If no sections have been placed on a project, the first time a card is drawn for the project, the value is calculated as the value on the reverse of the card drawn plus one. A player who has 4 council member cards and rolls a 3 has a negotiation strength of 7. The numbers on the card fronts are only used during a district council session. A player may roll the die again by discarding one of their district council member cards to the discard pile. For each new die roll, one council member card must be relinquished.
All players confer simultaneously.
For each subsequently improved bid, the tankard is advanced to the corresponding space. A coalition can be formed or replaced by a new one at any time. A coalition must agree over the distribution of the millions. They should consider the share each is getting and the position of the leader on the money strip. A detailed example of the negotiation round is given in Die kleine Mauschelfibel below.