Alien City is an opaque game for the Piecepack and some Looney Pyramids, though either can be substituted for relatively easily. Players vie to claim three of the most productive towers along a “growing” street network that is actually becoming more restrictive as the game proceeds.

Note that you may not claim your third tower on your last turn.

• Designer: Michael Schoessow
• Coder: Aaron Dalton (Perlkönig)

Links:

• Alien City at Abstract Play, listing games, players, and challenges
• Alien City at the Piecepack wiki
• Alien City at the Looney Pyramids wiki
• Alien City at BoardGameGeek

Rules:

• Alien City rules version 2.2 (PDF) at the Piecepack wiki
• Alien City rules version 1.2 (PDF) at the old Piecepack site
• Changes between 1.2 and 2.2

Alien City is a combination Piecepack/Icehouse game about building a city on a newly colonized world. Four guilds compete for customers, and the player has to predict which bets are going to pay off. Each turn, the player places either a tower or dome and may optionally claim a tower they think is going to score big when the game ends. Play continues until no more construction is possible. Scores are based on the relative positions of buildings to claimed towers.

Inventor: Michael Schoessow

See Looney Labs: Alien City.

When both players pass in a row, or both stashes are empty, score all remaining claims. Highest total wins; equal totals are a draw.

If the last real construction included a claim, that last claim is cancelled before scoring.

For each claimed tower you still hold:

• Count customer buildings of a different guild within real distance 2 of that tower (not counting the tower itself).
• Find the nearest other building of the same piece as the claimed tower. Multiply customers by that distance.

Then add green-tower bonuses for each unclaimed green tower: if the unique closest red tower is one you claimed, add 10 − 2 × distance (only if positive); likewise for the unique closest blue tower you claimed.

A randomised piecepack-style city of coloured tiles (red, blue, green, black) with suit markers. Each player has a stash of towers and domes in those colours. The road network of empty lots must stay connected as you build.

On your turn, place one structure from your stash onto a legal lot, then you may claim one unclaimed tower if you have claimed fewer than three towers so far.

• Towers may go on tiles of their own colour, on black tiles, or on tiles that already contain two legally placed structures.
• Domes may go only on tiles of the same colour, unless every such placement would break the road network.
• You may not isolate a building from the roads.
• You may not build on the lot that holds the suit icon until all other legal lots on that tile are occupied.

If you have no legal placement, you pass. You may not pass while a legal construction exists.

No engine variants.

• Current engine version: 20230531 (2023-05-31). On Abstract Play since 2023-06-22.

• The starting tile layout is randomised each game.

• https://www.looneylabs.com/content/alien-city
• https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/20623/alien-city