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Just outside Hamburg, the small fishing village of Altona quickly began to grow. Before long, it wasn’t so small anymore. The two cities, side by side on the map, were soon butting heads in a fierce little rivalry. They built fleets, churned out goods, and even threw lawsuits at each other in a bid to come out on top. In Rival Cities, you take on the role of one of these towns, doing whatever it takes to tip the balance of power in your favour. Whether that means producing cleverly, forming alliances, or being a bit sneaky with legal manoeuvres, it’s all fair game.
👥 2 players, ages 10+
⌛ Playing time: 30-45 minutes
📝 Designer: Andreas Steding
🎨 Artwork: Annika Heller
🏢 Publisher: 999 Games (Dutch version, review copy provided) Originally published by Deep Print Games.
The Duel Begins
In Rival Cities, each of you plays one of the competing towns, Hamburg or Altona. On your turn, the first thing you do is move the ink jar forward along the path around the board. You have to move it at least one space, but you can go as far as you like if you can afford the cost. The first two steps are free. After that, you pay one resource per space for the third and fourth spots, and two resources per space beyond that.
Once you’ve placed the ink jar, you choose one of four options. You can activate the action card next to where you stopped, or you can play a special action card from your hand instead. If you want to do both, you’ll need to spend one letter token. The fourth option is to take a special, darker coloured action card into your hand to play later. Basic cards cannot be picked up, only special ones.
The card you play, either from the board or your hand, determines what you can do. Some actions let you produce or receive goods like beer, cloth, leather or furniture. If you produce, you can also use any of your active factories to gain extra resources. Factories flip to their inactive side when used, but they can be refreshed during the off-season or with certain card effects.
Resources are used in several ways. You can donate them to gain star tokens, build ships, or construct more factories. Donations and ships give you stars, which are important for scoring if the game goes to the final tally.
Other actions allow you to collect letters, earn prestige, or form alliances. Letters are quite flexible. Besides being used to combine actions or steal an alliance from your rival, you can also spend a letter at any time to trade one product in your supply for a different one. Prestige brings you closer to victory and also gives you income in the off-season. If you manage to move the prestige marker all the way to your end of the track, you win immediately.
Alliances offer permanent bonuses while you hold onto them. You can gain one for free from the board, or pay a letter to steal one from your opponent. Just keep in mind that during the off-season, you’ll need to pay upkeep for any alliances you want to keep. Otherwise, they go back to the board.
Then there are the lawsuits. These work a bit differently. You can pay resources to advance a lawsuit marker toward your side. This gives you a bonus, and in some cases, lets you pay again immediately to push even further. When a lawsuit marker reaches a certain point on your side, you can resolve it and claim the card, gaining points and a bonus effect. You can also trigger a court ruling directly by choosing a specific action, or let it happen during the off-season, when the leading player automatically gains the reward for that lawsuit.
Whenever someone moves the ink jar past the bell space, the game pauses and the off-season is carried out. At this point, you decide whether to pay upkeep for your alliances or return them. If you have ships with income abilities, now is the time they pay off. The prestige track also pays out depending on where the marker is. Then, the first lawsuit is either resolved or removed, and a new one is added if there are any left. Special action cards on the board are refreshed, and your factories are reactivated.
How to Win the Duel
There are four ways to win instantly in Rival Cities, so you’ll need to watch your opponent closely. If you collect all four alliances, you win. If you win three lawsuits, that is another immediate victory. Building a ship that gives you a three-ship lead over your rival also ends the game right away. And if the prestige marker reaches your city’s name at the end of the track, the win is yours.
If none of these conditions are met, the game continues until the end of an off-season where at least one key supply is empty. That could mean all ship cards are taken, all lawsuits have been resolved, all factories are built, or all star tokens are gone. When that happens, the game ends and you go to final scoring.
Add up all your star tokens, along with the stars shown on your collected ships, alliances, lawsuits, and your side of the prestige track if the marker is there. The player with the most stars wins. If it is a tie, the player who triggered the off-season wins.
Game Details
Rival Cities is a two-player strategy game from designer Andreas Steding, whose name you might recognise from titles like Hansa Teutonica, Gùgōng, or The Staufer Dynasty. It’s published by Deep Print Games, and we played the Dutch edition, Stedenstrijd, kindly provided by 999 Games. The game is designed for two players, aged 10 and up, and usually wraps up in 30 to 45 minutes, though it might go a bit longer if you’re both trying to win the same lawsuit at the same time while also micromanaging your beer production.
Components, Artwork, and First Impressions
One of the first things that stands out about Rival Cities is the presentation. It has a style that feels both practical and historical, without going over the top. The illustrations by Annika Heller set the mood without making the table feel busy. The map in the centre of the board draws the eye, and the layout makes it easy to follow what’s happening, even from opposite sides of the table.
Everything has its place, and the board is clearly split between Hamburg and Altona. Each side has its own colour palette, with deep reds for Hamburg and cooler blues for Altona. The neutral area in the middle keeps things balanced and makes it clear where shared elements belong. That colour coding actually helps a lot while playing. You always know what’s yours, what’s shared, and what you’re sneakily trying to steal.
