Tabletop Spotlight: Sunrise City

Taking a look back at the games I’ve reviewed so far, I realized that I haven’t had much in the way of actual physical BOARD games. So today, our spotlight shines upon the dynamic and beautiful landscape of Clever Mojo Games’ Sunrise City.

Sunrise City is a nifty tile placement board game for 2-4 players with card drafting and auction elements tossed in for good measure. Before I get too far into the actual gameplay and everything, I have to stress how cool this game looks. This thing is freaking gorgeous. Isaias Vallejo started the game via Kickstarter early last year, and meeting their goals made it so the fans really see the quality in the materials of the game itself.

The tiles in this game, especially the building tiles, are incredibly well-done. Heavier card-stock layered with the more durable cardboard like material create some excellent pieces to work with. The player tokens and bidding coins are all solid wood, and even the box got a nice vinyl coating. The overall production value of this game is through the roof, and, surprisingly, the price isn’t. Still hitting shelves around $40, this thing is a steal for the replay value and design alone.

It wouldn’t be a great review if I didn’t explain the gameplay. The game moves in three phases: players expand the city’s foundations, players bid on empty lots, and players build new buildings on said empty lots. The interesting mechanic for Sunrise City (besides turn order, which I’ll get to in a minute) is that tracking your score is SUPER important. The scoreboard goes from 1-10 and the players earn points towards gold stars; each time you pass ten, you earn a star and the most stars wins the game. The kicker is that if you can plan out how you’re scoring points so that you land directly onto the ten, you earn two stars instead of just one. Combine this with the fact that you might be giving other players points (either indirectly or directly), and you’ve got a lot to keep track of to win!

The replay value for Sunrise City is pretty great as well. The variety of player roles, the way turn order influences the game, and the organic growth of the city provides players with a unique game experience every time they play. That is really tough to compete with. The players’ choices of player roles decides what their chosen bonus power for that round is, but also dictate which player will go first/last while bidding and building. It’s all really well put together to make a new and exciting experience.

I think that folks who are familiar with more advanced board games will certainly enjoy the nuances of Sunrise City, and that’s saying something already. What’s really cool is that people who have never taken steps past something like Carcasonne or Ticket to Ride will not only be able to comprehend the game right away but thrive in it. Sunrise City provides players with an interesting and diverse strategy game that manages not to get too overbearing.

I would definitely recommend Sunrise City to any adventurous board gamer looking for a new fix, and as far as board games from the last few years goes, this one ought to win something. While working at the board game store in Seattle, I was lucky enough to meet the designer (and have him sign my copy!) and talk about how hard it was to think up an original idea. I’m just glad folks are still out there, working their butts off to make awesome games like this one.