Game machi koro reviews. Machi Koro - cooler, smarter, tougher - review of the board game Machi Koro Sharp

Board game

Number of players
From 2 to 5

Party time
30 to 60 minutes

Game difficulty
Average

Japanese economic strategy. You have to become the mayor of a small town, which with your help can become the most magnificent and prosperous in the area. Here you are given the opportunity to build shops, cafes, factories and increase your budget.

Board game Machi Kora: rules of the game

Preparing Machi Koro

  • Each player receives two Enterprise cards (Wheat Field and Bakery) and places them face down in front of them.
  • Each participant receives 4 attraction cards and also places them face down in front of them (“Radio Tower”, “Shopping Center”, “Station”, “Amusement Park”).
  • Each player receives 3 coins as initial capital. Reserve cards must be sorted by type and placed in the middle of the table.
  • All other cards (if any remain) are placed in the box. In this way, the player’s city is formed, which will further develop.

Gameplay Machi Koro

All players take turns.

Each player makes his own move, which consists of two phases:

  1. Income phase.
  2. Construction phase.

Income phase.

The player rolls the dice. If a player has a station, then he can choose how many dice he will roll 1 or 2. Based on the results of the roll, all players, without exception, receive income. The number in the top corner of the card indicates which dice result triggers the card's effect. And at the bottom of the card the effect itself is described. The effect of the card also describes where the player takes coins from his opponent or from the bank.

Construction phase.

In this phase, the player chooses one of three actions:

  • Build one enterprise. The player pays for the construction to the bank and takes the corresponding card from the reserve and places it in his town. In one city, you can build only 1 enterprise of each type with a special symbol indicated on the map. If the symbol is not on the card, then you can build as many of them as you like.
  • Build one landmark. Here the player selects and pays for an attraction. The landmark effect is now active in your city.
  • Refuse construction. You do nothing and the turn passes to the next player.

Completing the game Machi Koro

The board game Machi Koro ends as soon as one of the participants has built 4 attractions in their town. He is declared the winner.

To win, you need to become an excellent mayor who masters the budget better than anyone and makes the city more beautiful and better. A small town, drawn with care and love for tea houses, sushi, gardens, sakura petals and other advantages of Japan, and a simple economic game for adults and little Japanese.

Everything as you like

In the board game Machi Koro you need to build and earn money. Thanks to the right strategic decisions of the mayor, the city is becoming richer, and therefore larger, turning from a village into a real metropolis. You will find out which of you will be the best mayor of your city at the end of the game. But “Machi Koro” is translated into Russian as “throw-city” (this has nothing to do with China), that is, the main role is played by six-sided dice, through which your success is controlled by fortune.

Count and build

Each turn is divided into two phases:

  • Income calculation: the active player rolls the dice, and the result of the roll affects all players, if they have suitable cards - buildings bring money,
  • Construction: The player can build a business or landmark.

When someone has four points of interest, they are the winner.

“Machi Koro” just begs to be given as a gift

The Japanese game Machi Koro will be an excellent gift for lovers of strategic and economic games and everything Japanese. Orientalists, Japanese scholars, anime artists, samurai re-enactors, students of Japanese courses, Kurosawa fans - can you imagine which companies can build train stations and markets in the land of the rising sun? And for players who are quick to learn and ready to challenge themselves, there's an expansion for experienced city builders right in the main box.

The board game "Machi Koro" is an easy-to-learn city-planning filler, where each of the participants, from two to five, plays the role of the mayor of a small town. The task of each mayor is to lead his city to prosperity before his competitors do with their cities, and for this it is necessary to build a certain number of attractions, the number of which depends on the chosen version of the game.

Initially, the base game is designed for four people, but the Russian version from World of Hobbies includes an expansion that allows up to five players to take part in the game.

The game box contains the rules, two sealed decks of cards, two six-sided dice, and cardboard molds containing coins of various denominations.

The quality of the components is excellent. This applies to both materials and printing. But the cutting leaves much to be desired - and you have to carefully separate the coins from the molds so as not to inadvertently damage them.

Brief overview of the rules

The rules of Machi Koro are simple, and if someone in the group is familiar with the game, they can get the rest of the players up to speed in five minutes. In short, each card in the game means some kind of enterprise that has certain properties, the cost of construction and the conditions under which it makes a profit.

In addition, each player has several landmark cards that they must bring into play before everyone else in order to win. Each of the attractions not only brings its mayor closer to victory, but also gives him additional advantages. For example, it allows him to re-roll the dice or throw two at once, which is initially impossible to do.

Enterprises that generate income in the current turn are determined by throwing one or two dice according to the same principle as it happens in - whatever value is dropped, such cards are played. But unlike “Colonizers”, where everyone receives income at once, in “Machi Koro” the recipients of benefits are determined using the color of the cards. And red cards, on top of everything, allow you to take money not from the bank, but from your competitors’ pockets.

