Project Skyline

The skyscrapers of New York City and Tokyo soar high into the sky. An impressive skyline characterizes both cities, whose real estate markets have always been fiercely competitive. The buildings keep growing taller and taller, their value often determined by their proximity to central landmarks. This is also the case in the innovative deck-building game “Project Skyline” from the Viennese game publisher Piatnik, which features a strategic competition centred on building skyscrapers and developing attractive neighbourhoods on a large game board.

In “Project Skyline,” designed by Florian Maas, players who build smartly are always a step ahead of the competition—and often even a floor ahead. Floor by floor, players shape the city and can also make use of existing buildings. But true pros know: it’s not just the height of the buildings that matters, but also their location. In “Project Skyline,” it’s therefore advisable to keep an eye on the surroundings while constructing buildings and, when developing neighbourhoods, to pay attention to where residential, commercial, industrial, and recreational areas are located. A direct connection to central landmarks or well-known monuments usually proves to be particularly lucrative. Monitoring the competition is therefore part of daily business, because in these mega-cities, everyone is striving to make the most money.

This is also the goal of the game, where strategic planning and quick reactions help players achieve continuous improvement of their own card deck (deck-building). At the start of each turn, players can purchase new cards or upgrade cards in their hand, with the aim of using their effects as profitably as possible for building or earning money—and, ideally, triggering a scoring event.

The rules and glossary explaining the various card functions are easy to understand, allowing ambitious builders to quickly tackle new projects and bring their construction plans to life. After about an hour of play, the two to four construction-savvy players (ages 12 and up) tally their accumulated money, and it becomes clear who has most skilfully outpaced the up-and-coming competition.

“Project Skyline” expands the new “Strategy Games” category in the Piatnik portfolio with more complex game worlds for young adults and frequent players. The metropolitan setting offers an innovative combination of deck-building and three-dimensional city-building that never loses its appeal, even after repeated plays: This is due not only to the high-quality production of the game components and the appealing illustrations by Lars Besten, but also—and in particular—to the countless card combinations that constantly present new challenges to the players. The rules are slightly modified for two-player games and, in certain details, also for scoring in the two metropolises on the double-sided game board. This allows each new game to unfold its own unique allure, but sky-high scores are possible in all variations.

A video about “Project Skyline” is available on the “Piatnik Spiele” YouTube channel at: https://youtu.be/WNrkhMByyNo