Tokyo Highway is a dexterity and construction game where players build twisting roadways.

It’s part puzzle, part balance challenge.

A new edition of Tokyo Highway with new gameplay elements and updated components that make the game easier to play…which can be good or bad depending on your taste for collapsing roads.

Tokyo Highway: Rainbow City Game Overview

In Tokyo Highway, players use wooden pillars, grey sticks, and tiny cars to construct an overlapping network of roads. On your turn, you’ll place a new pillar, rest a stick between your previous pillar and the new one, and slowly extend your personal stretch of highway.

Each new road section must cross over or under existing ones according to specific height rules. When you create a crossing, you earn the right to place one of your cars on your highway.

The challenge comes from keeping the whole structure stable, one wobble or misplaced pillar can send everything tumbling.

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How Do You Win?

The goal is simple: be the first to place all of your cars.

If a structure collapses during your turn, you have to repair the area using your own pieces. If you run out of parts, you’re out. Because of that, precision and patience are as important as clever construction.

Main Mechanisms

The game mixes dexterity and spatial construction. Every move requires careful hand placement, steady coordination, and a bit of planning to make sure your next section can connect properly.

There’s also light strategy in how you position your roads — crossing others gives you more scoring chances but increases the risk of collapse.

USP

The standout feature is how the game looks as it grows. The table turns into a tangle of criss-crossing highways, and the visual payoff is part of the fun.

Theme

The “Tokyo highway” theme is mostly visual, it’s about recreating a busy, multi-level road network rather than telling a story. The sleek, minimalist design gives it a modern and stylish feel.

Setup

Setup is quick: give each player their set of pillars, sticks, and cars, and clear a flat space for building. A smooth table surface helps a lot here.

Components & Artwork

The components are excellent, smooth wooden pillars and roads with pastel cars that look great once the highways start weaving around the table. It’s minimal but striking.

Ease of Teaching

It’s simple to explain but tricky to master. You’ll spend more time steadying your hands than reading the rulebook.

Similar Games

Party Panda Pirates includes dexterity mini-games and shares that light, physical feel.

Other stacking and balancing games like Men at Work also give the same tense, hands-on experience.

Tokyo Highway: Rainbow City Review

Positives

It’s fun, tense, and looks great as the table fills up.

The structure that builds over time is genuinely impressive.

Negatives

One mistake can cause a chain reaction that ruins the game.

In many plays, the game doesn’t actually finish properly. Things just collapse before anyone places all their cars.

Summary

Tokyo Highway: Rainbow City is a fun and striking dexterity challenge that shines when everything goes right. It looks brilliant on the table but can fall apart just as quickly, literally.

Jesta ThaRogue