More players, and teams
Epoch Street plays with two to eight players, and those seats can be split into two to four teams. Both are set on the Player setup screen.
★ Where they are — player count and teams need no mode at all (player count graduated 2026-09-15, teams 2026-09-17). The Players and Teams rows are simply there on Player setup.
1. Choosing the count
Picking Local multiplayer (or Single player) opens Player setup. The top row, Players, takes a number from 2 to 8.
- Changing the count never touches a seat's own settings — name, piece and controls all survive being dropped and brought back
- At five or more, the seat cards wrap onto a second row (see the table below)
- A seat needs a controller nobody else is using; a seat coming into play starts as a CPU
- A match of nothing but CPUs will not start. At least one seat has to be a person
Raising the count from Single player keeps P1 as you and makes the rest CPUs.
1a. How the seat cards lay out
Five players and up wrap onto a second row, and the number of columns is half the count, rounded up.
| Players | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Columns | 2 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 |
| Rows | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
2. A board's "max players"
A board's author may declare a maximum player count. The board list's info panel shows it on the Players line: up to 4, or — when the board sets no limit.
- A board below your current count is flagged with ⚠ in the list
- Starting it anyway asks first: "This board is made for up to N players. Play with M?" — Play anyway / Go back
- "Play anyway" starts the match normally. The limit is the author's advice, not a lock — with eight players on a small board you simply run out of shops to buy
Your own boards set it in the board editor under Board settings → maxPlayers (0 = no limit).
3. What changes as the count grows
| Sidebar | Cards shrink at 5–6 players and shrink again at 7–8. Name, rank, cash and net worth always stay |
| Bankruptcies | The rule's range becomes 1 to (players − 1) |
| Turn order | The order-slot reels match the number of seats |
| Pieces on one square | Five or more pawns wrap onto a second row |
| Results and records | Standings and stats grow with the count (eight players read as 2 columns × 4 rows) |
None of the economics change with the count — fees, stock, salary and the capital ceiling are the same at two players as at eight.
4. Team matches
The Teams row offers Off / 2 teams / 3 teams / 4 teams / Free. There are two ways to form the sides: dealt and free.
- 2–4 teams are DEALT, and dealt sides must be equal (4 players = 2v2; 6 = 3v3 or 2v2v2; 8 = 4v4 or 2v2v2v2). A count the split cannot divide evenly is skipped as you step through the row — it is not shown dim, it is not shown at all
- A dealt line-up hands the seats out round-robin into A, B, C, D (with two sides: P1=A, P2=B, P3=A, P4=B)
- Free is the line-up you build yourself. Step the Team field on a seat card and only that seat moves; the row switches itself to Free. Sides that do not divide the count (3v1, 3v2 …) are allowed
- Changing the player count treats the two differently. A dealt line-up is re-dealt at the new count, and teams turn themselves off if it no longer divides. Free does neither — the line-up you built stays exactly as it is, and the Team order row tells you if it cannot be played
4a. Team order
Pick it with the Team order row under Team rules:
- Alternate (the default) — A1 → B1 → A2 → B2 → … (three sides: A1 → B1 → C1 → A2 …)
- Blocked — each side plays in a row (A1 A2 → B1 B2)
- Free — the line-up the Turn order rule setting decided
Sides of uneven size (3 v 1 and so on) cannot alternate and play Blocked.
4b. Winning is a team total
- Victory — when the combined net worth of a whole side is at or above the goal, any one of its members reaching a bank wins it for the team
- Elimination — players still go bankrupt one at a time; a side is out when every member is bankrupt, and the Bankruptcies rule counts sides, not seats
Raise the goal. Because the test is a team total, the default goal arrives about twice as fast in 2v2. Typing double the board's goal into the Goal rule setting is a good start.
4c. Between teammates
| Landing on an ally's shop | No fee is charged (unless Ally's shop is set to "Pay the fee") |
| 5× buyouts, takeovers, seizing a lot | Not possible against an ally |
| Trading | Allowed with allies — moving assets around inside a side is a tactic in itself |
| Chance cards | Unchanged. Cards that pick a target may pick an ally (a gift is a play) |
| Battle Colosseum | The lander's allies stand on the boss side and do not attack (only the other teams attack). The rank bonus uses the team's rank. If nobody can attack, the boss side wins at once |
4d. Team rules
Turning teams on adds a Team rules row to the rule settings. Enter opens these rows:
| Team order | Alternate / Blocked / Free (4a above) |
| Sides | As set / Secret (re-dealt just before the match opens; the side sizes are kept) |
| Ally's shop | What landing on a teammate's shop lets you do (table below) |
| Shops per area | Only mine / Count the side's (allies' shops count as yours, raising fees and capital ceilings) |
| Investable shops | Only my own / Ally's shops too (allies' shops can be picked when investing) |
| Ally's building | As the owner (gather, warp and other owner effects) / As a visitor (pay the fee or entry charge) |
Ally's shop options:
| Nothing | Like an empty square (the default) |
| Half | You may invest up to half of a normal investment in their shop |
| Same as own | You invest exactly as you would in a shop of your own |
| Pay the fee | You pay the normal fee even at an ally's shop (dividends and shares apply) |
| Up to 250G / percent / amount | You may invest up to the set ceiling (percent 1–100%, amount 1–999G) |
With a capped option, the rows below it (Ally ceiling, Own-shop ceiling) choose whether the ceiling also applies to investments from chance cards and to putting the money into your own shop.
The money moves from your cash into your ally's shop. The side's total is unchanged, but the shop's fee and the district's share price both rise. Note that the CPU never invests in an ally's shop, whatever this is set to.
4e. On screen
- Pieces and colours stay personal; the name line carries an A / B badge
- At four players or fewer each seat card shows its team total (taller cards are needed for that line, so 5+ goes without)
- The podium switches to teams (team name, team colour and the members) — only the crown sits on the individual who actually won
5. Not covered yet
- Challenges are still authored for four players
- There are no team-specific achievements or medals
- This guide covers play at one PC. For matches over the internet, see the "Online play" guide
Player count and teams are exactly the kind of thing that needs playing to judge. Tell us what you find on Discord.