equivalent to owning 3 shares in the Concern.
Merging: When the space between 2 Concerns is covered by a building that is extending one of the 2 Concerns then the larger of the 2 Concerns takes over the smaller following the following procedure:
Play the appropriate plot card and place the building counter on the plot. The increasing player decides which Concern the new building counter will belong to and that Concern has its value increased by 1. The larger Concern now swallows the smaller. If they are equal then the player responsible for the merger decides which gets swallowed. Shareholders and the owner (if any) of the swallowed company receive the current value of the Concern from the bank for each of their shares in the compan (with the owner being paid as if he had 3 shares).
The value of the swallowed Concern is now added to the value of the larger Concern and its Concern chip is moved on the scoring chart to reflect this. The player responsible for the merger receives a lump sum payment equal to the new value of the larger Concern. Finally, the Concern chip, parent house, shares, and owner flag (if any) are removed from the game permanently. It can not be re-founded.
IMPORTANT: No Concern may ever be valued at more than 50.
No building cards: If all of the building cards have been sold then a player on his turn must attempt to play a building card if possible. If this is not possible then the player may undertake no other actions this turn. Once a player has played all of his available building cards when there are none left to buy has no other option but to pass for the rest of the game.
The game ends when either all of the building cards have been sold and all players have passed in succession [which strikes me as highly unlikely] or when all of the building counters have been placed on the board.
Each player still holding building ccards pays 5 million into the bank for each card held. Players receive the value of the appropriate Concern for each share of stock they hold in it, with owners being paid as thought they held 3 shares.
The player with the most money wins.