Sprawlopolis, Game of the Month – March 2022
March 2022 was far from vintage. COVID-19 finally caught up with me and struck me down. Three and a half days in bed, and when I wasn’t in bed I was walking around for short periods of time as a zombie. Then, on the fourth night, I didn’t sleep. Eyes wide open pretty much all night. I could muster watching Episode VIII of Star Wars. Throughout these weird days I only managed to play one game a few times. Unusually for me it was a solo game, but my weird body clock didn’t allow for any competition. So, for its ability to allow me to play games even when feeling rotten and riddled with a virus, Sprawlopolis gets the Game of the Month accolade for March.
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Each of the cards in Sprawlopolis has an objective on the reverse. Three of these will be randomly selected to dictate your scoring objective for the game. Then from a hand of three cards you place one card overlapping or laying adjacent to previously placed cards. Then draw back up to a full hand. Two player works slightly different with a drafting mechanic but otherwise is basically the same. Once all the cards are laid you tally the points. You score points for your largest residential, commercial and industrial area, deduct the number of roads in your city and then factor in points from the objective cards. Once this has been worked out you compare it to your target number, also formed from numbers on these objective cards. In true co-op style you win or the game does.
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I’ve still only played it solo, so at this point can’t tell you what it’s like at two. From my solo plays I certainly wouldn’t want to play it at more than a duet but I am keen to try it with my wife.
Sprawlopolis is a microgame of just eighteen cards. Originally published by Button Shy Games as part of their wallet range, my version is from Quined Games so comes with a small box instead of a wallet.
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I have thoroughly enjoyed the easy to pick up nature of this card game. It delivers a really fascinating puzzle in a really short space of time and was perfect for giving me something to do while I had the brain fog of the virus about me. My win/loss ratio was pretty poor, but I’m hoping to improve upon that in April. I can already foresee that I will take this game out and about often.
Just in case you care, after ten days I started to feel better and returned a negative test result. I’m left with a tight chest and a really annoying and persistent cough. I’m certainly not up to full speed yet, but I’m well on the way to recovery.
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Reviewer’s Note
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