Being a city planner is a hard job, but someone has to do it. Today we will be seeing what it looks like to take on that role and build the best world that you can. Planners who succeed at this endeavor will rise to the top and claim victory!
Zoned Out is a game designed by Keith Rentz and published by Grey Fox Games. Art is by Jake Blanchard. The game plays 2-4 players.
Overview
In Zoned Out, players take on the role of a City Planner trying to expand their metropolis with new areas called zones. Here players move their planners around trying to develop and control the zones while adding buildings and floors to skyscrapers. The player that manages to collect the most Victory Points will be the winner!
Gameplay
Each player starts with a number of City cards in their hand and then the rest are placed cafe down to form a deck. Each player will begin with a certain amount of building pieces based on player count. The top four cards will be drawn to form the 2×2 starting area with he Downtown placed in the center. Each player also begin with a secret objective card.
Each player begins with a placement of their City Planner and then the game begins. Play moves over a series of rounds for each player’s turns. The turn structure is:
1-Redraw
2-Chose a Card to Play
3-Move Your Planner
4-Develop your Zone
5-Draw a Card
In Redraw, players may chose to discard and redraw any amount of cards in their hand. Doing so will result in a Redraw token being added to their supply. These are negative points at the end.
Next players chose a card to play from their hand. Connecting Zoned block that are identical links them together, and each card may be placed anywhere as long as it follows the rules. It must cover at least one block and rezone it but they cannot be part of another players occupied Zone.
Third players must move their Planner to the newly placed card to occupy one of the blocks on it. If it is a new zone, it is time to develop it next. If it is a zone you are already in, you move directly to the last phase and draw a card.
To develop a zone, you score points based on the size of the zone and then place your building pieces on it. You stack pieces based on the density of the zone. Zones are scored based on the parks/government buildings in it and you subtract points for parking lots and abandoned buildings adjacent to the zone.
When you develop a zone, place one of your building pieces on the section of the Downtown card that exists in the same quadrant. Each stack is a skyscraper that will be bonus points at the end of the game.
Finally in the last phase of a turn you draw a card to make sure your hand is always at three cards.
The game ends when any one player has player their last building piece or when any player cannot draw a card from the draw deck to fill their hand to 3 cards. Each other player takes a final turn and then you proceed to final scoring.
Each player earns victory points according to the revealed goal cards, and then each player scores points for everyones secret goal cards. Redraw tokens are subtracted from the player’s total points and the Skyscrapers also score at the end based on the number of floors a player has on them. Most victory points at the end wins the game!
Impressions
Zoned Out really pops off of your table when you get it going. The artwork is vibrant and colorful, and as you build your cards to play to build up the individual zones, this game gets really pretty on the table quickly. I also really like the building tile pieces, the stacking chunks floors are nice and stack up well as you progress those big skyscrapers in the corners.
In a world of city building games, this one is similar to some of what we have seen in the past but still plays really well for ease of entry. The area control aspect is fun and gives a little different approach then most of the area control games I have played in the past. I like the building and rebuilding of the city as you attempt to rezone areas. This is especially fun to go in and foil someone’s plans for how they want their city to go.
The game is an easy entry game and not one I would except that younger or newer players would struggle with. It is pretty easy to understand once you play a few turns of the game and start to see how the cards create these zones. I had a variety of different people playing and they all enjoyed the challenge of it all. My wife and I really had fun with the back and forth as the zones grew and we jockeyed for position in the middle with the tower.
Overall I would recommend Zoned Out to fans of area control who are looking for a fun, vibrant game to get for their next game night. It takes a fun approach to the genre and really gives you a lot of variety in the way this game can be played out and explored on your table. Give Zoned Out a spin and see if you can rise to the occasion!
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