Between Two Cities

Between Two Cities is a quick, simple to learn tile drafting game with a few interesting twists on the usual. First of all, it's a combination solo and co-op game. You and the people directly next to you are working together to build the best city you can with the tiles in your hands. There are 6 different types of tiles, so there are many ways to score here. However, once scoring is all said and done, it's your lowest scoring city of the two of you had a hand in building. Where this game wins big time is that they limit the city to a 4x4 grid, so you aren't spending 45 minutes laying tile, you are only spending like 10-15 minutes (less than that once you get the hang of it).


The quality of the game is amazing, but Stonemaier is famous for that. It includes some superfluous tokens and a double sided board, both for scoring purposes, but these are not reflected in it's price tag. There are two different decks of cards: one is for playing a solitaire version (which is great, one of the few games I've played that hold up well solo style) and one is a neat little deck to decide sitting order. A few reviewers have taken issue with these elements, but honestly I don't see the problem. For less than 25 bucks, this one is a no brainer, buy with confidence!

Stonemaier Games' brand new tile-laying city-building game, Between Two Cities, uses a strong drafting mechanism and a unique "dual-partnering" system to aid players in building 2 different cities: one to their right, and one to their left. Each player will build two cities: the city on their left will be built with the player to their left, and the city to the right will be built with the player to the right. However, these partnerships are temporary, as only one player can win. What's more, only a player's LOWER scoring city counts, so building your cities as evenly as possible is necessary.

B2C is regularly for 3-7 players to take advantage of the partnering mechanism, but a well-designed 2-player variant allows 2 players to each build 2 cities, with the winner being the player with the higher score when comparing their LOWER scoring cities. I actually preferred this version. A nice solo version works well, in which the player builds 2 cities while a "robot" player, known as the "Automata", provides a competing measure for the player.

Between Two Cities takes a few moments to grasp, and several plays to get one's brain around the dual partner concept, but the game is fun, well-designed, and quick to play. Typically beautiful Stonemaier production values. For those who enjoy drafting, city-building, tile-laying, filler games, and games with tight scoring, this is the one.