Urban sprawl game strategy

The buildings will be placed within the grid and identified with control markers wooden cubes to show each player's contribution to the growing urban area. Each building's value is determined by the cumulative Wealth and Prestige values of the block in which is it constructed. At the start of a player's turn, he may discard one or more Building Permit cards from hand as "Investments", gaining Wealth in doing so.

Next, that player gets 6 "Action Points" APs with which to spend on any of the following activities:. Each activity carries with it a variable cost in APs, depending on where the chosen card lies on the board. Once a player has spent his APs it's time for a quick reset phase in readiness for the next player's turn. It is during this phase that events can occur, elections can be held for the various political offices, and players receive payouts in Wealth and Prestige.

Wealth payouts provide funding for new buildings while Prestige payouts provide victory points. Generally, players will be trying to build in areas that provide better payouts. Players are also looking to construct more buildings of a particular "zone"-Government, Residential, Industrial, or Commercial-in order to help them win an election, as the politicians each confer a special ability to the player holding the office.

Many of the buildings also provide a one-time bonus as they are built, and players can benefit from construction in the right neighborhoods. Throughout the game, the values of the buildings will generally increase as the town grows into a city and then a large metropolis. Neighborhoods that were once valuable can become run down and new city centers spring up as the urban area's sprawl out across the grid.

At the end of each round you will refill the building cards and permits. The newly placed cards might give you a payout of prestige or wealth if you have the most buildings in a row of the grid. As mentioned before they might trigger elections too. There are also events in these decks that will affect and change the game. Once the Olympic Games card is revealed from the Metropolis deck, the game is over.

You score all rows one last time, earn points based on your wealth, and then add the bonuses for any offices you hold. The player with the most prestige wins. Urban Sprawl is a medium-weight area control game that can be a bit chaotic. There are a few long term strategies that can help you secure a win, but with an ever-changing board short-term tactics tend to win the day.

You will need to be agile and adjust to the options you have on your turn. The components for this game are great. The rulebook is fairly well laid out, but you will find yourself referencing it a bit during the first few plays.

While pretty simple once you get the hang of it, Urban Sprawl has a decent amount of small details that are easy to forget. These will result in either a wealthy Investment or the foundation of a new building Contract. Players will strive to become dominant in one or more building Zones in order to acquire beneficial political offices. All of this eventually leads to the end game—a vibrant metropolis that is revered around the world—when the player with the most Prestige will be crowned the winner.

Game Play: The grid of streets on the board provides the framework for building the small town. The buildings will be placed within the grid and identified with control markers wooden cubes to show each player's contribution to the growing urban area. Each building's value is determined by the cumulative Wealth and Prestige values of the block in which is it constructed. At the start of a player's turn he may discard one or more Building Permit cards from hand as "Investments," gaining Wealth in doing so.

Each activity carries with it a variable cost in APs, depending on where the chosen card lies on the board. Once a player has spent his APs it's time for a quick reset phase in readiness for the next player's turn. It is during this phase that events can occur, elections can be held for the various political offices, and players receive payouts in Wealth and Prestige. Wealth payouts provide funding for new buildings while Prestige payouts provide victory points.

Generally, players will be trying to build in areas that provide better payouts. Players are also looking to construct more buildings of a particular "zone"—Government, Residential, Industrial, or Commercial—in order to help them win an election, as the politicians each confer a special ability to the player holding the office.

The game mechanics combines a number of standard elements that can be found in other games. What we can find there is: gaining and spending action points; earning, accumulating and spending money; taking various roles; taking decisions how to use a particular resource, as most of the game elements have more than one use.

It is perhaps easier to comprehend than Through the Ages or Dungeon Lords , and it takes less time to do all the in-game bureaucracy than it is required for those to games. This emulates changing preferences and trends among the inhabitants. Clever, really. Another interesting feature is a possibility to demolish a few buildings to make some space for new ones. Most games would have only offered upgrading those old buildings in such a situation.