Jaipur

It is good to have a diverse collection of board games. It should have games of different difficulty, duration and mechanics. While we hold serious strategy games in our highest regard, it's always good to have a game that you can learn quickly, take with you, and play with someone as a couple. One such two-player game is Jaipur .

Subject matter

You are an Indian merchant who has come to the capital to make a fortune selling cloth, incense, gold and other goods. But unexpectedly, you are not the only such aspiring player, because in this two-player game, your opponent is just as greedy. The one who managed to earn more money wins.

Components

I remember when I first opened the box and showed it to my wife, the inside was pink. My wife gave me a funny look, but I told her not to underestimate the game, it would be interesting. The game components are of good quality, the cards are beautifully illustrated, with clear color coding and pictures. They are decently sized and thick enough, and the chips are easy to use, visually appealing and durable. The game looks very good on the table.

Mechanics

This is one of those games that you can give without teaching to new players and trust them to handle it. The rulebook consists of four small pages, supplemented with understandable illustrations. But that doesn't mean the game isn't deep. Not at all, it has three basic choices. There are always 5 cards on the table, while you can have up to 7 cards in your hand. During the turn, the player either takes one card into his hand, trades x number of cards from the table for x number of cards from his hand, or sells the collected sets. This choice is not always easy.

The catch of the game lies in the fact that by collecting more of the same type of good, you can be more efficient, sell more at once, get extra points, but at the same time, by selling resources faster, players immediately get more points for each sold. There are 6 types of goods in the game, but you can never have more than 7 cards in your hand, so you often have to make tough decisions about what to play, what to keep. Very often, it is more important not to make the most effective move, but not to reveal new cards to the opponent, which allow you to make excellent combinations.

Multiplayer

The gameplay is very simple, without much variation, but the multiplayer comes directly from the interaction with the other player. The game is played to two wins, but the rounds go very quickly, so the whole game can be played in 20-30 minutes. Even though the theme and the area don't change, the game mechanics are exciting enough to replay this game again and again.

Rating

If you don't already have a collection of quick, short two-player games that are easy to take on a road trip, Jaipur is a very good option that offers enough tactical decisions in a short time frame and limited space. Rating 7 out of 10.

Kristaps

Images: Board Game Geek