Skylines and Skyrises - Games With a City Theme

I'm Sick of This

Being sick sucks. I hate being sick because not only does it mean that I sit on the couch and not really do anything great, but it means that my plays of games significantly decrease. Well, my physical plays of games at least. I suppose that I could play digital versions, but again, I have issues with digital versions as I like to feel the pieces in my hands. But with being sick, I don't want to touch too many of my games as that might result in them having germs spread over them (yuck).

I did manage to get a game of Sagrada in this week and it got me thinking about various themes that I'd like to talk about on this blog. While there used to be a ton of games that came out about destroying things or taking something down and then rebuilding it, there's been quite a few games lately that have been about building something new on your own or with friends. It's a nice trend to see this hobby go towards (although "trend" might not be the right word since it's been going on for about three decades now) and It's fun to think about building something up rather than destroying.

Not to say that I have any issues with breaking something down. I love smashing into other cars in Thunder Road: Vendetta and I have no issues with tearing down someone else's building in Santorini to make room for my own, but there's something unique about building something up. It's all about creation rather than destruction and I think that it's been the right direction to go with games as it promotes more cooperative play rather than "take that" play all the time.

This last week (at the time of writing, that was the week of 6/17) I got a copy of both Machi Koro 2 and Life in Reterra and it really got me thinking about games that had a city-building theme to it, which is what I'll be doing today's list on. Obviously, there's so much out there with this theme that it would be hard to get it all, so I'll limit this list to 10 games maximum that have the theme to make sure I don't drag this out for too long.

Mr. Mayor: Your City Awaits

The sun never sets on Machi Koro.

While I did pick up the sequel to Machi Koro, I have yet to play it, so I thought I would just talk about the original game for this list. In it, players are building an engine of various buildings with the hope to be the first player to build all four landmarks in their city before another person does. Each turn someone rolls one or two dice and players earn income from their buildings that they've built in their city, sometimes from the bank and sometimes from someone else. With all income being determined by dice, players have to effectively choose what cards to add to their city in order to best gain enough income. It's a really light, but fun game, with players attempting to outwit one another with their buildings that they add to their city. There is also a legacy version, Machi Koro Legacy, that sees players play over 10 games and building their city over those games.

This certainly makes post-civilization seem fun.

Another game that I picked up recently, Life in Reterra, sees players rebuilding a city after the apocalypse has occurred. Players take turns placing single tiles on their player area (a la Dominoes). The twist comes with the capability to add buildings from a shared pool of tiles to their tableau as long as a certain set of gear icons has been placed in the right formation. These buildings can add ongoing bonuses or points at the end of the game, making this a light but fun little strategy game about rebuilding after civilization is gone.

Buildings are falling from the sky!

My City is another legacy game that sees players building a series of cities over 24 separate sessions. While this may seem like a lot for a legacy game, My City generally has a playing time of about 30 minutes, which significantly reduces the overall time it would take to complete it. While this is the first game by Reiner Knizia on this list, he's so prolific, I doubt that this will be the last time that he comes up. My City also features a replayable non-legacy side that is available to replay over and over, although that does require players to have completed at least 4 of the initial games to unlock the necessary components.

Andrew's artwork never ceases to amaze.

I would be remiss if I didn't include one of my favorite games, Everdell, on this list of city builders. While the artwork and premise of building a city of anthropomorphic animals initially seem cozy and simple, they belie a significantly deeper and more strategic game that lays under the cover. There is so much to do in Everdell and each turn feels like there is weight to what you choose to place in your city or what resource you choose. I love the theme of this game and it's unique enough for me to warrant having several different city-builders in my collection, despite how much I love this game. Additional expansions take the base game and make it even better, and if you ever want to see which ones I would recommend, check out this post for a deep dive into everything.

Ancient civilizations offer so much opportunity for games.

While I could include 7 Wonders on this list, as someone who plays more two-player games regularly, I've chosen to include 7 Wonders Duel instead. Both feature the similar gameplay, but Duel narrows that down to a lighter, more fierce competition between two players. In 7 Wonders, players are competing to build a civilization full of cards that allow them resources to build one of seven wonders available to both players. At the end of the game, only one player will be able to get four wonders in their city, so it's a challenge to out think your opponent and choose resources that will allow you best to accomplish that goal.

I'd love to see a beautiful underwater tableau outside my window.

