Cities Review
Advert: this game was gifted by Kosmos Games UK, this has not affected our opinion.
Cities was on my list of board games I was hyped to see at UKGE 2024. I could blame circumstances, being late to the press night, having the kids in tow, but I never really got that up close and personal with it, just fleeting glances through busy crowds. Later on in the show I heard murmurs about how it didn’t do anything different and it wasn’t that exciting. Disappointed by the hushed whispers of feedback, my enthusiasm cooled for it.
Perhaps more disappointingly, I let my opinion be swayed by others. I like formulating my own opinion on things and it made my UKGE list as I had done my research and thought it sounded pretty cool. So when Brian (aka @alwaysplaysblue on Instagram) popped round with the game, I was excited to play it! So, if you’re here doing your research on whether it will be for you read on…
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Setup
Cities is fairly straight-forward to get to the table. Unfold the board and choose one of the City objective boards to slot in the gap at the top. Then overturn cards and tiles for the relevant spaces, remembering the last slot of each should be a mystery and thus placed face down. Draw buildings from the bag for the areas marked on the board. Finally, decide on a first player and then starting with the player on their right draft anti-clockwise one of the four starter tiles. Place your chosen tile in front of you and you are good to go.
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Gameplay
Over the course of the game you will be building a 3 x 3 square grid. On your turn, you will be placing one of your four meeples into a region of the board. The top region offers personal objectives that will help shape your game. The next region offers tiles that will form your 3 x 3 grid. The third region offers tokens that will upgrade your lakes and parks (these are straight-forward set collection). The final area offers you buildings that can be placed on matching coloured squares on your grid or on top of buildings of the same colour already placed.
Over the course of a round, you will place all four of your meeples into a different region. Some offerings will be better than others, plus some are a mystery, so working out your priority is important.
The player with the most points at the end of the game will be crowned victorious. Points come from meeting objectives, both shared objectives on the city board and private objectives from cards that you draft.
There is a two player variant that means you place eight meeples instead of four, having two picks from each row.
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What it’s like
Cities is unquestionably a light game. That’s not to say it doesn’t offer anything to think about, as it does. I particularly enjoy the prioritisation of which area to choose first. Usually there are four good options at least. So you find yourself glancing around at your opponent’s working out the probability of what they will snaffle first too. If there are two options you like in one row, you may leave that area for a later turn. It is a super satisfying dilemma!
Turns are quick, as most of this thinking is done at the start of a round and you’ve normally worked out the most ideal option when play moves to you. Towards the end of the round what you will be getting is obvious and that speeds the round up as well.
The drafting element is vaguely reminiscent of Kingdomino, but having four areas really ramps up the options in a good way. Turn order can be super important and there is only one way of securing first player, so that option can be hotly contested.
Cities can be quite nail-biting if there is something you really want, but you chose something you really, really wanted first. Sitting there hoping no one else needs it, or realises how much you need it and snaffles it first. I haven’t had a game where one of the players doesn’t exclaim that they “really wanted that”.
The two player variant really does ramp up the speed and mixes up the gameplay in quite a nice way. As you take two picks from each area, not everything is revealed so it makes the game a lot less predictable. I think that is a really nice feature. In fact, I wish that there were a few more objectives, tokens and tiles included, so that three and four player games could benefit from a bit of this unknown randomness.
You see, the personal scoring objectives really shape your strategy as they can offer so many points, especially if multiplying the same objective. However, you can soon learn what might come up and what is going to come up so I really wish more of these were included in the box so some would be unused making it all less predictable. The changing common objectives do mix up your strategies and placements and therefore allow for plenty of replayability too, but I’ve found more points can be had with the personal objectives.
I am a little surprised that the buildings don’t score any points other than helping for objectives, but they don’t!
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Table Presence
Cities is a really good looking game. It just zings on the table top. I love the illustrations and palette of colours used on the central board. I like how the shared objectives slot into the top of the board. The 3 x 3 city you build also starts to look good as the buildings grow and you decorate your lakes and parks.
The score track on the board is an interesting decision, as everything can be tallied at the end of the game, a scorepad might have worked better, but equally, its fine.
As I said in the introduction, I was taught this game so I haven’t had to use the rulebook, but I had a quick glance and it seemed okay.
It all fits away nicely in the box too which feels the perfect size. Something I always admire Devir Games for doing, making the box the right size instead of overly bloated just for shelf presence in a store. They certainly don’t ship too much air around the world like some other board game publishers.
Oh and the box art tart in me is definitely fulfilled with the cool city vignettes that adorn the lid.
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What the kids thought
George (13): It’s a pretty good game, I enjoy it. I particularly like how long it takes to play, it’s not too short and not too long. My favourite part is the set collection of the little square tokens. I’d like it if there was an objective to build the highest tower of buildings as I like stacking them up.
Harrison (16): I really enjoy playing Cities. I like how there are different paths to score points and any of the different strategies can win. The art is good, and works with the game. I also like how you have the variety of different cities, so games don’t feel the same.
Final thoughts on Cities
I was drawn in by the sound of the ease of gameplay. That clearly may not scratch the itch for some, but as long as you are aware of its weight, there is a really fun board game in the box. I admire its simplicity, in fact I really like it!
I particularly like having to prioritise each area, its oh so satisfying when the piece you hoped wouldn’t be taken is still there on your turn and oh so disappointing when your calculations unravel in front of your eyes!
I’m pleased to say I have had lots of fun playing Cities and am confident there is lots more enjoyable plays to be had. It’s been just right for our family and I have looked forward to getting home from work and settling into a game!
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Key Facts
Number of players: 2 to 4
Board Game Review Recommended Age: 10+
Publisher’s Recommended Age: 10+
Playing Time: 50 minutes
Setting Up and Take Down Time: 1 minute
Designers: Steve Finn and Phil Walker-Harding
Publisher: Devir
RRP: £34.99
Summary
Cities was such a pleasant surprise and has become one of my favourite games to go to after a busy day of work. It’s light and not too long, but has just enough to think about without causing brain burn.
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Artwork and Components
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Complexity
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Instructions
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Interaction
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Value for Money
Overall
Pros
- Prioritising the different areas
- Quick to learn and play
- Looks good on the tabletop
- Great midweek option
Cons
- Can be frustrating
- Lack of additional tiles, cards and tokens for more randomness at higher player counts
- Could be too light for some
Need more games?
If you already own Cities and enjoy it, or are looking for other inspiration, you might also like these similar games:
- Kingdomino
- Akropolis
- Barenpark
- Castle Combo
Buy Cities
If you want to buy Cities after reading our review click on one of our affiliate links below (note there has been no affiliate links until this point)
Reviewer’s Note
For clarity: we don’t get paid for our reviews. However, we were kindly gifted this game by Kosmos Games. We have tried not to let this affect our review in any way.
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