ArmchairEmpire.com
Danny Webb
September 2004
USA

Sjakk Griffioen's Cityscape is a unique abstract strategy game that plays quickly but still allows an ample opportunity for strategic decisions. The game is played on a square board divided into sixteen smaller squares. The object of the game is to build a city that has a skyline that matches the one predicted. It is a simple game that can be taught in a matter of minutes, but which holds up to repeated plays.

Before the start of a round, players use dice to predict the skyline of the city that will be created by all players during the course of the game. If a player puts a one in a column, he or she is predicting that, from his or her point of view, only the first building in the column will be visible (any building behind a shorter or identical building is considered blocked). Placing a two predicts two building will be visible. A four, four buildings. Playing a five predicts that at least two buildings in a column will be of the same height. A six predicts that the highest building in the city will be in that column.

Players take turns choosing and placing blocks of various heights on the board in an attempt to manipulate the skyline in their favor. As the game progresses, players must balance attempting to complete their skyline with disrupting their opponent's plans, which can be intuited by observing where they are placing their blocks.

Points are rewarded for columns that match the prediction, with the more difficult arrangements paying off more. A round is over quickly, five minutes or so, and we usually play one round for each player and total the scores. We have found the game to be fairly addictive, and when it comes to the table, four or five games usually follow.

Cityscape is simple enough my two-year-old daughter can play it and deep enough that the two-player version between adults is tense and competitive. On days when lighter fare is needed, especially sessions that feature new players intimidated by these strange (read not Monopoly) games our group plays, Cityscape is a perfect choice.

Components: Cityscape, like all the MasterPiece games from PIN, features gorgeous wooden components. The board is heavy, solid wood. The sixteen darker-stained city pieces are attracted and durable. The four dice holders used to register player predictions are a bit clumsy, but functional. Overall, this is a gorgeous, sturdy game that looks great on the tabletop.

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