Kanban EV rules refresher

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You are chasing Production Points, and the player with the most at the end wins. You get them by training up in the five departments, feeding parts into the assembly line, upgrading designs, parking finished cars in your garages, and speaking up at meetings.

A few setup reminders. Use the Sandra reference tile with the red stripe. Pick three different car part types at random and put them in Recycling. Take two Factory Goals at random from each of the three stacks: the certification ones go above the Certification track, and for the other two pairs the tile with fewer icons goes on the top space. Then put two Generic Speech tokens on each Factory Goal. With three players it is two tokens on the easier goal of each pair and one on the harder; with two players, one token on each goal. The Car Part Value markers start on the leftmost space of the Upgrade Value track, and the Pace Car goes on either striped space, facing counterclockwise. In Design, eight random tiles fill the rightmost eight spaces, and the rest form three face up stacks of nine: the leftmost is the Central stack, the other two are the First Office stacks. In Assembly, one car of each colour in its matching colour space facing left, and a second car of that colour on the yellow plate to its left. Reveal one Kanban Order card and stock the warehouses with all six parts shown, then bury the card. Two Demand tiles face up with the Generic Speech tokens they show. Four Performance Goals face up in the meeting room, one random Final Goal tile, and Sandra at her desk. Above each department's training track, three face down Award tiles with one Generic Speech token on the stack, or only two tiles with two or three players.

On your own board: one of your Speech tokens on an empty space, your Basic Garage tiles with the padlocked one on the far right, a Lock on each of the five lock symbols and on the Double Upgrade tile, one Parts Voucher, three Performance Goal cards, two Kanban Order cards, a disc on the start of all five training tracks, your Banked Shift marker at the left, and your Production Points marker on fifteen. Then, in orientation, place Certification markers in the leftmost section of the Certification track taking any benefit shown, and in track order from right to left, each player takes one Car Part from Logistics and one Design tile, including from the top of a stack, with no well-researched bonus for this step. Refill Designs afterwards, but not the parts.

Each round is a day with two phases. First, department selection: on day one, in Certification track order from right to left, everyone picks any empty workstation. On later days, in order of the workstations from top to bottom, you must move to a department different from the one you are in, and take an empty workstation there. Sandra selects in this order too. Then the work phase, again in workstation order from top to bottom. Your workstation gives you two or three Shifts, or one or two in Administration. You may add Banked Shifts, but never work more than four Shifts in a day, and you can never spend more than three Banked Shifts in a turn. Lay your meeple down when you are finished. Sandra takes her turn in order as well, evaluating and then doing her departmental task. After everyone has worked, check for a meeting or end of week.

In every department, one thing you can always do is train. Each Shift moves your disc one space along that department's training track, placed on top of any discs already there. Crossing the arrow makes you certified: discard the matching Lock from your player board, move your Certification marker to an empty space in the next section of the Certification track and take that benefit, then check Factory Goals. You can also do homework, returning Books to the supply to advance one space each on that department's track. That is free, costs no Shifts, and can be done before or after your Shifts. Reaching the final space makes you an Expert. The first Expert in each department takes the Generic Speech token from that Award stack, and any player reaching the end secretly looks through the remaining Award tiles there, keeps one for its immediate benefit, and returns the rest face down.

Two golden rules. Books, Parts Vouchers and Banked Shifts cannot be used on the turn you gain them. And when you gain a Generic Speech token, return it to the supply and move one of your own Speech tokens onto an empty space on your board instead; if your board is full, keep the generic token beside your board.

In Design, one Shift takes one Design from the rightmost eight spaces onto an empty space of your desk. Taking from the rightmost four columns also gives you the Book or Banked Shift shown between the two tiles of that column. Only at the end of your turn do you slide the Designs right and refill, each row from its own First Office stack, then from the Central stack. Certification here gives you an extra Design space and lets you take Designs from the tops of the Central and First Office stacks.

