Think you know your way around a city? Well, what if you have to build it yourself? We’re looking for the best city developer around to start from the bottom and build up a thriving location! We need residential, commercial, and industrial areas, of course, as well as some parks and museums. But, please, try to avoid those abandoned lots and houses as much as possible, if you can help it. Will you master the task, or get zoned out of too many blocks? Let’s find out!
What Is It?
A tile laying game where players are trying to create zones by placing blocks of the same city type and density together. Players score each time they develop a zone (by moving their city planner out of it and placing their building pieces) based on size and surrounding fixtures (i.e. parks). As players move around, they are also building skyscrapers in the middle of the board, vying for points for majority.
There are also end game objectives players are trying to work toward (which can be based on zone density, type, size, and more) for additional points. The game ends when one player runs of our building pieces, or the deck of city cards is depleted, so players need to pay close attention and make every move count!
Who Is It For?
I would definitely say this one is for more avid gamers, ergo, I wouldn’t consider it a gateway game. The rulebook, in my opinion, was a little bit convoluted, and having the different densities for zones, but not having them score differently, was confusing as well. Due to this, I’d also recommend it to ages 13+. Fans of city building games will likely enjoy this, as well as area-influence games, as the objectives lend themselves to that mechanic as well.
Components + Quality
The city cards are pretty average quality. Most of what’s on them is very clear, but it was a weird choice to add pink tints to the heavy density commercial blocks, since the residential blocks are also pink; it added some unnecessary confusion. The secret objective cards are also average, all the objectives are clearly defined and detailed. All the cardboard pieces (points and redraw tokens) are average quality; I like that the point tokens have a design on them, and are different colors.
All the player pieces are nice quality. The deed tokens are simple cardboard, the city planners are cute little translucent pawns, and the building pieces (also translucent) stack nicely. However, functionally, the building pieces aren’t my favorite. I don’t like that 2 of the player colors match 2 of the zone types, and I don’t like that once out on the board, it’s often hard to tell what type of zone is beneath it quickly, which makes scoring the end game objectives more difficult than it needs to be.
The rulebook, as I mentioned, wasn’t my favorite. I felt like I learned more from actually playing and trying the game than reading the rules, which made my first play difficult. Finally, the box and insert were great. I love the vibrant colors on the cover and everything fits in the insert nicely.
One component the game lacks that I truly wish was included was a reference card for the scoring. There’s a turn sequence reference on the back of the rulebook, but to check the scoring you have to go back into the rules, which just isn’t convenient.
PROS
- The pieces are cool/fun – giving the game great table presence
- Neat that everyone has a hidden objective that all players score, so you can try to focus on the public ones/what you have, or try to figure out what others might be going for
- You can score well going for big areas or focusing on objectives, which adds in some more strategy
- The redraw option adds a layer of strategy as well if you’re willing to lose a few points to potentially get a huge area
- A bunch of variety for the scoring objectives
CONS
- No scoring reference card
- Difficult to tell what your pieces are on for end game scoring
- A lot of similarly colored components makes distinction hard at times
- The rules are a bit unclear/confusing
Final Thoughts
I thought that this game looked really cool, especially once you’ve built a huge 3D city on your table. I think the turns flow pretty smoothly, once you know what you’re doing, and while there is definitely some luck of the draw, you can flush your hand every turn if you want, or focus more on objectives and skyscrapers than large areas if you have to. But, I found it odd that there was no easy way to reference the scoring, and it was unfortunate that the cool, translucent pieces made it difficult to see what was on the board for scoring objectives.
I will say that while I thought the game was plenty fine at 2 players, I really thought 3 players made it shine brighter. The board was more wide spread, skyscrapers were more competitive, and I liked how it changed hidden objectives, so I’d certainly recommend it more at 3-4.
Overall, a decent game, with a little bit of a knock for difficult functionality from the pieces. But check it out if you’re into city building, tile laying, and area influence!
My Final Ratings:
Overall Game – 6/10
Aesthetics – 6/10
Difficulty – 4/10
Replayability – 5/10
Additional Information:
Designer – Keith Rentz
Artist – Jake Blanchard
Publisher – Grey Fox Games
MSRP – $39.99
BGG
BGA
Website
*I was provided a copy of this game to do this review*
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