How to Play

Vegas Showdown

3-5 players 75-75 min 7.1 Board Game Geek Rating

Players auction room tiles like slot machines, restaurants, and lounges to construct prestigious hotel-casinos. Through competitive bidding wars, they acquire spaces that provide income, population, and fame. Values shift as renovations occur throughout gameplay. Victory goes to whoever builds the most famous establishment when final scoring determines each casino's reputation.

Published 2005

Get Ready

Setup the game with these step-by-step instructions before diving into your turn.

Place starting tiles

Put the Restaurant, Lounge, and Slot tiles on their designated spaces on the main board; with 3 players, remove 3 tiles from each stack

Choose player components

Each player selects a color and takes matching Population, Revenue, Fame, and Bid markers plus a Hotel-Casino sheet

Set Population marker

Place the person marker on space 8 of your Hotel-Casino sheet

Set Revenue marker

Place the dollar marker on space 5 of your Hotel-Casino sheet

Set Fame marker

Place the star marker on the 0 space of the main board's score track

Organize Premier tiles

Sort remaining tiles into 6 stacks by size and A/B backs, shuffle each stack facedown, then place A stacks on top of matching B stacks to create 3 final stacks (small, medium, large)

Reveal starting Premier tiles

Flip the top tile of each stack and place on empty Premier spaces (skip "4-5 players only" space initially)

Place minimum-bid markers

Put a clear red marker on the bid track number shown at the top of each Premier tile; non-Premier tiles don't use these markers

Prepare Event deck

Shuffle the Event deck face-down

Distribute starting money

Designate a Banker who gives each player $20 in chips (green=$25, red=$5, white=$1); chips are public information

Determine first player

Randomly choose a first player and give them the Turn Order button

Display reference chart

Place the Building Prerequisite Chart where all players can see it

On Your Turn

What you can do during your turn.

Phase 1: Drop Prices

Skip on the first round; otherwise, move all red minimum-bid markers down 1 red space; remove any tile whose marker started on "3" from the game

Phase 2: Flip New Tiles

First player draws an Event card, reads it aloud, then fills empty Premier spaces using the tile stack matching the shape on the card; add minimum-bid markers and "No Bid" tokens as indicated

Phase 3: Collect Income

Banker gives each player chips equal to their lower marker value (Population or Revenue)

Phase 4: Choose Actions

Starting with first player and going clockwise, each player selects one of three actions

Bid on Tiles

Place your bid marker on any value on a tile's track; Premier tiles require bidding at or above the red marker; you must have enough chips to cover your bid

Outbid opponents

If another player is on your desired track, bid higher than the highest bidder; outbid players choose a new action on their next turn

Win your bid

If you're still winning when your turn comes, do nothing; bidding ends when all players have placed markers with no one outbid

Pay and place tiles

Winners pay their bid amount and either place the tile on their Hotel-Casino sheet or set it aside in their personal reserve

Place from reserve

When adding a tile to your reserve, you may place one tile already in your reserve onto your sheet

Renovate action

Place bid marker in Renovate section; remove 0-2 tiles from your sheet to reserve, then add 0-2 tiles from reserve to sheet; placement rules apply only after finishing all placements

Publicity action

Place bid marker in Publicity section; immediately earn 1 Fame point and place 1 tile from reserve onto your sheet

Phase 5: Adjust Fame, Revenue, Population

Gain bonuses from newly placed tiles; subtract bonuses from removed tiles if Renovating; retrieve bid markers

Phase 6: Pass Turn Order

Pass the button to the left; remove any "No Bid" markers