Brettspiel-News.de – Review | Micro City

Written by Alex & Wandee Steinmaier on February 16, 2022.

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Fabulous! Our small construction company has been awarded the construction contract. To successfully complete the order, we now just have to succeed in completing the building on time. Will we be able to get all the building materials and complete the construction phases on time thus expanding Micro City?

These Troy games have provided us with “Micro City” for our review.
This has no effect on our rating!

Brick by brick, brick by brick, the little house will be ready soon

The objective of the game “Micro City” is to complete a building in a given time. The little box contains three game modes and three expansions. The three game modes are single-player mode and two-person co-op game, which play very similarly. The third game mode is a two-person competitive mode.

For the single game, four area cards are laid out, each of which displays four areas and represents the playing field. A building card that represents the task to be completed for that game is chosen. The level of difficulty is determined by the round counter card, for example if the building must be completed within ten rounds.

Own resources are managed on the corporate card. Initially there are two types of coins, but none of the other resources such as coal, steel or wood. The building maple is placed in a freely chosen area on one of the county cards. Then two dice, eight investment signs in the form of wooden houses, and six project cards are laid out.

Now the game can start. The construction maple is moved over the district card areas in four stages, thus activating the corresponding actions, such as receiving or exchanging money. The areas visited are marked with one of the eight investment markers.

The preparatory stage begins. 2 dice are rolled and the value can optionally be changed by +/- 1 by spending 1 building material or 2 coins. In addition, a building material or two can be spent to redeem an already used investment mark from any region. It is also possible to sell building materials for one money each.

Then the project phase continues. Here it is decided whether the project card is turned on or all project cards already turned on are redeemed by giving up the subsequent investment stage. When the project card is played, it specifies the number of spaces the building maple can move on the area card. Additionally, the standard action of the project card is executed, or if one of the dice values ​​matches the value of the area dice, it can be used to perform the enhanced action of the project card. For example, the normal action might be “Obtain 2 coins or any resource”, and the enhanced action would be “Obtain 2 coins or any resource and return all project cards except this one to your hand”.

This is followed by the investment stage, and this step is skipped if the construction site is in an area with an investment mark already. If there are none, you can again choose whether to use the normal action or the enhanced action with a die. Depending on the region, building materials or funds can be received or exchanged, or a construction action can be carried out, in which the construction phase of the build card is completed by giving away resources.

Once the procedures are completed, the closing phase follows. If there is no investment tag in the Meeple building area, one should be placed here. The time slice is presented by a single field. If the dice are not used in this round, you get the money.

This repeats until the time dial reaches zero or there are no more investment ticks available to place in the city area. In both cases the game is lost. The game is won if the building is completed within the allotted time.

In the two-person competitive mode, the setup is similar to the single-player game, except that both people receive equipment for the builder, such as tags, cards, and dice. Victory points are recorded on a separate card. In addition, there are thematic cards that replace the building construction card from the single mode and advantage cards.

Destination cards work like building cards, except that each building stage is scored individually and you earn victory points. Construction phases can now also be completed multiple times. Advantage cards show conditions that must be met, such as “having nine building materials” to get additional victory points. If the card is filled, it will be discarded and a new benefits card will be revealed.

The process is similar to that of single mode, but the spaces occupied by the discount maple or investment mark cannot be used. Likewise, the same cards may not be played directly one after the other. If you run out of investment ticks during the course of the game, you have the option of giving up a victory point in order to reclaim one of the investment ticks. The game ends after 20 rounds, and whoever has the most winning points wins the game.

Micro City has three expansions: Logistics Centre, Port and Park. For example, any cube in a logistics center can be used to return two investment marks. The port offers additional contracts that can be completed by paying resources for victory points and rewards. The park can be an additional source of income in the event that there are two or more investment marks in perpendicular contiguous areas in the final stage.

Tags: 10-45 minutes, 1-2 people, resource management, hand management, dice game, card game