Designer: Gil Hova (Battle Merchants, The Networks, Wordsy)

Artists: Heiko Günther (Burgle Bros., Can’t Stop, Glory to Rome, The Networks), Kwanchai Moriya (Catacombs Third Edition, Cryptid, Dinosaur Island, Duelosaur Island, The Game, In the Hall of the Mountain King, Prêt-à-Porter, Sidereal Confluence: Remastered Edition)

Publisher:  Formal Ferret Games (High Rise, The Networks, Wordsy)

Genre/Mechanisms: city building, end game bonuses, miniatures, solo/solitaire game, time track

Funding Status: At the time of this posting, High Rise: The UltraPlastic Edition is already fully-funded. Pledges currently total almost 2x the initial funding goal with 2 days left to go on the campaign.

Player Count: 1-4

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: medium-heavy

Risk: medium-low

What It’s About: “You and your opponents are constructing skyscrapers in a somewhat unreputable city. You’ll move around the board on a one-way track, choosing any unoccupied space ahead of you and doing its action, and waiting for everyone to pass you until you take your next action. As you play, you’ll be frequently tempted to enhance your actions, but whenever you do, you will gain Corruption. This can give you an edge over your opponents, and it can also periodically penalize you if you gain too much. You can win games with little Corruption, and you can win games with a lot of Corruption; it all depends on the decisions you make relative to your opponents.”

How It Works: “In High Rise, you are aiming to get the most Victory Points (VP) by constructing the tallest Buildings. The game plays over up to three rounds: 2010, 2020, and 2030. In each round, you’ll move your Mogul around the One-Way Track and take an action at the spot you stop in. The player furthest behind on the One-Way Track will go next. You’ll try to collect Floors and then use these Floors and a high-tech Building material called UltraPlastic to Construct a Building matching the current Blueprints. Constructing Buildings gives you VP. You may supercharge some actions by taking Corruption, which may penalize you at the end of each round and the end of the game. Once you’ve made a full lap around the board, you’ll stop in the Stop Zone. The round ends once everyone has returned there. You’ll score end-of-round bonuses for tallest Buildings in each Neighborhood and across the board. The player with the most VP at the end of 2030 will win the game.”

“Each round, you’ll move your Mogul clockwise around the One-Way Track as far as you like, and take an action at the spot you decide to stop in. Turn order in this game is variable. The player furthest behind on the One-Way Track will be next to go. There are Bonus Spaces on the board that will give you extra items if you jump over them early enough.”

“As you move around the One-Way Track, you’ll try to collect Floors. You’ll collect these Floors in your Construction Yards, and use them to Construct a Building by matching Blueprints. When you Construct, you’ll get a Building Tile with a height equal to the number of Floors you put into the Blueprint, plus possible extra Floors. You add one of your Building Bases and place the Building in one of the five Neighborhoods. You can use a high-tech Building material called UltraPlastic to help you construct. UltraPlastic is a wild resource, and can add extra Floors to your Building if you use it right. Throughout the game, you may supercharge some of your actions by taking Corruption. Corruption will help you during the game, but, if you have too much, may give you penalties at the end of each round and the end of the game. Unlike real life, Corruption in High Rise is meticulously tracked public information and you will be held accountable for each little bit of it.”

“When you move to the Stop Zone, you must stop in the first available Action Space. These spots may allow you to lose Corruption, and will let you Construct a Building. You may not pass the Stop Zone. It is the Stop Zone. The Stop Zone is the only Zone on the board where the indicated actions are optional. You do not have to build, and you may stop on an Action Space that allows for losing Corruption even if you have none. The Action Space you stop on will determine your place in starting turn order for next round. After you stop in the Stop Zone and finish your Turn, wait for everyone else to join you there. Once the last player has moved to the Stop Zone and finished their Turn, the Round is over. Perform Tallest Building Bonus and Upkeep. If this is the end of 2030, proceed to End of Game instead.”

“At the end of each round, the tallest Building in each Neighborhood will score a bonus, and the tallest Building across the whole board will score an additional bonus. Spires and Floors added via Penthouse do count for a Building’s height when determining Tallest Building Bonus. At the end of 2010, the tallest Building in each Neighborhood scores 1 VP, and the tallest Building in the game scores 1 VP. Note that this will only happen in the Full Game. At the end of 2020, the tallest Building in each Neighborhood scores 2 VP, and the second-tallest Building in each Neighborhood scores 1 VP. Then the tallest and second-tallest Buildings in the game score 2 and 1 VP respectively.”

“At the end of 2030, the game is over! Tally endgame VP. First, score Tallest Building Bonus for 2030. The tallest Building in each Neighborhood scores 3 VP, the second-tallest 2 VP, and the third-tallest 1 VP. The tallest, second-tallest, and third-tallest Buildings across the whole game score 3, 2, and 1 VP respectively. Second, score 1 VP per 3 Floors left in your Construction Yards, rounded up. Third, lose VP equal to the value in the space on the Corruption Track you are on. If you are on the start space on the Corruption track, lose zero VP. Additionally and lastly, the player with the most Corruption loses 3 VP, and the player with the second-most Corruption loses 1 VP. Several players may lose VP from being first or second! If all but one player tie for most Corruption, the player with the fewest Corruption still loses 1 VP. The player with the most VP is the winner. If there’s a tie for most VP, the player with the single tallest Building (including spires) is the winner. If the tie persists, look at the second-tallest Buildings of each tied player, and so on.”

Comparisons: There aren’t a ton of games with a Time Track in BGG’s Top 1000 games, so here they all are: Advanced Squad Leader, AuZtralia, Francis Drake, Glen More, Glen More II: Chronicles, Heaven & Ale, Kraftwagen, Nemo’s War, Nova Luna, Patchwork, Thebes, Tide of Iron, Tinner’s Trail, and Tokaido.

What Should I Pledge?:
$5 High-Rise: The Fix Kit: the High-Rise Fix Kit fixes a few errors in the first edition, and this pledge level also includes the Extra Tenants 2021 pack; it does not include the base game or the new, upgraded plastic buildings.
$40 High Rise: The UltraPlastic Module: includes everything in the High-Rise: The Fix Kit pledge level, plus the new, upgraded plastic buildings. Still no base game included at this pledge level.
$65 High Rise base game: includes the High Rise base game (the new edition negates the need for the Fix Kit) plus the Extra Tenants 2021 pack.
$95 High Rise: The Works: includes everything in the High Rise base game pledge level, plus the new, upgraded plastic buildings.

Add-Ons:
$5 Extra Tenants 2020: 5 extra tenants from the original High Rise KS campaign
$10 Fancy Bits: (75) small wooden I-beams and plastic UltraPlastic cylinders to replace the cardboard tokens in the base game
$10 Wooden Bases: to replace the plastic bases in the base game
$10 First Edition Fix Kit + Extra Tenants 2021
$40 Plastic Buildings + First Edition Fix Kit + Extra Tenants 2021
$65 High Rise base game + Extra Tenants 2021
$95 High Rise base game + Plastic Buildings + Extra Tenants 2021
$120 High Rise base game (x2) + Extra Tenants 2021 (x2)
$175 High Rise base game (x2) + Plastic Buildings (x2) + Extra Tenants 2021 (x2)

KS Exclusives
Both Extra Tenants packs and the Fix Kit will not be available at retail.

All-In Total: Assuming you’re okay without the wooden bases, then in the continental U.S., you’re looking at $95 for High Rise: The Works, $10 for the Fancy Bits, $5 to include the Extra Tenants 2020, plus $15 in shipping for a total of $125.

High Rise: The UltraPlastic Edition completes its Kickstarter on Thursday, October 29th and tentatively ships in November 2021.