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Big City by Franz-Benno Delonge

BIG CITY by Franz-Benno Delonge art unknown publish Goldsieber Players: 2-5 Duration: 45-70 mins. PACE: Quick. Some short pauses, but usually you know what you need to do on your turn. COMPLEXITY: Medium. The game isn't hard, but the first few games it takes a while to get the hang of how to place different buildings legally, and for max points. No longterm strategy. LUCK: Medium. Adjacent properties are important, and properties are drawn face down from a deck of 9 cards. Mitigated by 8 neighborhood stacks, meaning you have control over what neighborhood you will get cards for. Also, player who gets factory or park, gets to hose other players. TENSION: Medium. This is a middleweight game, but decisions aren't difficult, and luck plays a factor. VICIOUS: Very. The ever-present threat of the 'city' (read: opponents) appropriating your plots to build factories and parks gives this lucky game some real punch. Not to mention how much fun it is to kill someone's plans for a mall with a well run Monorail line! SOCIAL: Lots. This game is light enough to allow a lot of socializing, and the power of the parks and factories makes for threats and laughing. VISUALS: Very Good. Plastic pieces, but very nicely detailed plastic pieces (except for ugly commercial buildings.) Building colors are a bit bland, but neighborhoods are nice enough and the game, when finished, looks like a cool little city. THEME: Medium. Cities don't really get built like this, but the 3-D plastic pieces make a miniature city take shape and make the game a lot of fun. GAMER APPEAL: Maybe; medium luck. NON-GAMER APPEAL: Yes; plastic toy buildings, interaction, some simple strategy. 2 PLAYERS: Less interaction, but still quite fun for 2. REPLAY: Very good, especially for a family game. Luck is present, but visuals draw non-gamers. The board is modular, so each time you play, the city can take a completely different shape. I've played 15+ times. Good with 2-5 players. Best with 3-4 players.

Other games by Franz-Benno Delonge Hellas Iron Road TransAmerica

Quick summary | Sort of a multi-player, board game adaption of Sim City. The board consists of 8 neighborhoods, only 4 or 5 of which actually start out in play. These neighborhoods are rectangles that are pieced together to form any number of configurations. In each neighborhood are numbered plots (between 8 and 9 of them.) Players are secretly dealt a hand with a one plot from each neighborhood. Holding a plot card gives the person the right to build a building on it. Of course, if a player can get several plots that are adjacent on the board, he can build a bigger building fro more points. At the beginning, players may only build residential areas and commercial areas and City Hall, but once City Hall is constructed, players may build Churches, Banks, Malls, Post Offices, Movie Theatres, Parks, Factories, and a Monorail. Players have a great reference mat that tells them how to place each of the buildings and how to score points. The game looks great and is a lot of fun to play. My only complaint is that they never made any expansions for it! A trule great family game.

This page by Yirmeyahu Avery