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When you think of games related to China, Mah Jong might be the first thing that comes to mind. You’ve seen actors playing the game in movies, slapping down the chunky tiles and collecting the scoring sticks from opponents.

The pieces in Michael Schacht’s China can’t compare to the heft of ivory (or ivoryish) tiles, but they have a charm all their own, especially the top-heavy councilors that tend to fall on their side and spin around like a breakdancer. The game itself also bears little relation to the country China. Aside from the province names, the vaguely Asian-looking wooden houses, and the striking box cover, China is essentially an abstract game that shows off Schacht’s fondness for connection games with simple rules.

China’s gameboard features a map of the country that’s divided into nine provinces; one of the provinces is colored purple, while the remaining eight are colored red, green, yellow and orange in pairs. Cities are featured in each province, and the cities are connected by a haphazard series of roads. (The board is actually two-sided, with one side having fewer roads for three or four players and the flip side having more roads for four or five players.)

Each player starts with her own set of colored pieces, both houses and councilors, and three cards dealt from a deck that contains an equal number of cards in each of the five colors. Four cards are laid face-up next to the board, then the game begins.

On a turn, you play 1-3 cards from your hand to place 1-2 of your pieces in 1 province. This 3-2-1 rule guides all of the game play, along with another rule that allows players to place only a single piece in a province that’s empty at the start of that player’s turn. To begin with, you can play pieces in only a single province each turn; this rule provides constant tension because you never know which spaces are going to be available on your next turn. You have to take action now, or risk missing out.

You can place only one or two pieces in that one province. Houses must be placed in empty houses; councilors can be placed only in certain circumstances, namely when the the number of councilors in a province is less than the number of houses owned by whoever has the most houses in the the province. If a province has two blue houses and one yellow house, for instance, that at most two councilors can be placed in that province. If another blue house is placed, then three councilors can be added; add another yellow house, though, and the number of possible councilors won’t change.

To place a house or a councilor, you must discard a colored card that matches the province into which you want to play or else you discard a matching paid of colored cards. To place two pieces, you need to discard two cards of the proper color or one matching colored card and one pair of cards.

Once a province’s cities each have a house, the province is scored. The player with the most houses scores one point for each house in the province; the player with the second most houses receives points equal to the number of houses placed by the player with the most pieces. Likewise, the player with the third most pieces receives points based on the holdings of the player with the second most. If I come in second in a province that scores four green houses and one black one, then I score four points to green’s five points—a great scoring ratio for placing only one house.

After passing through the deck a second time, you finish the round, then the game ends. You score any unfilled provinces, then you compare the relationship between the various provinces. (In case you hadn’t guessed, the councilors are involved.) You look at the border between each pair of provinces and see who has more of their councilors in each province. If the same person is at the top of the councilor count in both provinces, then that player scores points equal to the total number of councilors in both provinces. These points can mount up fast since you’re often double-counting councilors.

Finally, any player who has created a chain of four or more houses along the roads scores one point for each house in the chain. Whoever has the most points wins.

China is a marvel of tactics and timing. Whenever you place the first piece in a province, you can’t immediately place a second, which puts you at a disadvantage. This means either you bite the bullet and watch others gain the lead in the housing market, or you place houses hither and yon and try to wait for others to open up new ground so that you can storm in after them.

The scoring for provinces gives you no incentive to “win bigger"—if you already have a lead in a province of three houses to one, then playing another house in the province simply gives you and the second-place holder one more point. If anyone else played in the province you’d still score that point, so you’re likely better off spending your turn elsewhere.

The array of four cards to choose from at the end of your turn is generous. You can almost always pick up a pair of cards, and that Joker gives you far more flexibility than three cards that don’t match since you can’t play in more than one region a turn.

Admittedly, your first playing or two of China is likely to be baffling. The use of the councilors is especially odd because they don’t score points until the end of the game, and the restrictions on playing them makes it difficult to know when and where you should. The only way to learn, though, is practice, practice, practice. Keep at the game long enough, and you’ll surely play China in Carnegie Hall.

China should be available at stores and online retailers across the land. A few of the locations you can find a copy include Thought Hammer, Fair Play Games, Funagain, and Cardhaus Games.

November 29, 2006 | (1) Comments | Permalink