Spotlight on Games
>
Ludographies
Games Set in China
January 28, 2017
added:
Court of Xiang Chi, The (2015) ·
Dadaocheng (2015) ·
Doodle China (2016) ·
Dynasty (2017) ·
Eng Chiang, The (2015) ·
Hong Kong Dim Sum (2017) ·
Kung Fu Combo (2016) ·
Lanterns: The Emperor's Gifts (2016) ·
Lanterns: The Harvest Festival (2015) ·
Long March 1934-1935, The (2014) ·
My WuXing Card Game (2016) ·
Overseers (2015) ·
Pagodarama (2016) ·
Round House (2016) ·
Way of the Dream, The (2015) ·
Wok on Fire (2015) ·
Xeko Mission: China (2008) ·
Xuanwu Gate Incident, The (2016) ·
Yangtze (2016)
Games sorted by year of publication. Entries in
white
are not strictly set in China, but are somehow related.
Further Reading
Games about the Silk Road
War Games Set in China
| 2017 |
|---|
|
Dynasty
Aaron Brock; Black Knight Games; 2-4; 120
|
Deck-building game of nobility trying to create a lasting dynasty.
Players try to control four rows of cards, from which they can gain or
score the cards. They also gain ability cards and points cards.
The more cards you have, the higher the tax you must collect.
|
|
Hong Kong Dim Sum
Vivienne Ng; Hong Kong Go Culture Association; 2-5; 30 ; 8+
|
Pattern recognition and
fast reaction game of diners awaiting dim sum dishes. Match the most
cards to win.
|
|
Journey of the Emperor
Jonathan Dersch; Nothing Now Games; 2-5; 30
forthcoming
|
Game of trip organizers creating the best
experience for the emperor during the Qingming Festival. The Emperor
wishes to see different things on his walk along the river.
Each round players select a card representing a part of the
festival and place it in a path in front of them. The full layout of
cards, from castle on the left to coast on the right with the festival
in between is considered a journey.
The goal is to figure out the best sequence to
play your cards in order to score the most points and be declared the
best festival organizer.
Cards include
Dragons, Pandas, Tigers, Chows, lanterns, animals and castles.
|
| 2016 |
|---|
|
Doodle China
Eilif Svensson & Kristian Amundsen Østby; Aporta Games/Gamdow Games; 1-5; 40; 8+
|
Reimplementation of Doodle City in two versions: "Suzhou" and "Shanghai".
Players try to draw a network of canals connecting houses, parks, markets
and ships. The parameters of drawing are granted via dice draft.
The "Shanghai" version adds hotels, skyscrapers and different rules for
scoring.
|
|
Fujian Trader
Robert Batchelor & Sari Gilbert; Thinking Past; 3-5; 60
|
In 2008 the 17th century Selden map of trade routes off southern China
was rediscovered, an invaluable find even though the map disagrees
somewhat with trade route descriptions of the texts of the period.
It is this map which forms the basis of the board.
Players are Ming-era merchant families who gain points by trading (or raiding)
iron, silk, and rice for silver and influence.
Players start out with a number of ports and
receive goods based on the ports they control and the roll of a colored die.
Players may purchase additional ports
with money gained from trading or incite rebellions in already
controlled ports to wrestle them from an opponent.
The game ends when the Manchu invade the Ming Empire. The invasion
starts once the first of three Manchu Move cards are drawn from the
Event deck. Players then have a limited amount of time to trade goods
and store silver.
|
|
Kung Fu Combo
Ben Burns; New Comet Games; 2; 20; 7+
|
Fighting card game in which each player takes on an animal master
– Crane, Tiger, Leopard or Snake. Make an attack
by matching colors, numbers, sequences or both.
Block by matching numbers or forming defensive combinations.
|
|
Lanterns: The Emperor's Gifts
Jason D. Kingsley; Crowd/Foxtrot/Pegasus/Renegade Game Studios; 2-4; 30; 8+
|
Expansion for Lanterns: The Harvest Festival.
Now players have pavilions that they can place on a tile after they
place it. If the colors match, you earn an imperial gift. With enough
gifts you can activate a special action.
|
|
My WuXing Card Game
(unknown); Game Salute; 2-8; 30; 8+
|
Rock Paper Scissors style game, but based on the Chinese
five elements (WuXing).
|
|
Pagodarama
Danny Sheung; Quxacto Games; 2-6; 45; 5+
|
Abstract game that combines ideas from The Towers of Hanoi,
Ludo and Chinese Checkers.
Players compete to be the first to relocate his pagodas away from the
capital on a 4x4 grid.
|
|
Round House
Eros Lin & Zong-Hua Yang (Bob); EmperorS4 Games; 2-5; 90
|
Round houses, rural dwellings in the mountains of Fujian, date back to
the Ming dynasty. Players are families who buy and sell goods, hire
experts and worship the ancestors. Employs worker placement and card
drafting.
|
|
Xuanwu Gate Incident, The
Kuraki Mura; Kuraki Mura B.G. Studio, Swan Panasia Co., Ltd.; 3-7; 30
|
Deduction card game set in an actual Chinese coup in 626
in which Tang Taizong assassinated his brothers to take
power. Each player has a secret identity, but may swap it with another
players's or one of the two face down identities held in common.
