@ah46567 - That does sound extremely frustrating. So, to be sure I understand, you're playing SimCity Deluxe in Offline/Single Player mode through Origin? Are you playing on a PC with Windows? Did you recently install a patch or update to your OS? Do you have an EA Play subscription? Are you using One Drive?
The first thing I would try is to repair the game - In Origin, right-click the SimCity icon and choose "Repair" (you'll need to be online to do this). Double-check that SimCity.exe and Origin.exe are added to exception lists in any anti-virus and anti-malware programs.
Launch Origin and SimCity "As Administrator" and load an existing city in a region that you've already played. If that works, then go to the Regional View and see if you can claim a city from the Regional view.
If it still won't let you claim a new city, please reply back with answers to the questions I asked above.
