Friday, March 15, 2024

#86: Suburbia (Mark's Top 100 2024)


Suburbia

  • rank: 210
  • rating: 7.5
  • published: 2012
  • designer: Ted Alspach
Print Status
  • in print (2nd edition)
Why It's On The List
  • A city-building game that does three things really, really well: 1) it plays cleanly, 2) it uses the Age of Steam braking system in a way that doesn't make me want to throw myself out a window, and 3) every player ends up with a city/neighborhood with it's own personality.
Tips & Tricks:
    • Over-obsessing about goals early can cause real problems in creating the proper engines to get income and population growth.
    • Hate-drafting is possible here - if for no other reason that you need another lake to generate some quick cash. 
    • The game is (except with five players) almost perfectly pitched for playing time - you have enough turns to do interesting things but not so many turns that the game wears out its welcome.
    • In some ways, the 2 player game is more swing-y than the 3 or 4 player game... because of the number of tiles you don't see in the game. (I still really like as a 2 player game.)
    Extras
    • There is are two expansions for Suburbia - I really like Inc. for adding borders and other interesting twists. Five Star is a little clunky but it's the only way to add a fifth player. 
    • The new edition is available now... along with a single box that contains both previously mentioned expansions plus Nightlife and two smaller sets of tiles.
    • There's also (as pictured) a very cool Suburbia Collector's Edition - which I own and cherish.
    • Important note: I was a playtester of the original edition of Suburbia.

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