Barcelona

About this board game

Barcelona is a board game for 1–4 players, with games lasting about 90 minutes, set during the city’s 19th-century expansion. Players become builders working on the Eixample, the ambitious urban development planned by Ildefons Cerdà after Barcelona’s old city walls were destroyed.

The city is overcrowded, and citizens are looking for homes beyond the old center. Your main goal is to construct buildings that accommodate them while helping shape the new expansion. Along the way, you can develop streets, create tram lines, and build public services that contribute to Barcelona’s growth.

The period also brings new artistic ideas. Players may explore Modernisme, an architectural and arts style that is becoming popular among the wealthy. This historical setting gives Barcelona a clear focus on urban development and the transformation of a growing city.

• Build accommodation for citizens leaving the old city.
• Create streets and tram lines across the expansion.
• Construct public services and explore Modernisme.
• Compete across three scoring phases and a final scoring phase.

Barcelona is played over a variable number of rounds, interrupted by three scoring phases before the game’s final scoring. In each round, every player takes a single turn made up of two or more actions, followed by a building phase and preparation for the next turn.

As the rounds progress, players contribute to the creation of the Eixample and pursue points through their construction and development. After the final scoring phase, the player with the most points wins. With its urban expansion theme and structured scoring timeline, Barcelona presents a focused portrait of a city being rebuilt for the future.