Review: Chinatown
Game Title: Chinatown
Publisher: Z-Man Games
Designer: Karsten Hartwig
Plays: 3-5
Ages: 12+
Time investment: 60 minutes
Chinatown is a negotiation and economic board game. Each round you will gain control of shop tiles and parcels of real estate. Each shop placed on a parcel will earn you income at the end of the round. You will be most successful when your shops of the same type are adjacent and you’ve connected the minimum number required for that shop type to be considered complete. To achieve all of this you will have to successfully negotiate trades with others players. You will trade money, parcels, shop tiles, and built shops. Ownership of anything in this game can be fluid. Each player is trying to build the most successful business empire and make the most money by the end of the round.
What Lee likes about Chinatown:
This game makes a great alternative to Monopoly. My favorite part of this game is when someone builds their fish store smack dab in the middle of your dim sum shop.
What Nicole likes about Chinatown:
This is one of my favorite economic games because of the tension between real estate and business. Ownership of anything is always a trade-able commodity in this game. Lots of blind drawing gives this game great replay value. It’s best with the maximum number of players for the most tension, but is also still good with four players.
