Manhattan (game)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Manhattan
Manhattan game, 2017 edition
Manhattan game, 2017 edition
Game data
author Andreas Seyfarth
publishing company Hans im Glück Verlag ,
Rio Grande Games ,
Mayfair Games ,
etc. a.
Publishing year 1994
Art Tactical game
Teammates 2 to 4
Duration 40-50 minutes
Age from 10 years on

Awards

Manhattan is the name of a board game for 2-4 people by the author Andreas Seyfarth . According to the recommended age, it is suitable for ages 10 and up and was published by Hans im Glück Verlag in 1994 . Manhattan was named Game of the Year 1994. For the 25th anniversary of the first edition, a new and graphically revised edition of the game was published by Hans im Glück in 2017.

Theme and equipment

In the game, up to four players build skyscrapers in six big cities around the world ( Manhattan , Sao Paulo , Sydney , Cairo , Hong Kong , Frankfurt ) and at the same time try to build as many houses as possible and to get hold of majorities in the cities.

The game material consists of the game instructions

  • a game board with six cities and a scoring track for scoring points,
  • a set of maps, the position of the high-rise elements to be built being marked on the maps, and
  • 25 high-rise elements each in four colors and four sizes (1 to 4 floors), with one floor element being used as a marker on the scoring track.

In the new edition of 2017 there are also four player boards on which the players can place their selection of high-rise elements for the current round, as well as a starting player marker.

Rules of the game

Style of play

At the beginning of the game, the game board is placed in the middle of the game and each player chooses a color. The tokens of these colors are placed below the scoring track. Each player gets the building elements of his color and thus has the same number (24) of high-rise elements with floor heights of one to four. The game is divided into 4 rounds, the starting player changes in each round. Before each of the four rounds, the players select six of these elements that they want to use. This selection may not be changed during the round. The selection of the elements is visible to all players at all times.

9 by 9 building spaces on the game board and two identical cards in the Manhattan board game; the position of the construction field on the map depends on the position of the player (1994 version)

The 6 cities are shown with 9 building sites each in a square arrangement with 3 by 3 fields. In order to use these building sites, each player receives 4 building cards from a shared deck of cards , on which a building site is always marked within a 3-by-3 grid. Each card designates one of the nine places in a city. The fact that the players sit on different sides of the playing field, but the cards are only held in a certain direction, results in a large number of construction site options (with the exception of the central construction site) depending on the number of players. The player can decide for himself in which city he uses the card, so that there are 6 possible building sites for each player with each card.

A move involves playing a building card and placing a building element on the designated building site. Here, the players try to gain majorities in the cities and at the same time build high-rise buildings. You can build on unoccupied building sites or build over elements of your opponent and thus take possession of the building. The player must have at least as many floors in the building as the opponent after the overriding move , otherwise the move is not permitted. Each color always counts for itself.

After playing the card and building it, it is put on the discard pile and the player draws a new card into his hand. So the building options change again and again, the building sites are kept hidden. In each round each player plays 6 moves, after which his elements are used up and scoring takes place.

Rating

The buildings are scored after each round and accordingly also at the end. It gets

  • each tower of its own color one point
  • every majority of buildings in a city two points
  • the tallest building on the field three points

If there is a tie in the cities or in the case of the tallest building, there are no points, not even if there are two tallest buildings of the same color. The points achieved are marked on the scoring track and whoever has the highest total of points after 4 rounds wins the game. Equal points are possible.

Game with two or three players

Manhattan is designed as a four-player game, but it can also be played with two or three players.

If only three players play, only three colors are required. In this case, the players can choose whether to play 4 rounds with 6 components each or 6 rounds with four components each.

When playing with two players, each player takes on two colors. Both players take turns placing a component of a color of their choice, so they do not have to place the two colors alternately. In the evaluation, the points of the two colors are added up, the winner is the player with the highest total number.

tactics

Skyscrapers at the game Manhattan

In addition to the highest tower and the respective majorities, the total number of buildings, which make up a high proportion of the billing, is important for the rating. So it can make sense to build several smaller buildings than just focus on building over them. Without overbuilding, however, the special points for the tallest building and the city majorities cannot be achieved.

Expenses and reception

Children play Manhattan in the 1994 version

Manhattan was developed in 1994 by Andreas Seyfarth and published by Hans im Glück Verlag . According to his own statements, Seyfarth, who had previously developed several games on behalf of Schmidt Spiele, developed the game at the request of Bernd Brunnhofer , the then managing director of Hans im Glück Verlag. He was looking for an idea for a building game that was to differ from the one developed by the American Sid Sackson and later published by Piatnik as New York . Brunnhofer had watched the game in the United States, but like the game Acquire, also by Sackson, it was too wide and too little vertical. At the end of his school days, Seyfarth had already developed a prototype for a building game called “Speculator” with several building sites, which, similar to Monopoly, was about making money. In 1993 he was able to present his first prototype for Manhattan on this basis , and a few months later Brunnhofer decided to create the game. As a special feature, the construction site dependent on the player position was worked out. Hans im Glück offered Sackson to be named as a co-author due to the thematic proximity to his game, but Sackson declined due to the lack of matches between the games. Even Piatnik, who had meanwhile taken over New York from Sackson, saw no problem in the thematic agreement.

Manhattan won the Game of the Year Critics' Award in the year of publication and took third place in the German Games Award . The jury for the game of the year described the game as follows:

“After the first round of the game, the game still seems a bit lean, without interaction, without competition. But this game should not be judged before it is over. Soon there will be more friction surfaces than expected. The buildings that were set up in previous rounds are not removed at the beginning of the next round, but remain in place. And so it gets closer and closer. The peaceful coexistence soon turns into a bitter struggle, a race for the tallest towers, for majorities, for every single house. You can play aggressively and take over other people's houses at every suitable opportunity, or you can act like a duck and try not to get into an argument with anyone. That promises excitement for many games. "

- Jury for the game of the year 1994

According to the review by Edwin Ruschitzka in the magazine spielbox , the award for Game of the Year was “completely rightly”. In his opinion, "the intelligent layering of blocks [...] is not only excellently equipped, it is also a lot of fun" and "the constant choice - I build high or rather broad - brings the spice into play."

In 1995 the game was also awarded family game of the year by both Swedish Årets Spel and Finnish Vuoden Peli . For the 25th anniversary of the first edition, a new and graphically revised edition of the game was published by Hans im Glück in 2017. Jaqui Davis , who has already illustrated numerous other board games, was won over as the graphic designer for the new edition .

supporting documents

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h Manhattan , instructions (pdf); accessed on January 8, 2017.
  2. ^ Edwin Ruschitzka: Andreas "Leo" Seyfarth: A Munich man in the game heaven. spielbox 4/94, 1994; Pp. 17-19.
  3. ↑ a b Manhattan on the website of the Spiel des Jahres eV ; accessed on January 8, 2017.
  4. ^ Edwin Ruschitzka: Manhattan. spielbox 4/94, 1994; Pp. 14-16.

Web links

Commons : Manhattan  - collection of images, videos, and audio files