Underwater Cities tasks players with building underwater cities (hence the name) to reduce overpopulation on the earth. Players are playing major powers of the world using cards to terraform and build cities in the newly terraformed locations to best provide new habitable locations for the people of earth. Players play cards on the board to take actions with an ever-growing series of buildings and tunnels that get added to a shared board that earn each player points for cards played. At the end of each era (there are three total), players then produce and score for cards, cities built and fed, and other additional opportunities at the end of the game.

First underwater, now on Mars!

On Mars represents the most complex city-builder on this list with an average weight rating of 4.67 here on BGG. Players are colonists who have been tasked with building a habitable colony on Mars and ensuring that the missions, both overall and for your company, are completed to earn you additional victory points. Sustainability is key for your point totals, and players seek to not only create a big city, but also one that is sustainable over the longer term for the most amount of points.

Skulduggery, shiftiness and spies are all present in this worker placement game.

As a titular Lord in Lords of Waterdeep, players each have their own agenda that they are looking to accomplish throughout the game. As one of the first pure worker-placement games, Lords of Waterdeep still remains to this day one of the best examples of what an excellent worker-placement game looks like. As players build out various establishments in Waterdeep, they not only offer additional locations to recruit more adventurers or gain additional VP, but also act as a potential secondary source of resources for the players that built them. It's a fantastic balance of attempting to outwit your opponents, while also advancing your own agenda to gain the most VP at the end of the game and the theme is excellently implemented, even for those not familiar with the D&D expanded universe, making it easy to play with anyone.

Perfection is attainable!

I almost included Welcome to the Moon because it is listed higher on the BGG rankings, but I had to defer to Welcome To... since it was the original and better fit the theme (in my opinion) of building out a city (or neighborhood in this case). Players are tasked with numbering houses from 0-17 using a set of three cards that offer both a number and an action that players can take on their turn. Since the game is a flip and write, all players are able to take turns simultaneously which significantly reduces down-time when playing the game. It's an excellently designed game and with the Collector's Edition coming later this year, it's absolutely one that I would recommend for anyone looking to add something excellent and simple to their collection.

Hexes and neighborhoods? Count me in!

Rounding out this list, we have Suburbia, which is a tile laying game that tasks players with starting from a small neighborhood and building a larger city to increase reputation, income and population. The hexes for the game are beautifully designed, especially with the second edition of the game, and with the variability of the different tiles differing each game, players will find that each game that they play will have a different set of goals and opportunities available to them. It's one I have yet to play, but definitely something that I would love to try as I have thoroughly enjoyed several of the games in the Bézier Games offering list.

Final Thoughts

That's all I have for this week. I had started to think about the idea of building out things and when I realized how much there was to dive into, I thought I'd narrow down my selection a bit further to cities only. Unfortunately, that turned out to be something that was just as prevalent and I still had quite a bit to choose from. I tried to build out the list with multiple games that I own, and from the ones that I didn't own, include games that tended to be towards the top of the BGG rankings. Obviously, there are so many more games out there that I didn't mention (Puerto Rico, Lisboa, and Le Havre are three that top the rankings that I didn't include on this list), so this might require a second or third follow up in a year or so to list several more city-building games.

There's also just the general "building" theme that could be explored and that's one that I may look into later on in the month of June or July to really dive into games that have players building something out. It could be stained glass windows, a beautiful mosaic, or even a colony on Mars, but for now, I thought I would restrict the games to those that revolved around building a city. There's so much to choose from and with the modern reinvention of board games, so much more that's coming each and every year, so I have so much to write about.

Still, I'll finish off this post with this final note: building up something usually brings together people far more than tearing something down. While there is staying power in games like Risk and Sorry!, games like that can often end with hurt feelings or a feeling of not wanting to play the game again. I know that I found myself ganged up on quite often when playing Risk with my family and it really soured the game for me. On the opposite end of the spectrum, while I've found myself locked out of something in CATAN, I've never really been upset about it, because I haven't had my buildings torn down or destroyed. Sure there is frustration when someone takes a route that I wanted, but I can adapt and build in another way, and that's really my preferred way to play. Obviously, everyone has a preferred style of games that they want to play, but I know that when I've introduced new players to games, they tend to be more interested in games that build rather than break, so keep that in mind when you are planning your next game night!

Give me your thoughts:What are some of your favorite city-builder games to play? Do you like seeing the city build up in your own personal tableau/shared board in a more freeform manner (a la Machi Koro or Everdell) or do you like to have something already in place that you build into (a la Lords of Waterdeep or On Mars)? Do you like city builders that trend towards fantasy, historical, science fiction, or other themes? What kind of city builder would you like to see created in the board game space?

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*Originally posted on BoardGameGeek on 1/7/2024*