Rio Grande Games Underwater Cities

A really great game! Not cut-throat competitive, but there still is a winner at the end. Interesting concept - takes a couple hours to play.

Good game, this autor always have really great games

Fun game that combines elements from several of my favorite games. Not as much engine building as Terraforming Mars, but the worker placement aspect makes up for that. Great game, but takes several hours to play, especially if you have 4 players.

Underwater Cities is a FANTASTIC game. It is a heavier, more Euro, more meatier version on the now classic Terraforming Mars! If you're a fan of TM, or that game didn't do it for your, or you just want a deeper version of TM, then Underwater Cities is a must!Underwater Cities plays very similar to TM in that it is a card-driven, engine building for VPs type of game. Both games use a tableau system of chaining certain cards together and have their abilities synergize to gain the player resources and/or VPs.But there are number of BIG differences (besides this taking place on Earth and underwater as opposed to on Mars and in space.).The first and biggest is UC adds a worker placement element to the game. The board has several worker placement spots along the edge of the board that are color-coded to the three main colors of the action cards (Green, Red and Yellow (orange?)). Each player has three action tokens (i.e workers) that are placed on a spot by the player to activate it's action, thus blocking other players from using it.The second biggest change is that the game cards can not only synergize with each other, but can do the same with the worker spot that you activate that turn. For example, if player A places one of his action token on a RED space to activate it's ability, the can then play a RED card from his hand and gain the card's special ability! NOTE: You MUST play a card every turn. If you play a card that does NOT match the worker space you chose that turn it is WASTED and discarded!! This is a GREAT addition to this type if game, as it adds tons long term strategy, as you try and synergize your worker placement with the cards in your hand, and tension as you hope the player next to you doesn't take the last green spot and ruin your whole turn!The third biggest change is that in Underwater Cities each player gets his own player mat in which to build and customize his/her own city!! Yep, there is no communal map as in Terraforming Mars. And the building of your own city is a whole mini-game in itself! Your city can be it's own engine IN ADDITION to your tableau! Do you build a city that generates tons of VPs but very little resources? Do you use you city purely as a resource factory? How much should my city synergize with the cards in your tableau? Or, do you try and make a balanced that does a little of everything?The decisions, choices and possibilities are insane! It's not quite up there with Terraforming Mars-YET! But I can see this game getting TONS of expansion and seriously giving TM a run for it's money! Allowing players to build their own city, I believe, gives this game a one-up on TM in the long run! It just adds another player of depth and engine building that TM doesn't have (Yet?). The only downside to the game itself is that is ICON HEAVY! It will be a pain to teach to noobs! TM players and experienced heavy euro-gamers will have an easier time learning Underwater Cities, but it will still be a STEEP learning curve.Like I said, if TM didn't do it for you, or you want a deeper TM-Like experience, then Underwater Cities is for you!! But, why only FOUR STARS!!??!?!?Sigh....The Production of this game is poor...even by Rio Grande standards! Even Mayfair maybe? The art is decent but nothing great. But the real crime here is the game's components: they're just lousy for a AAA game in 2019! The card quality is meh and the player boards and aids are flimsy paper! Yuch! Furthermore, it's very possible to run out of resource chits in a four (4) (even 3?) player game! Again, that's just unacceptable! I had hoped Rio Grande would improve the original European version of the game, but they really didn't! :(And the $69-ish price tag really is asking too much (IMO) for what you get inside the box. This should be a $49-ish game at most, IMO.But, if you can overlook all those disappointments......Underwater Cities is a great Euro-game and should have a bright future.

I'll leave it to others to discuss the game itself, but when mine arrived with a one of the wooden purple player pieces missing, I contacted Rio Grande and they sent a replacement piece right out. Excellent customer service, with no hassle at all.

El juego es excelente. Algunas cosas que cambiaría son los trabajadores (que son losetas de cartón baratas) y faltan tokens de fábricas para jugar de a 4, se acaban rapidísimo. Pero más allá de eso, es excelente, me gusta más que el Terraforming Mars (similar en mecánicas)

Awesome game for those that love Terraforming Mars. This game is not 40 mins long, despite it saying so on the rulebook. Maybe 40 mins long to learn the game? Overall, love the game - would recommend and the art is beautiful. The quality is good too.

If you like 2 to 3 hour strategy board games for 2 players this one is fun. My partner and I have played it a couple of times and it is great, it comes with 3 decks of cards for each era, so has a variety each time you play. We feel it may be a very long game if it was with more than 2 players.