Pocket Borough
A small, deliberate town builder. Each turn deals one tile and a little budget. Connect roads to the Town Hall, then place buildings where they work, so that homes, jobs and services line up.
Grow a small town over 24 turns: lay roads, then homes, workshops, utilities and parks where they work.
FreeOn this device
Workshop at row 1, column 1: residents 0 → 0, amenity 0 → 0, service 0/0, budget 30 → 16.
Turn 1: Workshop
Cost 14 · next: Road, Utility, Park
Residents served: 0 (goal 8)
Service units: 0 used of 0
Amenity: 0
Score so far: 30 (residents × 10 + amenity × 3 + budget)
The goal is residents; the score is for comparing your own towns. The reference town for this scenario served 8 residents.
Every tile by row and column
- row 4, column 4: Town Hall
Controls
- Move to a square (tap, or the arrow keys); the line under the map previews exactly what placing this turn's tile there would change.
- Place here (or tap the square again, or press Enter) places it; Undo placement refunds it in full until you press Commit turn.
- If the tile does not help or will not fit, Pass and commit keeps your budget. Service overlay rings working buildings green and idle ones red.
The rules
- Every turn adds one tile and 10 budget; you start with 30. Homes cost 12, workshops 14, parks 8, utilities 18 and roads are free.
- Roads must join the network that starts at the Town Hall, side by side. Homes, workshops and utilities only work beside that network.
- Each working utility serves six buildings, workshops first and then homes, in reading order. Residents served is two per served home, but never more than two per served workshop. Parks add amenity to working homes beside them.
Scoring, saving and limits
Each scenario's goal is a number of residents served by turn 24, proved by a reference town built from the same deck. Your score — residents × 10 + amenity × 3 + budget left — is for comparing your own towns.
Your town, turn and best results are kept on this device only. Download a backup to move them.
A puzzle about adjacency and shared services, not a model of real cities, prices or populations. Nothing grows on its own between turns. Because building costs more than its points under these numbers, scoring by points alone would reward never building — so the goal is residents.
Questions
- Why is my workshop not working?
- It must sit beside a road that connects to the Town Hall. A road touching only at a corner does not count.
- Why are my homes working but nobody lives there?
- Residents also need service from a working utility and jobs from served workshops. The totals panel shows which is short.
- Is the deck random every time?
- No. Each scenario has a fixed, seeded deck, so a replay of the same scenario deals the same tiles.