In Logistics, Issue Kanban Order costs one Shift and can be done once per turn: gain a Banked Shift, then lay a card from your hand across the Kanban space with four symbols on one side of the line and two on the other, and for every symbol that sits on the same side as its matching warehouse, add that part from the supply. Then bury the card and draw a new one. Collect Car Parts costs one Shift and takes any number of parts from a single warehouse, as long as you have storage space. Certification gives an extra storage space and a once per turn Shift to take a Parts Voucher. A voucher is not stored as a part: it is spent at the moment you need a part, only when providing a needed part in Assembly or upgrading a design, and only for a part actually in the supply.

In Assembly, first, at the start of your turn there, any model whose assembly spaces are completely full has all those parts returned to the supply. Then Provide a Needed Part, one Shift each. Place a part from your board, or spend a voucher for one from the supply, onto an empty assembly space of any model. It must differ from the parts already in that model's spaces, and if that model has upgraded parts in Research and Development, all of those upgraded parts must be supplied before any non-upgraded one. Then move the car at the top of that model's line one position along the arrows, pushing any car it meets onward to the next yellow plate or off the conveyor, and chaining as needed. Then start a new car of that model at the beginning of the line if one remains in supply. A car leaving a conveyor earns you one or two Production Points depending on the conveyor, takes a Generic Speech token from a matching Demand tile if any remain, and joins the back of the line behind the Pace Car. Only four cars fit there: a fifth arrival removes the car directly behind the Pace Car to the supply. At the end of your turn, any Demand tile with no tokens left is replaced from the stack, and the used tiles are shuffled back in. Recycling is free and unlimited on your turn: swap one of your stored parts for one of the three in the pool, which are always three different types. You cannot use Recycling during a meeting. Certification in Assembly unlocks your fifth garage.

In Research and Development, Claim Cars requires a matching Design on your desk and an empty garage for each car. Return each matching Design to the bottom of the Central stack. The first car behind the Pace Car costs one Shift, the second two, the third two, the fourth three. When you are done claiming, advance the Pace Car one space per car taken, and if it reaches or crosses a striped space, move the Meeting marker, meaning a meeting happens at the end of the day. Then close the gaps. Park each car, take the benefit on the garage tile beside it, and flip that tile; on the padlock tile showing four single benefits, choose any two different ones. Then check Factory Goals. Upgrade a Design costs one Shift and needs a Design showing both the model and the part, plus the part itself or a voucher. Put the part on an empty upgrade space for that model, take any benefit shown on that space, move that part's marker one space right on the Upgrade Value track, flip the Design to its upgraded side beside your board, and score two Production Points. Remember each model has one Design per part plus one with no part that cannot upgrade. An upgraded Design becomes a Tested Design once you have a matching car in a garage: move it above your board over that car. Certification here unlocks your Double Upgrade tile, a one-time ability used while upgrading: raise that part's value two steps instead of one if possible, flip its value marker, and gain Production Points equal to the new value. Each part type can only be double upgraded once in the whole game.

Administration has no task of its own, so Shifts there can only be spent training, but you also choose one other department to work in and split your Shifts and Books between the two however you like. Certification here gives you an extra Speech token space. Also watch the Factory Goals throughout: as soon as you have the shown number of cars in garages, upgraded Designs, or certifications, take one Generic Speech token from that tile, and when a tile runs out of tokens it is removed.

Sandra does nothing on day one. From day two she moves to the next empty workstation of the next department going top to bottom, skipping any full department, and sits at her desk when she reaches Administration. She then evaluates whichever player or players have the least training in her department. The penalty thresholds are the same shape everywhere: two or fewer upgraded Designs in Research and Development, two or fewer cars in Assembly, two or fewer stored parts in Logistics, two or fewer Designs in Design, and two or fewer certifications in Administration. Anyone caught loses one Production Point, plus one more for every Banked Shift they have below five. Then she does her departmental task: in Research and Development she advances the Pace Car one space, which can trigger a meeting; in Assembly she clears every part off the assembly spaces; in Logistics she strips each warehouse down to one part; in Design she shuffles the rightmost four Design tiles to the bottom of the Central stack and refills, eight tiles in a two player game; and in Administration she triggers end-of-week scoring. In a two player game, players may not move into the department Sandra occupies, even Administration, though she may move onto players.

End-of-week scoring pays you, for each car in your garages, one point per part sitting on that model's upgrade spaces, counting upgrades by all players, plus one point per Tested Design you have of that model. Then advance the Week marker unless it is already on three.

