Room Share rules

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Room Share rules

Room Share is a placement game for 2 to 4 players: you play a real estate agent moving tenants into apartments that only hold 3 roommates, and the one meeple too many changes everything — the landlord evicts everyone, and evictions cascade from one apartment to the next.

Players
2 to 4
Age
8 and up
Playing time
20–40 min
Mechanic
Placement

Overview

It's time to save some money. Many people are looking to share an apartment to benefit from a lower rent. Each player acts as a real estate agent, offering shared apartments to their clients.

The catch: each apartment can only accommodate 3 people. As soon as a fourth tenant moves in, the landlord finds out and everyone is evicted — and those evicted tenants land on the neighbours, where they can make the next apartment overflow in turn. Place as many of your clients as possible in apartments housing exactly 3 people, and become the best real estate agent in town.

Components

  • 1 rulebook
  • 36 Tenant meeples: 4 colours (red, blue, yellow, green) × 9 meeples
  • 21 Apartment cards: 14 Regular Apartments, 3 Suites, 3 Haunted Apartments, 1 Royal Suite (variant)
  • 20 Key cards: 4 colours × 5 cards
  • 12 Event cards: 6 types × 2 cards
  • 4 Player Aid cards: 1 per colour

Setup

  1. For a standard game, remove the Royal Suite card and the two “Renovation” Event cards.
  2. Each player chooses a meeple colour and places 8 meeples of that colour in front of them, forming their supply.
    • 3-player game: each player adds 2 meeples of the unused colour. These 2 meeples do not score at the end of the game.
    • 2-player game: each player chooses an additional colour from those remaining and adds 8 meeples of it. These 8 meeples are not counted in the final scoring.
  3. Each player takes the Player Aid card matching their meeple colour and places it face up in front of them.
  4. Place 6 Regular Apartment cards face up in a 3 × 2 grid.
  5. Place the remaining meeple of each colour on the inner arrow of the Apartment cards at each corner. The order of colours does not matter.
  6. Shuffle all the remaining Apartment cards and arrange them around the ones already placed, forming a 5 × 4 grid.
  7. Shuffle the Key and Event cards together, then deal 3 cards to each player. Keep your hand secret. Form a draw pile with the rest, within everyone's reach.
  8. The player who has lived in a shared apartment becomes the first player. If several qualify, the one who has had the most roommates goes first. In case of a tie, determine the first player randomly.

How to play

Players take turns in clockwise order. On your turn:

  1. Select a card — choose a card from your hand and place it face up in front of you.
  2. Apply the effect of the card — see the details below.
  3. Eviction by the landlord — if a fourth meeple ends up on an Apartment card, the landlord evicts all tenants and you move the meeples on that card.
  4. Draw a card — discard the card you played and draw so you have 3 cards in hand again. If the draw pile is empty, shuffle the discards into a new one.
  5. End of turn — the next player in clockwise order starts their turn.

Key card

Choose an Apartment card that contains a meeple of the same colour as the played Key card, then place one of the meeples from your supply on an available arrow on that card.

The four arrows

1 meeple max per arrow

Each Apartment card has four arrows: top, bottom, left and right. You cannot place more than one meeple on each. An apartment therefore holds at most 4 meeples — and the fourth one immediately triggers an eviction.

Eviction by the landlord

triggered by the 4th meeple

Move each meeple to the adjacent card in the direction indicated by the arrow it stands on. The player whose turn it is does the moving, and therefore decides which arrow each meeple lands on, and which card to start from if several hold 4 meeples.

In this game, meeples only move in two ways: through an eviction by the landlord, or through the “Forced Eviction” Event card.

Example — a meeple on the [Right] arrow of an evicted apartment moves to the card immediately to its right. You then choose which free arrow it settles on.

Chain moves

as long as a card has 4 meeples

If, after moving, another Apartment card now holds 4 meeples, move all of its meeples the same way. Repeat until no card holds 4 meeples.

Example — you place your meeple on an apartment that already had 3: all four tenants move out to the neighbours. One of them lands on an apartment that already had 3, so that one overflows and empties in turn.

Special cases

  • If an eviction occurs on a card at the edge of the play area, the meeple with no adjacent card moves to the card on the opposite side of the play area.
  • If you would move a meeple onto a card that already holds 4 meeples, leave it on its original card — you still decide which arrow of that card it goes on.

The Event cards

Communication

Treat this card as a Key card of the colour of your choice.

Departure Day

Take one meeple of your choice and return it to the supply of the player who owns that colour. You cannot take a meeple that is the only one of its colour in the play area. If you choose a meeple of a colour that belongs to no player (2- or 3-player games), treat it as your own colour.

Forced Eviction

Choose an Apartment card and move all meeples on it to the adjacent cards, following the usual movement rules.

Example — the targeted apartment does not need to be full: you can empty an apartment holding exactly 3 meeples right before scoring, or push an opponent's tenant towards a haunted apartment.

New Contract

Either place one of your meeples on an empty Apartment card, or treat this card as a Key card of your colour.

Apartment Exchange

Swap the position of 2 meeples on the same Apartment card or on different cards.

Renovation

variant only

Freely rearrange the meeples on the Apartment card of your choice.

End of the game

If, at the end of their turn, a player has placed all the meeples from their supply, the game ends after the Last chance step.

Last chance step

3 meeples max on the target card

Except for the player who placed all their meeples, each player may, one after the other in clockwise order, place one of their meeples on an Apartment card that already contains a meeple of their colour. During this step, you cannot target a card that already holds 3 meeples.

Scoring

Regular Apartment — 1 point for each meeple of your colour on a card holding exactly 3 meeples.
Suite — 2 points for each meeple of your colour on a card holding exactly 3 meeples.
Haunted Apartment — you lose 2 points for each meeple of your colour, regardless of how many meeples are there.
Royal Suite (variant) — 3 points for each meeple of your colour on a card holding exactly 3 meeples.

Meeples of other colours held in 2- or 3-player games, as well as any meeples you have not placed, do not score.

The player with the highest score wins. In case of a tie, the player with the fewest meeples left in their supply wins. If a tie remains, the player who played first during the Last chance step wins.

Variants

Royal Suite and “Renovation” Events

Royal Suite: before setting up, replace one Apartment card of your choice with the Royal Suite. At the end of the game, you gain 3 points for each meeple of your colour on this card if it holds exactly 3 meeples.

“Renovation” cards: add the 2 “Renovation” Event cards before shuffling the Events with the Key cards.

2-player variant, without cards

2 players

If you enjoy abstract games like Othello or Shogi, play with no cards in hand. Skip the “Select a card”, “Apply the effect” and “Draw a card” steps. Instead, on your turn, choose an Apartment card holding at least one meeple and place a meeple on one of its available arrows. In case of a tie at the end, the player who took the first turn wins.

Download the rules

Rulebook (PDF, EN)

Ready to move in?

Room Share, 2 to 4 players, ages 8 and up, 20 to 40 minutes — €14.99.

See the product page

Want to keep the evening going? The Family Pack gathers our most accessible games for playing with kids, and Happy Corgi is a perfect follow-up to a game of Room Share.

Game designer: Kamoto & Mr. Kou · Illustrator: Makoto Takami
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