Man is a kind and sympathetic creature. If, not far from the possessions of one venerable landowner, another, no less majestic, ruler decides to rebuild a city, then the soul of the first ruler is filled with joy, and he rushes to provide all possible assistance. Let your neighbor have an expensive cathedral, a rich stable or a brilliant palace. Let taxes empty the treasury of this upstart, the townspeople will rebel and burn these annoying buildings to the ground. Oh, what am I talking about... Today on the Pink Sofa is the urban planning board game Urbis.

“Urbis” - this word contains so much insidiousness that you never dreamed of. Using the power of this game, you will be able to test the strength of friendship, get the chance to spend the night on the rug in front of your beloved's bedroom, and fully understand the meaning of the words "Trojan Horse" (although, in in this case the word “house” would be more appropriate). Another “board game” from a domestic developer will add spice to your relationships with friends and family who will appreciate your generosity. This explosive creation was created by Alexander Rasputin, and the publishing house from St. Petersburg GaGaGames gave it life.

In the depths of a standard-sized container you can see a stack of tiles, a scattering of tokens and several tablets. If you cover all this wealth with rules, you will create the illusion of filled space, which is in abundance here. A beautiful organizer groans and bends under the pressure of high-quality cardboard and loses this battle (see this for yourself by slightly shaking the box).

From two to six players can take part in the quarter-building process, each of whom will receive a double-sided rectangular plot for development.

Opponents have access to 50 different buildings, each of which can bring or take away victory points, increase or decrease the profitability of the quarter. According to tradition, the GaGaPush cardboard pressing shop carefully removed the squares from the base and put them in a bag. Unfortunately, some of the staff's hands wavered, and four of the tiles in my set have extra "fringe" on the sides, which has never been seen before. There is a reason to wipe out the workshop with its employees from the face of the earth, and build GaGaPush NextGen on the ruins (somehow I can’t get away from the game)…

Income markers will not let you forget about the deplorable state of the treasury, guards will protect the entrance to the city gates, and silver and gold coins in denominations of 1 and 5 will become the currency in your crazy world...

Event cards will add additional chaos and confusion to the development plan, and will also add land to the tablet.

Laying the first stone

First of all, decide on the number of participants and give each a tablet (preferably side “A” up), place an income marker on it (it is placed in the area of ​​profitability equal to the number of players), and also give everyone five coins (starting capital) and three random order cards.

Based on the number of players, stacks of buildings are formed that rise near the money bank, the guard garrison and the remaining order deck. The most greedy, harmful and grumpy player makes the first move.

You can only perform one action on your turn, so spend this opportunity wisely. For example, take two order cards, fill your hand with one of them, and place the rest at the bottom of the stack. Please note that a hand cannot have more than six orders.

The value of orders is in their content: you can play one card from your hand both on your own and on your opponent’s quarter (adding an additional cell to it), or read out the text and carry out its instructions (receive victory points for this at the end of the game).

The most interesting thing is the construction. Take one building from any pile and place it on any player board (including yours), paying the cost indicated on the land plot location. For example, on a tablet, the cells are numbered from 1 to 10, additional cells are numbered from 1 to 3.

At the same time, buildings have special properties indicated on the right side of the tile. For example, a stable increases your quarter's income by one, but takes away 4 victory points at the end of the game. It is noteworthy that you can get rid of buildings by “giving” them to friends!

You are allowed to fill in any cells, including additional ones. Please note that only developed additional plots of land will give you victory points (although undeveloped ones will not take them away).

City guards stand at the gates, closing off locations with penalty points. Guards are also placed on any building, thereby canceling any action aimed at that building. “Peacekeepers” can be obtained either by paying 5 coins into the general bank, or by using the property of a building in your quarter.

And the last thing you can do is get money in the bank according to the quarterly profitability track. As you can see, there is nothing complicated - the actions are simple and clear, all that remains is to announce the conditions for victory and the end of the game.

The winner and ruler of all lands is the player who has built up his entire quarter and all its additional plots. In this case, no points are taken into account - this is an unconditional victory of the Supreme Mind over perishable matter.

The second scenario is that the stacks of buildings are empty or the office has run out of all orders. Then the opponents add up the winning points, subtract the penalties and determine the winner based on the total.

Your city is beautiful in the glow of the flames...

