The Great City of Rome

About this board game

The Great City of Rome is a city-building board game for 2–4 players, lasting about 60 minutes, in which builders compete to create the most successful version of the Eternal City.

The game unfolds over fourteen rounds. Each round begins with a newly revealed action strip containing three brick spaces and two cog spaces. Players place their figures on the strip, with their position determining both drafting order and the resources they receive: standing closer to the Emperor lets you draft earlier, but provides fewer bricks and cogs.

Players draft building cards, then may take one build action and one produce action. Building requires bricks, although missing bricks can be paid for with coins. New cards must be placed adjacent to buildings already in your city, and the entire layout must fit within a 4×4 square. With two starting buildings and up to sixteen cards in play, every placement matters.

• Build: Expand your city and use building effects, including special actions and influence tokens.
• Produce: Spend cogs to activate the production action of every building in your city once.
• Influence: Compete for revealed influence cards, then discard your influence tokens when a card is claimed.

The action strip creates a constant choice between an earlier pick and a larger resource income. Meanwhile, adjacent building relationships encourage careful planning as you pursue the most rewarding city arrangement.

At the end of The Great City of Rome, players score residential buildings, temples, aqueducts, coins, and influence cards and tokens. The builder with the most points wins.