A house here, a school there, oh, and maybe a tea stall on the corner! That’ll do nicely. As a leader of the Panchayat, you’ll need to turn a plot of plain land into a thriving little village of your own. Will you have the most flourishing village around, or will the neighboring villages outshine you? Let’s see!

What Is It?

Open Drafting – Each turn players will draft 2 tiles from those available to their village board

Tile Placement – Players will place those 2 tiles on their boards wherever they’d like. All tiles have a set number of points they give the player, and some will give bonuses for being next to other tiles, or in certain spots on the board, while others will be negative points if placed in certain areas/next to some tiles. Players also start with a placement bonus tile, and an adjacency bonus tile which they can earn points from if they fulfill them appropriately

Set Collection – There are 4 end game bonus tiles for majorities of certain sets of tiles (i.e. most tea stalls + restaurants). Players can also earn points if they have the most cowsheds at the end of the game. Finally, players earn points for their largest group of each type of building (besides general), so they want to be sure to keep buildings of the same color together

Who Is It For?

  • 1 to 4 Players – Solo is a nice experience, and it works well at any multi-player count as well
  • Ages 10 & Up / Light Strategy Gamers – Pretty straightforward rules, approachable for a wide range of players. Good “welcoming” game; a little bit of strategy, but not brain-burning
  • Fans of tile laying, city building, set collection

Variants

Solo – Play a scenario which has a goal to achieve, as well as a target score. There is a “Zamindor” imaginary opponent who discards certain tiles based on a list for the scenario, trying to prevent you from hitting your goals – I like little scenario based things for solo modes in games, so I thought this worked well. It changes the game slightly, without having tons of additional rules. It’s a nice choice if you like solo + tile laying.

PROS

  • I personally love that the game came pre-punched
  • Rules – Well-written, clear
  • Aesthetics – Nice art, good graphic design overall. I like that the tiles are colored, but also have symbols for their type
  • I like the balance of trying to get good in-game points off placement, while also going for end-game bonuses
  • Nice puzzley element which works with the shrinking board; especially good puzzle for solo
  • Utility tiles are neat to give players a little more flexibility
  • Scoring is straightforward/clean
  • Smooth turns
  • I like that you can place tiles wherever you want on your board

CONS

  • Some text on tiles is a bit small/hard to read
  • Score markers are way too tiny, definitely wish they were larger and easier to tell apart
    • Similarly, 3 of the 4 player markers are very dark colors, and while they have symbols they’re not easily identifiable from afar
  • For solo and 2 players you have to take a bunch of tiles out each game, which is time consuming

Final Thoughts

I like a good tile laying game, and this was no exception. It reminded me a bit of Suburbia with how the different tiles can score off of each other, but also a little bit of Calico with the shrinking board, and building patterns/groups on your board. But it also had its own, unique vibe to it, which I liked.

I thought the solo scenarios were fun, and quite a challenge at times, but I equally enjoyed the multiplayer game. I think the 3 player count might be my favorite, as it felt like a nice balance of competition and choice.

Overall, nice game! Check it out if you generally enjoy tile laying/city building type games.

Additional Information:
My Final Rating – 7/10

Designer – Andy Desa
Artist – Vesley Carrasco
Publisher – Kheo Games
MSRP – $28.00
Website

*I was provided a copy of this game to do this review*

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