Tabletop Game City of the Great Machine
One player takes on the role of the Machine, whose goal is to fulfill the conditions that advance the pointer on the Great Plan scale. The others become revolutionaries. If they manage to gain enough supporters and raise three revolts before the Machine fulfills the Great Plan, humanity will breathe a sigh of relief.
The city where the events unfold consists of districts that provide players with unique actions. The Great Machine sends servants and mechanical guardians to different districts, trying to guess where the heroes will be and capture them. In this way, it prevents the unrest caused by the revolutionaries from hindering its accumulation of resources and issuing directives — new rules that all the city's inhabitants must follow.
The heroes secretly move through the districts, discovering who lives there and what the local sentiments are, spending resources to gain support, destroying guardians, and instigating revolts. During a revolt, players flip tokens of influential residents in the chosen area and check how many people will join the uprising.
The game scales well. Two or three hero players will need to negotiate their secret moves in the presence of the Great Machine, knowing they are constantly being watched. Two players can clash in a true duel of minds: one becoming the Great Machine and the other leading the rebels. The automa allows for cooperative or solo play for the resistance heroes.
Number of players: 1–4.
Game duration: from 45 to 90 minutes.
