Land Rush is an auction game: players bid on fields, connect them into large regions, and earn money for them every turn.
Each turn consists of the following steps:
These steps repeat until all fields are sold. The last turn ends with a final payout that is 5 times as large as a normal one. The player with the most money wins.
The board is split into fields of different shapes and sizes. Two fields are connected when they share an edge — touching only at a corner doesn't count. The size of a field is irrelevant for payouts; only the number of connected fields matters. Large fields are still valuable, since they have more neighbors and therefore make it easier to grow and connect your regions.
Several fields are auctioned at the same time each turn — the more players, the more fields. Bids are sealed: you can't see what the others bid until the auction is resolved. The fields that come up next turn are already marked on the board, so you can plan ahead.
The player with the highest bid buys the field and pays exactly the amount they bid. The other players pay nothing. If several players are tied for the highest bid, the winner is chosen randomly.
That's allowed. The auctions are resolved in the order of the field numbers, and each bid is capped at the money you have left when its turn comes. So if buying one field leaves you short, your later bids are lowered automatically.
That is a game setting — for example random, smallest fields first, or from the edge to the center. The "Rules" box on the game screen shows the order used in your game.
Players are ranked by the number of fields in their largest connected region. Since this often results in ties, especially during the first rounds, there are tie-breakers. The full list of criteria, in order of descending importance:
This depends on the game settings. The "Rules" box on the game screen shows the exact payouts for your game. First place receives the most, and last place usually loses money each turn.
Yes. If your money drops to zero or below, you are out of the game and an AI takes over your fields.
Each turn has a time limit, chosen when the game was created. The next turn starts as soon as all players have placed their bids, or when the time runs out. If you miss the deadline, an AI places bids for you. If you miss it twice, the AI takes over your seat for the rest of the game.