Review: 853840 Xtra City Road Playmat

This review is going to be a little different.  Before my group's last game I picked up some of these new Xtra sets to fill out the number of road pieces in my collection.  Over the last couple of years I've been exploring different methods of representing new environments in this game we all love so much. Back in the day I wrote about wanting my gaming table to look awesome, this is just a continuation of that quest.

Box.  MSRP is $7.99 for a $0.73 Price per Piece.

Parts.  Bricks, Plates, Minifig Shovel.

Side 1.

Side 2.

Side 3.

Side 4.

Size Comparison.  The standard Chub and Classic for reference.

Build.  One of the things I noticed about these boards is that they can be connected underneath where it cannot be seen.  A Plate and a Tile lies flush with the top of the board.  You can see this in the lower right corner.

The Questions:

Can you build something -- a frame, station, or starship -- right away?  No.  (-5)
Is it below, at, or above the golden ratio?  Above.  (-10)  (The Golden Ratio is $0.10 per part.)
If you can't build a frame right away, or choose not to, does it have parts you should be able to put into use right away?  Yes.  (+5)
Does it have more than a handful of immediately useful parts?  No.  (-5)
Score: -15 (C).  It basically fails the normal review questions.  But that's not the reason to buy these.  One thing I will say about these is that they are half the price of regular Baseplates.