Pathfinder Flip-Tiles: Urban Starter Set

I got the Urban Starter Set to test out with my Curse of the Crimson Throne campaign. It's a sturdy box full of 42 double-sided, 6x6 square gridded tiles (suitable for wet and dry erase markers). The box also comes with dividers meant to organise the tiles with expansion sets. I think the *idea* of the set is great, as it's designed to allow endless customisation of city streets to suit whatever the GM needs. I haven't found them so great to use in practice, however. First, the cards are slickly coated and slide easily around the table. Second, the design of the buildings is very limited and exceedingly repetitive. Third, all the streets are the same (10') width. Fourth, although I like how each card has a top-down view of a building on one side and then the interior of that building on the other side, the exterior shot doesn't show doors or windows--so PCs can't easily "transition" between them without first flipping and rotating to check where those entrances are. Fifth, there's very little detail--the streets occasionally have some puddles or a grate, but the interiors never have anything except (oddly enough) a rug here and there). And finally, the "special" tiles consist only of an outer wall/gate (which is good) and then two of the exact same cards with a fountain on one side and a statue on the other.

Overall, they are usable--but I'm not sure they're really any faster or more useful than just quickly drawing some squares on a blank flip-mat to represent buildings.

I really like this product!

I have 2 issues with it, hence the 4 stars...

Firts: you don't see the doors on the "top view" with the buildings... While not a deal killer with this issue, I plan on turning the tiles when players arrive on a tile, to facilitate actions!

Second: like previously mentionned by another reviewer, the box is really a pain to open!

On the plus side, you can put several expansions within the box.

I also have the Slum Quarter Flip Mat at home, and tried laying tiles on the side: THEY FIT! You can lay 4 alongside it and continue from there. The art style and colors fit with it! Although i haven't tried all the possible combos with it, it's possible a few combinations don't fit...

I don't think i have another city-type Flip Mat at home to try this too though...

I was fairly excited to see the Flip-Tiles replace the Map Packs since I hoped to get more options with doubled-sided cards. That they are smaller is a bit disappointing. The quality of the cards is excellent. They are thick enough and with an excellent laminate to be durable.

The images in this set are bit too general for my taste so I don't think they'll be used very often over a FlipMat which is a staple in my collection.

I really like that the starter box is oversized with dividers included so you can put all your expansion packs in the same box to facilitate storage and transport. However, the tolerances in box construction make it nearly impossible to get the box open without damaging it. The cover really needs a couple more "points" of gap between it and the bottom box so you don't break down the sides pulling them apart or damaging the corners putting it back together.

Most of the tiles show the roof on the A side, and a plan view of the room on the opposite B side, which is excellent. I hope all future flip-tiles do this, because e.g. the forest fire tiles are not useful because there aren't versions of that same area of forest that's not burning.

These flip sides are even better than those very rare flip-mat/map pack combos that were designed to work together like "GameMastery Map Pack: Shops" and "Flip-Mat Classics: City Streets", because now you can design your own city layout.

The few problems I have aren't too major:
1. The fountain tiles (ur0 37a and 38a) are duplicates, which would've been fine it they didn't have puddles of water on the ground that clearly stand out as perfect duplicates.
2. The tiles with drains (e.g. ur0 33) or drains and water (e.g. ur0 21) are missing those things on the flip side. I wish all the tiles were designed like the city wall tiles (ur0 39-42) where the road and grass are perfect copies of what's on the other side.
3. Some 2x2 building plan views (e.g. ur0 21b, lower left) have tiny 1 block by 1 block areas with walls on 3 sides - too small for anything other than standing in. I'm not sure what such structures could be used for.
4. It would have been nice to have alternate versions of ur0 42b that showed the plan view when going down the trap door but still showed the normal building roof, and another alternate showing the plan view of both the wall and building.
5. The tiles with steps (e.g. ur0 09a) don't show those steps when you flip them over, tho I suppose you could say they're sun shades instead.