Rebuilding Chicago

About this board game

Rebuilding Chicago is a city-building strategy game for 1–5 players, with sessions lasting about 120 minutes. Set after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, it challenges you to manage the zoning and expansion of a major neighborhood.

Each round begins with population growth. You then choose how to develop your neighborhood: build a new building, expand into a suburb, activate an event, or construct a landmark. Afterward, your neighborhood earns profit based on its commerce.

Buildings come from a shared market, where you must balance the shapes that fit your grid with the building types that support your strategy. Suburb tiles can connect to your grid in any arrangement, allowing every neighborhood to develop a distinctive shape.

• Construct buildings that fit your growing grid.
• Expand into uniquely shaped suburbs.
• Build landmarks from the right tile combinations.
• Trigger citywide events for points, money, and expansions.
• Enact laws to gain an advantage.

Citywide events can change the game’s direction, rewarding players who are prepared to take advantage of them. Your final score comes from building types, upgrades, landmarks, events, and any cash you have left, so both development and financial choices matter.

Rebuilding Chicago is a standalone successor to 2023’s Rebuilding Seattle. It also includes a solo player deck that simulates the actions of a second player, letting you compete to build the best version of Chicago and explore strategies and neighborhood configurations on your own.