Blue Moon City Review: Lead the Reconstruction of this Mythical City

In the first case, it happens every two to three years. Despite their name, these moons don't turn blue; they look like a regular full moon.

In the second case, the phenomenon is called "seasonal blue moon".

The moon can also turn blue because of big forest fires that send an enormous amount of dust and smoke into the atmosphere, which in turn alter the color of the light reflected by the moon. Volcanic eruptions can also alter the color of the moon.

Now that we know what Blue Moon means, let's explore Blue Moon City*!

Blue Moon City is a game best played with 2 to 4 players, for ages 10 and up, created by one of my favorite designers, Reiner Knizia. It was illustrated by Daren Bader, Scott Fischer, Lars Grant-West, Todd Lockwood, John Matson, James Nelson, Michael Phillippi, and Franz Vohwinkel.

Blue Moon City was released in 2006 by CMON (Coll Mini Or Not). In 2019, it was released worldwide. Its basic mechanics are: hand management, set collection, area majority/influence, modular board, grid and point movement, and pawn placement.

Blue Moon City won the Meeples' Choice Award when it was released and was also nominated for many other prizes, including Spiel des Jahres, the board game "Oscars".

Let's dive right in!

A time of hope is on the horizon. While Blue Moon City lies in ruins, its former glory can still be glimpsed amidst the rubble.

Its peoples, previously divided by conflict, today come together to rebuild the city. Their task is clear: the city must be rebuilt and its magnificence, the sacred Obelisk, must be restored.

To complete this task, we'll have the help of the three great Elemental Dragons, which will reunite the Holy Crystal of Psi. Who'll contribute the most in this journey?

This is the setting of Blue Moon City.

In this game, you'll lead the reconstruction of Blue Moon City to restore its sacred Obelisk. You'll have the help of 8 peoples and 3 powerful Dragons, each in their own way. The fact is: rebuilding Blue Moon City is essential to restore the sacred Obelisk through offerings, and, obviously, whoever contributes the most will get more Crystals and be able to offer even bigger rewards.

You'll start the game with a limited number of People cards, and their respective miniatures will be gathered in Blue Moon's courtyard, right in front of the sacred Obelisk. The Dragons will be overseeing the town from the outside, just waiting for you to call them to help.

A turn in this game is quite simple. It includes 3 phases:

In Phase 1, Movement, you may move your miniature orthogonally up to 2 spaces along adjacent Building tiles. That's when you'll use your People cards, which give you powers. Use them at will!

These cards bring you many advantages. Here are a few of them:

Here's a curious detail about your Dragons: they're the ancient protectors of Blue Moon. When you activate them, they give you 1 Golden Scale as a token of their appreciation. You can exchange these golden scales later on for Crystals, which you can then offer to the sacred Obelisk. Now everything makes sense, doesn't it?

In Phase 2, Contribution, you have two options:

In this Phase, some other cards also give you bonuses:

There are two important details about the bonuses you get from rebuilding the city:

Finally, Phase 3, the Reset phase, is when we'll get more People cards. You may discard up to 2 People cards from your hand and draw, from your deck, draw 2 cards more than the number of cards you discarded. If you didn't discard any cards, you'll still draw 2 cards from your deck.

After that, you pass your turn to the player on your left. That's basically a turn in Blue Moon City!

A player wins the game immediately as soon as they make a certain number of offerings to the Obelisk:

If all Blue Moon Buildings are rebuilt and no player makes the necessary number of offerings, the game carries on until all players make as many offerings as they can. Then, the player who has made the most Offerings to the Obelisk wins.

If there is a tie, the player who has the most remaining Crystals wins. If there is still a tie, the players share the victory.

Blue Moon City is clearly a strategy game, but it is also a race. You'll need a strategy to use your People cards at the right times, decide what to rebuild, and know when you should make an offering to the Obelisk.

Invest in People cards because they speed up the game and let you contribute more when you rebuild the city. Consequently, you'll get more benefits and bonuses. Always try to be the player that most contributes because this will give you, besides the Building bonus, the Majority bonus. That makes a huge difference, trust me!

I'd like to highlight a few types of cards:

Trying to rebuild something on your own, without anyone's help, is definitely valuable, particularly if you want to get all the bonuses by yourself. But that's not easy, so, accept help but make sure you get your share from that partnership.

The "race" part of this game lies on the offerings you make. Here's my best advice: make an offering as soon as possible. You'll need more Crystals to make offerings as you make them, so, the sooner you make them, the better.

However, keep in mind you can only make one offering to the Obelisk per turn, so the cards that let you make more than one offering per turn are really helpful. To do this, you'll need more Crystals, which takes time. Be careful when you try to save your Crystals to make 2 offerings at once because the other players might just make their offerings before you do, and then you'll have to spend even more Crystals. Nailing the timing of your offerings is crucial!

Follow these tips, help rebuild the city, make more offerings to the sacred Obelisk, and win Blue Moon City!

Check out this Unboxing:

Learn the rules:

Watch some gameplay:

If you're looking for a game that encourages you to work on your management skills, strategies, and why not, the right time to do your tasks, Blue Moon City is the game for you!

This game relies completely on strategy, management, and the perfect timing. It remains, however, incredibly light and easy to learn. You can also play it, regardless of which language you speak, so you won't even need to read anything. It is truly iconic.

Managing your People cards, knowing exactly what each one does and what is the best time to use them makes all the difference in the world, and the game encourages you to keep an eye on that at all times. This activity, besides highly strategic, encourages you to work on your attention span, so it is an excellent exercise!

Throughout the game, you'll have to make these and many other strategic decisions: you'll have to pick which location you want to rebuild, if you'll do this on your own or with the help of other players, see which place gives you the best bonus, and much more.

The Obelisk might be the most stressful part of the game because it decides when it ends and how much, as well as whether the game will get harder. This means you'll need to offer more Crystals as the game goes on, so knowing when to make an offering is crucial. You'll feel tense in a good way throughout the entire game, all while you play and keep an eye on the Obelisk.

Blue Moon City is a lesson in strategy and management!

I highly recommend Blue Moon City for your collection!!