# Metro: City Edition ## General Info - **Year Published**: 2024 - **BGG Rating**: 6.6 - **BGG Rank**: — - **Players**: 2-4 - **Duration**: 30-45 min - **Weight**: 2.00 / 5 - **Designers**: Dirk Henn - **Artists**: Christian Fiore - **Publishers**: Queen Games - **Categories**: Trains - **Mechanics**: Network and Route Building, Tile Placement ## Verdict Urban planners will love Metro: City Edition – route building gets a fresh city‑centric twist.Challenging urban routesHigh‑quality componentsFast, accessible gameplayRepetitive in longer sessionsLimited strategic depthRECOMMENDED ## Description Metro: City Edition is the 20th‑anniversary edition of the classic Metro base, but with a full focus on cities. Instead of using the 2017 modules, you get six city expansions – Berlin, London, New York, Paris, St Petersburg, and Stockholm – each bringing its own set of routes, stations, and urban challenges. The core mechanic remains network and route building, but now you must plan the expansion of metro lines across real cities, connecting strategic points and avoiding congestion. Tile placement is straightforward: you place track tiles on a modular board representing the city, and station tiles determine where you can place trains. The better you connect dense traffic areas, the more victory points you earn. The game stays light at 30‑45 minutes, but the variety of cities and the ability to combine routes from different cities make each playthrough unique. In addition to tiles, the set includes acrylic pieces and a cardboard tile dispenser, making organization and cleanup a breeze. For those who enjoy urban planning challenges with a touch of strategic depth, Metro: City Edition offers an engaging and visually appealing experience, though it can feel a bit repetitive for those seeking more complexity. Ideal for 2‑4 players who appreciate network‑building games with a realistic transportation theme. ## How to Play Game Objective In Metro: City Edition – Deluxe Big Box, each player owns several Metro lines of one color. The main objective is to create the longest possible Metro line on the game board. The longer a line is, the more valuable it will be to the player. Players earn victory points according to the length of their lines. The player with the most victory points is the winner of the game. Setup Place the game board in the center of the playing area. The game board has 60 square spaces for track tiles, 32 Metro stations, 1 large central station in the middle, and 1 scoring track. There are 3 different setup frames, corresponding to the player count (2, 3/4, and 5/6 players). Assemble the pieces of the required frame and place it over the 32 stations. The stations on the frames have different colors, and each Metro line starts at the station of its color. The remaining frames should be returned to the box. Each player chooses a line color and takes their corresponding scoring marker. Place all scoring markers on the "0" space of the scoring track. Place the 32 wooden train cars next to the game board. Before the first game, assemble the Metro Tower. Place it next to the game board, within reach of all players. Shuffle the track tiles and stack them face down in the Metro Tower. Each player takes the top tile from the tower as their hand tile and looks at it without showing it to other players. Setup for Expansion Module 1 – The Corporations You will need the "%" setup frame. Assemble it and place it as in the base game. Place all 8 scoring tokens on the "0" space of the scoring track. These indicate the profit points of the corporations. Place the players' scoring markers on the "0" space as well to record players' victory points, as in the base game. Place the stock board next to the game board. Separate the stock cards by their percentages (10% - 40%). Shuffle each pile separately and place them face down on the corresponding spaces of the stock board. Give one card from each pile to each player, face down. Then, reveal the top card of each pile and place it face up in the space next to the pile. Setup for Expansion Module 2 – The Central Stations In the base game, give each player their color's central station tile to keep in front of them. Return any remaining tiles to the game box. In combination with the corporations, place the 8 central station tiles next to the game board. Setup for Expansion Module 3 – The Central Tracks Place 4 of the 8 central track tiles in the center of the game board, completely covering the central station. Return the remaining 4 tiles to the game box. The central track tiles have no orientation arrows and can be placed in any random orientation. Setup for Expansion Module 4 – The Solo Game You will need the "%" setup frame. Place all 8 scoring tokens on the "0" space of the scoring track. Shuffle the 10% stock cards of all 8 corporations and stack them face down next to the game board. Setup for Paris Expansion Distribute the landmark tiles randomly and equally to all players. Depending on the player count, each player receives two to six landmarks. Players place their landmarks in a row in front of them. Spread the tourists randomly on the 32 inner spaces of the game board, one tourist per space; the outer spaces along the edges remain free. Setup for Stockholm Expansion Place the landmark tiles in a row next to the game board in random order. Spread the tourists randomly on the 32 inner spaces of the game board, one tourist per space, the outer spaces along the edges remain free. Shuffle the tourist markers and distribute them randomly to players face down: 3 for 2 players, 2 for 3 or 4 players, 1 for 5 or 6 players. Return any unused markers to the game box. Players keep the color(s) of their marker(s) secret. They will earn victory points for tourists of their color(s). Setup for London Expansion Spread the tourists randomly on the 32 inner spaces of the game board, one tourist per space, the outer spaces along the edges remain free. Place the landmark tiles in a row next to the game board in random order. Place a direction tile at each end of the row, creating a circuit in the direction of the arrows. Place the taxi on one of the two arrows. Setup for New York Expansion Give one landmark board to each player. Players keep their board in front of them. Spread the tourists randomly on the 32 colored stations of the game board (using the appropriate setup frame and placing the tourists on the railway buildings). Note: When playing with corporations, the eight landmark boards are assigned to them. Setup for St. Petersburg Expansion Refer to the manual for details on this section. Setup for Berlin Expansion Place the 8 landmark tiles on the 8 inner diagonal spaces extending from the central station. Separate the VP tiles by color and keep them face up next to the game board. Place a tourist of the same color next to each group of tiles. First, place the 8 landmark