Basic Rules for FENCE!

Terminology

Each tile has one or more "neighborhoods" on it. Each neighborhood has an explicit name, and is connected to a set of roads that lead off the tile.

Most tiles also have "coordinates" on them, in the shape of the faces of a pair of dice, one red and one blue. To minimize confusion, always refer to the red die first. For example, the tile with Old Town has a red 1 and a blue 3, which we can write (⚀,⚂).

Playing cards also map to these coordinates. For example, any ace from the deck with a red back indicates a red ⚀, and any 4 from the deck with the blue back indicates a blue ⚃, etc. One card with a red back and one card with a blue back is called a "red/blue pair".

If a tile has multiple neighborhoods, those neighborhoods are not connected to each other. For example, in (⚁,⚄), Venice is connected to the left and right edges of the tile, and Venice Underpass is connected to the top and bottom of the tile, but they are not connected to each other.

Game Overview

A game of FENCE! has two major phases:

• The Setup Phase, in which players create the map of the city, draw their initial cards, and place their pawns and The Cops.

• The Main Phase, in which players move each other around the city, vie for turf, rat out the other players to the Cops, and try to stay out of Jail.

Getting Cards

Cards are useful to move yourself and the Cops around the city, and to get yourself out of Jail. You can only get cards in one of two ways:

• If you are not in Jail, you can get cards during the Hot Goods part of each round. Controlling more territory makes you more likely to get cards.

• If you are in Jail, you can get cards by Turning State's Evidence -- snitching out your competition to the Cops.

Victory Conditions

One player wins once all the other players are in Jail and unable to get out on their next turn.

You may also be interested in variations on game mechanics and victory conditions described in the Extended Rules.