Instead of a gameboard, there are 8 modular pieces that represent the neighbourhoods with it's blocks (all numbered) of the city you are going to build and a set of cards for each neighbourhood that represents the building rights for those sites.

The rules are straightforward and easy to learn but the game still offers a challange to its players. Each player gets 5 cards with the different blocks on the map. These are your property and as the owner of that card only you can build there.

You start with a number of neighbourhoods equal to the number of players. As the game progresses, players can add new neighbourhoods and increase the size of the city. This means that no two games will ever be the same, which keeps the game fresh. Playing time is quite good, as if you have played it a couple of times, it can go be played in an hour or so. Personally, I find the game is great fun with 2-3 players and one of the best games I've played for 2 players.

There are five actions available to you each turn:

1) Build a building. You trade the cards of the blocks you want to put the building on and score points. The two most basic buildings are houses and offices. These come in different sizes from 1 to 3 blocks. The longer the blocks, the more points you score but the harder to get the building rights.

2) Build a tramline (after cityhall is built).

3) Trade property cards: You can trade all the property cards you have for other ones. But you cannot draw more then two property cards from one neighbourhood. Each neighbourhood has it's own pile of cards and thus you can try to get the best cards for your properties, adjecent to blocks you already own. If you want to build a housing complex of 3 blocks long, you will need to have all the 3 the property cards. So the game has a nice trade-off between building new stuff, and getting more cards.

4) Add a new Neighbourhood: The unused neighbourhoods at the beginning are placed into a pile, and can be added to the city with this action.

5) Pass a turn: Do nothing

By having met certain conditions, you can score points. For example when your houses are next to a tramline their value is doubled, or when they are next to a park, the value gets raised by 1.

Then there are special buildings, such as Churches, Shopping Centre, Cinema, Bank and Post Office. You score more points for these buildings but they can only be build after the Cityhall has been placed. That building is free and gives no points but opens up play to build these advanced buildings. However, the player who places the cityhall effectively looses one turn. A rule I like, is that for the cityhall there is no building right needed, so it gets to be a bit of a 'screwage' card.

Besides all this, there are 4 "spoiler" pieces, 2 parks and 2 factories. For these pieces you do not need all the property cards, but only a special card that features a park or factory. If you play that card, you can place that factory anywhere you like. So it can be a great way to spoil neighbourhoods where your opponents are drawing lots of cards to affect their score. Parks and Factories also affect the value of buildings. If they are next to a factory they are worth less and if they are next to the park they are worth more.

Overall, the rules are well written and the game is easy to understand, and good fun to play.
It plays well as a 2 player game and is just as much fun with 3 or 4 players also. 5 players can become a bit too chaotic. The detailed plastic pieces have a nice tactile feel to them and are very durable.

Review by Brian