A fun and “dirty” game for all ages and suitable people. Generosity is your credo: throw a couple of cemeteries into the enemy’s camp, build gallows in front of them and don’t forget about the prison. After this, the grateful neighbor will take a long time to recover from the shock, unless he transfers all this “wealth” to you or your neighbor. However, always remember that a fully built-up area is guaranteed to win the game, so keep your generosity in check...

Fans of strategy and thoughtful planning should discard these prejudices and dive headfirst into the abyss of chaos that is happening in Urbis. It’s enough to bring the gray cells to a boil - it’s better to test the strength of your nervous system!

A fun and quite chaotic game to lift your spirits. For all the recklessness of the process, there is something to think about. One of my friends even managed to plan something and almost won, but a couple of good orders and a prison donated by a neighbor brought his efforts to naught...

Today we will present you a new board game from the company GaGaGames "Urbis"

You will become a member of the City Council of a medieval city. In total, there are from 2 to 6 officials in your city. The city is ancient and ruined. Each of you was given a quarter. Now your goal will be to build the richest and most beautiful quarter, to the envy of your neighbors. Or a gloomy place filled with taverns and slums that bring a lot of gold and victory points... The best will receive a reward - he will become the Head of the Council.

Age: from 10 years

Game duration: 30-90 minutes;

Number of players: 2-6;

Manufacturer: "GaGa Games";

Approximate cost: from 1700 rubles.

The game package includes: 6 double-sided district tiles, 60 command cards, 50 buildings, 15 guard tokens, 15 gold coins, 20 silver coins, 6 income markers.

Rules of the board game "Urbis"

At the beginning of the game, each player is given quarter boards. You can build no more than 10 buildings in each. What kind of buildings these will be - it all depends on your tactics. There are buildings that bring good income, but at the same time there are few points for victory. And vice versa. There are those that don’t bring anything at all, but just take up space.

Can be built best houses themselves and the worst in their neighbors’ neighborhoods. But everything is not so scary, you can protect your neighborhoods from your neighbors, you just need to hire guards. If, of course, you have coins.

And so, everyone is given quarter boards, 5 silver coins, 3 order cards. Each player takes turns making a move.

On his turn he can do the following:

1) Construct a building by paying its cost to the treasury (the cost is indicated on the quarters board);

2) Play an order card from your hand (for your own benefit - for the sake of victory points, or to ruin your opponent’s life);

3) Receive an order card by drawing it from the deck;

4) Collect income from your quarter;

5) Buy a guard (in order to protect your neighborhood from neighbors).

Purpose of the game:

Be the first to build up your block (10 buildings in total) and gain greatest number points.

The game has a rather tense atmosphere, everyone plays for themselves and against others. Everyone builds the best buildings for themselves, and tries to build the worst ones (those that bring neither income nor points) in their neighbors’ neighborhoods.

Conclusion:

"Urbis" – unfortunately, it has not yet been possible to test the game on my own. Judging by the rules, this city planning game is somewhat similar to . On the “Citadel” because both there are medieval cities. And neighborhoods that need to be developed. And the price is different for all quarters. Even the goal is the same: to be the first to build blocks and score the most points. On Munchkin, due to the random selection of neighborhoods, it is a prototype of blind knocking down doors. And the motto “Set up your friends” is also relevant here.

The game is new, but I didn’t see anything new for myself; if possible, of course, you can play it, but I won’t specifically buy it.

Who is this game for? I think it’s more for beginner players and for quiet family evenings with children. For geeks the game is simple.

Ratings:

• Mastering the game - 75 POINTS
• Game mechanics - 65 POINTS
• Plot and atmosphere - 65 POINTS
• Ease of play - 60 POINTS
• Quality and design - 78 POINTS
• The resulting fun is 70 POINTS

Product Desktop GAGA game GAMES Urbis has been discontinued and is no longer available in our store.

You can choose a product in the Board games category.

Board game GaGa Games Urbis

The city of Urbis is headed by the City Council, elected by the citizens. The goal of the game is to become the head of the Council. You, like other players, are on the Council and are responsible for the well-being and prosperity of the entire city. All Council members (players) have access to the city treasury and guards, as well as the obligation to carry out the Council's orders. Each advisor is responsible for one of the city's quarters (represented in the form of a tablet given to each player at the beginning of the game) and strives to quickly or, on the contrary, efficiently build up his quarter. Gold and silver are distributed from the treasury depending on the buildings built in the quarter.

