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Welcome to Greece. Are you ready to build housing, temples, markets, gardens and barracks and become the most renowned architect in all the land? Grow your city and ensure that it triumphs over your opponents. Certain buildings have specific requirements however, the barracks need to be on the outside of your city to offer protection, the merchants don’t like the competition so need to be placed away from other merchants. Your city can be further enhanced by the addition of plazas.
Stone is an essential resource and you will need quarries to ensure you don’t run short.
Akropolis is a one to four player game designed by Jules Messaud and published by Gigamic. It features mechanisms such as tile placement and pattern building with tile drafting and end game bonuses. On a player’s turn they must choose a tile from the construction site (a market consisting of tiles equal to the number of players plus two) and then place the tile in their city. Players may spend a stone for each tile they skip over; however, taking the first tile costs no stone.
The tile selected must be placed in your city. It can be placed on the 1st level and must border another previously played tile (or your starting city tile). A tile can also be placed on top of three other hexes and must cover at least two different tiles. When placing on the second and above levels, if you cover any quarries you receive one stone for each quarry covered.
Each city tile is made up of three hexes and there are three different types of city tiles. Quarries, which as mentioned above, grant you stone when they are covered up. Plazas which act as multipliers for your districts (based on the total number of stars displayed). Districts can grant you points assuming their placement rules are observed. There are five different types of districts:
- Houses which score based on the number of tiles in the largest group of houses.
- Markets only score if no other adjacent market.
- Barracks only score if they are on the outer edge.
- Temples score if fully surrounded
- Gardens do not have placement rules.
When there is only one tile left in the construction site the first player token is passed to the next player and the construction site is replenished from the available tiles. The last tile left in the construction site is moved to the first tile before replenishing.
Play continues this way until there are no available tiles to replenish the construction site. Points are based on the value of each district multiplied by the number of stars on the corresponding plaza tiles for that district. District values are calculated based on the level of construction of each tile, with tiles on the first level being worth one point, tiles on the second being worth two points and so on. Additional stone is worth one point each. The player with the most points is the winner.
Akropolis also has a solo mode where you can play against three different levels of difficulty and is very easy to implement. The AI doesn’t need to obey the placement rules and every tile is considered to be a viable scoring tile. The AI will prioritise plaza tiles if able and any stone that the player uses is passed to the AI rather than to the supply. The solo rules are not in the base game of Akropolis and will have to be downloaded from www.boardgamegeek.com but no other components are needed.
Final Thoughts
Akropolis is a game of simplicity and accessibility but it is also a game of tense choices and tough decisions. It is a balance that makes for a truly wonderful game all packed into a 30 minute game experience.
I don’t know what it is about this game but it just hits the spot. The rules are very straightforward; take a tile, then place a tile. In its simplest form that is it. Sure, there are some placement rules to worry about when placing your tile, but these are fairly straightforward as well. I feel that this is a very accessible game that could be taught to almost anyone. Yet, it has enough depth to keep people engaged and interested.
There are decisions to be made as to what tile you want. Do you have enough stone to offer you the flexibility and choice of taking a tile other than the first one available? Can you see that your opponent has amassed a large number of one district so you can take the plaza away from them? From the simple ruleset is birthed choices and decisions that you need to make. Admittedly, it is not a high, long term strategy game with multiple levers to pull, but there is enough in the game that it makes for a very pleasing 30 minute tile drafting game.
The puzzle of laying out your tiles in such a way to maximise the scoring potential for each district is crucial, but you also need the plazas to be able to score them. You will want to build up as this will yield more points (and stone if you cover up quarries) but to do so you may need to sacrifice other scoring opportunities. Weighing up when it is worth the sacrifice and when it is not is key.
The game length is fairly quick at around 30 minutes, possibly a bit longer for the higher player counts and a bit shorter for the solo (will get to the solo later) and this feels perfect. There is the option to add more tiles into a two or three player game to make for a longer game if you desire.
The game also comes with a variant which increases the difficulty. This simply gives more ways to score the districts by adding in further requirements. It is not a complex variant, but it a welcome addition for the people that want a slight bump in the difficulty.
In the retail box there are no rules for a solo play and the box cover even states it is a two to four player game. However, official solo rules are available on www.boardgamegeek.com. The solo AI is very easy to implement and can make for a challenging game. The solo AI prioritises gaining plazas and does not need to abide by the placement rules. Every district is considered to score. There are three levels of difficulty and it can be a challenge. It makes for a very interesting, engaging, yet quick playing puzzle with minimal upkeep. The solo mode is a very welcome addition and one that I have been enjoying a lot.
Overall, Akropolis is a fantastic tile laying game. The rules do not get in the way of great gameplay. It is quick playing, easy to teach and learn and very accessible. It plays well at all player counts but my preferred would be two players and solo, but that is just my preference. Akropolis is a game that I would highly recommend checking out if you are interested in anything that I have discussed above.
