I'm a big fan of SimCity, so when I found Sunrise City on Kickstarter, I knew I wanted to get this game made, if only because I, myself, would really enjoy it. I've been presently surprised to find that many of my friends and family enjoy the game as well.The game is a competitive "city building" game. Over the course of three rounds, players will compete to build the tallest buildings that meet the zoning codes of the land to the best effect.
At the beginning of each round, each player will choose one of 4 "Role" cards dealt to them at the beginning of each game. These will not only determine the order of play, but also provide additional abilities based on whether you role is "City Planner", "Construction Site Manager", "Mayor", etc. These benefits will allow you to ignore zoning codes, swap tiles with other players, score additional points under various circumstances and so on.
Second, players will take turns placing zoning tiles. These square tiles will either have a "Residential", "Commercial", "Industrial", "Park" or "Mixed Use" designation. Additionally, tiles must be placed in such a way as to maintain the street grid (as well as the waterfront that can border some of the tiles).
Third, players take turn bidding on zones where they will be allowed to build ground level buildings. In turn players place one bidding token on the tile they wish to claim. If two tokens of the same player's color are placed in succession, that tile is locked to that player.
Finally, players will take turns placing building tiles. These tiles are 2 x 1 dimension so each building piece must span two zoning tiles. Additionally, players can only place building tiles in a way that matches the visible zoning in play (with "Mixed Use" being wild). The building tiles have point values on them that a player will score for each successful tile placed.
Once every player has placed their building tiles, the second round happens, then the final round, with the winner being the player with the most scored points.
The neat benefit of this round structure is that the city starts small and compact in the first round, but by the final round, the city borders have expanded allowing more building opportunities.It also allows 2-players to play a modified game that lasts for more than 3 rounds.
Overall, the game is enjoyable (after that first, awkward, learning the rules game). Some younger children might not have the attention span or interest to persist through the entire game. But for a nerdy game with friends or family, I am extremely glad that I found this little gem.
Do you recall your first experience with Sim City?I remember spending hours attempting to get my city's population up providing the necessary tax support to pay off all those loans and the government necessities such as schools, fire stations, roads, etc. all the while leaving a balance in the end so I could zone more, build more, and do it all over again. The challenge of balancing the city's need for residential, commercial, and industrial zoning in relationship to the fiscal situation in an effort to keep the fledging metropolis from crumbling into decay was more than a way to pass time.
What a thrill when you were able to look across the virtual landscape littered with skyscrapers, busy roads, and factories pumping out black smoke!Perhaps the reason why we see so many city building games (Sunrise City, Urban Sprawl, and Urbania to name three) is simply that many of us are trying to reconnect that very first Sim City moment of success.
Sunrise City of course being a table top experience isn't going to provide you with all the niceties of a computer generated populous and approval rating, random disasters, events, and even a RCI needs curve.Designed by Isaias Vallejo, what Sunrise City will provide you with is a table top experience with your gaming group that will bring you immediate entertainment all the while allowing you to step away from the table top with a sense that you have helped build something together, even though the final product may not have gone down as a win in your tally sheet.
The first thing you will experience with this game is the extreme weight of the off white box; I'm talking real weight for a game contained in a box of this size. The first time I even saw this game was when my wife attempted to pull this title off the shelf at our FLGS and nearly dropped it not expecting something so heavy.Naturally of course I had to have a look; my friends, family, and readers all know that I place a large amount of value on quality.Although weight doesn't always correlate to real physical quality I simply couldn't resist and we provided this game a nice cozy home in our expanding library.
The weight of this box is derived from the amazingly thick tiles this game comes with.Although the edges of the building tiles look unfinished to me, they are of amazing quality, very durable, and I figure that this game will certainly never see a bad day unless something terrible happens to my collection.
