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Your first tower

Every tower starts the same way: an empty lot, a street, and $2,000,000 to spend. This page walks you from there to your first rent and your first star. The game’s Getting Started steps walk you through the first part too, and you can replay them any time from About… on the game panel.

Found the tower

Section titled “Found the tower”

Choose New Tower on the opening screen. Give your tower a name, then pick its rules:

  • Classic is the 1994 game, as faithfully as we can make it.
  • Modern keeps all of that and adds what the original couldn’t do: new rooms, rental homes, a gentler calendar and smarter elevators.

You choose once, for the life of the tower. Not sure? Modern is the friendlier start. See Classic and Modern for the whole list.

Start the clock

Section titled “Start the clock”

A new tower opens with the clock already running.

Classic As in 1994, nothing can be built while the clock is stopped. Keep it running and build as the days go by. If you pause (0), press Play (or 1) again before you build.

Modern You can build with the clock stopped. Pause (0) if you like, lay out the steps below at your own pace, then press Play (or 1).

See Calendar and clock for the speeds.

1. Open your lobby

Section titled “1. Open your lobby”

People arrive at street level, so every tower starts with a lobby on the ground floor. Pick Lobby and drag along the ground line, the row just above the dirt. Make it wide: everything you build above will sit on it.

A lobby

2. Add a floor

Section titled “2. Add a floor”

Every room needs a floor under it. Pick Floor and drag across the row above your lobby. Floors are cheap, so lay a good stretch.

3. Lease an office

Section titled “3. Lease an office”

Offices pay the rent. Pick Office and drop one on your new floor. It sits empty for now, waiting for a company to move in.

An office

4. Connect it

Section titled “4. Connect it”

Nobody climbs the outside of a building. Your office needs a way down to the lobby. Pick Stairway and click on the lobby, which links it to the floor above. Or pick Standard Elevator and drag from the lobby up to your office’s floor.

A standard elevator

5. Wait for your first tenant

Section titled “5. Wait for your first tenant”

If you paused, press Play. Within a day or two a company moves in, and its rent lands with the next bill (Money has when each kind of room pays). Your tower is open for business.

Your first star

Section titled “Your first star”

Your tower has one star. At 300 people it earns a second, and that’s when things get interesting: hotel rooms, Security and Housekeeping unlock.

To get there:

  • Fill a few floors with offices. Each holds six workers, and every one counts toward the 300. Stack them up, one floor at a time, and run the elevator up with them.
  • Sell some condos. A condo is a home that sells once for a lump sum, and brings a family. It’s the quickest money early on. See Homes.
  • Feed them. Build a Fast Food place on a low floor. Office workers need somewhere to go at lunch, and they’ll pay you for it.

Good habits from day one

Section titled “Good habits from day one”
  • Keep homes away from offices. Condos and hotel rooms don’t like sharing a floor with an office. Give them floors of their own; noise is the most common gripe. See Tenant ratings.
  • Watch the elevators at lunch. If people wait too long, their floors start to fail. Add cars, or a second elevator, before it gets bad. See Elevators.
  • Open the room card. Pick Inspect and click any room (the room card) to see how its tenants rate it and what’s bothering them. They’ll usually tell you exactly what’s wrong.
  • Keep some money back. Bills arrive whether or not rent does. See Money.

Where to go next

Section titled “Where to go next”