Players then vote on whether all will reveal, which determines victory
for one team.
|
|
Yangtze
Reiner Knizia; Piatnik; 2-4; 60; 8+
|
Players are merchants trying to make money on the Yangtze River,
buying and selling. Goods vary in price, becoming cheaper as they
approach Shanghai, creating a dilemma between getting the best price
vs. the item no longer being available. Players also create branches
and hold cards that provide
special advantages.
|
| 2015 |
|---|
|
Dadaocheng
Eason Kao & Tsai Huei-Chiang; Soso Studio; 1-4; 45
|
Players are foreign traders in Dadaocheng, Taiwan at the turn of the twentieth
century. They swap and flip resource discs to obtain resources and
either trade them or use them to buy of buildings.
|
|
Court of Xiang Chi, The
Todd Sanders; Air and Nothingness Press; 1; 20
|
Print and play solitaire hand management and drafting card game that
includes 54 cards. The player is purchasing cards to form his court
and fighting off any Daemon princes that appear using his generals.
target=_n>Download.
|
|
Eng Chiang, The
Yang Ming; 17gonplay; 3-5; 30; 6+
|
Dice rolling game of stealing pieces of sausage from one another.
Complete a sausage to grasp the garlic.
|
|
Hoppers: Chinese Zombies Action Adventure Game
Ta-Te Wu; Sunrise Tornado Game Studio; 3-9; 5; 8+
|
Chinese zombies can only travel by hopping.
Players must master dexterity challenges to capture the Hopper Stone,
which one player might already be holding, and win. It's possible that
all players lose.
|
|
Lanterns: The Harvest Festival
Christopher Chung; Crowd/Foxtrot/Games Factory/Korea Boardgames/Matagot/Pegasus/Renegade Game Studios/White Goblin; 2-4; 30; 8+
|
Tile layer around making arrangements of colored floating lanterns.
Each placement gives all players a corresponding lantern card. Players
earn points by collecting sets of cards in pairs or colors.
|
|
Overseers
Guan Chih Huang; Big Fun Games/ThunderGryph Games; 3-6; 45
|
Drafting and bluffing game that reimplements Gold Rush.
Overseers try to protect the world from opposed cosmological forces.
Players draft cards using the "take one and pass the rest" mechanism.
A voting round chooses a subjective strongest player, who must discard
two cards or request a showdown to prove the vote result false (by
revealing scores).
|
|
Way of the Dream, The
Yu-Ting Lin; Touching Ltd.; 3-4; 45; 8+
|
Tile placement game in which
each player tries the best to make his own dreams come true, as
well as be the key person in the pursuit of other player dreams.
On a turn draw cards and distribute them
among all players. Then each player gives the
active player a card, which the player must use to progress toward the
dream.
|
|
Wok on Fire
Chen Po-Chiao; Green Couch Games; 2-4; 20; 7+
|
Dexteriy and set collection game of being a chef.
Pick the best combinations of food to win.
|
| 2014 |
|---|
|
Chi
Shane Gelven; The Game Crafter, LLC; 2; 5; 8+
|
Quick card game in which players take the
roles of Zen Masters trying to maximize Yang Chi energy by
collecting six unique Yang cards.
On a turn perform one action, either take a card or play a card.
|
|
Demonslayer: Siege of Mt. Kunlun
(unknown); EOS Press; 1-4; 120 ; 9+
|
Fantasy deck-building game based on the
story "Warriors of Magic Mountain." Each player controls one
sect of the Kunlun Immortals and competes with others in
defeating the dread forces of the Heart-Eaters.
Elements include demon enemies, spells, and warriors.
There are four sects – Kunlun, Qicheng, Kongtong, Wuyi
– each plays differently.
|
|
Eternal Dynasty
Joshua Reubens & Nicholas Yu; Game Salute/Zucchini People Games; 3-5; 90
|
Multi-generational conflict to control all of China.
There are quite a few cards and each generation players choose which
of their leaders and his or her special ability will be utilized. One
of the attributes of a leader is the number of dynasty cards he or she
can retain. There is no traditional game combat; instead players spread
political and even military "influence" which resolves who gains control
of each of the eighteen provinces.
|
|
Long March 1934-1935, The
Kotaro Ichien; Saba Shoten; 3-5; 15; 8+
|
Card game based on the historical "Long March", the Red Army's 1934
campaign. Players are Red Army generals who collect cards representing
political influences on party leaders such as Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, etc.
Artwork based on period propaganda photos.
|
|
Madame Ching
Bruno Cathala & Ludovic Maublanc; Hurrican; 2-4; 8+
|
Primarily a card game of pirates in the South China Sea
that takes off from the ideas of
Lost Cities.
Card plays lead to voyages across the sea, the longer the voyage the
greater the rewards. Card drafting and special card abilities add
considerations in this light and entertaining romp.
Cards summary
|
|
Han
Michael Schacht; Abacus; 2-5; 45
|
Variant of the Schacht/Abacus China game set in the ancient
Han Dynasty. Board is double-sided to support differing numbers of
players.
Players each get a fort which can support a house; it generates
double points for its owner whenever it scores. Or players have a
marketplace that supports an emissary; it permits a player to
participate in a region that is otherwise already full.
|
|
Pagoda
Arve D. Fühler; Pegasus Spiele/Alderac Entertainment Group/White Goblin Games; 2
|
A hand management card game of building up to six multi-layer pagodas.
Each player has five face-up and
two face-down cards that they use to build
pillars and levels. Once a pillar has been placed,
all other pillars placed must be of the same color. When
someone places the fourth pillar on a level, he places a floor tile
on top.
Players score points each time they place a pillar, with a pillar on
ground level being worth one point, a pillar on the second floor two
points, and so on. Game ends after three pagodas are finished.
