a game of muscles, money and moving
Game invented by Karl-Heinz Schmiel.
Graphics by Thomas Plassmann.
Published by Moskito Games.
For 3-5 players from 8 year old.
One game takes about 45 minutes.
"Let's get packing", that's the game, so start reading these rules immediately. Once you've played a game, then try reading the rules again, it will all be much clearer and easier, second time around.
It's moving day in Lime Street, The removal van is standing outside the door, and the furniture removers, Erna, Hannes and Luggi, have got their hands full, trying to get all the furniture delivered to the correct flats. To begin with, it is total chaos, since no one knows where the furniture belongs. The players move the furniture removers up and down stairs, until they find the correct destinations for their loads. The lift would appear to be permanently in use, the only chance to draw breath is when it is tea break time. The players too have to work. Once the furniture removers have finally found the right flat, the players must take over and move the furniture, with the help of the wooden sticks, from the entrance hall, into its correct place in the living room. Unfortunately, the sticks aren't always a help, and a lot of good furniture will probably be dropped and broken. But with a steady hand, there's a nice tip to be earned, so come on, Let's get packing.
How's it played then. Well, it's all about money, naturally enough. The idea is grab as much in the way of tips as possible. Unfortunately they are only cardboard coins, but even they will take a bit of earning.
First, put the game together, Before you can start you will have to break out all the pieces from their backing sheets. If you are not too confident about this, you may find that a carpet knife helps. This will ensure a really "clean" game. All the various pieces should be sorted, coins, doorbell markers, furniture cards and trouser-buttons. the carpet card, all should be separated and sorted, and then you are ready to set up the game. The board is put into the centre of the table. It shows an apartment house, stripped and ready for the incoming tenants. The furniture removers have either to get everything up the stairs, or they can use the lift. A different family lives on each floor, each flat marked by a doorbell marker with their name and a suitable symbol on it. Some of the residents pay a little extra in the way of tips, (this is shown by the doorbell).
The 3 playing pieces, (furniture removers) are put onto the doorstep space. Any player may move any of the pieces.
The cards, are well shuffled, (the spare blank cards having been first removed, they are not required during the game). Each player is dealt 5 cards. The remaining cards are placed face down onto the card (Karte), space. The cards determine how many spaces, (stairs), the furniture removers can move.
The three pairs of wooden sticks are used as help in moving the furniture. The players should decide before the game which set they want to use. The possibilities are a pair of lolly sticks, two tongue spatulas, and "those bloody round ones".
The three furniture remover cards, are placed next to the board. Erna represents the red piece, Hannes the blue and Luggi the green.
The furniture cards show which particular load of furniture has to be moved. The cards should be sorted in order of difficulty, the easiest come first, and come with the smallest tips, 2DM.- harder loads carry up to 8DM as a tip and are taken last. The first three cards are put onto the three furniture remover cards, one each for Erna, Hannes and Luggi.
The doorbell markers are shuffled and placed face down by the board. One is then put face down onto each furniture remover card. Now Erna, Hannes and Luggi know where their loads are bound, even if the players don't. The doorbell markers are the same size as the 2 DM pieces, so be careful when giving out change not to confuse them. The coins are split into two. The 1 Mark pieces go into the canvas bag, along with the trouser buttons. The 2 and 5 Mark pieces are put to one side ready to be paid on completion of a delivery. The base of the box, is also part of the game. Turn it upside down and you will see that it is printed with a floor plan. This represents the living rooms of the various flats. It should be placed by the side of the board, with the carpet card on top of the floor plan, and the entrance hall card on the table, by the side of the upturned box. The furniture is put somewhere convenient, ready for use.
So, it has been a long introduction, now we can finally get going. The youngest player begins.
Ok, this is how you play.
The player whose turn it is plays a card. Normally this will be a card with a number on it. The player then moves one of the playing pieces the number of spaces shown on the card. He has a free choice of pieces, the colour of the furniture remover on the card has no effect at this point. Each step counts as one space. The piece being moved can pass other pieces, or can stop on the same space as another piece, there is no "bumping". The full value of the card must be used. The spaces are divided by the vertical steps. Notice that there is a step between the street door and the ground floor. This is important when it comes to using the lift. (Diagram 1)
Every floor is one single space. From a floor space a piece may move up onto the steps upwards, down onto the steps downwards, into a flat or into the lift. (Diagram 2)
The lift card allows players to use the lift. To do this, the piece must be standing on the floor in front of the lift, not on a step. It may be used to go up or down. The lift doesn't go up to the topmost floor ("Susi"). A lift card can be played as the only card in that turn or in conjunction with a normal "number" card. The movement from the number card can be used before or after the lift trip. So, it is possible to use a number card to move onto a floor, and then the lift to get to another floor, or, one can move from one floor to another, and then further up or down the stairs.
The Tea-break card may only be played after a piece is moved. It is placed on top of the furniture remover card for the piece that has just moved, and stays there for one round. During that round, that piece may not be moved. The card is removed and put on the discard (Ablage) space when the player who played it next takes their turn. Once removed, that piece can be moved again. A tea-break card may only be played if it still allows the other players a piece to move, ie if two pieces are already on their tea-break. or have finished their last delivery, then the third furniture remover cannot have a tea-break.
Once the player has finished their move, they put all the cards they have used onto the discard pile (Ablage) and draw sufficient cards to restore their hand to 5 cards. A player may not play more than 2 cards per turn.
Once a player has moved a piece, they may then look at the doorbell marker on that furniture remover card, in order to learn which flat that load is for. Once they know where the furniture is going, they replace the doorbell marker face down on the card. The player to their left now takes their turn
If a player is lucky, the piece they have just moved is standing in front of the correct door. In this case the turn is not over, instead it is time to deliver some furniture!
