High Rise is a strategic city-building game with a bit of corruption. You can get bonuses on your actions by gaining Corruption, but the game will periodically penalize the most corrupt players, and everyone loses VP for Corruption at the end of the game.
You'll perform all your actions — like collecting resources, constructing buildings, and repaying favors — on a one-way track. Like other one-way track games, you can go as far as you'd like, but you'll only get another turn when everyone else passes you. You gain 1 VP per floor for each building you construct. Tenants offer powerful actions that change each game. You can collect a tenant power by landing on its space or constructing a building on its card.
The round ends after everyone makes a lap around the one-way track. Players score bonus points for tallest buildings in each neighborhood and the game. You'll play 2 rounds in the Standard Game (about 90-120 minutes for 3-4 players) and 3 rounds (about 2.5 hours) in the Full game. After the appropriate number of rounds, players lose points for Corruption, and the player with most VP wins.
—description from the publisher
- beautiful, 3D building aesthetics
- engaging spatial decisions
- requires three players for best experience
- City development with stacked buildings
- Urban skyline and towers
- Strategic but accessible
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- route/track efficiency — manage actions around a circular track
- tile placement — build a city with varying heights
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- it's a gateway game
- the artwork will make you hungry
- we love talking to you guys we do we love it
- awesome to see the final product
- Parks just looks beautiful
- we're going to check it out
References (from this video)
- Strong visual appeal mentioned
- Forecasted to be engaging within the shelf-to-table plan
- city growth with a hint of corruption or intrigue
- Urban skyline and skyscraper development
- Smartphone Inc.
- Nevada City
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- City-building / area control — Players build and manage a city’s skyline, balancing growth with competing interests.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- "five about five games from our shelf of shame that we are going to play and put on the table"
- "we're going to go that is the goal"
- "we're swimming because you know no family... we are a family first"
- "learn the rules"
- "we are going to do this because we're telling family"