Includes 55 cards, 125 wooden pillars and 25 floor tiles.
|
|
Three Kingdoms Redux
Christina Ng Zhen Wei & Yeo Keng Leong; Starting Player; 3; 135-165
|
Worker placement game set in the world of the Romance of the Three
Kingdoms epic novel, partly inspired by
Agricola.
Includes board, 69 cards, 20 farm tokens, 20 marketplace tokens, 40
army tokens (untrained army on one side and trained army on the
other), 12 spear tokens, 15 crossbow tokens, 15 horse tokens, 15
vessel tokens, 15 popular support tokens, 15 border location tokens,
42 state enhancement cards, 9 state markers, 3 state action markers, 3
tribe markers, 6 bid tokens, 69 general tokens, 30 gold tokens, 30
rice tokens, 5 deficit tokens, 2 criterion markers, Han emperor token,
round marker, alliance token.
|
|
WuXing
Peter Desfertilles; KiniGame-2014; 2-6; 6+
|
Pattern recognition card game about the five classic elements for children.
Someone flips over a card to represent
the master's power. Each player then searches her hand for a matching card
If only one player finds such a card, she scores both her card and the
master's; if more than one player has such a card, then you need to
find an element on another player's card that's on the same finger on
your card, with whoever does this first claiming all of the cards
played.
|
|
ZhanGuo
Marco Canetta & Stefania Niccolini; Asmodee/Ghenos Games/hobbity.eu/What's Your Game?; 2-4; 90
|
In the Qin dynasty players represent emissaries of the emperor who
help to build the wall and set up infrastructure, working from just a
few cards drawn each round. These may be played on one's own board or
on the common board to recruit help, construct buildings, call in
reinforcements or move armies. But moving too fast may cause
dissatisfaction and uprisings.
|
| 2013 |
|---|
| Coconuts
Walter Schneider; Korea Boardgames; 2-4; 6+
|
In this dexterity game based on the stories of the
"Monkey King" players launch coconut pellets via spring-loaded plastic
monkeys, trying to land into one of several cups. Completing six cups
wins, but watch out for special cards which force players to try
particularly difficult shots.
|
|
Chung Ling Soo Murder Mystery
Jeff Hunt; Portsmouth Miniatures and Games; 3-6; 60
|
Players represent police detectives trying to bring in the most evidence on
a murder, on-stage, of a London magician. Moving through a hexagonal
map of the city, they acquire evidence and bring it back to one of the
three stations. Players also move the villain pawns in attempts to
steal money, evidence or equipment from other players.
|
|
Kashgar: Händler der Seidenstraße
Gerhard Hecht; Kosmos-2013; 2-4
|
Players begin with three
cards, each a family member offering a differing capability.
A turn consists of choosing one of the abilities and executing the
indicated action. This card is then placed at the back of the caravan,
becoming unusable until all of the other
cards have been. Players collect mules, spice and gold on their own
boards. It's also important to collect new family members –
effectively this is a deck building game – offering
more abilities, including those that affect other players.
English rules and cards translation
|
|
Lantau Fun
Thomas Wong; People on Board; 2-6; 30; 5+
|
Set collection card game based on the tourist attractions of Lantau Island
near Hong Kong.
Players are tourists who travel around the island and use
the action and function cards in hand to collect "Lantau Fun" cards
in the form of "Local Delicacies", "Entertainment", and "Souvenirs".
The first player collecting the required number of sets wins.
|
|
Qin: Toad and Dragon Turtle Game Boards
Reiner Knizia; eggertspiele/White Goblin; 2-4; 30; 8+
|
Expansion kit for
Qin
is a double-sided board, one including an obstructing mountain range,
the other paddy fields.
|
|
Yunnan
Aaron Haag; Argentum; 2-5; 90
|
Worker placement and network building game in the land of tea.
Players must establish extensive trade networks, including to Tibet.
Considerations includes training traders, acquiring both horses and
border passes and keeping provincial inspectors happy.
|
|
Yunnan: Tu Di Gong Shrine
Aaron Haag & Christwart Conrad; Argentum; 2-5; 90
|
This expansion building for Yunnan
allows you to double the progress of one of your other progress
buildings. Promotional item given away at Spiel 2013
|
| 2012 |
|---|
|
Qin
Reiner Knizia; Eggertspiele/White Goblin/Pegasus; 2-4; 30; 8+
|
About building walls in ancient times.
Graphic design by Franz Vohwinkel.
|
| Die Renjie
Ta-Te Wu; Sunrise Tornado Game Studio; 2-6; 30
|
Deduction card game based on the famous Judge Dee of the Tang Dynasty
period. Players are attempting to prevent a murder. To do so they must
identify the target (1 of 6), murder weapon (1 of 5) and planned
location (1 of 5). Each one of
these possibilities is represented by three cards; one card of each
type is removed before play begins. There are also five suspect cards.
Player turns consist of revealing and requesting clue cards.
Play ends after eight turns and
each player records their best guess regarding the answer. If the
crime has been determined by a combination of all player guesses, the
closest player wins; otherwise all players lose.
Also includes an optional Assassin card. With this card, whoever
receives this card at the outset is the secret assassin throughout the
game.
|
| The Legend of Cheung Po Tsai
Thomas Wong; People on Board; 2-4; 30; 6+
|
Spin-and-move game set in the Qing Dynasty.
Up to four factions –
fishermen, pirates, the Qing navy, the Portuguese navy –
race around Cheung Chau Island trying to be the first to claim a dead
pirate's treasure map. Each character has special abilities.