First the player picks a partner to help them.
Now the piece or pieces of furniture shown on the furniture card are arranged as shown on the card, and put onto the entrance hall card next to the box (living room). Next, the player and their helper should decide how they are going to use the wooden sticks to move the furniture into the living room. In this phase they can use their hands to arrange the furniture as they wish, opening doors and drawers if they want to.
Once the two players are ready, (in case of disagreement, the player whose turn it is has the choice), the furniture is placed on the entrance hall card and each payer takes one wooden stick. From this point on they may only move the furniture with the sticks. Further use of hands is totally forbidden.
The furniture must be moved up from the entrance hall card and over onto the carpet card on the living room floor. It must be lowered onto the carpet, on it's feet, not on back or top. Both players must be involved in the movement, it is not permitted that one player takes both sticks, Players should be encouraged to confer with each other while moving furniture, comments such as "Higher" or "Not so fast!" are often useful.
Once on the carpet, the furniture must then be pushed or lifted, still using the wooden sticks, until it is sitting in its correct position on the floor plan. Lastly, any open doors or drawers must be closed, still using the sticks. Most of the furniture cards show several pieces of furniture arranged together, the various bits can be put together by hand however the player wants, but they must be moved as one until from the entrance hall to the carpet, and then separated and each put into its correct position. Once the furniture has been set up on the entrance hall card, they may only be moved with the wooden sticks. If the furniture is moved into its correct place, without being dropped or tipped over, then both players get a tip, the value of which is shown on the furniture card. The money is taken from the Bank. If however the players drop something, or tip it over, then neither get any tip. This is so, even if they only break one bit, and get the rest into the room without problems, or if they break a piece of furniture that is already standing in the room. Delivered furniture is left in place in the "living room" until it is needed for a later delivery. Once the furniture has been delivered, successfully or not, the playing piece is moved back down to the street door space, a new furniture card is put onto that furniture remover card and a new doorbell marker face down on the card. The used furniture card comes out of ah game, the used doorbell marker is left face up on the board by the relevant door, so as to show where furniture has already been delivered. Now the next player takes his turn.
Three residents, Family ?zgül, Family K?nig and Susi, [Ken: names mangled by PC]pay an extra tip because it is such a long way up to their flats. This extra tip is just for the player who moves the furniture remover to the door, the helper doesn't get this money. The extra tip must be taken from the canvas sack, unseen. The amount paid is shown on the board, under the doorbell markers. The player dips into the sack as many times as it says on the board and takes out a coin each time.
Sometimes the "coin" so chosen will be a trouser button, in this case, the player has been unlucky. For example. Player A has moved "ERNA" (red) up to the door of the Kînig family flat. There he and his helper successfully deliver a wardrobe. Player A may now take three coins from the sack. He gets perhaps, 2 one Mark pieces and a button. His tip is therefore 2 Marks.
The player gets the bonus even if the furniture is dropped in transport. If the last card played, prior to arriving at the door is a lift card though, he gets no bonus. The bonus is for the extra work involved in climbing the stair, no climbing, no bonus. Sometimes money has to changed at the Bank to enable payment to be made, in this case the Bank does not accept trouser buttons as legal tender.
The game ends as soon as the penultimate furniture card has been delivered. The winner is the player with the most cash. Buttons don't count towards the total.
If you only have two players, they deliver the furniture individually, one player with both sticks.
The rules up to now are principally aimed at families with children of 8 or older. To make the game more interesting for adults or older children the following advanced rules should be used. they increase the tactical possibilities in the game, make life harder for the players and so increase the enjoyment factor. The same contents are used as for the basic game.
Using this rule the player who has to deliver furniture cannot choose his helper, instead the helper is determined by the cards held. All the other players count the points on the cards in theiur hand which show the particular furniture remover involved, Erna, Hannes or Luggi. The figure involved is easily determined by the colour and picture of the furniture remover on the card with the exception of the "2" cards for Hannes which through a printers error have unfortunately been printed with red trousers rather than the correct blue ones. The player with the highest points total for the furniture remover involved in the delivary is automatically the partner in the delivery and gets a tip if the furniture is correctly delivered without breaking. Once delivered, the player whose turn it is draws a card unseen from his helper's hand, and puts it on the discard (Ablage) pile. The helper draws a new card as recompense.
The players don't decide on one set of sticks at the start of the game. Instead the three sets are laid out as pairs, first the lolly sticks, then the tongue spatulae and then the "dammed round ones", each delivery a new set is taken in this order, ie the first delivery must be made with the lolly sticks, the second with the tongue spatulae, the third with the round sticks, the fourth with the lolly sticks again and so on.
Players may choose to add extra furniture to loads. Each extra piece of furniture added to a load adds 2DM to the tip received provided that all furniture, including the extra pieces, are delivered without accident. If any furniture whatsoever is dropped or tipped over then no tip is paid. Furnituire may only be added to a load if there has already been a load delivered to that flat, ie there is already a doorbell marker by that flat.
The dolls house furniture is made by the Firm of Jean Hoefler, and can be obtained in toyshops (German toyshops anyway, trans.) The same firm make a whole range of furniture covering Kitchens bathrooms, bedrooms etc and players may wish to experiment with other items from the range. Possibly your children have some dolls house furniture already. In this case why not use that as well, makinmg some extra furniture cards. A couple of trial deliveries should give you an idea of an appropriate tip for each item or combination.
Gametesting, advice and criticism from Barbara and Dieter Hornung, Hannes Wildner, Bernd Brunnhofer, Karen and Andreas Seyfarth, Barbara and Henning Schaefer, Christina and Andreas Trieb, Ernst Anthofer, The Munich Spuiratz'n and children of the Harthof Children's Centre.