We Built This City

Liz was out camping and I was home packing and getting other paperwork finalized, but I was invited to play some games with Becky. I had a few ideas of what to bring and my first thought was...

Firenze 2-4 players
I just thought this game looked pretty. So many colored tower pieces and a cute board, might I add. I saw a video on it's gameplay and loved how it all worked.  You are in Florence, Italy during the time when they were big on making towers. You all start with a number of white tower pieces (the crappy ones). On your turn you spend your pieces to gain a card in the line. This card can help you or harm you depending on the text. The card also has a number of additional tower pieces on it. You are then allowed to start building towers on your mat. It's free to add one or two pieces, but more than that will cause you to burn a few extra pieces. You can then claim points for your towers if you are done with any. The taller they are and the rarer the color used, the more points it's worth. At the end of your turn, if you failed to add to any tower in production, it is destroyed. Once a player has built a certain number of towers (based on number of players) then there is one last round. There are also a few bonus points awarded for certain cards gained and the person who build the most towers of each color.

Becky had never played before, but it's a quick learn. I started out with a huge lead, but Becky made some large jumps and had overtaken me. I knew it was going to be close and Becky had control of the game end. I was putting all my hopes into getting 1 more purple piece, but I just couldn't nab it. She won by about 9 points.

I really like this game. It's a shame I don't play it more. There is so much to keep track of. Will I have the color I need to add to the towers I have going? Do I have enough extra pieces to spend to not have to grab the hazard cards? Will I be able to build that 6 high yellow tower before Becky? Should I scrap this stupid white tower now and focus on the sexy purple towers that seem to be all the rage? It's a lot to keep track of, yet not overwhelming. The game has that perfect level of stress and fun that I love in a game.

We followed up with Blueprints, which Becky had also never played. We were only able to get through 2 of 3 rounds before I had to leave to work karaoke. We had a tie score, but I called it my win since Becky had accidentally cheated by building a 2 on top of a 4 die. For shame.

Tally: 77/162  Bonus: 21/50