Ground Floor Signup and overview thread

[SpaceLord]

Ground Floor on Kickstarter

Ground Floor is a economic game where the participants are the founders of various startups, and your goal is to gain the most Prestige before the game ends.

The rules are HERE.

The game last 9 rounds, or until the round where a player builds his fifth floor on his building.

[SpaceLord]

Notes on playing:

Unlike my other game running now, there's not much bookkeeping in GF. There's three resources:

Money
Information
Time

There's also only 1 degree of randomness in the game: The Economic Forecast(EF) deck. I'll be rolling dice when a new EF card is revealed. More on that later.

[SpaceLord]

Game Overview:

Ground Floor is played over 1 to 9 rounds, usually 7 or 8.

First, let's look at the player board:



Note that these aren't final components!

The circles on the right side are essentially spaces for your workers. Everyone begins with a CEO, who is a stack of 4 Time disks.

Once a round, each player gets a chance to hire new employees. If they do, they move their CEO token up one space for each worker hired. Notice that to the left of these circles is a dollar amount. This is income, so at the beginning of the game, each player earns 9 dollars per turn, and 3 dollars less for each employee that joins the company.

Each additional employee adds 3 Time disks, to be used on the next turn(with caveats, I'll explain below).

So, if you grow your business to 5 employees, you lose 3 dollars per turn, and have 16 disks(4 for CEO plus 3x4 for employees.)

On the right side are 6 action spaces. You can place disks here to gain Time, Information, or Supply(raw materials).

The next post will cover these 6 action spaces.

[SpaceLord]

Player Board Action Spaces:

Here's the 6 basic spaces each player has:





Let's start at the top.

The (') icon represents a Time disk. A number preceded by an i is information, i.e. i6 would be 6 information.

Assembly: Place 3 disks on this spot, you gain 1 Supply cube, placed in your Storage Closet.

Training: As noted above, a worker's disks don't become available until they are Trained. If you hire an employee, before you can use their disks, you must place disks in this space. The basic space requires 2 disks.

Meeting Room: Place 1 Time disk here, and immediately gain 1 Information. (i1)

Storage Closet: Gotta keep that raw widget material somewhere. You may only hold 1 Supply in the basic Closet. Any excess Supply you receive is lost.

Research and Testing: Place 1 disk here, and discard a Supply, to gain 3 Information (i3).

Advertising: Place 1 disk in the Networking space on the main board. This is used to gain Popularity. More on that later.

[SpaceLord]

Round Schedule:

Receive Income: Each player receives money equal to their CEO's position on the employee track, from 9 dollars, to owing 3 dollars. Any other "income" earned from improvements also happens now.

Hire Employees: Each player, in Popularity order, may choose to hire an employee at the current market rate. See Hire Employees below.

Schedule Business: The bulk of the game takes place here. In Popularity order, each player places disks on their board, or the main board. When all disks have been placed, the Schedule Business phase is over.

Conduct Business: Resolve the main board. See Conduct Business post below.

Reorganize: End of turn. Fire employees, reset time markers, and update main board.

[SpaceLord]

Remodeling:

Each player begins the game with a random "Specialty." This is a free upgrade to one of the 6 basic spots on the player boards. These "Remodeled" spaces are generally more efficient versions of the basic rooms.

Here they are:



Each of these spots is worth 2 points at game end. During any of your turns, you may pay 3$ and i3 to Remodel a room. This costs no Time disks.

Notice that with a Remodeled Meeting Room, you have two options: Two disks for i3, or 1 for i2.

Here's the 2nd set:



Much like Meeting Room, a Remodeled Training and Research gives you two options.

Also notice that a remodeled Advertising room gives you a 2nd option: Print. Let's take a look at how Marketing and Popularity work now.

[SpaceLord]

Popularity and the Marketing Firm:

Popularity in the business world is important. In Ground Floor, Popularity not only defines player order, it also gives bonuses to those who are highly regarded.

Here's the Marketing spot on the main board:



During a player's turn, they may place 1 Time disk onto the Marketing track labeled 1 to 6, and immediately pay 1 dollar and i1. They always place from left to right into the lowest number.

After all Time has been spent, the main board is resolved. During the Evaluate Marketing step, players, from right to left, choose spots to place their disks in the three spots above: Networking, Print and Broadcast.

Each of the 3 spots grants a "leader" bonus, in that the player with the most disks there gets an extra Popularity bump.

Networking: This spot costs nothing further to occupy, and grants a 2nd, free disk from a player's supply. For every 3 disks a player has in this spot, they move up 1 Popularity. If a player has the most disks here, they also move up 1 Popularity. Also note that the Advertising room on a player's board allows placement directly into the Networking space, bypassing the $1/i1 fee.

Print: Players may pay 1/1 to put a disk in Print. Each 2 disks in this spot moves a player up one spot in Popularity. Notice that the Remodeled Advertising room can grant "free" disks in the Print location.