To move they must play cards matching the wind direction
shown on the spinner. Other shoot at opponents,
moving them backwards, steal their cards or swap places with them.
|
| Taipan: Merchants of the Far East
Eric J. Sexton;
|
(self-published);
2-4; 90
Players represent international trading companies headquartered in Hong
Kong in 1845, dealing with criminals, smugglers and pirates. Each
player's captain card has a special ability. Ships move among
Singapore, Makassar, Nagasaki and others. They buy and sell cargo and
upgrade their ships. Events such as fires and discovery of gold mines
affect prices.
|
| Zong Shi
Kevin G. Nunn; Gryphon Games-2012; 3-5; 75
|
Worker placement for artisans trying to be recognized as the grand
master. Includes eight types of projects.
|
| 2006 |
|---|
|
China – Das Duell
Michael Schacht; Spiele aus Timbuktu; 2
|
Expansion kit for the below China
which makes it playable by just two players.
Downloadable for printing from Michael Schacht.
|
|
China – Grenzstreitigkeiten
Michael Schacht; Spiele aus Timbuktu; 3-5
|
Expansion kit for the below China
that adds border and port towns and
which is downloadable for printing from Michael Schacht.
|
|
Fragile
Czarné (Frank Czarnetzki); LudoArt; 1-4
|
In Shanghai, players attempt to bring crates off the dock and
into their warehouses as quickly as possible. This rather abstract
game is played on a 10x10 Checkers style board. Player-owned
crates are distributed around the board. On a turn action points
are used to move dock workers who move and also operate on crates
(push, stack, flip). A flipped over crate reads "FRAGILE" and is
worth more than others. The game ends when a player has pushed all
of his crates into his storehouse space. Also provided are puzzles
for a solitaire player. Wooden materials are of quite nice quality.
|
|
Great Wall of China
Reiner Knizia; Kosmos; 2-5
|
Card game in which players are building the Great Wall.
Each has a hand of seven wall cards, three gate cards and one
watchtower card plus nine special cards.
Cards are shuffled and five drawn.
Some card rows are created. On a turn
players can either draw another card or add an identical card
to a card row.
When a player begins a turn with a majority he may place a prestige
tile which weakens him, but when claimed by another player both
score.
The special cards add one-off advantages/restrictions.
|
|
YangTzee
Brendan Herlihy; Blue Panther; 2-4
|
Each tile has two symbols and one blossom.
Matching blossoms scores. Forty-five tiles are included.
|
| 2005 |
|---|
|
Age of Steam Expansion – China/South America
Pierre Paquet and Martin Sasseville; Steam Brothers; 3-6
|
Expansion kit for the
Age of Steam
railroad game series.
|
|
China
Michael Schacht; Abacus/Überplay; 3-5
|
Essentially a tile placement game where placement is based
on cards in hand. Cards are replenished via a limited
drafting mechanism. There are three strategies to pursue: long connected
strings, counsellors in connected capitals
and dominance of various countries.
Originally called Kardinal & König / Web of Power.
Review
|
|
China Erweiterung
Michael Schacht; Abacus; 3-5
|
Expansion kit for the above China
which is downloadable for printing from Michael Schacht.
|
|
Opiumkrieg 1839-42
Gottfried Bartjes; Mario Truant Verlag; 2-4
|
In "Opium War"
players are traders carrying wares through the South China
Sea. The choice is between trading in legitimate products or
trying to make a quick fortune selling opium. Historical
events also play a role. [This game was previewed at Essen, but
to date has never actually been published.]
|
| 2004 |
|---|
|
Archipel
Jim Deacove; Zonnespel; 2-5; 60
|
In this cooperative game set
in a supposed Chinese archipelago, player characters
catch fish in six kinds using bait in six kinds and try to make the
most money selling at hte market.
Other considerations: possible bad weather, fuel shortages, bait
shortages.
Catching a fish is a matter of flipping over a face down tile.
Playerss win if all villages are fed and all ships return to their
home ports.
|
|
Chinagold
Günter Cornett; Bambus;
2
|
Two-player limited release featuring an
unusual randomization method. Instead of rolling a die, a player
tosses three rectangles of wood, each side of which features a
different quantity. This is reminiscent of one method of calculating
the ancient
I Ching.
It's also better than a die because it alters the usual
probabilities as well as making it much simpler to reduce the
range of results for the end game. Play itself transpires
on a hexagonal grid board where every point is loaded with
a face down gold piece. On a turn a player either reveals
an uninterrupted straight line of pieces or turns one face
down. Each space is simultaneously part of a blue line (the river)
and also a brown land (the hills). When either type of group is
cleared, the player controlling that terrain type cashes in. At
first it seems the main skill is simply one of discernment –
discovering the best place to flip tokens to help oneself. But
continued play reveals also an intuitive counterpart to this
practical activity, one of imagining the opponent's next move
and planning to take advantage of it. A somewhat contradictory
philosophy recognizes that each move requires a different-sized
roll and each move can be designed to allow a player something
good to do with as many rolls as possible. In short, despite
the importance of the randomness, there are multiple strategic
approaches and many options each turn. Physically, the board
is a leatherette roll-up map, the pieces 81 wooden discs with
stickers applied. The sturdy box is the green, standard one used
in several Bambus games. Unfortunately this title appeared in
a small print run and mysteriously has not yet been picked up
for any larger publisher's two-player series. It's their loss
as this is one of those rare games with few rules which can be
appreciated by initiate and sophisticate alike.
