Chinatown

Customer Reviews

A Fun Completely Unstructured Trading Game Review by David

Value
Quality
Price

Chinatown is a fun trading game that will depend almost entirely on the dynamic of your group as to whether or not you're going to enjoy it.

The gameplay is very simple - the board has a number of properties that are numbered and a number of business tiles representing businesses that were prominent in Chinatown in New York in the 1960s. These businesses require a varying degree of tiles to complete - a tea shop only needs three, where an antiques store or a restaurant needs six. To complete your business you need both the proper amount of business tiles and enough adjoining properties to build them on. Completed businesses bring you revenue, and the person with the most money at the end of the game wins.

How do you get these properties and businesses? That's where the game gets interested. On each turn, players get a number of properties and business tiles and then the trading begins. There are absolutely no rules, regulations or structure to the trading. Every player can reveal as much or as little of their plans and trades and trading can involve properties, businesses and cold hard cash. This can be a very fun dynamic or a very frustrating one. People can make irrational trades, spite you for no reason, or be completely reasonable. The first time you play, people will be more likely to make bad trades, as they don't appreciate the value of certain things. However, as they go forward, people get a better idea of what is worth what.

This is a fun game, but it seems rather expensive for what you get. The board looks good, as do the tiles and property cards, but there really isn't much here to get all that excited about. There is also the problem of over-analysis; especially near the end of the game, players who are too interested in the math can try to "solve" the trades and figure an exact value of certain trades. This can ruin the free-wheeling trading nature of the game.

Overall, a fun game to play, and one you should give a chance, but probably not a must-have for your collection. (Posted on 3/27/10)