Cities USA

Video jhjWhChjTWo Watch It Played Top List at 12:25 sentiment: positive

video_pk 83653 · mention_pk 211281

Click to watch at 12:25 · YouTube ↗

Overall sentiment (raw)

positive

Pros

none

Cons

none

Thematic elements

city development and planning
modern urban planning

Comparison games

Cities

Mechanics (from transcript analysis)

city_building_and_infrastructure — Raise skyscrapers, build bridges, roads, and green spaces to shape a city.

Video topics + discussion points

No key topics recorded for this video.

Quotes (from this video)

This looks beautiful. It's about wine making. I'm in.
Sail with us to the Red North, a new combative game of hidden information and bluffing for two to four players from mighty boards.
This one is pitched as an exciting and accessible card game with lots of hand management and actually no pun intended on this one. Spatial tableau building.
Deco certainly seems to be kind of the unofficial Blatro the board game.
Cities USA is going to be a level up in complexity.

References (from this video)

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Video P0_7gluEIso Our Family Plays Games Top 20 List at 53:17 sentiment: positive

video_pk 82065 · mention_pk 205957

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Overall sentiment (raw)

positive

Pros

strong concept from original Cities
fun expansion ideas

Cons

added mechanics may feel overcomplicated

Thematic elements

urban development
USA city planning
strategic drafting

Comparison games

Cities

Mechanics (from transcript analysis)

Worker Placement — place workers to activate actions and score via landmarks

Video topics + discussion points

No key topics recorded for this video.

Quotes (from this video)

We are AI police.
SHACKLES OFF MY FEET, YEAH.

References (from this video)

No references stored for this video.

Video v1UsqaQ-B_I Grant Lyon Other at 16:40 sentiment: positive

video_pk 82055 · mention_pk 205864

Click to watch at 16:40 · YouTube ↗

Overall sentiment (raw)

positive

Pros

Good introduction to worker placement
Adds deeper strategy and puzzliness
Includes skyscrapers and roads/highways for tile laying

Cons

none

Thematic elements

building a city

Comparison games

Cities

Mechanics (from transcript analysis)

building — You'll be taking some buildings and sort of building colored buildings uh, and trying to stack them as high as you can.
Set Collection — You'll be taking cards that will score you points in different ways.
tile laying — You'll be, you know, taking tiles and then doing some tile laying and building out your city.
Worker Placement — It is a good introduction to worker placement games because it's not overwhelming, but there is still some interesting choices and strategy in the game.

Video topics + discussion points

No key topics recorded for this video.

Quotes (from this video)

Hello, I'm Grant with Grant's Game Rex.
So, if you go to UKGE, I would love to see you at the show.
So, yeah, fun little quick game.
Wow, round of applause. Uh 40 years of Tales of the Arabian Nights.
So, while it does play one to six players, you would need to purchase some of the additional solo content if you want to do it solo.
This is distilling the classic game Diplomacy down to a card version of the game.
So, you can get it down to a couple of hours or less depending on how many people you are playing with.
So, if you like Risk and you want to try a new version of it, then check out GI Joe Special Missions.
And it's very silly and energetic and fun.
So, those are 15 new additions coming to retail here in the month of March.

References (from this video)

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Video 0gWAClaED-c Tantrum House Playthrough at 49:20 sentiment: positive

video_pk 81959 · mention_pk 205225

Click to watch at 49:20 · YouTube ↗

Overall sentiment (raw)

positive

Pros

Rich city-building decisions
New scoring variants add depth

Cons

Can be complex to teach

Thematic elements

city-building / road networks
urban planning with neighborhoods
euro-style

Comparison games

none

Mechanics (from transcript analysis)

bridge tokens and neighborhood scoring — Bridge tokens connect roads; build neighborhoods with water, parks, and roads for points.
endgame scoring and skyscrapers — New scoring cards and skyscraper tokens; wild building token covers negative spots.
Tile Placement — Place items from rows and fill rows; advanced variant requires one item in each row before two in any row.
tile/row placement with mele — Place items from rows and fill rows; advanced variant requires one item in each row before two in any row.

Video topics + discussion points

No key topics recorded for this video.

Quotes (from this video)

THE FUN STARTS NOW.
From the couch to the table and back again.
We laugh, we learn, we level up, too.
Don't mess with Cthulhu.
Heart of the cards.

References (from this video)

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Video dczcPFU6uD8 The Dice Tower Top List at 2:11 sentiment: negative

video_pk 81538 · mention_pk 203055

Click to watch at 2:11 · YouTube ↗

Overall sentiment (raw)

negative

Pros

none

Cons

Added too many things.
Too complex compared to the original game.

Thematic elements

Comparison games

Cities

Mechanics (from transcript analysis)

Mechanics unknown.

Video topics + discussion points

No key topics recorded for this video.

Quotes (from this video)

Fiction: Banned Books, this is from All Play. I really like the first Fiction, guessing a five-letter word. If you like things like Wordle, um this is a good sort of one versus others game because one person is trying to stop you from guessing the word cuz they lie they have to lie about a letter each time, but you know they lie, so they're picking the right time to lie. But this offer this adds some special powers and things to it, so it's slightly better than the first one, I think, if you care about the stuff. If not, you can still play it normally, so great little game.
Got 5, a great deduction game for kids, wonderful components. Basically, um you everyone can see your numbers and you're guessing if this is higher or lower than your numbers and where they fit on a grid really works well for kids. There's a lot of good deduction games for kids these days. Another 8.5.
And Catan on the Road, what a glorious card game version of Catan, one one few games that I am going to get a copy of this for my house because my kids and family liked it so much. We can play this with anybody. It takes Catan, it distills it down into 15 minutes. What a wonderful thing. Like it a lot.
So, almost 15 minutes for 36 games.
If you have thoughts on these games, you disagree, agree, whatever it might be, let us know in the comments.
Like I said, you can find more information about most of these games on the Dice Tower channel or you will hear more about them in the future.
Hey everybody, thanks for watching another video from the Dice Tower.
Do you want to learn more about us, communicate with us? We have a Facebook group. We have a Discord channel. Lots of different ways to get involved with the Dice Tower.
You can find that in our Linktree link below. So, just click that, it will take you and you can communicate with us on Facebook, join our Facebook groups. There's lots of cool things that you can find and become part of the Dice Tower.

