The Estates is played over several turns, with each turn played the same way.

On the active player’s turn, they may first choose to stow away any illegal earnings for endgame scoring.

Then, the player chooses any one of the available wooden pieces—Floor cube, Rooftop, Building Permit, Mayor, or Cancel cube—and holds an auction for it.

After the auction, the player who wins the piece must immediately place it on the board, or—in the case of certain pieces—permanently remove it from the game.

After placing or discarding the piece, the turn is over and the next player in clockwise order begins their turn as the new auctioneer. Players are never required to reveal the amount of money they have.