How to play Wahala City.

The city

The game is a real street map of Abuja. Round the middle stand 10 districts of ten houses each, and in the centre stands House 101, the Landlord's own house. Districts open in order: hold all ten houses in one and the next opens. North of them all is the dark quarter, for developers.

Walk the districts to see every house on the map.

A house’s run

Going into a house deals a run: 10 rounds in the first four districts, 15 in the rest, 20 in the dark quarter. Each round is one short game from the house’s deck of six, drawn from 24 in all: memory, timing, spotting, counting, typing, words and logic. See every game.

Every house has its own standing rule: more time on the clock, a second off for every miss, taps that land one to the right. As the run goes on the Landlord calls more. He announces every one before it bites. A caretaker waits at the door at the end of the run; beat them and the house is yours.

Skill points and the counter

Clearing a board pays skill points, and clean hands pay more. Every 5 rounds the counter opens, where you spend them on skills that bend the Landlord’s rules back your way. Skill points never leave the run they were earned in.

Keys, chips and titles

Hold all ten houses in a district and you earn its key, which works in every city run after it. There are 10:

No wahala

Every city run starts with 3 SP in your pocket.

Haggler

Everything in the draft and the shop costs 1 SP less.

Second helping

A board cleared without a miss pays 1 SP more.

Backup

Committing costs 4 SP instead of 6.

African time

Four more seconds on every clock.

Through ticket

The Landlord's hand costs half the ante.

Generator

Clocks the Landlord hides stay lit.

Interest

Every checkpoint pays 2 SP.

Big man

The first miss on every board is forgiven.

Appeal

The Landlord's own standing rule is struck, in every house.

The houses you hold pay rent in chips every day, piling up for 3 days. Chips buy cosmetics, like paint for your houses on the map. Your title rises with the houses you hold: Visitor, Tenant, Caretaker, Landlord, Estate owner, Oga at the top, Chairman.

Other ways to play

• Today’s house.One house a day, the same for everybody in the city, one attempt. Compare how far you got. The dark path’s daily runs 40 rounds.
• Free play. A run with nothing on the line: 15 rounds on the light path, 25 on the middle, 40 in the dark.
• The tables. Play a friend at a typing race, chess or whot.
• The developer’s door. Six questions, fifteen seconds each, all six right.

What’s next

This is Wahala City 1.0, and it is supported from here on. More mini games for the runs, and more board games to play friends at the tables. Want a particular game? Ask for it at the tables, or tell the Landlord from the city.

Questions