Written by Ed Carter, Nov. 10, 2018
Congratulations! You are the new mayor of Machi Koro. I know it’s not much now, a wheat field, bakery, and city hall, but with your help and planning, it could be a bustling place of commerce and trade. Are you up to the challenge? Excellent your honor, let’s get started!
In Machi Koro, from IDW games, two to four players work to be the first to complete their landmarks and finish their city. Players earn income by gaining resources like fields and forests, then building factories and shops to increase their income. This income is used to build landmarks such as a harbor, train station, or Airport, which wins them the game. An important note, the original base game only has four landmarks, while the deluxe basic set, Machi Koro: Bright Lights, Big City, comes with seven and more resource options.
To set up, players take their starting resources and shops (wheat field and bakery) and first landmark (city hall) and their remaining six landmarks (placed on the uncompleted side). Next, take one coin from the bank.
There are three decks of resources and shops to buy from. These are separated into groups of less than six, greater than six, and special buildings. Five cards are laid out from the numbered decks and two cards from the special ones, for a total of 12 cards. Players are now ready to begin.
The numbered decks are made up of three types of cards; blue for resources, green for industries, and red for shops. The special shops (purple) are limited to only one type of each per player.
On a players turn, they can perform up to three actions; roll dice, collect money, and purchase a card or build a landmark. In the beginning, only one die is rolled, but the ability to roll more is given when certain landmarks are completed. Each card has a number that activates its ability when rolled. Blue cards activate on any players roll, green, red or purple only for the player who rolled the die. For example, every time a player rolls a 1, all players earn a number of coins for each blue resource they own with a 1.
Green industry cards earn income based on the number of blue cards that correspond with it. For example, the flower shop earns one coin for each flower orchard a player owns.
When a player rolls a die that corresponds to another player’s red card, they owe coins to the owner of the red card. Let’s say Joe owns a cafe (which earns on a 3) It’s Tom’s turn, and he rolls a 3. He owes Joe coins for each cafe he owns.
Purple cards allow the player who rolled the die, to earn income from every other player.
After income is earned, a player may then buy a card or open a landmark. Each landmark has a cost and a reward when built. The train station costs four to build and allows the owner to roll two dice instead of one, for example. Resources, industries, shops, and special buildings are added immediately to a players tableau after purchased.
The game continues until one player has built all their landmarks and wins.
Machi Koro is a simple, fast game, but definitely has a lot of strategies. Deciding on which landmarks and buildings to buy is crucial in earning income. Players use their own unique strategy in order to build their landmarks. You can invest in fields and farms to sell your goods, or own a lot of cafes and restaurants, or own a stadium and earn coins from every other player. How you win, is totally up to you.
The cards and components are well made and easy to read. It can be played on a standard size table, great for taking to a coffee shop or at the dining room table. The play is fast, as players only do three actions per turn.
Machi Koro has become a staple game in our house. My wife and I can knock out three games usually in an hour. If you are looking for a simple, fun, yet challenging card game, Machi Koro just may work for you.
Once again, Rodney Smith from Watch it Played, has a great tutorial video.
Written by Ed Carter
