Point City Review: We Engine Built This City 

Now we need a Christmas game in the series called Point Settia.

I'm very glad they made this game - it has less broad appeal than Point Salad but I still think I could play it with some of my family. Another method to keep track of how to refill the tableau is to keep the cards in the same positions and to the side as you pay for things - it takes less time than messing with the tokens. One thing worth mentioning is that the card quality is not as good as Point Salad. I will definitely sleeve these cards to protect them from wear and tear.

Thanks for reviewing. May try it out as we enjoyed Point Salad.

I'm definitely surprised by all of the Point Salad love. I enjoy it, but to echo Wendy, it is such a frivolous, no nothing game, I can't see ever wanting to play it over Point City, to just completely oppose Tom's opinion here. I'm 1,000% with Wendy on this, this took the basic idea of the card play in Point Salad and just totally improved upon it, giving some actual meat to the gameplay. I'll still Keep Point Salad, but Point City is something special.

Played it once at GenCon, and I like it pretty well. I can see some of the nits on it though. I love Point Salad, and the quickness of that one, but my partner is not into it that much, so Salad doesn't get played much. She's all about Point City though, so maybe it will get played more.

At the end, I think you meant to say “Go to town on your veggies”. 😊

Yeah, I’m feeling pretty mixed on this. I think ultimately I agree with Tom that Point Salad did what it did *so* well. It was so fast, so pleasing, so accessible, had such a range of player counts. Point City on the other hand is…well it still feels pretty solid design-wise-but I’m not sure if it is in any way a better Splendor. It’s in that strange realm of solid game that doesn’t necessarily feel like it has anything that makes me want to pull it from the shelf more than other games. I doubt that very many people will regret backing this one-but for me, Point Salad caught lightning in a bottle. This is a more “sophisticated” version but because of that, I fear, it gets bumped up a tier into a class of games where I’m not sure it stands as confidently.

So Point Salad meets Splendor

Seriously, you guys are killing it with these video titles.

I'm with Wendy and I'm glad I preordered this a while ago. It looks like another clever, fun weeknight couples game... of which I have many but I always welcome a new one. 😊

Splendor mechanism, Machi Koro mechanism, the Concordia action...

This looks good, but I already have Point Salad for game night filler, and I have Splendor Duel for game nights with my spouse.

I would call it a ‘discount engine builder’. That’s how I describe it when I teach Splendor. IMHO that both covers it as well as distinguishes it enough from just ‘engine builder’. Kind regards Tony White

It's very much like Splendor, yes, but a few things that were improved. For example the card tiers. Somehow this review doesn't mention it explicitly enough, but the three card tiers make the arc of the game better thana splendor. Somehow Splendor always had this strange combo of higher level card and nobles which i could never figure out. Somehow I am not sure if there really is that rule for taking the top two cards from the draw deck. Either I must have overlooked it or you guys added it afterwards, but it certainly is something which could tilt the game's balance. Yes, this game can take a bit longer with 4, but I wouldn't say that its more complicated than Splendor...

It's Simplified Splendor ('discount engine'? can I suggest that?) mixed with elements from Targi and Point Salad. Definitly not original and if you already have Splendor at home, you need to consider if the differences are worth getting. And ratchet is a great great name!

Splendor. No greater compliment

"Splendor Killer" was not spoken in this review, even as a joke, I was surprised. ;)

When I explain permanent 1/turn resources I tell my friends it’s like resources in Sid Meier’s Civilization 😂

Thanks, everyone! The theme of point salad attracted casual gamers. I feel this one won’t have the same ability. It still looks like a good game that I would enjoy.

Thanks for being the voice of reason Wendy!

Wait, do people not like the term "ratcheting"? I thought that was a great word for that mechanism. As for this game, this looks WAY Better at 2 players than at a higher player count. You can do some planning, whereas at more the board will change dramatically, a la Five Tribes.

There is and was only a 1% chance Chris Yi would NOT be in this video or have his input on the title.

Seems fun for only one game or maybe one session. But I don’t see why I’d play this over wingspan or Targi for two players

If if I have neither played Point City nor splendor before, which would you guys recommend I purchase?

whats the threshold for Seal of Excellence? their avg score was 7.5

I really only like Point Salad at 2 players; even then it’s only alight. This looks more interesting.

From the Overview, I just can't see myself pulling this out over Splendor.

This sounds like that perfectly dreadful mix of light/themeless and fiddly. The thing Chris mentioned about having to remember which card side was up and where it was seems annoying to keep up with, especially in a game where every card is just a color and a shape and a number. Definitely not up my alley

I just sold off point salad. I thought it would be my great intro game to people, but instead it just bored them. I'm more interested in this game, but not for the intro purpose. Still looking for a game that ANYONE can play, but still feels exciting (Looking to buy incan gold).

Title puns continue to be on point.

I Was about to get point salad, now I will wait for this

Discounts

it's just splendor

I like “racheting”

Point salad is a 10 for me. The quick snappy turns combined with the tactical decision space of how to build your engine, drafting that actually matters, player interacting of what you reveal or remove for the next player, should you take a point card or condition card, and the absurdly highscores in the hundreds. Point city is an 8.5 for me (based off one play). I like the extra layer of engine building, but that extra engine building unfortunately doesn't translate to extra points like I was hoping and the name of the game suggests. I enjoy the crunchy decisions of selecting 2 orthogonally adjacent cards and what you flip or leave adjacently behind matters. 17 turns is way too few imo, but the game is already longer than point salad and idk if I'd want it to go longer to get the extra cards I think it needs. More plays will help. I still really like it. But i had higher expectations.

"Herpes resource". You're welcome.

I love extra complexity IF it was as long as point salad. Otherwise, it falls into the 7 Wonders trap too complex and long for casuals but too simple and boring for heavy gamers.

I would play point city over point salad anytime. Game is simple enough to play it with anybody and have a little bit more depth to make it interesting.

Between this Fantastic Factories and Furnace I'm gonna need my "accessible engine builders" to pick a more interesting theme... At least in Splendor the gem collecting is something

test 1

Splendor was boring for me. The spatial element alone makes this a better game.

Seems like one of the ugliest games out there. 🤔

Point salad is such trash. It's so basic and boring. There are literally 1,000 different fillers I would much rather play before that one. Point City is much better overall.