Chinatown Game Rules

Introduction

Hey, are you ready to explore the bustling streets of Chinatown? Well, let me tell you all about this exciting game and how you can become a successful entrepreneur in this vibrant community.

Objective of the Game

In Chinatown, your goal is to buy and sell different types of businesses to create a profitable empire. The player with the highest financial value at the end of the game wins. So, make sure to strategize and negotiate wisely!

Setting Up the Game

To start the game, gather all the game components including the game board, property cards, building tiles, shop tiles, money, and negotiation cards. Place the game board in the center of the table and distribute money to each player according to the player order.

Gameplay

Now, let’s dive into the gameplay. Chinatown takes place over the course of six rounds, with each round consisting of four phases: preparation, negotiation, construction, and scorekeeping.

In the preparation phase, players receive income from their properties and collect their negotiation cards. The negotiation phase is where the real fun begins. It’s time to make deals with other players!

During negotiations, you can trade properties, businesses, and money with other players. Remember, the key to success in Chinatown lies in your ability to strike the best deals and make mutually beneficial agreements.

Once negotiations are done, it’s time for the construction phase. In this phase, players can place their building tiles and shop tiles on the game board to expand their businesses. Be strategic and think about the best locations for your tiles to maximize your profits.

Finally, in the scorekeeping phase, players calculate and collect their income for the round. Keep track of your finances and plan ahead for future rounds.

End of the Game

After the sixth round, it’s time to determine the winner. Calculate the total value of your businesses, properties, cash, and add any final bonuses. The player with the highest financial value is crowned the champion of Chinatown!

Conclusion

Now that you know the rules of Chinatown, it’s time to immerse yourself in the vibrant world of this game. Explore the streets, strike lucrative deals, and build your own business empire in the heart of Chinatown. Enjoy the thrill of entrepreneurship and may the best negotiator win!

The game board is a representation of New York Chinatown in the mid-60’s. It consists of 6 districts with buildings numbered 1 to 85.

We play the game over 6 rounds. Each round, we receive income from the businesses we’ve set up. To make the most money, we need to build shops of the same type next to each other.

At the start of each round, we draw new Building cards and Shop tiles. Then, we have to use our negotiation skills to get adjacent buildings and start businesses.

But it’s not always easy. In this game, where everything is up for negotiation, only the laws of the market matter.

The goal of the game is to have the most money by the end of the 6th round.

Here’s what you’ll find in the game:

• You get 5 English Player Aid cards
• There are 85 Building cards for you
• There are also 80 Money cards
• Don’t forget the 90 Shop tiles
• And there’s 1 First Player card
• Plus, 150 Ownership markers
• Keep an eye out for the 1 Year marker
• Place the game board in the middle
• Lastly, there’s a linen bag for you
• You also have 15 blank Shop tiles to use

Setting Up

• Put the game board in the middle of the table
• Choose a color, like red, yellow, green, white or purple, and take 30 matching markers
• You get a Player Aid card that tells you how many Building cards and Shop tiles you get each round, and how much money you earn based on the size of your business

When we start playing the game, we’re each given $50,000. The rest of the Money cards go to the bank, which we can grab from, as needed. The Shop tiles go into a bag and sit next to the game board. We take all the Building cards, shuffle them up, and put them in a pile face-down next to the board. We find the Year marker and place it on the “1965” spot on the Chinese calendar, which is on the lower right side of the board. Lastly, the person who visited a Chinatown most recently gets the First Player card. Now, let’s talk about the Shop Tiles!

Did you know that the tiles in this game represent different types of shops you’d find in New York Chinatown during the 1960s? Pretty cool, huh?

Now, each of these Shop tiles has a number on it – either 3, 4, 5, or 6. This number tells you how many other tiles need to be placed next to it to create a complete business. And remember, the tiles can only touch orthogonally, not diagonally.

Here’s an interesting twist: In the game, there are actually 3 more copies of each type of tile than the maximum size of the business. For example, there are 6 Photo tiles and 9 Restaurant tiles. So, you have a little extra flexibility when building your empire!

