Medina (board game)

Medina is a tile and piece placement board game designed by Stefan Dorra, published in 2001 by Hans im Gluck and Rio Grande Games for three to four players, with variant rules supporting two or five. Players take the role of rival developers building the desert city of Medina, near the Atlas Mountains, in the year 1822, competing to control the most valuable buildings, walls and domes as the city grows. On each turn a player places two pieces, chosen from buildings, stables, inhabitants, walls or domes, onto a sixteen-by-eleven grid, gradually filling the board and forming walled districts whose value depends on what lies inside them. The game ends once no more legal placements remain, and final scoring rewards players for the buildings and districts they control rather than for outright territorial size. Despite favorable reviews for its spatial planning and blocking play, Medina was nominated for both the 2001 Deutscher Spiele Preis and the 2003 Jeu de l'annee without winning either award, and remains known among tile placement game players for its tight, interactive board state.