Overview
At a glance
Is this game right for my group?
ABG editorial scores on a 1–5 scale.
Easier to teach
High replayability
Low interaction
Scales well
Deep strategy
More strategic control
How it plays
How does it play?
Use every card as an action or an activation, connect cities across the Russian Empire, and earn Catherine’s favor over three decades.
Core mechanisms
Key systems that shape the decisions players make.
Multi-Use Cards
Use the same card in different ways, making each play a trade-off.
Network and Route Building
Create connected routes that improve reach, delivery, control, or scoring.
Hand Management
Time and sequence a limited hand of cards to preserve future options.
Set Collection
Gather related items that become more valuable when scored together.
Simultaneous Action Selection
Choose actions secretly or concurrently before revealing them together.
Read the full game description
Catherine: The Cities of the Tsarina is a compact strategy game built around multi-use cards and twelve consequential turns. Each card may be played into an action row for its immediate effect or tucked into an activation row so a later card can trigger its symbols. Players gather goods, recruit people, build residences, establish routes between cities, strengthen military influence, and pursue changing goals across three decades. Because a card committed to one row cannot serve the other, each hand creates a recurring choice between tempo and engine growth. Simultaneous planning keeps turns brisk, while the shared map and limited bonuses create competition without constant attack. The icon-rich system offers several scoring paths—culture, trade, residences, cannons, and city networks—inside a relatively short play time and a fully resettable single-session format.
