Cities Board Game Review

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At this point, if DEVIR releases a new product into the marketplace, I’m probably going to sign up to play it. This year, I’ve had the chance to play a ton of their games, thanks to their generosity and sending over so many for us. Whether it be games from years past – White Castle and Bitoku come to mind – or games new this year – Rock Hard 1977 and Daitoshi – I have enjoyed almost every minute with every DEVIR game I have played. But those games, mostly, are pretty lengthy and difficult to play / master, with perhaps Rock Hard being the exception. So when they release something fairly light, I wasn’t sure what to think. Somehow, still, Cities impressed me.

In Cities, players will be taking actions on a central board, choosing one of 4 rows each round. One row provides end game victory point cards that will score depending on how your city is laid out and built. Another row will provide you a square tile that can be added to your 3×3 city, with areas for buildings, parks, water features, and more. A third row will provide you features to place in your water areas and park areas, as well as monuments that earn straight victory points and wild tiles that can make a coloured building spot whatever you want it to be. And finally there is a row containing building pieces in 4 colours – red, green, blue, and yellow – which you will use to construct your city.

Since players are required to pick one row per turn (each round), deciding which items to take first and which to leave for later turns is pretty important. More often than not, the last worker you place in a round is likely giving you something less than ideal, perhaps an end game scoring card you don’t like, or building colours you don’t need. That’s the joy of the game, however, as you try to balance the things you really want against the things you kind of want. Choosing a strategy early is important – perhaps you’ll prioritize end game scoring cards and let that dictate what you do, ignoring the city specific