Game play is quite simple, the rules are easy to understand, and I was surprised at how quickly you can get through a game without even realizing it; a plus for the experience of replay value.The game is set up in about two to three minutes (2 3) most of which is the labor intensive shuffling of the thick building tiles.The game is played over the course of three rounds with each taking about 10 minutes for 2 players and 15/20 for 3/4.Two player games go fairly quickly at my table and clean up for the game is a snap.
My wife wasn't impressed with the artwork at all; nor was I for that matter.However, after having played all the way through and looking over the resulting cityscape we had built together both my wife and I commented on how the art all seemed to just fit together.Even though each tile individually really just didn't do it for us we found that this was a case where, artistically speaking, the whole was greater than the sum of its parts.
The only thing that felt a little off was the size of the player scoring tokens in relationship to the single protester meeple. It just seemed a bit strange to have such large scoring pawns and such a small protestor on the board.Thematically I suppose it works though as many in public service/office seem to get large heads about their own importance.
Secondly, what's with the gold stars?The rules call them benchmark tokens but seriously?I'm not in second grade anymore and the concept of working for gold stars again just sends me back to my childhood; which isn't such a bad thing but I just didn't think that it fit with this game's theme of city building.How about something a little more aligned with the concept of a city such as keys, ribbons and scissors, or even cranes?
As far as game mechanics go this title doesn't really offer up anything new but that is not to say that the strategy of this game isn't involved, especially with the role cards that get thrown into the mix. Each offers an interesting twist on the rules or provides a special ability all while being thematically correct.One of the largest criticisms I have with other games employing the roles idea such as Cuba and Puerto Rico is that I feel like its simply a clever way of saying, "I'll take this action."In Sunrise City each role card isn't an action but rather a special bending of the rules to benefit you.My personal favorite is the Crime Boss who allows you to steal all the bonus points for first floor buildings regardless of your bidding tokens locations.
To be successful in this game one must plan which roles he/she is to take on during the course of the three rounds all the while adapting to the changing landscape of the city's zoning and building tiles.As with any other game you are trying to get the most victory points although Sunrise City calls them Benchmark tokens.The unique aspect to this is planning your placement of buildings correctly to land your scoring pawn on the star of the scoring track.The reward for being successful is receiving two (2) benchmark tokens as opposed to just one (1) if you pass the star.Therefore, it becomes quite interesting to attempt to lay down the tiles in such a manner as to always finish your score on the star if possible.This can be trickery than you might imagine but a clever player will allow you to build your first floor industrial buildings (higher points) and then play his lower scoring wild buildings on top just to short cut his score enough to land right on the star: then BOOM!Ten extra points!How cool is that?
In the end of course the game's winner is the player with the most gold stars!In the event of a tie then the breaker is the player with the most points on the track beyond the stars.
Stepping Beyond the Table Top we can either leave the game right where it started; in a box.Or we can examine the impact this game had us.One aspect of this game that I find I have really enjoyed is that even when somebody happens to build on the zoning tiles I originally planed out to build on, the landscape of the city takes on a whole new dimension. New possibilities open up and sometimes even higher scoring can take place because of it. With the placement of the new building did the level of the floors provide a new bonus point? Could I instead place a higher scoring tile? A lower one perhaps to land on the star? Maybe I am now able to place two building tiles in sequence synergizing my score better in a way I wasn't anticipating.
Being able to make lemonade from lemons, to take a long overly used phrase, is a skill that can make life so much more enjoyable. In the end it isn't how much money I have in the bank, how many games are on my shelf, nor the size of my T.V. that I will look back on with pride. Knowing I spent my time well is important to me and I will measure the worth of my time on this earth by the smiles I was able to share with my family and the stars in their eyes every time we enjoyed one of those perfect moments.
Perhaps that is why Isaias Vallejo chose to use the gold stars as the scoring tokens?
Thanks for Reading
William H. Atkinson
Best for 4, then 3 or 2 Players
Overall Scoring: 7.1
Scoring by Categories:
Quality of Construction: 8.5
Aesthetics Theme and Art: 7.5
Game Play Experience/Fun: 7
Depth of Strategy: 6.5
Replay Factor: 6
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