Here’s some interesting news for us Mac SimCity and SimCity 2000 fans:
"SimCity: The Card Game" will be released this summer. I guess that
some crafty folks are trying to hook into the "Magic: The Gathering"
card game craze.
I first read about the SimCity card game in the June issue of Computer
Game Review. There’s about a half-page of material on page 29. The
goal of the game is, as in the computer game, to build up a major city;
the winner is the player with the most money when the game ends. This
article mentions that solitaire rules and a suburban varient (whoever
grows the most wins) will be included. I’m a bit confused about how the
cards will be sold, but it seems that they’ll begin with "starter packs"
($9 or so for 60 cards), continue with "booster packs" ($3 or so for 15
cards), and later introduce an "unlimited edition" (whatever that means).
I called Chips & Bits (a mailorder place) today and the salesman said
that the starter and booster packs were already showing up in their
system. The release date for the starter packs was mid-May, but
things have slipped.
Mayfair Games is the games company. While they have produced several
worthy games through the years (including the U.S. release of the
German rail game 1835), they have a history of slipped schedules. ALL
game companies seem to have have slipped their schedules recently, due
in part to some dramatic increases in the price of paper.
The rules for the card SimCity were posted on (at least) America
On-Line for downloading. It seems like a simple and straightforward
game that nicely captures the flavor of the computer game (which was,
I gather, itself originally inspired by a ’60s board game called
Square Mile — so things have come full circle from a paper game to
electronics and back). People who have played demonstration games at
conventions have apparently enjoyed themselves.
Particularly interesting is that the style of play can be cooperative,
rather like an n-player solitaire, semi-cooperative, in which multiple
players work together (voting on zoning changes, for example) with
each trying to be top dog, or highly competitive, with each growing
their own city using their own killer decks that they have spent lots
of money on — the `Magic’ model. Also unique is that there will
apparently be some rare double-sized cards in the mix.
Finally, the cards are supposed to be illustrated with photographs of
appropriate landmarks, features, and buildings from real cities. This
might turn out to be a very cool item. Unless, of course, it doesn’t.
Mike