In Pioneer City, players become pioneers in wild west. First you start with your little wagon and try to be the first to arrive to the best land spots, there are six different choices of those. After that you go round the board and try to grab goods, crops, fish and so on (and later sell those). Game is divided to twelve months for five years (1858-1862), so you get to move 60 times during game.
During game you draw cards which affect the prices for different goods, moves indians, starts auctions or sends you to jail.
Sometimes you get to go to the saloon, for a little gambling. Or you can go hunting or fishing, but then you have a risk to encounter indians.
Goal in the game is to collect as much money as possible, you get income from forests, fields, fish, gold etc. etc. Pioneer City is an old-fashioned game, which has clearly taken influence from Monopoly. But still there are couple of quite modern mechanics involved, little bit of choices and a little hint of theme.