How to win at SettleUp

Know the deck

One deck has 106 cards. Knowing what is in it tells you what can still happen to you.

• 20 money cards worth $57M in all. Only one is a $10M.
• 34 action cards. Lucky Draw is the most common card in the game (10 copies). There are 3 No Way!, 3 Sneaky Steal, 3 Swap It! and only 2 Take It All!.
• 13 rent cards: 2 for each pair of colors and 3 Rainbow Rents.
• 28 properties and 11 wild cards, including 2 Rainbow Wilds that fit any color but are worth $0.

Early game: money first

1. Bank before you build

The first rent or Pay Up! of the game is coming for someone. If your bank is empty, you pay with properties, and they go straight to the other player’s table. Put a card or two in the bank on your first turns and aim to keep at least $5M: that covers a Pay Up! or a couple of birthdays.

2. Keep your best cards in your hand

Money, action and rent cards can all go in the bank, but not all of them should. A No Way! is worth $4M banked and far more in your hand. Bank the cards you can’t use soon instead: a Double Rent with no set to charge, a rent card for colors you don’t have, or small money.

3. Play Lucky Draw first

Lucky Draw uses one of your 3 moves, so play it before anything else. The 2 new cards might change what you want to do with the other two moves, like giving you the property that finishes a set before you charge rent on it.

Pick sets you can finish

4. Two-card sets finish fastest

Brown, Dark Blue and Power Plant need only 2 cards. Dark Blue Towers is the prize: $8M rent when full, the most of any set, which is why other players will try to stop you.

5. Follow the wild cards

Some colors get more help from wild cards than others. Railway needs 4 cards, but 3 two-color wild cards and both Rainbow Wilds fit it, so it is easier to finish than it looks.

Both Rainbow Wilds fit every color on top of these.

6. Don’t spread too thin

You only need 3 full sets. Loose properties are fair game for Sneaky Steal and Swap It!, while a full set is safe from both. One property in each of six colors is mostly a gift to the other players; two nearly finished sets are a threat.

Make rent hurt

7. Build before you charge

Rent counts the cards in your set at the moment you play the rent card. Put down the property, or move a wild card over (that is free), first. Then charge.

8. Save Double Rent for a big set

Double Rent doubles everything, Houses and Hotels included, and a two-color rent card makes every player pay. A full Dark Blue set with a House and a Hotel charges $15M; doubled, that is $30M from each player. It takes 2 of your 3 moves, so it is worth waiting for a set that pays.

9. Aim Rainbow Rent at the richest player

A Rainbow Rent works for any of your sets, but only one player pays. Use it on your best set and point it at the player with the biggest bank, or at the leader to slow them down.

Attack and defend

10. Save No Way! for the big hits

There are only 3 No Way! in a deck. Spend one on a Take It All!, a doubled rent or a Pay Up! you can’t afford, not on a $2M birthday. Remember that the other player can say No Way! back, and then you can answer again if you have another.

11. Steal the card they need

Sneaky Steal and Swap It! can’t touch full sets, so aim them at a set that is one card from full: taking that card hurts the most. Swap It! is also a way to trade one of your stray properties for the one that finishes your own set. Take It All! is the only card that takes a full set, and with only 2 in the deck, save it for a set with a House or Hotel (you get those too) or for the set that wins you the game.

12. Pay with what hurts least

When you owe money, you choose the cards. No change is given, so pay as close to the amount as you can, and never hand over the property that finishes the other player’s set. You only have to break up a full set if everything else is not enough.

Read the table

Every seat shows that player’s money, how many cards they hold and how many full sets they have. Tap a seat to see their whole table. A player with lots of cards in hand may be holding a No Way!. Open the notebook beside the latest moves to see every card played so far: once every Take It All! has been played or banked, full sets are safe until the used cards are shuffled back into the deck.

With six players

Six-player games shuffle two decks together, so there are twice as many of every card: 4 Take It All!, 6 No Way! and 20 Lucky Draws. Expect more rent and more stealing. Bank more than usual, and don’t count on a full set staying safe for long.