Chairman of the Board: Building on a grid

‘Quadropolis’ board game review

By Ed Appleby, Senior Columnist

5/5

I’ll admit it, I’m a city-building slut. Whether it’s pumping hours into traffic management in Cities: Skyline, or over-designing a peasant village in D&D—which the PCs will just ride through, every time—I love working the ins and outs of a good city simulator.

Quadropolis (2016) is a city-building tile placement game for two to four people designed by François Gannon and published by Days of Wonder. In the game, players are tasked with building their own metropolis on a four-by-four grid by selecting buildings from a common pool. Buildings can either contribute or utilize power or people in order to score points. Points are scored based on building type and placement with regards to the players’ grid and proximity to other buildings. The player with the highest score after four rounds of play wins.

Like any good city builder there are several rules and stages, yet there is also an element of simplicity in the gameplay. When selecting buildings from the pool—which is also laid out on a grid—you must use one of your architects numbered one through four, and then only place that building in a corresponding slot in your own city. Once a tile is placed from the pool, the next player cannot take a tile from the same horizontal or vertical from the grid. This, in addition to a first player token—the Mayor—can add a pretty strong element of strategy and psychology to the game.

The placement of your own buildings has a heavy tactical element as well. There are several ways to score points, and you will need to decide if you’re going to specialize or generalize in your builds—a similar strategy to 7 Wonders (2010). Generalizing allows you to pull from a larger pool of points, while specializing generally gives you more points, but puts you at risk of being blocked by other players.

I love this game. It’s quick and fun with a healthy dose of strategy. Both casual and more experienced players will find this game engaging, and its fun and simple style makes it a good game for younger players who are just being introduced to more complex strategy games.