A review of

Chinatown

Manufacturer: Alea

Designer: Karsten Hartwig

Price: $29.95

Chinatown shares many features with Big City. The boards have numbered properties, given to players by dealing out matching cards, and adjacent properties are needed to build larger businesses in the booming economy of this tightly knit neighborhood. Each turn, cards and the counters with the businesses printed on them are dealt out, and you can use them for building or trading. Each business type - watchmaker, private detective, laundry - has a number, and that’s the cap on how big the business can grow (a business listed at 5 could group that many counters).

The more counters you string together, the more money they’ll net you each turn, and your businesses may grow between rounds. You might only score for a couple of counters worth of radio station this turn, but with a bit of luck and business finesse, you could add to it the following turn. Setting up a series of one-counter shops is easy, but unprofitable.

Chinatown is a game for the wheelers and dealers (3-5 of them). Trades are of the utmost importance; you’ll have to barter to get the properties or business counters you need, and this is both the best and worst part of play. Trades can be fun, but they’re really the only galvanizing part of an otherwise unimaginative game. It’s often necessary to make several trades with multiple players to see any kind of real benefit. Also be warned the gains to be made are fairly easy to count up - with a little practice, you can just about tell who’s going to come out ahead on any given deal, and that takes a lot of suspense out of the game, especially near the end.

The graphic design is pleasing, making good use of period clip art and advertising, but that’s the most remarkable feature in the box. Lacking random elements or the chance for surprising last-minute turnarounds, Chinatown has energy but lacks any real tension.

--by Andy Vetromile