Cities: San Francisco (California

For San Francisco, the first half of the 20th century is an era of dynamic growth and new opportunities. It's also a chance for you — junior urban planner — to take part in a contest for the most amazing reconstruction plan of the city. Sit down with your sketchbook and create a project that will make you stand out from the competition. Design a beautiful city in this game by Reiner Knizia, world-famous board game designer.

In the board game San Francisco, you become an urban planner whose goal is to create the greatest redevelopment plan of the famous city in California. Design districts in each of the five types, racing against all the other planners. Choose the right moment to take on new projects — but be careful, if you take on too many projects it'll be harder to gain more. Earn more prestige by cleverly designing a system of cable car connections. Lay foundations and carefully design the nearby landscape, allowing you to build new skyscrapers. Create a new vision of San Francisco that will gain the most rewards, and win through fame and recognition.

Ticket to Ride: San Francisco features the familiar gameplay from the Ticket to Ride game series — collect cards, claim routes, draw tickets — but on a map of 1960s San Francisco that allows you to complete a game in no more than 15 minutes.

Each player starts with a supply of 20 cable cars, two transportation cards in hand, and one or two destination tickets that show locations in San Francisco. On a turn, you either draw two transportation cards from the deck or the display of five face-up cards (or you take one face-up ferry, which counts as all six colors in the game); or you claim a route on the board by discarding cards that match the color of the route being claimed (with any set of cards allowing you to claim a gray route, although some require ferries); or you draw two destination tickets and keep at least one of them.

When you build a line that connects to a souvenir location, such as Lombard Street, the Embarcadero, or the Golden Gate Bridge, you take a souvenir token from that location.

Players take turns until someone has no more than two cable cars in their supply, then each player takes one final turn, including the player who triggered the end of the game. Players then sum their points, scoring points for (1) the routes that they've claimed during the game, (2) the destination tickets that they've completed (by connecting the two locations on a ticket by a continuous line of their cable cars), and (3) the souvenirs that they've collected, with a full set of seven souvenirs being worth 12 points. You lose points for any uncompleted destination tickets, then whoever has the high score wins!

The world has been hit with mega earthquakes. The worst destruction devastated the San Francisco Bay area. It is a time of rebuilding to restore this area to its former glory.

Aftershock: San Francisco & Venice is an area control game. Players will spend money to acquire cards, which are used to increase population, build bridges, and determine where aftershocks occur. Negotiate with other players to score areas on the placement board.

Spend money wisely to acquire the needed cards that move people back into the demolished areas. Make deals to score points in Aftershock!

—description from the publisher

San Francisco, 1850. The Gold Rush is in full swing. Ships stream steadily in San Francisco Bay, brimming with would-be treasure hunters. Anchored off the coast of the boomtown lies a flotilla of abandoned vessels, their crews long since taken by gold fever. A few business moguls stake their claims on these derelict ships, towing them into the harbor to house their growing empires. Over time, this wharfside district, known as the embarcadero, would become the very heart of business enterprise in the thriving port city.

In Embarcadero, players step into the shoes of these savvy entrepreneurs. Build San Francisco on the hulls of these abandoned vessels and carve out a foothold in the city council. Do you have what it takes to rule the waterfront?

The game takes place over three rounds. In each round, players take turns playing cards and placing tiles to take control of wharves to earn points and influence.

—description from publisher