Fifth Avenue

About this board game

Fifth Avenue is a strategic city-building board game for 2–4 players, with games lasting about 100 minutes. Set in New York during the building boom of the 1930s, it challenges players to build skyscrapers along the prestigious Fifth Avenue and compete for the most valuable locations.

Players score points for skyscrapers based on the number of different business types adjacent to them. Choosing where to build is only part of the challenge: players must also manage bidding cards, anticipate district scoring, and decide when to push their plans forward.

• Take three skyscrapers into your supply.
• Place a business on an open lot.
• Take a black bidding card and move a commissioner.
• Score a district.

After taking an action, players may draw colored or black bidding cards. Colored cards are used to bid for matching lots, while black cards can be added to any bid. The commissioner’s route is tracked across the map, and when the commissioner completes a trip, bidding takes place in the districts where they landed.

The winning bidder may build skyscrapers on the contested lot or declare a building stop. That declaration scores points for every skyscraper in the district, triggers district scoring at half value, and closes the district to further construction for the rest of the game.

The game ends when the business supply is empty or two building stops have been declared. Each district without a building stop then receives final scoring, and the player with the most victory points wins. Released in 2004, Fifth Avenue is #9 in the Alea big box series.