A meeting happens at the end of a day whose Pace Car triggered it, after everyone including Sandra has worked. Turns go in Certification track order from right to left, repeating. On your turn you either speak or pass, and you may only pass once you have played a Performance Goal. Speaking means playing one Performance Goal from your hand face up, and/or placing one of your Speech tokens on the highest numbered empty speech icon of any goal you do not already have a token on, scoring the points at the bottom of the card once for each time you meet the goal, capped by the multiplier in that icon. If you play a goal and also place a token that turn, the token must go on that goal. You must play exactly one goal per meeting, even if it scores you nothing, and you may place a token for zero points purely to block. The meeting ends when all players pass consecutively. Then return used Speech tokens to the sides of their owners' boards, exchange any Generic Speech tokens for your own tokens on empty board spaces, discard the face up goals, and each player places one of their two remaining cards face down in the meeting room before revealing. With fewer than four players, fill the remaining spaces from the deck. Everyone draws two new goals, the Meeting marker goes back to the Test track, and the Production Cycle marker advances unless it is already on three.

The game ends when one of the Production Cycle marker and the Week marker is at least on space two and the other is at least on space three. Finish that day, including any end-of-week scoring or meeting, then score. Spend one Speech token, your own or generic, per achievement you want to claim on the Final Goal tile, each achievement once per player. Score one point per Banked Shift, and one point per Speech token, Book and Parts Voucher on your board. Cars in garages score by type: two for a City, three for an SUV, four for a Truck, five for a Sports Car, six for a Concept Car. On each training track, first place scores five, second three, third one, with ties broken in favour of the marker higher in the stack, that is the more recent trainer, and no points at all if you never trained there. Finally, each Tested Design scores the current value of its part on the Upgrade Value track. Most points wins. Ties are broken by most cars, then most Tested Designs, then most Banked Shifts, and if still tied the players share the position.

A turn, played out

It is day 3. Yesterday you worked in Logistics, so today you had to move, and you took the top empty workstation in Research and Development, which gives you 3 Shifts. Your Banked Shift marker sits on 2, and you have 38 Production Points. Behind the Pace Car wait 4 cars: an SUV directly behind it, then a City, then a Truck, then a Sports Car. On your desk you hold an SUV Design with no part, a City Design, and a Truck Design showing one part type. That part is also sitting in your storage from yesterday. You have 4 Basic Garages open. The padlocked fifth stays shut because you are not certified in Assembly. 2 of the open garages are filled, one with a Truck, so 2 are empty. You claim first. The SUV directly behind the Pace Car costs 1 Shift, and the City, now second, costs 2. That is all 3 workstation Shifts. The Truck would be the third car at 2 more Shifts. You can never work more than 4 Shifts in a day, so it stays where it is. The SUV Design with no part cannot be upgraded anyway, so it is the perfect one to spend. It goes to the bottom of the Central stack, and so does the City Design. You took 2 cars, so the Pace Car advances 2 spaces. It was 1 space short of a striped space, so it crosses it, and the Meeting marker moves. There will be a meeting at the end of today. Close the gap, so the Truck now sits directly behind the Pace Car. You park the SUV and the City, take the benefit on the garage tile beside each, and flip both tiles. Now check Factory Goals. One shows 4 cars in garages, and you have exactly 4. You take a Generic Speech token from it, return it to the supply, and move one of your own Speech tokens onto an empty space on your board instead. Now you spend 1 Banked Shift, your fourth and last Shift of the day. That leaves your marker on 1. You upgrade the Truck Design. Its part comes out of your storage onto an empty upgrade space for the Truck. The space you pick shows no benefit. That part's marker moves one space right on the Upgrade Value track. You flip the Design to its upgraded side beside your board and score 2, reaching 40 Production Points. You already have a Truck parked, so that Design is immediately Tested. It moves above your board, over the Truck. Your Double Upgrade tile is still locked, because you have not certified here. So that part rises only 1 step. At end of week, your Truck will pay 1 point for each part on the Truck upgrade spaces, whoever put it there, plus 1 for this Tested Design. At game end, the Design scores that part's current value. You lay your meeple down, and the next workstation takes its turn.