Let’s talk strategy! To start building a business, all you have to do is place a Shop tile on an empty space on the game board. Then, if you want to expand your business, just add more Shop tiles of the same type to one of the empty buildings. Easy peasy!

Speaking of size, a business can range from being as small as 1 tile to as big as 6 tiles. And here’s the interesting part: the closer your business is to its maximum size, the more income it generates at the end of each round. So, it’s worth aiming for that maximum size to get the most out of your businesses!

Ready to Play?

A game is like a journey through time. It spans 6 rounds, each representing a different year. We start in 1965, which is known as the Year of the Snake, and we end in 1970, the Year of the Dog.

Each round is made up of 6 phases. Let me break it down for you:

1. Deal Building cards: The player with the First Player card hands out a set of special cards to everyone. These cards are like a building blueprint. There are 85 different buildings divided into 6 districts.

2. Draw Shop tiles: Now we move on to the next phase. It’s time to draw some tiles from the Shop. These tiles will help us build and expand our shops across the city.

3. Trades: This phase is all about making deals. We can trade our tiles with other players to get the ones we need. It’s like a trading game within a game!

4. Place Shop tiles: Once we have our tiles, it’s time to put them on the board. We strategically place our shops in different locations to attract customers and make money.

5. Earn income: Now comes the exciting part – earning money! Depending on the shops we have built, we get income from our customers. The more customers we have, the more money we make.

6. Move Year marker one space: Finally, we move the Year marker forward by one space. This signals the passing of time and brings us closer to the end of the game.

As you can see, each phase is important for our success. We need to plan our moves carefully, make smart trades, and build a thriving city. By following these steps, we’ll be able to create a prosperous metropolis and become the ultimate city builders!

Round123456

3 players	7/5	6/4	6/4	6/4	6/4	6/4
4 players	6/4	5/3	5/3	5/3	5/3	5/3
5 players	5/3	5/3	5/3	4/2	4/2	4/2

If you’re confused about how many cards you need for each round and number of players, look no further! I’ve got you covered with an easy-to-follow guide below:

• The number of cards changes depending on the round and how many players there are.
• Every player gets the most Building cards available (the ones on the left).
• The second number tells you how many cards each player should keep.
• Any extra cards get discarded.
• Don’t worry, the discarded cards go back into the draw pile and get shuffled for the next round.

I’m going to tackle the provided text by reimagining it in my own words, while still maintaining its core ideas. Let me give it a shot!

First off, all the players will show their Building cards and put their colored marker on the corresponding building on the game board. Once that’s done, the cards are thrown out of the game.

Here’s an example: In a game with 4 players, each player gets 6 Building cards at the start of the first round. They have to throw away 2 cards and keep 4 for playing the round.

Now let’s move on to the second step, which is drawing Shop tiles.

Starting with the first player and going clockwise, each player takes new Shop tiles from the bag. The number of tiles each player gets is shown in a table.

Here’s what you need to remember:

– The number of tiles you draw depends on the number of players and the round you’re playing.

– You need to draw as many tiles as the red number indicates.

• First, all the shop tiles are faced down until every player draws their tiles.
• Once everyone has drawn their tiles, all shop tiles are revealed at the same time, allowing trading to begin simultaneously for all players.

3. Trades

Now comes the exciting phase where anything goes! The laws of the market reign supreme, and negotiations and trades take place all at once. You have the freedom to trade with any player you choose, and you can even engage in multiple trades simultaneously!

You can step into any ongoing negotiation at any time. There are no limits to what can be traded or negotiated: buildings with or without shop tiles, shop tiles themselves, and money can all be exchanged in any combination or quantity.

When a building is traded, with or without a shop tile, the ownership markers must be adjusted accordingly. If a marker is taken off the board, it goes back to the player’s supply.

When everyone agrees, negotiations move forward to the next phase.

Remember: Once you place a shop tile on the board, you cannot move or remove it until the game ends. However, ownership of the shop can change during the game.

Example: Chang (in red) is asking Lucy (in yellow) if she would be willing to trade her 2 Dim Sum Shop tiles and building #20 for his Tea House (built on the board) and $10,000.

