“In the 16th century, a small fishing village was founded in Northern Germany. There seemed nothing special about it, except its close proximity to the old Hanseatic city of Hamburg. So people started calling it “all too near”—a name that, according to legend, became Altona. But as Altona grew rapidly, a fierce rivalry emerged, with the two cities constantly trying to outdo each other by expanding their commercial fleets, producing goods, and engaging in strategic lawsuits. By the time Altona was integrated into Hamburg in 1937, the two cities shared a long, intertwined history, with their respective fortunes often poised to change the other’s course”
Rival Cities is a strategic two-player game in which players compete as one of the neighbouring cities of Hamburg or Altona to win. Each player can win with an immediate victory by (1) having three more ships than their opponent, (2) winning three court cases, (3) owning all four treaty cards, or (4) bringing the prestige stone to their own city name. If none of these conditions are met, a count of the star tokens after the seventh off-season decides the game. Alternatively, there may be a winner in an earlier off-season if at least one of the conditions for the end of the game is met: there are no more ship cards or court cards on the game board, or there are no more factories or star tokens in the supply.
During the game, players take turns moving the ink jar along the ink spaces on the board. Depending on how far you move the ink jar, you must pay for products; the further you go, the higher the cost. Wherever you stop, you choose whether to use the action card on that field, play a special action from your hand, do both by paying a letter, or take a new special action card into your hand. Actions provide products, allow you to trade products, collect letters, build factories, earn prestige, purchase ships, form alliances, or influence lawsuits. Factories can be used to generate additional production, but sometimes need to be reactivated.
Ships can be purchased with products and offer immediate benefits or permanent effects, such as extra production, extra actions, or off-season income. Treaty cards also provide permanent benefits, but must be maintained during the off-season. Lawsuits can be strategically influenced by paying costs to shift the marker to your side.
When the ink jar passes the bell, an off-season is executed. Here you decide whether you want to keep treaty cards by paying their maintenance costs, the player with the most ships receives prestige, income from certain ships is paid out, and the player on whose side the prestige marker is located receives extra goods. The lawsuit (I) is then dealt with: if the marker for that case is on space 0, the lawsuit disappears into the box; if the marker is on space 1, the player on whose side the marker is receives 1 star token; if the marker is on space 2, 3 or 4, the player on whose side the marker is wins the lawsuit and receives the indicated bonus. After replenishing new special action cards and activating factories, check whether the game ends because certain supplies are exhausted (see above). If not, the player’s turn continues.
I must admit that Rival Cities took some getting used to. There are quite a lot of components and cards for such a compact and (relatively) small game. I also found the rules not always immediately clear; for example, we played the first game incorrectly by taking a special action card and using it immediately (which, incidentally, made it satisfying because you could move on quickly). As soon as we got the hang of it, we discovered that there are quite a few strategic choices to be made. For example, you can bet on one horse when it comes to immediate victories, but if your opponent figures that out, it’s relatively easy to counter. On the other hand, the possibility of winning immediately in four different ways makes the game challenging and full of possibilities. Rival Cities is not a game you pick up to “just play a quick game”, but it doesn’t take too long either. Because of the many strategic possibilities, I can really recommend Rival Cities. You can really lose yourself in all the steps you can think ahead, and if your opponent then doesn’t do what you expect, you can start calculating all over again. That’s what makes it challenging and interesting in my opinion.