Review
|
|
Formula Dé: Circuits 34 & 34 – Bahrain & Shanghai
Laurent Lavaur and Eric Randall;
Eurogames/Descartes;
|
This expansion kit for basic version of this auto racing game
depicts a track in Shanghai, China.
|
|
Somewhere in China
Jim Deacove; Family Pastimes 2-5
|
Players operate fishing boats attempting to satisfy particular
consumer demands, but the good fishing grounds are hard to find and
sometimes dangerously far out. Choose your gear, bait and amount of
fuel carefully and watch out for hull leaks, sharks and storms.
|
| 2003 |
|---|
|
China Moon
Bruno Faidutti; Eurogames; 2-5
|
A tactical racing game based on a fairy tale about a mandarin duck
and several frogs set in China. Originally published as
Flower of the Lotus
and also known as
Lotusblume.
Review
|
|
I Ching du Tchouan
Pascal Rolly and Jean-Marc Tribet; Territoires d'Outre Mondes;
2
|
Players try to cross the board in their direction by creating a
path with their pawns.
|
| 2002 |
|---|
|
Dschunke
Michael Schacht; Queen; 3-5
|
"Junks" is essentially an auction game with a few extra wrinkles.
Best and most innovative of them is the mechanism of layering
three part strips representing crates. These are placed in groups
of three with each succeeding layer being laid crosswise. Each
player's influence on the containing junk depends on the number
of crates he has showing. So interesting is this unique mechanism
that one comes to regret that it does not play a larger role.
Instead, playing the starring role is the dreaded "blind auction
with possibility of no return". In other words, bids are sealed,
simultaneously revealed and all must pay, even if coming in
second place and receiving nothing. What will it take to make this
mechanism disappear from games forever? It really does nothing but
defeat skillful play. Can it be consigned to games for children,
please? Another unwelcome element is that of memory as players
must dive into one of five decks of special cards à la
The Settlers of
Catan Card Game. The game slowdown that occurs while
this happens is not as bad here, but there is enough card text
that it may cause problems for non-German readers. The other
main activity is choosing to execute special functions with
the three different merchants on the five different junks, an
interesting process which requires considerable lookahead and
defense against the activities of others, especially the player
to the left. Thematically, the economic model is a very strange
one, suggesting that products such as spice, rice and fish are
more fungible than money as the market presents a fixed price
and the player who bids the most product is the only one who
gets paid. Actually, money is never spent, only being employed
as a scoring mechanism. A good idea makes holdings public at two
strategic points of the game. The design does not feel "tight" –
in fact, the phases in a round could probably be re-sequenced in
any order without substantially affecting play – whether this
is a failing or sheer brilliance I can't quite make out. The
overall result is something of a mishmash of good and not so
good features. The designer has succeeded better with
previous outings
Web of Power
and
Kontor
than in this, his first large game published by Queen.
It will probably be less to the taste of sophisticated players, but
may be appreciated by those less demanding, if the language issues
can be surmounted.
Review
|
|
Gang of Four
Days of Wonder; 3-4
|
Card game that seems to be quite closely related to the Chinese game
Zheng Fen.
Review
|
|
Great Walls
Microcosm Games;
2-4
|
Players compete to build the largest wall in Ancient China.
Choosing from a hand of possible structures, players take
turns adding sections to their walls, forming
barriers to surround territory and gain military might.
|
|
Shendao
Valéry Fourcade; La Mèche Rebelle Editions;
2
|
Tile-laying abstract with the theme of Shendao,
the way of the spirit, based on a Chinese god and goddess.
|
|
Snap
Gamewright; 1-4; 5+
|
Tile-laying game is not without interest for adults. Depicted on
the tiles are Chinese-style dragons, long and curly, in varying
colors. Players must match up like colors and snap dragons
together like puzzle pieces. The goal is to complete as long a
dragon as possible to maximize points. Of course it won't hurt
to prevent opponents from doing same. Each player has a hand
size of three so there is a decent amount of planning. Further
interest is added by the fact that while dragon heads are common,
tails are relatively rare, concentrating interest on how these
tiles are positioned. On top of this, there are three tiger tiles
which confer even more points. (In Chinese lore the dragon and the
tiger are the mythic creatures of east and west respectively.)
One particular play of interest revolves around the tiles which
have the same color emerging twice, which come in pairs. When
combined they emerge a good number of points, so a player
who holds one might like to watch carefully for the other to
appear. Opponents who notice it appearing might like to void this
possibility by defensively playing some other tile on it first.
Tiles are nicely illustrated and made from fairly nice cardboard.
While one might like the interesting longer dragons to arise more often,
can make for a colorful and absorbing twenty minutes.
Review
|
| 2001 |
|---|
|
Siedler von Catan, Die: Historische Szenarien
Klaus Teuber; Kosmos;
3-6
|
One of scenarios in this game is named "Die Große Mauer"
which translated is "The Great Wall". "The Great Wall" casts
each player as a guardian of a segment of the wall, trying to
prevent the raids of steppe nomads. Because nomads inevitably
seem to cross the wall somewhere, placing the other settlements
far away from it seems a good idea. Interesting dilemma about
whether to deliberately let them in just so that they deprive
opponents of production. There is a lot of ore available on the
fixed map, making the development card strategy look attractive,
but this can be a trap because the value of the largest army
award has been cut down to just one victory point and three
victory point cards have been removed. One problem is that
without the robber -- the pirate only affects players with ports
– it becomes a little too difficult to haul back a leader.