Broadcast: Each disk gives +1 Popularity. It costs 2/2 to move a Disk here, for a total of 3/3.

Let's do an example in the next post.

[SpaceLord]

Marketing Example:

Assume this is the state of the Marketing Firm after a Schedule Business phase:



During the Schedule Business phase, Yellow and Black had both used their Advertising spots on their player board to place 1 Time disk each onto the Networking Space, and Blue had used a Remodeled Advertising space to place a disk directly onto Print.

In addition, Blue and Black had each paid a total of 2/2 to place a disk onto this track, and Yellow paid 1/1.

During "Evaluate Marketing", the players then shift their disks up onto the 3 spaces, beginning with Blue in the 5th spot.

1. Blue elects to move their disk from spot 6 onto Broadcast, at a cost of 2/2.
2. Black elects to place their disk from 4 onto Networking, for free. They then add another disk from their supply.
3. Blue moves their disk from 3 onto Print for 1/1
4. Yellow chooses to pay nothing for their disk on 2, and gets two more disks onto Networking.
5. Finally, Black chooses to follow suit and place their disk onto Networking as well, gaining a second for free.

Here's the board after the decisions have been made:



Resolving once again from left to right:

Since Blue has a single disk in Broadcast, blue moves up 2 spaces in Popularity: 1 for having a disk, and a 2nd for the most. He removes the disk.
In Print, Blue has two disks as well. He removes both disks once again, and gains 2 Pop.
In Networking, both Black and Yellow have at least 3 disks. Black has the most, with 5. Because the 5th disk did NOT give Black a Pop increase, it remains. Black removes 4 disks, and Yellow removes 3.

This leaves one Black disk remaining for the next turn.

The totals for the turn:

Blue: +4 Pop
Black: +2 Pop
Yellow: +1 Pop

Total Money/Info spent(not including the Time disks spent earlier on the player boards):
Blue: 5/5
Black: 2/2
Yellow: 1/1

What does Popularity do, you ask?

That's the next post.

[SpaceLord]

Popularity and Its Perks:

Once the Marketing space is resolved, the player order is recalculated. Using this recalculated order, all players except the least Popular gain a Marketing Bonus, selected from the list below:

i2
$2
Remodel at $1/i1
1 Temporary disk for next turn
1 Supply

Each Bonus is exclusive, and each player in Pop order has 1 less option.

In addition, Popularity allows one to sell goods at a premium price, see the Market description below.

[SpaceLord]

Consulting Firm:

At the Consulting Firm(CF), players may exchange money for Information, but there's a risk.

Here's what it looks like on the print-and-play board:



During the Schedule Business phase, players may pay the listed money to place a Time disk onto the lower section of the CF. Notice that it gets cheaper as it fills up.

During the "Meet with Consultants" step, the CF is resolved. All disks in the lower section of the CF are moved up. If this act "pushes" another disk(from an earlier turn), then the owner of the disk pushed off the board receives i10.

Here's an example:

On turn 5, 4 players place 5 disks in CF, which was empty:



At the end of turn 5, these disks are moved up:



On turn 6, more players place disks in the CF:



At the "Meet with Consultants" phase of turn 6, these disks are also pushed up:



Yellow, Black, Blue and Red all receive 10 Information. Because the Black disk in spot 5 did not have "support", it is removed without giving Black any information. Note that the color of the "pushing" disk does not matter.

The CF is often a player's main route to getting Info, but it can be expensive, and requires quite a lot of money.

[SpaceLord]

Outlets:

Producing widgets internally is expensive. The Outlets gives a player a chance to gain Supplies for future use.



The Outlet is simple: At the beginning of the game, place 4 Supply cubes along the top spaces of the Outlet. During the Schedule Business phase, a player may place a Time disk in the leftmost spot that contains a Supply cube, and pay the listed Information OR Money, and, at the end of that turn, claim that cube. Note that the Outlet only refills 1 Supply per turn, so it's possible that the cheapest Supply won't be available.

Also remember that this Supply won't be available to use for Research this turn, and won't be able to be turned into sellable goods until the next turn.

[SpaceLord]

Factories

This is how players produce goods to be sold.



During the Schedule Business phase, players may place 1 Time disk from their board onto the lowest-numbered slot on the Production Factory(PF), at a cost of $2 + i2 + 1 Supply cube.

During the "Manufacture Products" phase, players, in order, place their disks from the PF onto the Merchandising/Retail Outlets" track:



Then, goods are sold. let's deal with that with the next post.

[SpaceLord]

Selling Goods:

This is where the players make the bulk of their money!

Example:

The Economic Forecast is calling for a Stable year in a 4 player game. From the EF chart located on the player -board, that means that between 3 and 5 Demand will be present.

The the players place their disks from the PF spot onto the Merchandising board, starting with the 1 spot. Note that no two goods can occupy the same box in Merchandising.



