Components and Setup
Jaipur’s production values are nice enough to be a selling point. I don’t by a lot of 2 player games, but the box really jumped off the shelf at me. The artwork by Alexandre Roche is attractive, and strikes a nice balance between realism and cartooniness. In particular, the artwork has an appealing layout and color scheme; even the box insert is a well-chosen shade of purple. The game’s action is not closely related to the theme, ‘camel-trading’ aside. The 55 cards are divided into camels and 6 suits of goods (diamonds, gold, silver, cloth, spice, and leather); this suit is the only attribute on each card, and there are differing numbers of cards in each suit. The cards are linen textured, and high quality. Cards are added to and taken from a row of 5 face-up cards, which always begins the round with at least 3 camels. Each player starts with a hand of 5 cards. The other game components are a set of 37 circular cardboard scoring tokens. The tokens are sturdy and also have a faint linen texture. There are sets of goods tokens for each of the 6 goods represented on the cards, the number of tokens varying proportionally with the number of cards in each corresponding suit. Each set of tokens has a different range of rupee values (1-4, 5-7, all 5, etc), and these are arranged from highest value to lowest value. There are also stacks of bonus tokens, awarded for selling 3, 4 or 5+ cards. Each of these stacks is shuffled. There is one camel bonus token. There are 3 “richer trader” tokens, used to mark the number of rounds won by a player.
Gameplay
On her turn, the active player can take 1 of 3 card-taking actions, or may sell cards for scoring tokens. When taking cards, the active player can take 1 goods card from the face-up cards, take all the camel cards from the face up cards, or swap any number of camel and/or goods cards with face-up goods cards. When selling, active player can sell as many goods cards of 1 suit as they choose, selling a minimum of 2 cards of the more valuable suits. The active player then takes a corresponding number of scoring tokens in the same suit, starting with the higher value tokens. If the active player sells, 3, 4 or 5 or more cards, she also gets a corresponding bonus token. The rupee value of the bonus tokens varies randomly, and is kept secret from the other player, creating some mystery about who is winning.
The camel card mechanic is the cleverest part of the game. By taking several camel cards, and then swapping camel cards for goods, a player can grab several goods cards of the same color on a single turn, allowing her to quickly acquire the cards needed for a big selling turn. However, doing so creates a large batch of face-up camels, setting the other player up for a powerful card-taking action on a future turn. Most of the decision making of the game involves brinksmanship regarding when to take camels, trade-in camels, or sell. The bonus tokens can be quite valuable, making it a considerable sacrifice to small sets quickly.
Round End, Game End, and Winning
The end of the round can be triggered by either the deck running out, or by 3 sets of goods tokens running out. When the round ends, the player with the most camels in her hands gets a bonus token worth 5 rupees. Players tally the value of their scoring tokens (which gets a little tiresome, because there are a lot of these). The player with the most rupees takes a richer trader token. The game setup is redone, and the new round starts. The first player to win 2 rounds wins the game.
Game Design
This is a short review, because Jaipur is a very simple game. It is not a brain-burner, and takes very little time to teach. It requires enough evaluation to make it fun, but not so much that it slows down the game. Jaipur has been compared with Lost Cities and Jambo, but really it does not have much in common with either of the games. Like a lot of quick 2 player games, Jaipur forces players to weigh the relative value of playing early and small versus playing later and bigger. I hesitate to say that the camel-swap mechanic is entirely new, because it is such a simple idea that is seems like someone must have used it before, but it is at least original in my experience. This mechanic creates interesting permutations and choices, without giving the players anything worth over-thinking. Pauehon’s prior games have been hit and miss for me. I adored Yspahan, and played it to death, while Metropolys I could take or leave (Yspahan was another game where the well-chosen color scheme was a big part of its visual appeal). Jaipur is definitely one of his games that I like, but it doesn’t rank with Yspahan. Its simplicity is a strength, but I think it is too simple to have tons of replayability. If you need a quick 2 player to hold you and your buddy until the tardier members of your games group show up, Jaipur will fit the bill nicely.
Summary
Jaipur is a short, simple 2-player hand-management card game. It is great-looking, and the gameplay presents some enjoyable and interesting choices without being bogged down by difficult evaluation tasks.
