Cronberg

Cronberg

Designers: Tobias Goslar, Roland Goslar
Publisher: Kronberger Spiele
Type: Board, Tile
Free/Commercial
BGG entry: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/6569
Available at: http://www.kronberger-spiele.de/eng/cronberg/basteln/bastelanleitung.html

Cronberg is a fast and easy tile placement game for 2 to 4 players, ages 8 and up.

Cronberg & Bonobo Beach are in essence the same games. Only the theme and the graphics are different.

The city has just burned to the ground, leaving only the city wall and castle behind. A few city guards patrol a few individual streets. The object of the game is, during the reconstruction of the city, to control the most valuable intersections with your own family and eventually become Mayor of the newly rebuilt city.

During a turn, a player either places a city tile (with varying plus- and minus-values) or places a pawn onto an intersection, similar to the mechanics in Auf Heller und Pfennig or Isis und Osiris. New in this game are the triangular tiles on the city plan, which have varying effects that only count when buildings are properly placed around them: doubling, banishment or switching signs. The triangles generate placement restrictions which in turn lead to forced placements, in this way creating a tactical game regardless of the number of players.

There are two different ways of scoring. Pawns that sit on intersections that are completely built up with tiles give immediately points and then can be placed anew. Pawns on incomplete intersections don't give points but at the end of the game. The scores are determined by the values of the buildings and the triangle tile modifications. Highest score wins.

The rules are two pages long; the game is explained in two minutes and set up in two seconds. The game lasts 10 to 20 minutes.