However, residents of the block are always on guard: no one wants to live next to a cemetery, gallows or prison. Take care of the residents, spend money, and these gloomy buildings will appear not for you, but for your neighbors. A hospital is also necessary in the city, but requires considerable maintenance costs. In this regard, a dictatorial streak may awaken in someone, and, trampling on the needs of the residents, such a player will build up his quarter with slums and brothels and, if he manages to fill all the cells of his quarter with buildings before everyone else, he will win.

What's the best way to proceed? Should we listen to the residents of the neighborhood or carry out only the will of the Council? Turn your neighborhood into a gloomy place or into a blooming garden? In the game "Urbis" you need to make decisions quickly.

Additional Information:

• Material: cardboard, paper.
• Package size: 30 x 30 x 7.5 cm.
• Packing: cardboard box.
• Weight: 1.24 kg.

Characteristics

• Type: desktop
• Recommended age: from 8 years
• Number of players: 2-6
• Game duration: from 20 to 30 minutes

Equipment

Product packaging Board game GAGA GAMES Urbis depends on the specific delivery and can be changed by the supplier without advance notice!

The technical characteristics of the product may differ from those indicated on the website; please check the technical characteristics of the product at the time of purchase and payment. All information on the website about products is for reference only and is not a public offer in accordance with paragraph 2 of Article 437 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation. We kindly ask you to check the availability of the desired functions and characteristics when purchasing.

All products sold by the online store are completely new and have a warranty period in the manufacturer’s service centers or in service center ONLINE TREYD.RU. Buyers who purchase digital photos and videos, peripheral devices, communicators or other equipment in our store, along with the goods, receive a sales receipt and a warranty card stamped by our store.

All reviews about Board game GAGA GAMES Urbis

Write a review - get ON bonuses!

Helping other customers decide on a product choice is now profitable! Tell us about the product you purchased from us and get ON bonuses for it!
Write reviews about each product purchased in the ONLINE TRADE.RU online store. Thanks to this, other buyers will be able to learn about the quality, advantages and possible disadvantages of the product they are going to purchase. And for your reviews you will receive a well-deserved reward on your bonus account.

Finally, I came to the last game from the galaxy of new products from the St. Petersburg publishing house GaGaGames . I guess I'm even a little glad that this game turned out to be Urbis . Over the past 2 weeks, the Russian-speaking community has already both praised and scolded this game, so it immediately becomes clear that everything is not so clear with the game. Nyusechka, as a representative of the good, bright part of blogging, claims that Urbis — good game. Her opponent, i.e. A representative of the dark side of blogging is the American reviewer Tom “didn’t have time to play but had to do a review” Vesel, who didn’t like the game at all. Here is an insoluble dilemma for you. Which one of them is lying? This is what I will try to figure out today.

Favorite theme of board gamers

Sometimes it seems like every other game I review forces players to build their own city or neighborhood. You will have to do the same thing in a board game from a young Russian author (Alexander Rasputin, by the way) called Urbis . Players draw building tiles blindly, place them on their block sheets, play order cards, and receive profit from their houses.

The main difference between this game and other similar ones is that the player can place elongated tiles on any player’s board!

Urbis turns out to be big!

I never expected that the board game I was reviewing would be so large in size. Somehow I’ve already gotten used to “Gagov’s” small or medium-sized boxes, but here the dimensions are just like those of some Dominion .

But in the case of this desktop, the system of ideal compactness, which I was used to from GaGa releases, did not work. Of the more or less dimensional components, block tablets can be noted. The rest is square building tiles, tokens/coins, and a deck of command cards, and they don't take up much space.

The box could be smaller, the organizer is present in the form of a rather funny flimsy piece of cardboard, about which it is difficult to say that it has the functions of an organizer (it easily crumples if the components slide to the side).

The game's design is pixelated. I don’t know if this is fashionable now, but as for me, it looks so-so. Particularly boring are the block boards, which stand out in size and have nothing to catch the eye on. The design is very amateurish.

... and not at all difficult!

I admit, while reading the rules, I began to feel that the game would be quite fun, because players who are engaged in construction can build not only their own tablet, but also someone else’s. Do you feel the level of insidiousness rising? This means that not all building tiles are equally beneficial, so it will definitely be hot at the table.

What do we have to do? Build a city block. What do you need to get started? Quarter tablet, a pile of coins (5 pieces), 3 order cards and the starting income of the quarter, displayed in the position of the marker on the tablet.

