Motor City is a strategic roll-and-write game about running an auto plant in the heyday of Detroit.
In Motor City, you have two player sheets, each with multiple areas. These areas are represented by tracks that you will mark off as you make progress. Many of the tracks are interconnected with other elements in the game, giving you bonuses along the way and opportunities to unlock more points. Advancing on all of these tracks offers various amounts of points, advancements, and bonuses.
The game lasts eight rounds. Each round, roll colored dice based on the number of players, then place them on spaces on the blueprint table based on value and color. Each player drafts one die and uses it. Once everyone has drafted a die twice, all players get to use the remaining die on the blueprint table.
After eight rounds, you score points for your progress in engineering, assembly, testing, and more. Whoever has the most points wins.
Motor City has a solo mode in which you try to top your own score against an auditor that drafts dice and blocks areas of your sheet. Its difficulty can easily be adjusted by changing the colors of dice during setup, with no added rules.
Motor City is game 3 of the Motor City Gameworks Loaded Roll and Write series.
Game 1: Fleet: The Dice Game
Game 2: Three Sisters
Game 3: Motor City
–description from the designer
- fun party game
- humor around the table
- heavily depends on the group
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- blue lagoon is a great game
- it's got so colorful so much fun
- there's this great moment in blue lagoon where you just realize that you've got a certain island secured
- it's a sandbox style pirate game
- i'm going to buy this for myself 100
- Ethnos is an awesome very simple area majority game
- Ticket to Ride Europe
- Nidavellir
- Dune Imperium
- Code Names is just so great that it's word games are just easy for no i shouldn't say they're easy for everyone to get into
References (from this video)
- Engaging combination of dice drafting and track-based upgrades
- Rich interaction with AI opponent
- Varied upgrade paths add strategic depth
- Solid solo play experience
- Rule clarifications needed for some prerequisite mechanics (TPS/clipboards)
- Steep learning curve for first-time players of this style
- Automobile manufacturing, factory optimization, dice drafting, and upgrades
- Urban automotive industry in a Detroit-inspired near-future
- Mechanistic, process-driven with an emphasis on optimization and scoring tracks
- Three Sisters
- Fleet the Dice Game
- Honey Buzz
- Yokohama Roll & Write
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Compound Scoring — End-of-round scoring depends on speedometer completion percentages and tires collected.
- dice drafting — Roll dice each round and draft them to assign actions on tracks.
- scoring via speedometer and tire symbols — End-of-round scoring depends on speedometer completion percentages and tires collected.
- shared action selection with AI opponent Emma — AI opponent takes actions based on dice and board state, affecting your options.
- TPS reports/clipboards prerequisites — Special prerequisites (clipboards) must be completed to outline end-of-track bonuses and acquire certain bonuses.
- Track advancement — Upgrade actions to improve efficiency and unlock new bonuses; multiple tracks (production, engineering, sales, testing, etc.).
- upgrades and branching_tracks — Upgrade actions to improve efficiency and unlock new bonuses; multiple tracks (production, engineering, sales, testing, etc.).
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- "let's freaking get into this"
- "apologies for all those technical difficulties"
- "we can now finally get into playing Motor City"
- "I love Fleet the dice game and I love Three Sisters"
- "thumbs up for me" the streamer expresses enthusiasm for Motor City
References (from this video)
- Tight engine-building feel with accessible rules
- Rich theme and replayability via different strategies
- Can be fiddly with some components
- Not as quick to teach as lighter roll-and-writes
- Industrial production and car design
- Detroit, auto manufacturing era
- Rolling-right, competitive drafting with dice
- Fleet the Dice Game
- Three Sisters
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Dice drafting and placement — Draft dice and place to gain actions and bonuses.
- Hub-style actions (engineering/production hubs) — Unlocks hub-specific bonuses when completed.
- Rolling-right — Draft and roll dice; place on blueprint board.
- Upgrade system and track scoring — Upgrade abilities and manage bonuses; speedometer track adds tension.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- "everything ties in now"
- "we've increased our space… 20 gig of space"
- "10 years, 300 episodes"
- "Ocean's Eleven energy"
- "it's a legacy game that's played over the course of 15 scenarios"
- "the branching storyline"
- "the speedometer scoring adds tension"
References (from this video)
- smooth orchestration of multiple actions
- strong theme integration with production flow
- not always the best fit for novice groups
- pace can slow with heavy planning
- production and logistics in Detroit
- Mid-century automobile industry
- industrial, strategic
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- rolling rights — dice drafting with resource management and timing
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- blob party is one of those really interesting games where a single component really elevates the entire experience
- there's only nine rounds in this game you better figure out what you want to do
- Sea Salt and Paper... I love the form factor of the box it's so tiny
- Daybreak is a Cooperative uh game where players are leveraging current and future Technologies and policies to try to solve the problem of an ongoing and changing climate
- Thunder Road Vendetta ... racing game where you it's like you're just purposefully getting in each other's way basically
- it's a flip and right uh where the game has like these kind of it's like a network of transit systems
- my island is uh also sort of like a tile placing game where you're building out an island a deserted island
- Dune Imperium the deck-building plus worker placement game
- Nucleum is a real heavy game about an alternate reality where we discovered nuclear power way earlier
References (from this video)
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- I freaking love it
- we are not gonna spend time explaining all of the games
- this is also includes games from before Gen Con and we cannot be held accountable for our actions
- we will let you know if we forget to say it will be on the screen every time
- it's for one or two players I kinda want to bring this to Disney