Metropolis

Overview

Metropolis is a city-building auction game designed by Sid Sackson, published by Ravensburger in 1984. Players develop city blocks by purchasing building lots and constructing buildings. Each building has a base value that changes based on its location and neighboring buildings within the same block. Players use appraisal cards to secretly evaluate properties and aim to build the most valuable real estate portfolio.

Components

• 1 game board (city grid with blocks and lots)
• Building tiles of various types
• Appraisal cards
• Money tokens
• Player tokens

Setup

1. Place the board in the center of the table.
2. Each player receives starting money and appraisal cards.
3. Shuffle building tiles and prepare the draw pile.
4. The youngest player goes first.

Turn Structure

On your turn:

1. Select a lot: Choose an available building lot from the face-up cards.
2. Auction/Purchase: Buy the lot or auction it among players.
3. Place building: Add a building to your purchased lot on the board.
4. Appraise: Building values change based on surrounding buildings.

Actions

Purchasing Lots

• Select from available lots each turn.
• Pay the listed price or negotiate through auction.

Building

• Place buildings on your lots.
• Building values are affected by the presence or absence of other buildings in the same block.
• Strategic placement can increase your buildings’ values while decreasing opponents’.

Appraisal

• Use appraisal cards to evaluate which buildings and locations will be most valuable.

Scoring / Victory Conditions

At the end of the game, each building’s final value is determined by its location and neighbors. The player with the highest total property value wins.

Special Rules & Edge Cases

• The game is out of print and relatively obscure.
• Building values dynamically change as new buildings are added to blocks.
• Some blocks are more valuable than others based on board positioning.

Player Reference

Turn: Select lot -> Purchase/Auction -> Place building

Scoring: Total property value at game end; values change based on neighboring buildings

Win condition: Highest total property value