Boom Town

About this board game

Boom Town is a 1990 tile-laying board game for 4–6 players, with a playing time of around 30 minutes. Players construct a 1950s English new town by placing tiles that bring its growing suburbs to life.

The developing town can include housing, shops, factories, and other parts of the suburban landscape. As sections of the suburbs are completed, scoring goes to the player who holds the majority, making each developing area a point of shared interest and competition.

• Build a 1950s English new town with tiles.
• Compete for the majority in completed suburban areas.
• Watch for spoiler tiles that reduce your score.

Not every tile improves the town. Some are spoilers, including the rubbish dump, and placing one can reduce your score. This creates a distinctive push-and-pause dynamic: players must consider whether completing part of the town is worth the danger of introducing an unwelcome feature.

There is a strong element of mutual caution throughout Boom Town. Everyone can hesitate while waiting for another player to take the first risk, but eventually somebody must step over the brink and lay one of the bad tiles.

Famous as a rare game from Ian Livingstone’s company, Boom Town offers a compact contest built around tile placement, majority scoring, and shared risk. Its simple new-town setting conceals a tense question at every stage: who will commit to the next part of the suburb, and who will be left dealing with the consequences?