AKROPOLIS (2022)

PLAYERS	TIME	DESIGNER	PUBLISHER
1-4	20-30 mins	Jules Messaud	Gigamic

In this tile laying city builder, players try to expand their city in the most efficient way. This is done by following scoring rules for each of the five districts (Houses, Markets, Barracks, Temples, and Gardens), and making sure you have a decent number of Plazas to multiply that score.

AKROPOLIS is such a simple game to play. Each turn, choose a tile from the Construction site and then place it in your city. As well as building out, you can build up. This increases the score of the districts, making elevation and extra decision.

As well as the five districts, there are also Quarries which can be covered up to earn the player Stone. This is the currency of the game and is used to control the purchase of tiles from the Construction site. Players have to pay a stone cost based on the tile’s position in the queue, similar to the market in CENTURY: SPICE ROAD.

As your city grows and you begin to target certain scoring paths, you’ll curse your opponent for taking the tile you need. The placement becomes head scratching as you desperately try to maximize each tile while trying not to undo what has come before.

The really tough work comes from the balance of Plazas versus Districts. More districts for you means less for your opponent, but without those Plaza multipliers, your work could be literally pointless.

The game scales well with extra tiles being added for those higher player counts.

The art in this game is bright and colourful and the tiles are nice and thick. While the tiles themselves can look busy, the information you need stands out easily, meaning you’ll never be confused by what’s before you.

AKROPOLIS is a pretty relaxing game, one that can hit the table as a filler, or just when you don’t fancy getting into anything too heavy. Simple to play, but some depth is added with scoring Variants once you’ve played a fair bit.