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Chicago 1875: City of the Big Shoulders

64.00€

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Board Game Geek Reviews


  1. 4 out of 10

    I enjoyed the running of my company. Buying shares and working the advancement track is compelling. But somehow the sum is less than the parts for me in this one. I was happy to learn the heavier economic side of stock manipulation, but will rarely re-visit of my own choice.

  2. 7 out of 10

    Played one time with 4 players. Took six(!) hours including an hour rules teach. That's probably the biggest gripe I have with this game; It's too long for the amount of time you spend making actual decisions. The bookkeeping part when your companies produce (9 in our game) is pretty tedious. Buying shares and resources is most of the time pretty much a no-brainer, but still takes considerable time. At heart this is a euro game worker placement resource conversion like so many others. There's all kinds of efficiency increases on various tracks to take and what's novel is that the worker spots are determined by the players themselves. But in our game the stock trading part wasn't that prevalent. Just buy as much cheap stock as you can of a starting company and see the value of your shares grow. Three times a not so promising company had a share sold resulting in a minor stock value dip, but no company takeovers or dumping shares, which I expected to be the 18xx part of the game. Takeovers are easily defended against and there never was an incentive to dump, because it either wasn't profitable or would end up in a kind of kingmaker situation. Maybe it's because it was our first play, but selling stocks not really being a factor made our game more reminiscent of an economic worker placement like Crisis. Not bad, but also not what I'd expected. I'm wondering whether playing the stock market is a valid strategy in this game. Maybe next time.

  3. 7.5 out of 10

    Good gameplay running the companies, but I feel like the stock mechanism is a bit weird. It feels like it's too easy to destroy other people's companies and that is way more important than how your companies perform. Also some copanies are clearly better than others, which leaves me wondering why on earth you would even consider starting with those. And lastly, there can be some annoying randomness when drawing the buildings. Also there some are clearly better than others. So there are a few flaws in my opinion, and that should not be te case to make such a heavy game enjoyable.

Be the first to review “Chicago 1875: City of the Big Shoulders”

After the great Chicago Fire of 1871, the brave men and women of Chicago sought to rebuild their once-great city, and rebuild it they did. Over the next 60 years Chicago experienced an economic golden age, making such great progress that it hosted The World’s Columbian Exposition in 1893, followed not long after by a celebration of its Century of Progress at The World’s Fair in 1933.

Many of the household brands we’ve come to know and love today had their start in Chicago during this time period; Oscar Mayer, Kraft, Quaker Oats, Nabisco, Swift & Co, Armour & Co, Schwinn Bicycles, Charles Schwab, and many others made a home here in this tall, bold slugger.

In City of the Big Shoulders players take on the roles of entrepreneurs and investors seeking to rebuild Chicago into a city fit for the world stage. In this unique merger of 18xx-style stock manipulation mechanics with euro-style gameplay, players start companies, trade in shares, hire employees, equip their factories, produce goods and sell them to be delivered to homes across the midwest.

Although City of the Big Shoulders features a large amount of strategic depth and rewarding gameplay, it does so in a shorter timeline than is typical of most heavy economic games. Players play just five rounds (also known as decades) in about two and a half hours. Each decade consists of five unique phases: A stock phase where players can buy and sell stock; a building phase where players rebuild the city of Chicago, placing action spaces on the board; an action phase where companies send their partners to make deals across Chicago; an Operating Phase where companies buy resources, produce goods, and ship them out of Chicago; and finally a cleanup phase where the board is set up for the following decade. At the end of the fifth decade, the game ends. Players then exchange shares that they have purchased over the course of the game for cash, are rewarded for any of the public goals they have accomplished over the five decades of play, and tally their money to determine who is Chicago’s greatest resident.

—description from the publisher

Ages

14+
Players

2 Players, 3 Players, 4 Players
Play Time

120m – 180m
Designer

Raymond Chandler III
Mechanics

Ownership, Commodity Speculation, Stock Holding, Tile Placement, Variable Player Powers, Worker Placement
Theme

Economic, Educational, Industry / Manufacturing
Publisher

Parallel Games, Quined Games
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