Played cards are placed in columns in front of the respective player, whereby only the top card of each column is active (i.e. buildings in the columns can be built over again). The number of columns is up to the player, but it should be noted that each column contributes to the increase in poverty over the game.

Next to victory points, most of the cards played also have an individual effect, although this is not triggered immediately. Instead, you first build your part of the city as you wish. In later rounds, it makes sense to start by adding new cards to all the columns that have already been activated.

Instead of playing new cards, you can administrate your city, which activates all the cards at the top of each column. Some cards require additional costs for this, either money or the discarding of another card from your hand, but most cards at the start of the game can be activated free of charge. The respective effect is then resolved, resulting in income, reputation, an increase or decrease in poverty and various other effects. Most cards are turned over after their activation, meaning they cannot be activated again and should therefore be built over as fast as possible. At the end of the administration phase, the poverty in your city district is increased by 1 poverty per column of the city and 1 poverty per card in your hand. Of course, poverty is not a desirable goal, whereby it is the comparison with your fellow players that counts. Only if you have more poverty than the other players at the end of the game do you risk losing reputation.

Hand card management and thinking wisely about when an additional column in the city really makes sense is therefore a core element of the game. In the first game, it happens quite often that players build too many columns and then a fierce battle for additional income and poverty reduction begins. A lot of money is required for activation of the cards, especially towards the end of the game. Although loans can be taken, they should soon after be repaid, because at the end of the game each loan means a serious loss of reputation.

Let's take a quick look at the district cards before we come to the conclusion of this review: district cards are roughly twice as large as the city cards and can be purchased form a display of three cards. Unlike the city cards, which are only activated when the city is administered, the district cards have immediate effects that lead to new cards, reputation, income and changes in poverty. In addition, each district is assigned to the northern or southern half of the city and its proximity to the Thames. This assignment in turn has an impact on the effects of some city cards, meaning that a skilful selection is crucial here.