A full guide to the word game: the last-letter rule, tricky endings like ь/ы/й, no repeats, the turn timer and elimination. Read it — and get straight to playing.
Cities is a word-chain game of general knowledge. Players take turns naming real cities, and each next city must begin with the letter the previous one ended on. Your task is to keep the chain going as long as possible and not be the one who fails to recall a suitable city. Whoever gets stuck is eliminated; the last one remaining wins.
At the table there are 2 to 8 players (or you against the know-it-all bot Atlas). The chain starts from an empty field: the first to move names any city — for example, Moscow or Berlin. After that the required letter lights up above the field, and the turn passes around the circle. You can't repeat cities that have already been named — they all go onto the list of used ones.
On your turn, type a city name into the input field and confirm. The city must be real — this is a game about knowing your geography.
Each next city begins with the letter the previous one ended on. Ended on “А” — the next one must start with “А”.
If a city ends in a letter that cities usually don't start with — a soft or hard sign, or “ы” — you take the nearest suitable letter from the end. For example, “Пермь” gives “М”, and “Грозный” gives “Й”.
“Ё” and “Е” count as the same, so an ending in “ё” can be continued with a city starting on “е”.
A city that has already come up in this game cannot be named again. Keep an eye on the list of used cities.
Each turn gives you 25 seconds. The ring-shaped countdown timer turns red in the final seconds. Run out of time — the turn moves on.
If a player fails to recall a suitable city — names the wrong letter, repeats one, or runs out of time — the turn passes to the next player, and that player risks being eliminated. When a rival (or the bot) gives up without finding a city for the required letter, the round goes to you. The game continues until one player is left at the table — and that player becomes the winner.
Keep in reserve names on rare letters like “Ы” or “Э” — they save you in a dead-end situation.
End your city on a letter for which opponents find it hard to recall options.
You have just 25 seconds per turn. Name the first confident option and save the tricky ones for later.
Keep glancing at the used cities so you don't lose a turn on a repeat.
Cities looks like a game of memory, but in fact the winner is the one who controls the outgoing letter. You don't just have to recall a city — you choose which sound to end your turn on, and thereby decide whether your opponent has it easy or hard.
Before naming a city, look at its last letter. “Казань” hands the opponent an easy “Н”, while “Псков” hands over an awkward “В”. Of two options, choose the one whose tail is poorer.
Cities on “Ф”, “Х”, “Ц”, “Щ”, “Э”, “Ю” are few and far between. Keep a couple of them in reserve and play them when you want to corner your opponent, rather than wasting them on an empty chain.
The “cheapest” letters are “А” and “К”: cities on them pour in by the hundred. By giving them away you are effectively gifting the opponent a turn, so save them for moments when you're the one in time trouble.
A soft or hard sign and “ы” are dropped: “Пермь” gives “М”, “Грозный” gives “Й”, and “Ё” equals “Е”. An experienced player deliberately aims for “Й” or “Ц”, knowing there are few options there.
A turn is just 25 seconds, and the ring timer turns red in the last of them. In Cities you lose not from lack of knowledge but from panic: the letter flies out of your head exactly when the clock is ticking. Train not your vocabulary but a calm search routine.
Stuck on a letter? Mentally run through countries: Russia, Italy, Japan, the USA. “Осака”, “Орёл”, “Орландо” — something on “О” turns up everywhere.
While your opponent is thinking, prepare in advance a city for the letter they will most likely end on. Then your own turn takes a second.
Don't hunt for a “beautiful” city. Name the first reliable option: no points are awarded for originality here, and time is precious.
The chain hangs on the outgoing letter: “КостромА” hands over “А”, while “АстраханЬ” drops the soft sign and passes on “Н”.
Classic Cities is only the base mode. By changing the constraints, the same chain easily turns into a warm-up for children or a tough duel of erudites. On muta.pro the game runs on the classic “cities for the required letter, no repeats”, but the rules are worth knowing for a live table too.
Only national capitals are allowed. The pool narrows sharply, rare letters become lethal, and the game turns out short and tense.
Limit the field to a single country or continent. “Russia only” turns the game into a test of knowing your homeland's map, “Europe only” — into a geography exam.
A home variant without a dictionary: rivers, mountains and lakes are allowed. On the muta.pro screen it's cities exactly that count, so this mode is for the live table.
Remove the timer and allow hints. The goal shifts from a race to the recollection itself — ideal for family play.
Play one on one against the know-it-all bot Atlas: with no “weak links” in the group, the pressure on each of your moves is at its maximum.
Most defeats in Cities are not a gap in knowledge but repeated slips under the timer. Sort them out once, and your level of play will grow noticeably.
The soft sign doesn't count: “ТверЬ” is continued with a city on “Р”, not on “Ь”.