LogFAQs > #933036943

80. Quadropolis (2016)

Category: Player vs Player
Genres: Drafting, tile-laying, city-building, set collection
Rules complexity (0 to 7): 4
Game length: 30-40 minutes
Experience: 2 plays over 2 sessions (2018) with 3-4 players
Previous ranks: NR (2016), NR (2018)

Summary - Each round, a market of city tiles (parks, factories, etc) are laid out in a 4x4 grid. The players then draft those tiles by laying their arrows around the border of the grid, numbered 1 to 4: laying an arrow with 3 on it, next to the fourth row of common grid, means you take the tile 3 away from your arrow. That spot can then no longer have another arrow laid upon it. These drafted tiles go into your own 4x4 city in either the row or the column corresponding to the arrow picked. Victory points are granted at end of game depending on selection and placement of tiles within your city.

Design - What a clever game. While it's a little tough to explain on paper, demonstrating how to play Quadropolis is an absolute breeze: just slap down the arrow and you're good to go. Denying drafts should be strong in this game, though in my experience I'm usually more concerned about how to hoard my arrows than how to hate-fill other people's spots. There's a lot of inherent fun in city-building games, in my opinion: trying to optimize points, getting your parks next to residences, cleaning up the pollution which will be worth negative victory points. But the uniqueness in any city-builder (and indeed many drafting/tableau-building games in general) comes from how you get the tiles and what rules you have to obey for placement. Tying the drafting mechanism together with placement restrictions based on the arrows is unique and clever, and it forces tactical thinking, even if it's unclear that it makes the game significantly more fun or deep.

Experience - I have fond feelings toward Quadropolis. Like Carcassonne, I learned it on the spot in a game cafe and then taught it to a friend, and then it turned to be a delightful little exercise. It was a surprise to me that it came up again at a different meetup, and I liked it a little less, but I still thought it was clever.

Future - Because you can draft virtually any building you want when you flop 16 tiles, I imagine it's not too hard to come up with similar cities each time in a small-player-count game, especially if that's what you're aiming for. I imagine that some of the replay value, however, might come from prioritizing different building types compared to the other times you build stuff. I have a hard time seeing myself request this (though that may be because no one in my groups owns it) - but it's a cute design that I'd always be willing to play given its length and weight.
---

yet all sailors of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable - they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness