Dale Yu: Review of Minikin City

Posted on October 22, 2026 by Dale Yu

 

 

Minikin City

Minikin City is a strategic game where every card you play has a double meaning. Colors and values give you rewards each round, while icons and effects give you points at the end, but only if you fill the card with Minikins! Reward cards at the center determine the best color for each round. The cards played in that round determine the players’ ranking.

Choose to play a card with a high value in the best color to get the most powerful reward, or play a card with an effect you like… or both! Many effects on the cards and rewards at the center give you Minikins that you can place on your cards. At the end of the game, only the cards that you have filled with the required number of Minikins will activate their scoring effect. Create your cute city in this clever card game!

 

 

To set up, get out the nine reward cards matching the player count, shuffle them and deal them out in a line on the table.  Take the reward tile for the player count and place it on top of the rightmost card in the line so that the hole reveals the color of the card underneath.  The first cards in this row will show the “preferred” suit of each of the 8 rounds in the game as well as the rewards available to the players who play the highest cards in those rounds. Each player takes all the Reward markers in a color.  

Players are dealt a hand of 6 City cards and choose 4 of them to keep for their starting hand.  These City cards may have a number of scoring icons in the upper right corner.  Additionally, they have either a one-time benefit or a conditional scoring effect at the bottom.  In order for the scoring card to be active, the 1-5 Minikin spots above it must be filled with those cute little Minikin figurines by the end of the game.

 

As mentioned earlier, the game is played over 8 rounds. In each round, a display of N+1 cards is dealt out to the table. Players will play a City card from their hand and add it to their scoring tableau in front of them.  If the card has an instant effect on it, it is immediately resolved.

 

Once all players have played a card, they are ranked – cards of the preferred color are best, from highest to lowest number, then cards of other colors from highest to lowest.  Ties broken in favor of the earlier played card.  Players then place one of their markers on the reward card corresponding to their rank – with the strongest card getting the top line of the reward card.  If there are Minikins or Bonus tokens depicted next to the marker, they are gained immediately.  Minikins must be played to open spaces on your cards if possible; otherwise they stay in your supply and then are immediately played once you play a card that can accept them.  VPs and ribbons next to the marker will be counted in the endgame.

Now, new cards are selected from the display in REVERSE rank order of cards played. Thus, the player who played the weakest card will get to choose first from the display.  Repeat this process 8 times, thus using up the 8 cards in the scoring row.  

 

The Endgame tile covers the final card; and all you can see of the color of the card.  Players reveal the four cards in their hand and sum up the ranks of cards in the preferred color seen thru the Endgame tile.  Based on rank, players place their marker onto the Endgame tile and take the associated bonuses.  

The game now moves into scoring – this can be tabulated on the included scoresheet.

  • VPs from Reward Cards and Bonus Tokens
  • VPs from your played cards, but only if the card’s Minikin spots are completely filled with Minikins
  • 1/3/6/10/15/21 VPs for 1/2/3/4/5/6+ Ribbons.

 

The player with the most points wins. Ties broken in favor of the player with the most unused Minikins at the end.

 

 

My thoughts on the game

 

I feel like tableau games (along with trick taking games) have been the most prevalent amongst new releases played here.  This has a lot of feelings similar to Faraway, maybe my favorite game in the genre, with players choosing cards for both their scoring potential as well as how it will affect their card draw for the future.

Here, the scoring seems a bit more straightforward – much harder for people to screw it up.  Sure, you still have to fill each scoring card with Minikins in order for them to be active in the end-game, but everything is out in the open here – and it’s much easier to see what is going to happen.

 

The card play is a bit more interesting as your play also determines where you fall on the Reward card.  This is of supreme importance in this game as the printed rewards are the most reliable way to get Minikins – and you’re going to need Minikins if you plan to activate those scoring conditions you have played.  Of course, everyone can see the rewards ahead of time (as well as the preferred color for them), so this makes card draw order important in earlier rounds.    You can also get minikins from instant effects from some cards; but again, you’ll be more likely to get these cards if you draft earlier in order.

So, one of the keys to the game is figuring out how and when to best play the low numbered cards that you’ll inevitably have in your hand.  There are plenty of benefits to lower numbered cards; they tend to come with more scoring icons on them, and while I haven’t made a spreadsheet to check, I feel like the scoring conditions on them are a bit more rewarding. But, when you play a low card, you’re likely going to be lower again on the draft order, so finding the right time to play a low card is key.

 

The other big lesson that I’ve learned from my early games is to not expect to score many cards.  Remember that you’ll need to have Minikins on cards for them to score, and it’s looking like two to four cards is the average number that I’m able to fill up in a game.  So, don’t be afraid to take the instant action cards and play them – because no matter how attractive the scoring criteria are on your cards, you’re only gonna get to use three or four of them; and thus you might be better off getting instant bonuses from the rest.

 

The game plays lightning fast; and after we took a few games to learn the rules – we’re now routinely finishing in the 15 to 20 minute range.  There is so much to consider with each card play – as you’re considering the effects of the card, the drafting order, the rewards on the card as well as considering the future rounds and their preferred colors. It makes for a really pleasing concentrated game experience, and one that I have loved thus far.  I haven’t even left for Essen yet, and this is already my first sure-fire hit of the show.

 

How do I have the game early? It’s being distributed in the US by Capstone Games, and I got a sneak preview of it at their Capcon2026 event.  You can preorder this game, and a number of other new Spiel releases at: https://capstone-games.com/collections/all?sort_by=created-descending&filter.v.price.gte=0&filter.v.price.lte=1200.00&filter.v.price.gte=0&filter.v.price.lte=1200

 


Ratings from the Opinionated Gamers

  • I love it!  Dale Y
  • I like it.
  • Neutral.
  • Not for me…

 

 

 

 

 

About Dale Yu

Dale Yu is the Editor of the Opinionated Gamers. He can occasionally be found working as a volunteer administrator for BoardGameGeek, and he previously wrote for BoardGame News.
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