Review Jaipur (2009) - Asmodee

The Blurb:

Jaipur, capital of Rajasthan. You are one of the two most powerful traders in the city.
But that's not enough for you, because only the merchant with two Seals of Excellence will have the privilege of being invited to the Maharaja's court.  You are therefore going to have to do better than your direct competitor by buying, exchanging and selling at better prices, all while keeping an eye on both your camel herds.

A card game for two seasoned traders!

When it's your turn, you can either take or sell cards.  If you take cards, you have to choose between taking all the camels, taking 1 card from the market or swapping 2 to 5 cards between the market and your cards.  If you sell cards, you get to sell only one type of good per turn, and you get as many chips from that good as you sold cards. The chips' values decrease as the game progresses, so you'd better hurry ! But, on the other hand, you get increasingly high rewards for selling 3, 4, or 5 cards of the same good at a time, so you'd better wait!

You can't sell camels, but they're paramount for trading and they're also worth a little something at the end of the round, enough sometimes to secure the win, so you have to use them smartly.

Jaipur is a fast-paced card game, a blend of tactics, risk and luck.

The Gist:

Trade in goods to get victory points. Supply and demand kicks in quick and goods become worth less as more get traded in. The more of one good you trade at a time the bigger the bonus. You can't sell camels, that's just wrong.

The Play:



Tyler won the first round by 10, acquiring most of the big point values early. In the second round, I immediately focused on getting the bigger point values early, but in the end, he was able to use his camels to string togther some high bonus tokens and beat me by 2, thus winning the game.



The Bits:

Dad:

5 VP can go a long way in a tight game. I like that holding on to camels at the end of a round can yield a bonus.
  
  

Ty:

The camel card is my favorite. being able to use them as extra trading cards when you need them is a great way to acquire more goods.




 



The Good, The Bad, The Rating


Dad:

A nice, quick, set collecting game. A lot of what you do depends on what cards show up so every game feels different.

2.5/5




Tyler:

I did not like that you need two cards of a higher item to collect it (gold, ruby and diamond). I think the bonus markers for multiple cards traded in help a player catch up when they are behind. A good game overall.

3/5