When Mandoo Games (game publisher from Korea) presented Manhattan to me for the first time at the Nuremberg Toy Fair, I knew very little of the game. Manhattan had been out of print for more than a decade, which made it a collector’s item that gamers would be proud to bring to the table from time to time. So while friends of mine cherished their copy, I had yet to lay a single building down.

I was very excited at the prospects of having this revision as a FoxMind title for North America. For one, Andreas Seyfarth is an accomplished game designer (Puerto Rico, Thurn & Taxis), and secondly, the level of creativity Mandoo Games put to freshen the look of the game was quite impressive. The new blocks that are used to construct your own empire of skyscrapers offer a colorful and bright set up compared to the greyish version that preceded it.

At the time when I needed to decide to jump onboard this project, I had a difficult task finding a copy of the game to play! My fellow gamers live too far away to lend me their copy and stores no longer carried this out-of-print item. Fortunately, The Randolph, a great board game café in the Montreal area, had a dilapidated, dust-trodden version dating back 20 years! I borrowed their copy, took it to the office, and the FoxMind team sat down and put the game to the test!

Can a 1994 Spiel de Jahres winner withstand the test of time? So many good titles have come out since then and might have replaced it. 1994 is the year before Settlers of Catan hit the shelves, which makes Manhattan an ancient relic in the world of board games. For me, 1994 is when I discovered Labyrinth from Ravensburger as a fourth grader (my favorite board game at the time).

The first round of Manhattan may seem more random than you might think. Players grab a set of building blocks, place them on the board, and gain points depending on the areas they control. But when the board gets more crowded, that’s where the strategy kicks in and offers the fun worthy of a Spiel de Jahres winner. Choosing the right blocks and where to place them involves a high level of strategy. Will you take control of an opponent’s building, power up your skyscrapers making them out of reach, or just expand your territory on new building grounds?

You will get the best out of Manhattan playing with four people; every player will feel involved as each block placement will change the outcome of the game. Scoring will always be close and it won’t be until players are placing their last buildings of the round that you’ll figure out who might win. Great for families and seasoned-gamers, Manhattan is also good for younger players who want a solid introduction to the hobby.

As my colleagues and I finished playing our first full game, the last thing we had on our mind was the outdated box and the grey building blocks. We were all willing to play another game and were thrilled at having the chance to be part of this new project. This new edition proves that some games age gracefully and that families and friends will always bond by gathering around a playing table!

~ A word from game designer Andreas Seyfarth ~

Don’t tell the stories, play them! That is – reduced to one quote – what encouraged me to design games. And I was lucky enough being married to my supporting wife, Karen, and meeting the right people in the little gaming industry. So I was able to start with games like Zorro and succeed with Manhattan, Thurn & Taxis, and Puerto Rico. Can you imagine playing all the games published in a single year? This was possible in the eighties. Today, you have to make a lot more decisions to decide what to play. So, I’ve got a little advice for you: Go for a strong story…

JC Dorais is the Social Media Manager at FoxMind Games in Montreal. An avid gamer, he has also worked for Asmodee USA and has been passionate about the board game industry since he was a child. His second home is on Instagram, where you can get a glimpse of exclusive FoxMind content at @foxmindgames.