SimCity For Board Gamers

I love SimCity. So much so that I’ve had to ban myself from ever owning a copy of it ever again, because it eats so much of my life away when I play it. That means I never got a chance to play the borked version they released a few years back, much to my regret, in spite of every bad thing I heard about it.

I do however play board games. So here are three great city building games that I thoroughly enjoy playing.

New York 1901

More of a Tetris-style puzzle than a city simulator really, but you get to build giant towering skyscrapers in turn of the century Manhattan. It is gorgeous to look at, tactile to play, and a great gateway game for all the family. Play it, play it now.

Quadropolis

Another beautifully produced game this one, and it’s based around an interesting mechanic that not only dictates and limits your choices, but makes for an excellent puzzler. Moreover, it has elements of SimCity in it, in that you’re trying to build a city that grows to its own potential and gives you a maximum return for your investment.

Suburbia

This is by far one of my favourite games. And it’s as close to playing SimCity as it gets on a table top. The trick is to build an economic engine early on, so that you can afford to expand your city and attract the most new residents as you can. It’s fun laying the hex tiles down and figuring out how this new moves affects your and everyone else’s suburb, and the way the game grows makes it more challenging as the play progresses. Even better with the Suburbia Inc. expansion too. Works best with three players I find.

 

, , ,
Buy My Books
  • Nineteen 90s Shows
    Nineteen 90s Shows

    I wrote another book about television. I like television. I like television so much that the first thing I modelled and printed on my new 3d printer was this … I made some more after that too. There’s a few more, including TVS, ATV, and HTV, but I bought you here to talk about my…

Follow
Most Read
  • Re-Casting Keanu
    Re-Casting Keanu

    Keanu Reeves is 56. That makes him eight years older than Clive Dunn was when he was first cast in Dad’s Army. But don’t panic, Clive Dunn was always playing much older characters than his own age. Keanu Reeves is 56. That makes him seven years older than Stephanie Cole was when she was first…

From The Archive

Sign up for my FREE newsletter