Visible Hand Games

Additional GenCon sessions of City Hall

Mon, 13 Aug 2012 21:01:00 EDT

At the request of the First Exposure Playtest Hall organizers, an additional session at 9am Thursday has been added. Also, there is a special session Thursday at 2pm with one slot left open. If you are interested, please email us at vhg@visiblehandgames.com

City Hall demos at GenCon

Mon, 13 Aug 2012 01:01:00 EDT

City Hall demos at GenCon

2012-08-13

City Hall will be available to play at GenCon in several ways. First, it will be part of the First Exposure Playtest Hall.

Thursday (8/16) - 8pm
Friday (8/17) - 2pm
Friday (8/17) - 8pm
Saturday (8/18) - 11am
Saturday (8/18) - 4pm

It will also be available at unscheduled times at the Game Salute booth as part of the Unpub program.

Finally, if you would like to schedule another time for you to try out City Hall, please contact us at vhg@visiblehandgames.com

City Hall demos at WBC

Mon, 16 Jul 2012 00:01:00 EDT

City Hall demos at WBC

2012-07-16

Following a successful lauch at DexCon, the next stop on the City Hall tour will be at the World Boardgaming Championships. Visible Hand Games will have a demo table set up for Wednesday through Saturday. We will be located in the open gaming hall. Come by and check out the game.

If you cannot attend WBC, make sure to sign up for our newsletter (right side of the page) to keep informed about other stops on the City Hall tour.

City Hall's entry on BoardGameGeek

City Hall's official page

City Hall Unveiled at DexCon

Mon, 2 Jul 2012 00:01:00 EDT

City Hall Unveiled at DexCon

2012-07-02

City Hall will be officially unveiled at DexCon from July 4th through 8th. From the game's entry on Board Game Geek:

City Hall sees players competing to become Mayor of New York City. They do this by attempting to be the most successful at both bringing people into the city as well as campaigning for the citizens' approval. Whoever best balances these two goals will win the election.

There are seven offices within City Hall. These offices deal with a different aspect of building the city or campaigning, such as the Tax Assessor, Surveyor, or Zoning Board. In a round, each player will get to activate one of these offices. However, just because you activate an office doesn't mean you will get to use it. The other players will have an opportunity to use their influence to steal control of the office away from you. Keeping it will require countering with your own influence. However, you can instead let another player control that office this round and add their influence to your own, giving you a leg up on controlling things later on.

In using these offices, players will buy land and build properties to create attractive neighborhoods which will bring the most people into the city – or they might place a factory next to an opponent's housing complex to drive people out. They will also tax their constituents to raise funds (with the option of sacrificing popularity to tax at higher rates), buy and sell influence to the Lobbyist, and campaign to increase their approval level.

At the end of the game, the citizens of the city will vote based on which player brought them in and that player's approval level. Special interest groups will also collect votes for players based on certain goals, such as Wall Street backing the player with the most money. Whichever player has the most votes on election day will become Mayor of New York and appoint his or her opponents to the Sanitation Department.

Visible Hand Games will have a demo table where players can learn about the game. In addition, the following full sessions of the game can be found on the DexCon official schedule.

Saturday - 8pm (B0873)
Sunday - 12pm (B0977)

If you would like to play the game outside of the two scheduled sessions, please come to the demo table to request a specific time to try the game and we will try to arrange opponents for you.

On a personal note, as the designer of City Hall, I am excited to finally be able to bring to you a game that I am unreservedly proud of. DexCon is shaping up to be quite an event and I would like to thank the convention organizers for welcoming us as we begin this game's long summer tour. I hope that those who get a change to try the game enjoy it as much as I do.
- Michael R. Keller

City Hall Announced

Mon, 18 Jun 2012 06:00:00 EDT

Official Press Release Below:

City Hall Announced

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
2012-06-18

Visible Hand Games announces that it will be publishing City Hall, a city-building and role-selection game by Michael R. Keller.

City Hall is a game for two to four players that lasts 90 minutes. City Hall places players in the role of politicians in early-20th-century New York City. In preparation for the upcoming Mayoral election, players will compete to both build up the city to attract residents and increase their own popularity. Whoever best balances these two goals will with the election. Those who don't will become the new Sanitation Commissioner.

In preparation for its fall crowdfunding drive, City Hall will be touring the summer convention circuit. Its stops will include a debut at DexCon in New Jersey, GenCon in Indiana, and BGG Con in Texas.

For more information on this game, visit Visible Hand Games and sign up for its newsletter.

About Visible Hand Games:
Visible Hand Games is a design studio and publisher of board and card games based in Long Island City, NY. Founded in 2010 by Michael R. Keller, City Hall will be its first release.