[Rules] (this site)
Review
|
| 2000 |
|---|
|
Formula Dé: Grand Prix China / Malaysia
Eurogames/Descartes;
|
This expansion kit for basic version of this auto racing game
depicts a track in Zhuhai, China.
|
|
Kathai
Michael Andersch;
Adlung Spiele;
3-5
|
Multi-player card game is about trading commodities in old Cathay,
collecting and trading cards and deciding the best time to turn
them in for points. Offers at least two possible strategies, one of
achieving a large, valuable collection, the other of turning in several
smaller collections, but rather quickly. Of course which one to use
greatly depends on what the other players are doing. Definitely worthwhile
for just about all players.
Review
|
| 1999 |
|---|
|
Chinatown
Karsten Hartwig;
Alea/Rio Grande Games-1999
|
Negotiation game about acquiring property and building up
businesses in New York's old Chinatown owes something to
Metropolis.
Gorgeously illustrated
and easy to play. Players must be very careful to watch players
lucky enough to build a profitable enterprise on the first two turns
however as they usually manage to win. It is nice if everyone agrees
to embargo such players, but usually someone gives in because failing
to trade with them hurts their own fortunes too seriously.
It has been observed on
rec.games.board that
the Chinese writing on the business tiles uses simplified characters
devised in mainland China only in the 1950s and that
the historic center of New York's Chinatown is the corner of Mott and
Pell streets, neither of which are shown.
Review
|
|
Drei Chinesen mit dem Kontrabass
Ravensburger;-1999
|
(Three Chinese on the Double Bass), a word game based on
a children's song in which all the vowels are being replaced with different sounds.
|
|
Hong Kong
Piatnik & Söhne-1999
|
Two-player abstract game of perfect information by Reiner Knizia
is about the building of skyscrapers in Hong Kong, thinly. Actually
it's more a matter of who can build up faster and higher and thus cap
his opponent's buildings. Or try the strategy of trying to cover
territory. This strategic dilemma makes things interesting while the
double move pieces afford difficult tactical decisions. Thus
should appeal even to those who are not normally fans of abstracts.
Review
|
|
Lao Pengh
Patrick Inauen;
Adlung
Spiele-1999
|
Card game of placing Cranes and Dragons in 3 piles.
Graphics by Jürgen Martens.
|
|
Ming
Jürgen Reiche; Siebenstein Spiele-1999;
2
|
Chess-like abstract featuring emperor, mandarin, generals
and monks on a 7x7 board.
|
|
Ta Yü
Niek Neuwahl;
Kosmos/Rio Grande-1999; 2-4
|
Abstract tile-layer and connectivity game of river construction.
Ta Yü is the legendary Chinese hero who saved the Realm of the Middle Kingdom from
a flood by creating a multitude of rivers to divert the torrent to a distant sea.
A pricey package, but the very high quality components are suitable for museum
display, or your coffee table when guests come over.
Quite enjoyable for those who find fun in something like
Streetcar
and makes a very nice outing for competing couples.
The rules are few and not difficult, so it can even work well for your non-gameplaying
friends. Seems to work best with the "save one tile" variant and
in four-player mode where half the fun is figuring out what your partner is doing.
Review
|
| 1998 |
|---|
|
Lotus
Dominique Tellier;
Ravensburger;
1998
|
Simple racing abstract for up to four features stacked checkers
which travel a number of spaces equal to the height at which
they are stacked. The Lotus space adds the twist of being a space
where no checker may stop, but must instead trampoline forward a
number of spaces equal to those already moved. Although sometimes
it seems a good game to for a computer to play to perfection,
features a very accessible system and plenty of scope for tactical
and strategic planning. The two-player game appears quite
balanced while with more than that it is perhaps better to be
the last player than the first. Each space features a different
Chinese character which translated from end to start mean "Army",
"Middle", "Light", "No", "Go", "Agile", "Lotus", "Car", "Go",
"Big Tool", "House". From here, if one regards the board with
"House" toward the bottom, the spaces on the left are "Truth",
"Sky" and "Straight" while those on the right are "First",
"Move" and "Black". In Ravensburger's Chinese edition, the title
means something like "Chain Reaction Flying Dragon".
Review
|
|
Mulan Matchin' Fashion Puzzle Game
Mattel; 2-4; 4+
|
Set collection with a movie tie-in. Includes four pagoda and sixteen
puzzle pieces.
|
|
Tichu
Urs Hostettler; Fata Morgana Spiele; 1998;
3-6
|
Trick-taking card game that
seems to be quite closely related to the Chinese game
Zheng Fen.
The special pack for this game contains 56 cards, and is
essentially like a standard pack with four jokers. The
normal suits are replaced by suits of jade, sword, pagoda
and star, and the four jokers, each of which has a special
property, are the sparrow, the phoenix, the dragon and the
dog.
[translation]
[Illustrations]
(Association of Tichu Players)
Review
|
| 1997 |
|---|
|
Shanghai
Sid Sackson;
Ravensburger;
3-6
|
Players are bidding to place a marker which they hope will score.
|
| 1996 |
|---|
|
Chinatopf
Stefanie Rohner and Christian Wolf; HABA-Habermaaß; 2-4;
4+
|
"China Pot" is a dexterity game for children who must place wooden
facsimile food pieces into a wok without tipping it over.
|
|
Flower of the Lotus
Bruno Faidutti; The Game Cabinet; 1996
Downloadable Game (Game Cabinet)
|
Later published in physical form as
China Moon.
|
| 1995 |
|---|
|
Mandarin
Jean du Poël; Historien
Spielegalerie;
|
|
| 1994 |
|---|
|
Chinesische Mauer, Die
Sid Sackson; Piatnik & Söhne; 1994;
2-4
|
A tile-laying game about "The Wall of China".
