MetrÓpolis
Rule Book
Rule Book of Metropolis
1 Introduction
Metropolis is a game that involves the challenges that are associated with traffic management in a
metropolitan area. This version is located in the metropolitan area of Belo Horizonte. Throughout the game,
the competitors will have choices that involve the administration of financial resources, they will try to decrease
the number of accidents and the amount of traffic in their city and, at the same time, they will have to worry
about their public opinion.
2 Goal
The winner of Metropolis is the person that, at the end of twelve rounds (months of the year), reduces the
accidents and the amount of traffic the most. The two scores (traffic and accidents) are added together and the
player with the lowest score wins. If any player can get to zero points in accidents and traffic before the twelfth
round, they will be declared the winner.
3 Playing Metropolis
The players raffle the cards that are going to represent the cities throughout the game. Each player receives
6M$ (Six Metropolis) that represents their budget for January. At the end of each turn, the player receives the
budget for the following month. The players also receive four cards with initiatives. The player that has
Betim/Ibirité starts the game. The second person to play is the player that controls Contagem. The third owns
Ribeirão das Neves/Vespasiano; the forth is Santa Luzia; the fifth, Sabará. Finally, the sixth and last player
oversees Nova Lima/Brumadinho.
Order of the Players
Order of the players
First
Second
Third
Forth
Fifth
Sixth
Cities that they represent
Betim/Ibirité
Contagem
Ribeirão das Neves/Vespasiano
Santa Luzia
Sabará
Nova Lima/Brumadinho
One piece is put on the board and it represents the meeting with the governor of the state and the Federal
Government. This piece should be on zero. Put the other pieces on the months of the year. Each should be
even with January. Additionally, all of the players start with their pieces on eighty for accidents and amount of
traffic. And all of the players start with seventy points for popularity.
Actions of the players: the competitors perform four actions, explained below in letters A, B, C and D.
A) Initiatives: After receiving the monthly budget (in the first round, as previously stated), the players will
perform their initiatives. If they have enough funds, the participants can carry out the four actions. If the
contestant does not complete their actions, because of a lack of funds or bad strategy, they can keep the
same initiatives or discard them. None of the players can have more than four action cards at one time.
Because of this, discarding cards is also a strategy. They should discard the action cards in this turn.
Action cards of the same kind CAN be used in the same turn.
Chart of the initiatives
Actions
Cost in Cost
of Reduction
M$
public
of
opinion
accidents
1M$
No cost
-2
accidents
Reduction
Money
of amount earned
of traffic
0
0
Signs
3M$
No cost
-1 km
0
Educational
Campaign
Traffic agents
2M$
No cost
0
0
1M$
No cost
-2
accidents
-3
accidents
-2
accidents
0
0
Bus station
Intercity route
10M$
2M$
No cost
No cost
0
0
- 5 km
-1 km
0
0
10M$
or 7M$
Meeting with 2M$
the governor
of the state
No cost
0
- 6 km
No cost
0
0
Meeting with 3M$
the
federal
government
No cost
0
0
Speech in the No cost
Chamber
No cost
0
0
Transit tax
No cost
-10 public 0
opinion
0
Restrictive
Laws
DUI
checkpoints
No cost
- 5 public -2
opinion
accidents
No cost
-2
accidents
-1 km
No cost
- 1km
Radar
Subway
1M$
Checkpoints
2M$
of
traffic
information
-2
accidents
0
Other observations
For every three radars,
starting from the third, the
owner receives a permanent
1M$ rise per month.
For every three traffic
agents, there is a reduction
in traffic by two kilometers.
Observe
the
rules
of
connection
0
Observe
the
rules
of
connection
+5M$ in the The meeting can only occur
next
if there are still resources
month’s
from the state government
budget
and, at the same time, if the
popularity of the player is
equal or above 51.
+7M$ in the The meeting can only occur
next
if there are still resources
month’s
from the federal government
budget
and, at the same time, if the
popularity of the player is
equal or above 51.
Permanent
raise
of
1M$ in the
monthly
budget
Permanent
raise
of
1M$ in the
monthly
budget
For
every
three
DUI
checkpoints, there is a
permanent raise of 1M$ in
the city’s budget.
The checkpoints can only be
put in one of the town’s exits.
The player can have, at
most, three of these.
Government
Propaganda
3 M$
No cost
0
0
0
Increase five points in the
public opinion.
