Glasgow: Grit and Gold

Something has happened to me since I started playing Glasgow.

I'm feeling an unexpected fondness for the place.

I would have my 'I Love Glasgow' coffee mug by my side as I play the game, preferably on a grey, rainy day in the coziness of my living room.

I would don my cloth cap and daydream of rolling barrels down the Clyde's docks, collecting bricks and steel and gold as I go.

It's weird, because I've never been to Glasgow. And component-wise, this game isn't overtly Glasgow-looking (landmarks are understated and functional.) It's disarmingly modest in that sense, since I'm not getting Glasgow forced down my throat; instead, I'm being warmly invited to enjoy a dose of the city's historical and industrial essence.

And that resonates with me. I'm from Derby, home of Rolls Royce, and as I build Glasgow's gridded metropolis, I can easily picture the drizzle over the tenements and the stained train station façade of my home town. I'm playing Glasgow, but I'm getting echoes of home.

Isn't that what hits here? It's the 'let's all celebrate our home city' vibe. Freed from being tied to the fixed content of a board and cards, Glasgow's loose rondel and grid arrangements can have you floating in the fondness of 'Wherever-you're-from'.

Unless you're from somewhere like Honolulu, of course.

No, I guess if you're looking for tropical escapism or rural idyll, this isn't the game for you. But you probably worked that out by the game title and the box art.

Though it's far from being all drear and blear either. The cartoonish tile artwork paints a cheerily Lite Glasgow, with the gold resource adding a touch of prestige and luster. And there's a breezy feel as city tiles interact smartly with their different angles and handles to produce chunky resources. Some tiles interact lining up and others cluster, while others zing in the corners.

It doesn't take many laps round the rondel before you've got a little engine chugging away to the sound of resource collecting and building activation. All with a fair share of leapfrog-your-rival, since the player turn is determined by who's behind on the rondel. (We play the designer's variant of 'no tile replenishment till both players have passed' - it favors jumping ahead.)

All in all, there's little prefab about this Glasgow. It's plastic and moldable in your hands, with enough gritty jousting in the city grid to generate a healthy tension whilst offering its golden Glaswegian touch.

Feel the need to flee the trappings of boardgame escapism? Want a gritty hometown vibe? Then Glasgow is the game for you.

Find this review in BoardGameGeek.