SimCity 2000

Welcome, and thank you for stopping by! 2023 marks the 30th anniversary of SimCity 2000, the city building and management game developed for personal computers by Maxis and released in 1993. It was the follow up to the original SimCity - created by Will Wright in 1989 - and improved on the formula in every way, most notably the new isometric perspective that set the standard for tycoon and building games for years to come.

Playing SimCity 2000 as a kid coincided with my childhood LEGO building days. Hours conjuring up digital metropolises always evoked images of model towns, and LEGO bricks are the perfect thing to use to build a model town!

So here is a gift to fans of LEGO and SimCity 2000 as we approach its 30th anniversary, a LEGO Architecture-inspired microscale build of SimCity 2000 city, with recreations of the buildings we remember so well.

A SimCity 2000 city is built on a landscape divided into a grid of tiles, with buildings sized between 1x1 and 4x4 tiles. I wanted the buildings to contain enough detail to be recognisable, but still keep the build as small as possible. To that end, this SimCity is built upon a base of 9 16x16 Technic base plates arranged in a 3x3 grid. The scale is set at one 2x2 plate per in-game tile, meaning buildings sit on one of 4 plate sizes: 2x2, 4x4, 6x6 and 8x8 studs. The tallest building is just under 14 bricks in height.

The city contains 2933 pieces sprawling 9 blocks (8 city and 1 undeveloped countryside) and 60 structures:

14 industrial, including the classic Coal Power Plant.

13 commercial, from the humble Gas Station to the iconic KSIM Tower (Complete with SimCopter 1 sat on the rooftop helipad).

18 residential, encompassing clusters of small houses to grand apartment buildings.

13 service buildings including the Hospital, Police Station, Fire Station, School, Courthouse, Town Statue, Small Park (x4), Large Park, Subway Station and the Water Tower.

1 Braun Llama Dome. There can only be one, after all.

*1k update addition*: 1 Alien UFO attack, to keep your citizens on their toes!

The design also includes numerous trees, cars and power lines to add extra detail.

All buildings are recreations (or as close as I can get with my still-developing building skills) of buildings from SimCity 2000. I'm guessing about half the pieces in this build are mold/colour combinations don't exist, but SimCity 2000 has such a specific look that I didn't want to compromise on the colour palette, especially when able to build digitally.

This concept allows for expansion in all directions. Grab a couple of Technic pins and a 16x16 baseplate with holes, attach it to an existing city block, and continue developing your metropolis. Of course you could always re-zone your existing buildings and roads to completely alter your city's skyline. Perhaps there are no limits?

Pieces: 2933

Width: 48 studs (38.4cm)

Length: 48 studs (38.4cm)

Height: 19 studs (15.2cm)