Boardgame Bulletin 23-17 – Shaking Up Game Night with Shake That City (AEG, 2023)

Although I am a dyed-in-the-wool Grognard who loves my wargames, I do like “regular” boardgames too. The problem I often have with buying boardgames is that there is no one particular genre that appeals to me which often makes choosing a new game purchase challenging. That said, these days I tend to look for games that are more family-friendly and playable by a wide-range of ages. The latest to enter my collection is Shake That City designed by Mads Floe and Kare Torndahl Kjaer and illustrated by Olga Kim from Alderac Entertainment Group (AEG, 2023). Happily, Shake That City is shaking up game night at the RockyMountainNavy home in a most positive way!

Shaky gimmicks

Shake That City is a tile-placement game, but with a shaken up gimmick…literally! That’s because the game uses a Cube Shaker; a specially designed box to dispense nine colored cubes that will guide the placement of tiles. Every round begins with the active player using the Cube Shaker to dispense nine cubes onto the table in a 3×3 pattern.

The active player chooses one color from the cubes while the other players can choose any other colored cubes. All players then place Building Tiles of their chosen color on their Player Boards matching the pattern and orientation of the color cubes relative to where they sit. This goes on for 15 rounds (with a few late-round rules adjustments) and then the Building Tiles are scored. Since you are building a city, the scoring of the Building Tiles depends on what they are and how they connect:

• Roads (grey) need to connect out of town to a concrete edge.
• Parks (green) are best near Homes but also score next to Factories or Beaches.
• Factories (black) do better next to other Factories but need Roads.
• Shops (blue) are better in the city center but need Roads.
• Homes (red) don’t score well if too crowded together and lose value if near Factories.

Two-and-a-half shakes

Shake That City is actually a very simple game to learn and play. The eight-page rule book technically has only two-and-a-half pages of “rules” with the balance being composed of a cover (one page), components (one page), Cube Shaker assembly guide (one page), game setup (one page), variants (half-page), and scoring summary (one page).

Shaky space

Shake That City will challenge player’s spatial awareness. This is both the strength of the game but also a technical challenge in play. Because the orientation of the boards and cubes in Shake That City is fundamental to play, it is required that the boards and Bonus Point Tiles retain the same orientation for all players. This may require seating adjustments at your gaming table. For example, a two-player game can be played with players sitting across from one another, and a three-player game can use the end of the dining table. However, in the RockyMountainNavy home our dining table with two players on either side of the table is not suitable for Shake That City as the orientation is wrong. Thankfully, the gaming footprint of Shake That City is relatively small so a different gaming table that four can sit around on all sides can be used.

Shaking up game night

When I first read the rules for Shake That City and saw that a game is 15 rounds, I was doubtful that the game could be played in the 20-40 minutes described. In play, however, the RockyMountainNavy clan discovered that the game can indeed be played in less than an hour as long as the active player announces their color choice quickly and the other players place their tiles simultaneously.

In the RockyMountainNavy home, RockyMountainNavy T is by far the most “spatially aware” of the family. Shake That City is quickly becoming his personal favorite as it plays to his personal strength. As for me…well…I hold my own but once again find myself usually outplayed by my spawn. I mean, even on Father’s Day they were relentless and didn’t cut me any slack!

Shake by yourself

If there is one drawback to Shake That City it is that the game is in some ways a multi-player solitaire game. Indeed, the game can actually be played solitaire, but in the multi-player versions one finds the group coming together when the Cube Shaker is used then quickly turning inwards as players individually place their tiles. For players with Analysis Paralysis this might also lead to unwelcome downtime for other players that work more quickly and then watch (impatiently?) while they wait for the AP player to finish. Then again, the rules for tile placement are very simple; the real decision space is picking a color and arranging tiles on your board in accordance with a few rules and an eye to regular and bonus scoring.

Shaky price

I have to say that I was lucky to get Shake That City via a preorder program from AEG. For a mere $29.99 (as compared to the $39.99 retail) I got the core game as well as the Wild Nights expansion and Social Goals add-ons. Wild Nights adds a second Cube Shaker (different color scheme) and “wild” cubes while the Social Goals includes collapsible trays useful for storing tiles on the gaming table during play. Neither is truly necessary for play nor add significantly to the gameplay experience. All that said, even the “full” MSRP of the core Shake That City game is a bargain for the quality game components (and gameplay) in the box.

Shaky judgment

Given the ease of play and relatively quick gameplay, Shake That City has found a place in the RockyMountainNavy Family Game Night rotation. It has also earned a spot as an ideal candidate game for Friends Game Night as the game is easy to teach (and learn). Although I was initially shaky on my decision to buy this game, the RockyMountainNavy clan is now quite happy I did so.

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Feature image courtesy RMN

The opinions and views expressed in this blog are those of the author alone and are presented in a personal capacity. They do not necessarily represent the views of U.S. Navy or any other U.S government Department, Agency, Office, or employer.

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