Cities

Place the game board in the center of the table. Randomly choose one city objective board and place it above the game board (New York City or Rio de Janeiro are recommended for first-time players). Each player chooses a color and takes their 4 workers (8 in a 2-player game), 3 achievement rings, 1 scoring token, and 1 player aid card. Shuffle the score cards and place them face down on the game board. Shuffle the city tiles and place them face down on the game board. Do the same with the decorative tiles. Put all building pieces into the bag. Choose a first player, who takes the star token. Starting with the player to the right of the first player and continuing counter-clockwise, each player chooses a starting city tile and places it in front of them, forming the beginning of their neighborhood. Any remaining starting tiles are returned to the box.

In Cities, you will visit iconic cities like Rio de Janeiro, Sydney, Barcelona, New York, and many others, all while constructing the most impressive neighborhood. The game is played over 8 rounds (or 4 rounds in a 2-player game). In each round, players use workers to obtain a score card, a city tile, one or two decorative tiles, and two to four building pieces. City tiles are made up of spaces for parks, water, and buildings. Building pieces are placed on matching colored building spaces to form constructions that can be between one and four stories high. Score cards and the city objective board provide objectives that players must fulfill to earn points at the end of the game. The player who scores the most victory points has built the most spectacular neighborhood and wins the game.

At the beginning of each round, draw 4 score cards and place 3 face up and the last one face down in the top row of the game board. Draw 4 city tiles and place 3 face up and the last one face down in the second row of the game board. Draw 6 decorative tiles and place 5 face up and the last one face down in the third row of the game board. Create sets of building pieces by drawing pieces from the bag and placing one in each of the first 10 squares of the bottom row of the game board. Do not place building pieces on spaces marked with a question mark. The game begins with the player holding the star token and proceeds clockwise. In each round, the active player takes an object or group of objects from the board and then places one of their workers on the designated space. After the first player's turn, they place the star token in the indicated space in the bottom right of the game board. In a 3-4 player game, each player can only place one worker per round. In a 2-player game, players must place two workers per round. However, workers can be placed in any order. Each row on the game board offers a different resource that can be used in the game. When a player chooses a face-down object, it is turned face up and taken. Players cannot look at a face-down object until it is chosen.

At the end of your turn, check if you have fulfilled any of the public objectives displayed on the city objective board. If so, place one of your rings on the highest available number below that objective. A player can claim multiple objectives in the same turn, but each objective can only be claimed once per game. After all workers have been used, the round ends. The player with the worker on the star space, or the closest to it, takes the star and becomes the first player in the next round. In a 3-player game, any remaining items are removed from the game.

After the 8th round (or 4th round in a 2-player game), the game ends. Each player places their scoring token next to the scoring track. Players calculate their score by first adding all points from the city objective board. Then, score water and park zones: for each connected zone, receive points based on the number of different decorative tiles within it (each zone is scored only once). Next, receive 2 points for each monument in your neighborhood. Finally, add points from your personal score cards. The player with the most victory points wins the game. In case of a tie, the player with the most victory points from common objectives wins.