Build City is a city-building game set during a monarch's rule in the early 1700s. The player's job is to, as the title implies, build a city. The game constantly monitors a town's current population, gold in the treasury, and food in storage. The player has the option at first to build roads, farms, residences, and markets. Roads and farms may be built anywhere. Residences and markets must be built next to roads. After the population in a city passes certain milestones, the player also has the option to build additional structures essential for a proper city: churches (boosts religious rating), schools (boosts educational rating), medical offices (boosts health rating), and taverns (boosts recreational rating). Further, as these structures become available, nearby neighborhoods see a boost in prosperity which increases housing size as well as population.