While some businesses generate profits directly, others allow you to earn income from other cards. For example, a furniture factory itself does not bring in money, but it allows you to make a profit from forests and mines. So, when setting up production, you need to provide it with raw materials, otherwise you can’t hope for income from it.

Impressions

The game left a mixed impression. We played several games with four people, and everyone was happy with the results. But, unlike the others, I didn’t particularly like the game, although I can easily play it more than once with company.

Personal preference comes into play here first and foremost. I don't like randomness where there shouldn't be any. In the same or it is quite appropriate. These are adventure games where the emphasis is on plot and atmosphere. And if the gameplay is based on calculation, then randomness should either be kept to a minimum or regulated by the mechanics of the game. Excellent examples of such games are and.

But as I said, everyone else liked the game, so it's better to try it yourself.

Resume

Machi Koro is a good filler, the rules of which are explained in five minutes. This makes the game good for beginners to play with, but experienced players may not like the high impact of randomness.

  • Game page on the publisher's website: http://hobbyworld.ru/machi-koro.
  • I thank the Hobby World company for providing the game.
  • More reviews - on.

Board game

2 to 5 players

Batch from 30 to 45 min

Description

The board game “Machi Koro” is a place where you become the mayor of a city, and now you can build it up as you want. In the game “Machi Koro” you have to build shops and cafes, develop enterprises and manage to keep an eye on other “mayors” with whom you are competing!

Inventory

  • 30 starting cards
  • 87 reserve cards
  • 60 coins of various denominations
  • 2 cubes
  • rules
  • 15 starting cards from the expansion
  • 58 reserve cards from expansion

Rules

If this is your first game, set aside the expansion cards indicated by the city icon in a circle. If you decide to play with them, then the rules for these cards will be slightly lower. After deciding on the composition of the cards, each player must take 2 starting cards of the enterprise “bakery” and “wheat field”. They need to be placed in front of you face up. Next, each player takes 4 starting attraction cards: “station”, “shopping center”, “amusement park” and “radio tower”. They should also be placed in front of you, but face down. Now, from these cards, each player’s city is formed, which will expand during the game.

If there are less than 5 people, put the extra starting cards in the box. Then give each player 3 coins with a value of 1. Place the remaining coins so that everyone can easily reach them.

After this, sort the reserve cards by type and lay them out so that they are accessible to any player. You can arrange them into a 5 by 3 rectangle. Now everything is ready and you can start. The player who last left the city goes first. The turn is passed clockwise, starting with the first player. The one who makes the move is called the active player. Each turn of the active player consists of two phases: the first is the income phase, the second is the construction phase.

Income phase. The active player rolls one die (if the player has a “station” in the city, then he can choose to roll one die or two. Based on the results of the roll, ALL players receive their income. On the city map, in the upper part of it, you will indicate the number that indicates what result must be for the effect of the card to work. At the bottom of the card, the condition is indicated when the effect is triggered - on your own turn, on someone else’s turn, or on any player’s turn. Also, the description of the effect on the card will tell where the player will receive the money - from the bank or take it away. at the opponent's.

Reserve cards, or rather enterprise cards, are divided into 4 types depending on the colors - blue - raw materials enterprises, which bring the owner income from the bank on any player’s turn; – green – shops, factories, markets that bring income to the owner only on their turn from the bank; – red – catering establishments that bring income to the owner from the active player’s funds; – purple cards are large enterprises that bring income to the owner from opponents’ funds, but only on their turn.

Construction phase. During this phase, the active player can take one of three actions: build 1 new enterprise, build 1 landmark, abandon construction. If the active player chooses the first option - building a new enterprise, then he must pay the bank the price of the selected enterprise (indicated at the bottom left) and take this card from the reserve, placing it in his city. Now this card can also generate income (if the effect works). You cannot build several enterprises in one turn.

One note - the player can only place 1 enterprise of each type with a circle icon, inside of which is a high-rise building. If there is no such icon, then there can be any number of such enterprises. A little hint - place your cards with the same enterprises under each other with a slight shift, so that everything fits on the table.

If you chose the second option - building a landmark, then you must pay the construction price to the bank (indicated at the bottom left) and turn this card face up in your city. After this, you can apply the effect of this card. Accordingly, while the construction card is face down in the city, the effect is not available to it. You cannot build multiple landmarks in one turn. Also, you cannot build enterprises and attractions at the same time (in one turn).

If you chose the third option - refusal to build - then you do nothing. And the move passes to the next player. The game ends when one player has built their fourth landmark. He becomes the winner.

Other rules

Players can hold any number of coins and can exchange them at any time during the game. Also, all coins must always be visible to opponents.

When a player rolls 2 dice, the result is the sum of both dice.

If the reserve runs out of cards for an enterprise, then you cannot build that enterprise again.