The game ends in two cases:

• one of the players has built up all available places in the quarter, and this leads to automatic victory without scoring;
• If there are no more order cards in the deck or stacks of buildings, then the players begin to count all the victory points with a plus and minus sign that the buildings on their board and on the used order cards give them. Whoever scores the most points wins.

As you can see, understanding the game is not particularly difficult. I’ll tell you about all my impressions about the wonderful city of Urbis in the next part.

But how crazy he is...

I really want to tell you about the emotions that I experienced when I became acquainted with the rules and in the first game. The rules seemed immediately reassuring to me. As someone recently said on Tesera - read the rules and you will immediately understand whether you need the game. I read it and became interested. Mainly because you can build houses anywhere. Yes! Wow, that’s a lot of dirty tricks you can do to your opponents! It becomes clear in absentia what is needed in the game nice houses build at home, throw bad ones to your opponents, save more money, play order cards and get VP for them.

First batch. For several turns, players savored the joy of drawing building tiles. Firstly, there were still enough coins for this business, and secondly, places for development were cheap, since everything was just beginning. You pull out the morgue and everyone at the table is like, “Oh, morgue, morgue!”, and you throw it like some nasty worm onto your neighbor’s tablet. Or, on the contrary, you rejoice at the elongated house that gives +1 coin of income, and you joyfully build it for yourself.

But then a situation arose when income became minimal (1 coin), there was no money for construction, and orders in hand... My God, what horror in hand! Can't put it into words. It was completely unclear to me what to do with the cards in my hand, since one order gave me additional free space on the tablet for construction (there was little point in this card, since there were already a lot of free spaces on the tablet), and the rest of the orders did other players feel good, but bad for me. For example, I had a card that gave another player the opportunity to destroy someone’s building. Do I need this? This player can break something for me too. Or you won’t get anything, and let other players take 10 coins from the treasury. Is this card better?

To be honest, my optimism has plummeted through the roof. It's very hard to play when you don't want to and can't do anything. It seems that you have already lost before you even start playing. At that moment I saw the face of Tom Vasel, who was staring at me and saying - “ I told you so! Told ya!«.

For another 2-3 turns I tried to dig through the order deck to find something useful for me there. And everything was somehow to no avail. In the end, I couldn’t stand it and asked other players what the situation was with their orders. It turned out that this was not a bug. This is a feature! Since they also had a lot of such dumb orders in their hands.

The whole game in Urbise is built on the fact that it will almost never be easy for a player. Understanding this is tantamount to realizing Zen. Any action can become a reaction at any time. Sometimes it happens that you have to build a bad tile on your own, and not on your neighbor’s, or play such an order card that drives you into the minus in terms of coins and VP. And here I would like to say that Urbis - this is a game not about development and expansion, but about the desire for the least evil for oneself.

When I sat down and played with this concept Urbis the second time, it was much easier to play, because each player understood that in this game there are no clear, positive chains of development. Yes, you will have to give your guard token to another player, but you will get 2 or 3 points that no one will ever take away from you. Sometimes it is better to build a building at home that gives a minus to some parameter, but this action will save coins, and then this building can be given to someone else using an order.

I really won’t deceive you by saying that I enjoyed the game. I found it interesting and exciting to drag tiles from the stacks. It's especially fun to play for the first time, since players are not yet familiar with the tiles and don't know what exactly to expect from them. You experience approximately the same thing in Munchkin when you open the doors in the deck. Honestly, Urbis I would like to call him a EuroMunchkin. Frame your friends, steal cool tiles from them, reduce their profits to a minimum and try not to set yourself up.

You can do a great many dirty tricks in the game. The most sophisticated mockery for me was buying a guard and placing him on an enemy tile, which brings a huge minus. If by the end of the game the player cannot do anything with this guard, then the minus of the building will work 100%. If that's what you like, if you're prepared for constant surprises, then you'll love the game.

But now let's talk about something less fun. After playing five games, I came to the conclusion that the game was still a little damp. No, it’s not that it’s unplayable, but some things encountered in the game have to be treated either as “this was really intended by the author, i.e. this is how it should be” or “they clearly didn’t do enough work here.” It seems to me that the actions of the tiles and the properties of the order cards were thrown out of the head into one pile, but no one sorted out from this pile the really sensible and working properties from those less useful in the game. For example, there is a card that gives 3 VP, but in order to earn them, you need to distribute 5 coins to all players. Yeah. If you play with five or six players. 5 coins each. Oh well. In this game, it’s lucky to have 10 coins, let alone 30. Therefore, it often happens that you seem to have orders on your hands, but you can’t play them, because they require too much. As a result, “game impotence” may arise, which leads to the fact that you cannot do anything sensible for several moves.

