by SunnyD
Infinite City is a fairly light game for 2-6 players that can be played in around 45 mins. I first played it in a games tournament that featured games launched at Essen last year, and really enjoyed, so was excited to pick up a copy when it arrived earlier this year.
Concept & Mechanics:
Although the rules have been discussed already, here is a brief synopsis. The goal of the game is to score points, by getting as many of your tokens in groups of 3+ consecutive tiles in horizontal / diagonal direction. Bonus points are also awarded for values on tiles, as well as for controlling the most tiles with silver rings on at the end of the game. The game uses a Tile Laying mechanic similar to Carcassonne, however in this game players have 5+ tiles to choose from in their hand. Once they play a tile, they put one of their 15 tokens on it, and follow the action described on the tile. This may lead to putting tokens on other tiles, which in turn will cause those actions to happen. The game ends either when all 5 power stations are out on the board, or one player has run out of their 15 tokens.
Tiles and actions:
Tiles can have various types of actions - ones that are beneficial to the current player - such as play another tile (Construction Site), or Look at the top 5 tiles in the deck and immediately play one (Library), or they can affect other players - all tiles played must be placed next to a Plaza. This overrides all other tile placement rules (Plaza), or Return all tokens on one occupied tile to their owners (Security Guard post). Therefore this allows users to choose either defensive or aggressive actions.
Power Stations & the Capitol:
Power stations are the all conquering tiles. They stop any tile actions or token actions from affecting both that tile itself, and the 4 adjacent tiles. Therefore this tile offer protection to your scoring runs and can effectively anchor areas of the board.
The only tile that overrides a PowerStation is a Capitol. There is only one capitol (logically) this allows you to place one of your tokens on each adjacent tile. If one of these can be worked into the right area of the board, it can effectively change the pattern of scoring on the board. Also the Capitol is the highest scoring individual tile with 4 points.
Tactics:
The ability to plan in this game is thrown out of the window in a matter of seconds, as a result of actions from other players. If you spend too long focusing on getting all your tiles out in a long line to score maximum points, then it’s likely someone will come along and move a key piece and break up your scoring chain. Vice versa, if you spend too long breaking other people's scoring then it’s likely you won’t have accumulated many points yourself, so a delicate balance needs to be struck.
Summary:
8/10 - A thoroughly enjoyable quick game, which has high interaction stakes, and a constantly shifting score / control basis. It is a natural progression from some of the gateway games, into the more tactical and complex games, without challenging the participants in too serious a manner.
Recommended For:
- Fans of Carcassonne who are looking for something still light but potentially more aggressive in their interactions
- Fans of games that have a 'screw your opponent' factor who are looking for something quick and light using that level of interaction
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