Rules for the initiatives that allow connections between cities
The two initiatives that allow the connection between cities are the Intercity Routes of Buses and the Subways.
When a player chooses to make a connection, they will be helping another contestant. At the same time, they
will also be opening a possibility for the other player who was connected to contribute as well, reinforcing a
cooperative relationship that will be beneficial in a bi, tri or even multilateral way. An Intermunicipal Connection
must occur depending on the availability of intercity exits. Each county has nine connection possibilities: three
with the main city (Belo Horizonte), three with a neighboring county and three more with another neighboring
county.
First Scenario: The player chooses to make a connection with a neighboring city that does not have other
connections. This initiative will allow the benefits of the action to be utilized by the neighbor, so that both of you
may reduce 1km of traffic amount.
Second Scenario: The player chooses to make a connection with a pre-existing line in the neighbor’s territory.
This action allows the contestant to reap benefits proportional to the amount of connections integrated to the
line to which it was connected. Observe the organization chart below:
Ribeirão das Neves/Vespasiano
Contagem
Belo Horizonte
Betim/Ibirité
In the organization chart above, the player that oversees Betim/Ibirité makes a connection with a pre-existing
network of two connections: Belo Horizonte-Contagem and Ribeirão das Neves-Contagem. As a result, the
Betim/Ibirité line will have a multiplier effect in its benefits, reducing the contestant’s amount of traffic by three
kilometers. The following players reduce one more kilometer. This happens because of the network increase
provided by the new connection. It is important to state that two county exits cannot be connected to the same
neighbor’s exit. Each city exit must be connected to one of the three passages shared with the neighbors, as
the organization chart shows: (Intermunicipal exits are the paths that connect two cities)
.
Contagem
Intermunicipal exits
Correct connections: each with one county exit
Intermunicipal exits
Betim/Ibirité
Belo Horizonte is a neutral territory. However, its central position gives it an important role regarding the
intercity connections. Look at the result of this complex intermunicipal connection:
Ribeirão das Neves/Vespasiano
Santa Luzia
Contagem
Belo Horizonte
Betim/Ibirité
Sabará
Nova Lima/Brumadinho
In red, there are the connection possibilities of the player who owns Sabará. This player will use the Intercity
Route of Buses card. They can make some choices:
First choice: To make a connection with a vast pre-existing network, through Belo Horizonte or Santa Luzia.
The vast network, represented by the black arrows, already has six connections. The seventh connection will
reduce seven kilometers in Sabará’s traffic amount (the other cities involved have already reduced their
kilometers throughout the assembly of the network).
Second choice: Sabará can make a connection with Brumadinho. This connection will reduce one kilometer of
traffic amount for both cities involved.
Third choice: The player that controls Sabará can make a connection with Belo Horizonte or Santa Luzia, but
they can only use the intercity exits that are not integrated with the intermunicipal network of buses. In doing
so, the cities involved reduce only one kilometer of traffic.
The broadest network has twelve connections. Ironically, a city cannot build an Intercity Route of Buses and,
at the same time, be fully inserted in this network. Since each county has three intermunicipal exits, the
maximum of intercity connections that can be on the board is thirty-six.
Belo Horizonte is an articulator. A Route of Buses directed to Belo Horizonte will benefit only one player,
because this city is a neutral territory. However, a line directed to Belo Horizonte allows the connection of all
the counties that are in the game. Therefore, putting and managing Intermunicipal Routes is one of the main
strategies in Metropolis.
Organization charts that present the broadest connection of Intercity Routes possible (12
connections):
Ribeirão das Neves/Vespasiano
Santa Luzia
Contagem
Belo Horizonte
Sabará
Nova Lima/Brumadinho
Betim/Ibirité
Attention:
If the contestant that has Sabará makes the move shown by the red arrow, their benefit will be the same as
the benefit of the other players: -1km of traffic amount. This type of choice, as previously stated, is only
strategically viable in very specific conditions, for example, the immediate achievement of the goal.
