Cyclian 2022

サイクリアン (Cyclian) is a quick network building game from Japan. Players use just 12 of the 24 tiles in the game, meaning a 3P game each player plays 4 turns, a 4P game they only have 3 turns.

Whilst the graphic design is very abstract, the game is explicitly about operating a rail network. Players start from their own colour stations as connectors, and build and manipulate routes. The tiles show lines and curves, with 2 lines on each side, in one or two colours on each tile. There are stations which show two rail companies crossing.

The goal is to build the longest section on the board that connects two of your stations. But the track does not have to be all your own colour. In the manner of the private rail companies in Japan, trains run on other people's tracks. So the objective is to get the longest run of your colour from into the whole board and out of the board somewhere else, by which two of your stations connect, thus controlling that line. A section scores 1 point for each tile, and also 1 point for each opponent's station on the section.

However, on their turn, a player can turn a placed tile 90 degrees before placing their own tile from their hand. This is not rotating the tile in place. Instead, it spins 90 degrees on one corner, so moving the tile (and possibly connecting tiles) to an adjacent space. In this way, a player's high scoring section can be broken up.

When all the tiles are played, the player controlling the highest scoring section is the winner.

The designer says this is the first game in a 'Minimalian' series, the next being Serealian. user summary