Iconography is consistent, clear, and big enough to read without squinting. Every card type has its own look and layout, which makes it easier to understand at a glance whether you’re building ships, pushing lawsuits, or making donations to impress someone.
The quality of the components is also worth mentioning. The cards feel durable, and the wooden resource tokens are not only chunky but also shaped to match their goods, which is both fun and practical. Leather looks like leather, beer looks like beer. The letter tokens are sealed envelopes, which is a charming touch. Factories look like little rooftops and even have printed tools on them to show whether they’re active or not.
A personal favourite: the little cutout boards for lawsuits. The markers slide along in a very satisfying way, giving you a clear sense of progression in your legal campaign. The bell token and ink jar aren’t just pretty extras either. They’re genuinely helpful, marking key phases and actions.
The game also includes storage trays that help keep everything organised. And if you’re like me and always forget one phase or another, you’ll appreciate that the off-season steps are printed directly on the board. No flipping through the rulebook mid-game with your opponent staring at you in suspense.
Rulebook and Learning Curve
The rulebook is laid out logically and does a decent job of walking you through the game. Setup is illustrated, the main phases are explained step by step, and key examples are included to help you get started. The icon overview is especially helpful, since Rival Cities does lean quite a bit on its symbols.
That said, the writing style is fairly dry and to-the-point. There’s not much room for flavour or humour, and it does assume that you’re already familiar with strategy games. One thing that feels like a missed opportunity is the lack of a full turn example. A clear walk-through from start to finish would really help, especially for players who prefer to learn by seeing everything in motion.
Some of the card-specific abilities, like ship powers or alliance bonuses, are tucked away toward the end of the rulebook instead of next to the main rules. It’s not a huge issue, but it does lead to a bit of flipping back and forth during your first couple of games. Once you know the structure, it’s fine, but don’t be surprised if you need to double-check a few things early on.
If you’ve played other two-player strategy games before, you’ll likely pick it up quite quickly. If not, it might help to keep the reference sheet nearby or watch a short how-to-play video before jumping in.
How It Plays
Rival Cities lands somewhere between light and medium strategy. It doesn’t overwhelm with complexity, but there’s more than enough going on to keep both players thinking. It’s clearly built for players who enjoy making meaningful choices every turn and who don’t mind a bit of back-and-forth tension.
At the heart of the game is the ink jar movement system. Choosing how far to move and what action to take forces you to constantly weigh cost versus opportunity. Sometimes you want to leap ahead and grab that perfect card. Other times it’s better to stay close and play it safe, especially if you suspect your opponent is setting up a combo of their own. Timing is everything, and the moment you let your guard down, they’ll probably grab the ship you were just eyeing.
There’s a real sense of tempo in how the game flows. You’re building up your production, forming alliances, and pushing for control in lawsuits, all while trying to stay ahead of the prestige curve. And just when you think you’re safe, your opponent suddenly wins three lawsuits and ends the game early. Not that I’m bitter.
Every action has a purpose, and the ability to combine board and hand actions using letter tokens brings extra flexibility. There’s also a lot of clever little details, like how alliances not only give you bonuses but also need to be maintained, or how you can reactivate used factories at just the right time during the off-season.
Interaction, Tension, and Replayability
This game doesn’t allow for passive play. You’re always keeping an eye on your opponent’s side of the board. Did they just gain a third alliance? Are they about to hit the end of the prestige track? Is that ship going to give them the lead?
Because there are multiple instant win conditions, the game creates this constant low-level tension where both players are circling each other, looking for an opening. It’s not a game of brute force, but one of subtle control. The moment you focus too much on your own plans, you might miss the move that seals your opponent’s victory.
The shared rondel, with its movement costs and limited access to action spaces, adds to this push and pull. You’re not just choosing what you want to do, you’re also thinking about what you want to deny your rival. Sometimes the smartest move isn’t the most efficient one, but the one that throws a wrench into their setup.
The game scales beautifully with repeated plays. Randomised setup of ships, alliances, and lawsuits means you won’t see the same combinations every time. And because it’s quite short, you can easily play a rematch without needing to commit your entire evening.
Final Thoughts
What we really enjoy about Rival Cities is how much of a duel it feels like. Every move matters. Every token spent or held back has consequences. It captures the feeling of a close rivalry, where you’re not just trying to win, but trying not to let the other person run away with it. More than once, we found ourselves second-guessing each other’s every move, blocking cards out of sheer spite, and refusing to let go of an alliance just because it looked too good in our tableau.
It’s a compact game, but don’t let that fool you. There’s plenty to chew on here. The combination of instant win conditions, clever action selection, and ongoing pressure keeps things tight and engaging throughout. It never feels like it drags, and it doesn’t overstay its welcome.
That said, we do wish the rulebook had just a bit more personality and a complete turn example. It would have helped smooth the learning curve for newer players. And while experienced gamers will find plenty to love here, those who prefer more relaxed or engine-driven games might find the constant pressure a bit intense.
If you enjoy games like 7 Wonders Duel, Targi, or Mandala, and you like having to track your opponent just as much as your own progress, this one is definitely worth checking out. It shines most when played with someone who’s just as invested in outwitting you, preferably over a coffee and a bit of good-natured trash talk.
📝 We received the Dutch edition, Stedenstrijd, from 999 Games for this review.
