My City – Hints and Tips for Chapter 1

This is one in a series of posts regarding the legacy game, My City. You can access all my posts on that game HERE.

Game Overview

My City: Board

My City is a polyomino tile laying game, for up to 4 players. Each player has their own gridded player board, and a set of 24 tiles (8 shapes in 3 different colours).

My City: Tiles

A 24 card deck is shuffled, and a card is drawn, showing one of the available tiles. Each player chooses where to place that tile on their own board, or whether to pass, and lose a point. The game continues until the deck is depleted, or all the players have chosen to not place any more tiles.

My City: Cards

You award and deduct points according to the spaces that remain uncovered on each players board. The game out of the box is just that simple, but will get more complex as the 8 Chapter envelopes are opened, and each episode is played.

The Beginning Strategy

The first tile you place must share an edge with an edge of the river. The tile can be on either side of the river, not both, and a corner touching is not enough. Every successive tile must share an edge with a previously placed tile. It can be on either side of the river, not both, but again, a corner touching is not enough.

MY City: 1st Tile Placement
Valid 1st tile placement.
My City: 2nd Tile Placement
Valid 1st and 2nd tile placement.

You start with a score of 10 points. If you choose to not place a tile at any point, whilst wanting to continue in the game, you lose 1 point for passing. At the end of the game, you add +1 point for each tree that is in your city (not the forest to the right, but +2 points for each square with 2 trees that remain uncovered). You lose 1 point for each rock that is in your city (not the mountains to the left, but -2 points for each square with 2 rocks that remain uncovered). And you lose 1 point for each light green square that remains uncovered.

The board has an 11 x 11 grid on it, for 121 spaces. There are 26 spaces that are made up of the mountain range to the left and the forest to the right, which cannot be built on. This leaves 95 spaces. 5 of those spaces have 2 trees on them, and you want them to remain uncovered. That leaves 90 spaces (84 empty light green squares and 6 with 2 rocks on them) and you have tiles that cover exactly 90 spaces. It is possible to play a perfect game, without passing, earn 10 points for the trees which will give you the highest possible end total of 20.

But that’s unlikely …

It’s good to look at the shapes of the tiles, and how they might fit on your board, along your river, and around your trees. But you are at the mercy of the card draw. Especially at the beginning and end of the game, when your choices are limited. Think about the voids you leave behind on your grid, and the tiles you will use to fill them. But the game is about the flexibility of dealing with each shape as it comes up, and keeping your passes to a minimum.

Not surprisingly, the first play of the game will teach you a lot about how it works.

The Campaign

Each envelope is a Chapter, and contains rules for 3 episodes/games. When you are ready to play your first game, you open you the Chapter 1 Envelope, and see what it contains for the first 3 games. The remainder of this post, concerns those envelope contents, and is under Spoiler Tags.

Chapter 1 – The New Land

My City: Chapter 1 Envelope

Episode 1
The envelope contains a Rule sheet, an Overview sheet, and a sticker sheet, all of which are used for all 3 episodes. In these spoiler tags I will reveal only what you need for each episode. First is the rules.

My City: Episode 1 Rules

There are no new rules for episode 1. The game play is as previously described.

My City: Episode 1 Scoring

Points are lost and gained as described above. Then, the winner gets to fill in 2 circles at the top of their board. If the game has 3 or 4 players, then second place gets to fill in one.

My City: Chapter 1 Stickers

Then you apply stickers. The winner applies a sticker with 2 rocks on it to a square with a light green square in the middle. Then, any player who didn’t colour in a circle, adds a sticker with a tree on it, to a square with a light green square in the middle.

My City: Rocks Sticker My City: Tree Sticker

Think about the placement of these stickers. After your first game you will have an idea of where tiles are easy to place, to cover up the rocks. Thinking about where to add a tree is a little trickier. Ideally you will just be covering the space with the rocks, like you hopefully did in game 1. But the tree will be worth an extra point if you can leave it uncovered.

Episode 2
Additions for Episode 2

There is one extra rule for Episode 2. At the end of the game, you award points to each player, for the largest group of each of the 3 colour buildings.

My City: Episode 2 Rules

My City: Episode 2 Scoring

Now a perfect game can give you an extra 24 points, for 44, if you make 3 groups of 8 tiles, and don’t leave any rocks or empty green spaces. This is, of course, even more unlikely, because of the random card draw. But good luck.

The same end of game scoring occurs at the end of Episode 2. The player with the most points fills in 2 circles, and places a sticker with 2 rocks. In a game of 3 players or more, second place fills in 1 circle. Then all those that haven’t filled in a circle place a sticker with a single tree, on a space with a small green square in the middle of it.

Episode 3
Additions for Episode 3

At the start of Episode 3, each player places the sticker of a well on space with a small green square on it, that is not right next to the river. You will now earn an additional 4 points, if you have a different building on each side of the well.

My City: Well Sticker

Think about the tile shapes, and the terrain you are covering, when considering where you place your well. You do not want it directly next to trees, because you would need to cover the trees in order to get the points from the well. Like wise you do not want it directly next to a mountain or forest, because then you could never build a building on that side of it. Directly next to rocks is probably fine, because you want to cover them with a building. But you need to make sure it is reasonably easy to place 4 different buildings around the well.

My City: Episode 3 Rules

The other benefit of a well, is that it is not an empty space. Even if you do not get the bonus for building 4 buildings around it, it will not count as -1 at the end of the game.

Wells can be built over during the course of the game.

My City: Episode 3 Scoring

End of game scoring now includes the original rules, bonus for largest group of each tile colour and +4 if there are 4 different buildings around a well. The winner colours in 2 circles, and places a sticker with 2 rocks. In a game with 3 or 4, the player in second place colours in 1 circle. Then all players that did not colour in a circle place another Well, again not directly near the river.

Wells do not count as buildings, so do not place 2 wells next to each other. And it would still be unwise to place them directly next to a tree, or the mountains or forest.

End of Chapter 1

Chapter 1 ends after episode 3. Game boards are individualised, and you have a good idea of the game play. When you are ready to continue, open the envelope for Chapter 2: The Churches, which will continue the story.

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