Chinatown

I can really recommend this game. It is probably my #1 favorite boardgames.  Even if I have only played it two times in my life so far :)

I was introduced to this game by some friends at school. I thought it was so fun I had to buy it. But it wasn't available anywhere. I finally found a copy that i bought and recieved a couple of weeks ago.

I played it with some friends at my place. And it was a long time I had so much fun at home :)

The game can easily be explained as being similiar to Monopoly, but it is actually more simple than monopoly I think. And the strategic part of the game, trading, is much much more fun. On the board there are streets and buildings. A difference from Monopoly and Chinatown is that Monopoly can go on and on almost forever. While Chinatown only has six rounds, or years in the game. This might seem short, but I think it is just enough to make it fun and not to tedious and long. Monopoly can get quite boring, while Chinatown is very lively and fun. The part of the game where there is trade is the most fun, and takes the most time.

Each round, or year, consists of a few steps. The first step is to give the players some buildings where they later can build stores and restaurants. On the board, each building has a number. Players get a certain amount of buildingcards depending on how many player and which year we are in. Each buildingcard has a number corresponding to a building on tje board. A number of buildingcards also has to be thrown in this step.

So now each player owns a few buildings and place their colored markers on the buildings they own and the buildingcards are tossed.

The next step is to pick business tiles. From a black bag each player picks a number of business tiles. Depending on how many players and which round we are in.

If I remember correctly now. I think this is the part where you place the tiles. Each tile has a number on it. So for example a restaurant with a number six, needs 6 restaurant tiles together on the board to make a complete restaurant. In the end of the year, you get your income. There is a chart describing how much an incomplete store gets, vs a complete one etc.

But the most fun part of the game is trading. I dont remember if trading comes before placing the tiles or after. Meaning the first round there would be no store tiles placed. Just owned buildings. Anyway, when trading anything goes. You can trade a building for money, some store tiles for a building, a building for a building, or whatever you need and what you have to trade with.

You want to own buildings close together to make your business larger. So if another player owns the building next to yours you might want to buy that. Or maybe he wants more of a certain business type, a fish store for instance, he/she might be willing to trade for 50,000 and a fish store.

Don't forget the two tiles, when they have a store tile placed on it will generate 20,000 income each year, but dont forget how many years we have left to play. Well, the trading discussions can go on for a while and it's very fun :)

After all trading is done, we move on to the next round. And the players get their income for the business that they have built.