Cape May Strategy Board Game

About this product

Build a seaside legacy, one street at a time.

A strategic city-building game of property, income and prestige.

Develop historic Cape May across four seasons, balancing property, movement, income and personal goals to earn the most prestige.

Product Description

Step into historic Cape May, New Jersey, and shape the seaside town as an ambitious entrepreneur. Across four seasons, move through the city, develop properties and build your wealth as you work towards becoming Cape May’s most successful developer.

Build cottages and develop them into Victorian homes before upgrading them into historic landmarks. Establish shops, grow them into profitable businesses and carefully plan your movement around the city. Along the way, historical events can change your plans, while activity cards, bonus goals and birdwatching offer new opportunities to earn prestige.

After twelve rounds, success comes down to how well you have balanced development, income, movement and your own personal goals. Build wisely, choose your locations carefully and leave your mark on Cape May.

Rulebook: View the Cape May Rules (PDF)

Why You’ll Love It

• Build a seaside town: Develop cottages, Victorian homes, landmarks, shops and businesses across Cape May.
• Meaningful strategic choices: Balance movement, property development, income and personal goals throughout the game.
• Compete for valuable areas: Building majorities across Cape May's different zones contribute to final scoring.
• Historical events shake things up: Event cards are inspired by events from Cape May's 19th- and 20th-century history.
• Several ways to earn prestige: Score through buildings, majorities, upgrade cards, bird collections and bonus goals.
• Birdwatching has a purpose: Collect bird tokens while exploring the city and turn your collections into additional prestige.
• Dedicated solo play: Take on the automated opponent Ava when playing on your own.

Quick Details

• Publisher: Thunderworks Games
• Product type: Strategy board game
• Players: 1–4
• Game length: 12 rounds across four seasons
• Designer: Eric Mosso
• Solo Game Design: Scott Bogen
• Illustration: Michael Menzel
• Graphic Design: Stephen Kerr
• Gameplay: City building, area majority and set collection
• Setting: Cape May, New Jersey

Good to Know

• Play takes place across four seasons, with three rounds in each season.
• Players receive income at the end of spring, summer and fall.
• Residential properties can progress from Cottages → Victorians → Landmarks.
• Commercial properties can progress from Shops → Businesses.
• The game includes a dedicated solo mode against an automated opponent named Ava, with Tourist, Citizen, Pioneer and Founder difficulty levels.
• Final prestige can come from Victorians, Landmarks, building majorities, Upgrade Cards, bird collections, Bonus Cards and remaining money.

Game Contents

• 1 Double-Sided Game Board
• 4 Player Boards
• 85 Plastic Miniatures: 32 Victorian Miniatures, 32 Business Miniatures, 20 Landmark Bases and 1 Lighthouse Miniature
• 80 Cottage & Shop Tokens: 40 Cottage Tokens and 40 Shop Tokens
• 8 Wood Player Markers: 2 per player
• 60 Bird Tokens
• 60 Money Tokens
• 4 Fire Tokens
• 4 Income Tokens
• 4 Prestige Tokens
• 1 First Player Token
• 1 Bird Bag
• 161 Cards: 28 Movement Cards, 40 Activity Cards, 26 Event Cards, 32 Upgrade Cards, 23 Bonus Cards and 12 Solo Cards
• 1 Rulebook