Dinosaur Polo Club’s Mini Motorways is getting a free “Down Under” update introducing the game’s first Australian map, Cairns. The update will invite players to explore the Australian tropics, clearing city roads “from Palm Cove to the Esplanade Lagoon” while tunnelling “unexpected pathways” in new daily, weekly, and city game challenges.
“Explorers will find themselves dreaming of sunshine sparkling off the Coral Sea while navigating this beloved coastal spot,” Dinosaur Polo Club said. The entire city of Cairns is represented in this new map, and players will need to be clever about building their road map to ensure its many iconic locations are connected.
“The team is stoked to reconnect with our neighbours across the Tasman Sea to bring our first Australian city to Mini Motorways,” Casey Lucas-Quaid, Dinosaur Polo Club’s Community Manager said. “Cairns excited our map designers from the jump.”
In addition to Cairns’ arrival in the game, the newly-released update for Mini Motorways will also feature an “additional holiday gift” from Dinosaur Polo Club: a new cinematic mode that allows players to explore their cities from a new perspective.
Read: The making of Mini Motorways and the futility of urban development
Mini Motorways continues to grow
For those unfamiliar, Mini Motorways is a very nifty little management game that tasks players with designing their very own cities, ensuring ideal flow in the running of businesses, and the daily pilgrimage of commuters.
“In a game like Mini Motorways, there’s always a moment – one you might not notice at first – when things take a turn. Gridlocks form, traffic slows, and the flow of the city becomes strained. An unnerving thrumming sound plays as the floating timers above each colourful blocky destination tick uncomfortably close to their own personal little doomsdays,” journalist Nicholas Kennedy said of the game in 2021.
“The cruel joke of the thing is that the choice that led you here probably happened an hour ago. Your cute little network of roads, bridges and highways had been living on borrowed time, and you didn’t even realise it. It’s the kind of thinking you don’t expect to be plunged into when playing a game as seemingly detached and logistical as Mini Motorways, but it’s a state of mind the game’s designers are all too aware of.”
In this complex dance, Mini Motorways is a pure joy. It’s great to see the game continue to expand, with the new Cairns update providing fresh new challenges for players. As noted, this update is now available in all versions of Mini Motorways, across