I happily agree to the deal and hand over my 2 Dim Sum Shop tiles to Lucy. In return, I am handed a whopping $10,000. Chang’s red marker is swiftly taken off the board and swapped with one of my yellow markers. Now, I proudly own 3 neighboring Tea Houses. To mark my ownership, the trusty yellow marker is replaced by a vibrant red one on building #20.

4. Time to Build Some Shops

Now it’s our turn to bring our Shop tiles to life! Starting with the first player and going around in a clockwise direction, each one of us gets to place and build as many Shop tiles as we want. To create a shop, all we need to do is put a tile on any empty Building that we own on the game board.

Don’t forget, once our shop is built, we must place our Ownership marker on the tile. We can choose the order in which we build our shops, or we can even decide to pass and not build anything during this phase. The choice is ours!

If you want to expand your business in the game, you can place a Shop tile next to a group you already control. When you do this, any other Shop tiles of the same type that are touching your tile in a straight line (but not diagonally) will become part of your Business.

Imagine this: I’m Lucy, and I have three Dim Sum tiles right next to each other. So that means I have a Dim Sum business that consists of three tiles. The cool thing is, I can actually expand my business later on by adding more Dim Sum Shop tiles to it!

But here’s an interesting twist: If there are two adjacent tiles of the same type, but they’re owned by different players, they actually count as separate businesses. It’s like having multiple businesses operating side by side!

For example: Imagine I have 4 Tropical Fish tiles, and I line them up next to each other. I own 3 of the tiles, and you only have 1. So, my Tropical Fish business is larger, with a size of 3, while yours is smaller, with a size of just 1.

Now, let’s say that later in the game, you trade your shop with mine. If that happens, then I will have a Tropical Fish business that’s even bigger, with a size of 4.

But here’s an important thing to remember: if a player ends up having placed more Shop tiles than the maximum size of the business shown at the bottom of the tile, then it’s considered as two separate businesses. The first business will have the maximum number of tiles, and the second business will have the remaining ones.

I own 5 Photo Shop tiles that are all next to each other. Out of these, I have 2 Photo Shops – one of them is made up of 3 tiles (the biggest size possible) and the other one has 2 tiles.

Let’s talk about earning income. At the end of each round, we all get money for the businesses we have on the board. But remember, the Shop tiles that haven’t been placed yet and the empty Building sites don’t earn us anything.

Now, one of us is chosen to be the banker. They will give each of us our income based on the following:

– If your business is incomplete, you get 10,000 for each tile.

– If your business is complete, here’s what you earn:

– For a 3-tile business, you get 50,000.

– For a 4-tile business, you get 80,000.

– And if you have the biggest business of 5 tiles, you earn a whopping 110,000.

So, here’s the deal with income: It all depends on how big your business is and whether it’s finished or not. See, each business has a certain number of tiles, ranging from 1 to 6. If your business has the maximum number of tiles, it’s considered complete and makes the most money.

Let me break it down for you with an example. Say you have an Antique Shop. If it’s made up of 6 tiles, it’s considered complete and earns a lot of money. But if you have a Dim Sum business and it only has 4 tiles, it’s not complete yet. You need 5 adjacent tiles to have a complete Dim Sum business.

Now, let me give you an example to make things clearer.

I sold my seafood business for $50,000, but my laundry business (size 3) only fetched $40,000 because it hasn’t reached its full potential. The two factory shops are separate entities, as they are not adjacent to each other.
I got $20,000 for my first factory and $10,000 for the second one. If I build a factory tile on building site 55 in later rounds, I can merge the two factories into one.
Remember: I need to keep my money a secret during the game.

6. Move the Year Marker Forward

At the end of each round, we complete a year and advance the Year marker to the next space on the Chinese calendar.

Ending the Game

The game comes to an end after six rounds when the Year marker reaches the 1970 space, also known as the Year of the Dog. This is when the players get their final income for all their businesses.

The player with the most money wins the game. If there’s a tie, the player with the most Shop tiles on the board is declared the winner.

I have a suggestion for you: Instead of getting rid of the Building cards, it’s a good idea to keep them in front of you while playing. That way, when you trade buildings, you can exchange the Building cards and the Ownership markers on the board. This will make it easier to find their original place if the markers accidentally get moved during the game.