Skyrise

The Game

Skyrise is an auction game with a spatial element. It is a reimplementation of Metropolys, which was first published in 2008. I own Metropolys, and find it a fine game. Skyrise is a major facelift plus some additions to gameplay. 

The game board has two layers. The bottom layer is mostly just a backdrop. It has the score track around the edges and spaces for four sponsors. The real game board is those plastic platforms on top of the cardboard board. How many pieces to use depends on the number of players. The platforms vary in details, so you can mix and match and fiddle with their positions to create different game boards. 

The edges of the platforms are sculpted nicely in a steampunk style. This is not only for the sake of being pretty. This affects gameplay. Notice that bridge which spans the two platforms. This means those two specific districts are connected for gameplay purposes. 

The most beautiful part of the game is these player buildings. Every player has their own set of unique buildings. They are divided into three heights - tall, medium, low. One of the buildings for every player is a wonder. For the green player, the wonder is that statue at the top right. 

There are numbers at the bottom of the buildings. Higher number means stronger. These numbers are used in the bidding / auction mechanism. The game is divided into two halves, and those buildings with a dot below their numbers only come into play in the second half. 

None of the players' building numbers overlap, so there will not be ties during bidding. Wonders do not have a number. They are just marked with a W. 

During setup, every district on the game board is given a token at random. In Skyrise you construct buildings in the districts. Every district allows one building. When you build, you claim the token. The game ends after everyone has built all their buildings. There are many ways your buildings score points for you. Some scoring criteria are consistent for all players. However there are also quite a few criteria that will vary between players. So districts usually have different values to different players. 

The bidding mechanism is interesting. This is the core of the game. When a round starts, the start player places a building (number side showing) in an empty district. This is where she proposes to build her building. If no one objects, the project goes ahead and the round ends. If someone objects, that player must then place her own building in a neighbouring district, proposing her building (with a higher number) instead. This can go on and on, until eventually no one wants to outbid, or no one is able to outbid. The final, highest valued building gets constructed. All other proposed buildings are returned to their owners. The winning player starts the next round. 

This is the player board. When you collect tokens from the board, you place them here. In the game there are districts in four colours. When you collect a colour token, you place it in the corresponding row. This modifies the value of districts of that particular colour that you control. Districts have a base value of 2 points. They can go up to 6 points. If you look carefully at this player board, you will notice that if you collect the fourth token of a district colour, you are devaluing that district colour from 6pts to 4pts. There is a reason for this. If you collect the 5th token, every token from then on is worth 10pts. As you watch what tokens your opponents collect, you will know which districts they are more likely to want. 

This is another way of scoring points. Everyone gets a different secret mission. If you fulfil it by game end, you score points as indicated. This particular mission requires that I control four yellow districts by game end. 

Here are some scoring criteria that are common across players. These cards are randomly drawn at game start. The scoring conditions here are: (1) The player with the most and highest buildings on each platform scores 5pts. (2) Players who surround blimps score 3pts per blimp surrounded. (3) Districts with windmills are worth 2pts more. 

There are four sponsors in the game, A, B, C and D. Their tokens are scattered around the board and you can collect them. However the values of the tokens are initially unknown. The values are on those face-down tiles next to each of the sponsors. Only when you collect a token, you get to check its value. 

The core mechanism of the game is straight-forward. The various scoring criteria create uneven values for the players. Everyone has the same number of buildings and will eventually place them all. Your job is to maximise the points you get from your building placement. 

The Play

The version I played was the deluxe version, so the experience was amazing. The core mechanism in the game was the same as Metropolys, so the game was immediately familiar to me. This simple core mechanism creates many interesting tactical plays. The first building proposal is often outbid, and the eventual building being constructed can be pretty far away due to the chain of proposals as players outbid one another. When you place a proposal, it might not be a district you want. You may be hoping to lead the chain of proposals to somewhere you truly want. Sometimes if you know your opponent is keen on a particular district, you can place a high valued building proposal next to it, and force her to spend her own even higher valued building. Sometimes if the surrounding districts are poor and you think no one else will be interested, you can use a low valued building to claim a district, because chances are everyone else will be willing to let you win. Dead ends are an interesting tactical consideration. As more and more districts are claimed, there will be more dead ends. Dead ends allow you to win a district using a low valued building, simply because there are no other available neighbouring districts for others to outbid you with. 

There are many ways to score points, so evaluating a particular district is tricky. You have to consider how much it is worth to you and also how much it is worth to each of your opponents. You want to score more points. You also want to prevent your opponents from doing so. 

The wonder mechanism is something new which did not exist in Metropolys. Wonders can only be used in the second half. At the start of the game, you get three wonder powers. At mid game, you must discard two and declare the power you are left with. When you build your wonder, you apply this power. Wonders give instant wins. The only restriction is you may not start a round with a wonder. It can only be used to outbid someone else's building. The moment you place a wonder, you win that round immediately and the wonder gets built. Wonder powers are all related to scoring points based on a specific criteria. You want to set up the board situation as best you can to maximise the power of your wonder. 

These stunningly beautiful pieces are score markers. 

At game end, the first player to construct all buildings gets 10pts, and the second gets 4pts. Talk about being overproduced! 

Every building of every player is unique. Much time, money and effort has been spent on making this game breathtakingly beautiful. 

The Thoughts

Skyrise may appear complicated but it's actually an accessible mid-weight game. The core mechanism is solid and provides an interesting play experience. Skyrise is a bit more complex than Metropolys, not in terms of the core mechanism, but in terms of the various scoring criteria. There are more than I'd like. I think it could have been somewhat simplified. However, comparing the two, I like Skyrise better. This is purely comparing gameplay, without considering the components and artwork. The scoring criteria in Metropolys are not varied enough, I feel. So I welcome the additional mechanisms in Skyrise. 

I would describe the deluxe version as overproduced. The game certainly doesn't need to be that pretty. But I'm not complaining. The standard version looks decent. However if you compare the two, it looks boring. Aaah we are all spoiled by these deluxified boardgames. 

When Metropolys was first released, many complained about how ugly the board was. It was functional, but ugly. The board in Skyrise is gentler to the eyes. My only complaint is the white and the yellow districts look quite similar. The white is a lighter yellow. I made a wrong play because I confused the two colours.