Shake that City is a tile laying game in which all players have a player board with a 6x6 grid consisting of different terrain types in front of them. The players place shops, parks, factories, houses and streets on that board as profitably as possible. Each of the elements scores victory points after 15 rounds under certain conditions. Street tiles are worth one point at the end of the game if they are connected to the edge of the board; parks must be adjacent to houses or factories, and streets must be connected to the edge of the city. On two sides of the board there are additional tiles with different conditions that apply to the respective row of the grid. These are turned over and also count as victory points at the end of the game if the matching condition is fulfilled. This is the case, for example, if a complete row of the grid is covered with tiles or a certain number of houses have been placed in it. Pretty simple, isn't it? Put down tiles and collect points!

Of course, it's not that simple! This is where the shaker comes into play. It contains wooden cubes in different coulours that are conjured up on the table in a 3x3 grid after being shaken vigorously and a sliding device is activated. The colours of the wooden cubes correspond to those of the city elements. According to their relative position to each other, the players may now place the elements in their city. The starting player first chooses a colour-pattern combination, the next players may not use the same combination, but may choose freely from the other combinations.

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It' s interesting what tumbles out of the shaker. In the beginning, everything is still easy to accommodate, after all, there is still enough space to place three streets without having to cover an already occupied square in a forbidden way. However, with each round it gets more crowded in the city! It becomes increasingly tricky to place several tiles. Finally, you have to consider under which conditions the points are distributed or denied. A house is worth two points. But only if it is not next to a factory! Furthermore, each shop needs a road connection to the outskirts of the city to be worth up to 3 points, depending on its location. If the last possible connection is forced to be occupied by a park, however, you won't get a single point! Now that can be quite annoying. The strict starting player rule is fortunately lifted in the last 3 rounds. This makes it a little bit easier to shake the last ingredients in the cocktail of city planning to fit!

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I really enjoyed Shake that City! Firstly, it's a great family game as the rules are quick to explain and easy to understand! The shaker is of course an eye-catcher for children. On the other hand, Shake that City is also a lot of fun for adults and experienced players and is very suitable as a starting game or as a filler! I think it's worth taking a look at the Kickstarter campaign by ALDERAC ENTERTAINMENT GROUP that will run until 16 December 2022! In any case, I'll quickly throw all the wooden cubes into the shaker and construct a new city for myself, and see who wants to compete!