How To Play: London

Overview

London turns rebuilding a city into a tricky card game about growth, money, and poverty. I have played it with friends, and every game made us weigh one more building against a nasty pile of debt. This guide gives you a clear outline of the game rules, from setting up your city to handling poverty. It also shares the best strategies for winning, without making you read a rulebook the size of a phone box.

What’s in the box

• 1 game board
• 110 city cards
• 20 borough cards
• 4 player boards
• 4 player tokens
• 4 poverty markers
• 4 reference cards
• 1 victory point marker
• 1 bank

How To Play London: Rules Summary

London lets players rebuild the city after the Great Fire. You collect cards, develop districts, earn money, and try not to drown in poverty. I have played it with friends who planned like city mayors, then forgot to pay their loans. Follow these rules and you can avoid that fate.

Setup: Start Your City Without Burning It Down

1. Give each player a player board, matching playing pieces, and the starting money shown in the rulebook.
2. Place the board in the middle of the table. Put the poverty tokens, money, loan cards, and other markers nearby.
3. Shuffle the development cards and place them face down as the main deck. Reveal the starting market or cards required by your edition.
4. Give each player the starting cards listed in the setup rules. Players keep their hands secret.
5. Place each player’s marker on the starting space of the score track. Choose a first player, then give play clockwise.
6. Finally, place the district cards and any starting city pieces as the board shows. Each player now prepares to build London.

Gameplay: Build, Run, and Try Not to Go Broke

1. On your turn, first draw cards from the deck or display as the rules allow. Keep your hand within the stated hand limit.
2. Next, take one main action. You may play a card, buy land, draw cards, or use another action listed in your edition’s rules.
3. When you play a development card, pay its cost and place it in the correct area of your city. Follow its colour, symbol, and text.
4. You may run your city by activating your developed cards. Collect income, gain benefits, and resolve each card from left to right when needed.
5. After running your city, check its costs. Pay the required money and add poverty when your city produces more poverty than your board can handle.
6. You may buy available land or claim a district when the rules and your money allow it. Place the matching marker and pay the printed price.
7. You may take a loan when you need cash. Take the loan money, keep the loan card, and remember to pay it back later with interest.
8. After you finish your actions, discard down to the hand limit if needed. Then pass the turn to the next player.
9. Continue taking turns until the game reaches its end condition. The deck and the players’ choices push London through its long, messy history.

Winning: Let Your City Pay the Bills

1. When the game ends, finish the current round if the rules require it. Then resolve the final income, costs, loans, and card effects.
2. Count your victory points from developed cards, districts, land, and other scoring effects. Check each card carefully because some points depend on conditions.
3. Subtract the required penalties for unpaid loans, poverty, or other debts. A rich-looking city can still collapse like a cheap biscuit.
4. Compare your final score with every other player. The player with the most points wins and becomes London’s least annoying mayor.
5. If players tie, use the tiebreakers in the rulebook, usually remaining money or another listed resource.

Special Rules & Conditions: The Fine Print That Bites

1. Follow card text before general rules whenever a card directly changes an action, cost, resource, or scoring condition.
2. Track poverty separately from money. You cannot simply spend cash to erase poverty unless a card or rule allows it.
3. Respect colour and placement rules. Some cards connect to specific districts, while others need space or a certain city type.
4. Pay loan costs when the game tells you to. If you cannot pay, follow the debt penalty instead of quietly borrowing from the snack bowl.
5. Keep discarded cards separate from the draw deck unless the rules tell you to reshuffle them. A reshuffle at the wrong time can change the whole game.
6. Resolve effects in the order shown. If two effects happen together, the active player chooses the order unless a card says otherwise.
7. Check your hand limit after drawing and after every effect that adds cards. Discard extras at the proper time.
8. Use the official end-game condition for your edition. Once it triggers, players should not take extra turns unless the rules specifically grant them.
9. Most importantly, plan ahead. London rewards players who build useful card chains, control poverty, and time their city runs well. My friends learned this after one player built a grand city and then discovered it had the budget of a sad sandwich.

Best London Strategies

Building an Engine That Wins

Start Small

In London, my friends and I buy cheap assets first.

1. Then choose upgrades that improve several actions, not one.
2. Keep early turns tidy; flashy toys can wait.

Watch Your Costs

Track every coin before spending.

1. Also leave room for upkeep and surprise fees.
2. If an asset takes three turns to repay, skip it early.
3. Instead, pair income cards with cheap effects.

Chain Your Turns

First, create cash.

1. Next, spend it to unlock stronger actions.
2. Finally, repeat the cycle before opponents can copy it.
3. Test your engine each round; fix its weakest link fast.

How to Keep London’s Wallet Safe

Secure Income

First, protect steady income before chasing grand projects. In our last London game, I bought modest sites early.

1. Choose reliable sites before flashy deals.

Control Poverty

However, poverty spreads fast. Therefore, keep cash ready for upkeep before taking another burden.

1. Skip weak districts unless their income beats the penalty.

Time Your Spending

Meanwhile, raise income before accepting poverty. Delay often saves more than rescue work.

1. Check two turns ahead, then spend only with positive cash flow.

Keep A Cushion

Finally, avoid empty pockets. London loves surprise costs, so keep a small reserve.

Win the Clock: Time Every Card in London

Timing decides more games of London than flashy plans. In my plays, I often watched friends rush strong cards, then stumble into poverty. Instead, wait for the moment that makes each district work harder.

Watch the District Track

1. First, place districts when their bonuses will matter, not merely when space appears.

Hold Strong Cards

1. Next, keep powerful cards until your income can support them. Otherwise, poverty will bite.

Trigger Income Carefully

1. Then, trigger income after building several districts. This move turns one payday into a fat stack.

Finish Before Rivals

1. Finally, count rival options. In my games, I win by ending just before opponents build their best chains.

Build London, Then Try Not to Sink It

London rewards calm planning, clever timing, and a tiny bit of cheek. Build your engine early, but keep poverty under control before it grows teeth. Watch the board, grab useful districts, and do not chase every shiny card like a crow at a picnic. After several games with friends, I found the best wins came from flexible plans, not grand schemes carved in stone. London gives you plenty of ways to score, so learn what your cards can do and adjust each round. Make smart choices, accept a few bumps, and you may finish with a thriving city instead of a cardboard financial crisis.

Want to know what we think of London? Read our detailed review of London here