Ribeirão das Neves/Vespasiano
Santa Luzia
Contagem
Belo Horizonte
Betim/Ibirité
Sabará
Nova Lima/Brumadinho
Rules that allow the connection of subways (km) between cities
The subway connection rule is simpler than the Intercity Routes connection. The subway can be built in
spaces that are not associated with the municipal roads, because it is an underground mode of transport. The
subway, different from the Intercity Routes, can be built only within the county’s territory. In this case, only the
city that built it will get the benefit: -6km in traffic. However, the subway can also be built in the neighboring
line. In this second case, the two cities connected can reap benefits. It is important to point out that there can
only be TWO independent lines of subway per county. In this way, the expansion of the network tends to
favor the counties that are already integrated with it. Look at the organization chart:
Ribeirão das Neves
Contagem
Belo Horizonte
Betim/Ibirité
Even if the player wanted to, Ribeirão das Neves could not be connected to Contagem, because this city has
already two subway lines. This association would only be possible if Contagem was linked, through the
installation of more subway kilometers, to the Betim/Ibirité-Contagem line and the Contagem-Belo Horizonte
line. In this way, both lines would turn into one.
If a county is connected to another county’s pre-existing line, the player can reap benefits proportional to the
length of the line they just built. Example: A one kilometer line of subway of Betim/Ibirité is integrated to a preexisting line of three kilometers of subway in Contagem. In this case, Betim/Ibirité reduces twenty-four
kilometers of traffic and Contagem reduces six kilometers.
Subway connections with Belo Horizonte:
The subway linked to Belo Horizonte must be placed on the neighboring limit of the city that is making the
connection. The previous map shows a similar connection between Contagem and Belo Horizonte. After
connecting to Belo Horizonte, the subway kilometers built on the same line will cost 7M$ instead of 10M$,
because Belo Horizonte will subsidize a portion of the costs. If the player that owns Contagem, for instance,
takes the opportunity and connects Contagem to a Ribeirão das Neves line – that is also linked to Belo
Horizonte -, they can expand their subway network for lower costs. This action will also benefit Ribeirão das
Neves.
Pay attention to the position of the subway line on the board. After the line is placed, it cannot be modified. For
this reason, you should not complain if another player makes a movement undesired by you.
B) After the initiatives, the players are going to take cards with events.
The events can be positive or negative. The probability for both is 50%. Each event appears four times in the
pack. Altogether, there are seventy-two event cards. The chart below shows the possible cases:
Negative Events
Event
Crater
Celebrity’s death on the road
Drain obstruction
Damage on the signs
Sensationalism
Fall of tree
Growth of the fleet of vehicles
Excessive pendulum migration
Town center – Suburb migration
Cost
- 2M$
- 3 of public opinion
-2 M$
-2 M$
- 3 of public opinion
- 1 M$
+ 2 Km of traffic amount
+ 2 monthly accidents
+ 2 Km of traffic amount
The cards that involve financial costs must be paid immediately. If the player does not have the funds, the
event card will stay atop the monthly budget card. In the next round, the amount is discounted from the
monthly budget and the card returns to the pack.
Positive Events
Event
Benefit
NGO’s campaign: Preserve Life
- 2 monthly accidents
Popular campaign: Give a ride to your - 1 km of traffic amount
neighbor
Donation from private company
+ 2 M$
Bike rack
- 1 km of traffic amount
Celebrities compliments to the traffic
+ 3 public opinion
Eulogistic journalism
+ 3 public opinion
Extra federal budget
+ 2 M$
Extra state budget
+ 2 M$
Suburb-Town Center migration
- 2 km of traffic amount
C) After taking and fulfilling the event cards, the player will take new initiative cards.
It is important to point out that the player cannot keep more than four initiative cards.
D) Receipt of the monthly budget.
The player must receive the budget for the following month. They must observe eventual changes in the
budget, such as: definite increase or decrease or costs from the event cards.
E) From Belo Horizonte to you.
At the end of each month, before the next round, the contestants take a “From Belo Horizonte to you” card.
These cards are proposals or impositions that apply to all the players. In December, the “From Belo
Horizonte to you” card should not be taken.
If the card taken requires an increase or decrease in the monthly budget, the addition or subtraction should be
immediately done.
Public Opinion
Public opinion is not a factor that determines victory. However, indirectly, public opinion can favor or hamper a
player’s strategy. The player that gets to twenty points of public opinion will be impeached and lose the game.
The competitor that has fifty points or less of public opinion cannot utilize the meeting with the state and
federal government cards.
The Winner
The winner will be the player that, throughout the game, gets to zero points in accidents and amount of traffic.
It can also be the contestant that, at the end of the last month played (December, November or October,
depending on the “From Belo Horizonte to you” card), gets the lowest score in accidents and traffic amount.
Public opinion is only taken into account if the players are even. If, after that, they are still even, the next
tiebreaker is the financial resources available. In case the funds are equal, Metropolis will have more than one
winner.