References (from this video)

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Video DrDXE_GC_Fk BoardGameGeek Top List at 9:51 sentiment: positive

video_pk 81035 · mention_pk 199263

Click to watch at 9:51 · YouTube ↗

Overall sentiment (raw)

positive

Pros

Takes Cities to another level with extra features
Adds more things to think about
Drives strategy creation
Offers tile placement, set collection, and more
Allows for making the city pretty with water features, heights, and parks
Provides different ways to play and different objectives

Cons

none

Thematic elements

Designing a city of the future

Comparison games

Cities
Carcassonne

Mechanics (from transcript analysis)

city building — Players design and build a city.
Pattern Building — Players focus on visual pattern building for their city.
Set Collection — Players collect elements to build their city.
Tile Placement — Core mechanic similar to Carcassonne.

Video topics + discussion points

No key topics recorded for this video.

Quotes (from this video)

Middleweight games. Yes, the ones in the middle.
Not the ones that burn your brain.
But these are ones that you can do better at them if you have some experience.
So, we went to the source. The source. BGG. Yes, the primary source. Of information on board games.
So, we're looking at games that are somewhere over 2.0 but under four.
It is so satisfying when you do.
The aquarist with the most points at the end wins.
And then now we have Cities: USA, which I feel is kind of like medium. It's it's kind of it puts its toe in light, but it's into the medium.
Now, for this one, we love Cities. We love Cities.
Don't get it twisted, family. We love this game.
But, the subject matter, like we said, you wait long enough, something's going to come through. And if you like horror, we got you your horror. We do.
And the art is so It's captivating. It's captivating.
And baby, this one is kind of crazy.
It's not so taxing on No. No. that you're like, "Oh my god, you know, this is going"
But it is it [music] it it keeps you rolling.
I like how they give you different choices. So if you're bringing somebody into the next level, they can come in the way they want to.
And then usually the games are in the mid mid-range in the middle range, you know, so everybody can play it.
I mean it's just the components are so fun and just the game is just so unique
But then this one stays with that, you know, that kind of like gateway to bring them in say hey, we still colorful, we still got some things going on.
But they realized people still want color. They still want a game that's eye-catching, a game that's going to catch your attention on the table.

References (from this video)

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Video TBeFjsxde6A Where There's A Wilz, There's a Play Review at 57:21 sentiment: other

video_pk 80553 · mention_pk 196340

Click to watch at 57:21 · YouTube ↗

Overall sentiment (raw)

Keeper

Pros

there's a solo mode.
it's not one that Stacy's going to play a whole lot either way either of them.
I think I could use these in cities, honestly, because they're just taking something from each row, and it's the same sort of I mean, it's the same rows.
So, I could probably use those in cities and play a solo mode in cities.

Cons

So, it makes it more complex for me.

Thematic elements

US Cities

Comparison games

Cities

Mechanics (from transcript analysis)

Drafting — Cities and Cities USA are a drafting game
Set Collection — drafting uh scorecards
Tile Placement — building out a 3x3 city

Video topics + discussion points

No key topics recorded for this video.

Quotes (from this video)

We are going to get another copy so we can experience some of the other parts of it that we couldn't finish.
I didn't think I was going to like this game. I really didn't.
It's a game of chance. If cheese is needed in two of your dishes and cheese never comes up, you never get that bonus for the perfect plate, which is kind of irritating and aggravating, but it's a game of chance.
Easy keep that one. It's one of our favorites.
This one's hard.
It plays better with more than two people because you don't have that dummy character that's just blocking stuff.
It's one play like the cafe might be a maybe for me.

References (from this video)

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Video iLb0HeAKDC8 The Dice Tower Discussion at 3:05 sentiment: positive

video_pk 32948 · mention_pk 97670

Click to watch at 3:05 · YouTube ↗

Overall sentiment (raw)

positive

Pros

solid follow-up with more depth
two-player friendly with added complexity

Cons

some fiddly bits and potential overcomplexity
not a pure improvement for all players compared to the original

Thematic elements

urban development under strategic constraints
city-building and route planning with a two-player focus
clean, streamlined design with some depth

Comparison games

Cities

Mechanics (from transcript analysis)

Layer Building — Adds additional complexity while preserving core gameplay.
layered decision making — Adds additional complexity while preserving core gameplay.
two-player city-building — An advanced two-player variant that expands on the original Cities game.

Video topics + discussion points

No key topics recorded for this video.

Quotes (from this video)

This is a lightning fast kind of skirmish game, then this is a good one.
Desert Tribes, which I gave a six out of 10 to. I thought it was okay.
Merchants Guild faction, which I gave an eight out of 10 to, and then my favorite one, Wireman, which I give a nine out of 10 to.
This is a follow-up to the original Cities by Dr Finn and Phil Walker Harding, and I think this adds a little bit of layer of complexity.
Puerto Rico Deluxe, what an amazing thing. I gave it a 10 out of 10.

References (from this video)

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Revisiting Our Collection C

Saturday Morning Board Game Show — April 2026

Cities USA

Revisiting Our Collection C

Saturday Morning Board Game Show — April 2026

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