Arcane Wonders - "Foundations of Metropolis"

Photo above is property of Arcane Wonders

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Company: Arcane Wonders

Game: Foundations of Metropolis

Country: USA 🇺🇸

Language: English

Type of Game: Tabletop Game (Board Game) 📬

Genre: Tile Laying, Push Your Luck, Resource Planning

Date Played: June 1, 2025

Difficulty (based on 3 players): 6/10

Size of Team: 1 to 4 ppl (Ages 14+)

Time: Unlimited (Approximately 60 Mins.)

Price: $56.81 USD

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Foundations of Metropolis is a strategic city-building game where players take on the roles of visionary developers shaping the future skyline of a growing city. As land becomes scarce and opportunity rises, you’ll acquire prime lots, construct residential and commercial buildings, and carefully position civic structures to boost your city's prestige. Set in a modern urban landscape, this game challenges players to balance economy, expansion, and planning; laying the groundwork for what will one day become a thriving empire.

Part of the Dice Tower Essentials line curated by Tom Vasel, Foundations of Metropolis is the elegant predecessor to the acclaimed Foundations of Rome, offering a more compact and accessible experience while preserving the core appeal of strategic tile placement and spatial competition.

Photos above are property of ESCAPETHEROOMers

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The goal of the game is to earn the most prestige over three rounds by acquiring plots, constructing buildings, and strategically placing them to maximize income and adjacency bonuses. At the start of each round, every player draws a hidden number card between 1 and 100.

Each round follows three phases and finishes once all the plot cards have been acquired:

1. Buy Plots

   1. On your turn, choose one lot card from the market and place a marker on the matching coordinates on the city grid.

      1. The lot you choose determines where you can build.

2. Construct a Building

   1. You may build a structure by replacing your marked lots with a polyomino building tile that exactly matches those spaces.

      1. Buildings come in different types: Residential, Commercial, and Civic.

3. Gain Income

   1. Once per round, you may take an income action, collecting coins based on the types and number of buildings you've already constructed.

Prestige is gained at the end of each round based on your buildings and how they’re positioned. Civic buildings grant bonus prestige to adjacent buildings, yours and your opponents'! Final prestige is tallied after three rounds; the player with the most wins.

Photos above are property of ESCAPETHEROOMers

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In short, Foundations of Metropolis challenges you to make the most of limited space and scarce resources, balancing short-term gains with long-term positioning in a growing, contested city.

• Spatial Efficiency

  • You must carefully select and combine lot cards to form shapes that match the building tiles in your supply. Wasted space or awkward positioning can leave you unable to build efficiently, or block future opportunities.

• Optimal Adjacency

  • Civic buildings score for adjacent structures, yours and your opponents’, so choosing where and when to place them becomes a key tactical puzzle. You’re often helping others while helping yourself.

• Timing vs. Income

  • Deciding when to take income and what to build can create tension: should you build early to grab a desirable lot, or wait to generate more income that could help you get a more expensive lot later?

• Shared Grid Competition

  • Since everyone is building on the same board, there’s constant spatial pressure. The puzzle isn’t just your plan; it’s how your opponents' moves interfere with it.

Photos above are property of ESCAPETHEROOMers

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If you’ve admired the grandeur of "Foundations of Rome" but were deterred by its size or price point, "Foundations of Metropolis" delivers much of the same satisfying city-building experience—only in a sleeker, more accessible format. With a 60-minute playtime, intuitive structure, and thoughtful production, this is a gateway game that manages to feel strategic without ever becoming overwhelming. It’s a fitting addition to the Dice Tower Essentials line: elegant, teachable, and engaging from the very first turn.

I was genuinely impressed by how quick the game is to teach—on average, it took no more than 10 minutes. Even more notable was how fast it gets to the table, thanks to its clever storage and layout design. It’s one of those rare games that balances smooth onboarding with meaningful gameplay.

One of my favorite aspects was the subtle "push-your-luck" tension that emerges during lot acquisition. You’re often eyeing a specific card, hoping no one else takes it before your turn—maybe even daring to wait in hopes the price drops. But more often than not, someone else will snatch it just before you do. That risk-reward dance adds just the right level of suspense to an otherwise clean and calculated game.

I also suspect many players will draw comparisons to games like Chinatown or Waterfall Park, given the shared theme of acquiring plots and populating them with businesses or buildings. And that brings me to the one area I’d love to see expanded in the future: player negotiation. Adding an optional mechanic that allows players to buy, sell, or trade lots would inject an entirely new layer of depth and social interaction. Admittedly, it would likely extend the playtime, but for many groups, that trade-off would be well worth it.

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Disclosure: We thank Arcane Wonders for providing us with samples of the game. Although a complimentary experience was generously provided, it does not impact our opinion on the review whatsoever.

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