High Rise is a city-building strategy board game with a bit of corruption from the designer of The Networks, Wordsy, and Bad Medicine. In the game, you and your opponents are constructing skyscrapers in a somewhat reputable city. You’ll move around the board on a one-way track, choosing any unoccupied space ahead of you and doing its action, and waiting for everyone to pass you until you take your next action.
Most of the spaces on the board represent Tenants; various corporations and government entities who would love to move into a notable new building. Each Tenant offers a different power for players who land or build on them. The best part is that the game comes with 45 Tenants, of which you’ll only use 15-20 (depending on player count), so every game you play will require different strategies and plans depending on which Tenants are on the board.
Note: This will be our board layout. It will be fully illustrated; see below for an example of the board’s final art! Final buildings won’t be rectangles; they’ll be die-cut to match the contours of the illustration.
The game offers three modes of play:
- Introductory mode – An abbreviated 2-round (100-minute) version of the game that lets new players jump right into the game.
- Standard mode – An abbreviated 2-round (100-minute) version of the game that lets experienced players each construct a Building on a Tenant during setup, giving everyone a unique path before the first turn.
- Full mode – The full 3-round (150-minute) version of the game. The extended length of the game allows you to pull off strategies that you can’t do in the shorter game. And despite the length, the game remains engaging and riveting throughout.
Heiko Günther, who was responsible for the remarkable look and flow of Formal Ferret’s hit game The Networks, will return as graphic designer for High Rise. We’re also delighted to welcome star illustrator Kwanchai Moriya to the team to handle images for the cover and board.
High Rise has been in heavy development since April 2017. The gameplay is 99% done, with only a few rules tweaks remaining. Its compelling gameplay sticks in players’ brains long after the game ends.
This is an in-progress rendering of the art, without iconography, for the right side of the board, showing 3 out of the 5 neighborhoods.
Kickstarter Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/gilhova/high-rise-0
