Between Two Cities
- Players
- 1-7
- Best withThe player count this game plays best at.
- 5 players
- Play timeHow long a full game runs once everyone knows the rules.
- 25 min
- AgeThe minimum age printed by the publisher.
- 14+
- ComplexityHow demanding the rules are, from 1 (very light) to 5 (very heavy).
- 1.8 / 5
- Year
- 2015
About the game
Between Two Cities has each player working with both of their neighbors to design two different cities at once, one shared with the player on their left and one with the player on the right. On each turn, you draft two tiles, reveal them, then place one into each city in coordination with your partners before passing the rest of your hand around the table. At the end of the game, each city is scored for livability, and your final score is the lower of your two cities' scores. It's a clever partnership-drafting design that rewards balancing collaboration with self-interest.
Hobbli's Notes
Between Two Cities is a wonderfully social drafting game: the shared-city scoring twist means you genuinely have to care about your neighbors' success, which creates a different kind of tension than typical competitive drafting games. Its scalability up to 7 players is a real strength.
What we like
- Unique partnership-based scoring creates constant collaboration and tension.
- Scales exceptionally well from 1 to 7 players.
- Short, snappy 25-minute playtime.
- Solo variant included for lone play.
Keep in mind
- Shared decision-making can lead to disagreements that slow the game.
- Tile luck affects the options available to each partnership.
- Downtime can build up in larger groups despite simultaneous play.
Who it's for
Great for families and groups who enjoy collaborative-yet-competitive tile drafting; scales superbly from 1 to 7 players in about 25 minutes.