Large cardboard tiles exhibit
criss-crossing paths in different colors. Players take turns choosing and
placing any available tile with the twin goals of extending the length
of one's own path and having the paths reach all four sides of the eventual
total structure. What's especially tricky is that the
exact locations of the corners aren't generally known until play is nearly over.
|
| 1992 |
|---|
|
Verbotene Stadt, Die
Alex Randolph and Johann Rüttinger; Ravensburger;
2-4
|
Title means "The Forbidden City".
Bluffing game of trying to retrieve the emperor's stolen wedding
garments.
[Rules]
(Game Cabinet)
|
|
Wu Hsing
Sid Sackson; Franjos; 1992; 2-4
|
Title refers to the 5 Elements: air, water, earth, fire, metal.
Players are placing tiles to create patterns; somewhat similar to
Dominoes.
|
| 1991 |
|---|
|
Mandarin
Tom Kremer; Mattel; 3-5
|
Game for children that has the side effect of permitting you to
discover in which of the twelve Chinese astrological years you
were born. There is a tile dispenser which players take turns
pushing to receive a tile. The first player to fill up his card
with tiles of the right types wins.
|
| 1989 |
|---|
|
China Dragon
Rainer B. Balandies; Piatnik & Söhne; 1-6
|
This is a tile placement game in which players add parts to
two intertwined dragons and continue to own each tile they place,
the goal being to form the longest continuous owned chain.
|
| 1987 |
|---|
|
Dampfross
David G. Watts; Rostherne Games; 2-6
|
There is a map of China for this popular railroading game.
Review
|
|
I Ching
Fu Hsi; Hexagames/TST-Enterprises;
|
One looks up one's fortune in the famous I Ching oracle.
|
|
Peking Akte, Die
Milton Bradley-1987,1988/Parker-Spiele-2002
|
A logical deduction game.
Literally, "The Peking File", also published in English as
The Mysteries of Peking.
|
| 1986 |
|---|
|
Chinese Word Building Game
Sun Ya Publications (HK) Ltd.; 2-6
|
Tiles contain Chinese words, radicals (parts of words) and
strokes (even smaller parts of words). Players place these to
build ever growing words. The English equivalent might be
"automobile -> mobilehome -> homeowner", etc.
|
| 1986 |
|---|
|
Mhing
Robert Sun; Spear; 3-6
|
A simplified card version of Mah Jongg.
Review
|
|
Shanghai Trader
Steve Barnes, Peter Wyche, Steve Utick and Dave O'Connor; Panther;
3-6
|
The corruption in Shanghai's International Bund during the
early part of the 20th century. Players represent a national
side, one of Americans, British, French, Germans, Russians or
Japanese. Players attempt to dominate different areas of the city
which gives special moneyraising powers, including the ability
to extort money from other players. Often players are required to
practically ruin other players with amazingly high cash demands.
It is not surprising that the game often turns into a bitter
shouting match. In addition, not only do players need to make
the most money, they must get out to the airport and hope they
can roll well enough to escape alive,
an endeavor that needs a fair amount of luck. Each side has special powers,
but if playing with more than three, these should be omitted since they are
not balanced.
Review
|
| 1984 |
|---|
|
Passage to Cathay
Eric Olson; Ragnarok Enterprises; 2-6
|
Trade in the Indian Ocean, 1680-1830. 2-5 hours
Later re-released as Passage to Cathay Deluxe.
|
| 1982 |
|---|
|
Macao
Ravensburger; 2-5
|
Bidding game using dice and memory.
|
| 1981 |
|---|
|
James Clavell's Noble House
L. Ross Babcock III; FASA; 2-5
|
From the novel
Noble House,
set in Hong Kong's 1960's business world.
[Review] (this site)
Review
|
|
James Clavell's Tai-Pan
Albie Fiore and Ian Bailey; FASA; 3-4
|
From the novel
Tai-Pan. From the novel of the same name, 1840's
trading in Canton, Hong Kong, India and Europe. Players sail
clipper ships from England to India where they buy up opium,
from India to China where they sell the opium and pick up silk,
tea and spices and then race back to England. Each clipper
sailing is a race in which greater profits are realized for
coming first, and realized in ways that are very sensible for the
theme. Arriving in England first means one gets to sell at the
highest price and then lower the prices of whatever was sold for
the next clipper. But clipper speed is dependent on card play,
cards which also affect prices, the faster the card, the more
it lowers prices. A very nice tradeoff. Another tradeoff is
deciding to skip buying opium and sailing to China directly in
order to be the first to buy there. In China, it is not simply
a mechanical matter, but instead one actually
directs three small lorcha boats to the various Chinese ports to discover
what commodities are available and at what prices. There is also a wares
auction at Canton (later Hong Kong). A large number of flavorful event cards
also make things interesting, although some may complain
that there is too much luck in the "take that" cards.
Definitely the best entry in the James Clavell series.
