Downtown

About this board game

Downtown is a city-development board game for 3–6 players, with play lasting about 60 minutes. Released in 1996, it focuses on building three types of neighborhoods in a developing city.

Each turn, players vote on which one or two blocks will be zoned. This voting process helps determine how the city develops, while players work toward completing properties within the available blocks.

A block contains four properties. Once all four properties in a block have been bought and the block has been zoned, its base score is calculated from the city around it: the base score equals the number of completed blocks adjoining it.

That base score is only part of the picture. Placing certain types of developments next to one another creates serious multipliers, which can be positive or negative. The relationship between neighboring developments therefore makes location a crucial part of building the city and pursuing a strong score.

• Build three types of neighborhoods.
• Vote on which blocks will be zoned each turn.
• Complete blocks by buying all four properties.
• Score completed blocks according to adjoining completed blocks.
• Use adjacent development types to seek positive multipliers and avoid negative ones.

With its combination of voting, property purchases, block completion, and neighborhood interaction, Downtown presents a compact city-building challenge centered on how developments fit together. The design received 1st Place in the 1996 Hippodice Spieleautorenwettbewerb, where it was known as Boomtown.