Jaipur Card Game First Impressions

“Doused in an appeasing pink, Jaipur has, over the years, come to don the title of India’s “Pink City.”

~ Kate Smith

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.

In Jaipur, you’re trading cards to get sets to pick up tokens…

There is a row of 5 cards in the middle of the table, you also start with a hand of 5.

On your turn, you can take a card from the middle of the table and fill the row up from the deck.

You can take 2 or more cards if you like but you need to fill the row back up from your hand and/or your Camel herd.

Your Camel Herd sits in front of you and they are used in this way to refill the row with ‘useless’ cards.

The other thing you can do on your turn is to take all the Camels from the middle into your Herd…

Why are you trading? To get goods…

Trading for Goods

You trade in X cards of a colour to get X tokens of that colour. You can save up cards to get more tokens at once. But the ones that are taken first are worth more than those taken towards the end. You can’t hang around too long…

Except, if you take 3, 4 or 5 of a good in one go. Then you get a bonus counter so maybe it’s better to wait…

Decisions…

That’s it really, when the deck runs out or 3 piles of chips are taken you count your score. The player with the largest Camel Herd gets a bonus chip, the most points win.

Jaipur Summary

It’s very simple, fun… not tense though, just nice. You’re not thinking “I hope they don’t take that” or “Oh no, I’m not going to be able to do this” etc. It’s just nice and easy.

I wonder if this influenced Splendor at all, it’s got that feeling to it.

Another good 2 player game.

Jesta ThaRogue