Chicago 1875: City of the Big Shoulders
- Players
- 1-4
- Best withThe player count this game plays best at.
- 4 players
- Play timeHow long a full game runs once everyone knows the rules.
- 180 min
- AgeThe minimum age printed by the publisher.
- 14+
- ComplexityHow demanding the rules are, from 1 (very light) to 5 (very heavy).
- 4.0 / 5
- Year
- 2019
About the game
Chicago 1875: City of the Big Shoulders puts players in the role of entrepreneurs rebuilding Chicago after the Great Fire, blending 18xx-style stock manipulation with euro-style economic gameplay. Across five rounds called decades, players start companies, trade shares, hire employees, produce goods, and ship them across the midwest. Each decade cycles through stock, building, action, operating, and cleanup phases, culminating in a final tally of shares, goals, and cash. It packs deep strategic depth into a tighter timeline than most heavy economic games typically require.
Hobbli's Notes
Hobbli's editorial team sees this as a genuinely ambitious merger of stock-market tension and euro-style production chains, and it mostly delivers on that promise for the right table. The five-decade structure is a smart way to keep a heavy economic game from sprawling past its welcome. That said, the complexity and downtime scores here are both near the top of the scale, so this is squarely for experienced heavy-euro players. Newcomers to 18xx-style games should expect a demanding first session.
What we like
- Deep strategic merger of 18xx stock mechanics with euro-style production.
- Historical Chicago rebuilding theme is woven directly into gameplay phases.
- Five-decade structure keeps a heavy economic game from overstaying its welcome.
- Variable setup and public goals add strong replayability.
Keep in mind
- Very high complexity presents a steep learning curve for newcomers.
- Significant downtime between turns in an already long session.
- Dense rules and stock mechanics require prior euro-game experience.
Who it's for
Best for experienced strategy gamers (14+) who enjoy heavy economic and stock-market games, playing in groups of up to four.
