The pretzel marker and tankard are placed beside the game board. The remaining district council member cards are then thoroughly shuffled and placed face down next to the board. The oldest player receives the felt pouch and begins. Whoever has the turn draws a building section from the felt bag and announces aloud the number on the reverse. Each player now determines their personal negotiation strength.
All players now confer simultaneously over the formation of coalitions.
Play proceeds clockwise and the next player receives the felt bag. The player with the felt pouch draws a card from it blind. If it is a journalist there is no negotiation round and the special rules in section 6 below are applied. If it is a building section, the player puts it on the board on the appropriate field announcing the value on its reverse. Example A building section with value 4 on the reverse is drawn and two building sections already lie on the board for that project.