tiles in a row next to the game board. Then, place 16 tourists (2 of each color) in groups of 4 randomly on the spaces of the game board. Each group cannot have 2 tourists of the same color. Randomly assign 1 of the remaining 8 tourists to each landmark tile. Keep the tickets nearby. Note: Each landmark tile has two sides with different VPs. The VPs on the "B" sides have a wider range than those on the "A" sides. For your first game with this expansion, we recommend using the "A" sides. Later, you can use the "B" sides or any mix of both. Game Flow The youngest player starts, others follow clockwise. Game Sequence (Base Game) Place track tiles: The active player places their hand tile on the game board. If they do not want to place this tile, they can draw a new tile from the supply (if available). In this case, they must place the newly drawn tile, keeping their hand tile. After placing their hand tile, the player draws a new tile from the supply in the Metro Tower (if available and if they placed their hand tile before). Game Sequence (Expansion Module 1 – The Corporations) The active player chooses between two actions: Place track tiles (see base game) or Trade a stock Game Sequence (Expansion Module 2 – The Central Stations) In the base game, instead of placing a track tile, the active player can place their central station tile on any of the 8 unoccupied central station spaces in the center of the game board. They can start another Metro line from there, scoring it in the same way as any of their other lines. In combination with corporations, instead of placing a track tile or trading a stock, the active player can place one of the available central station tiles on any unoccupied central station space in the center of the game board. To do this, the player must show 1 stock from this corporation and place it face up in front of them. They will no longer be able to trade this stock. This corporation gains another Metro line. Game Sequence (Expansion Module 4 – The Solo Game) The player takes two track tiles from the tower and places them face up in front of them. Then, they reveal the top stock card, placing it next to the pile. The player must expand a line of the revealed color with one of their two track tiles. Once the last stock card has been revealed, the player shuffles the revealed cards and uses them as a new draw pile. Important: Until the draw pile is exhausted for the first time (i.e., all colors have been revealed once), the player can reject a tile of the type shown. They place it back in the middle of the tiles in the tower and draw a new one. Game Sequence (Paris Expansion) When placing a track tile on a space containing a tourist, the player takes that tourist and places it on an unoccupied space of the same color on one of their landmarks. If there is no suitable unoccupied space on the player's landmarks, the player adds that tourist to a tourist on an adjacent space of the game board. If there is no adjacent space with a tourist, the player adds the tourist to any other tourist of their choice. If this is not possible because there are no more tourists on the board, that tourist is removed from the game. When placing a track tile on a space containing multiple tourists, the player takes all of them (placing them on their landmarks as described above). Game Sequence (Stockholm Expansion) When placing a track tile on a space containing a tourist, the player takes that tourist and places it on the leftmost unoccupied space in the row of landmarks. Game Sequence (London Expansion) When placing a track tile on a space containing a tourist, the taxi moves a maximum of 4 spaces to the next space of that tourist's color in the direction of the arrow. When the taxi reaches that space, the player earns as many VPs as the number of spaces the taxi traveled. If the taxi does not reach a space of the tourist's color within 4 spaces, the player earns nothing. The direction tiles do not count as spaces for the taxi. Set the tourist aside. Game Sequence (New York Expansion) When a player ends their line at a destination station, the player takes the tourist waiting there and places it on the landmark above the space of that tourist's color on their landmark board. During the course of the game, multiple tourists of the same color may be on the same landmark. Game Sequence (St. Petersburg Expansion) Refer to the manual for details on this section. Game Sequence (Berlin Expansion) When placing a track tile on a space containing a landmark tile, the player removes that tile. The player places one of the still available tourists of their color on the arrow of that track tile. Then, shuffle that group of tiles face down and place them on the removed landmark tile. When a player completes a Metro line passing through a track tile with a tourist on it, the player who owns that line earns one of the face-down VP tiles of that color for each section of the line that passes through that track tile. Another game sequence rule for Berlin: When placing a track tile on a space containing a tourist, the player places that tourist on the arrow of that track tile. When scoring a Metro line passing through a track tile with a tourist on it, the player who owns that line earns a ticket of that color for each section of the line that passes through that track tile. Actions and How to Play Placing Track Tiles (Base Game) Track tiles can connect to any line. A tile must always be placed on a free space. It must be placed adjacent (side-by-side) to at least one tile already on the game board or on a space on the edge of the game board. All tiles must have the same orientation, meaning the arrows on the tiles must point in the same direction as those on the game board. A tile cannot be placed in such a way that a Metro line connects its starting station with a destination station by passing through only one tile. Exception: There is no other way to place the tile. Note: A player who has connected all their lines to destination stations still continues placing tiles. Scoring Metro Lines (Base Game) A score occurs as soon as a Metro line connects to a destination station. When scoring a line, only the player whose station that line started from earns points from ## FAQ ### How many players can play? 2 to 4 players. ### How long does a game take? 30 to 45 minutes. ### Is the game complex? Yes, but the mechanics are simple and the learning curve is short. ### What are the main differences between City Edition and the base Metro? City Edition includes six city expansions, each with its own route and station tiles, while the base does not feature those specific cities. ### Do I need to buy expansions separately? No, City Edition already comes with the six city expansions; the other three expansions from the deluxe box are not included. ### Is there a digital version? Yes, there is a TableTop Simulator mod available.