Urban planning in the palm of your hand

 Downtown Las Palmas does one of my least favorite things that you can do with an In-Hand game and does it so well that I really quite like it.

At its core, Las Palmas is a dexterity game. You have to hold the cards in your hand to build up a city-scape and try not to drop any. However, also has you make interesting decisions. The fact that there is a tabletop variant that doesn't involve hand cramps that is also a solid play speaks volumes for the game.

The idea behind the game is that you are renovating the downtown of the city of Las Palmas. Each card shows a piece of a cityscape in grayscale tones with scoring elements like palm trees or pedestrians in black silhouette. Since you are building a picture, the art is a crucial part of the game and it really clicks for me.

On the back of each card is a bonus scoring conditions. Getting ten points for having no pedestrians or two points for every dog. That sort of thing. You draw two and keep them, revealed, at the bottom of the deck. You'll be holding all the cards in your hands for the entire game. One hand holds the draw pile, face up so you know what's coming, while the other hand hole the cityscape as you add to it.

The core rule is that all the cards in the cityscape have to be in your hand. Skylines have to lock up and you can't partially cover up features. The game ends when you drop at least one card, run out of cards or decide to stop.

You score points based on your bonuses, number of visible cards and number of visible scoring elements. Your goal is based on the size of your hand.

There is a tabletop variant where you make a playing space that is the length of a card and you mark the edges with the bonus cards. HOWEVER, you get a penalty for any cards leftover if you end before running out of cards.

Downtown Las Palmas is intuitive to understand. Like I said, you're building a picture. It's tought to do well, either playing In Hand or with the tabletop varient. You will always be struggling for space. And, on top of all that, it is pretty. Well, at least I think so. All in all, Downtown Las Palmas is a good experience.

I was able to be part of the play test group for Las Palmas (just for full transparency) at the time, I was quite impressed with the game. The idea of, for all intents and purposes, making a picture by holding cards in your hands, is very simple. I remember a very early gaming experience was learning CheapAss Games' Lightspeed and wondering if it was too simple but also finding it to be so much fun. Simple doesn't mean bad or good. More than anything else, it is a starting point.

Around the time I was first examining Downtown Las Palmas, I also learned the game Ham Fisted, which is another dexterity based on making a grid with various pig products you get at the deli. Ham Fisted isn't bad. It's good enough that I do occasionally play it. However, Las Palmas is significantly better in my arrogant opinion. It offers more variety and deeper decisions. (I also prefer the artwork but that's just me)

Downtown Las Palmas represents a niche within a niche. At the same time, it's also a solid game regardless of that.