Sprawlopolis – a solo review

The city of Sprawlopolis is growing faster than its supervisors can keep up with. That’s why you have been called in to help save the day and make Sprawlopolis a worthy city that achieves all its goals. It’s no easy task, but clearly they have faith in you – it looks like you are managing everything with just a set of 18 cards you can carry in your back pocket!

Name: Sprawlopolis (2019)
Designer: Steven Aramini, Danny Devine, Paul Kluka
Publisher: Quined Games, Button Shy Games (2018)
Play type: city building, tile placement, set collection

What the game is about

Sprawlopolis is a micro-game that consists of a mere 18 double-sided cards: one side is four-part map, the other is a goal. Using the map sides of the cards, you try to achieve the most points by fulfilling the goals on the three face-up goal cards that were randomly drawn at the beginning of the game.

How the game works

At the beginning of the game you randomly draw three objective cards which give you goals to strive towards. Each of those cards has a number on it: add up the three of them and what you get is your target score by which you measure whether you’ve won or lost.

You draw a hand of three cards, play one, then draw a new card – rinse and repeat until you have played each and every card. You are allowed to flip and rotate cards as long as they are oriented in the same direction (the zones on cards are rectangles, not squares). You can place cards (partly) overlapping other cards, just not slide them under your existing town.

Besides being awarded points for your three goal cards, you also get points for the biggest district of each type (commercial, residential, industrial and recreational). Each incomplete road subtracts points from your final score.

It should be noted the game can be played multiplayer – where you pass the hand of cards around – but this is first and foremost a solitaire game.

Theme, art & flavor

I’m not really feeling like a contractor while playing this, but looking at the end result of your city is pretty gratifying. While I play this I am mostly concerned by obtaining my goals as if I’m playing a puzzle, so that’s fine by me. Having a satisfying look at the end of a game is more than any smartphone puzzle game could ever offer me.

How does it play?

I grew up in the proximity of lots of games: seeing my friends play Warhammer 40K, watching my older nephew and his friends play things like Blood Bowl and Axis & Allies. I always thought games needed to be big, and sprawling, with lots of components. It’s funny how this game – called ‘Sprawl’opolis, even – puts that theory on its head. I’m surprised by the amount of gameplay that’s in just 18 cards. Yes, they are double-sided: but still, even if you count the game at 36 cards, there’s still an amazing amount of content in those cards.

Every turn is full of micro-decisions: which card to play, and where? What goals do I focus on? Do I go for the three goal cards or do I see opportunities to make large areas? And then there’s always the ever present threat of roads; you can’t not pay attention to those since they will end up costing you a lot of points if left unattended.

Sprawlopolis is no singular puzzle that can be solved using the same metrics every time; the variety in goals that come out make each game vastly different. Sure, sometimes you get conflicting goals – but no one prevents you from just drawing a new goal. Don’t be too hard on yourself!

Expansions

There are four expansions for this game: Beaches, Wrecktar, Construction Zones and Point of Interest. That sounds like a lot, but in reality the total number of cards increased by 10 – still, that’s 56% of the base game. Especially Beaches looks really cool, adding coast lines that you cannot cross.

I really like the game so I would like to get my hands on these cards too. Are you reading along, Quined Games?

What I like

• Really small and really portable
• A fun chain of micro decisions to be made
• A lot of game in a very small package
• A new game each time thanks to the huge amount of different goal combinations

What I didn’t like

• The game space needed to play is larger than you’d think

Conclusion

Sprawlopolis is one of the premier games in the Button Shy wallet collection and rightly so. Along with two others – Stew and Circle the Wagons – it was picked up by Belgian publisher Quined Games for a wider audience. That’s for the best: now the European crowd can get their hands on one of the best pocket sized games a solo gamer could wish for. Wherever my next holiday is going, Sprawlopolis is going with me.

Rating: ★★★★★

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