Review
|
| 1973 |
|---|
|
Pagode
Valentin Siena; FX-Schmid; 2
|
Create patterns on a 9x9 grid to score and force your opponent
into negative scoring patterns.
|
|
Ting Tong
Alex Randolph; Ravensburger; 2-4; 5+
|
A memory game in which tokens are hidden under the bells with the object
of uncovering them in proper sequence. All of those uncovered
properly are kept for points.
|
| 1930 |
|---|
|
Chee Chow: The Mystic Seven
(unknown); Saml. Gabriel Sons and Company
1-4
|
A Tangrams-style game, including
sets of seven pieces each (2 large
right triangles, 1 medium right triangle, 2 small right triangles, 1
square, and 1 parallelogram) in four colors, and a number of cards
with silhouetted shapes.
First player to complete their puzzle wins. A book of solutions is included.
|
| 1903 |
|---|
|
Voyage à Pékin
2-8; 4+
|
Each player leaves Europe from a different city, racing to
reach Peking first. Each city has various directions
from which to depart, which is determined by roll of a special
die.
|
| c. 1845 |
|---|
|
Mah Jongg
3-4
|
A Rummy-like game, perhaps the progenitor of it in fact,
of melding and discarding, often played for monetary stakes.
However, is a challenging exercise without this additional
drama. The traditional tiles provide nice tactile and even aural
pleasures as they click, click, click along. Comes in Chinese, Japanese
and American rules versions, with many additional variations besides.
Those which do not use the flowers and seasons reduce the luck and are
the most interesting for serious players.
Probably invented around AD 1850 in the city of Ningpo, China, by
two brothers from the earlier ma tiae.
It was imported to the United States c. 1922 and in just two years became
so popular that Congress had to enact a law regularizing the name under
which it was published.
Read more at
https://members.aol.com/pungchw3/brief.htm.
Mah Jong Handbook: How to Play, Score, and Win the Modern Game
[analysis]
[scoring chart]
Review
|
| 1660 |
|---|
|
Bo Bing
(unknown); (public domain); 2-10; 15
|
Invented in the Qing Dynasty, this dice game
is traditionally played during the Mid-Autumn
Festival. Six dice are cast into a bowl
in an attempt to achieve one of six combinations.
|
| 1600 |
|---|
|
Sheng Guan Tu
Ni Yuan-Lu; public domain; 2-5
|
"Promotion Official Chart" invented by a calligrapher living
in the Ming Dynasty period
is similar to Snakes and Ladders. In it players roll a
top similar to a
dreidel
and attempt to rise to the top of the bureaucracy.
This game was banned during the Cultural Revolution and has
gone out of print.
|
| 1120 |
|---|
|
Chinese Dominoes
|
Unlike the Western set,
a set consists of 32 tiles:
The pips for one and four are red and six is half red-half
white.
Game Cabinet Intro
Game Cabinet rules
Wikipedia
|
| 204 BC |
|---|
|
Xiang Qi
|
Also known as "Chinese Chess", the game probably has a common
ancestor with
Chess
and similar mechanics. Some of the
differences are that pieces travel on the line intersections
rather than on the squares and the cannon pieces which are required
to leap over others. Overall appears to have less depth than Chess.
Review
|
| 2000 BC |
|---|
|
Wei Qi
|
Better known in the United States as Go.
Review
|
| Uncertain |
|---|
| Chop Suey |
unknown; Bartl; 1+; 5+
Dexterity game of using chopsticks to pick up wooden "morsels" from
a platform and deposit them in a cup.
|
|
Chung Kuo Chung Tzu (Chinese Gentleman)
unknown; unknown; 2-4
|
Made in China, seems to be similar to
Cootie,
but instead of building a bug one constructs a man composed
of blocks representing hat, head, torso, arms, legs and feet.
Dice control what can be built.
|
|
5,000 Years of Chinese History
(published in Taiwan, Republic of China)
|
Basically a variant of Monopoly in which players attempt to
collect various properties and not go bankrupt from paying rents.
Review
|
|
Ni Hao Kai-Lan Dragon Boat Race Game
unknown; Nickelodeon; 2-4; 3+
|
Players spin to move their boat; first to cross the line wins.
Includes a dragon mask and encourages holding a Dragon Boat
Festival parade after the third race.
|
|
Romance of the Three Kingdoms
(published in Taiwan, Republic of China)
|
Roll-and-move game with almost no decisionmaking.
Published in Taiwan, Republic of China.
[Rules] (this site)
|
| Der Schatz des Marco Polo
ASS (Altenburger und Stralsunder Spielkarten-Fabriken); 2-4;
8+
|
Players are in Hang Chow looking for the treasure that Polo
stashed there. He also left clues in various places around
town and players go around picking up these. Having enough,
players can recover a treasure. But other players can track
him down and try to take it away.
|
| Tian Di Hui |
CW Karstens; unknown; 2-5
Card game of Triad gangs of the early 20th century.
By purchasing black market item cards they build
Poker
hands to see who wins the round.
|
|
Zheng Fen
|
Card game from China is in the family of climbing games which
includes
Corporate Shuffle,
The Great Dalmuti,
Tichu,
Zoff im Zoo,
and others. This realization has some quirky rules. Since in
communist society everyone is supposed to be equal, cards
are not dealt as this would make the dealer subservient. Instead
they are drawn from the top of the deck by each player. An
illustration of the inefficiencies of communism! The game play
is a bit strange as well as easy-to-achieve hands like the full
house seem to have more values than those which are harder to form.
Probably the least interesting form of this game one could play.
Review
[Rules]
(Pagat)
|
Do you know of any more that
should be added?
Further Reading
Games about the Silk Road
War Games Set in China
Spotlight on Games
>
Ludographies
spotlightongames.com