In the 16th century, a small fishing village was founded in northern Germany, which initially did not pose a threat to its old neighbour Hamburg. As Altona grew rapidly, a great rivalry arose, with the two cities constantly trying to outdo each other. Take on your opponent in an exciting city battle.

Try to achieve an immediate victory, but beware, there are many ways to achieve it. The key to success lies in the art of deception and the ability to estimate your opponent's intentions.

Are you often with two people and are you looking for a game in which tension and suspicion are central? And do you like to think carefully about your moves? Stedenstrijd offers all of that. The game is suitable for opportunists, who go for the immediate victory or for long-term players, who try to have the highest score at the end of the game.

In City Battle, you and your rival take turns. When it's your turn, you move the ink pot forward clockwise along the ink fields of the game board.

Depending on the ink field you end up on, you perform certain actions. If a player moves the ink pot past the bell, the game is interrupted and a low season occurs. The interrupted player then continues their turn.

The game ends after the off-season in which at least 1 of the conditions for the end of the game is met (at the latest after the 7th off-season). The player with the most stars wins the game in that case.

However, the game usually ends before that point as a result of a player having an immediate victory. This can happen in 4 ways: the player has 3 more ship cards than his rival, the player wins his 3rd lawsuit card, the player has all 4 treaty cards, or the prestige stone reaches the player's city name at the end of the prestige track.