The game can hurt at any time. You spend a long and painful time increasing the income of the quarter, when suddenly you pull out a university tile, which gives 12 VP, but reduces the income of the quarter to 1. Build it at home - in vain saving up buildings to increase income. Build for a homeless neighbor - give him 12 VP. Chaos on chaos and chaos drives, in general.

The rules are poorly written. I played one game and I had about 4-5 questions, the clear answers to which I did not find in the rules. More precisely, if you think about it, the answers can be found, but only through logical thinking. I went to Tesera and saw that I was not the only one.

Sometimes you come across the same terms that are called differently. In particular, in Urbise I came across 2 terms - reset and remove - which seem to mean the same thing. In general, the properties of the cards are also poorly read. If you have questions for them, you have to use your brain again to understand how to play the card correctly. Or home rule, which some players already do. I play without homerules because... It seems to me that in general the board is playable, and if something irritates someone, he, of course, can introduce some new rule or edit an old one.

Sometimes it seems like giving away 15 coins from the treasury to other players is kind of a waste. Still, there is a difference - 5 or 15 coins. And only 2 software separates one from the other. Therefore, you wonder why the author settled on these numbers when testing? But on the other hand, the game is about randomness and chaos. Every tile, every order should evoke a “wow” emotion. If you asked me to name Urbis in one word, I would say - “hell”. But hell is fun. Sometimes. And depending on who it is for =)

U gaming tablets 2 sides that slightly change the game towards hardcore or simplification. Moreover, the rules recommend playing on the conflicting side (A). There fewer places for buildings and there are 2 guard spots, which add up to -10 VP at the end of the game if no guards are placed on them. On Side B there are no penalty spaces for guards, but there are more spaces for buildings, so the game stretches out and there are fewer chances to end the game in absentia by building everything. I probably like side A better. It makes players more afraid of enemy buildings, even with a minus sign (one of the victory conditions is to build up the entire tablet before others). Plus there are 2 nasty spots for guards. I’d rather do it faster and more fun than take a long time and with constant “addition and subtraction”.

Play Urbis Can be from 2 to 6 players. It seemed to me that the game was played somewhat sadly for two people, because the choice of who to give what to became obvious. The more players at the table, the greater the starting income and the more logical distribution of “negative” buildings between players.

So which side should I fall on? On the side of Vesel or Nyusechka? I won't say for sure. Probably, after all, Nyusechka’s side is closer to me, but I also understand Vesel. If you are used to playing only strict economic games, in which you need to start from scratch and end with palaces and riches, and success depends purely on your thinking abilities, then it’s better Urbis avoid side. This is not your game, you are not ready for the fun that the game gives. If the game is fun for you, if you like surprises, meanness, chance, if Munchkin is the standard board game for you, then Urbis can give you a lot of fun. I repeat, despite some comments about home rules on the Internet, the final version of the game is playable, it’s just that the game sometimes shocks with unexpected turns of events (or not sometimes, but always shocks?=).

One of the craziest games I've played

Urbis tries to look like a city-planning economic board game, but in reality it turned out to be a city-planning Munchkin with meanness, pranks and accidents. We can recommend the game to cheerful board gamers who like to laugh at their actions and can close their eyes to the crudeness of the game.

Positive points:

• in this game the level of conflict is off the charts, and bad in Urbise players do both to the opponent and to themselves. Conflict and crisis provide the main fun;
• the properties of tiles and orders are quite varied and don’t let you get bored;
• The 2 sides of the tablet are slightly different;
• you can find a lot of hidden tactics and strategies in the game;
• the rules are simple and clear, low entry threshold;
• lack of kingmaking (everyone tries to “punish” the leader);
• The game is fun.

Controversial points:

• the game is raw. There are some confusion in the rules and properties of the cards, and there is a certain imbalance, which may make it seem like the player is not deciding anything in the game at all. And what really decides is called His Majesty Chance;
• pixel art for everyone;
• The size of the box is deceiving;
• you don’t immediately understand the essence of the game, some may immediately say - in this game absolutely everything works against you!
• chance, crisis, bad luck are the player’s faithful companions;
• It's not very interesting to play together.

Board game Urbis was provided for review by the GaGaGames chain of stores