Key to the City: London

About this board game

Key to the City: London is a board game for 2–6 players, with sessions lasting around 120 minutes. Each player develops their own London borough, beginning with a home tile and adding large hexagonal location tiles.

Every location tile can provide victory points and may generate valuable resources. These resources include skill tiles and connectors, which link two location tiles. Players can use both to upgrade locations, increasing their victory points and productivity.

The game unfolds across four eras. New tiles become available for bidding in each era, creating a changing supply of locations and buildings. The first two eras include six resource-generating tiles alongside additional building tiles; the third offers only building tiles, which arrive already upgraded; and the fourth introduces some Routemaster tiles.

• Bid for a location tile using one or more wooden workers, known as keyples.
• Generate resources by using a location tile.
• Upgrade a location with skill tiles and connectors.
• Pass and continue playing later in the same era.
• Set off in a sailing barge along the Thames to stop playing for that era.

Players must decide how to use their team of keyples as they compete for locations, produce resources, and improve their growing boroughs. Passing preserves the chance to act again, while setting sail ends that player’s participation in the current era.

After the last river barge sets sail at the end of the fourth era, players total their victory points. The player with the most points wins. With its bidding, resource generation, tile upgrades, and era-based progression, Key to the City: London shares similarities in structure with the award-winning 2012 R&D game Keyflower.