Overview
At a glance
Is this game right for my group?
ABG editorial scores on a 1–5 scale.
Harder to teach
High replayability
Highly interactive
Scales well
Deep strategy
How it plays
How does it play?
Mexica plots the development of the city of Tenochtitlan on an island in Lake Texcoco. Players attempt to partition it into districts, place buildings, and construct canals.
Core mechanisms
Key systems that shape the decisions players make.
Action Points
Spend a limited allowance of points across several possible actions each turn.
Area Majority
Compete to have the strongest presence in areas that award control or points.
Grid Movement
Move pieces between adjacent spaces on a regular grid.
Tile Placement
Place tiles to build a shared or personal spatial arrangement.
Enclosure
Surround spaces or pieces to claim territory, capture, or score.
Square Grid
Use an orthogonal grid where position and adjacent spaces shape movement or placement.
Read the full game description
Mexica plots the development of the city of Tenochtitlan on an island in Lake Texcoco. Players attempt to partition it into districts, place buildings, and construct canals. Districts are formed by completely surrounding areas of the island with water and then placing a District marker. The player who founds a district scores points immediately. Canals and Lake Texcoco act as a quick method of moving throughout the city. Players erect bridges and move from one bridge to the next, which costs 1 action point regardless of the distance. They must also erect buildings. This costs action points, the exact number being dependent upon the building's size. In the scoring phases of the game, players score points (El Grande style) based upon their dominance in a District. In the 4 player game, players with the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd most buildings score decreasing numbers of points. Only districts are scored in the first scoring round. In the second scoring round at the end of the game, all land areas are scored, not just districts. The player with the most points wins. Mexica is the third game in the Mask Trilogy.