If a player does not have enough funds to pay off his opponent, then he gives all the coins he has, and the remainder of the debt is written off. A player who does not receive additional coins does not receive them from some other place. If there are no coins at all to pay, then you are not paying.

When in one turn a player both receives coins and pays his opponent for the effect of his card, he first pays and then receives. If you need to pay several players at once, then payments occur counterclockwise.

Advanced rules

If you decide to play according to the expanded rules, then add to the game all the expansion cards indicated by the city icon in a circle. Then to the normal layout, each player receives 1 additional starting “town hall” card and places it face up as well. In addition, each player also receives 2 additional landmark cards “port” and “airport” and places them face down in front of him. Also, if there are less than 5 players, put extra cards in the box.

Then sort the reserve cards by type from the expansion deck and place them next to the reserve cards from the base deck.

The turn is also passed clockwise, starting with the first player. And the turn phases completely coincide with the phases of the base game. Moreover, in this case, the game ends when the player has built the sixth landmark in his city. He becomes the winner.

Other rules

When playing with advanced rules, the effects of purple cards can trigger simultaneously with the effects of other cards. In this case, the effects are triggered in the following order - first the red cards (payouts to opponents), then blue and green cards (receiving income from the bank), and only then the purple card (income from opponents' funds).

Pictures taken from hobbygames.ru

Somehow it’s no longer customary to remember Yuri Luzhkov, but a cap would be out of place now. " Machi Koro» fully implements the model of chaotic urban development in order to maximize profits. You just have to remember to constantly squint – it’s a Japanese game!

"Machi Koro" is a city-planning card game invented by Masao Suganuma and published in Russia by the company "Hobby World". Although it is positioned as an economic strategy, it is more correct to talk about a tactical filler for 2-5 players. In any case, the economic component is not so deep, but there is plenty of pleasure and fun, as in a typical toy for a company!

The rules are quite simple. Is it true. Despite the name, there is no need to kill anyone; players simply take on the roles of mayors. Each one starts with four unbuilt attractions that provide special bonuses, and two ready-made basic enterprises. It is necessary to develop your city by building new enterprises in order to receive enough income and open all the attractions. Whoever does this first is a great guy, in the sense of winning. On his turn, the player rolls one or two dice (the choice is made by the Station) and if the result of the roll matches the number indicated on the players’ cards, the effects indicated on them occur: usually this is the receipt of income from the general bank, or - here everyone is probably happy rubbing their hands - money is taken from the active player or even all at once and transferred to the lucky one. Some enterprises are used only on your turn, and some are used at any time. After this, the active player can, if he wants and has the means, build one thing: a cafe, a store, an apple orchard, a cheese factory, a mine, a business center, etc.

So, the rules are really simple, but then there is room for tactics. For example, enterprises are divided by industry and some cards will allow you to receive additional income from certain industries, which leads to the idea of ​​​​creating clusters. It’s also worth constantly thinking about how many dice to roll: to increase your likelihood of earning more or to risk activating unpleasant effects on your opponents? Well, you need to determine for yourself the order of spot urban development - in what order to close the possible number row of cubes. On the other hand, the will of chance in the game is high - a lot depends on how “the dice fall.” I wouldn't call this a drawback, rather a feature of this game, but not everyone may like it.

The set includes two dice, 60 cardboard coins, 117 base game cards and, note, 73 expansion cards that add new businesses, attractions and effects. Thus, having mastered the game, you can immediately develop it without additional costs. The cards are small, not exactly thin, but they will probably wrinkle and fray after some use. There is no organizer, and without it all this stuff will just hang out in the box.

Machi Koro plays extremely quickly. Two players will do it in 20 minutes, and three in about half an hour. These short sessions are ideal for a short break from work or fun on the go. The game time can be increased due to the addition - it already requires building six attractions. And unlike such big games, you won’t get bored here, waiting for your turn: everything happens quickly, you’re always in the action, which makes you happy.

What the game lacks is interaction between players. Agree, transferring money to each other for triggered effects is not communication. There is no dialogue or dramatic conflict; in fact, players have very limited influence on each other and on the game.

“Machi Koro” has a pleasant, laconic design with all these painted houses, shops and radio towers, so cozy and kawaii in Japanese. For some reason the game evoked associations with Tiny Tower; solely on an emotional level. In the brochure with the rules, everything is clear, the effect of each card is written on it, in addition, there are color hints: cards that bring income from the bank only on your turn are green, on any turn they are blue, on someone else’s turn and those that take away from others are red, and those that take away from others are red. your turn - purple.

The spirit of the Land of the Rising Sun is felt in everything. No, you won’t find schoolgirls with katanas and tentacles in Machi Koro, but the very principle of a miniaturized game is Japanese here, i.e. compressed to a simple card filler of some “Monopoly”. "Machi Koro" can become both regular entertainment for a couple or a small company, and a step into truly complex and real economic strategies. In general, we recommend it.