They remake a game from scratch, and in the same month they expand it

They remade Cities from scratch. And in the same month, they expanded it.

The initial reaction is understandable: Devir remakes Cities from scratch — new box, new rules, called Cities USA — and in the same month launches an expansion for the Cities you already have on your shelf. Is the old one to be discarded? Have they just replaced it? No. They're not burying it: they're splitting it.

To understand why, you need to know what Cities really is. Not a building game: a courtesy trap. Four workers, four rows, only one worker per row — you arrive first where you need to, and necessarily last somewhere else. You don't build a city: you choose the order in which you get to be greedy. Finn and Phil Walker-Harding (yes, the one from Sushi Go!) included eight cities, from Venice to Buenos Aires, and forty minutes. Nothing more: PWH made his career by taking things away.

And this is where it gets strange. In 2026, the same two authors do the opposite of taking away. Twice, in two directions that don't communicate. The plan remains; the branches change.

One adds world. The other adds friction.

First branch: the expansion, City Achievements and Theaters — for Cities, not for USA. On paper, twenty-two new cities (on eleven double-sided tiles, not twenty-two: the difference matters), including Rome and Tokyo, plus theaters. But the content isn't the point. The point is that it gets you going on your own. In the base game, you optimize your board in peace; here a common board puts you in a race. Do you see an opponent aiming for an objective? You steal it, or you change your path. It's the interaction that Cities lacked — and it doesn't add any weight.

Second branch: Cities USA. Here, things seriously change rooms — a standalone game, heavier, and the additions bite. Roads break the city into neighborhoods, and for every dead end, you get a penalty: it's no longer enough to fit tiles together, the city must be drivable. Skyscrapers stop at four floors — but whoever arrives first snatches the penthouse on the fifth, for everyone to see. And something the base game never dreamed of: this one you can also play solo.

The Graft · Special 1 Three doors to the same world. You need one — ignore the other two. the base (8 cities) → +22 cities (expansion) → +weight, +solo (USA)

Because two additions to the same game answer two different hungers, and that's where you get the wrong box. Cities has never been about the names of the cities on the cardboard: it's that courtesy trap. The expansion gives it more faces. USA tightens the screw. That's why they don't replace each other — and why Cities, which Devir sells around the world, is becoming a line instead of just one game.

One door is yours. Ignore the other two.

Do you love Cities as it is, light and fast, and just want more evenings? Expansion: more world, a new race, zero added weight. Do you love it but wish it had more bite? Cities USA: for those who have played it to death and are looking for a real challenge. Don't have anything? Start with the base — or with USA, if you're already experienced. It's not a ladder to climb: there are three entrances to the same block. Choosing the wrong door is the only way to regret it.

And now, three things they don't tell you in the storefront. One: if Cities already bored you when it was light, neither the expansion nor USA will save you — the expansion gives you more of the same, USA gives you the same with more weight. The fundamental loop remains untouched. Two: the expansion doesn't fit into the Cities box without the lid rattling (some have found a way to make it fit). Three: it's just content — if you play few games a year, those twenty-two cities are an extra you won't use.

Note · something to keep an eye on While preparing this piece, we came across a report about the expansion: on the Beijing board, the category "Forbidden City" asks for a three-space area in the text, but the illustration shows two. This could be a typo. We don't know if it affects all copies or if it's a single printing error, and Devir has not yet responded. We mention it for honesty: if you come across it, the discussion is here.

In the end, the question isn't which box. It's what kind of player you are.

There's no right answer. There's your typical evening — and only you know that.