Review of The Golden City

 Yesterday we tested the game The Golden City, which arrived at the beginning of the week. Since the parcel was from Germany, I have the game in German - Die Goldene Stadt (published by KOSMOS). The field and game components are completely language-independent, incl. to master it, only the rules in Russian or at least in English are necessary. The original rules take up only 4 pages, in the Russian version that I was able to find on the Internet, there are only 2 of them (there are no pictures, and they are not particularly needed - the rules are very simple).

 The field is of good quality, moderately bright, wooden houses without chips and well painted, cardboard components from 3 mm cardboard, playing cards are quite dense, but "Business cards" (the equivalent of victory points) in quality as in the Manager (if someone remembers), that is. cheap paper

 Inside the box is an organizer with more compartments than components. Why? Not clear. However, there are 4 slots for cards - enough to spare, because of cards in the game is 88, and the depth of one card slot is 70. Protectors are desirable, because after all, cards are not linen. Protectors from Fantasy Flight Games Mini European 1 11/16 x 2 5/8 (44x68 mm) are perfect, although they are sold in 50 pieces, and the package, on average, costs 150 rubles, but they are dense, unlike CardPro, which are sold in pieces of 100 rubles for 100. According to my own feelings, I like the FFG protectors much more - they fit like a glove, cards do not pop out.

 Two people played, but the game is for 3-4 players, so I had to play for two at once. Preparation for the game takes no more than 5 minutes. When playing with three, each player gets 18 houses and the hand with which to vote, when playing with four - 16 houses. Each player gets three coins twice, one "Coast" type landscape card. The rest of the landscape cards are shuffled and resounded one card at a time. 8 product cards are shuffled and the top 3 cards are placed face up. Nearby are placed 8 bonus cards (very necessary, which greatly affect the final calculation), 6 key cards, etc. "Business letters". Also, 16 scoring cards are laid out so that "1" is on top and "3" is on the bottom. That's it, you can start the game.

 The playing field is an island. There are 16 coastal locations along the coast, with the Golden City itself in the center, and between them are 30 rural locations - forests, meadows, mountains and wastelands - 12 of which are near the river. All locations are connected by a network of roads.

 The game consists of several rounds. Each round consists of 6 phases:

• Opening of scorecards.
• Teaching landscape maps.
• Bidding for a pair of landscape cards.
• Construction of houses.
• Receiving "Business letters".
• Changing the first player.

 The scoring map shows which riverside towns need to be captured in a given round to get Business Letters, and it also shows the item that will earn its owner additional Business Letters that round.

 In a game of three, 3 pairs of landscape cards are laid out, in a game of four - 4 pairs.

 Next, starting with the first player, everyone lays out their hand on the pair of cards they want to get. Next, all players clockwise do the same. If someone placed his hand on occupied cards, he must pay one coin to the Bank and remove the hand of the one who previously voted. Accordingly, the one whose hand was removed can choose a free pair or put his hand on his previous choice of a pair of landscape cards, but having already paid 2 coins, etc. When a hand lies on each pair, the phase ends.

 The construction of houses must be carried out according to certain rules:

• building a house requires a connected chain of already existing cities, that is, you cannot build a house somewhere in the middle of the map. It is necessary that the houses are connected by a network of roads, starting from a house built in a coastal location;
• in a coastal and rural location, only one house can be permanent;
• you can build up to 2 houses per turn (more simply won't work, because you only have 5 landscape cards);
• to build a house in a coastal location, it is necessary to discard 1 card of this location;
• to age a house in any other location, it is necessary to discard 2 cards of this location;
• to build a house in the inner part of the city, you need to discard 2 maps of this location + a key;

 Obtaining "Business Letters" from the card played in the first phase. Counting takes place in two categories: for goods and houses standing on one of the rivers or in one of the quarters of the city.

 If the player has the goods shown on the scoring card, he receives 2 "Business Letters", if the player has at least one house on the river shown on the scoring card, he receives 2 "Business Letters", similarly per sector cities

 If you are the only player with the right type of goods, you get 2 additional letters. If you are the only player or the player who has more houses than others on the required river, you get 2 extra cards.

 That's all the action. The game continues until one of the players has built all their houses (the round will be played to the end) or until all the "Business Cards" have been exhausted (which, in my opinion, is not realistic). At the end, bonus cards are revealed, which can dramatically change the situation. The winner is the one with more "Business Letters" at the end of the game.

 As a result, what we have: a highly addictive, simple, multi-award winning family game that can be played by three or four people in 60-80 minutes. For serious board players, the game will seem too simple, but for people who do not want to bother with the rules and engage in "taking away the brain", as well as for families with children from 7-8 years old - this game is perfect.