The EF card is revealed, and Blue groans when he sees only 4 goods will be sold.

Here's the rules for selling goods:

1. Customers will buy from the lowest price tier first.
2. Within a price range(6-8, 10-12, and 16), customers will buy the most Popular good first.
3. When a good fails to sell, that player must move their good down at least 1 price range.

Let's assume Yellow has the highest Popularity, then Blue, then Black, White, and finally, Red.

1. The lower band resolves, and White gains 6 dollars.
2. There is still 3 demand to be filled in the middle tier. Yellow sells their good first, for $12 because they are the most popular. Then, Black sells their good for 10. Since there's still 1 demand, Red sells their good for 10 as well. There's not enough demand for the Blue good at 16 bucks, despite Blue being the 2nd most popular player.
3. Finally, Blue chooses to slide his good down to one of the $12 slots. He could remove it from the board and Liquidate, and gain 3 dollars. His good will remain in that spot for next turn.

[SpaceLord]

Construction Company

The CC is where the majority of a player's points are scored.

During the Plan Business phase, players may play $4/i4 to place one of their time disks onto the lowest-numbered space on the CC:



At the Resolve Business phase, in numbered order, players may choose to add onto their business by two methods:

Tenant Improvement(TI): Choose an available TI, and pay an additional $1/i1. Add this improvement to your player board. Note that if you don't have an Empty Floor, you will have to cover up an existing spot on your board.

Floor: Add a floor above your current floor. Each floor costs 2/2 more than the last one:

1st Floor: $4/i4
2nd: 6/6
3rd: 8/8
4th:10/10
5th: 12/12
6th(If able): 14/14

Note that these costs are in addition to the $4/i4 a player must pay during the Schedule Business phase. Also note that on the round any player builds their 5th Floor improvement, the game will end at the end of that round.

[SpaceLord]

Turn Summary revisited

1: Receive Income: Each player gains between $9 and -$3, depending on the position of their CEO/number of employees. A player may fire any number of employees, losing those Time markers before receiving income.
2: Hire Employees: In Popularity order, players may hire an employee for the current market price. Each new hire moves the market price one higher. This continues until all players pass.
3: Schedule Business: In Popularity order, players take turns placing their disks onto the main board, and their player board, until all disks have been placed.
4:Conduct Business: Players resolve the main board spaces, from Consulting, Advertising, Outlets, Factory, Merchandising, and finally Construction. The game ends at the end of the 9th turn, or during the turn when a player builds their 5th or higher floor.

[El Guapo]

Sure, why not - I'd play.

[SpaceLord]

Sure, why not - I'd play.

Great. The game plays best with 4-5, and we'd need 3 to get started. 2 player isn't very good, since the Popularity Bonus doesn't apply, and there's always interesting things that happen on the track when the Bonuses are up for grabs.

Anyone else?

[SpaceLord]

Undead Viking - my favorite video reviewer, takes a look at Ground Floor

Tom Vasel's preview

A 1-hour long gameplay walkthrough video

I'm excited to be getting the real, pretty version of GF this fall.

[Newcastle]

i'll play. Newbie here, so i'd need to read anything. Just promise me you wont let it languish like a certain someone

[SpaceLord]

i'll play. Newbie here, so i'd need to read anything. Just promise me you wont let it languish like a certain someone

The game actually only needs my direct input when I'm randomizing the Economic Forecast cards. And Colonial only needs my attention when we begin a new round and reveal cards.

Welcome to the game!

If we get one more, we can get started.

[SpaceLord]

And here's a positive review:

DiceHateMe reviews GF

[Remus West]

i'll play. Newbie here, so i'd need to read anything. Just promise me you wont let it languish like a certain someone

You know, that only works if you know I'm checking the threa.......aw damn it.

School ends tomorrow though so I expect to have time soon.

[LordMortis]

DiceHateMe

How awesome is that.

[SpaceLord]

Since the PR game has no moderator, anyone who's bored could join this game, just sayin'.

[GreatToBeAlive]

I'll play. I've never played Ground Floor and don't own a physical copy of it. Also, I'm on the west coast, so my timezone might be off a bit if you guys are all on the east coast. If none of that matters, the sign me up. I'm always up for learning new games.

[SpaceLord]

I'll play. I've never played Ground Floor and don't own a physical copy of it. Also, I'm on the west coast, so my timezone might be off a bit if you guys are all on the east coast. If none of that matters, the sign me up. I'm always up for learning new games.

Welcome to the forum! Are you new here?

[GreatToBeAlive]

Welcome to the forum! Are you new here?

Thanks. Yep, I'm new here. I happened upon these forums while doing a Google search for something, and the play-by-forum games caught my attention.

[El Guapo]

Welcome, GreatToBeAlive! And it is, I suppose.

So are we full up and ready to go now?